Category Archives: GURPS: After the End

Wes’ internal monologue Day 1

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Man, first day out of the hole and things have definitely gotten a little weird in the “real world”

We had gone weeks without hearing from anyone and then everything started shaking…heard something “clang” in the LOB and come to find out that the previously welded escape hatch broke open. When getting ready to climb out, we realized that the intern was out cold…well, looks like we get to carry him.

We crawled out of the “game zone” only to find no one around, so we head off toward the production base camp to get some answers…and answers we got…and more questions

as we approached the base camp we noticed everyone was walking around outside and looked like everyone was a part of some zombie production…our “celebrity” decided to go try to find the director…and apparently came face to face with better actors…and it scared him so bad he screamed like a little girl and came running back toward us like he’d seen one of us holding an Oscar or something.

He probably would’ve kept running right past us had Korbin not tackled him. Once they had recovered Korbin, Ann and Nick decided they wanted to go “investigate” what had spooked the actor only to watch Korbin drop like a brick in the wind and the other two having to carry him back

Realizing something wasn’t right we started for a tree line to try and find somewhere to hold up until we can get a truck, and maybe a little understanding of what exactly is going on

A couple of wrong turns led us to the old Church …and more of those…things… so Korbin and I decided to sneak around back to see if there’s a way in from the back

It did indeed have a backdoor…and a “visitor” as well

Grabbing some good sized sticks along the way, we were going to “explain” to the visitor that they didn’t like solicitors…and that’s when we heard the voice from inside the church

Korbin got the first swing in….I got a glancing blow in…and as “he” turned toward us, I realized with frightening sincerity that these “people” we no longer who they used to be…as apparent by the thing’s attempt to bite Korbin

several good hits finally brought it to the ground…and had it not been for the need to get inside, I’d have stomped the thing into nothingness…and if I get the chance, you better believe I’ll stomp a mud hole in each one of them, and walk it dry…

When we got inside, we seen that our “host” was actually the set Nurse from the show…we all looked at him and asked …what the hell is going on?

Day 1 continued –

So…after finding out that some …tragedy… happened in Lawrence and that it’s what’s causing all these people to …change… into what they are now…

The nurse tells us that Kesler is dead…apparently this had some effect on Ann, because she passed out and hit the floor…

So Korbin decides he wants to go climb the water tower to get the lay of the land and attempt to locate transportation of some kind…he can go right ahead and do that…I’m keeping my feet on the ground

So while Korbin and Nic run off to find a car…John and I moved Kesler to the basement and loaded Ann on the makeshift stretcher and waited to see if they were successful

After a little while, I noticed Nic trying to sneak up to the house…and Korbin was apparently with him because they were both at the door when we opened it, really need to work with Nic on his sneaking abilities

After finding out they located a potential vehicle (had to find an older one since all the computers in the newer ones were fried) we loaded up on what supplies were available grabbed Ann, and headed out

It was a little bit of a trek to get to the truck, and had to avoid a few z-people, but finally got to it and after looking it over (with help from Korbin) we found the keys…guess I was a little too worried about Ann since she was laying in the bed while we looking for the keys

I’m glad we looked for the keys instead of hot wiring the truck, not that it would be that difficult to do since it was an old F100, just makes it easier if we have to turn it off and then back on

After scrounging through the house where the truck was found, we left town and decided to head west, away from Lawrence (just to be safe)

The truck had a little over ¾ tank of gas, so figured it would at least get us to the next town…and sure enough it did, after a little bit of a drive… we made it to Council Grove

Staying on the main road we discovered a few stores that could help us on our escape…namely, a NAPA store

….Time to get stocked up on some supplies.

What the Hell went wrong?!

Korbin and I head into the NAPA to get some extra parts and supplies for the truck…and apparently the “locals” decided to add some color to the day.

While we were looking through the store, for parts and tools to make sure the keep the truck running, when we heard something going on outside.

Looking outside we see Nic and John being walked out of the liquor store at gun point by a gang of Mexicans…just our luck.

So, Korbin and I search the store for a gun of our own, and once again he had more luck at it than I did.  He found a double barreled sawed off shotgun, and probably hasn’t had much use of one either.  So I took the shotgun and he grabbed a bag of tools and headed out to distract the gang.  He had some measure of success, half the group took off with him to look for another truck while the other three stayed with our group.

…and those…things…showed up again, and chaos ensued.

The wannabe’s opened fired on them, and did a wonderful job of redecorating the buildings and managed to take out one walker.  The one thing they managed to accomplish was running out of ammo, morons.  Korbin and Nic ran back into the liquor store for something, which was a good thing as both came out with a gun. The odds are slowly evening out.

At some point Ann and John ran into the store looking for things to use as weapons, I directed them towards the tire irons and crow bars while watching Korbin dispatch one walkers head followed shortly by Nic doing the same.

With the wannabe’s distracted I left the store intent to either disarm the gang or take out the last walker…and as the “thugs” ran like little wussies, I walked up to the last walker and turned his head into a canoe.

Now that the menacing threats had left, back to getting parts and supplies.

Got most of what I needed, now…apparently there’s another truck that might be in good working order. Korbin and I headed off the check on it while the rest of the group survey’s the rest of the supplies.

Found a Lincoln Navigator, and of course, it’s not working. At least it has half a tank of gas, siphoned it and time to see what other supplies this town has at our disposal…

Well, what do we have here…?

Utilizing the down time the storm provided, I took a few minutes to look the truck over to figure out it’s mechanical state…and to my surprise, it was very well taken care of.

