OOC- Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 2- General Discussion

Yup, just another few rounds should do it. All that remains is to finish the battle at the motel. I'm updating right now, and I'll be able to update frequently over the next four days.

 

That's correct, after the chapter concludes and you make your skill XP checks, we move to Play@Yog-Sothoth in January. It'll probably take a few weeks to set things up there before we can start.

There are now probably only 2 or 3 major updates remaining, and I hope to finish them by Tuesday.

 

Either that or they'll be challenging each other to shoot zombies that look like particular celebrities.

I need to eat breakfast first, but the next update should be up in a few hours. After that there may only be one more, hopefully on Monday or Tuesday.

 

Chapter 2 is complete! I hope you had as much fun as I have, and I look forward to starting Chapter 3 over on Play@Yog-Sothoth in a few weeks. Every character who survived gets skill XP checks. I'll roll them for the NPCs later tonight, and you can roll for your PCs when you get around to it.

The way these work, if you don't remember from Chapter 1, is that for every skill of your character's that was successfully used (which are listed in the Locations and Weapons thread), you roll 1d100 against it. If you roll less than or equal to your current score in the skill, nothing happens. If you roll higher, then you get to roll 1d10 and I'll add that to your character's skill level. The higher your skills are, the harder it is to raise them further, but low skills are unlikely to be checked in the first place.

Here's a list of the PCs by player and the relevant skill levels:
Fearlessfred
Joe Barring:
Spot Hidden (56)
Shotgun (65)
Dodge (28)
Handgun (61)

Javier Ramirez:
Psychology (52)
Persuade (54)
Spot Hidden (51)
Rifle (55)
Handgun (63)

Sergeant Sam Black:
Spot Hidden (59)
Rifle (92)

Steve
Alice:
Make Maps (35)
Bargain (20)
Persuade (50)
Spot Hidden (25)
Listen (25)
History (90)
Rifle (50)
Mechanical Repair (20)

Jim Kerr:
Psychology (34)
Spot Hidden (56)
Listen (58)
Fast Talk (52)
First Aid (30)
Handgun (67)
Kick (57)
Martial Arts (57)

Stompie
Wallace:
Psychology (53)
Spot Hidden (45)
Rifle (66)

Duke:
Natural History (25)
Fast Talk (45)
Spot Hidden (30)
Listen (40)
Rifle (50)
First Aid (50)
Biology (55)

Airman Justin Hockey:
Spot Hidden (55)
Machine Gun (80)
Rifle (65)
Sneak (70)

Acting Senior Airman Manuel Ortega:
Spot Hidden (65)
Rifle (65)

SuAside
Luke the Hunter:
Spot Hidden (57)
Rifle (80)
Fist/Punch (50)
Listen (65)
Shotgun (52)

Bob Larkin:
Persuade (15)
Mechanical Repair (67)
Spot Hidden (70)

 

Yes, I'll post on this board when we're ready to move to the new one. In the meantime, we can continue to discuss the game in this thread. It will remain open until the move is complete, though I did lock the IC thread once the chapter concluded. Jim Kerr had plenty of time to reload his .44 Magnum, but he can only put one more bullet in there since it's a revolver and not an automatic. His Handgun skill was 67, not 50, but your roll was good enough to still get an increase and it rises to 74. The .44 Magnum has a -5 penalty built in, so your chance to hit with that becomes a still respectable 69.

New characters will probably be a couple of weeks. Since the motel did not fall after all (you guys were lucky; if Mikhalin had died and Gary's head hadn't been destroyed then the people in the comm room and balcony might all have died), there will be three batches of new characters. One batch is almost ready, one has some preliminary work done, and another I haven't done more than think about. I intend to post all of them at the same time on the new forum when they're ready. There will be enough that everyone can have 3 or 4 characters, but we'll let the new players each choose at least one character from the new groups first.

 

Steve's and Fearlessfred's character sheets have been updated with the new skill levels. When SuAside and Stompie post their rolls, I'll update theirs too. If Stompie doesn't check in within a week or so, I'll roll for his characters myself.

Here are the skill XP rolls for the NPCs:
Original characters (from Chapter 1)
Rosie:
Psychology ( 50 ) increased by 2 to 52
Listen ( 60 ) increased by 7 to 67

Lynne:
Spot Hidden ( 67 ) increased by 1 to 68
Locksmith ( 48 ) increased by 3 to 51
Fast Talk ( 62 ) increased by 6 to 68

Max:
Scent Something Interesting ( 96 ) did not increase
Bite ( 50 ) did not increase
Listen ( 80 ) increased by 2 to 82
Spot Hidden ( 25 ) increased by 8 to 33

