Outbreak - A Zombie Text RPG

[Donut]

October 25, 2013

Jim walked out of the deli on Grove Street, holding the cool bottle of Arizona iced tea in his hands. He cracked it open, twisting the top off and taking a long sip of it as he walked down the road, licking droplets off his lips. The breeze was cool, nature's subtle introduction to the coming of winter. The trees were a spectacular display of reds and oranges, and Jim was always one to appreciate the autumn foliage.

He crossed the street and walked onward, making a left onto Pine Avenue. The evening was quiet in this part of Pennsylvania, a middle-class neighborhood with sidewalks lined with roads of two-story townhouses and elegant trees. The train bustled along its tracks above him, and Jim took another drink of his iced tea. The day had been quiet from the start, but there was something strange about this particular evening. There weren't many people around, and those that had ventured out of their homes walked slowly and alone, one even wandering into the middle of the street and almost being struck by an oncoming car. The funny part is, the man hardly reacted and kept shuffling along, even as the angry driver shouted curses.

Jim had reached his bus stop. There was a woman sitting there, hunched over and looking down at her lap. Jim thought nothing of it and took a seat on the bench next to her. The woman mumbled something, and Jim looked at her, "Sorry?" he asked, unsure if she was talking to him. The woman craned her head toward him. She was pale, and looked sick. Her eyes were bloodshot and her lips were a faint shade of purple. She mumbled a bit louder, words almost audible but not quite. Jim backed up slightly at the woman's sickly appearance, scooting over on his bench, "I, I uh, didn't hear you, sorry." The woman stared at him, mumbling once more, just audible enough for Jim to make out one word: "run." Jim widened his eyes and was helpless as the woman was upon him, teeth sinking into his warm flesh and tearing out an ample helping of muscle and vein. The bottle of iced tea fell to the floor and spilled, the $1 worth of transparent brown liquid emptying onto the concrete sidewalk. Jim's blood joined the mix.

---

Welcome to Outbreak roleplay, a text-based zombie RPG set in present-day America. You begin your adventure as a resident of Brooker, Pennsylvania, a relatively small suburban town in central Pennsylvania. An unknown source has unleashed a plague, and who or what caused it, how it is spread, and how far the plague has spread is unknown thus far. The roleplay is HEAVILY reliant on http://www.innawoods.net/. Over the course of the roleplay your character will have the opportunity to acquire supplies such as clothing, food, medicine, armor, and weapons. After acquiring an item it is your responsibility to add it to your character's inventory using the website provided.

Scenarios will be set by me and a few GM's (If you would like to be one PLEASE PM ME, I could really use some help), and in some cases you will be forced to choose between a set list of what to do. One such scenario would be encountering an infected woman and choosing to put her down, leave her, or take her in and try to help her. This is not to say that you will not have the freedom to do as you would like: you will have the chance to encounter other characters, form groups of survivors, set goals and embark on missions. We provide the options and the environment and set you loose on a post-outbreak world of endless possibilities.

Before we begin with the character sheet, let's establish a few rules and guidelines. [WIP]

1. The word of a GM is, in most cases, final. By entering this roleplay you acknowledge the fact that your character is not invulnerable.
2. You are not immune to the virus. You'll have to play realistically and choose wisely, because the threat of death is VERY real.
3. You must update your http://www.innawoods.net/ character and provide a picture of your character's current inventory whenever you acquire an item. This can be done by editing your character, saving the image in Paint and uploading it to imgur. You can then post the picture in the thread.
4. You do not need a GM's authorizations to have skills such as being able to fix a radio, build a small shelter, first aid or repair a weapon. However, you do need a GM's authorizations to have skills such as sniper-grade marksmanship, advanced martial arts skills, extensive knowledge on a subject such as medicine.
5. You may not start with anything more than a melee weapon or small firearm. Armor and other military-grade items are off-limits in the beginning of the roleplay.

Character information sheet:

Character Name:
Character Age:
Character Ethnicity:
Character Picture: (Optional)
Brief Character Description:
Brief Character Backstory:
Pre-Outbreak Occupation (if any):
Character skills: (construction, first aid, etc. 2 max)

[Donut]

[PLACEHOLDER]

I'm just gauging interest at this point. I'm confident if I get enough people this can turn into a great roleplay. If you're interested in a spot as GM shoot me a PM.

[Zombiedude101]

Character Name: TBD
Character Age: TBD
Character Ethnicity: TBD
Character Picture: (Optional) TBD
Brief Character Description: TBD
Brief Character Backstory: TBD
Pre-Outbreak Occupation (if any): Convict
Character skills: (construction, first aid, etc. 2 max) TBD

I'll get back to you on this ASAP, just putting this down as a placeholder.

[Ducky]

I feel like this would be more successful if it didn't have so many arbitrary looking steps to get involved. The innawoods thing especially seems kind of unnecessary, and item-based text roleplays (of this type, as of course things like this go further in DnD/tabletop roleplays where there's a fully fleshed out system) have never worked out so well due to their bitter attitude towards admittance when it comes to how reliant they actually are on the items that are there.

You'd do better to base the thing around intriguing drama and post-apocalyptic politics rather than the inventories of characters. People get more attached to these items which they view as their belongings than character development and it becomes toxic to play on more than one level.

[Donut]

I figured it'd be an easier way to keep track of items and give the roleplay more of an RPG-feel. I'll post an example scenario of what a first post in the roleplay might look like.

[Ducky]

I'm just worried that the interest tied to the RPG approach will end up decaying over time, but suit yourself.

[Donut]

I'm definitely taking what you said into consideration. Input is valuable if this is going to be a success.

[Redeemer]

as long as i can maintain a group of zombie killing cowboys riding on horses i'll be fine with this

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