Topic: Surviving Hell in New Angeles (Zombie Apocalypse) 0/5 slots open

[Caitlin]

Greetings everybody,

I'm organising a zombie apocalypse game that has its inspiration from L4D (zombies & behaviour, survivor aspects), Resident Evil (plot) and Dawn of the Dead (plot & survivor aspects) as well as various other zombie movies, like 28 weeks later. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, we lost 2 of our original 5 members and are hoping to replace them with eager participants.

The set up of this game is a little bit different from what you're used to with other games in E. We fill in a template that explains the skills of your characters and share this with the other participants. We also write a biography for our characters, but we don't share the biographies with anybody. The reason for this is that the survivors are all random people who don't know each other when they meet up. Through in-character dialogue and actions people will get to know one anothers' characters.

There is a strong focus on character development, but next to that I've also developed a very interesting storyline. The story is set up in such a way that there is an overarching plot, which also leaves a lot of freedom to the players and let them shape the story. Since the story only just started a new IC thread will be started with the introduction story. The previous IC topic will be abandoned, so that we can make a fresh start with the new people that join in. The game is set up in such a way that there is also plenty of room for future games that are set in the same universe as this one.

As I said, I'm only looking for 1, maybe 2 replacements. Each of the current participants roleplays at least 2 characters and possibly this number will increase later on in the roleplay.

What we expect from participants

• No god moding whatsoever, our characters are based on real life physics; which means no dual wielding with guns or single-handedly taking down massive numbers of zombies.
• No super soldier characters (police officers or war veterans are allowed, but no special ops or SWAT)
• Active participation with 1 post a day (if you have real life interfering then please inform us ahead of time in the OOC thread).

There are some other rules, but those are the most important ones. 

List of current characters
Caitlin Walker - Nurse (Caitlin)
Carl Johnson - Priest (Caitlin)
Katherine James - Police woman (Wiccaangel311)
Samantha Bones - High school student (Wiccaangel311)
Rebecca Lawson - High school student (AribethAmkiir)
Anthony Burkhart - High school student (AribethAmkiir)
Todd Burkhart - Business owner (AribethAmkiir)

I added additional background information in the spoilers, it's quite a read, but it should answer a lot of questions already.

If you have additional questions or want more information then feel free to ask!

[Caitlin]

I went over the maximum amount of allowed characters in the previous post, so the introduction story is put in the spoiler below.

[TheHangedMan]

Hello. Definitely interested in playing, but, I am curious; is the game already ongoing? If so, could I have an idea of any big events that might have happened, and which some survivor elsewhere in the city may have observed or heard about?

Character Sheet (WIP)

GENERAL
Name: Redrick Schuhart
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: October 31st, 1987
Profession: Chef
Sexual preference: Straight

TRAITS
Dexterity - 2
Intelligence -  5
Perception -  4
Stamina - 4
Strength - 2
Willpower - 4

SKILLS
Fighting (melee weapons): 2
Fighting (unarmed): 1
Shooting (compound bow): 1
Shooting (1 handed guns): 1
Shooting (2 handed guns; shotguns/ rifles): 1
Using demolitions (explosives)*: 1
Applying First Aid: 2
Cooking: 4
Performing Surgery*: 1
Hunting: 1
Setting Traps: 3
Sewing: 1
Sneaking: 3
Driving: 1
Flying (airplanes/ helicopters)*: 1
Engineering*: 1
Hacking Computers*: 1
Lock-picking: 1
Repairing Equipment: 1
Researching (science; inventing cures, vaccines)*: 3

Verification skills
1 point x  =
2 points x  =
3 points x  =
4 points x  =
5x points x  =
Total:

[AribethAmkiir]

Hey HangedMan,

The game is actually being restarted.  We've written our character's intros, and met up at a mall, but that's it.  The "big events" are noted in the intro in Caitlin's second post.  It reads basically as a run down of how the infection spread and what happened throughout the city in the five days leading up to where the characters meet in the mall. 

The intros we've written we plan to still use, but they basically only follow our individual characters through the same time frame and roughly depict how the characters arrived at the mall.

The outbreak is pretty much centralized to the downtown areas (most densely populated areas) until around day 4-5 at which time the zombies begin appearing around the city's outskirts.  As a writer you have quite a bit of freedom depicting what your character(s) experienced during that time period as long as it roughly coincides with the introduction.  Meaning your character likely didn't know anything was really happening until the Mayor imposed the curfew and then rumors start circulating and so forth.

[Latooni Subota]

I am SO interested in this! I have a lot of that info to still read through, but I'm definately interested in playing.