Mrs. Foo had no skills checked

Mr. Foo:
Persuade ( 66 ) did not increase
Hypnosis ( 41 ) did not increase
Psychoanalysis ( 1 ) increased by 2 to 3
Locksmith ( 51 ) increased by 7 to 58
Electrical Repair ( 70 ) did not increase
Listen ( 58 ) did not increase
Spot Hidden ( 76 ) did not increase
Fast Talk ( 65 ) increased by 10 to 75
Submachine Gun ( 63 ) did not increase
First Aid ( 64 ) did not increase

Ellen Cody:
Listen ( 44 ) increased by 7 to 51

Sally:
Pharmacy ( 18 ) increased by 6 to 24
Spot Hidden ( 25 ) increased by 3 to 28
Medicine ( 57 ) did not increase
Handgun ( 49 ) increased by 3 to 52
First Aid ( 65 ) did not increase
Listen ( 25 ) increased by 8 to 33

Bo Richards:
Listen ( 47 ) increased by 1 to 48

Baldwin:
Drive Truck ( 58 ) did not increase
Fast Talk ( 72 ) did not increase
Spot Hidden ( 77 ) did not increase
Rifle ( 45 ) increased by 5 to 50
Handgun ( 64 ) increased by 6 to 70
Law ( 32 ) increased by 4 to 36
Psychology ( 52 ) did not increase

Randall:
Psychology ( 65 ) did not increase
Spot Hidden ( 25 ) did not increase
Rifle ( 55 ) increased by 9 to 64

David:
Handgun ( 64 ) did not increase
Mechanical Repair ( 36 ) did not increase
Drive Truck ( 55 ) did not increase
Fast Talk ( 31 ) increased by 8 to 39

Willie:
Rifle ( 45 ) increased by 9 to 54
Spot Hidden ( 43 ) increased by 2 to 45
Dodge ( 49 ) did not increase
Fast Talk ( 56 ) increased by 1 to 57

Jenny Cooper:
Spot Hidden ( 36 ) did not increase
Rifle ( 40 ) did not increase
Psychology ( 45 ) increased by 7 to 52
Persuade ( 40 ) increased by 6 to 46

Kimberly:
First Aid ( 45 ) did not increase
Spot Hidden ( 52 ) did not increase
Fast Talk ( 52 ) did not increase
Pharmacy ( 90 ) did not increase
Shotgun ( 60 ) did not increase
Listen ( 57 ) increased by 7 to 64

Michael Walters:
Spot Hidden ( 65 ) increased by 3 to 68
Psychology ( 65 ) did not increase
Psychoanalysis ( 85 ) did not increase
Handgun ( 65 ) did not increase
Climb ( 40 ) increased by 1 to 41

Erica Spears:
Spot Hidden ( 76 ) did not increase
Pilot Helicopter ( 77 ) did not increase
Handgun ( 73 ) did not increase
Rifle ( 30 ) increased by 2 to 32

Dr. Brigetta Hausmann:
Medicine ( 77 ) increased by 9 to 86
Spot Hidden ( 35 ) did not increase

Stephanie Bridges:
Persuade ( 44 ) increased by 8 to 52
Computer Use ( 63 ) did not increase
Spot Hidden ( 66 ) did not increase
Biology ( 77 ) did not increase
Chemistry ( 63 ) increased by 9 to 72

Beth:
Spot Hidden ( 50 ) increased by 2 to 52
Rifle ( 50 ) did not increase
Fast Talk ( 56 ) did not increase

Robert:
Spot Hidden ( 54 ) did not increase
Psychology ( 65 ) did not increase

Kerry Pierce:
Spot Hidden ( 50 ) increased by 3 to 53
Shotgun ( 30 ) increased by 10 to 40

Warren AFB characters (Chapter 2)
Airman Alexandria Mikhalin:
Electronics ( 73 ) did not increase
Psychology ( 5 ) increased by 10 to 15
Handgun ( 50 ) increased by 3 to 53

Lt. Angela Blanco:
Biology ( 92 ) did not increase
French ( 41 ) increased by 7 to 48
Persuade ( 38 ) increased by 2 to 40
Pharmacy ( 49 ) did not increase
Medicine ( 65 ) increased by 3 to 68
First Aid ( 66 ) increased by 6 to 72
Handgun ( 55 ) did not increase

Zorie Spooner:
Psychology ( 5 ) increased by 1 to 6
Spot Hidden ( 45 ) increased by 5 to 50
Medicine ( 55 ) did not increase
First Aid ( 59 ) did not increase

Airman Bobby Sheen:
Spot Hidden ( 47 ) did not increase
Rifle ( 82 ) did not increase

Airman Steve Phillips:
Spot Hidden ( 40 ) did not increase
Rifle ( 60 ) increased by 7 to 67
First Aid ( 50 ) did not increase
Medicine ( 45 ) increased by 6 to 51

Airman Igor Malanowski:
Psychology ( 34 ) did not increase
Dodge ( 36 ) increased by 4 to 40
Grapple ( 72 ) increased by 4 to 76
Spot Hidden ( 25 ) increased by 4 to 29
Rifle ( 71 ) did not increase

Acting Senior Airman Carlos Duran:
Spot Hidden ( 62 ) increased by 5 to 67
Rifle ( 71 ) did not increase
Military Science ( 45 ) increased by 10 to 55

 

If Lewis had stayed in the comm room he'd have had a better chance for survival, but he had no way of knowing what would happen if he left. You're absolutely right about how McCain could have survived. If he had dropped his weapon and surrendered, the civilians would not have kept shooting at him.

