The Broken Road

A Zombie Post Apocalypse game, based on the absolutely fantastic Days Gone by Bend Game Studios.

HI EVERYBODY!!

So, I've been away from MW for awhile...I needed a bit of a mental health break from...well, just about everything. But after some improvements in Life, The (or at least My) Universe, and Everything...well, not EVERYTHING, but SOME things...anyway...erm...where was I? 😵

Oh, right, now I remember...I'M BAAAAAAAACK!!!

And the gaming bug is biting me firmly on the backside. Which is where all this comes in.

About a year ago, I acquired the thoroughly amazing Days Gone. I burned through it in less than a week, and it was absolutely AMAZEBALLS. I've since played it through half a dozen times, and it just keeps getting better every single time. Despite not being a huge Open World RPG fan (Ubisoft and Bethesda, among others, have seriously burnt me out on the genre), I fell in love with everything about this game. The setting is FIRE; the combat is incredibly fun, frenetic, and utterly satisfying; and the story literally brought me to tears multiple times.

Since, sadly, this amazing game will probably never get a sequel (which is a damn crime!!), it's up to us to make that happen.

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A few notes, for those that haven't played in one of my games...

Hi! I'm Arklytte, long time member of The Weave, and unofficial Old Fart Grognard™

Welcome to my newest bout of insanity adventure. Here's hoping it will whet your roleplaying appetite.

A little bit about me: I've been roleplaying for over 40 years now (tabletop for most of my life, and online for over 25 years - about nearly seventeen of which have been here on MW), and have played more systems than I can count...or even remember. I even invented a couple systems, back in the day. I've GM'd many games here on MW, as well as other sites, and have had varying degrees of success with them, but, since I enjoy DMing almost as much as I enjoy playing, I keep coming back for more. I am a big fan and avid supporter of ROLE over ROLL playing and my games feature a lot of character interaction/development, fleshed out NPC's, and (at least so I'm told) lots of fun.

I value intense, flavorful roleplay; strong writing skills
Whether English is your first or fourth language, it is the lingua franca of MW. Like Korben Dallas, I only speak/read two languages: English, and Bad English. The written word is the only form of communication we have here, and I expect my players to be at least reasonably competent in it's usage. If you have trouble with your writing, or English is not your first language, please use a spell checker and do your best to use reasonably good grammar. I'm not going to penalize someone for not being an English Lit major, but I do expect everyone to make an effort to be a good communicator., and creative, open minds.

That being said, I am also an opinionated old fart (as advertised ), for whom the word 'Optimization' is akin to various Four Letter Words. I dont care how good a roleplayer you claim to be, if your first inclination when considering joining one of my games is to rub your hands in glee at all the options you have to make 'teh uber character'...well...let's just say that this game probably wont be the best fit for you. And yes, I know...Stormwind Fallacy...BLAH BLAH BLAH! Sorry, IMO Stormwind is full of it. And at the end of the day, My Game, My Rules. If you find this too restrictive or are offended by it, then I appreciate you reading this far and wish you luck in your future endeavors on the Weave. I'm sure there are plenty of games that cater to your preferences...this one will not. I'm going to blatantly steal a comment I read in another recruitment thread many, many (far too many ) moons ago, by @Legionbunny , that I think perfectly sums up my attitude on this point. It's quite apropos to this game as well.

Now, all that being said, this will be a game with characters who are going to end up being fairly strong for their level, mechanically speaking. I'm totally ok with that...if I wasn't, I wouldn't have gone to the extent to put my own stamp on the rules that I did. I didn't create these rules so that you could torture the math into giving you a character who can one shot Thor. I created them to give you the flexibility to make a truly interesting, compelling character, that is exactly what you envision when you think of 'Hero'.

You will be playing characters who are survivors of one the single most devastating plagues to ever infect the world. Humanity lost over half it's numbers in the initial Outbreak, and have lost more than half that number in the four years since. Sadly, not all of the 'lost' are, in fact, dead. A fair number of them are still up and walking around...they just dont have any interest in interacting with their fellow humans...unless it's feeding time...and you're the snack.

