When two superpowers exist in the world, it creates friction. Enough friction causes a flame.
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The year is 2012. Petroleum-based technology is becoming more and more rare and expensive, except in the USA. Development of fuel-cell and hydrogen-based vehicles are causing an 'arms race' of civilian economy solutions. Meanwhile since 2008, the United States military has been stockpiling fuel to prepare for the resource to be inevitably tapped out. Other countries begin to run out of natural gas and crude oil, the other temporary solutions. In the end, economies begin to grind to a halt as places of employment and food become hard to get to in the cities, and almost impossible to find in rural areas. In response, the US begin operation 'Last Push', and begin to fuel the country from the many stockpiles around the country - boycotting international trade of the precious resource. China arranges for relatively large quantities to be smuggled out, however the amounts that are entering the country aren't enough to keep anything more than the top level personnel moving. US stockpiles start being raided by 'unaffiliated' personnel, and tensions increase as the US abandon stealth, and garrison a veritable army at each stockpile, setting up a 100km perimeter, and 300km no-fly zone around each.
In the end, a rash order by an infuriated officer ends with the Idaho stockpile being firebombed. A proviso is sent to the US that unless the fuel is directly traded with China, with the US's discretion on price, hefty action will be taken.
In response to this, the US mobilize their armies, and prepare for a full-scale invasion of china. Having no way to mobilize their armies, china launches twelve missiles containing the virus:TD413, Nicknamed '真正的死亡', or 'True Death'. The missiles are comparatively tiny, sneaking past the US nuke defense radar, and landing in various major cities.
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By now it is 2014. The missiles landed almost two months ago and the infection spread rapidly. When the virus hits a host body - usually selectively human, there are four stages of progression.
1. The body shuts down completely, a defense mechanism of the body turned against itself by the virus. While the body is unconscious, the virus overwrites the immune system, and infects the Thalmus and Hypothalmus. This process lasts 1-2 days, and is known as the 'Down' stage - during which time the body is unconscious, appearing dead to all but professional medical equipment.
2. The frontal lobe is shut down, and the rest of the brain re-awakens, with reduced capacity in all but the thalmus and hypothalmus. During this time, the body responds to basic needs- hunger, thirst, tiredness, but will not actively hunt or attack, shambling around with extremely limited senses. While this is happening, the platelet count of the body is boosted extremely high, a lot of water in the lungs is dried up, and the knuckles and digits of the hand begin to mutate. This stage is known as the 'Sleeping' stage, and is relatively harmless. An unlucky survivor may find themselves gnawed in their sleep by these, but they are otherwise passive.
3. Major senses return back online, with a major electrical boost to the olfactory nerves. The red-blood cell and platelet count are now extremely high, and the lungs have expanded and become much more flexible, causing a much faster healing rate, boosted by the virus itself, replacing the t-cells of the body, and an incredible sense of smell, triggered towards the scent of humans. The mutations in the hands have caused the growing of claws, replacing the fingers and knuckles, and the virus begins looking to spread. This stage is known as the 'feeding' stage, and is very dangerous. While not able to match the running speed of most humans, they nevertheless are faster than the shambling 'sleepers', and much more aggressive.
4. Lastly, the frontal lobe is rewired, and comes back online. While the centers of critical reasoning and emotion are still offline, these infected can now use very basic logic and knowledge of physics to achieve their goals- which is now prioritized from - uniformed groups, to large groups, to small groups, to individuals. Unfortunately, all infected will eventually become these 'thinkers', however differences in time are quite drastic from person to person, as accumulated knowledge and memories must be burned out, the virus may be resisted, and a lack of intelligence can impede the rewiring progress. Unexpectedly, the infected in the 'thinking' stage do not direct or lead 'feeders', but instead roam in packs of their own. If a pack of 'thinkers' are encountered, consider yourself doomed if you do not kill them all immediately. Fortifying your position will only last until they sneak in or dismantle the defences, and they will track and hunt down any survivors who run.
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This survival game is based in 'City A', and all player characters are assumed to have the knowledge listed immediately above, through broadcasts or other such media.
