Play@YSDC

This is the thread where we'll post anything that's completely Out Of Character, whether it's game-related questions that can be asked in public or simply out-of-game chatting. Anything that involves your characters secrets or any information that you'd rather not share with everyone can be sent to me in a PM. You can also include OOC comments or questions in your In Character posts - just enclose them in parentheses. You'll see how I do it when I put up the first IC posts. You would do this if you want to say or ask something about what's going on in that particular thread.

Remember that if you're playing in this game, you are only allowed to read the threads that have your characters in them. The title of each IC post will indicate which characters are involved, but you can ask here if you're uncertain which thread you're supposed to be in. When characters move between threads, I'll indicate which new threads they go to and post links in their old threads that you can follow.

I have a bit of time tonight, so I'm going to begin making initial posts for the IC threads. Once you see a thread with one of your characters in it, you can go ahead and read it, and then make a post when you're ready. There are still a couple of people I haven't heard from, but they can jump in at any time. Generally, you can only perform one major action between my major updates (participating in a combat round, moving from one location to another, and so on). However, you are usually free to carry out conversations with each other's characters and with NPCs that span multiple posts if I haven't done a major update yet. I will sometimes do minor updates where I show the results of one or more characters' rolls or have an NPC respond or react to something your character says or does. Characters who haven't acted yet can still do so, but if you've already acted you should only do simple actions like speaking until a major update is posted. If you're in the middle of combat your characters won't have time to go on chatting all day, of course. I'll let you know if you're in a non-combat situation where you have little time to speak.

I'm going to start with the IC thread for the new USAF characters in the incoming helicopter, and then the Rough Riders' thread. Well, let's get started! Have fun!

Let me add, that as original keeper, I will be keeping a close eye on this but for the moment, this is all Mr. Handy's. I will frequently post comments and thoughts. I may return to co-keeping around March or April as real life settles down or I may just let Handy run it.

I can say that this is a very complex and heavy game to administer and run. Handy has done an awesome job with it. He will probably, if consistent to form, do a major update 1-3 times per week. The more you post, the quicker the update.

That said, be patient. This is a big game with a lot of players and each of us has very important, 'real life' stuff to deal with. Usually the keeper will wait a bit of time for a player to post, but if you are quiet too long the keeper will co-pilot, sometimes without asking.

(And it should be noted that one of the first characters to die was killed off when the Keeper was co-piloting an absent players.)

Rule 1 of roleplay is - remember, this is just fucking around. If you have real life stuff to deal with, deal with it.

Rule 2- be courteous. With each other and especially Keepers. Try to play nice with each other and realize that differences between characters need not be differences between players and Keepers are not here to break up disagreements. And consistent with this rule, if you are going to be away from the game, let the keepers know.

Rule 3 - (the Suaside rule) - write well and be consistent and true to your character. Otherwise Suaside's head will pop off.

Thanks, Welsh. I'm going to be on vacation during the last few days of April and the first several days in May, and my Internet access during that time may be infrequent at best. As we get closer to that time we can decide whether we should put the game on hold, slow it down, or whether you want to take over while I'm gone. I'll send you all the secrets I've cooked up when I get a chance, probably sometime this weekend.

The first IC post is now up. It's for the new USAF characters, which means Bosco (Sgt. Larry Hendrix), kabukiman (Airman Gordon Cheng), and Kranix (Airman Greg Applebee) are involved in this one, so they can go ahead and get started if they want. We also have a couple of potential new players who haven't checked in yet. If they join and they pick characters in an IC thread that's already up, they can just jump in once I send them the secrets.

The next IC post will be for the Rough Riders and the other new characters with them (the last two groups on the Character Sheets thread). This means Andrew (Bill "Tsuba" Black), Kranix (Lewie Newton), kabukiman (Melinda Christie), and Bosco (Ernest Granger) will be in that thread, as will any new players who choose characters in those groups. I don't think I can get that one up tonight too, so it might be tomorrow night instead.

Other IC posts will appear throughout the weekend. Once a thread with one of your characters is up, you can go ahead and enter it.

Good first posts in the Unhappy Landings thread. I could update it at any point now, but I'm going to wait until this weekend to do that. This way any new players who join us and choose characters on the helicopter will still be able to participate before I move that thread forward, and I can get the other IC threads started in the meantime.

I posted the second IC thread for the Rough Riders and Others subgroups. Next I'll make a thread for one of the Under groups consisting of Joe Barring (Fearlessfred), Sally (NPC), Rosie (NPC), Michael (OathinBlood), Randall (NPC), Justin Hockey (Stompie), and Willie (NPC, unconscious). After that I'll probably get the Over groups started. I may not have time to put any more threads up tonight, but I can get started on them tomorrow night and I should be able to get them all up and running this weekend.

welsh wrote:Rule 3 - (the Suaside rule) - write well and be consistent and true to your character. Otherwise Suaside's head will pop off.

lol, since when did that become my rule?

not to mention i intend to keep my head firmly placed upon my shoulders if you don't mind.

PS: Handy, please refrain from erronously using the word 'clip'. a clip is used to load an SKS, a Mosin Nagant, a Garand, but the pistols and whatnot listed in the gunsthread are loaded by (detachable) magazine.
though i dont expect you to edit the whole thing ofc, just keep it in mind

Clip... clip....clip.

Dude, iz like slang, yo.

I have been differentiating correctly between "clip" and "magazine" in the IC threads. The weapons list was copied over from the old forum. I had edited it for rifles months ago, but not for pistols yet. The ammo I added for the new characters already specified magazines. Still, it's easy enough to fix. I can just do a find and replace. The only ammo in there that's really supposed to be clips are the ones for the Garands.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but which thread, if any, is Igor in?

OathinBlood wrote:Sorry if this is a stupid question, but which thread, if any, is Igor in?

we're still missing one thread i think.

by my count we are missing two threads. Alice and Jim are in Under but have not had a story line for them yet and Bobby Sheen is in Through at the hotel but I have not seen one for him yet either.

We're missing more than two threads, really. There are two more Under threads left and two more Through threads. I hope to get them started later today. All of the Over threads were posted last night. When all the threads are up, I'll post a list of what thread everyone's characters are in.

I've got all but one of the threads up now, and that one doesn't have any PCs in it yet, so it can wait. The Locations post now tells you which thread every character is in, as well as the physical location. When a character moves to a new thread I'll update the list, but I'll keep a history of the threads each character has been in. This will make it easier for someone picking up a new character later to trace their path through the story.

By the way, only the characters who were in Chapters 1 and 2 know that the zombies are actually dead, or that the dead will get back up. The new characters introduced in Chapter 3 aren't aware of this fact...yet.

I just updated all of the threads your characters are in. Remember, if you're playing this game you may only read threads with one or more of your characters in them. Refrain from reading the others, or you risk spoiling yourself.

One NPC has already died, but I don't want to say which one, again to avoid spoilers. On the old board we had a death toll thread which listed each dead character along with a blurb about how they died, but to do that now that we have separate threads might again risk giving out information you shouldn't have. Part of the excitement of this game is not knowing the fates of the characters in the other groups.

The character sheets do list which characters are deceased in red letters, so you should refrain from looking at the sheets of characters that aren't in your threads unless you're shopping for a replacement character and want to see which ones are still available, or if you're a new player trying to decide which characters you want to play.

Laraqua did log onto the site earlier for the first time in a week, though she's very busy and I'm not sure when she'll be able to join us. When she has time, she can choose her remaining characters, catch up, and join in. In the meantime, Rick Brenner will be an NPC. I will also run Stompie's characters as NPCs until he logs onto the board and starts posting for them. He's been away for a week.

Any other new players are still welcome to join us. Just pick your characters and catch up on their threads. I'll send you their secrets and you can start posting.

Did this play just get full of IC threads or what?

Dude... you're mad be to be doing all of this.

Quite probably, yes. I started the rest of the IC threads Friday night and Saturday (except the one without players), and updated all of them again today. I had a three day weekend, so it was the ideal time to get the ball rolling. You should check out Unhappy Landings - it's the most interesting one so far.

We had a total of 69 characters to start with (13 in Over, 18 in Under, and a whopping 38 in Through). One character just died, and I fully expect others to follow suit before too long. Once we kill off a bunch of characters it should be a lot more manageable.

Ah... .More carnage and destruction.
The helicopter crash worked quite nicely.

Indeed. It could have been a lot worse too...and may yet be. Should be interesting to see how things unfold next.

AH- the old 'lets see who goes to save the survivors in a sea of zombies' vs the sanity of watching comrades consumed by zombie hordes while you were too chicken shit to do anything about it.

Definitely a mind bender.

Interesting, but one of the important notes from Max Brooks Zombie Survival Guide is the virtue of silence. Gun shots have a way of attracting Zombs.

By the way, i just saw yesterday the night of the living dead (the original), so i'm in the right mood!
Anyway, the landing was a real massacre, the chance of the group to survive is very thin.

welsh wrote:Did this play just get full of IC threads or what?

Dude... you're mad be to be doing all of this.

i got 10 bucks saying he'll kill off half of the players in one chapter, thus reducing workload by a fuckton :p

That would be a pretty good bet...but I don't think you'll get any takers.

moving here to keep the chatter IC down:

Mr Zombie killer wrote:(First of all if it comes to a fight who would get to fire first and second of all how would Bo or Bob know all about the firefight on the hotel balcony and everyone's death when thier characters had left already?) Can you please answer me these questions Mr. Handy then I will post my characters reaction?

Mr. Handy wrote:Bo and Bob don't know about the shootout at the motel. They do know that McCain removed Captain Lereux from command. I think Bob is simply lying by saying Lereux and others were killed. He exaggerated about the number of SAW gunners as well - there were only two, and one died shortly after the USAF arrived. Likewise, there were only two M203 grenade launchers. Of course, Flynn and Alvarez have no way of knowing this.)

yeah, it's mostly embellishing the truth a lil' (he had no way of knowing about more than one M203 launcher, the 'several' snipers were two, etc etc), but the core issues stated stand.

I'll be updating Through tomorrow night. There are still a couple of characters there who haven't acted yet this round, and I'd rather not skip their actions at this point. I also don't have much time tonight (it's going to be a pretty big update), but I expect to on Thursday. I am going to update Over, however. If you haven't posted for a character of yours in Through, you should do so within the next 24 hours.

EDIT: Didn't have time tonight to update, and I haven't had much sleep all week, so it'll be another day before I get to it.

Hey Mr. Handy could you make the next spot hidden roll for Black?
Now it's just getting annoying of the past six rolls I've made (3 for black 3 tests) only one was a pass .

No problem, I'll gladly roll Spot Hidden for you next time. And don't worry, it won't be long before the zombies are close enough that you'll be able to see them without rolling Spot Hidden.

I've been busy this week, but I should have some time to make some major updates starting Thursday night. Some players haven't posted for some of their characters in a while, so they might want to take this chance to do so before I start updating.

Now that the game has been underway for a while and players are getting used to how things work, I won't always prompt you about which skills to use from now on. I will still do so sometimes, but not always. You are free to make rolls against skills when you think it is appropriate (and some players have already started doing this), though there may be bonuses or penalties due to how difficult the task is that I will apply later. Some of these are standard, and you already know about them (-5% for aiming at a zombie's head, -5% to Spot Hidden/Listen for wearing a Kevlar helmet, and so on). Others depend on the situation. I'll try to let you know about them in advance when possible. I may make rolls such as Spot Hidden and Listen for you, but you can also roll them yourself when you are actively searching or observing. If you roll Spot Hidden on your own, you should indicate what you're searching, which direction you're looking, or the like.

I

Ah... the Under story..... An evil comes true!

Yeah, that was great - and it's just getting started! I can hardly wait for Wimrock to post so I can update Under again and find out what happens next. Those were some incredible die rolls I had.

The best thing is, it can happen again!

Hi, can I play?

Yes, of course you can play! Welcome, xgmx! You'll need to look over a few threads before you start, but there are still several new characters available for you to choose from.

The Character Selection and Discussion thread here is where you'll find instructions for choosing your characters. All characters have been built for you, so all you have to do is look them over and pick them. When you are ready to make your choices, you'll post them in that thread. Then I'll send you their secrets in a PM, and once you've caught up on their stories you can start. If you don't want to read the first two chapters (they're good but incredibly long), you'll want to choose only characters that were introduced in Chapter 3.

The characters themselves are listed in the Character Sheets thread here. They are grouped into three major sections, each with subgroups that also tell you in which chapter they joined the story. You'll probably want the ones under the Chapter 3 headings.

If you do want to read the first two chapters, you can find links to them in The Story So Far here.

The Out Of Character Discussion thread here is for general discussion of the game. This post should be in that thread, and I'll merge your new thread with it soon. In general, you should not create new threads.

The Rules and Guidelines thread here contains information you'll need in order to understand the rules and play the game, including how to roll dice on Invisible Castle.

You should only read the IC threads that contain the characters you choose. You can find out which threads those are by looking in the Locations thread here. The top part shows the current location of each character along with a thread history so you can trace their paths and catch up. The bottom part tells you what each character is carrying and which skills they've used successfully.

The following Chapter 3 characters are still available in the following sections:
OVER
Sergeant Diane Ford

THROUGH
USAF:
2nd Lieutenant Rebecca Doolittle
Airman Brian Kincaid
Airman Thomas Cole

Rough Riders:
Amanda Deeds
Lisa Crow
Sue Newton
Colin Lewis
Joe Soarez

You should choose one from each group if you want three characters. If you don't want to play Diane Ford, you should choose one USAF character and two Rough Riders. You are free to choose less than three characters if you don't want that many.

xgmx wrote:Hi, can I play?

Xgmx: I nearly banned you due to the other thread that you posted on this forum, but as you’ve expressed an interest in joining Zombie Apocalypse, I will give you one chance to prove you are genuine.

I’ve sent you a Private Message, please reply to that message before posting elsewhere on this forum.

