Survival Horror

[Laraqua]

I'm thinking of running a game starting around the 14th with a survival horror, rather then investigative horror, bent. The themes, as with most survival horrors, are isolation, contamination, insanity and personal horror, which I think works quite well within the Lovecraftian framework.

Attempts will not be made to create the traditional party system. Those who play may play alone some of the time, and in pairs or small groups other times. Even if only four players are involved, you won't always be together.

Characters can be of almost any kind job-wise. They will be rolled randomly and the honour system imposed. However, skill variety and number can be determined by yourself, rather then a template, so those with high education can have a large number of occupational skills, if you would like. What is necessary, though, is a well-thought-out and fully-fleshed-out character due to the themes of personal horror. It helps, sometimes, to go on MSN or maybe yog-sothoth's chat room to flesh out the details so I can fully understand them.

The adventure would begin in a modern London hospital. Characters can be anyone who has any conceivable business there. There will be considerable flexibility within the game's structure and in timing of posts. So long as you give me a rough idea of how frequently you can post, just so I can endeavor to keep the rapid-posters busy and keep the slower-posters from falling behind by pairing like with like, I won't be a nag.

A good knowledge of the rules isn't important on your part and I'm willing to help out with character generation.

Anyway, let's see how much interest is out there.

P.S. Survival horror doesn't just mean hordes of zombies. I'm thinking more along the lines of Project Zero (Fatal Frame), Forbidden Siren and Silent Hill.

[Mr. Handy]

Consider me interested!

I love a good survival horror adventure, and I'm glad for the flexibility in pacing. Most of the games I'm in are slow-moving since I can only get online for 6 hours per day during the week, but they may be a little too slow moving and it's also nice to have the option to go a little faster if I have the time. I've already got some ideas for my character.

By the way, if you ever have time to catch up on and join Zombie Apocalypse, the characters you wanted are all available, alive, and (mostly) sane. Can't guarantee how long they'll stay that way, of course. Alexandria Mikhalin's player was a no-show, so you could pick her up, and Kerry is also playable now.

[Laraqua]

Sweet. I may have a lower course load then expected in study period 5. If so, I'll join up after exams so I can have a wide enough attention span to read and learn and understand what's been going on. Currently, I'm keen to create and write, but reading up on stuff reminds me too much like homework!

Anyway, throw your character ideas my way or send me your MSN addy or something. THis thread can be used for character discussion if you like. Unlike The Last Express, strict privacy between threads won't be a big deal.

[coffee demon]

I've already told Laraqua that I'm in!

I'm going to play a 22-year-old Canadian backpacker who just broke up with his girlfriend, so took a semester off college to party in Europe. He's taking heavy machinery and plumbing at a technical school.

He came down with something pneumonia-ish in London, and was bedridden in a cheap hostel for a couple days. He doesn't remember much about those few days, except for heavy vomiting and mild hallucinations. He also remembers a pissed off hostel supervisor cleaning up vomit, and being carried away in a stretcher. Next thing he knows, he's in the hospital..

[Laraqua]

Time to set Coffeedemon's character down on my psychologist's couch. Answers to these questions aren't mandatory, but they tell me a bit more about the character and help me tailor the scenarios a bit better.

Where does your character usually live? A cramped, messy flat? An Ikea-made home? Spotless or squalor? With flat mates or alone? Or with family?

What is your character's current and historical relationships with family? Was mum a slovenly, violent woman who discovered God once he'd grown up and is now all holier-then-thou despite past cruelty? Did you and dad always go fishing together on Sundays but you stopped doing that now that you live so far apart? Do you have a younger brother you got drunk once and over the years has turned into a raving alcoholic? Or a sister that you call for long conversations?

And what about this ex-girlfriend? Why the break up? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the relationship? What was she like?

[Mr. Handy]

Thanks, glad to hear it! I'm planning to play either a nurse or a doctor (probably depending on my EDU roll) who works in the hospital. I don't want to go too much into her background here, but I can PM it to Laraqua when I write the details up (I don't have an MSN address), but she's recently ended a bad relationship and isn't in the mood to start a new one any time soon.