I'm going to limit this game to 6 players in total, with a 'wildcard' late entry being thrown in when, or if, the player-pool lowers to three.
The US army have put together a plan. At the time of infection, many radio transmitters were handed out to as many people as possible, with a two single instructions. Survive, and only switch them on on a certain date, the date before the US army will pass through each specific city in turn. For city A, this date is the 21st of August. For you, this is one week away. It is assumed that no players have a transmitter yet.
Each player's objectives are the same, and simple. Obtain a transmitter, via depot, corpse, or zombie, and survive until the end of the week. Once the week is out, the army will pass through the city, demolishing every building that does not have a transmitter signature, and clearing all life from the ones still standing until the signature is reached. Be warned, being in the same building as a person or group with a transmitter will not save you. Grouping up with other players means you can share your transmitter, however the more people together means more incoming infected, and some classes gain various buffs or debuffs, depending on who they group with.
Each day will be split into four blocks of 6 hours, excepting the final day, which will be blocks of one (or two) hours. At least six hours each day must be spent sleeping, otherwise you will drastically lose fatigue.
Let's face it, humans are damn complicated creatures, and your condition reflects this. There are six different conditions, and having each at a bad level will give different debuffs. Some also will affect other conditions depending on their level.
All conditions, despite their name, have all been arranged so that big number = good, and small number = bad. Keep your meters full.
HUNGER (FOD): This is simple- how much you've eaten. Keeping your hunger satisfied is simple- big meals every now and then, or little meals all the time. Lack of FOD will give debuffs to athletic and intellect stats, and increase fatigue.
THIRST (THR): This one can't be fixed as easily as hunger. You're going to need to keep hydrated, and the easiest way to do that is keep water on you, as heavy as it is. A low THR will give debuffs to athletic stats and intellect stats, and can give the 'headache' debuff.
ENERGY (NGY): Energy is how tired you are in the moment - generally a low energy is characterized by the puffing, panting, and wheezing qualities of 'just did heavy exercise'-ness. Your energy will re-fill out of your fatigue, and it's regen rate is determined by how high your fatigue is. Energy defines how much you can do in a turn. Not enough energy, and you're already zombie FOD.
FATIGUE (SLP): Fatigue is how much you need sleep, and the only good way you can increase Fatigue is to get your eight hours, or, six in this case. Note that being incredibly tired won't be solved by one night's rest. Be warned, energy drinks or caffeine will up you NGY, but won't change your SLP, so be ready for that crash.
HEALTH (HP): Health is your physical wellbeing, i.e. the daily accumulation of bumps, cuts, scratches and punctures. Low health quite literally means you're dying, and will impact your energy. Every condition will in a small way increase your health regen, so if you want to get better faster, be well bandaged, well fed, and well rested.
SANITY (MP): Sanity is how much your current completely screwed situation is getting to you. If your sanity goes too low, you run the risk of acting erratically, freezing up, or even passing out. The easiest ways to restore sanity is to not see zombies for a bit. Having a transmitter, and being in a (reasonably) secure location both also increase sanity.
Stats are, well, your vital statistics. They can be characterized as thus.
Athleticism:
Strength: This is your physical power- How hard you can hit, how many hits you can take, and how much health you have. Watch out though, because big people need to eat and sleep more.
Speed: This is how quick you are, in running, reflexes, and how fast you can move.
Flexibility: This is the power behind any climbing, acrobatics, or squeezing through small areas. It and speed combine for dodge chance, and flexibility also helps you avoid being grappled.
Focus:
Accuracy: Anything from recurve to .308, this is behind it. With points in this, shoot to wound becomes shoot to kill.
Perception: This is your sixth sense for danger, your seventh sense for loot, and your eighth sense for everything else which the first seven don't cover.
Detail: Paint brushes, needle nose pliers and scalpels all go in here. People with a lot of detail have nice steady hands, which covers everything from surgeon to handyman. Also increases your critical chance.
Intellect:
Logic: Logic is seeing a problem and solving it. People with a high logic have a higher sanity, and can make 'plans', which give your desired outcome a lower energy cost next turn, provided you follow it.
