They say the land you live on was once a lush “Eden”. The natural plant and animal life was peaceful and plentiful, nobody ever starved. The water was so clean you could drink out of a river. The technology was incredibly advanced. The medical science allowed everyone to live for centuries, with only violent death ever ending lives, and violent death was rare.
No one seems to know how much of that is true and how much is myth, but one thing is for sure. Compared to the current world, it certainly was Eden.
There was a massive war. Nuclear, chemical, biological, and unknown weapons of mass destruction ravished the landscape. The natural wildlife was perverted, some say accidentally some say purposefully, to angry killing machines. The rivers are polluted with radiation and deadly chemicals. People struggle to hold on to any technology they can find. And people die. It is rare to live to middle age in most cities.
The nations, if they had existed after all, had broken up into small city-states. These checker the landscape. Each is unique, in law, technology, and even terrain. Some are bustling cities with skyscrapers, running water, and even robotic servants. Some are little more than a hole in the ground, with tents made out of putrid leather, tasteless alcohol in place of water, and lice ridden slaves. But each are small, the area of influence is typically less than twenty miles. Each is far apart.
The only job that can get work anywhere seems to be a mercenary. Fortunately, you are a mercenary. A hired gun that wanders the land.
Your personality and circumstance could be anything. You could be a man of justice, who left his home state to make the world a better place, or a sadist who was kicked out. You could be a rich man who got bored one day, or someone who has to take any job just to survive. The only thing that all mercenaries have in common is the job.
Will you be clever enough to survive and flourish as an Apocalypse Mercenary?
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Character Creation
Name:
Items:
Int:
End:
Str:
Gun:
Mle:
Agi:
Bio:
Mode:
Status:
Additional:
Breakdown-
Name. This is what your character is called. It can be a name we have on Earth, or one native to the city you came from. Not much gameplay effect, but more exotic names are easier to remember. After all, who are you going to remember more, the man who’s named John Smith or the guy going around yelling “I AM DON DALA AFT VON FLUFFY!”? Of course, being well known can be either good or bad, so be careful.
Items. The equipment you have. Most items are self-explanatory. Weapons are similar to what we find on Earth, strikingly so. While in this story Japan and Russia may not have existed, you will still find Katana and Ak-47s.
An important thing to remember as a mercenary is that you have a limited amount you can carry, and on harder “modes” have to take care of your equipment. You might think walking around with a .50 BMG ant material rifle sound cool, but the gun and ammunition are incredibly heavy and require a lot of service to work properly.
Weapon damage is based off of caliber, and aim is based on your Gun skill and particular weapon/situation. Your starting items will be assigned to you based off of the other factors, but you can request something if you have a preference.
Stats (Int,End,Str, Gun,Mle, Agi)
Stats are what define your character. Is he smart and weak? Is he good with guns but as delicate as a flower? Strong and fast, but his motorcycle is smarter than him?
To keep things simple, there are several “categories” that each stat has
Horrible
Poor
Average
Above Average
Great
There are more, but that is all you need at creation. Each stat starts out at “Average”, and you can lower it or raise it by lowering another stat the same amount. For example, to raise the Gun stat to “Great”, I could lower my Melee stat to “Horrible”. You can also split the penalty to two stats, so if I wanted a weak gunner I could raise Gun to “Great”, lowering Strength and Melee to “Poor”.
Bio: The story of your character so far. It should include a brief description of his home state and the reason you left, as well as any flavor you want to add. It should also include current location and what they are doing there, this could be their home civilization if they haven’t left yet.
Mode: There are three game “modes” detailing how the game will be played. The modes are “Realistic”, “Medium”, and “Cinematic”. Generally, these mods detail how difficult and realistic the game is.
Realistic mode-The most difficult mode. You have to eat, drink, and sleep regularly. Ammunition may be difficult to come by, depending on your weapon choice. Weapons jam easier and are more difficult to repair. Wounds are slow and difficult to heal, and bleeding can be a real problem. Almost all rolls are more difficult as well. If you want to play a somewhat-realistic survival game, this is the mode you want.
Cinematic mode- The least difficult. Eating or drinking heals you a little but isn’t necessary, you almost never run out of ammunition and your weapons never jam. Your carrying capacity is increased. You can shrug off enemy attacks and heal rapidly. All rolls are easier. If you want to play a mercenary with a desert eagle in each hand, this is the mode you are looking for.
Medium mode- take a guess. You still have to eat, drink, and sleep, but not nearly as often as in Realistic mode. Ammunition has to be found, but is abundant. Guns may jam if you treat them really bad. You don’t bleed, but need medical treatment or a healing item to heal quickly. Generally, this is like the average character in a video game.
Be aware that what mode you choose also applies to the enemies. If you’re an action hero in Cinematic mode shrugging off enemy fire, then the bandit leader you’re fighting is also an action star who can shrug off small arms fire.
Status- Wounded, bleeding, poisoned, tired, hungry, thirst….those kinds of things, and whatever else I have to note here.
Additional- Anything I forgot. More of a place holder, really.
With that, let’s start!