If you are genuine, then I hope you enjoy participating in ZA.

Otherwise you’ll be banned.

I'm on vacation for the next two weeks. The good news is that over the next few days I'll have more time to post than normal, and I'll be able to post during the day. However, I'll be leaving for London late on April 30 and won't be back until May 8. It's possible that I'll have Internet access during that time, but even if I do it's highly unlikely that I'll have time to update Zombie Apocalypse. I plan to update everything shortly before I leave and again shortly after I return (late on May 8 or during the day on May 9).

Some of my players are Keepers of games that I'm playing in. If I can get Internet access for at least a little bit, I may still be able to post, but my posting would not be too frequent. It's also possible I'll be unable to post at all.

Where are you going?

London, as I said. I'll be attending a convention the weekend after this one where Amanda Tapping is the guest of honor, and then I'll be spending a few days seeing the sights. I was in London before almost 8 years ago, but there were some things I missed the first time that I'd like to see. I'll be staying right near the British Museum, so I'll be sure to check that out. I also want to see the Imperial War Rooms and the HMS Belfast, and I'm sure I'll think of plenty of other places I'd like to visit as well.

Oh, I missed that. Now I feel stupid. Anyways, I hope you have fun. I've never been to Europe myself, but I'd like to go one day. I am rather more inclined to go to more 'exotic' places on vacations, though. Africa, India, and especially Indonesia/Indochina are my favorites.

Thanks! Don't worry about it, it's easy to miss just one word. There are lots of places I haven't been that I'd like to see someday. My last trip to London was the only time I've been out of the country before, and there are huge parts of the USA I've never seen as well (never been west of central Pennsylvania or south of Virginia, for instance).

Next time you should go to the mainland as well.

I had wanted to, but it wouldn't really have been feasible considering the amount of time I had. Maybe next time, though.

Hope you have a great time.

Have a good time Handy!

I have to say I am loving Under. To think of the planning for this happened what, 9 months ago, or was it longer!
Wonderful carnage!

Yes Welsh and Handy I am glad that you enjoy the lovely idea of killing off old characters and then allowing us to pick new ones which are already crazy. Lovely idea!
Actually my characters for the most part are going to be interesting to play. The only one I am having a problem playing is Sheen and that is because I cannot get an idea on how to play him other then "killed another zombie, or missed one dang nap it!" Am working on that.

Well, I can say that this part in the Under has been in play for a very long time. To tell you more would be telling. I think that the entire recording was written... oh over a year ago. I think it fair to say that while you're enjoying the fruits of much planning, that the consequence and situation that the characters find themselves were largely a result of the characters themselves. So, in terms of mechanics, I am very happy to see how things are turning out.

you know i know that you and handy have said on this board and the last one that the point of the games are to work together but it is very hard when each person has a secret that may push him away from others and we each have no idea why the other person will not work together leading us to death and destruction. We must learn!

Yep. That's basically what this game is about- the problem of cooperation among individuals operating under their own motivation, driven by their own goals. It is the collective action problem under stress. But whether this is a stag hunt or a prisoner's dilemma is unclear-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stag_hunt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_Dilemma

Or some other game?
That's all part of the existential uncertaintly of this game. Which, for me, is really the heart of good horror.

It doesn't help that their all getting assulted by Zombies and have not had a break to actually talk to each other or get to know each other for any real
length of time.

Yeah welsh or Mr. Handy that would be nice, to not have zombie attacks for say 2 weeks to allow us to get to know each other so we could then win.
By the way i would have tosay it is a stag hunt not a PD.

survival horror by definition does not allow you to plan for stuff much. not two quiet weeks anyway.

but i like it just fine as is. strife between humans is usually the downfall of people in survival horror and it's not far from reality in that aspect.

I did not mean two weeks in game quiet I meant two weeks of us just getting to know each other say 1 hour in game or even 2 hours. I mean this game is fun and all but come on we are on round 3 and it has only been 4 hours since the beginning of the invasion? Why not let a few weeks or months pass in between times?

Thanks, everyone, I'm back and I had a great time in London! I won't have time to update tonight, but I plan to update at least Over and Through early on Friday. I still need actual player responses for Under before I can update that one. Ryansommer, you're now playing Sally in that thread as you asked, and I've sent you her secrets. Go ahead and post there when you're ready. If anyone hasn't posted for their characters yet, you should do so soon.

I agree, Under is turning out great and I love writing it. Events could have unfolded differently had the PCs coordinated better and prepared for the worst. There was ample warning, and you had all the knowledge you needed to deal with the problem. If everyone had gathered together and been ready to defend themselves, or if the characters had simply had luckier rolls, it's possible they all would have survived. Instead, the characters were split up into two main groups, and one group got hit very hard without the others nearby to help them. I particularly liked how it worked out with the recording playing as the crisis unfolded. It had all been in the works for about a year or more.

Sheen and Black are together on the motel roof, and they are free to talk to each other as much as they feel like during times when the zombies aren't close enough for one combat round per update (and even then, they can still converse briefly). They're good friends and know each other already. Read Sheen's secrets again to get a handle on him and how you could play him.

There are some opportunities for characters to talk to each other. Right now in Through the nearest zombies are too far for most people to shoot at, so chat away! While I was on vacation would have been the perfect time for PCs to talk to each other. The reason you don't get a whole lot of downtime in the game is that the first day is a very chaotic and dangerous situation. If you try to settle down where you are and just spend what little time you have getting to know each other, you won't be using that time to prepare your defenses or make plans (and you can get to know each other a little while you do those things). In order to have some time to spare for things like that, you'll need to find a place that can be used as a safe haven, at least temporarily. Clearly, the secret underground facility is not such a place. Once you've gotten into a secure position, you'll have more time to spare to train each other or simply to get acquainted. First, you have to find a sanctuary and make it there alive. Even if you can, chances are you won't have weeks or months to hole up before you have to deal with something else. Days are possible, though. Yes, only about 4 or 5 hours have passed in the game since the start of Chapter 1, but there has been a lot happening during that time and the action has been very intense. An important part of this game is dealing with one disaster after another and managing your time carefully. Every minute is precious right now, and how you choose to spend your time has a great deal to do with your ultimate fate.

Indeed- remember that the game started with a very long lull period. The first zombie was actually Horst, although he was merely a "twitcher". The most significant threat was the zombie that came out of the junkyard (probably someone who was killed by the Hammonds and deposited under a junked car). Then Lynne and the news team drew the zombies from the highway... and thus crisis.

But the game tries to incorporate a few different elements. By giving characters secrets and different goals- we allow the characters to have their own interests and preferences, some of which are very deep while others quite shallow. Many of the secrets never carried through. But the game was also aimed at putting the characters under constant pressure and stress. It is, essentially, a "group of strangers face disaster and strive to survive" story. So it plays on some of the classic disaster films and TV shows such as Lost and 24.

As for beasts, we did warn you that this was not a normal zombie story. The mosquitos from the meteorites and other beasts are part of the plot but were also aimed to make this game a bit more interesting and dangerous.

It was Thomas who went with the news team (Willie and Tisha), not Lynne, but otherwise Welsh has it exactly right. Horst, Earl, and Hammond were killed early on, so a lot of their secrets never came into play, but things could have gotten even hairier had they lived. Lost and 24 are major influences here. In 24, the characters don't get a chance to rest until the day is over, and in both shows (almost) any character can die at any time.

Another key theme of this game is individual vs. collective action. If everyone only looks out for their own self-interest, it will really hinder the survival of the group as a whole. Only by working together as a team and coordinating your efforts do you have a decent chance to survive.

I'm back to play again!

Welcome back, Kabukiman! Also, welcome aboard zielonobrody! Both of you can post in the IC threads whenever you're ready.

I'll be taking up:
Joe Soarez - Electrician Age:26
But I'm having a hard time at work/school and I proposed on thursday(she said yes ) and everything is hectic of late. I'm trying to read up on the through story, but it'll take me some time. No more than two weeks though.

Congratulations! I'll keep running Joe Soarez as an NPC in the meantime, and he'll tag along with Colin Lewis. When you're ready, just jump in and start posting.

Congrats on the engagement!

congratz!

Thanks everyone I hope I don't kill this game, because like I warned Syrinx, all my games seem to die. And his just did I had a great big laugh when he wrote "pause till August". "I told you I'm cursed!"

Don't worry, this is a zombie game. When it dies, it gets right back up again and eats you!

By the way, I'm still waiting for one player to post in Under and a couple to post in Through. If you want to get a post in before I update them, please do so soon.

We'll see. I'm already in the second thread I should be reading.

So Mr. Handy,
I know you have been busy and all but are you going to update the death toll cause I think there have been a few deaths along the way as of late and I know there will be more soon.

I just updated the death toll earlier today. By the way, I'm still waiting for you to post for Bobby Sheen in The Siege. You've got two shots if you want them.

oh sorry I did not see that. I was fooled by the march 30 date. I will update Sheen now.

That's okay. When you edit a post, it does not alter the date of last update.

Welcome to Special Guest Villain Laraqua, who will be playing Corporal Anthony Gardner!

Kat smiles at the NG in the driver´s seat.

Welcome to the squad car, Laraqua!

Welcome... hope to kill you soon!

Considering how much Invisiblecastle hates me, I think I've just made your job a whole lot easier! Of course, you'll need to catch me first...

Any other villains you got handy, Mr. Handy?

There may be one, and there will likely be others coming up in Chapter 4.

Uhh we planning on starting chapter 4 already since we only just started chapter 3 and we are averaging one whole year per chapter?
-steve

No, Chapter 4 is still months away. The average per chapter is really only 9 months, as Chapter 1 only lasted six and Chapter 2 lasted a full year. Chapter 3 started in February, but it's moving quickly and I think it may be done before the end of the year. Chapter 4 will take time to prepare, however. A handful of characters have already effectively made it out of Chapter 3.

Can I state stuff on this thread about the new game I am planning on running to try and get people interested?

Sure, this is for general discussion. Just post a link to the thread you created and give a little information about it.

Hey everyone! I am thinking of running a game on this board. For those of you who have seen the thread so far I changed the background story a bit and made it a bit more modern. But same storyline and everything else. If you are interested, and I hope many of you are, you can find this thread under I am thinking of running a game under a weekend in the country modern day game. Below is some info for the game:

The legend they say comes from the final days of World War II in Germany. In those days there was a American scout who fell in love with the daughter of a German Nazi. He often made secret visits to her fathers estate and the two would practice the arts of love in the darkness. One day in Late March 1945, the scout promised to come back after the war ended and marry the the girl taking her back to America with him where they could live in peace. She waited for weeks but he never came back. One night a group of Russian soliders descended on the estate and tied her up raping her again and again. When she had half a chance she tried to run only to be shot down in cold blood by one of the soliders who then left the estate and told the tale. When the American heard the story he began killing the soliders one by one but he was killed before his act of vegence could be finished. They say that on moonlit nights he still comes back to the old estate hunting for the killers of his love. No one has been able to spend the night in the estate from that day until now.

The game will be based on call of cthulu rules and will involve a group of intrep people, characters will be made up by the gm but there will be plenty to choose from, who have heard of the tale and for prize money from a tv show have pledged to spend one whole night on the estate grounds. However before the night can end a snowstorm hits trapping the group on the estate and suddenly people start dying off. Could it be the ghost of the scout still out for revenge or is it a madman among them? Come and join this game and see.

Hey ZK- you got my comments via pm. Good luck with it.

Chapter 4.... Handy, time to start planning it. Plan ahead and be happy. Still curious to see what happens to our group at the T-Bone.

I've been planning things for Chapter 4 in my head for some time now, and I started working on the characters for Omaha in late 2006 as Chapter 1 was ending. There are many more left to flesh out, though, and I still have to design the location. I've got the events and plotline for Omaha pretty well thought out. The other groups won't require anywhere near as much preparation or as many new characters, though there will still be some.

Really, Over and Under can transition into Chapter 4 as soon as the prep work is done, and there's no reason I can't stagger the entry of different groups into Chapter 4. There's also no reason they can't continue in Chapter 3 for a while longer. It's Through that's getting bogged down and updating more slowly, due primarily to the fact that it has far more characters than the other two (combined!) and thus more players. Each section moves as quickly as its slowest player at any one time, so less than 20 minutes have passed in Through. Over, with the fewest characters, has progressed through 45 minutes of game time. Under has been somwhere in between, but that's picking up the pace now that the characters have had their ranks thinned out.

I'm eager to see how Through turns out. I plan to update that tomorrow, so if you haven't posted for your character(s) in Through, you should do so soon. I'll update Under again today. Over will have to wait a bit, as Laraqua's been away for a few days now.

I'll probably work on the Chapter 4 stuff for Under and the non-helicopter people in Over first, as Omaha would take the most time and we don't have any PCs in the chopper yet anyway (though Laraqua is planning to pick up Dr. Hausmann once she catches up on Chapter 2, and two former PCs on board have been abandoned since their players haven't been on the board in well over a month).

Wouldn't that end up being to confusing though as each tread can still effect each other? For example sorry if this doesn't make any sence but what would happen if someone creates a temporal paradox?

Keeping the various story segments in sync is a major concern of mine. I'm reluctant to let a group get too far ahead of the others timewise precisely because I want to prevent that sort of thing from happening. Even if the preparation for Omaha were already done, I want to wait until after I know what the people in Through say to them before the helicopter even gets close enough to contact Omaha by radio, let alone for it to arrive. Through and Under will have far less influence on the events of Over than they can on each other, however. They key is to make sure to only let the threads that have influence on the other threads get further ahead. That way, I know exactly when the influencing event occurs and can have it happen when the other threads catch up. Each section has remained in sync with its own threads, which is why you might sometimes have to wait for an update even if everyone else in that thread has posted and I have time to write one - I need to wait for people in the other threads in that section to post.

Really, the chapter number is an arbitrary distinction. It's the timestamp on each section that's the important part.