Maths: Maths is the basis behind 'How do I put a table, a chair, a fruitbowl and a chandelier together so that they don't fall over?' Directly affects the solidarity of barricades, as well as helping with other engineering-related problems.
Lateral: Lateral thinking is your intellectual crit-chance- your ability to come up with ideas that should not actually work, and make them work anyway. A person who uses lateral problem solving can find the effectiveness of their action increased a lot, or the energy used for it decreased the same. Or both. Who knows how these guys tick.
Each class will have a different cap on how high each stat can go, as well as a certain amount of points to divide between them.
Perks are the little things about You which you pick on a level-up or on start up. You have points which you can use to choose them, and each of them usually give a buff to a certain area of expertise, or a certain situation. The full list of start-up perks will be shown in the next post.
Traits happen by themselves during the course of your staying-alive adventure. Certain actions you take in certain situations will cause you to gain traits, and traits can have both buffs or debuffs, or both.
There are four different classes in the game.
Hero
Zombie killing is my business, and I'm making profits boom
Heroes are those people who are just bigger, stronger, and smarter than everyone else. They can be the natural born leader, or the nerd who always kept his zombie survival kit on him. These guys are better than your average person, and have a much better survivability, however they work best alone, and can have problems with clashing egos.
Heroes can stack each individual stat up to 5.
Heroes get 36 stat points to start.
Heroes get 2 perks to start.
Heroes get a perk every level.
Heroes have fairly little aggro.
Heroes gain debuffs when grouped with Heroes.
Heroes gain buffs when grouped with Survivors.
Heroes gain debuffs when grouped with uninfected.
Heroes gain debuffs when grouped with Marines.
Survivors
Safety in numbers, Survival of the fittest
Survivors are groups of your average civilians who have banded together in an attempt to make their lives last longer. When you start, you start with two survivors, and you can use each survivor autonomously, as long as they don't stray too far from each other, which gives you the option to have a band of specialists. However, because survivors stay in groups, they're more likely to provoke zombie attack. Survivors work well under leadership, so a hero would give them confidence. However, they are prone to fear.
Survivors can stack each individual stat to 4.
Survivors get 26 stat points to start
Survivors start with 1 perk
Survivors get a perk every 2 levels
Survivors have fairly high aggro.
Survivors gain buffs around heroes.
Survivors gain buffs around survivors.
Survivors gain debuffs around uninfected.
Survivors gain debuffs around Marines.
The Uninfected
I think, therefore I mustn't be
The Uninfected are those one in a million people who resisted the disease, and now have a natural immunity. Some were barely more than sleepers, some hunted and ate before their awakening. Either way, the virus left you in a hell of a state. Physically weak and depleted, you don't entirely resemble a human anymore, and spending a lot of time around survivors always carries a risk, especially if they share food or water with you. But hey, you start with kickass claws, with a tiny chance to uninfect any zombie you attack, and are virtually invincible. Like it or not, the uninfected are the best chance for humanity's future.
The uninfected can stack each individual stat up to 3.
The Uninfected get 20 stat points to start.
The uninfected get 1 perk at startup.
The uninfected get 1 perk per 3 levels.
The uninfected have incredibly low aggro.
The uninfected are unnaffected by heroes
The uninfected are unaffected by survivors.
The uninfected gain a buff from grouping with uninfected
The uninfected cannot group with marines.
Marines
This is alpha-golf-niner - situation is officially FUBAR
You're a marine, usually one of the guys who were handing out the transmitters, or one of the tiny pockets still left in the US. But now you're on your own, and your only concern is to get a transmitter and hold tight, and kill every freak that comes at you. Good ol' army training has taught you to view civilians as people who will get you killed, so there's no point ganging up with them. But, you start with superior equipment, as long as that lasts.
Marines can stack each individual stat up to 4
Marines start with 30 stat points
Marines start with 1 perk
Marines gain a perk every 2 levels
Marines have incredibly high aggro
Marines gain a debuff from grouping with Heroes or Survivors, and cannot group with infected.