The basic problem that the PCs involved had is that they were trying to have things both ways. They wanted the civilians to be protected, but they also wanted to support Malone instead of Lereux. It takes two sides to have a standoff. Malone had been close to surrender, and if Ramirez hadn't turned on Lereux and supported her things might have played out very differently, especially if McCain and Lewis had backed down too when faced with superior firepower. The civilians didn't want to kill anyone, and even Lereux didn't want anyone but Malone dead. He needed everyone he could get to defend the motel. While he would have busted McCain down to Airman (he did tell him he'd have his stripes for this) and given him the most dangerous assignments, he would not have executed him unless he resisted the coup with force. Almost everything was going in Lereux's favor except for the PCs and a few NPCs. Had you guys not shifted the balance of power to be more even, Malone would not have been able to get enough support to put up a fight. Instead there was a real battle, and the motel nearly fell as a result. If a couple more people had died and gone zombie, there would have been a critical mass of zombies and any humans on the balcony or in the comm room would have been lucky to escape with their lives.

Basically, what you needed to do to live was to either support Lereux or at least not stand in his way. Failing that, surrender was a viable option. It takes two sides to have a battle too.

 

I finished the airfield characters on Tuesday, but I already listed those earlier in this thread on page 37. You also have the existing characters from the first two chapters available, and new players will be unlikely to choose them since they'd need to read the story so far. There are two more groups of characters I need to complete. I hadn't had time to work on them during the last few days and probably won't during the week, but on weekends I should be able to. I'm hoping they'll be done in two weeks, maybe three.

 

I'll just post it here, along with current Sanity levels, since it isn't secret information and could help anyone thinking of choosing an existing character. Those listed as Contaminated (in orange) took damage from the thing in the lab. Those listed as Bitten (in red) were bitten by zombies. Current HP are in red if at 3 or less, orange if half or less of maximum, yellow if more than half but below maximum, and normal if at full.

Rosie: 10/10, San 52
Lynne: 8/11, San 45, broken leg
Max: 11/11, San 35
Mrs. Foo: 11/11, San 65
Mr. Foo: 11/11, San 93, Contaminated
Ellen Cody: 11/11, San 72
Sally: 11/11, San 92
Wallace Red Crow (Stompie): 13/14, San 53, Bitten
Bo Richards: 15/16, San 55
Baldwin: 5/15, San 32, indefinitely insane
Randall: 15/15, San 68, Bitten
David: 11/11, San 44
Willie: 5/13, San 40, unconscious
Alice (Steve): 2/12, San 47, Contaminated
Luke the Hunter (SuAside): 11/11, San 99
Jenny Cooper: 12/12, San 73, Contaminated
Kimberly: 4/12, San 67, Bitten (but apparently immune)
Michael: 14/14, San 44
Duke (Stompie): 15/16, San 66, Contaminated
Erica Spears: 12/12, San 80
Dr. Brigetta Hausmann, M.D.: 7/12, San 51, broken arm
Stephanie Bridges: 12/12, San 99
Jim Kerr (Steve): 13/14, San 83, Contaminated
Bob Larkin (SuAside): 13/16, San 72
Joe Barring (Fearlessfred): 16/16, San 56
Kerry Pierce: 12/12, San 39

Javier Ramirez (Fearlessfred): 14/14, San 67
Airman Alexandria Mikhalin: 8/12, San 73
Lt. Angela Blanco: 13/13, San 76
Zorie Spooner: 12/12, San 68
Sgt. Sam Black (Fearlessfred): 16/16, San 52
Airman Bobby Sheen: 17/17, San 64
Airman Steve Phillips: 11/17, San 25, indefinitely insane, Bitten
Airman Igor Malanowski: 16/16, San 65
Airman Justin Hockey (Stompie): 11/13, San 55
Acting Senior Airman Carlos Duran: 8/16, San 56, Bitten
Acting Senior Airman Manuel Ortega (Stompie): 16/16, San 65

Lack of cooperation and organization was definitely a problem, but you didn't do too badly and losses could have been far worse. You did manage to hold onto the motel - for now - though the diner was lost. However, the motel's defenses have been weakened. The barricades are still fully intact, but the gunplay upstairs meant that the zombies were "in your base, killing your d00dz" anyway, and you now have to defend it with less. Now that the USAF forces are under new leadership, cooperation becomes far more likely. There are reinforcements on the way, but they bring with them their own complications that you'll have to deal with.