Here is a repost of the setting and a few rules:<br/><br/>Setting:<br/>The zombie genre has a lot of variation so I think it is key to establish a well defined setting so all participants have a similar initial perspective.<br/><br/>The story will start on May 31st 2012, Z-day +19, or 19 days after the initial worldwide outbreak.  For reasons still unknown, on May 12th the recently dead began to rise from the grave and attack the living.  The rising happened across the world at pretty much the same time.  Society effectively collapsed a few days later as the dead began to outnumber the living.<br/><br/>By Z+19, there are no television or radio broadcasts left and most locations have lost grid power.  Government has ceased to exist and the sounds of large scale battle have faded away.  The initial panic and slaughter has somewhat settled down as the living are either consumed or fortified in their shelters.<br/><br/>The players will be forced for one reason or another to abandon their current shelter and head out on the road in search of other survivors, which is where our little RP picks up.<br/><br/>The game will start in the small town of Potosi, MO.  It is a generic Midwestern town with some interesting locations nearby, including a hospital, a few big box stores, a lead mine, a prison, and an Army base not that far away.  I want to use a real town so people can hop on Google Maps and get a good layout on their own.  For instance instead of generics like “I approach from the north,” players can be more specific: “I approach from the north along Main street and stop at the brick wall at the intersection with 3rd avenue.”<br/><br/>Zombie Rules:<br/>This was a point of confusion in the last game I tried.  People seemed to jump back and forth between Romero zombies, Resident Evil zombies, and whatever they thought up on their own.  We need a good fixed set of rules so I have outlined what I could think of below:<br/><br/>Unless otherwise stated the zombies will behave as those shown in the Romero stories (like Dawn of the Dead) with the exception that they can run and are capable of limited mechanical operation.  IE they may figure out how to climb a ladder or pull a door latch, but they can’t use tools or think beyond an animalistic level.  The reason I went away from the typical lumbering zombie is that I find the ‘fast zombie’ to be much more threatening, which adds to the overall level of fear I hope to generate in the RP.<br/><br/>Here are a few basic zombie rules that at this point each player’s character would know:<br/>1.   The only way to kill a zombie is to damage its brain.  This could be accomplished by a shot to the head, severe blunt force trauma, complete combustion, or a powerful electrical shock.  Decapitation will leave an angry head, and breaking the neck will stop movement below the break but it will still be ‘alive’.<br/>2.   The zombie infection is spread by biting or direct fluid transfer.  There are rumors that splattered blood or flesh that lands on an open wound may cause infection, but it hasn’t been confirmed.  Once bitten, an otherwise healthy person will die within 24 hours.  Once an infected person ‘dies’, they will rise again within one to five minutes.<br/>3.   Only those who are infected and then die will rise again.  Those that die while not infected are just dead.<br/>4.   Zombies will attack any living thing, but generally ignore machines.<br/>5.   Zombies seem to hunt by a combination of scent, sound and sight.  They have been seen digging in the ground in an apparent attempt to find burrowing animals.<br/>6.   Infected animals die almost immediately and do not return.  Eating infected flesh will infect the consumer just like a bite.<br/><br/><br/><br/>What we are looking for:<br/>We (myself and another Elliquiy member that is helping me out with this project), are looking for people who want to play a character interacting with others in this zombie filled world.  The focus should be on the interpersonal relationships after laws and society have collapsed and all people have is each other.  I feel that was the main focus of the Romero movies and one of the most enjoyable parts.<br/><br/>This is not a text based shooter.  If your goal is to slaughter zombies by the thousands and build an zombie proof stockade, go buy Left 4 Dead.  Sure there will be some zombie killing and some construction but it won’t be the focus of the game.<br/><br/>Characters should also be a reflection of real people.  What made the Romero movies interesting is how they took normal people and thrust them into extraordinary situations.  Characters might have some useful skill set, a doctor, a cop, a solider, a thief, etc but they should also have some flaws.  We aren’t looking for superheroes; as much fun as James Bond is in a movie, he would be a very boring zombie survivor.<br/><br/>All those who are interested in playing should send me a character brief via PM.  I have included a good example below.  The brief should include character traits that will remain hidden from the other players and they will be scrubbed from the bio before posting to an OOC thread.  Finally the brief should include what happened to the character since Z-day, how they survived, and what caused them to leave their original shelter to seek other survivors. Treat the history as a writing sample to show off what you can do.<br/><br/>One final note; this game will be fairly slow paced.  We don’t necessarily have time to post more than once every day or so.  We don’t want two folks going off on a wild 60 post tangent between noon and 6pm so please try to keep that in mind.  If you have any questions, please shoot me a PM or post them here.<br/><br/>Thanks,<br/>General