Marines gain a large buff from grouping with other Marines.
Each class has their own strengths and weaknesses, and all can be adapted to different play-styles.
As you move through the game, you'll come across 'remnants'. Basically, left over survivors. A remnant will enjoy you finding him and give you a little supplies, however how you act upon finding him is entirely dependent on you and your class.
-Hero-
Save: This causes the remnant to now follow you around. He'll be a reasonably useless NPC, cannon fodder at best.
Kill: You can kill the remnant, and take his supplies. Useful if you're low on them yourself.
Leave: Bypass difficult decisions and just leave him. You still get the supply boost for finding them though.
-Survivor-
Join: The remnant now become another PC with a randomised skillset. Enjoy, however, remember the higher your body count, the easier you are to find.
Kill: Put him out of his misery, take his stuff. Always an option.
Leave: And turn and walk away. Let's just assume that all classes have these two options from here on in.
-Uninfected-
Feed: Get a major health boost. You monster.
Save: The remnant will join you as an NPC for two turns. He can't stick around forever, lest he get infected. During that time, you'll have increased energy and fatigue, as he helps treat whatever nasties are taking apart your system.
Kill.
Leave.
-Marine-
That's it. Kill and leave is your only options. Marines don't work with civvies.
Combat in this game has different complexities depending on melee or ranged fighting. Usually a group of zombies will be noticed before the start of your next turn, giving you time to make complex actions. However, if you come across a zombie while exploring, I will send you a PM with the various details of the group, and the option to fight or flee. When combat has resolved, your character will seek to bandage any wounds before continuing with that turn's actions. Combat itself will be broken down into 2 second turns, until you die or all hostiles die. Also watch out, the sounds of fighting will cause more enemies to hear you.
Ranged Combat
In ranged, accuracy is as much a concern as speed or detail - zombies can't shoot you, but they will start heading for you as soon as your first shot gets off, so the speed of your reload counts. With a decent accuracy, most shots will be headshots, and all other shots are usually pretty useless, unless the gun is big enough.
Distance is split into three categories. Long range, optimal range, and close range.
Long range is when something is small on the scope. It gives no bonus to hit.
Optimal range is the proper range for that gun. It gives a 1+ bonus to hit.
Close range is when something fills the scope. It is almost impossible to miss, however taking shots at this range is very risky, especially with rifles.
For Long or optimal range, your accuracy and detail are added together, +1 for optimal range, and rolled against the distance they are away from you. You'll automatically target the fastest zombie unless otherwise specified. After the shot is taken, your speed will be taken into account for your reload, however too low sanity or too low detail will cause you to fumble if changing clips, and too low strength will cause you to take longer to recover from recoil. During this time, the zombie has moved closer, and it rolls again.
Melee Combat
For melee combat, there are three important factors. How much damage you can put in, how fast, how much damage you take on armor or dodge, and how long your weapon is. Simply put, a sledgehammer which doesn't require you to get close to the undead is a lot safer than a combat knife, however one may do a lot more damage. Finding the perfect weapon to take apart zombies with is a long journey, but you have a city to choose from, so take heart in that.
During your hit in melee, your strength determines how much damage you do, with the particular type of damage that your weapon provides, and your perception will help you pick any weak points to attack. After your attack has finished, your recovery is determined by your speed and strength- More on speed for a light weapon, and more on strength with a heavy weapon. If you recover before the zombie attacks, you will be able to fend or dodge the zombie.
During the zombie's hit, it will attempt to attack or grapple you. When it attacks you, your reactions will roll in this order, dodge, fend, block and armor. Dodge indicates you stepping out of range of the zombie, so that you have time for a second swing. Fending is when you use your weapon to push the zombie back, however after fending you require another recovery before your attack. Blocking indicates you using your arm, or a part of your weapon to stop the zombie's attack from reaching anything vital- however blocking an attack will still cause you damage to your health or armor. And armor is when the attack successfully gets through, in which case it will hit whatever you are wearing on a particular area.
