Every campaign starts with a whisper of inspiration. Mine started with a bikini-clad gunslinger, a mutant shark, and a resort brochure soaked in blood.

I’ve been circling the idea of a post-apocalyptic zombie campaign for a while now. But not your standard gray-washed wasteland with shamblers and boarded-up farmhouses. No, I wanted something louder, flashier—more like an 80s comic book fever dream smashed together with a grindhouse movie, set 20 years after the first outbreak. And when Vaultz Miniatures dropped their Sunset of the Living Dead series, the match was lit. 

Their over-the-top designs practically demanded a story to match.What started as a fun collection of models quickly grew into the seed for the opening mission of my next campaign: Zombie Island: Last Resort. 

 The Setting: Boca Raton, but Not as You Know It 

 Two decades after Patient Zero bit into the world, civilization has carved out shaky strongholds. But not every corner of the world has been reclaimed. Some places fester. One such place? A rotting tropical resort off the coast of Boca Raton. Palm trees sway beside decaying cabanas. Tiki bars hum with mutant flies. And beneath the crystalline waters—something waits.

While S.P.E.A.R.'s headquarters remain undisclosed, their first mission takes them to this rotting paradise. Enter S.P.E.A.R. (Specialized Post-Epidemic Assault Response), a secret strike force tasked with hunting down advanced mutations before they spiral out of control. My players will step into the boots of these agents, armed to the teeth, ready to breach paradise gone to hell. 

 The Cast of Nightmares (and Heroes) 

 The Sunset of the Living Dead collection practically writes the roster for me:

Survivors:

  • Amy: A beachside survivor still clutching her sidearm and vacation tote.
  • Diego: Hawaiian shirt, submachine gun, and that perfect blend of panicked tourist and accidental hero.
  • Nia: Sword-wielding and deadly, cutting through the hordes like a storm.
  • Roger: Muscle-bound lifeguard who probably benched zombies for fun.

Mutations:

  • The Diver Zombie & Surfer Zombies: Ghouls who never quite left the beach behind.
  • The Greasy Tourist and Seagull Zombie: Because nightmare fuel should have variety.
  • The Zombie Shark & King Moray: Our opening act's true stars.

The minis bring this world to life. You can almost hear the buzz of mosquitoes and the wet shuffle of decaying feet in the sand.

Some of these models are available now in my shop, while others will be released soon. 

 The Bosses: King Moray and the Shark Below 

 The opening battle will see my agents face King Moray, a towering crustacean-armored monstrosity who bursts from the surf like some unholy seafood god. The twist? The fight starts while the agents are mounted on jet skis, weaving between coral reefs, dodging snapping piranha as King Moray unleashes lair actions and legendary strikes. It's part video game boss fight, part Saturday morning cartoon mayhem.

And while the Zombie Shark lurks beneath the waves of Boca Raton, that particular nightmare may resurface in a future mission—perhaps at an aquarium, where the stakes (and the glass) are much more fragile. 

 Choosing the Right System 

 Settling on a system for this kind of over-the-top carnage wasn't easy. Like many GMs, I faced the paralysis of too many choices. I wrestled with Savage Worlds, flirted with Mutants and Masterminds, and explored a few indie options. But ultimately, I landed on Everyday Heroes — a system my group already knows, and one that can handle the cinematic action, modern weapons, and mutant monstrosities I plan to throw at them. 

 Sometimes the best system isn't the most exotic—it's the one that gets you playing. 

 The Invitation 

 I share all this because if you're a GM like me, staring at your shelf of unpainted minis and half-scribbled campaign notes, I want you to know: let the models inspire you. Sometimes a single weird sculpt is enough to spin up an entire adventure.

The Sunset of the Living Dead collection gave me my first mission. And Zombie Island: Last Resort is just the beginning. I don’t even know yet where this campaign will end. That’s the fun of it.So if you’ve got a handful of bizarre beach zombies or a resin shark glaring at you from across the workbench... maybe it’s time for your own island mission.

See you in the surf, friend.