updated two maps. the first shows the overall area. the red star is the groups location in the church with the survivors of the area. the red lines show the flow of the undead (basic direction is from left to right, a.k.a. north to south) this map is approx. a mile on each side.

the second map shows the immediate area of the church. the church is designated by a red x. there are several blue stars on homes nearby, these are occupied by other survivors living in the area. the yellow lightning flash is a storage point for things like fuel, there generator, and tools, and a centralized point to store 'group' weapons and their only vehicle - an older model rental van like you would use to move your household goods in (like a U-Haul truck). this map is also left to right is north to south and covers approx two hundred yards to a side.

I like B as well, though A is a close second.

I'll vote B.

Unanimous B.

I check the character list recently and noticed a new fifth player. We'll have to think about how Ashton joins the posse or if (with Ashton's creator, of course).

Hello again, my apologies for the delay! Anywho nice to meet you all! Where are you guys currently so I may assist with thinking up a story for Ashton to jump in?

In reply to Ashton Barker (msg # 40):

Roberta and I are driving in from the south, myself from Florida-via the Georgia airport.

Hmm.. my character's college was in california so trying to think of a reason post-outbreak he'd travel across the country. As I try to think up a reason, I'm open to suggestions as I am having a lil trouble at the moment. He's very logic-oriented; so I'm trying to logically justify such a dangerous idea as solo cross-county travel.

In reply to Ashton Barker (msg # 42):

You could have been part of a military evac, and then an outbreak occurred on the aircraft. You parachuted out, only to land in town.

Edit-The Boeing C-40 Clipper has a range of 5,600 KM-easily being able to get to ether coast.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:17, Thu 23 Jan 2020.

As a reminder, it's been months since the turmoil began in February.  It's now July so we've all been out here for a while.  We may have traveled with others before, split up, lost them, or perhaps even eaten them.

Good experiences or bad, this probably won't be our first rodeo dealing with new people.  And we're all coming in with our own baggage as well.

As to ideas for Ashton's cross country trip, the Train to Busan* could have gotten him most of the way east as he tried to get back to reach family of some kind or girlfriend.

* Train to Busan, now available streaming free on the Roku Tubi channel.

In reply to Roberta Johnson (msg # 44):

Train to Busan is an awesome movie! Everyone must see it!

You heard me, go see it!

NOW!!!

:P

hehehe

The train is probably a better idea; since his reason for surviving the outbreak was he did not go with the initial military attempt at sheltering survivors as their makeshift encampment was pretty quickly overrun. And though he isn't entirely sure how his mother would be (they weren't close) and is too awkward for a girlfriend, he'd certainly travel for lack of supplies as his area was never too densely populated so there isn't too much around.
Either gamble a treck across the country in hopes of a better shot of survival with more resources albeit higher population density (aka more zombs); or settle for certain death as he runs out of supplies. Not a fun decision but a logically simple one.

And I should definitely look into seeing if that movie is on netflix or hulu that's all I got sadly, well except disney+ but it doesn't sound like a disney movie

He may have volunteered to help out in fashion. Maybe joined a group headed east to stop this thing before it got completely out of control. He may have made far enough to the eastern states to walk the rest of the way. CDC headquarters is in Atlanta. Maybe something along those lines.

Good idea, maybe grudgingly heading there to see if his mom is working on the problem, and if so, see if they're developing a cure; or at least a vaccination.

Just so I'm tracking, about where would you guys think it reasonable for me to drop in? Sometime after leaving the naive religious community?

Ashton, you should probably drop in now.  Either you jumped in the car to get here with us at the last second or you could appear before or just after we arrived at the farm.

We all just need to know each other's names at this point, not necessarily having traveled together.

That works well. Thanks guys, good communication, everyone just earned their first XP.

Woo! Which reminds me, I need to copy paste everything to my sheet.

Also, where are our characters staying in this settlement?

The church or on the ground anywhere

Just one point for now, or an amount of XP?

My apologies for my delay, I'm normally especially active on weekends but had a little tidbit take up half my day. Good afternoon, people!

From a metagaming point of view, I assume that if the GM would like us to go in a certain direction, we as characters won't need to go out of our way in order to comply.

Which means we can talk as much as we want about splitting the party and actually try to go our separate ways because it's logical for our characters, but if it's not meant to be, we'll find ourselves together once again soon enough.

Thanks GM.

And no worries Ashton.

I don't have a problem with characters being portrayed in the manner you in vision them so long as the end result isn't disruptive, we all our differences and uniqueness. I will guide the game, present challenges and something of a storyline that suits the group. I try to avoid being heavy handed, it ruins the experience for all of us.

Oh, there will be one last player joining soon. That will make six, a gm's dozen. Great job guys. I will flesh out the town more soon, give a better idea of what is in the area too.