DO IT FAGGOT

Sounds cool, bruh.

sounds sick

It is 2008. During a semi-major depression that has brought the world nearly to its knees in financial disaster, an unexplainable plague begins to silently invade the world. By 2009, 70% of all human population has died, with the barebone leftovers still in place. The disease itself is odd. Most humans only exhibit exhaustion and collapse before their entire body simply ceases to function, which happens by the end of 4-14 days after infection. Nobody really even knows how the disease propagates, since nobody has ever contained a sample of the disease, but it is assumed that it's airborne and spread by fluids, including saliva.

Since the disease was so deadly and so quick, almost all major transportation is in shambles, most people trying to survive one another and the unforgiving world and most roads, railways, airports, and docks are almost clogged with the dead. Communication is almost purely handled by the military supporting all industry, but except for the 3rd world countries, Most major lines of communication are intact, most of the most populous governments are still in existance, albet extremely spread out and barely functional. Most major military columns are the only way to get from point A to point B beyond one side of town to the other.

Continued later...

Continued from before

By 2010(2011?), people began filtering in mass reportings of strange phenomena. New animal calls in the woods, strange events and reactions occuring and strange creatures seen in the night. Bodies begin disappearing, some have even said that the dead walk again. some even talk of creatures in the night with near-mystical abilities, creatures that literally disappeared in front of their eyes, and much worse. Most didn't believe what was surely a result of the shock of what happened just a year ago. By April, however, the first attacks on what are left of major cities startle all of human society into the grim reality. Monsters of yore be damned, there are new creatures of the night, and they're -real.-

Your tale in this world of suffering and aberrant creatures is one of survival. Nobody knows what is out there, but what you do know is that you have only one option: Survive.
Welcome to Abiogenesis.

>>3096170
In a bad enough economic state, one would think most people won't be able to afford guns, ammo, or any other weapons.

>>3096170

The death toll was 70%.

>>3096194


in a bed enough economic sate, most people wouldent care about money, and just steal stuff

Disease, eh? I bet Madagascar was untouched.

The faggots.

Can I play this with you?

Notes about the setting:

I wanted realism. None of this apocalyptic Fallout bullshit. This is normal society after what is a near extinction of the human race. Only the most powerful governments have survived to do anything. Goods are mostly transported by military convoy, yet the communication lines, or at least what haven't been clogged with bodies, are still open to a degree. The world is in shock of what happened.

Now, as for the monsters. I have had this fascination with the idea that quantum isn't the only thing out there. So many things are in this universe that we haven't even heard of before, or even begun to think of. Just 100 years ago, quantum mechanics wasn't even a suggestion, as Newton's theory was supreme. Now, what happens when we start seeing these things for real? What if Evolution, or some aberration gave evolution the ability to dick with things on the scale of quantum mechanics? That's what we're talking about in monsters.

As for characters, you're supposed to be normal. No psychics, no Magic, no shenanigans. Just you, a rifle, and maybe 4 other people piled into a truck, trying to get away from yokel town, or trying to survive. Maybe you'll join the military, maybe you'll want to create your own society, maybe a thousand other things. However, you're still human.

Some people have congregated in the tatters of the major cities, but for the most part, the streets are still filled with the dead, the new creatures, and the tatters of what happened. This illness strikes fucking quickly. Things like traffic accidents clog up entire interstate highways. Travel is but impossible unless you've cleared the debris. This also extends to human communication. Perhaps a guy simply collapsed into the turbo-fan of a server, destroying the entire network node for everybody else in a major city? Neglect is also an issue. Simply put, everything that you've taken for granted now isn't a guarantee.

this game already exists. its called rifts.

for humankind it is pretty much martial law from here on out. US cities with military bases are going to survive the best. large sections of the country are going to be without power as there are not enough people to maintain the grid. the internet would be down in places (no power) but satellite communications would be fine. that is, until the satellites start falling out of orbit as there is no one to boost them up or deploy new ones. places with nuclear power or hydroelectric are still on. without enough people to run the transportation system there are few coal or oil plants working.

by the way, the US only has about 1 months worth of food in it at any one time. once people start dying in mass, chaos is going to turn into bloody chaos. grocery stores are going to be empty and the places where they are making food won't be able to transport them to the places that need them. that first winter is going to be the worst.

