This "0th post" will be reserved for mundane things like tasks, rumours, journal entries, background materials and as a general summary on what has happened in the Zone and suitable music.
Tales from the Roadside: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Role-playing Game
“The man might leave the Zone, but the Zone does not leave the man. It lingers and persists in back of your skull. You can curse it, but in the end, you long back in.” --- Captain Sergei Sokolov, commanding officer of the Rangers ---
Welcome to the Zone, stalker! “Tales from the Zone” is a narrative role-playing came set in the areas in and around of Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. On 25th and 26th of April 1986, a nuclear disaster rendered the area around Chernobyl inhospitable for human life. After over thirty years of containment, a society of thieves, guides, pragmatists and mercenaries has sprouted into the Zone, as unexplained scientific anomalies and artifacts have been found in the Zone. The “Tales” game will be survival, horror and ambiance themed RP. I'll be looking for a small group of three to four players. Soon after the Chernobyl Disaster, obscure lights and otherworldly radiation spikes were noted centering in the Zone by western intelligence services unlikely any other nuclear plants. According to the first guesses and analysis by the NATO intelligence services, the Soviet Union had tested new, strange technology in Chernobyl. What had happened, in reality, was a surprise alien visitation by an enigmatic race labelled as the Walkers, causing obscure anomalies and a failure of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The Soviet Union tried to contain the alien visitors by military force, but the Walkers’ retaliation caused the nuclear plant’s failure. The Walkers left Earth soon after, leaving only traces of their existence. There are still caches of alien technology in the Zones, valuable for many scientists and other agencies. The Walkers spent a few days near Chernobyl, and left. This visitation put Soviet military on high alert, but there hasn't any trace of the enigmatic Walkers ever since. The aliens left strange devices and biological agents that shaped the areas around Chernobyl. For example, alien bacteria known as the Xeno-971a and Xeno-971b caused mutation in humans and animals alike. Most information was held back by the Soviet Union from the world at large for years, hoarding some of the alien technology for themselves for studying. They have been rumoured to have innovated prototypes of railgun and power armour before the collapse and dissolution of the Union in 1991. The Xeno-971b, or the Plague, is a type of bacteria brought by the Walkers to Earth. It hasn’t spread beyond the Zone, and it doesn’t contract easily from humans to other humans. However, the Plague can kill a human in hours after contracting it. It turns human’s immune system against itself and in later stages, will start destroying the red blood cells. Stalkers can also contract radiation sickness if left unchecked. Fortunately, there’s an ample supply line of Rad-Away medicine. However, it can be an addictive substance. The Xeno-971a, also known as the Chimera variant of the bacteria rewrites human genome and causes rapid changes and mutations. It can cause humans to turn into snorks, ghouls or conjurers, and it also affects animals. It might cause psychic power to appear, but this is still debated. The players will take the role of stalkers, persons who have, for a reason or another, become adventurers, smugglers, thieves, scavengers and trespassers. The reason might be the lure of adventure, scientific discovery, curiosity or just plain greed and selfishness for money’s sake. Remember, characters aren’t invulnerable. The point of the Tales is to form a party of unlikely companions, who will travel around the Zone for loot and oddjobs. There might be something shadowy working against the stability and the status quo of the Zone. Several factions are keeping up an uneasy balance of power and peace in the Zone. The game’s hub in the beginning will be a beached ship known as the Khagan – only a hulk by now, but a home for a small community of stalkers and a meeting spot. The middle-aged “Yeoman” – real name known only by a select few – holds a trading station, living quarters and a tavern named Genghis on board the Khagan. Aboard the Khagan is also a weapons dealer named Kowalski, who is a member of the Baba Yaga Syndicate. In the Zone, there are many dangers, from catching either radiation poisoning or Xeno-971b, to be gobbled up by a mutated monstrosity or be shot by a fellow stalker. But with great risks, come great rewards…
Timeline:
April 16th, 1986: Alien scouts arrive near Chernobyl April 18th: An alien scouting party is sighted by a Soviet military patrol. A firefight ensues. Three Soviet infantrymen are killed. April 19th – 25th: More Soviet troops and scientists arrive on the scene and have new sightings on the aliens. The aliens also increase their activity, employing more heavily armed troops and scouts, but they took casualties, as the Soviets employ unexpected ferocity and resistance. The Soviets shoot down an alien spacecraft, but it fragments before hitting the ground. April 25th – 26th: The Chernobyl Disaster happened. The aliens released an unknown energy pulse, that affected the power plant, causing it to meltdown. They also retreat to space with their spaceships. They left in a hurry, leaving a few caches of their technology and scraps to the Zone, along with all kinds of traps, anomalies and surprises to the humans. On the following days and weeks, population of Pripyat and Chernobyl are evacuated. Soviets also investigate alien remnants.