That said, the PC's are the survivors. They are among the prime examples of humanity's will to survive, even among the most devastating conditions. They are Drifters. Broken Knights of the Broken Road. Masters and Mistresses of survival. Hard as nails and twice as sharp.

Oh, and you kill Freaks damn good too! 😈

Regarding character creation: I am FAR more interested in the story you tell about your character than I am about your math. Your story should influence the mechanics, not the other way around. 90%+ of my decision on who I choose to join my games is based on your character's story. And my interest in the crunchy bits is mainly to see if they match up with the fluffy stuff...well, that, and making sure they're reasonably well balanced against your fellows.

We're going to be using the Spheres of Power and Might alternate character creation system. This system encourages flexibility and customization above all else, and that appeals to me quite a lot. I have done a fair bit of customization and there are MANY house rules that will need to be navigated when creating a character.

At present, the plan is to leave recruitment open for roughly two weeks. Today is June 26th, and the last (planned) day of recruiting will be July 10th. Depending on how that goes, or if I end up with overwhelming interest, I may close recruiting early, but I will make sure all those who have applied up to that point will have adequate time to finish their characters, and I will make sure to communicate that decision at least 2 days before I (potentially) take that step.

As stated, my decision will be based almost entirely on a character's fluff, so I expect that portion of your character to be completely done by end of recruitment. I'd like folks to be mostly done with their crunchy bits...at the very least, having picked out their classes, decided on the major spheres they want to use, as well as have the majority of their talents listed, etc. If there are little, fiddly bits still to do once recruiting is done, I'm ok with that. While this game will not have all the complexity that some of my games are known for, character creation will still be relatively complex. Those that are chosen will get all the time they need to finish their character, even if that means that, once the final decisions are made, it still takes a couple days to get the actual game started.

A couple of points about the tone of the campaign...

This game will feature a fair bit of combat...probably more than normal for my games. I mean...Zombie Apocalypse, amirite? It will also feature a bit of puzzle solving, as well as a fairly significant mystery to solve (assuming I can pull it off...my wife is the mystery buff, not me, but I'm going to be asking for her input on the story, so...fingers crossed. ). There will, of course, be plenty of opportunity to roleplay as well.

There will also be significant amounts of character and NPC interaction, lots of opportunities for your character's personality to shine through, and maybe even a touch of good old fashioned dungeon (or, at least, cave) crawling.

I wont be handing out XP in the traditional sense, I will instead be advancing your characters at story appropriate places. If all goes according to plan, your characters will have the opportunity to advance multiple levels.

This game will be relatively slow paced. As much as I'd love to devote all my time to gaming, my boss doesn't seem to understand that all this 'work' nonsense really interferes with my hobby time. Trying to carve out enough time IRL to allow me to do all this, as well as take care of all that pesky IRL stuff can be challenging. This leaves me with a fairly limited amount of MW time. I'm looking for roughly 2-3 IC posts a week once the game starts and players can expect the same from me.

That said, if the PC's want to interact more IC, I'm certainly not going to stop them.

This game will be mature themed. All evidence to the contrary, I am an adult (actually, as mentioned, I'm kind of an old fart ) and I write for other adults. The game will feature adult themes (within site limits, obviously), truly evil villains, and morally questionable choices. While I dont write horror, and I especially dont write gorn, you can still expect a fairly dark campaign. The universe is not sweetness and light, and neither will this game be. Your enemies are thoroughly terrifying and ravenously hungry...and you look like a snack.

And the Freaks aren't all you'll face. As in most of the darkest times in history, the true danger is your fellow (non mutated) humans. There are gangs that roam the Broken Road, and every manner of human depravity can be found somewhere out there. Those enemies that are still capable of (mostly) rational thought will, quite often, be an even bigger threat than the biggest Mega Horde. You can expect them to act appropriately.

If all of this interests you, please check out the Drifter and This Fallen World sections for Character Creation and World info

And so, without further ado, I'd like to invite you to join me in taking up the mantle of Drifter. Hop on your hawg, grab your shotgun, your 2x4 (artfully studded with ten-penny nails), and your trusty boot knife, and join me on The Broken Road!

And dont forget the most important rule: HAVE FUN & ENJOY YOURSELVES!