Hi everyone. I have changed the background of the game I am thinking of running in an effort to get more players. I already have 3-4 interested and I am planning on starting in early June. Below you will find the "letter" that every character will get as a hook to lure them to the estate for the weekend.

Meine Damen und Herren, Mesdames et Messieurs, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Most of you do not know me. I am SS-Sturmbanfuhrer Hans Kaufmann. I invite you to my country estate to discuss a matter of grave importance to our beloved Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. The reasons you are all invited are that you are all descended from a group of German nobles who in 1636 stumbled upon a vast treasure which was then hidden by the group. The group declared that the treasure would remain untouched until 1936 at which time their families would gather at the estate and divide the treasure among themselves. However the estate was owned by an old woman who your ancestors had declared a witch and executed in order to justify seizing the treasure and estate.

In 1933, my late brother Dr. Paul Kaufmann brought the old estate and modernized it. He moved my sister in law and nephew into the estate and began to look for the treasure in an effort to steal it and donate it to our glorious NSDAP. However it appears that instead of finding the treasure he stumbled upon something else but was killed before he could tell me what it was. My boss SS-Reichsfuhrer Henrich Himmler is very interested in this case and has insisted that I invite you to spend the weekend at the estate and on Sunday evening he will personally come to divide out the treasure among you all. Please pack for a 3 day weekend and show up promptly at 7PM on Thursday October 18, 1936.

Yours,
SS-Sturmbanfuhrer Hans Kaufmann

Crap crap crap... I haven't been to the board for at least a week. I don't think I'll be able to get this character going Give me a week and if I can't catch up, PM me please, Mr. Handy. Real life is taking it's toll In the meantime have a nice game everyone

Thanks, but don't worry. Take your time catching up, and take over Joe Soarez when you're ready. Until then I'll just keep running him as an NPC.

I can probably do a lot of the Under and Through story lines later the summer, so you should have more time to play with Omaha. Its been awhile since I have tinkered with this, so it might be nice to get back to it. There are a couple of things I'd like to see happen in both sides. We also have to think about how the Over section/Omaha corresponds with the rest, but we can work that out later.

This might be wrong to do but- Under folks - Damn...

Anyway, anyone playing urban dead?

http://www.urbandead.com/

I am hoping to bring up my characters and then perhaps form a group of bounty hunters.

For Under As for urban dead I did play it for a bit and all three of my characters were part of the DEM. UD is the reason I found this role play in the first place. Mr. Handy made a post about this game and I started reading chapter one and was hooked.

Regarding Under: Under and Through won't need too much work. I have fewer new characters planned for Under than were in Over in Chapter 3, and I don't know if we'll need any new ones for Through. A lot depends on how Through turns out, however, and I can't be sure if the Under group will survive either. Plot lines and events we can work out, and I already have some ideas of how to tie Over back to Under/Through. In Chapter 4 I'll probably use different names for the sections, especially considering how Over and Under are working out. "Over, Under, and Through" was my title for Chapter 3, but I never intended for the section names to be carried beyond this chapter.

I've been playing Urban Dead since early August 2006. I posted a thread on Brainstock advertising this game, which is how we got Fearlessfred. I think one of our newer players might have found the game that way too. My characters on UD are based on Zombie Apocalypse characters: a cop named Bo Richards and a NecroTech lab assistant named Stephanie Bridges. Both of them are part-time bounty hunters, but spend most of their time doing general pro-survivor activities. It only took about 3 months to get enough XP to reach level 41 for both of them. Stephanie is part of RCDC and operates in and around Rhodenbank. Bo isn't a member of any group, but he hangs out with Josephine's Generals in the SW part of Malton.

I also created a Monroeville character: a private named Frank Hodges. He did extremely well at first, killing three zombies on the second day. On the third he killed another, reaching level 3 and gaining Construction (he was probably among the first to get it). He reached level 9 in about two weeks and was close to level 10 when zombies overran his safehouse and naturally ate him first. Then he joined the Monroeville Many and did rather well at first. Even when Headshot became permanent there, he lasted a long time and took down over a dozen humans, including a headshotter. He finally got put down for good a month ago.

Once again about Under:
For chapter four I think you should still try to keep the number of threads down and clearly state which group is in which one (numbering them may help for new players looking to join). I tried to read Ash and I didn't know were to start. I did however read The Haunting and loved how you opened the final window.

The reason there are so many threads is that the characters have been split off into a bunch of different groups. They've been gradually coming together throughout the chapter (except Over has split up now), so the number of threads open at any one time has been greatly reduced. Most of the threads are old, locked ones. Currently we have three open threads each for Over and Through, and only one for Under. I do have a thread history in the Locations thread for each character, but numbering the threads is a good idea since it's easy to get lost. Ash is very confusing in that regard, especially with the changing titles. That's why I added links in the IC threads to tell each character where to go.

Thanks, that was an awesome moment in the conclusion of The Haunting. I'm just glad it worked!

I have about 13 characters spread over Malton at the moment. All are fairly new- A few have been zombified, but most have recovered.

I will probably let half of them die out over the week and keep the better ones.
Hard to say. To be honest, its eating up too much time.

I would be interested in creating an informal group- perhaps a group of zombie killing bounty hunters and general good natured folks. Perhaps rebuild a ghost town and then defend it from the army of darkness?

(Hey we can think of the group simply as "that which shall not be named!")

As for this game. One thing we had considered is going back to the origins of this crisis.
That might still be worth doing. Otherwise, I quite agree- much of the campaign will probably involve Omaha and the survivors at the T-Bone.

For The Haunting it would have been intersting to tell the widow what happened "Ya I think you deserve the money. Welsh

I wouldn't have time to play that many characters in Urban Dead. Just keeping them all far enough apart to avoid unintentionally zerging is hard enough. Two is the right balance for me. Bo might meet Doctor Smiley or Sally Strange, as they seem to be in his neck of the woods, but I don't remember encountering them before. Firefighters, doctors, and NT assistants can do very well at the start, as they begin with the means to earn lots of XP. Doctors need to restock on First Aid Kits regularly, however, while the other two classes can earn unlimited XP with their starting equipment. Consumers are tough to play from what I've heard. You can't easily get back into a mall once you've left until you get Free Running. The best way to get XP early on is still to heal people. You can always ask if anyone needs healing, and people you find outside generally do. You can even heal zombies for XP!

Exploring the origins of the crisis would be a good way to start when we "reanimate" Zombie Apocalypse after this run completes - if it ever does. As it is we'll have our hands full with the existing groups, unless we can manage to kill a bunch of them off.

I agree about Through (the same might apply to Under even moreso) - especially considering what we've already got planned.

Oh, and Fearlessfred, if you're interested in participating in Ash, ask Laraqua. I'm sure she can bring you up to speed, and you can jump in with little or no prior knowledge. It's an incredible game and well worth the effort, even better than Zombie Apocalypse in some ways.

Ya the begining would be interesting although I think it would be neat to see Zombie Apocalypse start again from the beggining of chapter one just to see how things play out differently.
I take it from your comments that I should be afraid. Things were just starting to look up.
I'm not interested in joining Ash I just wanted to read it as I had heard it was good but where to begin?
Well I think I'll go read some of Chapter 1 when times were simpler and somebody wasn't trying to claw your face off every bloody second, when the 40+ year old Ham and Cheese sandwiches where still just a thing out of nightmares.

If we do get around to restarting Zombie Apocalypse from the very beginning of the crisis, we do intend to eventually get around to redoing Chapter 1 of this game when its time rolls around. I'd also like to see how things would play out differently, as a lot of characters died early on who could have created some interesting possibilities had they lived longer.

If you want a good place to start in Ash, try the Hospital Car Park thread. That's where my character Sarah Carpenter's story begins (and almost ends!). She later moves between a bunch of other threads. There's also a background story for Sarah on page 3 of the Chit-Chat thread that I wrote while waiting for the game to start. My other character, Sarah's father Dr. Lionel Carpenter, begins in the Cinemaplex Car Park thread and remains there for the most or all of Chapter 1.

One way to go through these threads would be to open them all up on page 1 at the same time and go through the posts in chronological order. That's what I try to do when catching up on a game with multiple threads. Just find the earliest post among those at the tops of the threads, read it, scroll down, and repeat. Having a tabbed browser helps a lot here. To pick up where you left off, just remember the timestamp you've reached. Many of the threads start later, so you wouldn't even need to open them up for a while once you see the timestamps of their initial posts. There is a lot of reading, though, so it'll take a long time to get through Chapter 1 alone. Laraqua should be able to help you navigate the threads, as she runs the game.

i always liked the idea of playing a zombie game as a modified version of yourself. maybe you should consider that.

SuAside wrote:i always liked the idea of playing a zombie game as a modified version of yourself. maybe you should consider that.

For a new role play or for new characters if the role play was restarted (or characters for the future?).

Mr. Handy wrote:I'm sure she can bring you up to speed, and you can jump in with little or no prior knowledge. It's an incredible game and well worth the effort, even better than Zombie Apocalypse in some ways.

Blah blah blah ... sweet but so untrue. You just like it because of what Nurse Sarah was led to do on hints alone.

Oh, there's a lot more to like about Ash than how Sarah was masterfully manipulated (and she wouldn't have been acting truly in character if she hadn't panicked). She has changed a lot, though. I was just looking back at the beginning of her story in Chapter 1, and it's amazing how far she's come. I also love the whole time travel aspect, and there are many other things besides that as well.

By the way, I'm still waiting for a certain character to act in Through before I update. I'll definitely be updating by tomorrow whether he acts or not.

I remember seeing the idea of playing oneself in a zombie game a long time ago over at No Mutants Allowed. It might have been SuAside who suggested it. Interesting idea, but it's harder to implement with Zombie Apocalypse considering that we use pregenerated characters and we don't know in advance who will be playing. It would make an interesting stand-alone game, however.

Wow, that was fast! Thanks for posting up in Through, and don't worry about the delay or Invisible Castle being down. The M-24 only malfunctions on a 100, so that roll of 97 was just a very bad miss. I'll update Through later today, probably this afternoon.

We actually did allow players to pretty much play themselves at NMA, but it didn't work out.

Two reasons-
(1) No one really plays themselves, but the person they wish they were.
(2) We needed a structure which restricted free play roleplay- or cooperative story writing.

That's one of the reasons I got frustrated with RP at NMA and moved here. We needed a set of constrictive rules that kept players constrained, trapped, in circumstances not of their choising.

When I first came here there were few campaigns and I was involved with most as a player. Most of them crapped out. I stuck with Lure because the game was the most interesting- but then the admin crapped out and I took it over a few months later with the hope that he'd eventually return. He was a Brit soldier or something, and he never came back (hope nothing bad happened). Anyway the Cults of Cairo campaign grew simply because I needed something to fill the space and figured it would play as a nice prelude to some of the bigger "canned campaigns".

Zombie Apoc was created to impose a more constrained system. A lot of the regular role players didn't dig it and dropped out. I was really sad to see Zoe leave.

Yes, Handy, I agree. Zerging is a potential problem. As is time. Too much time at Urban is eating away at time better spent on more important things. I am trying to keep my characters spread out- but its kind of difficult. Already a few have levelled up, although my favorite- Harvey the Roach- is still struggling. I may play it that characters turned into Zed just stay zombies and let them die off.

It would be difficult to have a game where people play themselves for those reasons. Even in tabletop roleplaying, where you can assess many of the other players' stats personally to keep them honest (not that they'd necessarily lie deliberately, but a lot of people have higher opinions of themselves than is sometimes warranted), there are still problems.

It is a shame Zoe didn't stick around. It probably was that she was more used to freeform and it was difficult for her to adjust to a system of fixed rules.

With Urban Dead, you should probably just cut it down to a couple of characters and keep metagaming to a minimum (that eats up more time than playing). If your characters get killed, you do have options. You can go to a revive point, and it's generally easy to get a quick revive unless the area is swarming with zombies (even for notorious PKers!). You can just let the character stay dead. You can also play as a zombie (until someone combat revives you), which can be fun too. I always get my two Malton characters revived promptly, but with my Monroeville character that wasn't an option, so I played him as a zombie and got to see how the other half lived. The whole game changed when they made Headshot a permakill there, though, and we had to constantly run and hide to avoid getting picked off, using hit and run tactics to take down humans and hoping they would stand up as zombies. A lot of Monroeville zombies are just staying down after being killed bu non-headshots and letting the humans kill each other, but I always got back up once I had 50 AP. I still managed to last a while and kill a grand total of 15 humans before I got put down for good.

welsh wrote:Two reasons-
(1) No one really plays themselves, but the person they wish they were.

well, obviously. if you wanted to be yourself and shoot stuff, you'd just go to the range, wouldn't you?

which is why i said a modified version. hell, you couldn't even play yourself if you wanted to... your self-image is by definition different from your true self.

welsh wrote:(2) We needed a structure which restricted free play roleplay- or cooperative story writing.

nothing keeps you from playing something kinda like yourself (the bonus being you actually know what you're doing... if i play an archeologist i'm just pissing in the wind tbh), with those strict rules applied?

welsh wrote:He was a Brit soldier or something, and he never came back (hope nothing bad happened).

chances of that are rather slim. i just think his priorities shifted a whole lot. that tends to happen to a lot of people and i certainly wouldnt find that weird for a soldier.

Yes, probably. But to be honest, I really did want to start a different campaign- a modern/delta green beginning with an art theft and then a chance to recover lost antiquities and then a race to stop the end of the world... Oh well.

Lure has been fun. It's nearly half-way there. Three characters are taking a big detour, the others are racing off to either Giza or Port Said.