So it is Supernatural: The Purging?

>>3096177

>>3096237
>>3096216
It's not a great depression. But it was certainly felt. The Plague was much worse.

Now, for what the disease is, and to one of the myriad of creatures I was thinking of, the iconic 'zombie.'

Please also try to add onto this idea, I just thought of all this shit like 4 hours ago.

>>3096216
I guess I forgot about the better aspect of a post-apocalypse.

>>3096255
No, don't go with zombies. Just make the disease a disease that killed shit, and left room for the new things to move in.

Source on that picture please?

>>3096268
Make it that the aberrations and zombies aren't an aftereffect of the disease, rather they are the cause.
Like an underground race that were driven underground by homo sapiens before recorded history, who have come to reclaim the surface.

>>3096248
Way to fail, buddy.

Sounds neat enough, but the large-scale setting is not really relevant here. The thing that determines whether your idea is "pretty neat, OP" or "fuckawesome" is going to be the execution and the sense of style in every detail. That's why people love Fallout, even though the overall idea is retarded. Descriptions of random encounters would be a good start.

Add all urban myths and creatures you know.

Some crazy roamers ahve bottled ball lightning rising from lakes, and use it to flash out ghosts. Funny how it never sets something aflame.

Disease process.
______________
So far, no scientific establishment has captured, or isolated a strain of the disease that has ravenged the entire Earth. At first, all records simply noted it as an "infectious disease of unknown origins," But after a while, it began to be termed the New York Syndrome. Most people catagorize it in a similar vein to the Gulf War Syndrome, since no-one is really sure what is going on. Almost all age groups, nationalities, and income limits were equally affected by the same death rate, 70%, at last tally. From what is understood, the disease is an elegant form, albet what most people term "overkill" in most circles. 4 Days after infection, most people report slight aches and pains, as well as fatigue that never seems to go away. This stays steady until 9-14 days into the disease process, whereupon one day their entire body's condition will deteriorate in a matter of hours, or they die in a more prolonged process that takes 3-5 days. All cases of death are reported as a total metabolic failure, where the body totally shuts down, although usually one organ system does progress faster than the others.

After death, a curious phenomenon was found. Most people stricken with the disease process usually become extremely pale, often moreso than a person usually would be with pallor mortis. This continues well into death. More importantly, bodies do not decompose as fast. Bodies in open air from 2008 have been seen almost completely preserved, fluids included well into 2010. Most bodies in water, however, do decay, but at a much slower rate than would otherwise be noted. In most instances, entire interstate highways have been littered with the bodies of the dead even years later.

Cont

>>3096249
>US cities with military bses are going to survive the best.
Why US specifically? It's full of retards who accidentally shoot each other while not even on a mission.

Don't go with zombies. Way too cliche.

>>3096281
It's true. If it wasn't for the AMERICA FUCK YEAH sense of F2+3, if it wasn't for the bitter irony, Fallout would be forgettable.

The whole game is the apocalypse as though it occured in bad 50's fiction: jumpsuits, hovercars, robots, big green glowing mutants. The whole game is totally unrealistic, but chillingly realistic.

The base concept is one that is quite boring on its own.

Sounds like the Stalker RPG I pretty much gave up on. Love it.

I would say to basically rip off most of the creatures from STALKER for starters, as they are fuckwin.

>>3096295

because I live in the US and have never traveled abroad so I wouldn't presume to speak for other countries. I have no idea how they would fare.

>>3096293
The PC's could go all WWI and use the bodies of the dead as makeshift sandbags for defense.

>>3096315
>I am American and no other country exists but America

>>3096327
Looking pretty hip, there, anti-American-fag.

>>3096335
It's been "hip" for fucking decades. When are you going to accept that you being loathed isn't just a fad?

>>3096297
That's only some of the creatures out there. I was going to just propose this idea and then slowly spread from here. Take note I just thought of this a few hours ago.

