Character Selection, Creation, and Discussion

[pfarland]

Ok, problem was I don't have the rulebooks handy and I was using a 1990's character sheet to go by. I did the write up for him earlier, but didn't have the time to post it before I had to run out. Sounds like it will have to be changed quite a bit, but here it is so maybe you can use some of it.

John Brunner Backstory and Equipment

When the breakout happened he was on his farm with his wife and five children (ages 13, 11, 4, 3, and 2). An Army patrol (sent on a seek and destroy mission after zombies) was overrun and some were turned. A couple wandered onto the farm and infected his oldest two children. They in turn attacked his wife before his eyes. Then his wife attacked and ate thier youngest child. Since then his other two children have died also.

Character Spoiler,John actually killed his 4 and 3 year old. After the incident with his two oldest then his wife and the youngest child he couldn't get through on the phone lines. Then seeing what was being broadcast on what was left of the channels on the satellite tv he did it to save them from the horror. He is now on a mission, to kill as many of the zombies as possible. He won't needlessly through his life away, but he also won't go to extremes to save it either.

After slapping some plywood "armor" over most of the larger windows in his RV and bolting on a cattle guard to help clear the way of wreckage and zombies, he loaded up some supplies and headed to into Omaha. On the way out of his farm he found the National Guard patrol that befell his oldest sons and looted their bodies (the non zombie ones) and vehicles.

He does have a bum leg. He shattered it in a car accident a few years ago. He can walk just fine with just a mild limp, but running any real distance causes him alot of pain.

Equipment: M-4 carbine (with reflex sight) w/ 3 30 round clips and 1 w/ just 15 rounds, M-9 Pistol w/ 2 15 round clips, web harness, Kevlar vest and helmet, Night vision gear, and 32 MRE packets. (All from the National Guard Patrol). One .30-06 hunting rifle (with scope) and 20 rounds, one 12 guage double barrel (sawed off into a pistol size) w/ 10 rounds, one flat bladed shovel, Binoculars, Mig type welder, tools, bible, canned goods for 8 days, perishables for 6 days (in RV fridge), and a few momentos of his family.

Character Spoiler,He has a claymore mine he found in the NG patrol remains. He strapped it to his chest, set it up with a "clacker" (standard lever operated detonator). He won't take it off and it's whole purpose is to utterly destroy himself and take as many zombies with him if things get to the point of no return. He wouldn't do this if others would be hurt unless they too wouldn't have a chance of surviving. like everything else of course it's up to you Mr. Handy.

So what do you think?

[Mr. Handy]

That's definitely going to need some heavy rewriting. You should concentrate on reallocating skill points and coming up with his backstory from before the zombie outbreak started. You'll need to have been in Omaha when all hell broke loose, which means you'd have had to have been staying in the city at least overnight for whatever reason (his family could have been there too). You would probably not have been able to get into Omaha once things got going. Earlier in the day, the National Guard had quarantined the city and blocked it off. By the time it was overrun, there were so many zombies that it would have been more nightmarish trying to get inside. There would be far more zombies in Omaha than out in the country, with numbers increasing as you got closer to the city, so you'd have had no reason to go to Omaha, either. Instead, you were stuck in Omaha when it happened. It's very plausible that you were trying to get out and had been at a National Guard cordon while it was being overrun, but you would not have been able to salvage any equipment from it. You might have had a handgun of your own for personal protection and a limited amount of ammo, but you won't start with most of the gear on that list. Some things, like the hunting rifle, might be back on your ranch out of town, but you wouldn't have brought them since you didn't know what was about to happen. You'd have to acquire more stuff during the course of the game. I'll let you know what happened to you during the day, using your backstory above as a guide.

You'll also need a brief text description of your character and a one-line in character quote, like you'll notice on the other character sheets.

[pfarland]

Jack Brunner
Farmer/Rancher
STR 14 Age 39
CON 11 Idea 70
POW 10 Luck 50
DEX 10 Know 75
APP 08 Damage Bonus +1d4
SIZ 14 HP 13
INT 14 MP 10
EDU 13 (15) San 50 (40)
Occupational Skills:
Craft 50%; Electrical Repair 60%; First Aid 40%; Mechanical Repair 60%; Natural History 50%; Operate Hvy. Machine 51%; Pilot 41%; Track 35%
Hobby Skills:
Computer Use 26%; Drive Auto 30%; Electronics 36%; Listen 35%; Spot Hidden 35%; Handgun 40%; Rifle 45%; Shotgun 40%

Jack Brunner joined the Army straight out of HS and spent 6 years as a vehicle mechanic. After that he came back home to take over the farm from his ailing father (his mother died while he was in HS). He reconected with his HS sweetheart and soon she became his wife. Their first child was soon to follow. He and quite a few of the local farmers pooled their money together to buy a plane for crop dusting and lessons for Jack and two of the others. In his spare time from running his farm/ranch and raising his family, he likes to tinker in his workshop fancying himself as a Macguyver type. He even got into the "pumpkin chuckin" competiion for awhile. He also has played around with HAM radio. He does have a bum leg. He shattered it in a car accident a few years ago. He can walk just fine with just a mild limp, but running any real distance causes him alot of pain. Right before the outbreak he and his family loaded into the RV and headed for Omaha. Jack had some paperwork to fill out at the bank regarding the farm/ranch and some deals to sign on with some companies. While he was doing that his wife wanted to do some shopping. Afterwards they were going to head out for a two week vacation and he was going to do some birding. Too bad they didn't get out of Omaha the day before.

