Just Another Day: A Zombie Survival Choose Your Own Adventure

[Norendithas]

- You already have a Baseball Bat, a Survival Knife, a Pocket Knife and a Machete.

That's already too many weapons to begin with. Ditch the pocket knife and bat.

- You're currently carrying a lot of gear. You'll tire quickly.

Ditch the fresh food or eat it now. It'll spoil in a few days anyway.

Also, it might help to grab a flashlight.

I agree with the weapons statement. You don't need a pocket knife when you have a survival knife, and the bat is aluminum and would break easily.

On the food point,

- You just ate breakfast. However, since then you've rode a bike 30 min into the city center and run for a few blocks.

And this was when we got here, before searching. We're also going to tire quickly. So, any food will make for a good meal later if we get even a moment's respite. On top of that, if we get in touch with the man who helped us out earlier, food is a great thing to have on you if you want a friend. We also don't know how hungry they are. We can always drop some of the food, but keep most of it.

 

[RaNDM G]

@Norendithas

Good point, but apples, oranges, and carrots aren't exactly filling. A better alternative to fruit would be snack foods such as nuts or dried meat. They're easy to carry, high in protein, and give you a small calorie boost for when you need to start running.

Of course the protagonist already stopped by the supermarket, so we'll have to settle with what we have for now.

 

[Norendithas]

@Norendithas

Good point, but apples, oranges, and carrots aren't exactly filling. A better alternative to fruit would be snack foods such as nuts or dried meat. They're easy to carry, high in protein, and give you a small calorie boost for when you need to start running.

Of course the protagonist already stopped by the supermarket, so we'll have to settle with what we have for now.

True. If we get rid of food, I'd say get rid of the oranges. Apples and carrots don't have a thick of skins to break through.

 

[crop52]

Crowbar, because everything else sucks, or is too heavy.

We still need to talk to that guy with the rifle though.

 

[sage42]

Okay to answer the questions about the character, Alex works, and I would like to see the character be a women, if anything because you don't see many female protagonists in the sorta situations.
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a) Crowbar. As I said earlier useful as both a tool and a weapon, drop the machete, as useful as it is, I can see a crowbar more useful in an urban environment. Also have an Apple, it will at least be enough to keep our energy up in case we need to run.

From here move carefully towards the roof to meet with the gunman

Also, it might help to grab a flashlight.

This as well and a few back up batteries.

 

[Norendithas]

Okay to answer the questions about the character, Alex works, and I would like to see the character be a women, if anything because you don't see many female protagonists in the sorta situations.

Also, it might help to grab a flashlight.

This as well and a few back up batteries.

I agree with all statements aforementioned.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Not updating yet.

-I'll update my previous post with some things I forgot to put in and some of your suggestions.
- Alexandra it is I guess. Objections? I'll work on her appearance.
- The fresh fruit/vegetables would last a few days, and I'm sure you'll be wanting them in a few days if your only other food is dried and in tins.
- The pocket knife is in a pocket, the survival knife is the full-on Rambo kind with the compass and stuff. The machete can go if you really want it to, although it's good to have a backup weapon (and if you can carry it, a backup-backup).
- You've dropped the baseball bat to make way for your new weapon.
_ Oops, flashlight. I'll just say Alex forgot one too.

- Yes, I like writing with dotpoints. If you don't like it, I'll phase it out.
- I'm going to increase the difficulty.
- I'm running off the script even more now. The structure's still there, but the places are different and the events are changing. Please forgive any errors.

 

[Jedoro]

Crowbar. If it's good enough for the Free Man, it's good enough for Alex.

 

[Doc Gnosis]

As surgical as the Power Drill is in terms as a weapons, it wouldn't do any good in killing infected. Also, there is the close range issue of the weapon and the serious need to avoid that distance with them.

A crowbar would be a nice bludgeon, but it works better for close quarters, and we cannot afford close quarters with them.

An axe would be the obvious weapon, but considering we're meeting the gunman, he may freak out... On that tangent would it make more sense to not take anything. It may be reasonable to assume that the infected can use weapons.

Final note: Don't take anything if you can. Otherwise grab the Drill; there's a good chance the gunman may be paranoid, and you'll need to find an alternate route.

 

[Norendithas]

snip

The gunman better appreciate an axe rather than freak out about it. xD

snip

Sounds all good. Things like this usually tend to run off script a lot I have noticed.. My old DM used to just do everything on the spot because our party never followed anything. "What? There's a shady hooded figure and a harmless old man in the tavern? Rob the old man!" type of things.. =]

I think I am going to really enjoy this thread.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Crowbar it is. Picking the Chainsaw or power drill would have had you killed by angry runners, while the wooden boards would have slowed you down too much.

I think I am going to really enjoy this thread.

Thank you! Always good to hear positive criticism.

Alright. Here we go now. Had I been here earlier, the protagonist would be a male with muscles like balls of twine named John Punchfists, but alas fate is a cruel mistress.