Once the storm subsided and began to pass…we headed out.  Came across a hardware store and picked up some more supplies and continued to look for a method to communicate.

Found the sheriff’s office…and just kept on going, looks like it was someone’s last stand…God rest their souls…

It was decided to head back to the radio tower and see if it was operational.

Once we arrived…new plan, the two brainiacs would jump out of the truck and Korbin and I would drive off to use the noise of the truck to distract the zed’s while they got inside to check the station’s status.

Well, let the fun begin…a truck and some mud…let the fun begin.

After a while, Ann noticed the smart one’s seemed to have gotten them self in trouble, so off we go to help them.

Ok, so maybe we over reacted, but considering who we were coming to rescue, it wasn’t that much of an overreaction.

After things settled down, work began on getting the radio and generators operational again.

And then, something interesting happens….

So, while the others are trying to get the radio working, John and I head to the lot to the south to attempt to locate another working vehicle.  No luck looking for another car, however we were able to locate a trailer.

While discussing the trailer options with John, we noticed a small herd of zed’s walk by heading toward the rest of the group.  Luckily they noticed the incoming threat, grabbed everyone, and jumped in the truck to head out.

With the herd heading our way, time for a hitch and get, Nick backed the truck up and John and I got the trailer secured and ready to head out.

Amazingly enough, Nick pulled off some good driving and managed to miss the herd and not kill us all.  Needing more food, but decided to head out of town to get away from the “heat”.

While heading west bound in attempt to locate some form of civilization, Ann and I noticed something moving up ahead and decided to check it out.  While coming up on the subject of our attention, Ann noticed that the “person” seemed to be carrying a rifle or something similar.

While approaching the unknown subject, we put our fate in the hands of John.  Here’s to hoping the liberal can put his silver tongue to use.

As we approached, several others emerged from hiding, all being armed in some manner.  A discussion ensued…we discover they were a part of some kind of militia of a sort and were separated at some point. They were from Arkansas originally and apparently not too good with directions, this fact doesn’t exactly surprise me considering their point of origin.

So as the conversation continued, it became obvious that this group wasn’t being totally honest in what exactly happened.  We decided to extend the olive branch and see if they wanted a ride back to their militia, that seemed to have abandoned them at some point, but who are we to crush their dreams.

There were some concerns that the group might try to take advantage of our generosity, so we offered to take them where they wanted to go, but only if they ride out in the trailer.

After a lengthy trip, and a near miss when we came up to a bridge that was under construction, we made it to the town to drop off our new “friends”.

When we met up with their group, they seemed less than thrilled that we caught up with them…as they appeared to be in the process of packing up and moving out…

Should be interesting to see how this plays out….

GURPS After the End, Session 101

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Dramatis Personæ

Ann Cameron (Lab Rat)
John Cromartie (Rigil Kent)
Korbin Savage (Mike E)
Nicholas Biermann (WxMan)
Wes Johnson (DefiantBudah)

The Setup

26 Mar 2013, late-afternoon

The PCs are on the set of the reality-show, After the End—four “contestants,” an actor, and an intern—around the end of the first month of filming. The set is a long-disused Atlas-E missile site in the middle-of-nowhere, Kansas. The contestants had chosen the Launch Observation Building (LOB), an underground bunker, as their HQ for the duration. The PCs were off-camera for the moment, and went into the LOB for undiscussed reasons (to fetch something, perhaps?), when someone leaned against the wrong wall, and the bunker door snapped shut; they were told by the production crew to never allow that to happen, as it would be nigh-impossible to get it open again, due to wear and damage to the door. The PCs could hear the production crew trying to rescue them for hours, but it eventually stopped for the night, and exhausted from trying to escape, they went to sleep.

26 Mar 2013, 18:38

They awoke, not on the next morning, but more like evening (16:38, according to Korbin’s wind-up, analogue watch), with no explanation as to why. They never heard anyone outside the bunker door again. For the following 28 days, they continuously tried to find a way out, but failed to do so. They rationed food and water (as this was the HQ, they had stored much of their supplies here), and generator fuel (one of the first trials on the show was getting one of the LOB’s generators working).

Game Time

23 Apr 2013, ~03:00

The PCs awoke to a rather-strong earthquake—Ann, being from Kansas originally, knew that this was unusual for this area. Along with some obvious structural damage to the bunker itself, they immediately discovered that the quake had caused the bunker’s escape hatch—welded shut years ago—to buckle and pop loose. An escape route, at last! However, Kesler was still asleep, and would not wake, no matter what they tried. John went up first to take a peek outside—nothing there but the moon, and the dreary Kansas landscape. They scrounged up what they could, and managed a carry-harness for Kesler, made of sheets and power-cords, and the lot of them climbed out.

Above ground, surveying their surroundings, Ann noticed a shadowy figure of a long-coat–clad man walking down the road toward Bushong, the tiny, half-abandoned town where the crew built their production base-camp that housed the nearly 500 crew and actors for the show. Korbin was about to run out to the man, but they lost sight of him in the darkness. Rather than stumble about in the darkness, the PCs opted to wait out the sunrise before moving out. They took that time to gather some water and sundries from the bunker; with a pair of broomsticks, and some coats and sheets, they fashioned a stretcher to carry Kesler, still completely unconscious.

