The world as we know it has gone to hell... in a hand basket
It is the year 2074, and humanity as we know as it far different than what only the oldest remember it as. But let's not get ahead of ourselves... You need to know what happened first.
It was 2021, and the new president of America had been elected. This is the setting of our campaign. Technology was booming, the economy was getting better and America was on it's way to lead a global movement in reducing nuclear arms. One by one, other countries agreed and there were plans on the way to get rid of all nuclear warfare. A path for a brighter future, a one without the tools to wipe out mankind in a few mere hours. However, this didn't stop others from trying.
Enraged by this new act of peace, and suspicious of true intentions, terrorist groups plotted in secret to create their own weapon of mass destruction. It wasn't nuclear however... it was biological. A new type of fungus was being mutated. The fungus was commonly found in ant colonies and spiders, controlling them and having them attack and even eat their own kind. Scientists had been working on this for years, but these past few months and funding pushed them to a breakthrough. After several trials, they created a strain that worked on humans. The fungus spread in them, slowly, before killing them in about two or three day's time. The fungus would still grow inside however, eventually controlling the body and inhabiting it. An invasive species, it took over the body and had one goal in mind... Kill other living things, especially humans, and eat them.
The terrorists mass produced this fungus, making it airborne if the spores were to burst. These spores and their gas were concentrated into bombs, and later shipped overseas to Mexico where they would be transported across the border and into major cities. The first was Austin, a popular cafe in down town blowing up and noxious fumes spreading in a mile radius. Some were wounded and killed on impact by the suicide bomber, but many suddenly turned ill after inhaling the fumes. Soon, those that inhaled the fumes died in hospital beds, and their families mourned them. Dozens, killed by this chemical warfare. Two similar cases popped up in Miami and New Orleans, and the president made a public address. It was to shut down borders and do close screenings of any potential terrorists. But the deed was done, and it was too late...
The dead were reanimating, and there were several cannibalistic attacks in hospitals throughout the south. People with pale faces and a glazed over look, running after people and tackling them, scratching at them, hitting them, biting them... The world was in shock. Many were dead, others injured, and the south was in chaos from the "drug-induced" outbreaks that were occurring. But before they knew what was happening it was too late... The disease spread. Across the country there were outbreaks popping up everywhere, in other countries the disease was spreading. Martial law, travel bans, and eventually bombings of cities were being used to contain the outbreak. The zombie apocalypse was upon us... and as more zombies roamed the streets than humans, and soon heavily outnumbered them, it was evident that this epidemic had taken over the earth.
It is 53 years later, and honestly? We're pretty screwed. Things haven't gotten any better. Rations are always low, very few safe havens are even left. Rumors spread that some are in California, Texas, Maine, even Alaska, but most if not all are just that. Rumors. The threat of the zombies are still apparent, but with time we have learned how to deal with them. At least, better than before. We're not clueless, but that doesn't make them any more dangerous. Cities are still in ruins, and the new threat of other humans is almost as bad as the zombies. Gangs of raiders, killing people, raping their women, stealing their stuff and leaving without a second thought. Humanity has surely turned it's back on itself.
You, but have one job: Survive.
Overview:
This is a post-apocalyptic world, where zombies outnumber humans in some places 100:1, depending on the original population of the area. You are a survivor, if this wasn't apparent. The background, age, etc. of your character is up to you (just don't be ridiculous). All accepted characters will start off in a safehouse about 40 miles west of Philly. I'm not going to be strict with landmarks and geography, just for the purpose of knowing generally where we are. I will make up names of places. This is my world, so I can do that. So ha.
However you managed to get yourself to that safehouse, whether you were a raider scouting out the place, a person wandering by, an inhabitant, I don't care. The point is that you were there when everything went to shit. A horde of zombies were moving through the area and stumbled upon the safehouse. It's literally a small gas station in a suburban area, so it wasn't the safest safe-house in the world, mind you. The place was overrun, and your characters managed to escape. You guys are the only survivors, and none of you have anything on you besides the clothes on your back and whatever you were wearing at the time. No weapons, no supplies, nothing, You guys don't get jack shit. Because I'm evil like that.
Before the place got overrun, there was a radio broadcast about a place free of zombies... A whole city in fact. But this city happens to be in Wyoming. None, some of your characters may not know where the hell that is, let alone even know that a state named Wyoming existed. This, my friends, is where our story begins. I will gently guide you along, and I will have my own character in the group. The rest is up to you. As mentioned before, this is a mature, serious, detailed role-play. Your one and only job is to survive. What you do besides that is up to you.