>>3096278
Nobody knows why they came. The Disease might be distinctly seperate, it might not. That's the weird part about all of this, besides how nobody even knows what the disease even LOOKS like.

>>3096249
As for martial law, I wasn't going to make most of the Civilized countries go insane with martial law JUST YET. But yes, martial law is in effect to a big degree. As for food sources, it depends on how well the government acted on it. Remember also that 1 month of stores was for 100% of the population, not 30%, and that there was a possibility that the US military got to the farms and such fast enough to get them back in working order.

Another note, no animals were ever directly killed by the New York syndrome. Just humans.

The issue is now that everything, at least in the US is so spread out, and that the entire economy was geared towards something just 3 years ago. Everybody's spread thin, and now you've got to worry about the creatures in the woods and such.

Oh, also. For the bodies that were affected by the New York syndrome. Not even scavengers will touch them.

>>3096335
DOWN WITH AMERICA!

Zombies

One such monster that has been reported are what most people would consider the "walking dead." What has been found, in most cases, is a cerebral parasite that attaches to the necks of dead bodies and, through some faculty related to a stinger that is found on its underside, "reanimates" them. The process is barely understood, but the effect is all too well known. All sorts of bodies, from naturally deceased creatures to victims of the New York Syndrome can all be "reanimated" by the paracite. The creature that is reanimated is usually based on the condition of the body, in which those that have decayed for a while, yet still have a relatively intact nervous system are what most people would associate with "traditional" undead. This type of undead usually are slower, more spastic in movement, extremely tough to kill and tend to be the most violent of the zombie 'bio-group'. The social graces that accompany the second type of 'zombies' tends to be absent in these creatures. Most simply wander around where the corpse was and scream while attacking anything that it notices. Most of these creatures tend to also be extremely horrible in terms of reaction times and having knowledge of their surroundings, probably due to the amount of decay inherent in the body.

>>3096353
Decades... right....

The Second type
______________

A second type, a parasite that has attached to one of the victims of the New York plague are distinctly different from their rotting counterparts. These creatures tend to have almost-similar biological functionality to normal, tend to have a better 'recollection' of complex human activities such as removal of clothing, operating weapons, or various other things, tend to be slightly slower than normal humans, and tend to be extremely 'tough to kill,' as some people put it. However, the function they have is still extremely limited, as most cannot speak, and tend to react slower than a normal human. Some have been known to talk gibberish, but it ismostly related to what they did during life. However, the parasite appears to be the one in control, not the 'reanimated' corpse, and tend to be extremely hostile to anything that is not one of them. There have been cases where entire enclaves of these creatures have been found in various locations, and more than once there have been quasi-organized raids on Military caravans driving nearby, some using various weapons as well, albet at an (Ork-like) accuracy.

>>3096353
Enjoy it while it lasts. Come January 20th, Barack Obama is going to force you to love me.

>>3096376
That's right. It just happens that the internet made popular opinions much more available than before.

The Third type
____________

The third type, which appears to be the most dangerous, are the zombies that were produced by a parasite attaching to a body that has deceased within hours. While rare, these monsters tend to be much different from their rotting or Syndrome counterparts, having increased stamina, strength, speed, and intellect. These creatures are extremely deadly, and more than once there have been cases of where the bodies have 'mutated,' with differing results. (think Dead Space combined with other zombie flicks, if you want.). Extremely territorial between migrations, these creatures hunt down and kill all that get in their way.

It is not known how the parasites sustain themselves, although most conjecture that the parasites survive on spinal tissue while replacing it with their own neural cells.

_______________
Other details
_______________

This would be one of the barebones examples I've thought of yet. Right now, I really suck at thinking up things that could go bump in the night that aren't "LOL WHURVULVES AND VAMPIYAHS." But generally speaking, they tend to be massive, hard to kill, and are really unlike anything you've seen before. Things that I was considering as an inspiration included Dead Space, STALKER (of course), Aliens (though to a lesser degree. Xenoforms kinda seem... one-trick pony-ish), X-files monsters, and others.

As of now, this is mostly what I've got.

Oh, and sorry for the horrible hack of a format. Fucking laptop takes so long to upload things to /tg/, even WITHOUT Pictures.