~06:00

They set out as the light of the new day began to fill the sky. It was about five miles to town; they had been driven the route plenty of times over the last month or so, but never walked it. It would end up taking a bit over two hours to reach the base camp. Along the way, they saw no sign of life at all, save for a few cows that were running loose on the side road—presumed to have been released as a result of the quake. It was early, though; maybe nobody was up yet.

~08:15

As they rounded the trees within sight of the production camp, the PCs spotted some folk wandering listlessly here and there—looked like half the crew (that is, hundreds). As they approached within fifty yards or so, it became apparent that the crew were filming some kind of zombie thing—at least, that was the only explanation for the walking-corpse makeup. John volunteered to go find the director, while the others waited at the road. They watched John as he approached the first gaggle of “actors.” Then they heard John scream, and run back up the road at full-gallop; he would have kept going, had Korbin not blocked him. Knowing John to be an actor, himself, the others weren’t immediately convinced of his account, and left him and Wes behind, with Kesler still on the stretcher, and went ahead to see for themselves. John and Wes watched as the three of them approached the same gaggle of “actors,” heard Ann scream, watched Korbin faint and collapse in a heap, then watched Ann and Nick scoop him up in a fireman’s-carry and run as fast as they could back to the road.

As the reality began to settle in, they could see the “actors” were still in low-speed pursuit, and they knew they needed to get clear of this place. There were vehicles at base-camp, but they were disinclined to brave the crowd there to get at them, so they opted to leave the other direction, off-road, across the field along a treeline that bounded Bushong; John and Nick carried Kesler’s stretcher, while Ann and Wes carried Korbin, who finally snapped-to along the way.

At a break in the treeline, a short distance down, they found the town’s abandoned schoolhouse, and turned in, hoping to find a car in town. A short distance down Oak Street, they spotted more listless-walkers in the distance, and backtracked a bit, turning East. They spotted the Bushong Church there, with a gaggle of zombies trying to get in the front door, and suspected there might be living folk inside. They hid in the nearby trees, and Korbin and Wes sneaked around to the back of the church; they attracted no attention from the zombies, but were apparently spotted by someone inside, who quietly directed them to come. There was one zombie at the back of the church, in their way, so the two sneaked up behind it to smash it in the head with some tree-branch clubs they picked out of the woodline; the creature was tough, and grabbed Korbin, but the two managed to beat it until it could no longer pursue—but not really “dead”—well, more dead. The person inside the church popped the door open—it had been boarded shut—and waved the two inside; they signaled to the others at the woodline to follow. After a bit of stone-throwing to divert the zombies’ attention elsewhere, they entered the back of the church as well, still carrying Kesler.

Once inside, they immediately recognized the man as the “Nurse” from the show—a man they knew fairly well over the last month or so, as a knowledgeable professional—and they collectively asked him the question-of-the-day: “What the hell is going on?”

GM’s Notes

  • This session was a bit short on content, but that wasn’t unexpected—my first “real” campaign in almost two years
  • Kesler’s player was unavailable for this session, so I rendered him unrecoverably-unconscious for the time-being, and forced the rest of them to carry him along; this will likely not be the last time this occurs (and there is a reason for it). This is also not the first time I’ve dealt with Player absence in this manner
  • This is the first time I’ve been able to use Google Earth as part of the game; it appears to be working well enough, and with judicious use of “Street View,” gets the scene across without any misunderstanding
  • After Korbin fainted, as a result of his Fright Check failure, we discovered that there is little in the rules to tell us how to snap someone out of a fainting spell; we had to rely on some anecdotal accounts that lead us to conclude that there was little to be done with it, short of smelling salts (which is in Biotech/HT)
  • As they beat on the zombie at the back of the church, I realized the creature I was using—from Monster Hunters 3—was still, by the rule, susceptible to Knockdown/Stun, and Death checks from non-brain hits, which didn’t sound right at the time; I’m in the process of modifying their stats, based on group consensus
  • In retrospect, I should have had a zombie or two come after the PCs in the woodline while the two were beating down the one behind the church; there was some thumb-twiddling going on there, which I usually try to avoid, as GM—still getting re-acclimated

Nicholas Biermann

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150 points

ST 10 [0]; DX 11 [20]; IQ 13 [60]; HT 10 [0].
Damage 1d-2/1d; BL 9 kg; HP 10 [0]; Will 13 [0]; Per 13 [0]; FP 10 [0].
Basic Speed 5.25 [0]; Basic Move 5 [0]; Dodge 8.
5’10"; 150.

Social Background

TL: 8 [0].
Languages: English (Native) [0].

Advantages

Administrative Rank 1 [5]; Animal Empathy [5]; Intuitive Mathematician [5]; Mathematical Ability 4 [40].
Perks: Dabbler (Biology, Chemistry,); Efficient (Engineering); Style Familiarity (Judo). [3]

Disadvantages

Alcoholism [-15]; Clueless [-10]; Curious (12 or less) [-5]; Easy to Read [-10]; Honesty (12 or less) [-10]; Pacifism (Self-Defense Only) [-15]; Workaholic [-5].
Quirks: Delusion; Imaginative; Incompetence (Art); Proud; Uncongenial. [-5]