Grappling works much the same way, except that a zombie who grapples will not attack that turn, and in return will ignore block or armor on the grapple, and will ignore all saves on the next turn it hits. When you are being grappled, you have dodge, fend, or struggle. Dodge and fend work the same way as attacking, however struggling is after you've been grappled, and are trying to slip free. This rolls on speed, and heavily on flexibility.
Injuries
So you've been hit by a zombie, and taken some damage. Injuries are going to happen, however they all have a very high risk of infection, for all but the uninfected.
Injuries come in three categories- minor injuries, serious injuries, and critical injuries. Depending on what percentage of your current health you've lost on this particular attack, you will gain one of these three injuries.
All injuries roll on a 1d6 for damage.
Minor Injury Breakdown. 1= Completely fine. 2,3= Infected (Game over). 4,5 = Slight bleeding (Staunch the bleeding in the next two turns, or it will become a serious injury) 6 = Roll on Serious Injury
Serious Injury Breakdown. 1= Roll on Minor Injury. 2-4= Infected (Game over). 5 = Heavy bleeding (Staunch the bleeding in the next two turns, or it will become a critical injury). 6= Roll on Critical Injury.
Critical Injury Breakdown. 1= Roll on Serious Injury. 2-5 Infected (Game over). 6= You have died. (Game Over)
Even the smallest injuries have a chance of infection, so your best chance is to not get bitten.
You will gain experience for every successful action, as well as a substantial experience boost at the end of each day you've survived. Enough experience = next level.
Level ups are relatively useless, other than small boosts to combat, and the ability to pick perks every few levels, depending on class.
Turns will be every 24 hours, or when everyone gets their turn in, whichever comes earliest. If you miss a turn, it's assumed you spent your turn pondering the complexities of the zombie apocalypse.
Your turn, however, is very freeform, and you can attempt to use any inventory item on any object in your environment, or any combination of the two. If you want to get somewhere fast, then specify running or jogging, and if you want to hole up, specify barricading. Keep in mind, though, that moving around a lot will attract feeders, and staying in one place for a long time will attract thinkers.
As a six hour block is relatively huge, you can specify a goal for that turn, and depending on your logic, maths and lateral thinking skills, I might change certain actions to increase or decrease the energy use. If you use too much energy for that section of time, there will be a pause while your energy recharges before you can continue your task. If you end your action with a good amount of time and energy to spare, then I will PM you, asking if you want to throw anything in on the end.
- any remnants a survivor finds will have random stats.
- sanity is actually very based on class. Having a high logic makes you regain sanity around comfortable situations, and having a high lateral makes you lose less in strange situations. For instance, a person with 5 logic and 0 lateral would actually lose sanity if they saw one of their companions jury-rig up a tesla coil using a powerline, three potatoes and a matchbox.
-1. I've made the mechanics pretty simple to make up for the complexity of everything else. Basically, perks let you do things, Stats make those things happen better, and your crit stats make you more likely to get better outcomes. In fact, the game is actually pretty flawed in that if you have 0 lateral or 0 detail, you can't actually crit.
2. Nope. Marines will get better equipment all 'round, and each Hero will start with a minor-ly game-breaking item. Survivors will, of course, start with twice the supplies, but use twice the supplies. And Uninfected start without food or much equipment.
- Also, on that note, I won't be putting 'You see a baseball bat, twelve shillings, a toy bird' etc. in. Otherwise the first supermarket you walk into would eat up all of my time. Instead, because you have six hour blocks, just say something like 'Go to the supermarket, search for a weapon', or 'Go to the supermarket, search for food'.
If you search, though, you'll stop on the first one you find. If you put 'Collect food for x hours', then you'll keep grabbing some until you either won't be able to move, or can't find anymore. If you put 'collect x food', then you'll spend as long as it takes trying to find that quantity.
After you post your name, class, stats and optional backstory, I'll give you your max conditions, carry weight, items held and other necessities.
Please remember I'm keeping the players limited to 6.
How you survive is up to you. As long as you survive.
Good luck.
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Topic: Tack's Zombie Survival. (Read 7963 times)