What I figure for his equipment: One .45 pistol and 2 clips, one double barrel shotgun and 2 20 round boxes of ammo (in storage bay of RV), Enough food perishable and non-perishable in the RVs fridge and pantry. Tools and various camping equipment in RV storage bays. CB and mobile HAM radio installed in RV.

Quote: "Oh Lord, bless this thing and PLEASE let it work. TWANG!!! Lookit that, took it's head clean off!!!"

This a bit better?

[pfarland]

Also, what would the Career skills be for a televangelist? Might be fun to play one of those. If you can't tell I like off-beat characters.

[Mr. Handy]

Looks great! No problem with the starting equipment, either. The only things missing are that Craft and Pilot require a specialization. You'll need to specify which craft you've learned. You can take Craft skill multiple times for multiple crafts, but that would dilute your skill points. It's better in this case to just be good at one thing than mediocre at two. For Pilot, you'll need to specify the aircraft type. Since you learned to fly crop dusters, that would be Pilot Civil Prop. Other available types are Civil Jet, Airliner, Jet Fighter, and Helicopter. You can take Pilot more than once with different aircraft types, but it's even less advisable to spread your points thin there.

For a televangelist character, you could use the Clergyman skill set: Accounting, History, Library Use, Listen, Other Language, Persuade, Psychology, and one other skill of your choice. Alternatively, you can use the Spokesperson list: Credit Rating, Disguise, Dodge, Fast Talk, Persuade, Psychology, and one other skill of your choice. Or you could take the Entertainer template: Art, Credit Rating, Disguise, Dodge, Fast Talk, Listen, Psychology, and one other skill of your choice. Note that Art, like Craft, requires a specialization. You can only create one character in each of Omaha and Gold, so your televangelist would have to be in Gold if your rancher is in Omaha. The televangelist wouldn't have to be in the USAF, but could be a relative of someone in the USAF instead.

[pfarland]

Civil Prop certainly the specialty for pilot. I'm thinking Metalworking for the craft specialty. I'll work on the televangelist later tonight. I'm thinking he would be on base ministering to the troops.

[Mr. Handy]

Jack Brunner's good to go now. I'll send you your secrets when I have time to write them up: tomorrow if not tonight. Gold should get started tomorrow, with Omaha to follow as soon as I can post it (hopefully Saturday at the latest).

[pfarland]

Billy Roberts, PhD. Theology
Televangelist (entertainer)
STR 10 (9) Age 60
CON 10 (9) Idea 60
POW 15 Luck 75
DEX 13 Know 90
APP 13 Damage Bonus +0
SIZ 11 HP 10
INT 12 MP 15
EDU 14 (18) San 75 (75)

Art (Oratory) 90%; Credit Rating 60%; Disguise 16%; Fast Talk 50%; Listen 50%; Other Lang. Ancient Greek 35%; Other Lang. Ancient Hebrew 35%; Persuade 85%; Psychology 80%

Billy grew up in a small town in Texas and quickly dedicated himself to the church. He quickly became the local pastor and started to attend seminary through correspondence courses. He kept getting asked to guest pastor at various churches and getting hired on as pastor for larger and larger churches. He finally gained a slot on a major Christian TV network. From there he started touring. His wife stayed at their home in Texas even though he spends about 300 or more days on the road. His faith is unshakable and his devotion complete.

"May the lORd steady your hand and guide your aim to abolish these monstrocities from his creation!!!"

Mr Handy,I would have prefered to Have Pow, App, Int, and Edu higher, and I actually wanted Str, Con, and Siz lower. I wanted him below average physically. And if you want me to drop those high skills I will, but I thought them appropriate for the character.

Stat rolls
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2682237/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2682238/
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2682240/

[Mr. Handy]

Looks excellent! Your STR, CON, and SIZ are actually already below average, and your other stats are high enough. I'm sure you want more than 15 POW, but that is quite high already. Even your INT isn't too bad, though you haven't spent all of your hobby points yet. Your only hobby skills as far as I can tell are the languages. You only spent 68 points on them out of a total of 120 hobby skill points, so that leaves you 52 more available. Please spend them. I don't have a problem with your high skills considering your age.

[pfarland]

Oops, Hate when I miss skills, lol. Up the Other Lang skills to 36% each and added History 50% and Library Use 45%.