One of the things about both Lure and Zombie Apoc is that the campaigns are very free form. In zombie apoc you have a small group that have a mission, but most of the rest of the characters are just trying to get by. In Lure, they have a rather convoluted mystery to work out and bad guys trying to whack them, but generally speaking the enemy is unknown. The tentacled beast in the well was quite a lot of fun. Most CoC campaigns have a pretty clear direction and one clue leads to another, there's a progression plus things are happening around you as well. Time moves very quickly. In contrast, we're pretty much on the beggining of Day 2 on Lure (and its only been 2 1/2 years!) and in zombie apoc, its still around mid-day. So these are pretty condensed games.

As for Urban Undead- a lot of my characters have made it to level 2 or 3 by now. A few are still struggling. One is currently in Ft Creedy and its under seige. Another is waiting for a revive in Pegton- and the zeds are going West to the base. My dedicated zombie keeps getting head shot! But I am spreading them out around the city. The one thing about UD is.... its kind of pointless or a game about joining or aligning to groups. Its like a big internet social party around a theme of zombie killing.

Why? Well there is no existential challenge. At the individual- If you die, you can be reborn as a zombie, and then revived as a character. Otherwise, its about ego- your ability to collect supplies, kill others, get skills in order to.... get more XP? Alternatively, you join groups that try to govern territory, interact with other groups, provide services, punish deviants and socialize = its a social party.

Honestly, I think creating some form of existential challenge- if your a survivor, you can headshot a zombie for a permanent kill. If you're a zombie you can tear a survivor, limb from limb- for a permanent survivor.

Otherwise, UD is about ego and socializing.

In contrast- Zombie Apocalypse kicks its ass.

That's true about Urban Dead. It only took me about three months to max out all the XP I needed for both of my characters, so socializing is the only real point in Malton. One of the things I really liked about Monroeville is that death really is permanent there (though those characters may be shipped to Malton once it ends). It was always the case that a zombie could permanently kill a survivor there, though they became zombies too rather than being torn limb from limb. After a month, they both stopped allowing new characters in and made Headshot a permakill like you said, and they also prohibited characters from idling out after five days and reactivated all idled out characters (which made for some tasty meals). This ensured that Monroeville would have a definite conclusion. The only problem is that there weren't enough zombies when this happened to really give us a chance at winning. There are still some around, I've heard, but most humans there never see a zombie, and most zombies don't stand up for fear of getting headshot. I was an exception, as I enjoyed the challenge of guerilla warfare and trying to stay "alive." The real threat to humans in Monroeville is each other - there doesn't seem to be any shortage of PKers, and without zombies around people get bored and start killing each other. It would be nice if they'd do something like Monroeville periodically, and they can learn from the things that didn't quite work out right and do it better next time.

Zombie Apocalypse is a whole lot more fun than Urban Dead. You can socialize and count how many zombies you kill here too, but there's so much more to it than that and just staying alive is a real challenge. Characters are fully fleshed out with real motivations, and the world behaves in a realistic manner (walking corpses eating people and other nasty surprises notwithstanding) and is wide open with many possibilities. Teamwork and time management are crucial.

The Delta Green campaign does sound interesting. I remember you mentioned it last year. If you ever decide to start it up, I'm still interested.

Well, Night of the Living Dead (the original!) is about to start on cable in a few minutes, so I can't pass up the chance to watch it.

Ya... that's how it worked with zombie apoc too. This went through a few trials on NMA before I decided on a setting, plot, and story arch. Can't just be zombies. Been there, done that. Has to be something more to the story. And the characters have to be placed in constant jeopardy and be forced to work together to survive. And then you add the fate of the dice..

Anyway, one of my characters just figured out that some folks were trying to parachute a zombie into a hospital in Wykewood. Adalbert. Figured I saved Josephine's Generals a bit of trouble clearing that out again. Keep an eye out for Djdes,Pebcak and maybe Grobokopatel.

Maybe we should establish a seperate thread for all this UD discussion. Wonder how many players would like to partake. We could use a forum here to communicate informally and pass on info.

Thanks for that. Bo Richards is in and around Adalbert sometimes, but is currently a few blocks away in Nixbank. This thread is for general discussion, so there's no reason we couldn't talk about UD here as long as we don't monopolize the thread, but if you think it's necessary you can start a new thread for Urban Dead talk. I'm also on Brainstock as Mr. Handy, though I mainly post in the Rogues Gallery section.

Adding an overall story and background and more horrors than just the zombies to Zombie Apocalypse was a great move. Zombies have been done to death, if you'll pardon the pun, but adding fresh twists has made it so much better. Having rules and dice rolling means there's a real threat of character death and that not everything is within the players' (or the Keepers') control. I wasn't around for the earlier iterations of Zombie Apocalypse on NMA, but I can understand why they didn't last like this one has.

Indeed. The problem with free role roleplay is that there are no constraints. Its a bizarre mix of roleplay and fiction writing where some fictive personal creation can live without paying realistic consequence. The addition of the dice means that sometimes characters can get really lucky. Poor Edward nearly got killed off by a horde of skeletal zombies and then crushed as the chamber collapsed, and then nearly drowned as the tunnels flooded- but he got through with an amazing set of roles.

I am currently on the Deck of 52 site and have been on Brianstock. Not really carrying a handle on those forums.

Out of curiousity, do your characters carry mobile phones? I have three characters nearby. Doctor Smiley is in Wykewood but needs more FAK before heading towards Nixbank. Sally Strange is pretty much lock and loaded and is heading towards Lockettside from Kinch Heights. Harvey The Roach was going east towards Buttonville, and got whacked (again) and is now in Williamsville. I may allow some of these characters to join groups- not sure. Damn hard to play a zombie. Another one has been waiting for a revive in Pegton, but that place got overrun by Zeds.

Helps to keep a map, but damn are they outdated.

That's the real problem with freeform. I do enjoy it, and Systematic Annihilation has been fun (I do intend to keep that going, though the original creator Trag has been missing since last year and Stompie hasn't been around for months). I do add in unforeseen events and things that go wrong with my characters' plans, but none of them can die unless I specifically want them to. Adding rules and an element of chance really adds to the excitement, since you know your character can fail or even die, even if you don't want them to. And when you do succeed, you feel like you've really accomplsihed something. It's a great feeling when the dice come up your way, and even when they don't it can still take the story in an interesting and unexpected direction.

Both of my UD characters have mobile phones. You can look up characters' profiles by entering their names (or part of their names) at profiles.urbandead.info if you need them. Bo Richards is back in Wykewood at Josephine GH now. I saw the three characters you mentioned in Adalbert next door. So far I haven't seen Doctor Smiley.

You can find maps by clicking on the Wiki button on the main interface and then clicking on Map of Suburbs. There's also Red Rum's map, which is a pretty good one that lets you see multiple suburbs at once.

Mr. Handy wrote:That's the real problem with freeform. I do enjoy it, and Systematic Annihilation has been fun (I do intend to keep that going, though the original creator Trag has been missing since last year and Stompie hasn't been around for months). I do add in unforeseen events and things that go wrong with my characters' plans, but none of them can die unless I specifically want them to. Adding rules and an element of chance really adds to the excitement, since you know your character can fail or even die, even if you don't want them to. And when you do succeed, you feel like you've really accomplsihed something. It's a great feeling when the dice come up your way, and even when they don't it can still take the story in an interesting and unexpected direction.

Yeah, its more fun. I got tired of free flow. It seemed like the same thing- set up bowling pins, knock them down again. No real consequences.... And a lot of the time the characters aren't doing much but posing. Boring. And then the game craps out and its a lot of wasted effort. Its like masturbation without the pay-off.

This is much better- but I feel for characters that get the sense of being constricted. So I am sympathetic to player made characters, but the trick is to figure how the characters fit the story. There should be plenty of opportunity though. People living out in the wilds- perhaps coming in from a day of fishing or hunting? Tourists trying to get to a destination, etc.

This might be worth thinking about when you do Omaha. If you give the players a bit of foresight into what's coming, they might be able to make characters that "fit". Its easier to do it that way then to try to make a game fit a character.

About free form- what was funny was helping players come up with interesting characters, and then seeing those characters regenerated on different boards!

Both of my UD characters have mobile phones. You can look up characters' profiles by entering their names (or part of their names) at profiles.urbandead.info if you need them. Bo Richards is back in Wykewood at Josephine GH now. I saw the three characters you mentioned in Adalbert next door. So far I haven't seen Doctor Smiley.

Smiley is still there. Can't imagine why they might be hidden. Right now he's short on supplies and is stocking up. SMiley doesn't have free running, so he's got to watch for the VSB refuges. Any good locations to find shelter?

You can find maps by clicking on the Wiki button on the main interface and then clicking on Map of Suburbs. There's also Red Rum's map, which is a pretty good one that lets you see multiple suburbs at once.

I frequently use the Suburb map, mostly to track the movements. But the Zombies have been in green locations quite a bit lately, so I wonder if the reporting is off. Haven't tried Red Rum's maps. Will try it.

Just added Bo and Stephanie to Sally Strange-
http://www.urbandead.com/profile.cgi?id=1248308
Tomorrow, she goes west- hopefully to Lockettside.

Damn Fort Creedy has 61 zeds in the Gatehouse. I see a lot of dead people in Fort Creedy very very soon.

That's one way to allow players to have some input on their characters' design. While I'm still developing characters is the perfect time for players to tell me what they're looking for so I can tailor them to suit their needs. That's what I did with Trooper Rick Brenner, who was intended for Laraqua originally. I had already had the basic concept down, but I tweaked him towards what she wanted. Too bad he got killed before she had time to join, but she's having fun with Gardner and has recently picked up additional characters. With Omaha, I've already got over 40 characters at least partially completed and 6 of those fully done. A few of these characters are based on Stompie's design recommendations in the "intermission thread" over on NMA (which was done for that purpose). The only Omaha characters I'd be adding to that mix in Chapter 4 would be a handful of additional CDC personnel. Still, there will be chances to meet characters while on the road (I may be adding in a few of them soon, actually), and there will be plenty of people at Warren Air Force Base if the survivors ever reach it (though these will probably be military or civilians employed by the military). There may also be other pockets of survivors elsewhere in Omaha that could show up after Chapter 4.

Maybe I just didn't notice Smiley. I thought the character's name was Doctor Smiley, but his name might simply be Smiley. Adalbert's a good place for him, as he'll need FAKs in order to level up. Since he has Diagnosis to start with, that makes things a lot easier. If you want a safe place to stay you should look for non-resource buildings that are VS+2, but resource buildings like Adalbert that are frequent zombie targets will also have people in need of healing. Definitely get Free Running as soon as you get enough XP.

The suburb map is good for identifying the locations of buildings, but the danger level is often out of date, so I wouldn't rely on that. Sometimes red suburbs are fairly safe because the zombies have moved on too. Red Rum's maps don't have danger levels listed.

I like this role play in part because it appears you have freedom to do what you but the chance of you surviving while you do it is low. So you don't have to try and keep players contained in a box. They keep themselves in the box because they know that the box is fairly safe while outside there are a lot of flesh eating zombies and 40+ year old sandwhiches ready to make their lives so much harder.

Sorry if I don't make any sence I'll try to rewrite it.

No, it makes sense to me. You have freedom to go anywhere you want and do whatever you want, or at least to try. Some characters are bound by their responsibilities, at least for now. But while the world is wide open for exploration, it is also constrained in that it is a very dangerous place and traveling from one point to another is no easy task. Going anywhere on foot would take a very long time, so a vehicle is practically a necessity. However, you need to have fuel to use one (unless it's a bicycle). There are also other finite resources that you need (water, food, ammo, etc.). It may be easier to stay where you are in relative safety and play defense, but eventually the time may come when you're forced to venture forth and find somewhere better.

By the way, a couple characters in Through haven't fired their shots yet. I'm going to update on Friday at the latest, so if you haven't fired yet you should take your shots (or ask me to roll them for you).

Agreed- this is one of the reasons tha tthe game is set in an out of the way truck stop/motel. A place for refuge, distant from any major cities (and thus allowing players to prepare), a source of supplies (although some of the fuel supplies were lost, you still have three trailers of supplies nearby). So it becomes a fortified refuge.

The problem, strangely similar to UD, is that if you stay in a resource point, you also stand to be attacked by Z's. If you abandon them, you risk losing them. Sooner or later they will come for you.

One thing to remember- zombies are really just walking eating machines. They go after the nearest available prey- even if that prey is out of reach (luke on the roof). You can use that to your advantage.

The other nasties- well.... that's something else.

I've added three new characters to the Over section. They're the Montrose family: Jack, Emily, and Lauren. Their character sheets are up now in the Character Sheet thread. New players will have priority in selecting them, as they're perfect for someone wishing to jump in without reading any of the backstory. If after one week any of them are still unclaimed, I'll open them up for existing players - provided they don't yet have any characters in Over.

Since the majority of my players are from this game, just wanted to let you know I updated Weekend and will be updating again either tonight or sunday afternoon. Sorry it took so long my internet was out last night due to a big storm we had.

That's okay, don't worry about it. I saw the update and I'll be posting there a little later. I'll be updating Through by Sunday night at the latest, since it takes the longest to update and on Monday I'll be going back to work and won't have as much time. Don't forget that you've got two characters that can shoot this round. I'd also like to update Under, so if anyone hasn't posted there, please do so.

So both Sheen and Lewis can fire this round? Also I was wondering if Alvarez ever manages to get up on top of that bridge, it would be pretty tough to kill off the 7 zombies with just an M-4 and a pistol so if he used a grenade and threw it into the crowd would it 1) damage the RV or 2) harm the people on top of said RV?
-steve

Yes, they can both fire this round. I gave instructions in my OOC comments on both of their threads.

A grenade could easily damage the RV and hurt the people on top of it. However, it's not that difficult for the two of you to kill 7 zombies with an M-4 and a pistol, though it will take a few rounds. The pistol's base range is 15 yards, though this can be doubled to 30 by using precision aim. The M-4 has a base range of 90 yards, which can be doubled to 180 with precision aim. Right now Flynn is about 200 yards from the RV.