[CDark]

This could be pretty promising, and since Latooni's brought it to my attention, and the fact that I could actually probably come up with a character for it, I suppose I'll give it a shot! I got a lot of reading as well!

[Caitlin]

Linna PMed me after the thread started as well, but he didn't have time at that moment to post a template. Currently we only have room for 2 additional people at most, this is the 1st game I'm organising on E and I prefer to start with 5 people at most. As a result I'm afraid that some people will end up being disappointed.

A small side note with the template; keep in mind that skills that are set to Terrible can't increase at all. If something is set to Bad then other characters can help a character train at that aspect. Additionally, the * skills must have some logic to your character's profession, for example, a nurse or biology teacher could have average research skills for vaccines and a biologist good or even excellent, but a fireman would have this skill set to terrible or bad.

If those that are interested could also post their template then I can talk it over with the other members which character we think makes the best match with the rest. Preferably we see each participant join with 2 characters, though one character doesn't need to be immediately part of the main group.

I'm expecting a high activity in this thread with at least 1 good update every day (which is between 0,5 - 1 page of text, preferably more), so if you're not sure you can fulfil that requirement then please don't post a template. We had a bit of a slow start with this game, but it's time to really rock that thread now.


Oh and good luck with all the reading people.

I realise it's quite a bit, but that's what makes the story so much fun. I hope to have a game that has the quality of a really good novel that you just can't put down. ^_^

[TheHangedMan]

I don't think I'll be quite able to handle that much writing, so I'll pass. Wish you luck, though, Caitlin, and that everyone will have a pleasant time with the game.

[Caitlin]

Thanks for being honest hangedman, I really appreciate that.

We had some trouble at the beginning with one person's activity and it really slowed things down. I realise that many people are very involved in other games already and I hope to find those few that really want to set 30 - 60 minutes a day aside for catching up and posting their own post.

[Miyu]

are you still looking?

[Caitlin]

Yes, we still are.

Several people showed interest, but I'd like to see their character templates too and preferably a confirmation that people can really spend 30 - 60 minutes a day on this game. (The time mostly depends on how quick people can write, but including catching up 30 minutes is probably a good minimum to keep in mind.)

[Miyu]

GENERAL
Name: Jennifer Johnson
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: July 18'th 1985
Profession: University Student
Sexual preference: Bisexual

TRAITS
Dexterity - 3
Intelligence - 5
Perception - 5
Stamina - 3
Strength - 3
Willpower - 2

SKILLS
Fighting (melee weapons)-3
Fighting (unarmed)-1
Shooting (compound bow)-4
Shooting (1 handed guns)-1
Shooting (2 handed guns; shotguns/ rifles)-1
Using demolitions (explosives)-1
Applying First Aid-4
Cooking-5
Performing Surgery-2
Hunting-1
Setting Traps-1
Sewing-4
Sneaking-1
Driving-3
Flying (airplanes/ helicopters)*-1
Engineering* -1
Hacking Computers*-4
Lock-picking-4
Repairing Equipment-2
Researching (science; inventing cures, vaccines)-2

Verification skills
1 point x  =9
2 points x  = 3
3 points x  = 2
4 points x  = 5
5x points x  = 1
Total: 46

[Caitlin]

Hi Miyu, your template looks nice, but please keep in mind that we only allow for 1 excellent skill. Also keep in mind that if you set something to terrible you won't be able to improve that skill at all, while you can improve skills that are set to bad. We hope to add some realism to the characters that way, while also preventing god moding and promoting cooperation between characters. Some characters are better at some things than others are and the game is set up in such a way that we can have our characters teach skills to other characters too (assuming the 'student' character is bad or average at something).
Section 4.2 of the game information explains this better.

To see the full list of which characters have what skill set to excellent you can click on this link. (It also gives a nice example of what the other characters are like.)

In general it's recommendable to set at least melee weapons/ unarmed/ 1 hand guns to bad, since you more or less otherwise prevent your character from using those.

[Miyu]

ehh she is good with bow I know I needed a way to defend herself

[Caitlin]

True, but keep in mind you can't carry infinite arrows with you and you might want to have some back up skills for that (even if they'd just be set to bad). You can keep things the way they are if you want though, except for the 5 excellent skills.

Taking something as excellent is really a skill that people excel at and thus only 1 excellent is allowed. Generally this is also linked to a profession that a character has, for example, my nurse has excellent first aid, while a master chef can have excellent cooking, or a mechanic excellent engineering.

What's your character's year of birth by the way?