Should I roll her up now? What optional character creation rules can I use?

[Laraqua]

well, for a start, you can adjust wherever the stats go, so if you roll a high Strength and want a high Edu, you can put it in there. It's only that we aren't using point-buy creation because weaker characters fit the themes better.

Other optional character creation rules? I don't think any apply in this case. This won't be the most rules-heavy of games and common sense will usually be enough to work out, say, if you can push a heavy wardrobe out the way.

[Mr. Handy]

Okay, thanks! I made the character creation rolls (and got some good rolls for a change! ). I'll send you the stats and such tonight by PM, and write up a detailed background over the weekend.

[waferthinninja]

Count me in too.

I will play a London stockbroker, in the hospital recovering from surgery to treat a severe stress related peptic ulcer. His job is stressful, and the stress is compounded by the messy divorce he is going through. His ex-wife is making it as difficult as possible for him to see their 2 year old daughter.

He owns a very swish riverside apartment in the Docklands, but the place is cold and soulless as he practically lives at work and spends his evenings eating at restaurants and going to bars.

Sound ok? What else do you need to know? I can knock up a character sheet this weekend.

[Zombiedla]

I would love to join but I'm already in two other games (maybe three soon) and I don't want to mess up with character switching If there's still room for one more player I'll think about it though. Oh, and is this a classic era scenario?

[SuAside]

modern era, i think.


& yeah, i'm interested too (as usual), but i don't really know what char i'm going for yet.

[Laraqua]

Tell me more about the character's wife and a bit more about their unhappy one-time marriage. Also, his parents involved at all? Her parents? Does he have any friends or is he entirely job-focused? What kinda place is he living in and what state is it in? Homes tend to tell a lot about a person.

There's plenty of room, Zombiedla, but if you find the committment is too much we can always ruthlessly kill you in a way that upsets others . Of course, I advise waiting to see how things pan out in your current games. You can always join easily enough later. You won't miss out. It's not structured like normal stories so it doesn't really matter if a fair number get involved, even at different times. It will quite flexibly accomodate drop-ins and drop-outs.

I'd like to have a rough idea about your preferred posting styles/frequencies/habits. Whether you'd prefer organising one or two hours for a frequent but limited-time post-fest, whether you'd like it daily or every few days, or if you just like to keep checking in each day and post whenever you can. Just give me a basic idea on what you're aiming for, things can be adjusted down the track so you're not committing yourself to more or less then you end up wanting. It's just a rough idea for myself.

Also, I'll put this in bold because everyone needs to at least have a think about these three questions:

What is s/he most afraid of - aside from the obvious like death or mutilation? (Being left behind or forgotten, being proved redundant, a loved one holding dark secrets).
What fills his/her heart most with hope or comforts them? (the voice of a particular loved one, humming or singing a tune, someone needing them).
What makes him really angry? (Being contradicted <pride>, waiting in queues <impatience>, negligence by a loved one <fear of not being a concern for them>)

[imme]

Hey all, I'll be playing, too. No idea what I want for a character yet, but perhaps not someone who's recently gone through a bad break-up of some kind. It seems like you've all already got that covered.

[paradys]

I'll join too if theres room. I was thinking of playing one of the hospital porters, a youngish guy kind of irresponsible. Isn't it traditional in these things to have a character who's a bit of a stoner, that could be fun..

i can usually post once a day but might miss the odd weekend.

[waferthinninja]

Daniel Carter, Stockbroker
His parents live in a bungalow in suburban Devon and in his eyes "never amounted to much" compared to the high flying life he leads in London. Like most things in his life they have been marginalized by his work, and he only sees them very occaisionally, Christmas holidays and the like.

For their part they are proud of him, and his mother does make constant attempts to call him and speak to him regularly, though more often than not he is "in a meeting, can't be disturbed". His father was a military man, set for great things, but was forced into retirement due to ill health. He put a lot of pressure on Daniel to succeed, to be better than he ever was.