>>3096392
The gibberish part is both fucking jawesome and creepy all at once.

I can hear a mad butcher rambling about 'cleaving the flesh' in my head right now.

I love you for it.

>>3096401
Yeah it'll help a lot but you're fooling yourself if you think it will make people actually be accepting of you. We'll just be slightly less spiteful.

Only me is thinking in FF:Crystal Chronicles while reading this, right?

>>3096426
Lawl.

So, anyone else in /tg/ wanna contribute to this? I'm kinda short for ideas now and I'm supposed to be
working on an Eberron campaign for a party (>_>).

Ah well, this is fuuun.

>>3096392
Oh, another note. When I thought of these 'zombies,' I kinda was of the thought that they wouldn't "shamble." Instead, these guys generally act humanoid, although they tend to have a weird, almost hunter-like and deliberate walk (hard to explain) wherever they go and act real slow like when not fighting somebody. Besides whatever they say/mumble/scream, they are strangely predatorial, not zombie stupid. I also was of the thought that their eyes would glow if you shined a light into their eyes, and they'd still be pale. They would generally never run unless they had to get into CQC with you. Don't think of them as pissy rabid rabies people, but something malevolent, something akin to a raptor in human form.

>>3096432
That's what you think now, but he already did a number on America, didn't he? You should go buy a tiny American flag to attach to the roof of your car now, because prices are going to skyrocket in a couple of months.

When the disease start affecting trees they pollutate the air creating an atmosphere unbreathable. Fortunately some mechanism use the light of the sun to create a safe zone. (Yes, I'm thinking in FF:CC).
Unfortunately, this sunlight must be "collected" in high places.
So the safest cities are in the mountains, and the most dangerous in the shore. (NYC is a pretty dangerous colony, lol).

This was a pretty cool idea until it turned into zombies.

What would a zombified break-dancer be like? Always trying to bust phat moves, but fucking up every time until most of the flesh has been scraped from the arms and knees?

>>3096503
I kinda agree with this. Maybe keep the parasite idea, but don't have it reanimate corpses, and don't call them zombies.

Needs more imaginative monsters, that would exist due to mutations with experiments trying to destroy the disease. Or monsters being created through different sciencey explanations.

I don't know, but needs more things than just zombies fucking with people.

Other than that, pretty cool shit OP.

>>3096369
>>3096392
>>3096422

Don't worry, we've dealt with these before.

>_> Jesus, Enough with the goddamn Obama shit, this isn't supposed to be about how much of a socialist/marxist/nazist/whatever a certain black guy who got elected is.

*mutters* not even in the right goddamn section...
__________________________________

For starting campaign ideas, possibilities would be several college students who banded up right after the disease ripped through their town and are trying to get somewhere safer than the po-dunk town they're in. Add in a small caravan of a few SUVs, and go from there. Objectives are whatever you want, though generally I'd be of the idea that trying to get somewhere safe would be a good idea.

I'd also assume that bagging some of these new creatures (can anyone help give the new group a name or something? I really hate calling them creatures of the woods and shit) would fetch a pretty penny for anyone interested. Besides possible food content, what could be in store for whoever dissected those things? Despite their danger, these creatures are a gold mine of scientific knowledge similar to anomalies/artifacts in STALKER. So many wonderful things can be found if you're looking at it juuust right.

Otherwise... I'm not sure what else could be done? Should I keep it to an I Am Legend status, or bring in more weird things like STALKER-like anomalies and things happening?

I'd suppose there'd also be sentient species dropping in, but I wouldn't just want it as "HURR ELFS HURR DRWORFS." They've gotta be special in their own right. Also, new creatures wouldn't just be limited to mammals. Exotic protein altering viruses, anyone?

Haven't been paying much attention, but sounds kind of like UFO Aftermath without the UFOs.

Motherfucking Deathbellows...

Species Unclassified #0421: "Hartford County Beast".

Proliferation: Only 8 examples of this species have ever been confirmed; of those, only 2 have been recovered by U.S. Army Science.

