Good, Hardcore Realistic Apocalypse Scenario

[OldSchoolGamer]

No mutants or super powers.  No bizarre virus that causes every man's penis to double in size and ever female to become a quivering slut.  No Killer Klowns.  No global thermonuclear war, or alien spacecraft vaporizing all of Earth's cities.

Why bust up a perfectly good planet or ecosystem that way?

No, this apocalypse is a good deal more mundane.  Call it the Death From a Thousand Paper Cuts.  It's low-key.  One day, stuff just stops working, a little at a time.  The advanced societies are hit the hardest, of course.  Civilization comes crashing down there.  The less advanced societies quickly grasp the new balance of power, and move in.  Payback's a bitch.

And then a few of the survivors found out who really did it...

The storyline will start just before things begin to go haywire.  The collapse of civilization will be played out in dark, gritty, hardcore realism.  The characters will be ordinary people caught up in these extraordinary events.  Nasty things will likely happen to these characters.  Note that the characters can be good or evil...if you want to bring in a criminal who will take advantage of the social collapse and rape and pillage, that is fine and totally not against the rules.

I'm too sleepy tonight to post more, but you get the idea.

Current Dramatis Personae
Overall alignment is rated as follows: Angelic, Saintly, Good, Decent, Checkered, Shady, Corrupt, Evil, Diabolical, Demonic.  Note that this is not D&D-style alignment.  It is not intended to constrain your character's options or actions.  It simply is my estimate of where your character would rate if one dropped a plumb line through his overall personal moral code.  On certain issues a character might be more "good" or "evil" than stated here.  Your character may also move along the scale depending on his or her actions.

Amber O'Reilly
Female, Caucasian, 22, Los Angeles
Occupation: Social Worker
Alignment: Saintly

Andrew Johnson (dragoondawg25)
Male, Caucasian, 26, Illinois
Occupation: Student
Alignment: Saintly

Brianna Phillips (appleoferis)
Female, Mixed Caucasian/black, 18, Philadelphia
Occupation: Gang Member
Alignment: Shady

Charlene Chase (delle)
Female, Caucasian, 27,
Occupation: Librarian
Alignment: Good

Hank Kane (Archangel)
Male, Caucasian, 36, Philadelphia
Occupation: Construction
Alignment: Shady

James Brandeburg (HeretiKat)
Male, Caucasian, ??, New York City
Occupation: Police Officer
Alignment: Decent

Kim Sun (Asherah)
Female, Korean, 22, New York City
Occupation: Heiress
Alignment: Decent

Lane Cassidy (Lirliel)
Female, Asian, 24, New York City
Occupation: Cab Driver
Alignment: Checkered

Luke Reynolds (Thymoit)
Male, Caucasian, ??, The Open Road
Occupation: Long-Haul Independent Trucker
Alignment: Corrupt

Morena Mendez (RedEve)
Female, Latina, 23, New York City
Occupation: Waitress
Alignment: Checkered

Steve Clark (LonelyTroll)
Male, Caucasian, 30, Washington D.C.
Occupation: The Syndicate
Alignment: Evil

Tony Saint (Seereous)
Male, ??, 28, San Antonio
Occupation: Hitman
Alignment: Diabolic

[RedEve]

I very much like this idea.

What would be the cause of the decline of those societies? Would it come from within, or be caused by some natural phenomenon?

[OldSchoolGamer]

I very much like this idea.

What would be the cause of the decline of those societies? Would it come from within, or be caused by some natural phenomenon?

Good question...but I don't want to tip my hand.  You'll get clues as the story progresses.

[Anathanasia]

I'm always intrigued by a good post-Apoc idea (blame the Fallout games!).

I'm interested in getting some more details, like setting timeline and stuff, as in, how long after the 'collapse' (or whatever you're going to call it) things would start. Where are we, geographically, and what stuff does still work? Like, old, pre-computer car engines are good? Or are we all the way back to horse and buggy?

And finally for me, which forum would you want to set the game in?

[Mistiq]

I will definately play this when it's up.

[OldSchoolGamer]

To answer some of the questions:

The storyline will begin just before the crisis starts.  At the opening, everything will be normal...though there may be hints here and there that something may be amiss.

The story will be led by me as GM.

Characters may come from any occupation, and may be "good," "evil," or any combination thereof.  Please refrain from "super characters" like Green Berets, ninjas, secret agents, etc. 