I haven't given you a description of Alex yet. Just remember she's fit enough to ride a bike at a reasonable pace for an hour or so, followed by a 300m sprint being chased by sprinting zombies, followed by a mad dash through a zombie infested shopping mall carrying a huge amount of gear.

Due to this, expect a retcon or two. Nothing game changing, just story based.

Also, the crowbar is now named Oliver, and the survival knife is named Desmond.
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I fought my way past a few zombies, finally wielding a weapon that could put them down for good. The roof access door was located in an "employees only" section of the building. I climbed the stairs quickly and reached the roof, where I was confronted by a man holding a bolt action hunting rifle.

"Glad to see you made it through. My name is Jacob, book store owner and part time gun enthusiast. Drop your bag, use these boards to barricade the door and please try not to murder me in my sleep. Your name?"

Choices:
a) Tell him about yourself.
b) Give him your real name, but a fake backstory.
c) Refuse to give him anything.
d) Attack him.
e) Fake everything.


Hints:
- He'll know if you lie and be a bit suspicious. Just so there's an immediate penalty.
- Jacob's holding a gun. Attacking him right off might be a bad idea.
- Jacob is 5 or so meters away.
- Alex's backstory won't give the best impression of her. She's been through a lot.
- Yes, I have a backstory for Alexandra, and will write it down here if you choose to share it with Jacob. (Railroading? What's that?)

 

[Jedoro]

Tell him, but remain a bit suspicious because he might not be who he says he is.

 

[Norendithas]

True, we never know how trustworthy he is. So I'd say go with B. Sure, he'd be a bit suspicious but if we find ourselves working together that will fade. He might find out later anyways.

So, I say go with B.

Also, can you give a description of Jacob? Like size and age, maybe what he's wearing. Like if he has say, a nice watch or clothing, etc. Maybe even what kind of rifle he has if you really want to get into detail. =]

EDIT: I don't mean to sound like a bandwagon, but I think I will switch to A. After reading some reasoning for it I like the, "Sure we can tell him the truth! Doesn't mean we tell him much though." approach. ^^

 

[RaNDM G]

a) It's best to be honest in a survival situation, but that doesn't mean you have to tell him everything about your life. Just tell him your name and make small talk over the shit day you're having. Only give him information if he asks.

 

[sage42]

a) It's best to be honest in a survival situation, but that doesn't mean you have to tell him everything about your life. Just tell him your name and make small talk over the shit day you're having. Only give him information if he asks.

I'd hate to go with a "yeah this" post but...... yeah pretty much this.

 

[Doc Gnosis]

Just tell him who you are; I'm not sure if you need to go too far into trading life stories, but at least explain what happened in the last couple of minutes.

Also remember, you can always not say anything about your past; he didn't specifically ask for your past.

 

[Fantasylord]

Well lets see ya option a) since I doubt lying to this guy will do much good especially if the guy is stressed and holding a gun. Yet no need to get into Alex's life story or atleast not at this moment since surviving is the most important task at the moment.

 

[Ninjat_126]

A it is.
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I decided to be truthful. Just because there were hordes of zombies everywhere, I didn't have to start lying to people.

"My name's Alex. Alexandra. I'm a local news journalist for channel 3. Guess I paid the price for not watching my own program when I rode into work this morning."

Jacob explained the situation to me. The first reported zombies appeared at some point yesterday afternoon and they had overrun the city by sunset. He had survived by grabbing his rifle and retreating to the shopping mall after the initial rush had calmed down.

He warned me to avoid any zombies that appeared to be covered in swollen veins and bruises, apparently they sprayed blood everywhere if their skin was punctured. He'd also observed some strange behaviour in the zombies, such as eating their wounded and almost always biting the cheeks to spread infection. I was glad I'd collected that scuba mask.

I gave Jacob my machete to make up for his lack of close range weaponry, leaving me with my crowbar and survival knife. I decided to name them Oliver and Desmond respectively, earning myself a weird look from Jacob.

A few hours later, I had boarded up the main roof entrance, leaving some of the smaller and harder to access doors unbarred for looting purposes. I had also watered and set out the plant seedlings in the sun- lettuce wouldn't be too filling unfortunately. We had to decide our next course of action.

Choices: Again, this can kill you.
a) Loot Food.
b) Loot Supplies.
c) Loot Clothing.

d) Loot gardening supplies (i.e. build a garden bed and collect soil).
e) Loot the gun shop (and fight off the horde outside).
f) Don't loot, seal off the roof.
You can choose 2 from a), b) and c), but d), e) and f) will take up all your time on their own.


Hints:
- Maybe don't think too long term. You're on an unshaded roof with zombies below you.
- Your eyes and nose are covered by a mask, but your mouth is not. Perhaps a bandanna or medical facemask could be useful? Jacob doesn't have any face protection either.
- You have a few days worth of food and water, as well as a couple of boxes of rifle ammo.
- Don't worry about losing your machete. Desmond is just as effective in close quarters and easier to draw. Jacob needs it more than you.