Description: Creature is large, in excess of 6 tons body mass. Musculature seems mutated, overly dense, and from observation, exhibits strange qualities of extra-dimensional strength. Simple dissection required the use of concrete-cutting saws. Creature stands nearly 12 feet high at the shoulder, and is of generally simian appearance and locomotion. Shoulders are very broad, and covered with chitin-like plating. Hands and Feet are 4-toed, with no apparent 5th toe. Theorized to be warm-blooded. Skull is extended grossly, giving the "face" a very long, narrow appearance. Mouth is small in comparison to body size, lipless, with dull, flat teeth. Creature is theorized to be an herbivore, but very territorial. Lacks any discernible eyes, ears, or nose. It is unknown at this time how the creature senses it's environment.

Parasites attaching to peoples necks and turning them into shambling "zombies" was the plot of a Mighty MAx episode. Just so you know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Max_(TV_series)#Full_list_of_episodes
Episode 5, The Mother of All Adventures

>>3096503
>>3096542

It's not just zombies. The reason why I went for zombies first was because they're a staple of most horror shit, and I really didn't have any ideas at the time. Working with ideas that are already there I'm good at, making totally new things from scratch... not so much.

>>3096542
Mutations, yes. Human science? not so much. Unlike Stalker, where people have a little clue of what the fuck's going on, what's happening here is totally out of the league of what we know today. All sorts of exotic particles, reactions, radiations, and such things that modern science have never even dreamed of are occuring on a daily basis. Compound that with the fact that somehow, the 'evolution' of a bunch of creatures are doing things people would think are impossible to do naturally. Carbon nanotube bones, anyone? (and this is just the tip of the iceberg!). The eggheads are so overloaded that they don't even know where to begin with what's going on in these creatures.

If nobody got the hint earlier, can someone please start working on some creature ideas?

>>3096562
I like the idea of anomalies, but when working on my Stalker RPG, I couldn't think of a way to integrate them as easily as the monsters. I suppose if you take an anomaly, make it all fuck-huge and stick it in the right area, it would make sense, as opposed to saying

"Roll Perception." "Lol anomaly tears you in half lol"

So imagine like a gravity anomaly that is centered on a farm house or something, whenever creatures enter its field of influence, they get a Luck roll or something and if they fail, they're pulled up into the air and explode... or just tossed like a ragdoll so no stupid anomalous TPKs.

>>3096592
He do anything besides smash? Or can he do weird things, like somehow extend his ribcage/spinal plates to make himself look even larger or something?

>>3096641
Probably a luck roll to 'activate' it.

I'm not sure at this moment whether to include anomalies, since that's kinda more stealing anothers idea than I'd like. Plus, if I did include anomalies, I'd intergrate it more than as-is. I had a previous horror setting that I thought up that did a lot of detailing on how the entire world's fucked up somehow that to venture out the 'safe zones' is a gamble at best. But that's another campaign idea.

JESUS CHRIST GET SOME STILT WALKERS UP N THIS MOTHERFUCKER

Check out the unused creatures from Stalker, back when it was still called Oblivion Lost. Like the zombies that are so overloaded with radiation, they became virtually transparent and let off a green glow. And the Burer, or psychic dwarves... god I love those things. When this thread peters out, I'm playing Clear Sky damnit.

>>3096607 they're a staple of most horror shit, and I really didn't have any ideas at the time

dats da problem. Everything these days is "lol zombie plague". I'll tell you right now, the minute zombies have a cause, you've fagged everything up.

His shriveled body dangling from his bulbous head, he floats between the treetops. He's above and behind you, he's at your second story window, and you'd better be somewhere else.

A certain percentage of the moose population endured a painful mutation, causing their digestion systems to warp and no longer be able to digest plant material. Rather, they now must devour meat in order to survive. The mutation also affected their brains, causing them to become dangerously violent. Suddenly, the 7 foot tall, 3/4 ton animals start wandering out of their usual ranges, seeking new food. The second generation mutations are even worse...

Species Unclassified #0087: "Shock Spider"

Proliferation: Class 3 commonality (50 per 10 square miles) south of approx 30 degrees latitude, in any humid environment.

