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The following is from the game's "The World As It Is" thread

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Look, Dr. Terrible is many things: he is a master of disaster, a dynamo with the ladies, and an accomplished spoons player, but he is NOT a historian. So let me, Dr. Terrible, do my best at explaining the dreary reality of...

\\\  \\\ The World As It Is ///  ///

As recounted by Dr. Terrible

Stuffs f'ed up.

...

What, that isn't good enough for you? Fine, let me put on my storyteller jacket and lay it out for you.


Some time after that reality TV star was elected President of the United States (no, not Donald Trump, the one that came after him) everything started to get messy. Climate change was changing the climate and lax environmental regulations compounded with a "business before people" mentality. People poured used motor oil down their kitchen drains and a rabid fascination with curing all of our ails with a convenient pill meant that viruses and bacteria had to become extra crafty to infect human kind.

The world's elite had managed to pit most of the babbling rabble against one another so that we would hardly notice when all of our leaders migrated south.

No, not Florida.

No, not Brazil. Souther.

Denmark?! That's north, you idiot! Sheesh, buy a globe...

Alright, fine, they all picked up and established themselves in some bunkers in Antarctica. There were underground bunkers that had been established and filled with supplies for many years, and as the last of our leaders filled those freezing vaults in secret they issued a single order; feed us!

But then zombies. Even though Dr. Terrible can pinpoint the exact origin of the zombie plague, it would be going against the established rules of "nobody knows where it started" to tell you where it started. So zombies.

It's been 47 days since the first flesh-chomper chomped human flesh. Everything is going to Hell, and people are doing their best to move forward with their lives and regain a footing in a world where their neighbors are trying to eat them.

Of all the many groups Dr. Terrible has observed, one group in a medium-sized town in Pennsylvania has captivated his attention the most. Maybe it's their tenacity, or the light of hope they cannot see dimmed, or maybe it's the babes in their ranks, but Dr. Terrible likes these ones.

He hopes they can survive.


Zombies are such marvelous creatures! They represent all that mankind is afraid of, the ceaselessly encroaching stench of death and rot, an inevitable end for every living cell from the moment it first sparks into being.

Inevitable, that is, unless you are Dr. Terrible, who has mastered the ways of life and death.

Most of the fictionalized versions of zombies are right on the money. They tend to be slow, shambling creatures with an unending hunger for brains and flesh. But let's get the specifics out of the way.

• Anybody can become a zombie, nobody is immune. The zombification is spread solely by the bite or the scratch of the undead on an uninfected person's body. Person dies without being bit or scratched? They'll rot away just fine and never come back to bother you. There are theories with no definitive evidence that the zombification can be spread by other animals and insects, but this is unknown.
• Zombies only seek human flesh. They will ignore all other animals and insects unless these animals or insects mess with a zombie first.
• Zombies rot and smell like walking corpses, but this process is dramatically slower than it should be. It can take decades for zombies to finally decompose beyond the point of function.
• Almost all zombies are slow... but some are faster, some are more coordinated, some are stronger, and some are significantly weaker. They also develop a rudimentary sort of community intelligence because they are capable of communicating with each other in very basic ways. They might be saying "Food", or "Danger", or "I miss the Kardashians", nobody knows, but they have been observed to react accordingly. Interestingly, they also are capable of basic planning when confronted with a challenge. A single zombie might be a wandering beast, a group of 10 can be a dangerous pack, whereas any numbers of zombies more than 50 tend to go back to the wandering beast mindset. Maybe there's too many hands in the kitchen and they can't operate effectively together?
• Just like popular fiction suggests, zombies are effectively killed only when burned or shot in the head. Of course, both methods pose the danger of contaminating the air and the local environment, so permanent disposal is a tricky issue.

On the Specifics of Chapter IV

The fictional community of Longdale is in eastern Pennsylvania. It's a town of modest size, but sandwiched an hour between two large cities. A once-busy interstate roadway divides the town in half.

The characters in Longdale are from all over the place. Their group contains somewhere near thirty or forty people of diverse backgrounds and experiences, all working together and establishing themselves as survivors in the landscape. They've found a few safe places to rest their tired legs, but maintaining these places is difficult when they are sending out groups for frequent supply runs.

They need to find a stronghold, and as they leave the shattered safety of their last holdout they find renewed determination in their efforts.

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The following is taken from the game's RTJ thread
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Dr. Terrible has only a few requirements to contribute in the telling of Chapter IV.

• All RPOL site rules apply.
  