A few rules:
First and foremost, I am the GM. I am only human, so I am always up to debate and suggestion, but at the end of the day what I say in the campaign goes. I am the final word. If you don't like it? I'm not forcing you here. I only wish to create a good story and have fun with others, and I will make my best personal judgement to keep it running that way.
This is a high-casual to low advanced roleplay. I want details people. I want character development, story, meaning. I want something to work with. Now, I don't need 7 paragraphs every single time you post. That's tiring. If you want to, by all means, more power to you. However, I don't want to see any half ass few sentence post or one-liners. Make your own personal judgement of quality over quantity, and make a sufficient post length.
We are all here to have fun. Enjoy ourselves. If we weren't, then why would we be here? So have fun.
As far as posting goes, I get that people are busy sometimes. I do. You may post often, as long as a majority of the group has posted already. (I don't want two or three people posting 50 times before the other half of the group has time to respond). That being said, if you are going to be busy for an extended period of time, let me know. I will either make your character wander off, play him for you, or whatever else we come to agreement at. If you are gone for an extended period of time and you don't contact me, I will most likely kill off your character. Sucks to be you.
This is a mature roleplay. Here is a list of things that this roleplay will probably include.
Death and Murder
Violence
Shootings
Cursing
Physical Violence
Bombs
People being lit on fire
Zombies
Zombies eating people
People being assholes to each other
Vehicular manslaughter
Sarcasm
Drug and alcohol use
References to drugs and alcohol
References to nudity
References to rape
And basically anything else that's pretty real life. As for the more sexual things, this isn't porn. I'm not going to shove nudity and rape and sex into people's faces. There will be a bare minimum of such things, in regarding to details, for such scenes. If anybody would like to continue any further or go more into detail, they are asked to go into PM. I want the details to be saved for more tasteful things... like murder.
Final and one of the most important rules... In being that this is realistic, the reality is that some of your characters may die. If you do something stupid, if somebody back stabs you, or if you are just at the wrong place at the wrong time, your character may perish. Now if you are smart about this, you may not die as often, or at all. If you do manage to die, you are free to make up another character and we can put the new one back into the story. I will also be keeping a kill count.
Actions have consequences, remember that people.
Zombie information:
Name:The fungus strain that turns people into zombies is known as F.I.S, of Fungal Invasive Species. It is nicknamed and known as Zed, the other name is purely scientific.
How it spreads:The infection can only spread in one of two ways. The first, and most common, is by bodily fluid. If a zombie bites you, their saliva will get into your blood stream. Soon, you too will be a zombie. If zombie blood happens to splatter into an open wound, you are infected. If any zombie fluids gets into your bloodstream, you will be infected. This includes being bit, blood getting into open wounds, ingestion of infected material, injection of infected blood, all that happy stuff.
The other way, and the one that started it all, is airborne. Now this isn't as common now, but when large clumps of the fungus itself groups up and does not have a viable host (the zombie decays and eventually dies), the spores will be released steadily into the air to try and infect others. In open spaces, you'd have to be really close. In closed spaces, this is harder to avoid. The spores in the air last about a day and the spores will then die off. If more are clumped up, they may last longer and cover a wider area. Prolonged exposure to the airborne spores will result in infection.
Note that the spores will not activate right away, and will only start spreading 24 hours after a zombie has died. The only way to prevent this is to burn the body, which kills off the spores and prevents them from spreading.
Physical capabilities: These aren't walking dead zombies, these things can run. Granted, they are not sprinting and you can mostly likely outrun one, but they aren't limping slowly towards you either. They are not as coordinated as humans, and may trip, stumble, run into things. They can also not climb very well, and cannot jump at all. As far as physical strength goes, there are slightly weaker than the original infected person. As time goes on, deterioration will cause zombies to get slower and weaker before eventually dying.
Zombies are not as sight dependent as we are, making them excellent night time hunters. They use their senses of sight, hearing, and smell equally as well. While not being as sight dependent may make their hearing and sense of smell better, they cannot perform any super human feats of hearing a pin drop from 10 miles away.
As far as intelligence, they don't have a lot, thank god. They are instinctual hunters, and constantly roam around, stumbling, searching for prey. Some simply wander, ignoring other zombies, while some have taken to stick in packs over the years. Once they can tell prey is near, they let out a horrible moaning/screeching sound, and will then start chasing after prey. They will only stop when they have lost the prey and cannot find it, or if they are eating it. They are persistent. Moans from other zombies may attract attention, so if one sees you and lets out a scream, others might soon come looking for you if any are nearby.
That is it for now! After I get enough interest, I will post all this information as well as a character sheet skeleton to the OOC. If you have any comments, question, concerns, please let me know. If you think there should be other information listed above, I will consider adding it.