Skills

Accounting (H) IQ+2 [1]-15*; Animal Handling (Dogs) (A) IQ [2]-13; Astronomy/TL8 (H) IQ+2 [1]-15*; Bicycling (E) DX+1 [2]-12; Biology/TL8 (Earthlike) (VH) IQ-5 [0]-8; Chemistry/TL8 (H) IQ-5 [0]-8; Computer Operation/TL8 (E) IQ+1 [2]-14; Computer Programming/TL8 (H) IQ [4]-13; Current Affairs/TL8 (Science & Technology) (E) IQ-2 [0]-11; Driving/TL8 (Automobile) (A) DX [2]-11; Economics (H) IQ-5 [0]-8; Electronics Operation/TL8 (Communications) (A) IQ [2]-13; Electronics Operation/TL8 (Scientific) (A) IQ+1 [4]-14; Electronics Operation/TL8 (Surveillance) (A) IQ+1 [4]-14; Engineer/TL8 (Electronics) (H) IQ+2 [1]-15*; Engineer/TL8 (Mechanical) (H) IQ+4 [4]-17*; Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theories) (H) IQ-1 [2]-12; Finance (H) IQ+2 [1]-15*; Fishing (E) Per [1]-13; Geography/TL8 (West Virginia) (H) IQ-1 [2]-12; Geology/TL8 (Earthlike) (H) IQ-1 [2]-12; Guns/TL8 (Pistol) (E) DX+3 [8]-14; Guns/TL8 (Rifle) (E) DX+1 [1]-12; Judo Sport (H) DX+1 [9]-12; Lockpicking/TL8 (A) IQ-4 [0]-9; Machinist/TL8 (A) IQ [2]-13; Mathematics/TL8 (Applied) (H) IQ+2 [1]-15*; Mathematics/TL8 (Computer Science) (H) IQ+2 [1]-15*; Mathematics/TL8 (Pure) (H) IQ+2 [1]-15*; Mathematics/TL8 (Statistics) (H) IQ+2 [1]-15*; Meteorology/TL8 (Earthlike) (A) IQ-5 [0]-8; Mimicry (Bird Calls) (H) IQ-6 [0]-7; Physics/TL8 (VH) IQ+3 [4]-16*; Research/TL8 (A) IQ+2 [8]-15; Scrounging (E) Per+1 [2]-14; Sociology (H) IQ-5 [0]-8; Survival (Woodlands) (A) Per [2]-13; Swimming (E) HT+1 [2]-11; Teaching (A) IQ+1 [4]-14; Writing (A) IQ+1 [4]-14.
Techniques: Arm Lock (Judo Sport) (A) [1]-13; Binding (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-12; Breakfall (Judo Sport) (A) [0]-12; Choke Hold (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-10; Evade (Judo Sport) (A) [0]-12; Eye-Gouge (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-7; Finger Lock (Arm Lock (Judo Sport)) (H) [0]-10; Hand Catch (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-6; Hand-Clap Parry (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-4; Handcuffing (Judo Sport) (A) [0]-11; Head Lock (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-9; Judo Sport Throw (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-12; Leg Grapple (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-12; Leg Lock (Judo Sport) (A) [0]-12; Leg Throw (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-10; Lower-Body Arm Lock (Judo Sport) (A) [0]-10; Lower-Body Head Lock (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-7; Lower-Body Leg Lock (Judo Sport) (A) [0]-10; Sacrifice Throw (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-12; Triangle Choke (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-8; Trip (Judo Sport) (H) [0]-8; Wrist Lock (Judo Sport) (A) [0]-12.

Footnotes

* Includes +4 from ‘Mathematical Ability’.

Korbin Haywood Savage

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153 points

ST 12 [20]; DX 11 [20]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 12* [20].
Damage 1d-1/1d+2; BL 29 lb; HP 12 [0]; Will 10 [0]; Per 10 [0]; FP 12 [0].
Basic Speed 5.50† [0]; Basic Move 5 [0]; Dodge 8.
6 ft. 0 in.; 250 lbs..

Social Background

TL: 8 [0].
Languages: English (Native) [0]; Spanish (Accented/Broken) [3].

Advantages

Ambidexterity [5]; Common Sense [10]; Fit [5]; High Pain Threshold [10].

Disadvantages

Addiction (Tobacco; Cheap; Highly addictive; Legal) [-5]; Missing Digit (Finger) [-2]; Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) [-5]; Phobia (Spiders; 12 or less) [-10]; Reduced Basic Speed -0.25 (Affects Speed) [-5]; Sense of Duty (Kids; Individual) [-2]; Stubbornness [-5]; Workaholic [-5].
Quirks: _Unused Quirk 3; _Unused Quirk 4; _Unused Quirk 5; Drinker; Nickname "Coach". [-5]

Skills

Administration (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Brawling (E) DX+2 [4]-13; Broadsword (A) DX-1 [1]-10; Carpentry (E) IQ+4 [12]-14; Computer Operation/TL8 (E) IQ+1 [2]-11; Cooking (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Diplomacy (H) IQ [4]-10; Driving/TL8 (Automobile) (A) DX+1 [4]-12; First Aid/TL8 (Human) (E) IQ+2 [4]-12; Gambling (A) IQ+1 [4]-11; Games (Football) (E) IQ+3 [8]-13; Guns/TL8 (Pistol) (E) DX+1 [2]-12; Guns/TL8 (Shotgun) (E) DX-1 [0]-10; Hazardous Materials/TL8 (Chemical) (A) IQ [2]-10; Heraldry (A) IQ-5 [0]-5; Knife (E) DX [1]-11; Leadership (A) IQ [2]-10; Mechanic/TL8 (Automobile) (A) IQ [2]-10; Merchant (A) IQ [2]-10; Politics (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Professional Skill (Teacher) (A) IQ+1 [4]-11; Psychology (Human) (H) IQ-6 [0]-4; Public Speaking (A) IQ+2 [8]-12; Research/TL8 (A) IQ [2]-10; Running (A) HT-1 [1]-11; Scrounging (E) Per [1]-10; Search (A) Per [2]-10; Sports (Football) (A) DX+2 [8]-13; Stealth (A) DX-1 [1]-10; Teaching (A) IQ+2 [8]-12; Typing (E) DX+1 [2]-12; Wrestling (A) DX+2 [8]-13.
Techniques: Arm Lock (Wrestling) (A) [0]-13; Choke Hold (Wrestling) (H) [0]-10; Disarming (Wrestling) (H) [2]-14; Elbow Strike (Brawling) (A) [0]-11; Feint (Brawling) (H) [0]-13; Kicking (Brawling) (H) [0]-11; Knee Strike (Brawling) (A) [0]-12; Neck Snap (ST) (H) [0]-8.