I still have to wait for one more player to act in Over before I update that. I may be able to update Through tonight.

Cheers!
Thank´s for this sweet game! (to all who pull the strings of this puppet show)
The OVER angle is neat but widely spread out. The other angles remain shrouded in darkness.... Should I dare explore or stick to the problems up ahead? I had a peek at the new arrivals in OVER angle, the RV-family; do I sense some From Dusk till Dawn here !!!
Maybe the char-pics led me to that conclusion or the theme with zombies...
At the moment I enjoy planning what to do with my airfield controller.
Keep your guns loaded, all!
-Signing off!

You're welcome! It's as much a pleasure to run the game as it is to play - I know because I've done both. Over is spread out, but things may be coming together eventually. You should refrain from reading Middle of Nowhere (and so should Laraqua, Mr Zombie killer, and Kabukiman), but yes, there's a bit of From Dusk Till Dawn - that's where the picture of Lauren comes from. Emily's inspiration is from another source. I haven't posted a picture of Jack yet since I don't have a clear mental image of him. Feel free to pick up additional characters in Under and/or Through if and when you're ready, and have fun!

My computer problems are solved! I had to formate the disk, fix the problems, instaled everything, but it's now ok. Anyway, i'm thinking of running a campaign based in the "Escape of Insmmouth", are any of you interested?

Glad to hear your computer's working again! I'm definitely interested in playing Escape from Innsmouth.

Hey Handy-

Looks like one of my characters finally met up with Stephanie Bridges!

Yep, she just met Doctor Ziggy. Bo Richards did see Doctor Smiley once in Adalbert too, but he must have moved on.

I'm hoping to update Through tonight or tomorrow, so if you haven't posted for your character yet please do so. A couple of characters have the opportunity to take some shots but haven't taken it yet.

At this point the new characters are open to new and existing players alike, though I'd prefer that only those who don't yet have any characters in Over take them. One player has just taken over Emily Montrose, but Jack and Lauren are still available.

Welcome to John Gaunt, who will be playing Jack Montrose!

Oh Damn! The thing killed Duke! Not Duke!

Was Lynnn the one who killed Buddy on accident?

Yes, that was Lynne. She got eaten too, along with several others. Nom nom nom!

Up in heaven Buddy walks up to her on all fours and says, "Serves you right"

welsh wrote:Oh Damn! The thing killed Duke! Not Duke!

still beats being hit in the chest by a keg of beer.

serves you right.

Welcome to another new player, thewordwasaphex, who will be taking on the role of Airman Brian Kincaid!

Hello all. I'm a newbie CoC player, so be gentle!

Also, I'm trying to organise a game here:

http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewtop ... =39&t=1314

Apologies for advertising, but have a look and hit me up if you're interested.

Let's go bust some Zombie bum! (That's ass to the Americans)

Welcome to Iam477, who is playing Lauren Montrose!

Where are all you The Siege players at?

C'mon folks! We need to get this motel defensible while we have the chance! (Says the guy who's injured and can't do much right now... )

Mr. Handy, can I also take on Willie the Cameraman in UNDER, please?

Hey everybody nice to be aboard. So far everything is kick ass and I'm really happy I found this place. Thank god for stumble and http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=297873. Found the site for this in Mr. Handy's sig.
P.S. just to add a little bit about playing as yourself and open RP. In the past it hasn't worked for me. All the people I met all wanted to play leather clad ninjas who can duel wield desert eagles while spitting out throwing knives and jumping off motorcycles. All I wanted to be was a fry cook and I felt really out of place.

Nice to meet you Iam477. I know what you mean with the ninjas one nice thing is if anyone got to unrealistic Mr. Handy can always have them locked in a room with a dozen robotic zombie pirates.

thewordwasaphex- I know what you mean. Right now I'm just waiting for the people by the diner to kill the last zed before Black starts trying to organize everyone.

Someone in Blue Plate Special already killed that zombie, so go ahead and organize! I'm waiting for everyone in all the Through threads to have a chance to post before I update. Laraqua has been missing for several days now, but I'll continue without her and NPC her characters until she returns if she doesn't come back within the next day or two.

Aphex, have you read the first two chapters? If so, let me know here and I'll send you Willie's secrets. He's been around since Chapter 1, so you really ought to know what he's done if you want to play him. Someone else asked about playing him too, but you asked first so he's yours if you want him.

Iam477, I'm glad you found us. I remember reading Zombie Run and talking to Valanti about our games and their similarities. I hope he has time to continue Zombie Run, since it's a great read. It's too bad the T-Bone kitchen staff died, but there will be a couple of cooks in Omaha in Chapter 4 if you're interested.

I'm halfway through the relevant threads now. I read fast, so (if I'm still up) I'll probably start posting for Willie tonight.

Gracias

Okay, you've got Willie now! I'll send you his secrets shortly.

Handy, can you get the doc in to fix up Kincaid, pleeeeease?

*does little puppy dog eyes, which looks a bit weird on an adult male!*

My defence-building gene is kicking in, methinks.

One of the doctors will come in the next time I update Through. I'm considering doing so tonight if I have time and enough people have posted, otherwise I'll update it tomorrow. Laraqua has been absent for a week, so if she hasn't posted by then I'll just have her character follow the others' leads. A couple of the characters in Through have just been taken over by players, so I'd like to give them a chance to post first.

Yeah, I'm just being a whiny little bee-yatch anyway.

Feel free to call me by my real name, btw - it's Alex.

Handy, a quick question from the police cruiser: Shall I put Kat in suspension mode and pick a character from one of the other threads?
(Under or Through)
/Dave

Totally off-topic folks, but if you have a couple of minutes to spare, pop on over to here

http://www.yog-sothoth.com/modules.php? ... ic&t=13090

I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself, right now...

Alex

Dave, you're free to choose one or more additional characters at any time as long as you read the required chapters, even if Kathryn's thread becomes active again. Laraqua did log onto the board and post in one of her games today. She's been very busy lately because she has exams, and she's likely to conitnue to be busy this week. Hopefully she'll be able to post more regularly once her exams are over. You can wait until she posts for Gardner before you continue posting for Kathryn.

That was hysterical, Alex. You might want to check out this site's own play-by-post game of The Haunting in the Hall of Fame, where I played Juliet Allan. It's not too long and a great read. You can find it here: http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewforum.php?f=51

I'm planning to update all of the IC threads tonight, but it's going to take me a few hours. I've got a lot of catching up to do first.

Yeah, I read The Haunting last week, Handy. Novel interpretation of 'using your head', haha!

I figured you might like what happened in my little campaign - Cuchulain and Roucheau are talking about petioning to have my title changed to Corbitt's Pimp in recognition of my ability to make my players do the most ridiculously stupid things. I trust I can count on your vote?

"And lo! the great sorceror Corbitt rose once more to slay the living... and was kissed by a fat old man with a beard..."

Technically, Juliet used someone else's head.

You've got my vote on that, though I don't think you made your players do anything stupid - they seem to be doing it all by themselves!

Granted, although I did fudge the dice a bit to ensure he succeeded...

Good luck with 'The Siege' by the way - that's a lot of stuff to get through. Sorry!

That's okay, I'm just glad you're having fun. The update should be done in about an hour, maybe a little longer.

Good thing I'm a night owl then - it's 4.10am over here.

Good read thewordwasaphex I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything or it probably would have ened up on my keyboard.

Well, it will probably take me at least an hour from now to finish the update - if I can even manage it tonight. Go ahead and get some sleep. I won't be able to post again here for at least another 18 hours after I go to sleep anyway.

The haunting was my first scenario as a keeper, but that was hilarious! Glad you had so much fun...
By the way, i started to play silence hill 1. I like it (good the story, and the atmosfere) but the movies are a bit annoying. And i'm reading the comic "the walking dead", it really reminds me Romero (specially dawn of the dead).

Silent Hill 2 is easily the best of the series. The plot is really dense and uncomfortable, and Pyramid Head is the freakiest villain in any game ever (especially when it... ah, I won't ruin it for you...)

Silent Hill 2 is great! I've also played 3, but it isn't as good as 2. I have Silent Hill 4, but it won't run on my PC because my graphics card lacks pixel and vertex shading, but I'm planning on getting a new computer soon anyway. I've never played or even seen Silent Hill 1, though.

3 is a continuation of the story in 1. In fact, the main character from 1 ends up being slaughtered early on in 3 (Heather's Dad). 1 takes second place in my opinion, although Silent Hill 4 (despite its flawed gameplay) gets major props for having a seriously twisted and unpleasant plot, darkening the tone still further and being relentlessly lunatic. And it's probably the most Lovecraftian of the lot, to boot. I have a soft spot for the theme tune as well -

'Here's a lullaby to close your eyes,
You were everything that I despised,
I don't care enough for you to cry,
Here's a lullaby to close your eyes...
Goodbye...
Goodbye...'


Tip for ya, when you do get it running - DON'T TRY TO FIGHT THE GHOSTS!!! They're totally invincible!! Oh, and don't play it with the lights off... Trust me.

Incidentally, Handy, I'm sure you know which Pyramid Head-ism I was referring to above... the bit in the apartment where you hide in the closet... *shudders*

Silent hill 1 is my favorite by far. I dunno just being attacked by the ghostdemon bastard babies scared the heck outta me when i was younger. And even though I know the game looks like hell, I can still picture it in my head through young eyes as the most terrifying thing ever. Ill never forget just the fog and the screeching radio. I didn't even need to see the monsters(the flying pterodactyl looked really stupid btw) But Silent hill 2 is very good as well. The screeching from Pyramid sword... Good series and I cant wait for the next one. 4 wasn't bad but eh it just lacked something.

Actually, I don't remember that part (and several other parts). It's been quite some time since I've played it. I'd rather not see any spoilers, though. It'll be like playing it again for the first time when I finally have time to play it again.

For extra credit, see if you can get the secret ending...

COYOTES!?

Mr. Handy! You are pure, unadulterated evil personified!! Somebody upstairs must've taken real offence at poor old Phillips...

Why, thank you!

Zombie coyotes have been around since Chapter 2 (actually, I think there was a brief sighting at the end of Chapter 1). This bunch was previously seen prowling through an overturned Greyhound bus on the highway. They were on their way for quite a while and were due to arrive at this time. Phillips just happens to be in their path. If someone upstairs doesn't like him, it must be Sergeant Black - he's the one who sent him out there knowing the danger!

Well, i played alone in the dark 1 a decade ago (or was it two decades ago?-Gee, i'm getting really old!) and i don't remember another game who could let me scary... until Silence hill 1.

Again, totally off-topic, but hey -

Still plugging my game, The Resonance of History. The board should go up in the next few days. Anyone interested, mosey on over to the ...I'm Thinking Of Running A Game forum, and/or PM me. Ideally, I'm looking for two lucky sods to subject to the unflinching terrors that lurk deep within my brain...

I've played the original Alone in the Dark trilogy about a decade or more ago. I don't think you could have played it two decades ago, as the first game came out in 1992.

1992? Funny, i thought the game was older. Strange how the passage of time confuses us. I feel like Lionel in his older version Anyway, it was 16 years ago, a lot of time. I didn't play the sequels, did i miss anything? By that time i was playing civilization-unless my mind is also playing tricks with me.

I was playing Civilzation then too. The second and third games were good as far as I can recall, though I don't remember them very well. The first was still the best, but if you liked it you'll like the other two. There's a fourth game, which I have, called Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. It came out in 2001, and while the graphics are obviously better, it doesn't have the feel of the original trilogy and isn't as good. There's also a new Alone in the Dark game coming out this month.

No, i have silence hill to play. By the way, did you play Shadow of the Comet? It wasn't scarry, but had a good story. But none was better than Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis. It wasn't terror, but a good adventure.

The new AitD looks the nuts... No more 'find door, find key, open door' crap.

Also, may I recommend you check out Aliens: Colonial Marines, Dead Space, Silent Hill 5 and Ghostbusters: The Game in order to see how spoiled we Lovecraft whores are going to be in coming months?

I've got Shadow of the Comet and its sequel, Prisoner of Ice. Both are a lot of fun. I also have Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and love it. They should have used that as the basis for the new Indy movie (which I haven't seen yet).

Prisioner of ice had a bug, and couldn't complete it. I haven't seen the new movie too, i will wait until he appears in video... erg, i mean in DVD. My friends who saw it weren't very entusiastic about it. A good adventure movie, but very inferior to the first three.
My poor computer is a old Pentium III, so i doubt i can play them.

Mr. Handy wrote:Why, thank you!

Zombie coyotes have been around since Chapter 2 (actually, I think there was a brief sighting at the end of Chapter 1). This bunch was previously seen prowling through an overturned Greyhound bus on the highway. They were on their way for quite a while and were due to arrive at this time. Phillips just happens to be in their path. If someone upstairs doesn't like him, it must be Sergeant Black - he's the one who sent him out there knowing the danger!

Hey Black is just trying to set up defenses to save lives. He only chose Phillips because he was already infected and was doomed anyway. Besides he probably wouldn't even still be out there if he hadn't failed those rolls before.

Knowing that you're going to turn into a Zombie any minute probably doesn't do wonders for your concentration... although it has taken him a surprisingly long time to set up those claymores. Ah well, I'm sure he'll get a posthumous medal for bravery!

Well, Phillips was very unlucky, at least until he got that natural 1 - which incidentally increased his POW by 3 and thus his Luck by 15! Even so, he still didn't finish setting up the mines in time. There were other characters who would have been better at doing it, but then you'd have been putting someone who hadn't been bitten at risk. Alanen died the same way in Chapter 2 from running human zombies, but he had just finished setting up the mines when they got him.