Snorks – Snorks are small, nimble creature humanoid in shape. They are humans, but they’ve been mutated by the radiation and the Xeno-971a. They move surprisingly quickly but aren’t very durable in close quarters. Often attack from an ambush in dark corridors. Ghouls – A zombie-like humanoid and a necrophage, who likes to eat corpses. They can inflict dangerous neurotoxins if they scratch a human, paralyzing them and shutting down their organs one by one. They aren’t very fast, but somewhat smart and cunning – still can use simple weapons and work often in small packs. Demodogs – wolves and dogs mutated by the Zone. They often work in pack led by an alpha couple. Conjurer (also known as hex) – A dangerous ghoul-like creature, who can use psychic and telekinetic attacks, hurling large objects against unsuspecting prey. The Institute hypothesizes that the alien influence somehow caused telekinetic powers to rise. Gargoyle – Gargoyle are bear-sized mutants. Apparently, The Walkers brought them as shock troops and used them to draw fire to themselves. They can absorb a staggering amount of firepower, and while most of them have been hunted down, a few of them still survived. The Entity/G-Man/The Visitor - The great unknown of the Zone, the Entity appears as a white, middle-aged man of unusual tall figure and strange manners. He appears slightly otherworldly, as if there was something strange about his being. His presence appears a bit off. He often observes from a distance, and contacts stalkers for unknown motives. He wears a black, striped suit, red necktie and a briefcase.
The Rangers – A paramilitary group of former military personnel, who are working as the sheriffs of the Zone. While they often look minor infractions through their fingers, they don’t tolerate theft, wanton murders and theirs is the duty of keeping the status quo in the Zone. There’s about twenty or so Rangers, led by Captain Sergei Sokolov, a former Spetsnatz reconnaissance officer. They often have special forces training under their belt, using guerrilla-type tactics and reconnaissance and observation than full-on assaults, using their influence and persuasion before a crisis can happen in the Zone. If not, they’re quite handy with demolitions and sniper rifles…
The Free Stalkers – These are the freelancers and the independent-minded stalkers of the Zone. They’ve formed small parties and bands without the constraints of factionalism. They do work for most of the other factions, and they believe in individualism and free trade, but beyond that they as varied as snowflakes.
The Baba Yaga Syndicate – A ring of professional black marketers and smugglers, they often bring contraband goods and handle the trade between the world at large and the Zone. While their role is important to the well-being of the stalkers, they can have a mercenary attitude in dealing and haggling. They rarely venture far into the Zone, opting to hire their muscle to carry out expeditions to the Zone. Most often they trade in Rad-Aways, survival gear, weapons and food.
The Banshees – A cult of stalkers and weirdos who worship an alien monolith known as the Dreamcatcher, located somewhere in the Zone. It seems they are quite fanatical to their causes, and rarely interact with other stalkers. Most often they use messengers and proxies, who handle their relations with the other factions. However, they don’t have great relations with the others.
The Valentine Institute of Science – A secretive institute which is rumoured to have studied psychic and telekinetic phenomena for decades. They’ve conducted many experimental projects with alien technology, developing a few earth-shaking technologies, like cancer treatments, new rocket engines and durable materials for planes. Founded by Doctor John Valentine in 1993, the Institute has publicly worked for the betterment of mankind. The Institute has a station near the Khagan, protected by a small group of free stalkers.
The Ukrainian Military and Intelligence Service – The Ukrainian military sends frequently patrols to the Zone to gather intelligence on the state of the Zone and root out wanted criminals. They have some contacts within the stalker population. They are sometimes lead or accompanied by intelligence agents.