Footnotes

* Conditional +1 from ‘Fit’.
† Includes -0.25 from ‘Reduced Basic Speed’.

Background

  • Mom was a drinker with self esteem issues; Papa was a rolling stone
  • They were the only couple in either side of the family to remain married
  • Mom got preggo before marriage; shotgun wedding, Grandad paid for it
  • Birth gave mom and dad renewed faith in mawwage
  • Highschool football couch influenced Korbin
  • Until Korbin blew out his knee
  • With nothing left to look forward to, a teacher stepped up and taught Korbin that there was more than football
  • Korbin and teacher had short relationship. (He was 17, she was 28)
  • After college, Korbin took a teaching job and began teaching woodshop and football
  • Finger lost in accident
  • Fired from job, he is now adrift with little to look forward to; until he signed up for the show

John Cromartie

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155 points

Age 37; Human; 6’2″; 190

ST 10 [0]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 11 [10].
Damage 1d-2/1d; BL 20 lbs.; HP 10 [0]; Will 12 [0]; Per 12 [0]; FP 11 [0].
Basic Speed 6 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0]; Block 7 (DX); Dodge 9; Parry 9 (DX).

Social Background
TL: 8 [0].
CF: American
Languages: ASL (Native) [3]; English (Native) [0]; Spanish (Accented) [4].

Advantages
Charisma 2 [10]; Extra Basic Speed (+0.25) (Affects Speed) [5]; Fit [5]; Smooth Operator 2 [30].
Perks: Style Familiarity (T’ai Chi) [1].

Disadvantages
Addiction (Tobacco) (Cheap) (Highly addictive; Legal) [-5]; Charitable (12 or less) [-15]; Chummy [-5]; Honesty (12 or less) [-10]; Odious Personal Habit (“Dirty Hippy”) [-5]; Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) [-5]; Reputation (Actor whose career imploded after a statutory rape charge) -1 (All the time; Almost everyone) [-5]; Unluckiness [-10]; Workaholic [-5].

Quirks: Considers himself an atheist, but deep down, he really isn’t.; Easily flustered when dealing with Young Women (15-22 years old) due to The Incident.; Has been working on his Great American Novel for 10 years. And it still kind of sucks.; Incompetence (Writing); Is constantly trying to stop smoking. [-5].

Skills
Acting-15 (IQ+3) [4]; Animal Handling (Equines)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Armoury/TL8 (Small Arms)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Autohypnosis-10 (Will-2) [1]; Bicycling-12 (DX+0) [1]; Boating/TL8 (Sailboat)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Body Language (Human)-11 (Per-1) [1]; Bow-11 (DX-1) [1]; Brawling-12 (DX+0) [1]; Breath Control-10 (HT-1) [2]; Broadsword Art-11 (DX-1) [1]; Carousing-13 (HT+2) [1]; Carpentry-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Climbing-11 (DX-1) [1]; Cooking-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Detect Lies-12 (Per+0) [1]; Diplomacy-13 (IQ+1) [2]; Disguise/TL8 (Human)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Driving/TL8 (Automobile)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Driving/TL8 (Construction Equipment)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Driving/TL8 (Motorcycle)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Electronics Operation/TL8 (Surveillance)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Electronics Repair/TL8 (Surveillance)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Fast-Draw/TL8 (Ammo)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Fast-Talk-13 (IQ+1) [1]; First Aid/TL8 (Human)-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Fishing-12 (Per+0) [1]; Forced Entry-12 (DX+0) [1]; Gambling-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Gesture-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Gunner/TL8 (Machine Gun)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Guns/TL8 (Pistol)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Guns/TL8 (Rifle)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Guns/TL8 (Shotgun)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Hiking-10 (HT-1) [1]; History (United States)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Judo Art-11 (DX-1) [2]; Knife Art-12 (DX+0) [1]; Knot-Tying-12 (DX+0) [1]; Lasso Art-11 (DX-1) [1]; Law (American Criminal Justice)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Leadership-15 (IQ+3) [1]; Leatherworking-12 (DX+0) [1]; Lifting-10 (HT-1) [1]; Lip Reading-11 (Per-1) [1]; Meditation-10 (Will-2) [1]; Piloting/TL8 (Helicopter)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Piloting/TL8 (Light Airplane)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Prospecting/TL8-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Psychology (Human)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Public Speaking-15 (IQ+3) [1]; Religious Ritual (Abrahamic)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Riding (Equines)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Running-10 (HT-1) [1]; Savoir-Faire (Dojo)-14 (IQ+2) [1]; Savoir-Faire (High Society)-14 (IQ+2) [1]; Savoir-Faire (Police)-14 (IQ+2) [1]; Scrounging-12 (Per+0) [1]; Search-11 (Per-1) [1]; Sex Appeal (Human)-12 (HT+1) [1]; Singing-12 (HT+1) [2]; Spear Art-11 (DX-1) [1]; Staff Art-11 (DX-1) [1]; Stealth-11 (DX-1) [1]; Swimming-12 (HT+1) [2]; Theology (Scientology)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Throwing-11 (DX-1) [1]; Wrestling Sport-11 (DX-1) [1]; Writing-7 (IQ-5) [1].

