Zombie Survival: No Way Out
Hello! I've run a few successful zombie survival roleplays in this format previously on the now dearly departed L4D411 forum. The idea is the story is split into several chapters, with each player having to make a single meaningful post each chapter (which lasts up to about a week, depending). If players fall behind their posts then I write them out of the story so the rest of the players can continue on. This being a zombie survival story, 'Write off' may be putting it a little lightly!
I'll post a few rules for players to keep to below, followed by a format for the character sheet.
1 - Each chapter I will post roughly where I want all the characters to be by the end of it. If you fail to post once meaningfully during the chapter (about 3 paragraphs) AND get your character to where they should be, you will be written off. I'm very flexible with this, so if people need an extra day or another player finishes off another's story to get them where they should be, that will be fine.
2 - Chapters will last a maximum of 7 days, give or take. Players can post AS MANY TIMES AS THEY LIKE throughout the chapter, but at least once. I may shorten the chapter if everyone has done everything they need to and we're just waiting for the next bit.
3 - Read each other's character sheets carefully and include them in your story! Get them to do things, say things, and interact with one another in a meaningful and believable way, as their character likely would. Anyone hurting another character or putting them 'in the shit' without their permission is not allowed, however. So no writing in your fellow player's demise: That's for me to do!!
4 - Pay attention to the previous posts. continuity is everything. If you start to seriously contradict other player's posts I will ask you to change your story. It gets very confusing for others quickly.
5 -TEN PLAYER LIMIT. No Rambo's. As you'll see from the setting I will be attempting to try to make this a fairly gritty and believable story (for a zombie apocalypse). I don't want any super soldier lone wolves, ex SAS, martial arts experts, wizards or Gary Stu's/Mary Sues. Make your character a real person, with real flaws! Where possible, also try to make your character a resident of Great Britain. We can't have all the characters being American or foreign students, just happening to be over for the weekend!
Also, this is set in Britain. Most people don't have any firearms as they are very strictly controlled. Civilians are not allowed handguns of any kind, and rifles and shotguns are limited to target sports variants for owners with extremely stringent police checks and an owner's licence. It is highly likely your character does not have a firearm, or even know how to use one, unless they are Military, armed police, or a very serious type of criminal.
Setting:
Manchester, England, 5th June 2025.
A terrible virus has spread from the Far East throughout Europe over the last 10 months, coming to a stop on the coast of France only a few weeks prior to today. It's march has been unrelenting and unstoppable. All the military and scientific might of the modern world has been turned to stopping it, changing all of Europe and Asia into little more than a blackened Dead Zone. Still, it continued, and none could stop it.
It's as if all of Britain held it's breath then, waiting for the news that one of the quarantine procedures failed and they too were to be consumed. Inevitably it did, within days. The infection crossed the channel. Reports of sickness spread rapidly from London to the North, and with it the reports of the Infected. This is where we leave you, in the city of Manchester. You have been quarantined and roadblocked inside the city, within the area of the motorway which surrounds Manchester. None are allowed into the city for the public's own protection, and any attempting to leave do not get far. The military and Police have the entire City locked down, all the residents of the nearby towns quartered within the clean zone like rats, stacked on top of one another, waiting for the end.
The city has been free of infection so far, but news travels quickly. Stories of infected and sick people on the outskirts of the city trying to get inside are starting to circulate. There is a feeling of pervasive fear in the City, and there is nowhere to run....
The Virus:
The virus, unimaginatively dubbed 'The Virus', appears to have the mixed symptoms of the Ebola virus and Dengue fever. The disease is contractible by direct contact and is also airborne. A single infected man sneezing in a crowded street is likely to infect a dozen others. Victims will fall ill very quickly with a sudden debilitating fever, joint pains and bleeding from all orifices. Within a few hours the victim will lose consciousness and within 6 hours of contracting the virus it will reach it's final stages, as below.
95% of victims will die from the symptoms, and their bodies will remain contagious for another 24 hours.
4.5 % of victims will become Infected, see below.
0.5 % of the population are immune to the airborne strain of the virus. 0% are immune to direct contact (blood, saliva etc). 95% of Individuals who contract the virus through direct contact will die, and a full 5% will become Infected.
The Infected
Within 6 hours of contracting the Virus, 4.5% of victims will become known as 'Infected'. These individuals are driven by an instinctive need to spread to virus and will aggressively hunt down any none infected Human with the intention of infecting them by any means (usually biting, vomiting blood over them, etc). They have no real higher brain functions and will not eat or drink, cannot speak or reason clearly, operate machinery or even rudimentary locks or doors.
They remain human, and what will normally kill a human will kill an infected. They can take tremendous punishment however, and some have been known to continue to try and attack a non infected person even after losing several limbs. Blood loss and trauma eventually will kill severely wounded Infected, but they have an almost infinite pain threshold and no biological limiters to their body, making them incredibly strong and resilient. They hunt uninfected by normal means, using Human-Normal hearing, smell and sight.
Infected do not sleep and seem to be more active at night, but will still hunt during the day in reduced numbers. Infected do not eat or drink, and bizarrely appear to have no use for normal sustenance. Their blood becomes thick and brown over the course of about a week and they stop bleeding freely from their mouths and other orifices, becoming thin and gaunt as their metabolism goes into overdrive. Infected have been seen by investigators to last 5 months in this state before finally, suddenly, expiring. This 'dry' state has the slight advantage of making infected persons of over 7 days far less contagious on physical contact as they bleed and salivate a lot less.
A freshly infected person will be clearly identifiable by the blood stained lips and eyes. They will take on a pale complexion and run screaming at the nearest uninfected person, who they can identify by sight alone at medium distances (acting like an infected to blend in simply doesn't work). When not attacking they will wander aimlessly, tending to be drawn towards buildings and underground complexes and avoiding the countryside. Infected do not attack non-humans, and the virus is not known to be cross species at this time.
Your character:
You are a resident of Manchester, by choice, birth or otherwise. You have probably never even seen an infected person before but will have heard all the stories. At the start of this tale, the City is on high alert, and people are starting to look sick around you. You are immune, and probably don't know it, so you're just as afraid as everyone else....
Format:
Name:
Age:
Occupation:
Appearance: (picture optional)
Personality:
Flaws:
Skills:
History and Back-story:
DO NOT INCLUDE EQUIPMENT AT THIS STAGE.
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I'll wait till I have 10 approved characters before we start, and I'll give everyone the heads up a day before. Post your character in the OOC tab and if it's approved I'll then ask you to post it in the Character tab. One character slot will be reserved for my own character, who will be partly there just to write in the occasional player Death!
I hope you all enjoy the story! And IF there are any survivors, there may even be a sequel....