Excerpt from the Institute’s Report, dated 27th of June 2018
“The anomalies we’ve found have been extraordinary, and they suggest in anti-gravitational manipulation. One of the free stalkers found an anomaly, which appeared to make things thrown into it float into the sky. We are yet to study the exact properties of the anomaly, but we have marked it and verified its existence. Doctor Anderson almost rushed to see it, but we had to restrain his enthusiasm, as he has made risky expeditions in the past. Last year, he almost fell into a pit of devil’s jelly – a substance that can melt most known human materials into a mush. Once, he and the free stalker almost activated a vapor – the anomaly that napalms its surrounding area in a 20-metre radius. He is still young and eager, but can make life in the Zone risky. I have worked for the Institute for the past ten years, and I intend to work for years to come, as this work can uplift mankind’s scientific understanding. On another note, we caught a creature that the stalkers call a Conjurer. It clearly has strong potential in ESP abilities and can hurl objects weighing dozens of kilograms with high velocity and accuracy against its victims and prey. We have had the creature under constant surveillance and heavy sedation. We have its genome compiled this time next week, if everything goes as planned.
Signed, Doctor Isaac Kasparov Senior Researcher”
The last words of a dying Banshee “For Dreamcatcher!”
Rules
The standard forum rules and good manners apply. Respect another player.
Character sheet Name: What name your character has? Does he or she have a nickname? Gender: Are you a male or female? Age: How old is your character? Description: Describe your character's physical appearance shortly. It doesn’t have to super detailed but have something distinctive to say about your character. Pictures are nice, but not mandatory. Occupation and skills: What kind of practical or academic skills and occupational background does your character has? What kind of interests and hobbies the character has had? Character history: Where does your character come from? Why did he come to the Zone? What shaped your character? Equipment: What kind of gear the character has? And don’t go overboard – the Zone doesn’t have high-tech or quality weapons or gear. Your character is more likely armed with a Soviet-era Dragunov or a AK-47 than a modern Barrett with a laser pointer.
Character sheet Name: Valentina Veselovsky (Vee or VeeVee) Gender: Female Age: 31 Description: If you need a professional opinion, anti-rads, a bullet extracted, or another round of bootleg chemo to keep you going, talk to Vee. Occupation and skills: Doctor, engineer, black marketeer, fixer. Character history: Valentina is a former FSB officer. She is trained as a doctor and had a long term cover working for MSF as a way to gain access to France and the United States. Though she came of age after the fall of the wall, Vee is faux nostalgic for the promised glories of communism, an attitude which made her continued employment with the FSB problematic. She has contacts from Angola to Iceland and everywhere in between. She uses her skills and networks to help whoever can pay, and particularly pay with information. Equipment: Medical equipment, electronics and explosives. She carries a desert eagle, though in truth she is an indifferent combatant.
@HokumPocus You can write as much as you like, but the CS doesn't have to be a novel. If your character has special skills, for example, remember to provide adequate background for them.
Edit: About half a page or a page would be recommended.
Occupation and skills: Roach is a chef because that's what the faded yellow business card in his deteriorating photo album tells him he is. As for whether he's good, that's up for debate. Any of the desperate stalkers he's gone on expeditions with have had one or two close calls with starvation, only saved by meat with no discernible source cooked over a fire place made of whatever dead plants were around. Cooking up the flesh of the various deformed monstrosities the zone spits out and even the occasional human isn't an interesting skill, but it certainly is useful. Roach having a quiet nature means that no one is going to find out the source, which they find comforting.
What the rest of the zone sees him as is an average stalker with no faction and a crippling addiction to alcohol. He's got some talent for finding out stashes and artifacts, mainly out of curiosity and the thorough searching that goes into extracting some of his food. He's good with a gun too, and has killed enough of his fellow stalkers to prove it, although the same could be said for most.
Description: There isn't much to Roach to make him stand out in the zone. He keeps a gas mask that suffocates his entire head on at all times, only taking it off in the rare moments that he feels like it. There are straps and buckles to the sides, so he'll just loosen them and slide it up halfway if hunger calls. If you were to pry it off of the man the results would be underwhelming. Just another dirty looking russian man.
His eyes are your regular color of light blue and are pretty big and round, so he gets compared to insects a lot. He's got the fucked up face of your average survivor with enough scars to make friends without saying a word. And that's important, since he doesn't talk much.