Background
Born in 1976 in Los Angeles, California, John Robert Wayne grew up with the bright lights of Hollywood always in his eyes. From a very early age, he wanted to be an actor and pressured his parents to facilitate this.

In 1985, at the age of 9, “John Cromartie” (he used his mother’s maiden name as his stage name, since he couldn’t go by John Wayne, could he?) got his start in show business as the precocious younger brother of [ACTOR] on the CBS sitcom, “Family Pains” which would run for four seasons despite being roundly (and rightly) accused of CBS attempt to emulate the similarly named Family Ties (NBC) and Growing Pains (ABC). In the third year, he was nominated for an Emmy, but lost out to Michael J. Fox. Finally, in 1989, “Family Pains” was canceled due to low ratings.

Now 13, John was in the difficult place of being too old to be considered a “child” actor, but not yet mature enough to be considered a “real” actor. He spent the next four years making guest appearances on various television shows that principally aired on CBS.

Finally, in 1993, at the age of 17, John got a big break when he landed the lead role in Bobby Wincott surprise hit, “Another Day in Paradise.” By every standard, he should have been considered a break-out star following his excellent portrayal of young con artist, Rudolph “Rudy” Hamilton, but due to Hollywood politics, he was overlooked by all of the major studios and “Another Day in Paradise” received none of the accolades it deserved. John would consider Wincott a close friend for the rest of his life.

Angry but refusing to give up his dream, John spent the next ten years building a quiet reputation as a solid character actor, but he kept failing to get that Big Break. As film opportunities became progressively more difficult to land, Cromartie turned back to television and spent the early 2000s appearing on various niche TV shows, such as “Star Trek: Enterprise,” “Stargate SG-1” and “Farscape” … although in many instances, he was buried under layers of prosthetics and thus unrecognizable. He also starred in a string of low budget movies produced by various film companies, including the now infamous “Zombie Apokalypse” franchise which is, sadly, the role John is most associated with.

John became involved in Habitat for Humanity in 2004 and spent the next three years as one of their celebrity spokesmen.

In 2006, at the age of 30, he was cast by Zack Snyder for the role of Spartan soldier Dilios in the action film. 300, but he broke his left leg while helping one of the Habitat for Humanity houses and was forced to drop out of the project. Snyder, who was still fond of Cromartie, planned on bringing him back to star as Adrian Veidt in the adaptation of “Watchmen” … but an unexpected and unfortunate calamity in John’s life forced Snyder to withdraw the offer. That event would seriously and negatively impact John’s life for some time after.

While working with Habitat for Humanity in 2008, John met a young woman named Ginnifer with whom he very instantly was entranced by. He and Ginnifer went out on several dates, and John thought life was finally turning up. Naturally, it was at this point that he learned Ginnifer was not 18, but rather a very well-developed and mature 15. Even worse, her uncle was a Republican representative of Colorado who was trailing in the polls and needed something to rail against. He chose to make public the “corruption” of his innocent niece by a godless Hollywood actor (which was completely inaccurate, as Ginnifer actually pursued John, not the other way around.) At Representative Walker (R-CO) urging, California opened a criminal investigation into John Cromartie. To John’s surprise, he was charged with statutory rape and spent several weeks in jail. For that entire time, he was one of the main topics of the news as Representative Walker (R-CO) rode this particular mess straight to re-election.

And then, “mysteriously,” all charges were dropped. John’s career was permanently tainted.

Borderline suicidal, John fell into a deep depression and it was only due to Bobby Wincott stepping in and convincing Cromartie to visit his (Wincott’s) Wyoming ranch that John did not suffer an overdose. John spent the next three years at the ranch, but at Wincott’s behest, finally began reaching out for new roles. This led him to “After the End” and his role as “The Postman.”

Ann Cameron

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155 points

ST 12 [20]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 11 [20]; HT 10 [0].
Damage 1d-1/1d+2; BL 13 kg; HP 12 [0]; Will 11 [0]; Per 13 [10]; FP 10 [0].
Basic Speed 5.50 [0]; Basic Move 5 [0]; Dodge 8.
5’6"; 175.

Social Background

TL: 8 [0].

Templates and Meta-Traits

Boxing – Bare-Knuckle Boxing (Martial Arts; p. MA153) [0].