By the way, Phillips got that POW increase as a result of getting a natural 1 on his Luck roll and having a chance to exercise his POW. The way it works is that if you get a 1, you then make a 1d100 roll against (21 - POW) x 5. Phillips originally had a POW of 9, so he needed (21-9) x 5 = 60 or less. If your POW is 18, you need (21-18) x 5 = 15 or less, so it's much harder to increase it if it's already high. If you succeed at this roll, then you get a permanent 1d3 increase to your POW. Your Luck, Magic Points, and characteristic San will also increase with it, but your current Sanity does not change. It's too bad Phillips is doomed anyway even if he survives this encounter. If any other characters get a 1 on a Luck roll, they will also have a chance to raise their POW.

Are you waiting on something before you update 'In To Deep', Handy?

thewordwasaphex wrote:The new AitD looks the nuts... No more 'find door, find key, open door' crap.

been getting bad reviews though.

too bad, since i know one of the level designers.

(and as for your new game: no time. the situation at work is going fucking nuts.)

I'm in too many games already, so I couldn't join another one. I'll try to read along, though.

I've been waiting for Laraqua, who plays Mrs. Foo, to have a chance to post. She's been very busy lately and hasn't logged onto the board at all for days. Kabukiman also didn't post for Max. I'll update Under tonight and wait a few more days to see if she comes back before updating it again.

My computer died overnight, and I'm typing this from the library during my lunch break. I'm going to try to get back online as soon as possible, and I was planning on getting a new computer anyway, but it may be a few days. I doubt I'll be able to update before then. Most of the people whose games I'm in are players in this one, so I hope you'll understand if I'm unable to post for a little while.

Yeah, great Handy... Kincaid finally gets off his arse and you do a vanishing act on us...

Nah, hope you get everything sorted out soon. I await your return with bated breath.

I managed to get online with my PS3 without a keyboard. Tommorow night I plan to go computer shopping. Until then I can at least read, but posting takes forever like this so don't expect updates.

Hope everything gets worked out for ya Handy. I had a a few problems with my computer last winter. I was staying at my fraternity house (wiring is aweful) and it blew the motherboard when my roommate turned on our heater. Had to use his till i came home for a break then i grabbed with my aunts 8yr old hp that my cousin had been using in highschool. Full of spyware and would shut down periodically requiring me to spend 20 minutes jacking with the software to get it up and running again. Now its summer and i finally got a new computer but the graphics card is older than I am it seems. Oh woes me. Im happy i have a computer that allows me to type and get online thats all i really need. But i got off subject. I was wondering if any of you all had seen "When the Wind Blows" so far its very good.

Well crap that was a horribly depressing movie. It started off all sweet and cute.... Very good movie but really sad.

"When the Wind Blows"? Who's in that? What's it about?
On a unrelated note, is anyone into the graphic novels/ comic series The Walking Dead?

I hope you buy a computer soon, and recover all the information. I have already passed by a similar experience a couple of week before.
I had already comented about what great story was the walking dead some days before.

When the Wind Blows is about this old couple during the cold war. They live in rural England and the threat of a nuclear attack is apparently imminent.

I hadn't heard of The Walking Dead, but now I am going to have to check them out as I love all things Zombie related.

Can you tell me more about it?
Do they have novels that combine all the earlier issues?

And I'm back! I've got a new computer, and it rocks! I just finished getting it and my Internet connection set up half an hour ago. I won't have time to update the threads tonight, but I intend to update all three sections Thursday night, so if anyone hasn't posted please do so within the next 20 hours.

Ryan, in answer to your question re The Walking Dead, there
are several (i think 3) hardbound editions encompassing, I think, 12 issues a pop. They're a good read and the characters face some moral quandaries as they band together and attempt to survive.

Dear god, I cannot believe how badly I botched that! Poor Wallace... I liked the guy, too.
To cap it all, I go and roll a nice low number for an entirely meaningless roll with my other character...

All those plans, all those defensive theories... bugger.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, he isn't dead yet and he's going to die no matter what anyway since he's been bitten.

Handy, I´ll stay with Kat in the OVER thread. Instead of adding another character, I´ll start to write up the LA Skinner Episode for launch in mid-July. I´ll set a date later and will make all old players know the new deal.
Have a nice summer, evreyone!

You too! Sounds like a good plan. And Laraqua is back now and should resume posting for Gardner soon, so that's good news - or possibly bad news, depending on what she has him do to Kathryn.

Oh NO!!! Not Wallace too!!!!

All my favorite characters..... dieing!!!

Wallace is still alive. He's just unconscious and currently at 2 HP. A little medical attention will get him back up. Of course, he was bitten over half an hour ago, so he won't last forever. I thought you liked Baldwin too, but you didn't even note his demise. What is he, chopped liver? Oh, that's right...he is!

It's called Zombie Apocalypse for a reason. If nobody died in it we'd have to call it Zombie Turkeyshoot or something, but then it wouldn't be anywhere near as fun. Yes, our favorite characters will die, but we both know that's to be expected. They'll be back eventually when Zombie Apocalypse gets "reanimated" in the expanded version we have planned.

What sort of "expanded version" are you planning for ZA?

There was a discussion of it back on the old board. Basically, the story would be expanded to several different, though related, settings, and it would begin the night before this story started. The initial settings would likely involve the International Space Station, the crew of a U.S. space shuttle in orbit, and a joint Chinese/Russian lunar mission. Later chapters would be added as the timeline moved forward. One would involve a missile base, another would tell the story of the helicopter group's escape from Cheyenne in the early morning hours, another would take place at the Crisis Response Center in Omaha starting in the morning. You can find the discussion here: http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33871

The plan is very long-term. This is years away from happening, and will wait until this current incarnation of Zombie Apocalypse is completed. All of the characters will have another chance there, so some who died early may live a long time, and those who have lived a long time in this game could die early. There will also be quite a few brand new characters.

Probably by that time we will be all playing in virtual reality!

Mr. Handy wrote:It's called Zombie Apocalypse for a reason. If nobody died in it we'd have to call it Zombie Turkeyshoot or something, but then it wouldn't be anywhere near as fun. Yes, our favorite characters will die, but we both know that's to be expected. They'll be back eventually when Zombie Apocalypse gets "reanimated" in the expanded version we have planned.

i've been waiting for ages for you to find a way to hurt Luke. the fact he's healthy and at 99 Sanity must totally piss you off, right?

i'm waiting for you to bring in the flying insects to sting him and make his head pop or something.

but you'll need a decent swarm for that, cuz Luke got a shotty and i bet he aint too bad at shooting skeet!

kabukiman wrote:Probably by that time we will be all playing in virtual reality!

I think you're right! There's no reason this game couldn't go on indefinitely in its current form.

SuAside wrote:i've been waiting for ages for you to find a way to hurt Luke. the fact he's healthy and at 99 Sanity must totally piss you off, right?

i'm waiting for you to bring in the flying insects to sting him and make his head pop or something.

but you'll need a decent swarm for that, cuz Luke got a shotty and i bet he aint too bad at shooting skeet!

Actually, no it doesn't piss me off. I'd be perfectly happy if everyone except Luke gets killed or goes insane, leaving him to fend for himself. Still, Luke isn't as invulnerable as you might think. He took a calculated risk late in Chapter 2, crossing the weakened roof multiple times. If he had failed any of those Luck rolls he could have fallen through the roof and ended up like Azadeh and Samantha. Then again, Willie got a 100 on his Luck roll and he still miraculously survived. Mosquitos aren't the only things that can threaten Luke while he's up in his sniper's nest, either. There are things that can not only harm him physically, but they can also damage his Sanity - even at 99.

Willie seems to be a bit of a lucky one - unlike Kincaid...

Mr. Handy wrote:Mosquitos aren't the only things that can threaten Luke while he's up in his sniper's nest, either. There are things that can not only harm him physically, but they can also damage his Sanity - even at 99.

i'm quite aware of that

but Luke likes it up there just fine, so why would i force him to change his mind? let the old fart do what he does best!

thewordwasaphex wrote:Willie seems to be a bit of a lucky one - unlike Kincaid...

Willie has survived, true, but his Sanity has taken a much larger hit and he has been badly injured, thanks to being on the receiving end of a friend's bullet.

SuAside wrote:

Mr. Handy wrote:Mosquitos aren't the only things that can threaten Luke while he's up in his sniper's nest, either. There are things that can not only harm him physically, but they can also damage his Sanity - even at 99.

i'm quite aware of that

but Luke likes it up there just fine, so why would i force him to change his mind? let the old fart do what he does best!

Yep, Luke should keep doing what's in character for him. As a matter of fact, Chapter 2 nearly did end with everyone at the motel dead and Luke the sole survivor aboveground, with the possible exception of Black and Sheen. If there had been a couple more deaths in that chaotic firefight, the motel could very well have fallen.

Okay a bit off topic but my game: A Weekend in the country, is still in need of players. i have 3 players so far and 11 characters. I am going to be bringing in over the next month or so another 6-9 characters. i think the game is getting exciting. The group just fought 6 ghoals and did pretty well although one npc died and another npc just about died and if not for some luck rolls would have gone. But i am looking for players. Go to the board and post under characters or PM me and let me know. Hopefully I can grab a few of you. It may not be as fun as this game but then few things in life are as fun as this game.

I'm sorry, but i am already in too much games (and worst, i'm also a keeper).

Thanks for the compliment, Steve. Your game is fun, and I'm looking forward to Chapter 3.

I was wondering if you guys had seen previews for that new movie coming out Quarantine. If so. You should watch [REC] The original version of it. It has subtitles but i can see it being a bit better. First zombie movie in a while thats actually scared the hell outta me.

Since must of my (active) keepers play here, i will post it: tomorow i will be out in hollidays, so i won't be able to post anything. I will only return at day 20.

Noted and NPC mode is started!

Reading JL Bourne- Day by Day Armageddon, a personal journal of a survivor of the Zombie Apocalypse. Quite a bit of fun.

Bad news Republicans, W. gotten eaten by Zeds. Now Cheney is in command. I am not sure which is more scarier.

Just finished Day by Day Armageddon by JL Bourne-
http://www.amazon.com/Day-Armageddon-J- ... 1411608313
(you can read the first 8 pages)
http://www.tacticalunderground.us/portal.htm
For the first month

In short- I recommend it. If you are thinking of reading it, then perhaps you should stop here.

The book is written as journal of a survivor. It begins shortly after New Years, and our hero has made a New Years Resolution to keep a journal, thus the book which chronicles the first 1/2 year of the zombie apoc. Apparently the zombie infection spreads from China, with US military folks inadvertently bringing back the virus here where it promptly escapes from CDC. But our hero is a survivor. A naval pilot on an intelligence plane, he gets a bit more info on this than most. A resourceful, if emotionless and solitary man, he installs greater barriers to his home, buys ammo for his CAR-15, cleans his guns, and makes sure the solar panels are keeping the batteries (discards from a submarine) alive. Soon the zeds are walking about his San Antonio neighborhood as are some not so nice humans. He unites with a neighbor (an engineer) and together they plan an escape. None to soon as the government sends warning that it will be nuking major population centers to reduce the zombie horde. Sadly, while nukes may vaporize both zombies and survivors, radiation makes the zombie horde apparently more dangerous. Not only are they irradiated, but they also can move faster. Worse news, the zombies seem to be learning.

Our heroes learns this as they flee to an island off Corpus Christi and slowly begin to gather other survivors until they are 6. Alas, the zombie are ever present, waiting to take advantage of any mishap. And the mishaps happen. They return to the mainland, find shelter in a most unusual place (perhaps even more unusual than what is found under the T-Bone), and our story reaches a cliffhanger ending. A sequel is in the works.

Ok, I have to say I enjoyed this. I got it on Thurs, started reading it on Saturday and by this morning it was done- and I am a slow reader. The book is written as a journal, there are photographs, crossed out sections, underlined and circled spots, and the book itself looks like a military field manual. Indeed, the back suggests that's what you are getting. A bit cheezy, perhaps but it helps give the story some authenticity and allows you to forgive the typos (are they intentional?), misspellings, and honestly some very weak writing. The book is really about our heroes dealing with zombies, finding shelter, moving to look for something else, scavenging, bumping into zeds. And that's about it. You won't get much deep insight or sense of character, but it rings authentic in form.

In story- well, zombies tend to show up when you expect them too, they don't show up when, realistically, they should. The virus spreads really really fast, and perhaps more time could have been taken with it. There are some odd coincidences. But to be fair, I can forgive that. Overall, it was a fun read and useful (as are the Zombie Survivor's Handbook and World War Z) for those who plan to survive the zombie apocalypse!

welsh wrote:Just finished Day by Day Armageddon by JL Bourne-
http://www.amazon.com/Day-Armageddon-J- ... 1411608313
(you can read the first 8 pages)
http://www.tacticalunderground.us/portal.htm
For the first month

i ordered the book when you told me about it 2 days ago in PM. so i'll hold off reading anything of it online.

(also bought "Old man's war" at the same time, since it's often compared with Starship Troopers and The Forever War)

Old Man's War is fantastic, its a great read. I'm trying to get the next 2 books in the "series" but haven't been able to find em yet. You should also try to check out Armor. It pretty decent and only kinda bogs down in the middle. You should also check out John Scalzi's 'Agent to the Stars' I think that was the name of it. Its a free online novel that he put out that is really quite good.

Iam477 wrote:You should also try to check out Armor.

i've been searching for it for years! (no kidding, it's been on my 'must read' list forever)

Finally, I have net connection at home! No more excuses! No more delays! Yay!

Woohoo! Welcome back, Laraqua!

I'm back! I have finished my holidays and i will return playing.

Welcome back, Kabukiman!

Thanks Mr Handy! It will take a while to read everything in the several games.

Crazy! I keep having crazy awesome zombie dreams!

I love this game!

Thanks! I have crazy awesome Ash dreams too! A few nights ago I dreamed I was Lionel, but it was in the late 1940's or early 1950's and he had somehow remained in the past for several years! Then the night after I dreamed I was me in London, but it was nothing to do with Ash apart from the location.