Character History: Roach´s background is interesting, which is another way to say that it's a total fucking mystery. The zone is like a magnet for the lost and unexplainable after all. He had a thing going with a girl and some things going with his family and maybe some friends if he's feeling confident enough to imagine them while staring deep into the blurry photos with no answers behind them. They're in an album kept inside of a rucksack and are the only thing that keeps him up at night. It's him with so many people and all of them are either smiling, or drunk or both at the same time. He gets drunk in the zone a lot, so the smiling part is what confuses him. For the past few years they've been like a dream he could only half remember made into a cheap trinket.
The heavy thoughts of wanting to remember who he was spend their days weighing on him and yet he stays curious and even lively at times. He's the type of guy to want to do everything at least once, even if it could kill him. To him a part of the fun in getting completely shitfaced is the journey he'll go on after waking up.
His clearest memory that has never gone away is one where he's singing along with his grandfather to a soothing tune inside of a small and warm kitchen. The lyrics have been dissolved by cheap vodka and he can´t even remember the old man´s face yet the love and sincerity in their rhythm has stayed engraved inside of him. As long as that memory lingers around his heart he will never be truly happy with life in the zone. And yet, he stays, like a pig knowing that it's inside a slaughterhouse yet is afraid of the outside.
He stays silent in an odd attempt to preserve his voice as much as possible, even avoiding cigarettes and the like. A part of him wants to drink enough to forget the past and a part of him wants to relive it, so he swallows up these conflicting wants with his morning vodka and says nothing. That and, memory loss has really messed with his vocabulary. Good god, just try getting anything longer than two words out of him and you´ll see what his friends mean.
Equipment: Roach carries various knives in ranging states of degradation for the sole purpose of being used in his culinary antics. I mean sure, he carries cans of food around like any other person, but they're a nice tool for when those run out in the middle of god knows where. They have been used to stab other moving things, but he has the decency to wipe them before and after. He also keeps several other food items, proud of being able to have a varied diet inside of a place like the zone. That´s one of the only things he´ll ever talk about on his own, is eating. What else is the pleasant kitchen in his head around there for?
The AK-47 is his weapon of choice. Enough bandits have it so scavenging for ammo is never too hard and it's powerful enough to turn a snork into paste, which matters when you get mistaken for one a lot.
Name: Sable Gender: Male Age: 28 Description: Wears a gas mask with x2 reenforced stainless steel braid pipes leading to two seperate gas filters mounted on the back of his neck on kydex and attached with popper fasteners to his clothing. A seperate hose leads to a 1.5L Kevlar Oxygen canister. For his cloathing he wears a black pilots flight suit as it is Nomex and fire resistant. Underneith he wears Butyl rubber suit bodyglove, which is custom tailored to his hight and size (he hired a tailor to do this). He also covered it with a lead containing polymer that he cludged to deal with high cases of X-ray and Gamma ray radiation. He needs to reapply the polymer every week or so as it rubs off as dust and is also water soluble. He also wears a dentists lead collar and groin protector. OPS Modular Belt Mount MOLLE Panel Black x2, w/ 2 looped AK mag pouches & 2 pistol pouches. Cool shirt systems CW-M Cool Water White. Connected to a small external 1.5L camelbak filled with ice water and potassium iodide tablets. Camelbak is filled with ice water. Straw is made to connect with attachment point on gas mask. Merrel MOAB 2 light boots in black. $172.86
Occupation and skills: Academic: BSc (Hons) Criminology (Social And Political Science) at Imperial College London. Duke of Edenburgh Award (gold)
Hobbies: Science magazines. Puzzle games. Gear-queer. Non-fiction books. Turn based strategy war computer games.
Character history: Sable doesnt talk about his past. Though it is clear he spent allot of time in Britain as he has British accent, though it has a slight American twang that only westerners would notice, and only some of the time. He intends to work for the Valentine Institute as a freelance.
How did he find out about the zone? Hes smart, and researches allot of different subjects. The official term for what he does is Political Risk Analysis and Global Arms Market Analysis, however this is just a side hobby as he is actually trained in detective work. While he was still in college Chernobyl appeared on his radar. At first it was nothing more than a passing interest into the effects of radiation longterm on the ecosystem. It was only later in University that it kept appearing again on his radar. There was military activity in the area which is nothing new, however he had detected a string of cover-ups by Russia dating as early as the 1990s, after the fall of the soviets! Logic dictates that there is nothing of value to cover up so long after the meltdown. So why all the secrecy? After a while he managed to translate some science papers out of Ukrainian on the issue and found unusual phenomena reports and anomalies. Always being interested in science he decided to investigate for himself. He took out a bank loan to do his masters in criminology aswell as a gap year funding. He then promptly went to the Ukraine.