[Miyu]

Raised up a bit of closed armed combat and reduced the five excellent skills. I have no idea on the year the rp is taking place so I would not know bout the birthyear. She is 26 years old

[Caitlin]

The story starts on May 23 2012, so that'd make your year of birth 1985. (See also the 1st reply for the introduction story.)

[Miyu]

done

[arkhos]

With the addition of Miyu, are you folks still looking for one more?

[Latooni Subota]

I am significantly less enthused about the arbitrary minimum post length. If I joined the game, I wouldn't be thinking about enjoying the game at times, I'd be thinking about making sure I'm writing the 'correct' amount of words and getting annoyed. I did that for 5 years on another forum, until I finally couldn't stand the setting and playerbase anymore because of how un-fun it had gotten, filling up my posts with pointless fluff when a smaller post would've fit better and read smoother. I'm gonna back out now.

[CDark]

I unfortunately have to agree. Arbitrary minimum post lengths are okay, within reason, but half a page or a full page is deeefinitely a little out of my enjoyability range, due to my own past experiences. I'm also taking my leave, good luck with the game!

[Caitlin]

With the addition of Miyu, are you folks still looking for one more?

We're still looking yes.

I am significantly less enthused about the arbitrary minimum post length. If I joined the game, I wouldn't be thinking about enjoying the game at times, I'd be thinking about making sure I'm writing the 'correct' amount of words and getting annoyed. I did that for 5 years on another forum, until I finally couldn't stand the setting and playerbase anymore because of how un-fun it had gotten, filling up my posts with pointless fluff when a smaller post would've fit better and read smoother. I'm gonna back out now.

I unfortunately have to agree. Arbitrary minimum post lengths are okay, within reason, but half a page or a full page is deeefinitely a little out of my enjoyability range, due to my own past experiences. I'm also taking my leave, good luck with the game!

I suppose that I could have worded it better. Sometimes it's not practical to write half a page in a single post, but any addition should really be more than 2 or 3 lines. In some cases we'll have 3 or 4 short posts that follow each other quickly.

Of course we'll do what's most logical and makes for the best fit/ read. If that's a short post at that moment then that's okay too, but what I hope to prevent is having lots of really short posts that make the roleplay look more like a conversation than really a roleplay.

[Latooni Subota]

So can I take it that you wouldn't mind my average posting length floating between 2 and 3 paragraphs, depending on how much input my character has on a situation and whatnot? If that's not a problem, then I WOULD stick with trying to join the game, since I do love the concept (and I've seen that you and Aribeth are awesome )

[Caitlin]

*Blushes*

2 - 3 paragraphs sounds fine yes, I hope to reveal the final selection of 2 additional people later today and reboot the story either tonight or tomorrow.

Despite this being an adult site, it's more fun if the story focusses on the survival aspect and have people really describe their inner conflicts, over writing hot steamy scenes. Though those will undoubtedly be part of the story, it's not what the main story is about. Relationships will be roleplayed like real relationships, rather than some quick & cheap pleasure.

I really hope to have a memorable roleplay with a story that approaches the level of a novel.

[theoakenchilde]

I see you're still looking for players!

I hope you'll forgive I've only concocted one character for you at this point in time, but I ran across your thread and could not help tossing something your way, as the genre of 'zombie apocalypse' interests me greatly. If it is necessary I create another, please let me know! I may have overlooked information about professions, so if I need to doctor the sheet, don't be afraid to point me in the right direction.

"Julian"

GENERAL
Name: Julian 'Boo' Braddock.
Gender: Male.
Date of Birth: August 25th, 1980.
Profession: Hunter/survivalist.
Sexual preference: Females. Heterosexual.

TRAITS
Dexterity - 3
Intelligence - 5
Perception - 5
Stamina - 1
Strength - 4
Willpower - 3

SKILLS
Fighting (melee weapons) - 3
Fighting (unarmed) - 3
Shooting (compound bow) - 4
Shooting (1 handed guns) - 1
Shooting (2 handed guns; shotguns/ rifles) - 4
Using demolitions (explosives)* - 1
Applying First Aid - 4
Cooking - 3
Performing Surgery* - 1
Hunting - 5
Setting Traps - 3
Sewing - 1
Sneaking - 4
Driving - 4
Flying (airplanes/ helicopters)* - 1
Engineering* - 1
Hacking Computers* - 1
Lock-picking - 2
Repairing Equipment - 3
Researching (science; inventing cures, vaccines)* - 3

Verification skills
1 point x  = 8
2 points x  = 1
3 points x  = 6
4 points x  = 5
5x points x  = 1
Total: 50