Billy Roberts, PhD. Theology
Televangelist (entertainer)
STR 10 (9) Age 60
CON 10 (9) Idea 60
POW 15 Luck 75
DEX 13 Know 90
APP 13 Damage Bonus +0
SIZ 11 HP 10
INT 12 MP 15
EDU 14 (18) San 75 (75)

Art (Oratory) 90%; Credit Rating 60%; Disguise 16%; Fast Talk 50%; Listen 50%; Other Lang. Ancient Greek 36%; Other Lang. Ancient Hebrew 36%; Persuade 85%; Psychology 80%; History 50%; Library Use 45%

Billy grew up in a small town in Texas and quickly dedicated himself to the church. He quickly became the local pastor and started to attend seminary through correspondence courses. He kept getting asked to guest pastor at various churches and getting hired on as pastor for larger and larger churches. He finally gained a slot on a major Christian TV network. From there he started touring. His wife stayed at their home in Texas even though he spends about 300 or more days on the road. His faith is unshakable and his devotion complete.

"May the lORd steady your hand and guide your aim to abolish these monstrocities from his creation!!!"

[Mr. Handy]

You're all set! I'm going to get working on the IC threads for Gold tonight, and then I'll write up and send you secrets for both of your characters.

[pfarland]

Coolness! Looking forward to it! Many thanks for all the work you're doing on this game.

[Uchiha2]

Hello,

I was wondering if i could get in on the Zombie Apocalypse game. I am kinda new to play by post so please be gentle

If there is a character that is available I could take it over but if i could make my own that would great as well.

[Mr. Handy]

Yes, you'd be welcome to join! The Rules and Guidelines thread has information on character creation (in the next-to-last post), as well as other helpful rules information. You can create characters and/or take pregenerated characters. You can have multiple characters in this game, and it's highly receommended due to the lethal nature of the game. Three is the recommended number, but you may have as many as four. You can create up to two characters of your own, one in the Gold section (which takes place in and around Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyoming) and one in the Omaha section (which takes place in Omaha, Nebraska). You may also choose pregenerated characters. Only one character, Detective Gretchen Ehrlich in Omaha, was added in Chapter 6. The other available pregenerated characters were added in Chapter 5 or even earlier. The character sheets thread in the Chapter 6 subforum shows which ones are taken and which are still available. I'm also about to free up Barandis and masonstone's characters, as both players have been missing for about a month.

If you want to take characters that will be in the same location as Misfit's characters, that might be tricky. His character in Gold is currently dying. While he may survive, it'll be a while before he comes into contact with anyone else on the base even if he does. His other character is in Sword. Only two characters are still available in that section. Not only were both of them added in Chapter 4 (and thus would require a good deal of catching up), but there are reasons you wouldn't want to play either one. One was just bitten by a zombie and is doomed. The other is separated from Misfit's character, as she has been abducted by a couple of very nasty guys. Her Sanity is very low, and it's likely to go even lower as she endures unspeakable things. It is possible that Misfit's character will eventually be able to rescue her - if he survives, that is.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here.

[Misfit]

Mr. Handy-
I am going to go ahead and roll up another character for Gold, and maybe one for Omaha. Even though I'm sure Derek will be saved...: /. Let me know if there is any issue with that.

[Misfit]

Here is the first one. I'll wait to make a Omaha character until after I know the fate of Derek...

Stats(I rolled 6 instead of 5 so I just dropped the last roll)http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2708038/
SIZ&INThttp://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2708049/
EDU:http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2708051/


Staff Sergeant Frank Stoddard -Squad Leader USAF Security Forces Age:38
Player-Misfit
Str 13 Con 13 Siz 13 Dex 11 App 11 Int 14 Pow 13 Edu 14 San 65 HP 13
Know 70 Idea 70 Luck 65
Damage bonus +1d4
Skills- ^Climb 45%, ^Conceal 35%, *Dodge 62%, ^Drive Auto 40%, ^Fast Talk 15%, *First Aid 60%, *Hide 50%, Jump 50%, *Listen 70%, *Mechanical Repair 50%, ^Persuade 30%, ^Sneak 30%, ^Spot Hidden 50%
Attacks-Handgun 60% 1d10, Rifle 65% 2d8, Machine Gun 15%, Survival knife 40% 1d4+2+1d4

Standard Issue M16A2, Beretta 9mm, a first aid kit, a survial knife, BDU's, combat boots, sunglasses, and gloves.

[Mr. Handy]

Actually, you should have made the Omaha character first and waited until you found out if Derek lives before creating another Gold character. You're only supposed to have one created character in each section. This character could be used in Omaha instead if Derek survives - he could be a National Guardsman rather than a USAF SF. The character sheet is approved and all of the numbers add up correctly.

[Misfit]

Oops, sorry, and that's fine about the Nat. Guard thing. Or I can even roll up a new character if necessary. I meticulously went through this character and yet I make the obvious mistake. I think I did it like this because I wasn't sure if you were taking new characters in Omaha at the time.

[gazza567]

Well I am here. So can we have a couple of characters? One in each section?

[Mr. Handy]

Welcome, gazza567! Yes, you may (and should) have multiple characters. You can have a maximum of four, and three is the recommended number. You cannot create your own character in Sword, but you may create one each in Gold and Sword. Rules for character creation are in the next to last post of the Rules and Guidelines thread. There are also plenty of pregenerated characters to choose from, either instead of or in addition to creating your own. They will require catching up.