Session 0

[Laird_Thorne]

A couple of things we need before really getting rolling. :)

CHARACTERS & RELATIONSHIPS

Now it’s time to create the PCs and NPCs as described in chapter 3. Be sure to note the names of all characters, and give them Issues, relationships, and Anchors. Then you can use these questions to further define relationships, together with the players:

• Who is in love, who is related, who knew each other before the outbreak? Who sleeps in the same tent or room? Who goes hunting together? Which people are rivals?
• Who is making the decisions? Is the process complicated? Who is unsatisfied with how this is done? What bad decisions have been made in the past?
• What are the main conflicts? Note down both major spats and smaller, subtler quarrels such as jealousy.
• Who is dead? What important people have been lost or left the group? What kind of “void” did this leave behind?
• What do you talk about? What does the group fear or dream about?
• Are there any secrets in the group? Who is having an affair? Who is planning to take over?

Dearly Departed Monologues

Throughout this book, there are monologues held by people that could have been PCs in the game. They are directed to former survivors, or people who died before the outbreak.

In game, one of your PCs may – if they so choose – hold a Dearly Departed Monologue at the start of each new session, except the first one. This is a way to recount what happened last time you played, but with some flavor added as your PC is describing things the way they perceived them.

One way to earn XP is to hold a Dearly Departed Monologue. All sessions except the first one start with a Dearly Departed Monologue. This means that one of the PCs holds a monologue directed to a dead PC or an NPC (or to someone the PC thinks is dead). The monologue should contain something that happened last session.

Only one player gets to hold a Dearly Departed Monologue per session. The monologue should be short and say something about what is going on inside the PC’s mind. You do not have to direct it to someone who died last session; it could be to a person from the PC’s past. There are examples of Dearly Departed Monologues in every chapter of this book.

When you have held your monologue, you get to roll a double low. The result is the number of XP you get. Recollecting the past and pondering the current situation is a way to learn things.

Dearly Departed Monologues are not a hard rule. You do not have to use them if you do not want to. Should that be the case, you may skip it altogether. Or, for example, if only one player wants to hold them, they may do it every session, and then you split the XP for their monologues between all PCs.

For the D-D monologues, for pbp it doesn't seem to work as a per-session basis. What are your thoughts on them? I see as some XP bonus (for everyone, but more for the writer).

Anything specific you all would like clarification or specifics on that haven't been covered?

Edited April 2 by Laird_Thorne (see edit history)

[dbcowboy]

Anyone have any thoughts on the above Characters & Relationships?

Based on our discussions in the OOC thread, decision making sounds more group than individual. Maybe Alex (or Daniel Perez) organizes the discussion but in the end it's majority rule.

Any thoughts on rivals? Sounds like Alex is at least a little resented for his position before the end. Maybe he needs to prove himself to others in this new world?

Any ideas on either internal conflicts or external ones that might be interesting to deal with? Or do we want to see what troubles come up that could lead to those issues?

@Laird_Thorne is there anything here that would be especially helpful to you in starting off the game?

Edited April 12 by dbcowboy (see edit history)

[Neopopulas]

Internal conflicts are for sure going to be between the more upright members of the group and our more criminal types but in the apocalypse, those things tend to matter less.

[Starhawk]

Fleur's got a foot in both camps, the upright camp and the criminal camp. Indeed now unjust law and illegitimate order has disappeared, she's fully upright... moreso when she's married, being made an honest woman 'n all.

[BuyCrom]

For internal conflicts; Maybe there's some disagreement about contacting another group of survivors? Like we've seen a few signs but not actually met or seen anyone, downed Walkers that we didn't deal with, a revving motorcycle in the distance that nobody actually saw that kind of thing. Now some people want to seek them out, others want to wait until we shore up our defences some more, maybe a couple of people want to avoid them all together.

There could also be some tension between Samuel and Daniel; Denise's bio says she's pretty withdrawn and Daniel used to have a high-stress job and kind of gives me former Finance-Bro vibes. So he could be the type who isn't used to hard physical work, and got resentful of Denise not pulling her weight in his eyes, leading to a confrontation with her dad.

I'd also put Nicole forward as Alex's NPC counterpart on the leadership/discussion facility front. She's like 10-15 years older than Daniel, which makes me imagine them as a power-couple pre-apocalypse. He was the ambitious younger spouse/trophy husband with a brain and financial connections, she was a high-powered CEO/Judge/Mayor just starting to think about acting on grander political ambitions when the world went to crap. She could be a someone who's not satisfied with the "listen to the person with the most relevant expertise/" group decision making approach we've got going, wanting more control to "do it right" when it comes to rebuilding society etc.

It might also be fun if the group did have a hero-style leader who pulled the group together because everybody liked and respected them, but they died like a month ago. The current set-up is what we came up with to fill the gap they left.