Description: Apparently Arachnoid in origin, this creature has a two-segmented body with 8 legs. Exoskeleton is hard (approx 7 on Mohs scale) and difficult to pierce. Crystal-like growths appear on main torso. These crystals are of unknown origin, and under spectrography appear to be carbon based. They harbor an odd extra-dimensional quality, and tend to glue blue whenever they are near electricity. This is matched with a sudden fluctuation of static electricity in the nearby area. It is unknown if there is true electron transfer or not, available instrument readings by U.S. Army Science have fund results inconclusive. However, most living creatures tend to "set off" these spiders, receiving a medium-voltage large-amperage dose of electricity once they approach to within 3 meters of the creature. This is usually enough to knock a human-sized creature unconsciouss, which then allows the spider to feed. Mouth is broad and runs halfway down the bottom of the creature, and teeth are involved in a sort of muscular locomotion, resembling a belt sander.

>>3096683
Well, now we know what happened to Canada.
>>3096698
FFFFFFFFFFFFF SPIDERS

Species Unclassified #04172: "Spider Parasite"

The Spider Parasite is a recently discovered creature very dissimilar to any other yet found. The creature resembles a sort of enormous multi-legged spider, with the number of legs varying by specimen. All specimens found so far have exhibited between 50 and 100 legs; researchers theorize that it may grow more legs as it develops. The legs appear to be specialized: its two front legs are blade like weapons, some are similar to insect legs and some have finger-like extensions for gripping and manipulating objects. The Spider Parasite hunts for sleeping creatures; once found, it secretes a thick paste like jelly over the creatures mouth and nose, effectively suffocating it. The Parasite then uses its two, blade-like front appendages to carve open the creature and move inside it, where it reseals its incision with the same pasty secretion. It hibernates in this corpse for several days and lays its eggs there, consuming the choicest portions within and then leaving. Disturbingly, when prey is scarce, the Spider Parasite has been observed as using its host corpse as a hiding place for ambush hunting, leaping from within the body and stabbing with its front appendages.

You should incorporate common urban legends. Sasquatch is one of the original aberrations, the Loch Ness monster is an ancient, infected dinosaur, etc. In fact, they probably spread the disease around for centuries and just now it's beginning to infect the general populace.

The towering pole men are as suited to terrorizing poor city dwellers as they were to the forests the city builders fled from. The towers of the modern cityscape are covered with tall, skinny crevices where a hungry creature could lurk. One only has to bend down and pluck up a choice morsel.

>>3096652
I wouldn't include anomalies as just little balls of energy, or anything like that. Include areas of influence that involve blatant violations of physics.

Threat Zone Classification Orange. 300-meter zone, centered on 46o26'32"N -38o42'32"; stationary, intermittent.

Within Threat Zone physical properties of time appear to distend at random intervals. Distension appears to be relatively minor; a few hours at most. Any movement through the zone becomes problematic, due to observable speed having wide variations. Inertial testing by U.S. Army Science shows only chronological distortion, no physical effects appear on ring-laser gyro inertial tests. Observable time appears unchecked, tested via video recording of test robot traveling across ground.

Recommendation: Avoid if possible.

>>3096749
I love this man. If I knew that it was a she, I'd kiss them.

>>3096562
Perhaps aberrations, unknowns, Out-of-Place-Organisms (OPOs for short), or you could classify them into groups by these names (and whatever else you might think appropriate). It seems that monsters would be at least roughly classified by whoever is interested in them, even shortly after their appearance.

Idea for zombies: don't make them attack things directly. Make NYS victims just occasionally get up and move of their own volition, sometimes wandering off into the distance like they have somewhere to be, sometimes just meandering about at random. Keep the pale, glowing eye, gibbering vibe going, but make them something that's more creepy than dangerous. They can help set the mood for a creepy encounter, and can be used as plot devices for non combat challenges for the players. Say, the players have to cross a narrow, enclosed path, through a dark tunnel or something, and its got a bunch of zombies in it. The players could have to make saves against panic or fear, because there's no way they could walk through a dark, claustrophobic obstacle course full of walking dead people bumping into them and whispering without getting at least a little anxious. If they fail, they scream or have a nervous break down, which can attract actual predatory monsters.