Ms. Foo has 62 Sanity (you can see it on the Character Sheets thread), so her roll succeeds and she's fine. You can also post for Gardner now if you like.

I don't wanna post for Gardner! If I post, then he'll die!

I dreamt that there were kids with molotov cocktails they were throwing at their old teacher who'd stopped by this barnyard with a few other motorists to "pick up supplies" aka loot before heading off again.

Cool. I could use some good zombie dreams.

I went ahead and rolled for you, and I edited the last post in Abducted. I got a 1, so it's lucky for Gardner that I did. Not so lucky for the other guy...

I had my first dream about zombies. Maybe i'm taking this too serious...

Funny, I have been having zombie dreams too. Perhaps it has something to do with my role in this campaign when it first started.

Or perhaps its is the taint of something more insidious, a growing malignancy that slowly rots the mind's sanity until one becomes a zombie incarnate, who at night becomes the very thing of nightmares and feasts on the living.

Mmm...braaaaains...

Welcome to our newest player, ralazere, who will be playing Joe Soarez!

I hope not, for my new boyfriend's sake. We do live together now!

Hey there folks. Just sayin im leavin town the 25th and im not coming back till the 1st and then after that ill be good to go for a day or two then im moving up to school. New apartment so i might not have internet for a few days. or television... or anything....

Thanks for letting me know! I'll run Lauren as an NPC if necessary, otherwise she'll just stay quiet until you're back. I'll be out of town myself this weekend, but I'll be back Sunday night. Not sure if I'll have time to update then or not, but I'll try. I'm going to update all three sections tonight.

Laraqua wrote:I hope not, for my new boyfriend's sake. We do live together now!

Congrats. So living in sin? Highly recommended!
I did it with my wife for about a year before we hitched. Helped iron out the kinks before the marriage.

Iron out? Or iron in?

And yes, I am cheeky.

Sorry, my Internet connection went down last night and I wasn't able to update Over and Through yet, but I'll do so tonight if it's at all possible.

Wimrock will not be coming back so you can release his characters. I talked to him last night.
-steve

Thanks for letting me know. I'll update the character lists.

I saw yesterday 28 days latter. A great movie! It was creepy to see London completely void of people and loved the psychological aspects.

Howdy fella's. Uhh - I kinda fell off the face of the earth. so - hows it going guys?

It's going great, Stompie, and welcome back! You still have two characters left: Wallace and Ortega. You can pick them up again any time you're ready - I sent you instructions on what to read in order to catch up on their stories in a PM.

I had a different kind of apocalypse dream ... it was like Ash ... only you had to seal yourself inside or be mutated by a green mist. Very creepy! For some reason, a bell tower was involved ... weird. Didn't get to face an army of mutants though. There was the typical Zombie Movie Betrayer, though, who panics and decides the best way out is something that screws everyone else.

Fun fun fun!

I haven't had much sleep all week and I won't be able to update Through tonight, but it's coming on Saturday. Fulcilives2003, you've got about 12-15 hours to post for your characters. I'm also going to update Under this weekend, but so far only one player there has posted.

I'm going to update Through by the end of the weekend, and a few characters have yet to take their shots, so please do so when you can. I know that Invisible Castle is down, but you can use another dice roller or physical dice if it's not back up by the time you post, or you can ask me to roll for you. I'm also planning to update Under on Saturday, but one character hasn't acted yet.

What is this show spolier stuff? Why is that going on now instead of the way we were doing it.
Also kerry can go ahead and do whatever you want, I am not posting for her this time.

That's just to hide the dice rolls so they don't interfere with the story. I'm only doing it that way while Invisible Castle is down. If you want to see the numbers behind the rolls, you may click the show spoiler tag.

No spoilers here, I know...

But I have to say...

Damn you, Mr. Handy...

Damn you...

From UNDER...

Nobody made you stay around and explore. You could have left any time, and there was plenty of warning.

I'm back!

Welcome back, Kabukiman!

I'll be updating Through in a little while. There are a couple of characters who could shoot but haven't yet, though they've had plenty of time to do so. I'm also planning to update Under tonight. I'm just waiting for an action from one player, but I'll update eventually whether there's a post or not. I'm still waiting for two characters to act in Over before I update, and that might wait another day or two if needed.

I'm just waiting for one character to shoot or take some other action in The Siege. If there's a post for him within the next 20 hours or so, I can update Through again tomorrow night. Otherwise it will have to wait until Friday night, as I'll be busy Thursday.

if you're waiting for Luke go ahead & have him shoot whatever is closest to him. i wasn't sure if he got another shot in or not since he took precise aim previous round.

Actually, he didn't fire at all - or do anything else - the previous round. I had said that everyone on the roof could shoot except for Ernest Granger, who has been abandoned and is currently an NPC. I've been allowing people to use precision aim every round, provided the weapon you're using can be fired every round (which an M-16 can). The reason some people can only fire every other round is because certain types of rifles only have a rate of fire of 1/2 (such as an M-24 or a .300 Marlin). I was waiting for Luke, but I'll go ahead and roll for him. I was also waiting for Cuchulain, but he's been missing almost two weeks now, so I'll take control of his characters and roll for them as needed. I'll update Through later tonight.

hmz, sorry about that... didn't realise it was moving so fast.

That's okay. Actually, it was moving rather slowly at that point. Monday's update was the first one in six days, as I'd been waiting to give a few players a chance to post (not just you).

Mr. Handy wrote:That's okay. Actually, it was moving rather slowly at that point.

speed is relative to workload and off-work activities.

Ah, that would explain the difference.

I do intend to update Through this weekend, by Sunday at the very latest. You've already posted, but there are two other players with characters on the roof who need to make their Sanity rolls and, if they don't go wacky, post their action for the round. I'll roll for them if they don't post by the time I'm ready to update.

Has anyone ever checked out DeadWorld? I just read that Chaosium licensed their BRP system for an RPG of DeadWorld and was wondering if the series was worth a looksee.

This game has me wondering how viable it'd be to pull off a tabletop zombie campaign.

Hi, back to nightmares...am looking on 30 days of night.... I´ll have some dreams about that one, later!
Table top? You mean counters and floor plans and stuff? Squad leader but with zombies vs people... Could work, but isn´t that a thing of the past? Any idea worth selling should be in a computer game, right?

Tabletop means traditional pen-and-paper roleplaying in this case. It certainly can work from what I've heard. All Flesh Must Be Eaten is another pen-and-paper RPG that's all about zombies. There are tactical wargames involving zombies around too. There's one from Mongoose Publishing called Apocalypse-Z. People do still play that sort of game.

Table top is rpg'ing in person vs. over the computer and doesn't necessarily connote miniatures. Zombies, while fun, have always seemed kinda one-dimensional to me in terms of campaigning but was curious to know if anyone knew more about Deadworld.

30 Days of Night, not a bad vamp flick, reinterprets but doesn't redefine our blood sucking friends. A really good werewolf movie has yet to happen, imo.

AFMBE isn't really impressive in terms of system, and zombie cows?! C'mon!

Is Mongoose D20? I think that works for heroic gaming but not modern day or reality based.

Mongoose publishes RPGs under several different systems, not just d20, but Apocalypse-Z is a miniatures wargame. It uses rules that are similar to another wargame they put out called Battlefield Evolution. I'm not a fan of d20 either. They do have RuneQuest, a BRP-based game.

Well they´ve converted the BRP to d20 haven´t they? I like to read their take on the historical Glorantha. Their scene is set a couple of hundreds of years before Chaosium´s setting. Liked to sift through the Clanking city, dwarves gone tech. I was thinking of running a RQ campaign but didn´t get enough support. Might throw in some chaos elements to make it more zombieesque!

Didn´t Vampire the Masquerade get released as RPG P&P?

Vampire was always like that. I played it in college some 15 years ago. I would normally be interested in your RuneQuest game if I weren't in too many games already. I don't know much about the setting, but playing a Mostoli dwarf would be cool. I've long thought that dwarves were always meant to use firearms.

Wow, in a week I lost 2 characters. This is getting serious!

It's like I said in one of the IC threads: the endgame for this chapter (like with the first two) is going to have a high body count. You should count yourself lucky. Someone else (I won't say who, to avoid spoilers) lost three characters...

Can you say housecleaning? I lost two last week, too. (3 so far, and counting...)

Hmm, I started out with one char, still have her! Cowardess or luck, I don´t know...

What did you expected? You had 3 characters risking their lifes to save you ... I doubt that anyone else can be proud of a similar thing.

Yes, that´s might be it. Keep up the good work, she must survive - a little bit more... I´ll save a kiss for Harry

Save one or three for Jack too. He's thinking of trading in his current spouse for a newer model.

Ask to our keeper, if he kill your wife, you won't have to divorce from her, it will be quicker...

To defend my character, she did actually put herself in harms way to save the pilot! And sure if we get through this apocalyptic nightmare, there will be hugs and kisses all over!

Don´t hold your breath, though.... we´re closing this chapter and the death toll has just started peaking

Yes, Kathryn did take huge risks to save Erica and to help out others, even giving up chances at freedom to do so. She has been very lucky so far, and I'm glad she's still alive. We'll see who makes it and who doesn't in the coming weeks.

It does help me out by having such a heavy death toll at the end of a chapter, in addition to being dramatic. Every character that dies is one less that I need to manage. There were close to 70 when Chapter 3 started, and now we're down to the low 30's, meaning Chapter 3 is already the deadliest yet. I'm expecting another 10 or more deaths before it's all over, most of those in Through. There will be over 40 new characters added in Chapter 4, so it helps to free up space. There are already 6 characters who will definitely make it to Chapter 4.

Kyle Perkins in Over will be a playable character if he survives. I'll probably draw up a character sheet for him this weekend and put him up for either a new player, or for an existing player whose characters have all died. Once Chapter 4 starts he'll be available for everybody if he's still alive and nobody has claimed him.

I've just added Kyle as a new playable character in Over. For now you can only play him if all of your characters are dead, or if you're a new player. If he's still alive and unclaimed by the time Chapter 3 concludes, he'll be available for anyone to play. This is first come, first served, so if you want to play him you should speak up fast.

I'm surprised that Flynn is still alive. He is been in shock for 2 turns without moving with a zombie attacking him and he wasn't hurt yet, maybe the rabbit's leg works actually.

Well, now you've gone and jinxed yourself! Flynn just got badly injured now, but he's still alive and hasn't been bitten yet. Now it's up to his friends to save him before it's too late!

Yellowsigh has just taken over the role of Kyle Perkins. Welcome to the game! You may post when ready.

Flynn still lives! His psiche may be reduced to a vegetable, his body all broken, but he won't be transformed in a zombie! The rabit leg will protect him! That, and the rest of the party of course

He's not safe yet! That shot turned out to miss because of the -5 penalty for a head shot, so now it's up to Emily, Lauren, or Kyle to finish the job.

I've been waiting for people to post in Through before I update it, but I won't wait much longer. I need to know whether Melinda is going to drive over to where the others are as Keith has asked her, whether Colin Lewis is going to take the shot and what its results are, and what Kincaid and Ramirez are doing. Remember, if you don't act, your character will do nothing.

Ooops, I tend to forget Melinda. About Flynn, I thought it would be funnier to make him dream than to simply stay quiet.

That's okay, and it is funnier that way. I've only got two players who haven't posted in Through, so I'm going to go ahead and update tonight.

I'm going to have a lot more free time in the next two and a half weeks, so I can post more frequently as long as my players can - and if their characters go insane or die, that will speed things up too. I might even be able to wrap up Chapter 3 by mid-October if we can get a good pace going, or failing that it should be done by the end of October.

Lauren will persevere I promise you that. NOTHING CAN KILL HER AHAHAHA! please dont kill Lauren...

Oh, don't worry, Lauren's perfectly safe now that she's back in the attic...until she gets thirsty and hungry, that is. She took a big risk climbing down, but she got out of it all right. Like a lot of young people, I guess she thinks she's immortal, huh? That was a tough break for Flynn. He'd been very lucky for a long time, though it's perhaps more accurate to say that he died because the other characters had unlucky rolls.

I'm going to go ahead and update Through tonight while I have the time. I've waited long enough for the others to post this time.

Well, when he got catatonic I thought he was as good as dead. Then, as the turns passed and he was still alive I started to get some hope, sure anyone would managed to kill the zombie, right? Wrong. Anywhy, it was a great game, ironic I have only Melinda now, the character that I didn't played much.

Well, now you can focus more on Melinda, at least until you can grab some new characters at the start of Chapter 4. Melinda is in a good position to survive Chapter 3, and she also managed to save Keith. Where she goes from here is largely up to you, though you've been given some guidance. It is possible that Melinda will eventually meet Flynn's surviving friends from Over if they all end up going to the same place. It's funny how the characters you most expect to survive end up dying, and the ones who seem least likely to survive end up living. I think it's partly because the characters in the former group end up taking greater risks to protect the ones in the latter group.

I was amazed that Flynn didn't survive too. I thought that with everyone attacking the zombie, even though they lacked firepower, it would go down in short order - especially after it took 8 damage to the head almost right away. But a string of bad rolls dragged things out, and Flynn was getting squeezed for 1d10 damage per round, so eventually he was bound to die if the others couldn't save him. Lauren would have had a decent chance if she had remained on the porch roof and thrown another knife instead of climbing back up, but then she would have been placing herself at terrible risk.

I seem to have pushed the self destruct button on my keyboard! Hit self, or what? Add another soul to the death list, Mr Handy!
Let see what lady luck has to say about this gun slinging broad... Guys, this is just not fair. Point blank and all. At least it will be colourful.

Oh, yes - it jams! Luckily she didn´t swing a blade... My spirits sank for a moment there! Incredulously unlucky today.
At this rate all guns within reach will get jammed shut. Well, beats a stray bullet inflicting 9 hurt points.

Im sorry flynn but when I realized that odds were the other two zombies would come pounding out the window behind me.. I wanted to get the hell of the roof. I cant believe i only did one damn damage to betty though. I did try you cant say i didnt.