Equipment: I know im going overboard about the gear. But this is how i have my fun. Also a fun fact is that most of this will not come to more than 8 or 9 thousand dollars. However if you ever find yourself in a nuclear apocolypse, you might want to look up this gear list, its significantly better than the stuff the army uses. The only stuff i actually would say is modern is the fabrics i use. The guns are old AF and are real world second hands not produced anymore. If you dont like the detail i've put in then oh well, i had fun and learnt allot compiling this list. But i'd really like to see how it plays out in the zone.
Rifle: Second hand SIG 556R 7.62X39 16 inch 30RD BLK - $900 "A brother of the SGI 5k that fires the AK round and uses the same mags." Meprolight M21 $449. Energetic Armament VOX $600. x3 40rd promags $18x3. WeaponTech AK47 Enhanced Bolt Hold Open Follower x3 Pack $14.95x3 Side canted optic mount for weaver 2.5 x7 x32 scope 10oz scope $207.51
Rifle: Second hand Dan Wesson classic commander bobtail 10mm 36.5oz 4" barrel. $1,050.77 Tritium front sight (green). Chip McCormick POWER MAG (11rd) $30.42 M26 Taser $1,098 Walther PPS 9mm (8rd).
Armour: DKX Max lvl 3 LIGHTWEIGHT Armor Plate Swimmers cut 10x12 M3 $525 (Rifle) Kevlar back plate lvl 2 (Pistol and Shrapnel) Kevlar neck plate gorget lvl 3 (Rifle) Backbay USA's Ripper Composite System Armor Carrier. Black.
Tools: Lock picks. Sog zoom tanto blade folding knife. Stryker molle kydex holster for 1911. Black Leatherman juice s2 multitool. Ogio No Drag Mach 5 Bag w/ added large molle zip pouches riveted to the outside. Gore tex hood. tub of Vaseline for sealing cracks in the gas mask. BDSM Latex Rubber Spray for sealing holes in the Butyl rubber suit. Quick clot bandages x5 in a plastic Tupperware box. Anti-rads / potassium iodide. Epi pens w/ adrenalin. Morphene syrettes + large supply of 400mg Ibuprophin tablets. Smart Geiger Mini phone app Geiger counter. x2 (1 on an old phone, 1 on a new phone.) Industrial grade Geiger counter. x1 Nikon Monarch 7 Binoculars w/ waterproof zip holster. Pack of lense cloths.
Description: Standing at 1,80 meters, Ozy is a Caucasian male of athletic build, his lifestyle having kept him in a good physical condition. He has brown eyes with dark brown shaved crew cut hair and beard.
Being new to the zone, Ozy’s appearance doesn't differ much from other novice stalkers with him sporting a black parka that has a utility belt with pouches wrapped around the waist, backpack, Oakley tactical gloves and blue jeans tucked into expensive black LOWA Zephyr boots with a single military knee pad on his right leg.
Ozy also owns tinted ballistic glasses and in situations where he has to hide his identity, he wears a neck warmer scarf that can be pulled up to cover the lower half of his face.
Occupation and skills: Although he is a new arrival to the Zone, Ozy is already a rugged survivalist who has been through many European environments and has the knowledge and skills that come with it. Despite this, he lacks much of the basic knowledge necessary for surviving in the Zones’ environment and will have to team up with more experienced stalkers to survive. In order to prepare for going to the Zone, Ozy has gone through a quick combat and firearms training course. Having grown up in Eastern Europe, Ozy is able to proficiently speak Latvian, Russian and English, not to mention that he has a great sense of humour that can transcend the barrier of language (or so he likes to think).
Equipment: Ozy is armed with a black market Makarov pistol that he acquired having arrived to in Kiev and trusty hunting knife.
His lack of weapons is countered by the equipment that he brought into the Zone alongside him, including a modified CAT S60 smartphone and Suunto military GPS watch, headlamp, compact binoculars and an average-quality gas mask. Alongside this, Ozy has prepared some tools, a first-aid kit and few days’ worth of supplies.
