I want to like this, because it's clear a lot of work went into it. It's obviously someone's passion project. But I know I'm not going to play it. I did rank it 3/5 because it does have some pluses - It's got decent content, and covers a lot of bases for action, combat, and specifics. It doesn't spend many multiple pages going on about invented histories and backstories that I would ignore and make up my own anyway - just gets right to the meat of it. It provides a complete system (as far as I can tell with a read-through, not a play-through), so you don't need other resources or references. It gives you a few different zombie apocalyptic catalysts to use as a starting point. And there is a very helpful Index that makes it relatively easy to find things that you're looking for.

Minuses: I'm not crazy about the system. There's a somewhat arbitrary mix of d6, d20, and d100, with lots of stat adding combos for skill determination, plus a decent number of tables needed for ongoing play. To me this says lots of lookup work for GM and/or players. Not a problem if you're into that, but if you're just picking it up and don't do the Mythras system already, I expect there will be some game-interrupting work before you get into a rhythm. It's not super crunchy, but I prefer BRP/CoC style that's more storytelling focused. Another big one: the layout looks like someone did it themselves in Word. It has a very "non-designed" look to it throughout, and could use a professional review/edit/design. It's not bad for a primarily solo effort, but not as polished as most properties you see these days - it looks like it's pulled straight out of the 80's and the typesetting/spacing/font/layout choices look rather amateurish. Finally, this one pretty much turned me off right away: the main character used repeatedly throughout as an example is "Nikki", who is... a stripper. And coincidentally, named after the author's wife? I guess she must be okay with it. I think it's great that you're choosing a strong female character as a primary example, but doesn't her work as an "exotic dancer at a gentleman's club" set off any alarm bells? I have women at my table, and while none of us are prudes, this is a definite non-starter for my group. This aspect of Nikki's development only shows up in a handful of the initial "story boxes" for her character - I think a smart editor would have pushed back to sub out those few references for a profession and background that wouldn't immediately turn off a potential 50% of the audience.

There's some value here, and it's not a huge investment. If none of the points I mention are turn offs for you, don't let that stop you from checking it out.

loved the homages to much older zombie stories that have both fast and slow zombies

Note: I've yet to use this book in play, so this is just my overview and thoughts on reading it.

I bought this a while back thinking it was just a zombie setting for Mythras. I like Mythras, I like zombies... so it was a given. Then I got distracted and didn't pay it any more attention. But I finally got around to looking at it today and WOWZA! Seasons Of The Dead is a whole lot more than just a zombie setting... it's tool kit for running gritty post-apocalypse adventures with Mythras Imperative (the basic starter rules for Mythras).

There is plenty of information on zombies of various sorts, but SotD has stats for a host of other creatures as well, natural and unnatural. There are stats for vampires, robots, xenomorphs, pod people, alien parasites... lions, tigers and bears, oh my! It's wide open on whether to use any or all of these threats... or none of them. The book would work fine for an end of the world without any monsters except the human variety. There is information on diseases and poisons and the various dangers of trying to stay alive... but, strangely, I couldn't seem to find any rules about radiation. That seems like a glaring omission. There's a whole chapter on vehicles, so Mad Max is a possibility as well.

The PDF is bookmarked and there is an index, sort of... it's really an expanded version of the contents by chapter. Better than nothing, but not as useful as an actual alphabetized index.

Despite being a tool-kit, SotD definitely favors the grittier end of the post-apocalypse spectrum. There are no radioactive mutations, no giant monsters, no Gamma World wackiness, no magic. It's closer to a 'serious' setting... but with options for some nasty monsters. I'm tempted to say I could emulate the earlier (first and second) Fallout games with it, but I'd still need to add a few things. It could easily find use as a parallel for Mythras' Luther Arkwright game... as an Earth that has fallen into ruinous horror.

One other point, is that graphically this book is not up to the standards of higher end games. Its layout and illustration are closer to those 'monographs' that Chaosium has put out, or various RPG 'zines... except that this 'zine is over 300 pages. This doesn't bother me too much at all, but I know some people prefer their rulebooks pretty.

Overall I'm enthusiastic about seeing what I can do with it on the table, but it is a tool-kit and will require some work regardless of what I use it for.