Zombie Apocalypse RP - What would you want?

[Wombatallion]

Hello! I've wanted to start up my own Zombie RP for a while now but have noticed that most seem to die off pretty quickly, if they even get off the ground and out of an interest check at all. So, instead of coming up with my own version of the zombie apocalypse and hoping people like it, I've made this. I'm hoping for at least 4-5 other people (more are welcome) to talk here so we can all discuss what we would like in a zombie RP and craft the perfect world that we would all like to play in. Hopefully, because all of the players are happy and have created the roleplay how they wanted it, it won't die off and we will end up with a fairly good group of players who will all enjoy playing and not let it die off after a couple of weeks.

So, tell me what your looking for in a zombie RP. What would the world be like? The zombies? The infection? Where would it be? Do we want to keep the group small or large?

Thanks for reading.

[Rockin Strings]

I'll keep an eye on this.

[Marshall]

Logic. Regardless of what kind of plague it is, I want logic. Also, gritty darkness.

[Therealslayer]

For a zombie RP to really work, there needs to be diverse characters. They can't all be the badass ex-military who can head shot a zombie from a mile away with a pistol. There also needs to be a real element of danger when fighting zombies, when moving around looking for food or shelter. People have to make shitty decisions to stay alive, and that needs to also be an important part of it. Hence, the characters will have to rely on themselves as each other to survive. I also think there can't be one leader, but many leaders. Each bringing their own skill to the table to help the whole group survive.

That's where I see most zombie RP's have failed and those are honestly the most crucial parts. The pathogen, however it started, isn't important. Because if the survivor's goal is finding out what happened then it will stray away from the survival aspect. TWD has done this in season 4-5, then gone back to just survival in the last season which honestly made it better.

[Marshall]

For a zombie RP to really work, there needs to be diverse characters. They can't all be the badass ex-military who can head shot a zombie from a mile away with a pistol. There also needs to be a real element of danger when fighting zombies, when moving around looking for food or shelter. People have to make shitty decisions to stay alive, and that needs to also be an important part of it. Hence, the characters will have to rely on themselves as each other to survive. I also think there can't be one leader, but many leaders. Each bringing their own skill to the table to help the whole group survive.

That's where I see most zombie RP's have failed and those are honestly the most crucial parts. The pathogen, however it started, isn't important. Because if the survivor's goal is finding out what happened then it will stray away from the survival aspect. TWD has done this in season 4-5, then gone back to just survival in the last season which honestly made it better.

@Therealslayer

I agree with this, however I think that in a standard kind of zombie story the zombies never end up being the real threat, it turns out to be people so unless you intend to have a lot of human adversaries the infection would have to be akin to the Rage virus or something like the virus from Warm Bodies.

[GingerBoi123]

I'm interested in this and agree with a lot of the ideas here

[Banzai Tracers]

Well, if you want to make regular shamblers a threat you have to introduce environmental threats. Like a twisted ankel due to jumping off a building slows you down and suddenly makes you feel like the slowest anemal in a herd on a nature documentary. Also barbed wire, electricity, other peoples makeshift defences. Even those spinning blades made from engines like in half-life 2.

Also, if you want to make it interesting, special infected. Not like L4D, but maybe like runners from 28 Days later or half life 2, combined with a few that are still wearing riot armour or bullet proof vests.

Combine that with the ever present danger of infection and an extreme lack of advanced weaponry. Also lack of vehicles due to highways being clogged with empty cars. Also objectives should take them into the city more than just scavenging, like a vaccine or a member thats trapped. I quite like Resident Evils take on this with the Umbrella mercs being another threat...

Just some thoughts that come to mind.

[LostDestiny]

There has to be threat of characters dying. We can't all have characters that live through the whole thing. The power to kill off characters lies with the GM.

Ex would be there are 14 characters and 7 of them are out on a dangerous run. The GM then puts the name of the seven characters in a randomizer and the character that is picked dies IC. Not like a snap they are dead for some strange reason but there is a reason. The Gm can either come up with the reason and the player has to come up with a way to input said reason or the GM can give the player a certain number of posts to come up with a reason for their character's death. Then, after the character is dead they are allowed to create another and find a way to introduce that character to the existing cast. Something like that.

Diversity is also a very important thing. Like a previous post said, not everyone can be a badass. We have to have some "weak" characters, and others with some sort of beneficial trait.

Take some inspiration from the Walking Dead if at all possible, there is a reason it is still running. The infected aren't the main threat, other people are. Sure the infected are still a threat, but they have more problems with other groups of people than they do with the walkers.

[Therealslayer]

<Snipped quote by Therealslayer>

I agree with this, however I think that in a standard kind of zombie story the zombies never end up being the real threat, it turns out to be people so unless you intend to have a lot of human adversaries the infection would have to be akin to the Rage virus or something like the virus from Warm Bodies.

@Marshall

Yep, and truth is people will always be more of a threat than zombies. You can get used to fighting zombies, you'll learn to dodge their movements easily and they will always be predictable because all they want is to eat you. People are far more dangerous because they aren't predictable, at least most of them aren't.

There has to be threat of characters dying. We can't all have characters that live through the whole thing. The power to kill off characters lies with the GM.