The story will begin in the United States.  Players may elect where to start within the U.S., and what other players' characters, if any, they wish to have their characters enter the adventure with.  Players wishing to have their characters enter as a group will have to agree on a common starting point, of course.

[RedEve]

Will this play out somewhat like Stephen King's "The Stand"? From the way you describe it, it seems to have some similarities.

[Lorelei]

I'd be interested in playing this as well.

[delle]

Me too! I wanna play a crackwhore! 

[OldSchoolGamer]

Crack whores are fine.  Characters can be good or evil...or anything in-between.  Sometimes the best characters are good but with a major moral foible...or undeniably evil but with some redeeming quality.

This will play out like The Stand in that the characters will get a close (sometimes brutal) view of the collapse of society, and the ugly aftermath.  It will not be for the squeamish.  The storyline will also contain clues that the collapse is not an accident...

[OldSchoolGamer]

Oh and speaking of characters, let's see some more.  Like I said, good or evil will do nicely.  This way I can start figuring out some starting situations and introducing people.

[RedEve]

I'd like to play Morena Mendez, a 23 year old waitress working at a NYC diner.
In terms of good or evil, I'm guessing I would describe her character as sort of morally neutral.
Some of her actions will be good, others will be somewhat evil, depending on the situation she finds herself in.

[OldSchoolGamer]

Morena sounds good...so we're talking someone who is decent under normal circumstances, but when foul weather comes, she can hoist the Jolly Roger and do whatever she needs to do to survive?  Or is she good but with some weakness or foilble?

[RedEve]

The former description suits her better. Under normal circumstances she is a decent person, but if she would find herself in a dangerous or life-threatening situation, she will do whatever it takes to survive.

[OldSchoolGamer]

That's a good approach...I'm hoping I can get at least one character who's just plain evil though...an evil man could find lots of adventure in a collapsing world, and my characters would take whatever he threw at them.   

[RedEve]

So you're looking for your very own Randall Flagg, then? 

[Archangel]

Not sure if this was stated, but looks like this is freeform, would that be a correct assumption? Cause if it is, I might be interested... Let me know !!

[bloodrose]

I'd be interested if it was freeform too.

[delle]

Name: Charlene "Charlie" Chase
Occupation: Librarian
Age: 27

Charlie's the sort of girl who looks like your archetypical librarian - serious, stern and efficient. Except for the fact that she feels the need for a drag once every few hours. At night, she turns into quite the party animal, freebasing with the best of them. She keeps telling herself she's no addict. In fact, her job doesn't pay that badly and she can afford it... for now. But what happens when the money runs out in the apocalypse? Eat or get high?

She's prim and proper under normal circumstances, but when the going gets rough, she crumbles. Hard. Now and again, she'll try to pick up the pieces, but it doesn't take much to fall again.

[Apple of Eris]

Could I maybe play an eighteen year old gang member? Just dropped out of high school and is pretty much morally bankrupt, she just knows the strong survive on the streets and is determined to eventually be the strongest around.

[OldSchoolGamer]

The game itself will be freeform.  I may, at times, throw dice to determine the outcome of random events, but this will be done behind the scenes.  If the players of two characters agree on the outcome of a scene (Beth agrees to be overpowered by Hector), this will be written into the storyline as agreed to by both and no dice will be tossed. 

The main purpose of die-tosses will be to resolve conflicts between PCs and NPCs, to rein in "super-characters" who want to do the clearly impossible or improbable (like take on five armed men at once, leap across a 50' wide chasm, fall three stories unharmed, etc.), and to resolve the "I hit you!" "No you didn't!" "Yes I did!" "Did not!"  "Did too!" impasse.

Am I looking for a Randall Flagg?  Well, yes and no.  I am looking for evil characters, yes.  But at this time, the position of Head Baddie is not open.  Of course, if you wish to play an evil character and build your own power base as the story progresses, you're free to try.  But you won't have any official or quasi-official status as chief villain like Randall Flagg did in The Stand.

The eighteen year-old gang member is fine.  Hopefully we can have at least one male baddie to balance things.

[RedEve]

Will you be playing a baddie yourself?

[ZK]

What about a female baddie too? A real sadistic bitch? ^.^

[RedEve]

What about a female baddie too? A real sadistic bitch? ^.^

We already have a female baddie. 

[ZK]

I see. Hrm. Okay then.