SURVIVOR: RELAY

This is a cross between casual async RP and something of an ARG, set in a world where zombies run rampant and civilization is a memory. Through text messages, your isolated and lonely avatars will document their daily struggles, and possibly help each other stay alive.

SETTING

We will refer to “zombies” as “Z’s” in the rest of the text, because it is more convienting to text. (Also: because you never say the Z-word!)

Z’s are former humans, infected with a virus that leaves them ravenous, predatory and undying. A bite can carry the infection, but it won’t always do so; if the infected puts themselves through severe physical exhaustion and trauma, they can “shock” the virus right out of them. (Some survivors may have perished in the attempt to do so.)

Surviving humans try to pick up the pieces in the landscape, and hope that the virus will burn itself out in mere decades.

There is no organization amongst the survivors – most are loners and see no other humans for months at a time – but some discover the Survivor Relay: an autonomous entity that, somehow, passes messages along to anyone with a working cell phone. Most of the messages are passed along, from one survivor to the relay and out to every other survivor. Sometimes, cryptic warnings and advice come from the relay itself, but it is unclear if there is any pattern to this behavior.

If you’re connected to the relay, you probably found a phone – either when scavenging, or from the remains of another survivor – and discovered that it was still receiving messages. If you lose this cell phone, you’re lost to the network. You must keep this phone charged and working; this is no small feat.

CHARACTERS

Establish your avatar in this world. It should be like yourself, but in parallel to the world you have: what would you have done in a world such as this? Remember: with a few exceptions, you’ve probably been surviving alone, with only the Z’s for company. How has this affected you? Why do you try to stay alive?

Introduce your character to the relay (and to the other players) with a testament: explain how you found this phone, and how you came to survive.

ESTABLISHING A GROUP

To start a game of SURVIVOR RELAY, you need to find an initial group of some willing friends, and then hammer out some details of how the game should go. Specifically: – Setting: what are the details of the shared backstory? What zombie-genre tropes are we working within? What theme are we most interested in? – Duration: Will this game go for an indefinite amount of time, or does it have an initial end-date? (I recommend the latter; you can revisit the end-date once you get there.) – Timing: What’s the ideal posting rate? What times should players be posting (and when should they refrain)? Can a player take a break form posting without altering the group’s pace? – Posting Mechanism: What services will you use to actually send your message? (Services like Pownce, Twitter and Drop.io each fill part of this role. You may want to use something else entirely.) – The Oracle and Spotlight: Will one player have the role of the Oracle (see below), or will you have some other means of performing its role? How often will the Oracle select a spotlight character? – Meta-Game Communication: What channel will your group use for communicating outside of the game? How will you use this to figure out breaks, vacations, etc?

CHARACTERS AND SURVIVAL

Each character has one rating throughout the game: “Days”. Simply, how many more days, currently, they can expect to survive. They begin the game with 7 days to go.

At the beginning of each new day, a player subtracts one from their Days. If the player even runs out of days, they have left the game. It is left unclear whether they died in some fashion or simply lost their phone. (One exception: a character should not leave the game in this way until they have had at least one spotlight opportunity.)

A player can create a new character later if she wants to continue playing; for best effect, she should describe this character having discovered this same phone.

CHARACTERS AND ROUTINE

As a player, during your day – in the real-world – you watch for inspiration or interesting issues that come up, and translate that in some fashion to what is happening to your fictional avatar. Perhaps you have a really good meal with friends after work; you may describe having cooked a fine meal alone, having uncovered a cache of cumin and pepper. Write this short update, and send it to the relay.

At the end of the day, if you feel you have made major progress towards continued survival, you can add +1 to your Days. (The opposite is true: on a truly frustrating day, you can subtract 1 from your Days.) It should be more common that you make no change at the end of the day.

THE ORACLE

The Oracle is a list of possible threats and challenges. Threats are problems that threaten to take away your progress, such as: “ZOMBIES BREAKING DEFENSES” or “ZOMBIES BEGINNING TO PLAN” or “WATER IS TAINTED FIND NEW SUPPLIES”. Challenges are attempts to make progress in your survival: “GROW REGULAR CROPS” or “SECURE HIGHER GROUND” or “RAISE NEW ANTENNA”. (NOTE: This list should be written up be play.) (NOTE TO SELF: Maybe it should be included in the final text.)

Every few days, the Oracle will randomly select a threat or challenge, and target a specific player with this problem: that player has the spotlight for the day. The number of Days they have left is immediately reduced: down to 7 (if they’ve had more than 7 Days stored up) or down to 1 (otherwise).

However: this spotlight is a chance to make major gains and make a stand for their continued survival. Through her text messages, the spotlight player describes her struggles. For each text message in response – providing advice, criticism or support – give the spotlight player the option of adding +1 to their Days as a result. At the end of the day, the character should describe whether they ultimately succeeded at the larger goals. (The next day, they will reduce 1 from their Days, as normal.)

In this way, a spotlight day can result in greatly hobbling your survival, or it can be a chance to earn some breathing room.

If a spotlight character is defeated, a player can opt to take up their challenge, and attempt to succeed where others failed.