Topic: "The Colony" Adaptation - Post-Apocalyptic Survival

[Sashira]

This group game idea is based on the TV show "The Colony", a survival reality show where several specialists are brought together with minimal resources to try to rebuild civilization after a fictional disaster. Except in our version, the disaster is real, and their resources will be even more limited. Those who want to familiarize themselves with the show can find it for free on YouTube, but it isn't really necessary.

The premise is that a group of people with specialized skills have been brought together for the next season of this reality show. Some of them have skills directly related to survival and rebuilding - i.e. engineering, field survival, medical skills. Others have been brought in because of their celebrity or to make the show more interesting by including more "normal" people - possible roles might be a model, a writer, a waitress, etc. You can check out the range of people who were on the first two seasons here and here.

They are supposed to be transported to a lush meadow near a stream of running water, with equipment and supplies useful for survival strategically hidden throughout the area. However, while they are in Los Angeles shooting their introduction interviews, a biological agent is released by terrorists - a form of airborne rabies that acts extremely rapidly. In the streets thousands lie dead, while those with stronger constitutions roam the streets wild-eyed and enraged, biting anyone that comes close. The humans who were inside with the windows closed when it happened - including our group - are now left to survive in a hostile city where competition for resources is fierce, basic services like water and power no longer function, and empty cars fill the freeways. They must work together to survive, and eventually find a way to travel cross-country to the sustainable valley staked out by the production company.

Ideally I would like 5-8 people in this game, all with different specialties. There is only one rule for character creation: you must state a primary specialty of your character, and for this one field you may use reference materials. A nurse might look up medical terms or treatments, an engineer the names of various mechanical parts, etc. For any other skills your character may possess, you may only use your own personal knowledge. For those who want to play more of a "regular person", your specialty may be something not directly related to survival, i.e. Modeling, Belly Dancing, Writing. You will be considered to be awesome at your specialty, and can write your character as though they were one of the best at that particular thing.

Any interest?

[FreedomJazzDance]

Hey Sashira!
I'd be potentially interested in participating in this role playing game. I read what you had for an idea and concept and it sounds like it could be a blast! Is there some sort of form you'd like filled out for interested parties?

[Sashira]

Huh, it probably would be a good idea to have a character sheet, wouldn't it? Here you go.

Code: [Select]

[b]Player:[/b]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[b]Specialty:[/b]
[b]Other Skills:[/b]
[b]Sexual Orientation & Fetishes:[/b]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Background:[/b]
[b]Possessions:[/b]
A note on possessions: please be reasonable, keeping in mind that characters only packed for a video shoot, expecting most survival basics to be provided; though I could see them having some few items relating to their specialty, e.g. a logger's favorite axe. I encourage people to have character pics, though they're also welcome to describe themselves.

[FreedomJazzDance]

Sorry! Couldn't find a photo that fit the character image. ^.^;
Player: FreedomJazzDance
Name: Billie-Ray Bobswhick
Age: 30
Appearance: Billie is a tall and lean, muscular fellow, his body hardened from years of living out in the wild alone. His face is somewhat handsome, though admittedly it would be more so if it weren't for the fact that his nose is quite noticeably crooked, broken in a bar fight many years ago. He has a rather scruffy beard, with short brown hair that's starting to gray prematurely at the temples and dark green eyes that sparkle slightly, though he hardly ever smiles. For the show he decided to dress in his 'best' clothing: a pair of jeans, hiking boots, a red checkered flannel shirt and a leather jacket. 
Specialty: Wilderness survival expert.
Other Skills:Hunting/Tracking
Sexual Orientation & Fetishes: Heterosexual, anal sex, dominant.
Personality: Billie is rather a silent figure. Years of living out alone in the wild have made him slightly taciturn and uncomfortable around people (how he ever managed to get on the show is truly a miracle). Yet when he speaks, it is with confidence and determination. Billie hardly ever makes a 'wrong' decision. Certainly, some of the outcomes may not be the best, but in his mind, they always are the right ones. He is somewhat stubborn when it comes to things he believes strongly about, and is very thick-skinned. In short, not much bothers the man, except that he gets easily frustrated with modern technology. He hardly has any patience for 'new-fangled' equipment like computers and cell phones and the like.
Background: Somewhere down the road in life, Billie got fed up with people in general. He was working a dead-end job deep in the heart of the south, with no sign of advancement in sight. His coworkers hated him for his quiet, slightly standoffish nature, his family hadn't spoken to him in years (they were all country folk who couldn't stand to see their son getting eaten up by the big city), and more importantly the woman of his  dreams thought he was the meanest, cruelest person on the planet. It was at that point, that the man snapped and fled the city, retreating back into the woods. With what little money he had, he got himself set up in a nice cozy shack where for the most part he had to fend for himself. And so he lived for a number of years, living off the land with only a few amenities.

It was just after his thirtieth birthday that Billie heard about the show "The Colony." One of the few relatives who still spoke to him had bought him a TV and the first thing he saw was an ad for the show. Thinking maybe it was serendipity of some sort, he signed up for an audition, and sure enough he got accepted for an interview...
Possessions: Billie's possessions include: A swiss-army knife, his tobacco pipe (rarely used), and a little photograph he usually keeps tucked into his shirt pocket.

How does that work for you Sashira??

[Sashira]

Thanks, Freedom! He'll be great to have along once we hit the wilderness. Here's mine; I'll explain "Applied Anthropology" in my first post where I'm being interviewed for the show, but in short, it means recreating ancient stuff and trying to figure out why it worked.

By the way, there will be an official character thread once we have a few more people, so you can always elaborate more when you move it over. (I know I'm planning to.)

Player: Sashira
Name: Cally Jacobs
Age: 28
Appearance: A tall, sexy redhead with the body of a bikini model, this definitely didn't hurt her academic career; she is often invited onto scientific programs to talk about dead cultures while wearing short dresses. (Picture to follow.) She wears either glasses or contacts, and her fans argue about which looks sexier.
Specialty: Applied Anthropology
Other Skills: Well-read on a number of subjects, mostly humanities (history, philosophy, etc.)
Sexual Orientation & Fetishes: Bisexual female, switch, nymphomaniac
Personality: Cally always thought that she should have been born in a simpler time... like 15,000 B.C. She sees the "end of the world" as a great chance to recreate human society hands-on, and is enthusiastic about the challenges presented by that. She is shy of physical confrontation and dreads having to fight the infected, or other hostile humans. She is an insufferable flirt, but also has a pragmatic side, realizing that the middle of a battlefield isn't always the time and place for sex.
Background: The daughter of middle-class parents who mostly ignored her and allowed her to pursue her own interests, Cally put herself through college and grad school doing pin-up style photo shoots. Her parents would have helped her out, but she wanted to be independent. She started working in television shortly after getting her PhD, and wanted to appear on "The Colony" to bridge her way to her own show where she would teach people how to build and use ancient technology.
Possessions: A suitcase stuffed with clothes, shoes and make-up, plus grooming supplies. A leather-bound journal and a couple of pens.

[FreedomJazzDance]

Heh okay! I like the character though, but yeah, there are some things now that I think about it that I'd want to draw out a bit more and explain in greater detail. ^.^;