• This is an Adult game. You obviously need to act like a mature adult to take part.
  
• Treat your fellow players the way you would want to be treated.
  
• No Metagaming. Under no circumstances can you take information that you have out of character and use it to your advantage in character. Violation of this rule will result in a discussion with the unforgiving Dr. Terrible. Repeat offenders will be removed from the game.
  
• Be realistic. Realism is appreciated among players and by the pragmatic Dr. Terrible. Please make your characters react to roleplay appropriately and realistically.
  
• This is a Freeform style game in regard to both the rules system and the level of player input. There will be some involvement from Dr. Terrible with storyline guiding from time to time, but mostly you will be on your own to develop storylines and carry them out with your character and other players. If you have an idea for a game wide storyline that will affect something beyond your own character, please share it with Dr. Terrible so he can take all credit for it.
  
  
  • Extra Important Note! A loose idea of the time changes will be... "It's been three days. X, Y, and Z have happened in that time. The group is now at this location, and these things are on the immediate horizon." You can expect some aid and guidance from myself and your fellow players to conjure up what the heck your character is doing in this time period, but if you can't figure that out and make it work...
     learn how! I am happy to take on players new to this style of gaming as long as they are putting in an honest effort and take time to write their posts.
  
  
• Avatars: Only real people please. No Anime or cartoon characters will be accepted.
  
• For the love of all that is (un)holy, please communicate with Dr. Terrible. Have a problem? A complaint? An argument with another player. Please share that with Dr. Terrible so we can fix it together.
  
• There is no shame in playing a character who is an underdog. Nobody is perfect and not everyone wins at everything. If you can't leave your ego aside and understand that realistic story lines are far more important than playing a god like character, then this probably isn't the game for you.
  
• Games are more successful with the collaboration of all Players. Every Player should have an invested interest in making the game great. Don't be shy, message your fellow players and share ideas and try to make connections and find common ground so Characters can interact. If you are struggling to find someone to write with, please speak to Dr. Terrible. I don't want to see any Players left on the sidelines and not involved.
  
• It is a shame that all of the punch and horror has been stolen from the zombie genre. Nowadays the entire focus seems to be on head shots, terrible raiders and human murderers, and the constant status of characters being on the run from one safe place to another. It is my goal to change that with this game, and I will be (hopefully) achieving that by enforcing the idea that zombies are scary. This isn't going to be so much about "Grab as many cans of beans as you can and let's move!", as it will be about the characters finding a permanent safe place to stay. From there, we can go wild, but I have little interest in having an action fest where the walls are constantly surrounded by hoards of the undead. This will be a zombie game, but it won't be like the typical zombie game.
  
• And Lastly... You guys can expect a few posts a week from me, often daily short ones. The only posting rate I expect from anybody is one that keeps things moving. If you've got time to write one lengthy, quality post a day, that's excellent. If you can three or four good ones a week... well, that's great too. Writing partners will sync up and the story won't leave anybody in the dust. Be realistic about your posting expectations and ability, and I will be too.

Name: (You can have a given name, or you can have given up that identity for a new one of your choosing)
Age: (18 is minimum age. Please do not submit characters who are 22, 23 years old and are experts at something. The older your character is the more comfortable I am with them being experts at anything. I would like to push for some realism here and there are very few 19 year old master swordsmen or firearms experts)
Sexual Orientation:
Nation of Origin: (This takes place in the US, but anything is possible)
Relatives: (Anybody alive? Maybe, maybe not!)


Physical Description: (Please include the next few generic descriptors to make it easier for people to get a read on you, but write a good description here! Please note that only avatars of real people may be selected. That means no anime, no drawings or paintings, no CGI)
Height:
Weight:
Eyes:
Hair:


Personality: (This should be a good overview of how you intend to play your character, but it is not something you strictly need to adhere to. Sometimes your intention for a character changes very early on)


Background: (Should cover all of your skills and why you are in Pennsylvania trying to make it with the rest of these people. Feel free to make up as many people as you need to in order to make this work)


Skills: (What are you good at? What do you suck at?)
Equipment: (Should include all weapons [please keep in mind that guns are not going to have disposable ammunition! This list should also include anything you are bringing with you, ideally itemized as what your character typically carries and what they own. For example, they might be a brewer and have some equipment to make beer, but aren't going to carry it with them everywhere they go)


Writing Sample: (Write this as your prospective character)
This message was last edited by the user at 01:02, Mon 22 May 2017.