I downloaded this today and I'm really enjoying it; but I'm not doing so well. I randomly generated a nearsighted character with "pain tolerance" who rarely, if ever, left Intense Pain after getting smacked around by some zombies, no matter how much aspirin I took, any resting done, first aid, bandages, heck, even reading hurt. I'm a bit confused on this, but whatever.
Can a noob like myself get some pointers on how not to die? :U
Your starting house will always have a basement which is (a.) useful as an early shelter, and (b.) which always contain useful stuff, from medicines to melee weapons to assault rifles and ammo. As for useful perks to take: Fleet Footed and Optimist are both pretty much required, the former because it lets you outrun most normal enemies, and the latter because it gives you an automatic, permanent +6 to morale, which means that by default you will
always be gaining exp, rather than having to rely on drugs, booze, books and mp3 players. One thing you should pick up early on is a drama novel, because it gives you a pretty good morale boost, which can be useful if you're trying to recover from a serious injury, or if you get wet or something.
Also: Take a high INT score if you want to do anything beyond hiding in houses killing zombies, as a INT of 11 will let you read almost every stat-boosting book, which really helps focus your exp on combat skills.
Another one: Don't eat the mushrooms you find in the woods, because they can give you some wierd-ass hallucinations.