Advantages

Acute Hearing 1 [2]; Acute Vision 1 [2]; Ambidexterity [5]; Danger Sense [15]; Outdoorsman 2 [20].
Perks: Skill Adaptation (Head Butt defaults to Boxing); Style Familiarity (Boxing – Bare-Knuckle Boxing). [2]

Disadvantages

Code of Honor (Navigators) [-5]; Curious (12 or less) [-5]; Guilt Complex [-5]; Honesty (12 or less) [-10]; Light Sleeper [-5]; Loner (12 or less) [-5]; No Sense of Humor [-10]; Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) [-5]; Selfless (12 or less) [-5]; Shyness (Mild) [-5]; Stubbornness [-5].
Quirks: Allergy (Bees); Dull; Horrible Hangovers; Humble; Imaginative. [-5]

Skills

Animal Handling (Equines) (A) IQ [2]-11; Boating/TL8 (Motorboat) (A) DX [2]-12; Boating/TL8 (Unpowered) (A) DX [2]-12; Bow Sport (A) DX+1 [4]-13; Boxing (A) DX+1 [4]-13; Camouflage (E) IQ+4 [2]-15*; Climbing (A) DX [2]-12; Crossbow Sport (E) DX+1 [2]-13; Driving/TL8 (Automobile) (A) DX-1 [1]-11; Fast-Draw (Pistol) (E) DX+2 [4]-14; First Aid/TL8 (Human) (E) IQ+2 [4]-13; Fishing (E) Per+3 [2]-16*; Guns/TL8 (Pistol) (E) DX+3 [6]-15; Guns/TL8 (Rifle) (E) DX+3 [8]-15; Guns/TL8 (Shotgun) (E) DX+2 [2]-14; Knot-Tying (E) DX+1 [2]-13; Naturalist (Earth) (H) IQ+1 [2]-12*; Navigation/TL8 (Land) (A) IQ+1 [1]-12*; Piloting/TL8 (Light Airplane) (A) DX-1 [1]-11; Riding (Equines) (A) DX+1 [4]-13; Scrounging (E) Per-4 [0]-9; Search (A) Per+2 [8]-15; Stealth (A) DX+1 [4]-13; Survival (Arctic) (A) Per+3 [4]-16*; Survival (Woodlands) (A) Per+3 [7]-16*; Tracking (A) Per+2 [2]-15†; Traps/TL8 (A) IQ [2]-11; Wrestling (A) DX-1 [1]-11.
Techniques: Head Butt (Boxing) (H) [0]-12; Mounted Shooting (Guns (Rifle)/Car) (H) [2]-12; Rope Up (Climbing) (A) [2]-12; Targeted Attack (Boxing Punch/Face) (H) [0]-8; Uppercut (Boxing) (A) [0]-12.

Footnotes

* Includes +2 from ‘Outdoorsman’.
† Includes +2 from ‘Outdoorsman’; Conditional +1 from ‘Acute Vision’ when vision is a factor.

Background

Grew up on a dairy farm in the small town of Lyons, Ks. Her father and mother divorced when she was around 18. After finishing school she was planning on taking over the family business but her father remarried and decided to sell the farm and take a blue collar job at his new, much younger, wife’s urging (farm life apparently didn’t suit her). With little prospects, Ann made the bold move to Alaska where she worked some odd jobs until she got a position working at a gun smith shop. The owner essentially took her under his wing and taught her to be an outdoorsmen. Her primary job now was to take paying customers out hunting for different species of bear, elk, or moose. She also would hunt game for the elderly who weren’t able to do it themselves so they would have fresh meat for the winter. Ann liked the outdoors, she liked the earth under her feet, and the sky over her head. She lived a humble live but she was happy. A few years after her move she got word that her father and his wife were going to have a baby. She was surprised on two accounts, one being her father was well into his 50’s and the other being that the “baby” was actually a set of twins. Liking the idea of having half-siblings, Ann kept in touch more regularly, and even more so after her father’s death (approx. 20 years after the twins were born). Though she never had much of a relationship with her step-mother, she considered Mary and Ian the only real family she had left.

Wesley “Wes” Johnson

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155 points

ST 14 [40]; DX 11 [20]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 12 [20].
Damage 1d/2d; BL 39 lb; HP 14 [0]; Will 10 [0]; Per 10 [0]; FP 12 [0].
Basic Speed 5.75 [0]; Basic Move 5 [0]; Dodge 8.

Social Background

TL: 8 [0].

Advantages

Animal Empathy [5]; Outdoorsman 2 [20].

Disadvantages

Addiction (Tobacco; Cheap; Highly addictive; Legal) [-5]; Bad Temper (9 or less) [-15]; Code of Honor (Gentleman’s) [-10]; Honesty (12 or less) [-10]; Intolerance (Democrats; One group) [-5]; Odious Personal Habit -2 (Chew Tobacco/Spit) [-10]; Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) [-5]; Phobia (Acrophobia: Heights; 12 or less) [-10].

Skills

Animal Handling (Dogs) (A) IQ+1 [4]-11; Animal Handling (Equines) (A) IQ+2 [8]-12; Area Knowledge (local) (E) IQ+1 [2]-11; Bow (A) DX+2 [8]-13; Brawling (E) DX+3 [8]-14; Camouflage (E) IQ+3 [2]-13*; Climbing (A) DX [2]-11; Cooking (A) IQ [2]-10; Driving/TL8 (Automobile) (A) DX+2 [8]-13; Driving/TL8 (Heavy Wheeled) (A) DX+1 [2]-12; Farming/TL8 (A) IQ [2]-10; First Aid/TL8 (Human) (E) IQ+2 [4]-12; Fishing (E) Per+2 [1]-12*; Guns/TL8 (Rifle) (E) DX+2 [4]-13; Guns/TL8 (Shotgun) (E) DX+1 [1]-12; Hiking (A) HT [2]-12; Jumping (E) DX [1]-11; Knife (E) DX+1 [2]-12; Knot-Tying (E) DX [1]-11; Mechanic/TL8 (Automobile) (A) IQ+4 [16]-14; Mechanic/TL8 (Heavy Wheeled Vehicle) (A) IQ+3 [10]-13; Naturalist (Earth) (H) IQ+2 [4]-12*; Navigation/TL8 (Land) (A) IQ+1 [1]-11*; Riding (Equines) (A) DX-1 [1]-10; Running (A) HT [2]-12; Stealth (A) DX+2 [8]-13; Survival (Woodlands) (A) Per+4 [8]-14*; Swimming (E) HT [1]-12; Tracking (A) Per+2 [2]-12*.
Techniques: Elbow Strike (Brawling) (A) [1]-13; Kicking (Brawling) (H) [2]-13; Knee Strike (Brawling) (A) [0]-13.