Daniel has lots of "friends", but of the superficial type who are either work competitors or who want to brown nose him to get ahead. There is a lot of one-upmanship amongst his circle - who can have the best car, best house, best mobile bloody phone etc.

His Docklands flat is kept immaculate by the cleaners he employs, expensively furnished in an ultramodern style with designer kit and the very best gadgets. He typically only sleeps there for a few hours most days after staggering in late from some hip club, and then leaving early after breakfasting on a double espresso.

Consciously he would say he fears poverty, and having to live like "regular people", but deep down the one thing that would destroy him would be to lose his daughter, the one thing that gives him a glimmer of an idea that there is more to life than money.

His wife Gemma was young and beautiful, from a well to do family, the typical Kensington butterfly rarely seen without either a glass of champagne or a shopping bag in her hand. She was swept off her feet by Daniel, impressed by his willingness to flash the cash, and they married in that mindless way that young couples sometimes do, happy for Daniel to take over from Daddy in paying the bills.

She fell pregnant shortly after the wedding, and she soon realised that she needed Daniel around more than his money. The couple started squabbling and Daniel just retreated even further into his work. Baby Hayley arrived, and Gemma's nagging for Daniel to be around more only got more insistant.

One day after a bad day on the markets, her nagging got too much and he hit her. She moved out and filed for divorce soon after. Only when they were out of his life did he realise what he had lost.

Gemma took their daughter away and while she has agreed a weekly visit, she frequently makes excuses at the last moment. Gemma soon found another father figure, and is threatening to move away with him, making it more difficult still for Daniel to see Hayley.

-----

I can probably post most days, but not at any set time. Depends on how busy I am at work

[Laraqua]

Hey Paradys, there's plenty of room. Just one question: What's a hospital porter? I'm well aware of what porters do at hotels and railway stations, do these people do similar things? And if so, is it a private hospital thing, giant hospital thing or a London thing because I have not seen people carry baggage for you in the public hospitals I've seen? Not saying you're wrong, just saying I haven't seen it.

[OathinBlood]

Is there still room? I'm thinking of a janitor with extremely low self-esteem, not to mention depression problems. He spends his night shift stealing anti-depressants and various other drugs from the wards, and is kind towards everyone but himself.

[Mr. Handy]

During the week I don't have much time online, but I can probably post at least a little on most days. I can typically be online between 6:00 PM and midnight (GMT-5) on weekdays, though I can't spend the whole time here. During the weekends I'm usually home and able to be online most or all of the day (late morning to around midnight), and I'll have more time to post then. I'll probably check in every day and post whenever I have time, but if others happen to be online at the same time and I'm not too busy I might be able to make several posts in a short period of time.

I think Paradys might be talking about an orderly.

[Laraqua]

Sounds good. I don't think anti-depressants would be an easy steal, being a largely psychiatric problem, whatever store they had would be securely locked up and most patients owuldn't require them so it's rare to find a patient to steal them from. You could just have him addicted to anti-depressants that he gets from his psychiatrist? Or just have him be a petty thief and still bits and pieces of this or that.

I'll need more information on him eventually but that's a good start. Just give him a good think-about. I've already got two decent opening scenarios worked out, I'm just wondering how to group people together.

Oh, and don't be afraid to play a child character. The rules of Edu being equal to age in years +6 won't apply because 6-year-olds aren't entirely stupid. Obviously Edu 21 won't be possible and certain skills will be capped quite low but there's nothing wrong with playing a 5-year-old with high sneak and hide and moderate psychology, or a 12-year-old with a spread of medium scores and a reall good Throw skill. Just throwing the idea out there.

The four main areas for character occupations will be: Staff, Visitor, Patient and Contractor (i.e. delivery man / electrician).

Also, Imme and Coffeedemon, you are both in similar time zones and seem to post with similar frequency. Perhaps you two might make a good starting pairing? That doesn't mean your characters will need to have any prior knowledge of each other, it's just a thought of mine.

[OathinBlood]

Alright, the psychiatrist work-out sounds good. I'll roll him up and fill out his character sheet this weekend. Thanks.