Ex would be there are 14 characters and 7 of them are out on a dangerous run. The GM then puts the name of the seven characters in a randomizer and the character that is picked dies IC. Not like a snap they are dead for some strange reason but there is a reason. The Gm can either come up with the reason and the player has to come up with a way to input said reason or the GM can give the player a certain number of posts to come up with a reason for their character's death. Then, after the character is dead they are allowed to create another and find a way to introduce that character to the existing cast. Something like that.

@LostDestiny

I'm not sure how well that would work out. Sure, it would make a good table top game but for a RP you need the 'main' group to remain alive for most of it. No one would want to take the time to make a really great and well thought out character knowing they could die in a few posts. I think making NPC's for casualties is better. There are worse things than can happen to a character that isn't death, like losing a limb or finding a loved one's reanimated corpse etc., relationships with the characters, whether its friendly, romantic or rivalries is what keeps a story interesting. If there is no development in relationships, people will not feel connected and they'll loose interest quickly.

[LostDestiny]

I'm not sure how well that would work out. Sure, it would make a good table top game but for a RP you need the 'main' group to remain alive for most of it. No one would want to take the time to make a really great and well thought out character knowing they could die in a few posts. I think making NPC's for casualties is better. There are worse things than can happen to a character that isn't death, like losing a limb or finding a loved one's reanimated corpse etc., relationships with the characters, whether its friendly, romantic or rivalries is what keeps a story interesting. If there is no development in relationships, people will not feel connected and they'll loose interest quickly.

@Therealslayer

An old RP I was in did this fairly well. It lasted more than a year only reason it ended was because the GM ended up in the hospital. What I was talking about wouldn't be and everyday thing, or happen during everything the group does. It would be more of a hear and there thing and obviously if one where to do this a player would be allowed to make more than one character. I do understand your concern but again I want to stress that it wouldn't be a frequently occurring thing.

[Marshall]

Also, running out of ammo can happen at any time not just the worst moments.

[Rockin Strings]

Actually, I could see the L4D special zombies working if done right.

[hellrazor]

Real reason why zombie rps die quickly is simple: nonody wants to put their character in danger. Zombie RP, any survival RP, Cyberpunk, Dungeon and Dragons etc. Are fictional-based RPs and the GM should be narrative. Not should, he/she must be the god of the universe. GM must be the dungeon master and create events, missions, side-missions, dangers, factions, NPCs etc. Otherwise, everyone will kill with 1-shot and will never die.

Plus, a Plague-based RP would be much better. May be in 90s, may be the Black Death, may be victorian...

[Wombatallion]

So I've read through all of the suggestions and people seem to be saying these things:

We need diverse characters to keep things interesting and realistic. There also needs to be a real element of danger so that the world really impacts these characters and will cause them to make decisions they wouldn't normally. I like the idea of this as I personally would like to see it be a more dark, gritty roleplay. We shouldn't have one leader, or a predefined team, so that we can shape our characters as we wish and all of the characters can bring individual skills to the table. There should be some environmental threats too, and our characters shouldn't be running around with AK-47's and sniper rifles and rocket launchers with unlimited ammo. People should be a threat to people, not just having the zombies as the main threat. People can die, but not all the time, so that character development and relationships can actually be explored and a story can be told.

Regarding the actual zombies, I like the idea of having them be like the infected with the RAGE virus. That's my favourite zombie virus and it would work well if we want more danger. However, I'm not sure if the 20-30 second turn timer would be good or not.

A way to tackle the problem of everyone having advanced weapons is having the setting somewhere guns are illegal or uncommon which would sort out the problem fairly easily.

Another idea I thought of when dealing with people vs people, is if our characters didn't all form into one group. They could form into two separate groups, and at some point they come across each other and end up not being very good friends. Either that or we have some dangerous npc gangs and bandits.

@RokkuHoshi@Marshall@GingerBoi123@Banzai Tracers@LostDestiny@Therealslayer@hellrazor

[Marshall]

I vote NPC humans cause otherwise some of us are going to be lax on our character design and development. The Rage Virus overwhelmed the British military in days and police stations always have guns so unless you're thinking somewhere with even less access to guns like the North Pole I'm not sure where this could take place. Personally however I'm thinking of being a blacksmith so I'm set haha.

[Kidd]

I vote NPC humans cause otherwise some of us are going to be lax on our character design and development.

@Marshall

Well people can be lazy with their characters anyway. But on that note, specifically, I love taking on antagonist-typed characters and I do not slack on character development. I'd be willing and I'd have fun with working with the GM and others to make a designated "bad" group for the main group to clash with (with characters just as well developed and diverse).

[hellrazor]

I still support the idea of lethal plague. So human vs human will be a lot more dangerous, and the illness will be... Basically fatal, and it will force everyone to be more alerted all the time. We won't walk around everywhere and put our noses inside corpses for free loot. No my friend, we better stay isolated. :D

[Rockin Strings]

So, Did anyone else want the special zombies like from L4D?

[Marshall]

I could see zombies that have been starving being super slow until they pick up a human and then they unleash everything or even the "special" infected like in L4D2 like the Hazmat and Swat and such

[Rockin Strings]

I was thinking more mutated.