Relax! This is only a game! I had a great time playing with Flynn, and you were a great group. This things are always happening, and turns the game more realistic.

I'm sure Flynn wouldn't have wanted Lauren to sacrifice her own life to save him. With the new characters coming in Chapter 4, it's likely you'll have characters in the same group if you pick up additional ones at that time, and the Montrose family may meet up with Melinda eventually if they survive as well.

Hi! My access got struck by lighting and I won´t be able to post over the weekend. I´ll try to post on my lunch break later.
Feel free to NPC Kat till next week, Mr Handy!

EDIT: Problem solved: the cable got fried, just had to replace it. Good to go!

I saw yesterday again the anime "Spirited Away" and the way Chihiro screams and runs when she see the Kamis in the boat at the beggining of the movie, really seems someone who just lost a d20 of sanity...

AH so conqueror worm has died. Or at least "that one" has died. Hope you all enjoyed that as it was in the works for a long damn time.

So what is the total body count? Looks like just about all the originals are gone. Amazing- Sally and David both survived. They were favorites! Hey and Zoorie Spooner has also survived- thus disproving the claim that Handy has a thing against hot exotic chicks! Reread the 1 liners for these characters- remarkable how much one sentence can tell you about a character.

Yeah, I was amazed at how quickly the worm went down. It was back up to full health when it breached the comm room, and it was only a desperate last-ditch effort that finally brought it down. It could have been killed much earlier, as Luke and Sergeant Black had taken off about half of its hit points in the initial volley from the roof before they were crushed to death. It could have been killed in the following round if Kincaid had opened fire with his SAW and had at least a modicum of luck, but his player had him flee instead. Clarence's plan to fire on it with everything might have worked too if so many of the Rough Riders hadn't gone insane. The total body count for this chapter is about 44 so far, though at least four more characters are probably going to die before it's over. We started the chapter with something like 68 characters, and we're down to 24 at the moment. That's not counting the death tolls in the first two chapters, which were around 20 in each. In all, that particular worm is directly responsible for 12 deaths. It also has a number of indirect kills (destroying barricades to open a path for the zombies, and its direct kills rising up as zombies and killing others). It is not the only one of its kind, of course, but it was a very tough one. The one in Under is a different worm - it could hardly be the same one when it appeared later in the timeline than this one was slain - and is rather weak by comparison. The worm in Through was SIZ 70, which is why you got a bonus to hit it with missile weapons. The one in Under is "only" SIZ 30, so there's no bonus to hit, but it has much fewer HP.

There are a few more of the original cast still around than David and Sally, but I'm glad both of them are still alive too. Sally was incredibly lucky to have survived, but she's got her work cut out for her to survive Chapter 4. David's not out of the woods yet, but he will probably get out. It looks likely that Zorie and the others in Doolittle's car will get out, but they're not completely out of danger either. The six characters who escaped to the south should also survive unless something unexpected happens. Robert and Beth are of course still alive - they have to be, as they were in the Chapter 1 intro that takes place over a year from now. They weren't in Chapter 3, but they'll probably appear later in Chapter 4. Dr. Brigetta Hausmann and Stephanie Bridges are also original cast members who survived, and they're on their way to Omaha for Chapter 4. So is Erica Spears, who while not a member of the original cast, was introduced very early on. It looks like Zorie Spooner will be the sole survivor of the characters introduced in Chapter 2. Lt. Blanco almost got out with her, but she had a run of bad luck that ultimately proved fatal. Basically, I expect there to be 20 characters total brought in to Chapter 4 from the first three chapters, and I expect to add around 50 playable characters at the start of Chapter 4. Other characters will be introduced as the chapter progresses, depending on how things unfold.

We've got a little more to finish up in Chapter 3, but not too much. It'll probably be done by the end of October unless things drag out.

Any of you guys going to enter into the Mythos fiction contest??

BTW I can not believe how much carnage erupted from not being able to convince that old farmer or his son to kill that damn woman.

Don't forget Garner, he was responsible for a lot of deads too...

I'm planning on entering the contest.

Yeah, it was astounding that one zombie could lead to four character deaths, all of which were entirely preventable. As usual, it's human behavior that got people killed. Gardner also killed five characters at the airfield and later maimed another that ended up buying the farm...at the farm. If Gardner's luck hadn't run out he probably would have killed more people.

I've been waiting for one or two players who haven't posted in a while before bringing down the curtain on Chapter 3, but I plan to conclude the chapter on Wednesday at the latest. Threads with multiple characters will be left unlocked during the break between chapters so you can continue to converse and roleplay.

Chapter 3 is completed! Chapter 4 will be at least a few weeks away, as I'll need time to finish creating and posting the new characters and mapping out the starting areas. The soonest it will start is after Thanksgiving (November 27), but it might not be until December. I have a couple of 4-day weekends coming up, one in a couple of days and the other after Thanksgiving, so that will give me more time to work on getting Chapter 4 set up. In the meantime, the IC threads with multiple characters will remain unlocked so your characters can continue to talk and roleplay, but there will be no more dice rolling until the start of Chapter 4.

All surviving characters now get skill experience checks. In the locations and weapons thread, I've kept a list of skills successfully used by each character. For each skill, roll 1d100 and try to get higher than your unmodified score in this skill (which may be the base skill if you don't have any points in it yet). If you're suffering from fatigue penalties or anything of the sort, these do not factor into your skill XP rolls. It's just a straight roll against your skill that you want to fail. If you succeed, the skill does not improve, but if you fail, roll 1d10. This is the number of points by which that skill increases. Thus, the higher a skill gets, the harder it is to increase further. However, low skills are difficult to increase because you have to get a successful roll against them during the chapter in order to have it checked for a possible increase.

For each of your skills that rises to a level of 90 or higher, you get an increase of 2d6 Sanity, though no PC has a checked skill of 80 or higher, so you will not achieve that level in this chapter. Sanity increases are few and far between in this game. You do not get any Sanity increase just for surviving this far. Your characters are still in extreme danger, and you'll need to get somewhere relatively safe before you can recover any Sanity that way.

Post your rolls in this thread when you've made them, and I'll update your character sheets.

Here is a list of the PCs by player and the relevant skill levels:
Laraqua
Dr. Brigetta Hausmann (7/12 HP, San 50, broken arm):
Spot Hidden (35)

Syrinx
Kathryn McCoy (7/11 HP, San 73, temporarily insane[insanity currently suppressed]):
Electronics (61)
Listen (65)
Computer Use (71)
Fast Talk (55)
Dodge (28)
Spot Hidden (25)
Kick (25)
Fist/Punch (50)
First Aid (30)
Handgun (45)
Mechanical Repair (20)

ryansommer
Emily Montrose (12/12 HP, San 57):
Medicine (35)
Psychology (70)
Persuade (50)
Psychoanalysis (56)

Sally (6/11 HP, San 87, broken leg):
Handgun (52)
Psychoanalysis (34)
Listen (33)
Spot Hidden (28)
Dodge (32)
Medicine (57)
Climb (40)
First Aid (65)

Airman Frank Hodges (10/15 HP, San 39, indefinitely insane):
First Aid (40)
Rifle (70)
Spot Hidden (50)
Listen (65)
Hide (70)
Handgun (70)

Keith Deeds (15/15 HP, San 21, indefinitely insane):
Spot Hidden (50)
Rifle (60)
Mechanical Repair (75)
Listen (40)

Iam477
Lauren Montrose (12/12 HP, San 69):
Spot Hidden (25)
Mechanical Repair (20)
Listen (25)
Jump (50)
Throw (50)
Climb (55)

yellowsigh
Kyle Perkins (18/18 HP, San 29, indefinitely insane[insanity currently suppressed]):
Rifle (45)

fulcilives2003
Lt. Rebecca Doolittle (13/13 HP, San 40, indefinitely insane):
Mechanical Repair (50)
Submachine Gun (15)
Handgun (55)
Electrical Repair (65)
Spot Hidden (65)
Navigate (55)

Mr Zombie killer
Colin Lewis (17/17 HP, San 11, indefinitely insane):
Spot Hidden (40)
Rifle (65)
Climb (50)
Drive Auto (45)

kabukiman
Melinda Christie (10/10 HP, San 45):
Spot Hidden (30)
Listen (40)
Navigate (10)

Here are the skill experience rolls for the NPCs.

Trooper Erica Spears (13/13 HP, San 75):
Spot Hidden (76) did not increase
Pilot Helicopter (77) did not increase
Kick (25) increased by 1 to 26
Listen (38) increased by 3 to 41

Stephanie Bridges (12/12 HP, San 99):
Spot Hidden (66) increased by 8 to 74
Physics (66) did not increase

Dr. Bernard Smith (15/15 HP, San 41, indefinitely insane):
Spot Hidden (25) increased by 2 to 27
Listen (25) increased by 1 to 26
Psychoanalysis (66) did not increase

Lucy Armstrong (15/15 HP, San 53):
Mechanical Repair (75) did not increase
Spot Hidden (50) did not increase

David (11/11 HP, San 32, indefinitely insane):
Persuade (30) increased by 4 to 34
Handgun (64) did not increase
Shotgun (30) increased by 7 to 37

I'll roll for the rest of the NPCs and update the character sheets when I have time.

Syrinx´rolls:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1800536/

Kat made the following:

Dodge (28)
Spot Hidden (25)
Fist (50)
Mechanical Repair (20)

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1800542/

Dodge (28) > (34)
Spot Hidden (25) > (31)
Fist (50) > (53)
Mechanical Repair (20) > (25)

Here are the rest of the NPC skill experience rolls. I've already updated the Over character sheets for Kathryn and the NPCs, and I'll update these characters' sheets shortly.

Zorie Spooner (12/12 HP, San 58)
First Aid (59) did not increase
Medicine (55) increased by 1 to 56
Handgun (50) increased by 4 to 54
Jump (25) increased by 9 to 34
Dodge (43) increased by 2 to 45

Senior Airman Roger Coltrane (16/16 HP, San 31, indefinitely insane)
Rifle (71) did not increase
Spot Hidden (50) did not increase
First Aid (50) increased by 5 to 55

Amanda Deeds (13/13 HP, San 47, indefinitely insane)
Spot Hidden (55) did not increase
Rifle (50) did not increase
First Aid (70) did not increase
Medicine (60) did not increase
Psychoanalysis (31) increased by 6 to 37
Drive Motorcycle (55) did not increase

Lisa Crow (11/11 HP, San 43, indefinitely insane [insanity currently suppressed])
First Aid (40) did not increase
Listen (45) increased by 10 to 55
Sneak (10) increased by 1 to 11
Handgun (35) did not increase
Spot Hidden (25) increased by 5 to 30

Dr. Dale Owens (7/12, San 35, indefinitely insane, bitten)
Medicine (60) did not increase
Fist/Punch (50) did not increase
Dodge (24) increased by 7 to 31
First Aid (70) did not increase

Melinda rolls:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1818594/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1818600/

Spot Hidden (30)- 31
Listen (40)-81
Navigate (10)-36

She failed all her checks (no wonder, they were so low). And she got good results in two of them,


Spot Hidden-32
Listen-48
Navigate-44

Thanks for the rolls! The skill increases should be applied to your current skill levels, not to what you rolled on the XP checks. Spot Hidden increases from 30 to 31, Listen increases from 40 to 48 as you've said, and Navigate increases from 10 to 18. I'll update Melinda's character sheet now.

It looks like we're not going to be able to start until December, and with the holidays coming up I may just push it back to the start of 2009. We'll see how soon I'll get the new characters done. I've finished about 20% of them, but haven't been able to work on them in the last few weeks. I have some free time coming up over Thanksgiving, and more in late December if I need it. I'm hoping to have the new characters posted by mid-December.

Navigate was a big mystake .

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1843750/

only stats improved were handgun and navigate

fulcilives2003
Lt. Rebecca Doolittle (13/13 HP, San 40, indefinitely insane):
Mechanical Repair (50)
Submachine Gun (15)
Handgun (55) + 3 58
Electrical Repair (65)
Spot Hidden (65)
Navigate (55) + 6 61

That's a shame you didn't get an SMG increase, but at least you got some more points in Handgun and Navigate. I'm updating your character sheet now.

I haven't had much chance to work on the new characters for Chapter 4 lately, but I know I'll have more time during the holidays. I should be able to get them done by the end of the year so we can start the new chapter in early January.

(Sorry I just saw I was supposed to make rolls for Lewis! I will roll up tonight!)

My rolls:

Rifle and Drive Auto both got higher numbers. Spot Hidden and Climb did not.

So I get skill advances in Rifle which rises from 65 to 68.
So I get skill advances in Drive Auto from 45 to 47

Thanks for making the rolls. I've already updated your character sheet. The only people who haven't rolled yet are Iam477 for Lauren, yellowsigh for Kyle, and ryansommer for Emily, Sally, Keith, and Frank. There are still a few weeks left, so again there's no rush.

Well, new year, new apocalypse. I think its fair

Sorry I think this is off topic but I found some zombie stories everyone might like. They are all by the same guy.

36 Hours
Hannah
Owen
Cole

That's very much on topic, and is precisely the sort of the thing this OOC thread is meant for.

Once Chapter 4 gets underway, which should be in less than a week, I'll be creating a new OOC thread in the Chapter 4 subforum and moving this one into the Chapter 3 subforum, where it will be locked. I'll also be moving and locking the open Chapter 3 IC threads at that time.

A few existing players haven't yet made their skill XP rolls for the end of Chapter 3. If you haven't done so by the time Chapter 4 begins, I'll roll them for you.

This thread is now locked. All OOC comments should be posted in the OOC thread in the Chapter 4 subforum here. If you haven't yet made your skill XP rolls for the end of Chapter 3, you may do so in that thread as well. I'm only waiting for three players to do that, but if they don't soon I'll roll for them.