Footnotes

* Includes +2 from ‘Outdoorsman’.

Background

Wesley was born at Huntsville Hospital in Huntsville, Alabama in July of ’74 and he spent the first few years of his life living with his mother in Brownsboro. When he was a little older than 6 his mother passed away and he went to live with his Uncle Robert at his home in Jasper, Tennessee. Growing up in his Uncle’s house, he learned how to properly use a bow and gun, going hunting with his Uncle since he was old enough to shoot a gun. After graduating from high school in 1992, he went on to a local community college to get a degree to be a mechanic. He graduated from Chattanooga State Kimball Campus in 1994 after getting his ASE certification. Wes worked in local shops for several years before opening his own shop (with the help of his Uncle) in 2001 with most of the work being done by him and his cousin Jack and his Uncle handing the “managerial” aspects of the business. He applied to be on After the End on a whim, auditioned for it in December of 2012, and got the call that he was going to be on it late January of 2013.

John: Email #1

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From: therealjohnc@gmail.com
To: camerafiend@mgm.com
Subject: Follow-up

Bobby,

Day 3 of filming out here in Bumfuck, Kansas. Turns out you were right – the producer of this thing is a hack. He doesn’t know the first thing about lighting or even how to properly set up a dramatic scene. Yeah, this is ostensibly a “reality” show, but that’s a line of crap that even the rednecks who tune into this shit have to know.

You mentioned maybe having a line for a role in one of your upcoming movies. is that still a possibility? I spoke with Alan and he blew some smoke up my ass about being in discussions with Fox or WB. I’d lie to you and say that I’m not desperate but you know me better than that.

Say hi to Mandi for me.

GURPS After the End, Overview

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This campaign is a pure sandbox/hex-crawl in a modern, zombie-apocalypse setting. After some discussion with the Players as to the nature of the Event, I decided to go with an eschatological explanation, a “what if Supernatural/Constantine/The Prophecy/Legion went horribly wrong” scenario. It’s first appearance in the Daniverse has the Hosts of Heaven™ and Hell™ in a more “mythological” role (as typically depicted in modern cinema), with a bit of a mix of (movie) Thor’s “extradimensional advanced aliens” and Babylon 5’s Vorlon/Shadow war—but that’s really irrelevant for the time being, as what’s happened has happened, and humanity is just trying to move on in the aftermath (though they will undoubtedly become involved later). As with all Daniverse campaigns, it will also feature a great many composite/mash-up elements and homages from other fictions.

As a GM, I’ve been struggling with out-of-game workloads and general lack of motivation, while trying to keep the game going and contributing to the success of the group. As much as I struggle with improvisation, encouraged by several online articles on the subject (this one, this one, and this one), I decided that, with judicious use of random table systems, a sandbox campaign might be the way to go. In specific, I have access to some All Flesh Must Be Eaten material, and the core Twilight 2000 books, which will be featured heavily, combined with the use of Google Earth, and other online resources. For inspiration, I have been watching a lot of post-apocalypse movies and TV series, some of which are really bad (*coughrevolution* 😛 ), but I’ve forced myself to persevere, for the sake of the art. In fact, the little planning I do have in mind for the future is to take scenes and elements from the shows I’ve watched and play them out for the PCs—we’ll see if they make better choices than the usual protagonists. 😉

This will be the first campaign I’ve run that will have its play-sessions recorded via weblog—due to its’ more improvised nature, I’ll have to record what happens on a regular basis, rather than afterward via my notes (which will be mostly nonexistent, as far as the goings-on of the PCs are concerned).

Side note: The start of this campaign predates the official GURPS Zombies or GURPS After the End series.

♫ It’s the End of the World as We Know It ♫

So, what form did Man’s doom take? Here are the basics as known by the survivors (other than the PCs, who missed the fun):

It starts with the appearance of some sort of structure (Ref: Conquest Icons from Chronicles of Riddick) in the middle of major cities (as it turns out, worldwide). Shortly after, a disturbing, loud “horn” is heard (Ref: Tripods’ “horn blast”-War of the Worlds (2005)), repeated seven times. Then everyone on the planet “blacked out” for what would be determined (on analogue clocks) to be 11 hours, 38 minutes; also, any electronic device with a circuit board was fried. Every city wherein the Icon appeared bore evidence of a massive nuclear explosion. Within 24 hours of the Event, the recently dead are seen coming back to life, seeking human victims; they spread infection to other humans, and wither plant-life, and those infected exhibited signs of increased paranoia and aggression, resulting in widespread rioting and small-scale warfare. By the end of 4 weeks, world population is down ~60%, as a result of war, death, plague and famine; nobody has a clue why any of it happened, but the running theory is that “our time was up.”

Campaign Tropes:

After the End, Crapsack world, Zombie Apocalypse, Slept Through the Apocalypse, Late to the Tragedy, Action Survivor

Campaign Rules and Conditions

General Campaign Info on the Core Group forum