I started playing as a NecroTech Scientist because, when faced with a choice between a Fighter class and a non-Fighter class, I will always choose the non-Fighter, whatever that may be. It's not that I'm interested in role-playing at all, just that I usually prefer to see what the other classes offer up... since I know what a Fighter is going to do. Fight. (The Fighter equivalent in Urban Dead is a military man, by the way, although you can also start as a Police Officer or a Fireman for a similar feel.)

The deal with Scientists is that, in exchange for horrible weapon/hand-to-hand skills, they can operate revivification syringes that amount to a one shot kill against a zombie, with very few exceptions. Also, Scientists can see secret NecroTech lab locations. The newbie Scientist's chief method for gaining experience points is by extracting DNA from zombies, which is also easy and avoids the 15% chance-to-hit junk that combat-oriented characters have to initially muddle through.

So my Scientist, Dred, started out wandering around the city extracting DNA for XP. But then the server crapped out one night while I was playing and my character was stuck outside in the street. It's generally a good idea for human players - particularly weaklings like the NerdTech crew - to get the heck back inside a barricaded building at the end of a session. Zombies have to work to get through a barricade, and they can't see inside to know if it's worth their time anyway.

Since I was caught outside, I was killed. But the nice thing about Urban Dead is that you can bounce back between human and zombie classes as often as you like. So I played as a zombie for a while.

Actually, I found zombie (un)life to be even easier than noobing as a Scientist. If I was lucky, I could munch on a human, but most of my time was spent attacking other zombies for the XP. In a week, I had earned enough XP to buy the skills Vigour Mortis (+10% on all non-weapon attacks), Death Grip (+20% on all hand attacks) and Rend Flesh (hand attacks do +1 damage). I also found that I didn't mind wandering the map indiscriminately, nor did I care if another player killed me. Zombies just stand back up after being "killed."

So I headed north for no particular reason and ended up in Quarlesville, sort of top left of the map. I kinda hung out and fought other zombies for XP, until one day I woke up alive. Some Scientist had popped me with a syringe and revived me!

Back to newbie human levels (puchased zomb skills don't carry over to your human state), I headed for the closest NecroTech lab and found 15 to 20 people inside. A safehouse. They healed me back up and I starting getting back into the DNA extracting game to earn some fresh XP. Usually I would build up enough action points (only 50 a day) to carefully click around a couple nearby blocks, steal some zombie DNA, and sneak back inside the lab before the AP runs out.

Eventually I bought the Lab Experience skill (can use those revivification syringes), Diagnosis (can see other human players' HP, which is helpful for administering First Aid Kits) and Shopping (can search particular stores when inside a mall.) After I bought the Shopping skill, I set out in search of a mall. Luckily the Calvert Mall in Quarlesbank was not far away, so I did some scrounging there. This Mall is another barricaded safehouse, so I hung out there for a while, searching and occasionally sneaking out for a run at reviving any zombies.

So now that's my typical session... run between the Mall and the lab, extracting and reviving as I go. I haven't clicked the combat button since my resurrection. Tonight I found a shotgun at the Mall, so I think my next skill purchase will be to improve my Basic Firearms Training. Shotguns start with a 5% chance to do 10 damage, and that skill pushes the % up to 30%, which is pretty great. Of course, ammo is limited, so you can't become an unstoppable shotgun monster, but I have about 5 shells built up from repeated searchings at the Mall, so I could have some fun with that. I've also foraged a baseball bat, crowbar, wirecutters and a mobile phone (although the phone has no signal, surprise.) And continued searchings back at the lab turn up stupid amounts of extra DNA extractors and GPS units, all of which are useless as you really only need one of each.

I'm at the Mall now, awaiting my action points buildup so I can venture outside again. I need about 100 more XP to get the firearms skill, so that's a good deal more extracting and reviving to do.

The game reminds me of my MUSHing days, although it is far less social. Talking uses up your action points, so most players rarely speak a word unless they're begging for a heal or have a zombie report from the outside.