Hi,

I think the reason most of these types of game use policemen or women is because they are weapon trained and normally come with there own 'starting handgun'. That way from the point of view of the game it doesn't seem quite as stupid having the main characters running around shooting crap outta monsters as they have been trained to survive.

I think this might be the reason why gansters or drug dealers were suggested. As they would have a reason to go to the city ("Hey, what happened to my drug shipment?") and they would likely be carrying guns too.

Again I think this is why firefighters were mentioned too. As they are a public service trained to deal with danger, they would have a reason to head to the city (if it was destroyed, its probably on fire!) and they would probably be armed with a fire axe at least.

I think using regualr people would be more interesting, FBMachine already gave a nice example of WHY normal people might be heading to the city, all you'd need to do now is figure out how to arm them and how come they seem so comfortable gettting in fights with monsters.


- Chris

The "drug dealers" and "mobsters" triggered a thought in me...

What if they weren't trying to find out what happened at all? What if they were simply trying to salvage their drug, or loot, or money, or whatever?
What if they were simple thiefs pillaging a deserted area, like some did after Katrina almost reduced to powder New Orleans?

Maybe, with this system, you merely have them follow, or from time to time stumble on a regular SWAT team, explaining on the radio what they think happened? Maybe the SWAT team mistakes them for the origin of the Zombie Invasion, because they are the only ones who move with purpose in the area? Maybe, in order to get a chance of lowering the condamnation for pillaging in the endangered zone, they might think it worth finding something out, before the SWAT gets them? Plus if you use the radio to explain parts of the story and uncover the progress of the SWAT team (which might suffer from attacks from the zombies, and lose some members, to make it even scarier...) you might give some guidance to the players, while letting them believe that they are almost free of their moves?

I know this kind of gets away from the original story, but, it was the deal, right? Make something new?

Hi,

What ever you decide to make your characters, getting them to the city isn't that big a problem. Now making them STAY in the city after monsters start attacking them is the problem.

Many of the charcter types mentioned would have no reason to stay in the city and would "get the hell outta there" as soon as they could.

So you need to decide what the motivation for the characters to stay in the city is as well as why they are there in the first place.

Really there are only two main ways you could do this:

1) The city is an island of some sort and all the bridges are either blocked or destroyed. But then how did the characters get there? Having the bridge collapse just as they arrived would seem s little silly and frankly the whole city island has been done before.

2) The charcters have a higher reason to be there. Maybe they are drawn to the city by a strange force or they want to save someone such as a family member so much that no horror will make them leave.

Both of these options presents different game styles to me.

The first being a more survival horror game where the main aim and driving force behind the game is simply to survive and escape. This to me says a gun and run type of game where aim is just to blast everything till you complete the game.

While the second is more of a story lead horror where the charcter has a higher purpose for being in the city. This to me is a more plot development game where killing monsters isnt the main aim (and hence it should be possible to complete without forcing conflict).

Really we probably need more information about the plot you already have before we can suggest more. Otherwise we might be suggesting ideas that require a complete rewrite of your story, which you may not be willing to do. In turn meaning the posters time has been wasted and yours for reading posts that arn't helping.


- Chris

Quote:Original post by duncanmcleod2006

See what it is, the city has lost communication with the outside world. And two people are sent in to investigate why the city had lost contact and who was behind it. But when they get there the city has been destroyed way beyond recognition. So the question is this.

I think before you decide who these two characters are you need to ask yourself questions like;

Who cares about this city or what is inside it?
Who needs to communicate with this city?
Who stands to loose something from lack of communication with this city?

See if the city is just some random town in the middle of knowhere and some guy/gal needed to contact a family member therein and was unable to then that could be enough incentive for them to take a trip and go investigate personally. The guy/gal could take a girlfriend/boyfriend/friend/family member on the trip.

If the government had a very important research and development lab within this city and suddenly all communication went dead then that could be enough incentive for the government to send a couple of agents down there to investigate. The government agents could be accompanied by lab technicians, insurance agents, etc. 'Government' can be exchanged with some random 'Company' in this context.

If the city was well known by the media for strange occurrences or unexplainable, almost supernatural disturbances and suddenly a news network lost communications with their inside reporter then that could be enough incentive to send a couple of reporters down there in search of the missing reporter and a potential story. The group could include a camera man and a lady reporter.

Since you insist on two protagonists, and some of the people that posted earlier insist that you distance yourself from the cliche horror survivors then i'd suggest a combination of individuals with contrasting motives but are brought together to answer a common question; wtf is up with this city? Combinations like the government agent and the reporter, a worried family member and a company investigator, etc could suffice.