I wonder if the Player Creator might even be that tool. There are probably technical reasons why it wouldn't work, but the game clearly knows how to assemble the player choices and represent them in the world, even with various gear combinations.
A related idea that comes to mind is that when a character dies, couldn't there be a one-time zombie that, well... was that character? Instead of dropping a backpack, the dang thing could keep carrying it around now in zombie form. 