A: Dead Friends only makes Friend Keepers that are in play into Creepers. Any Friends in your hand are presumably deep in hiding and have not been exposed to any fatal dangers that might have killed or contaminated them.
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Q: If Dead Friends and Zombies Ain’t So Bad are both in effect, can I win with Goals requiring Friends?
See this answer as a video!
Ain’t So Bad
A: One could argue that your Zombified Friends are still Friends,
since Zombies Ain’t So Bad.
–Or–
One could argue that once your Friends are Zombified, it’s simply impossible to win with ANY Goal requiring Friends, even if Zombies Ain’t So Bad, since, really, they may not be so bad, but they’re not your friends anymore, they’re zombies. How many people describe their friends as “not so bad”? That’s hardly enthusiastic, you know?
So let’s ask ourselves how many of their Friend-attributes they maintain in Zombified form, such that they would meet the various Goals in a thematic sense:
• Zombie Food: are Zombified Friends Zombie Food?
Not really. Zombies don’t eat each other.
• Barricade the Windows: Could my Zombified Friends help me Barricade the Windows?
Maybe. Depends how hard it is to do that task. It would probably be hard.
• Getaway Driver: Can my Zombified Friends drive a car?
We’re gonna go with a big “no” on that one. Seriously doubtful.
and finally…
• We’re All All Right: Are my Zombified Friends “All Right”?
I don’t care how “not so bad” Zombies are, my Zombified Friends are definitely NOT “all right”.
TLDR:
The short answer from Andy himself is the second answer: if Dead Friends is in play, you can’t win with ANY Goal requiring Friends, because they’re not Friends any more, they’re zombies, even if they’re really nice Zombies. Sorry.
Q: Does Zombie Repellent repel my Dead Friends?
A: If Dead Friends is in effect, then all Friends are treated as zombies, and they will run away from your Zombie Repellent just like any other zombies. Bummer, eh?
Q: What happens to my Zombified Friends when the Dead Friends rule goes away? Are they somehow cured or reawakened?
A: When the Dead Friends rule is removed from play, your Friends are no longer Zombies. Yeah, they’re cured, or reawakened, or whatever strange zombie-movie analogy works for you.
The best way to keep this sort of thing in mind is that Fluxx rules are never meant to invoke any kind of memory condition. You should be able to look at the rules in play, and understand exactly what is going on at any given moment, and not have to remember that something was previously in play, but has some sort of lingering effect.
You could leave the room while everyone takes their turn, and be able to come back, and, just by seeing the cards in play, understand the status of the game. If there were lingering effects, this would not be possible: if someone played Dead Friends, and it was then removed, all while you were out of the room, you’d have no way of knowing your friends had become zombies (very dangerous!)
So Fluxx rules don’t work that way. You can go get a snack – you’ll still be able to tell what’s going on when you return.
Q: If Dead Friends is in effect and you own the Shotgun, do you have to kill any Friends in front of other players before killing any other zombies?
A: No. The Dead Friends card says “your Friends”, so you can ignore other people’s Friends.
Q: If you have a weapon, do you have to kill your Dead Friends?
A: Killing zombies is always optional. The point of the Dead Friends rule is that, if you are going to kill any zombies, the first ones you take down have to be your Dead Friends. But becoming non-violent in hopes of unZombifying your Dead Friends is a fine strategy.