Welcome to The Zombie Apocolypse!
If you are reading and participating in this thread, please do not read the thread You Are the Zombie Apocalypse!
In this game, you will all collectively create and control a character or group of characters as they attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse. More than likely, you will die, but each time you do you will pick up where you left off, time-line wise, with characters that are tougher and more capable (simply because they are the only ones still alive). The longer you go without dying, however, the better off you will be, as you will be able to meet and add new characters to your part without the penalty of the old ones dying. In addition, your characters may have new abilities revealed as time passes. Many of these will be free as a consequent of fleshing out your character.
For now, you have 4 character points to spend, and one free "body" to start.
Each additional character costs 1 point, and these character's each start with some free basic knowledge and items.
Adding a better than average profession, particularly noteworthy skill, perk, or proficiency to a character costs between one and three points, depending on its range of applicability and its power. Many of these will include your character getting certain possessions or items.
In addition, you can apply several drawbacks to your characters to make them cheaper. I'll go into this a bit more later. A character can never cost less than 0 points total - however, the negatives granted by such drawbacks as "Emotional Attachment" are dependent on the number of drawbacks held by the character they have the attachment to.
Example:
Sven Greenback, Grocery Bagger, 23 (1 point). Knowledge: Dura-Shop Grocery Store Inventory, layout, location.
Skateboarder (1 point) - Skateboard skill, good. Item: Skateboard. Knowledge: Skate Park Locations. Skate Shop Locations.
Motorcyclist (1 point) - Used to driving motorcycles at high speed. Primary mode of transport. Item: Motorcycle.
Forumgoer (1 point) - You maintain a lot of online connections. Usually this consists of playing crappy forum games and debating politics, but some of these contacts may prove useful in a pinch.
Calm (1 point) - You tend to just roll with whatever happens to you. You don't stress out much, and are generally able to just go with the flow no matter how bad things get.
Total Cost: 5 points
Drawbacks
You can recoup some of your points through the application of "drawbacks". Drawbacks can never reduce a character's cost below zero. The basic drawbacks are Reckless, Panicky, Poor Physical Condition, Physical Disability, Dependent, Strong Emotional Attachment, Absent-minded. Obviously, you can feel free to come up with more.
Emotional Attachment is only for extremely strong attachments. It is worth 1 point to start, and then an additional point for every drawback suffered by the other character (to a maximum of 4).
Example:
Donna Reed, Police Officer, 36 (3 points) Items: Pistol (16 rounds), Taser, Billy Club, Police Car, Handcuffs. Knowledge: Precinct Locations, Police Contacts
Athletic (2) Able to run, swim, jump and climb quite well. Good endurance and strength.
Focused (2) Good attention to details, able to work quickly and efficiently.
Aware (2) More likely to sense and process what is happening around you quickly and effectively.
Emotional Attachment: Single Mother (-3) Your daughter is the most important thing in your life. If you were to lose her, you just don't know what you would do.
Total: 6
Maggie Reed, Child, Daughter of Donna Reed (1 point)
Joyful Innocence (1) Just having this character around makes other character's happier.
Dependent (-1) No useful skills or knowledges, depends largely on another character for survival.
Emotional Attachment: Mother (-1) You need your mommy around to feel safe.
Total Cost: 0 points.
The Setting:
The setting is current day, roughly.
Satistics
Each character will have the following statistics
Cool - How well the character is handling what has happened. As this deteriorates, bad things happen to your mental stability. Having a high Distance or a strong social network is essential to maintaining your cool.
Distance - Distance makes a character less susceptible to the effects of trauma, but has other negative side effects. Emotional connections with others will reduce your Distance.
Happiness - How good a mood a character is in. Tends to fluctuate. How close they are to giving up. Bad moods tend to reduce Cool, but it is perfectly possible a a low Cool character to be perfectly happy.
Health - A character's overall physical state. Injuries, disease, and overexertion can all take their toll on this.
Poll
14 (51.9%)
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Topic: Welcome to The Zombie Apocalypse! (Read 5262 times)