OP this sounds really cool, but I think there is a lot of untapped potential that you are completely overlooking. You describe all this happening in the real world, around 2010, yes? Ok, if 70% of the worlds population actually died that quickly, a great deal of people would go fucking insane. Think of how crazy people got prior to y2k, building shelters and what not. Now imagine this plague of yours, plus dimensional anomolies and creatures and what not.

If you do this without exploring how this situation turns some normal, everyday people into raving lunatics or rabid religious fanatics, you are messing it up. There'll no doubt be backwoods communites getting set up considering how sparse the world has become and how fucked communication is. A real cool campaign should involve your players running into one of these settlements and possibly dealing with a town full of creepy-ass people who follow some new cult they came up with once the apocolypse started fucking their shit.

>>3096802
I need my latin guidebook for a new Animal domain now... Shiet.

>>3096764
That's fucking disturbing.

I would stay as far away from urban myths as you could. Anything the players find, do everything you can to make it alien, strange, and OBVIOUSLY not of this world. If you can give otherwise ordinary creatures strange abilities, do so.

I would use U.S. Army Science as the standard for how things are classified, and worked with. They are the lead people in figuring "wierd shit" out. On the other hand, I'm sure there would be companies that would try their hand at finding a way to cut a profit.

Paper money would be almost useless, due to a mix of inflation and most people relying on trade. I would stay away from assigning anything in particular a monetary value; instead rewards of better foods, weapons, or other niceties would be better.

Escaping to a city is a decent idea, but starting out with players (especially low level/power) as just ordinary folks in one of the outlaying fortified towns would be OK. Something bad starts happening to the town, they are the only ones (all the older, or more capable men are away helping the military) that can really do anything about it, perhaps.

>>3096834
No doubt. Tensions fray after 7 out of 10 people just drop, really bad. Though I am of the idea that I don't want things to go really shitty and have all governments fall totally down. Somehow, having remnants of brigades restoring order and the like kinda seems kickass instead of saying, "HURR ENCLAVE ENCLAVE" And having everyone go raving mad. Then it kinda puts a sense of total hopelessness and that everyone's going to die. I want people to feel like they've got a chance, but they've gotta go through hell first.

>>3096880
Yeah I understand that, but I'd hate it if there were NO fucked up religious nuts, at least in america, making crazy secluded villages waiting for the rapture or something.

>>3096880
No chances. The government does little to nothing to help the general populous, as they are just as fucked as everyone else. They cower in their underground bases, hoarding food and supplies. Maybe a few air force bases or something have enough people left to set up cordons, but they probably wouldn't let anybody in anyway.

>>3096842
Aliens don't really turn me onto a game as much as they should. I think the origins for anyhting that is fucked up and weird looking, give some kind of mysterious background but not so much that it overkills the creepyness and not too little that it just leaves the player focusing on the backstory a lot. Go try asking /x/ for some ideas and look for some good creepy pasta and generally unique horror stories. That should help I think.

You might also think about which mechanical system to be using.

I would think about using the d20 modern system, that way you could bring in any d20 type creature as a wierd abomination. Sure, Umber Hulks are pretty standard D&D fare, but

Species Unclassified #0462: "Shrieking Beetle".

Proliferation: Only 3 confirmed encounters. No samples recovered, all 3 encounters are videos recovered after scout parties failed to report back to base. All encounters occurred in Colorado, near mountainous areas.

Description: Beast appears massive and simian, although with an exterior exoskeleton lending it an insect-like appearance. Appears to be nearly 4 meters tall, with very long arms. Head is insect like, with two compound eyes set above two black median eyes. Mouth is a set of two massive, 1-meter long mandibles, beetle like. Creature is seen attacking with large sets of 4 claws on the ends of its two forward appendages. Creature apparently has some sort of extra-dimensional "scream" that stuns or immobilizes it's prey. This appears to be extremely painful, and may be a cone directed in front of it. Victims show no obvious outward signs of damage, except for minor bleeding of the mucous membranes (eyes, nose, ears). However, this attack is followed by almost complete temporary incapability to act.

>>3096834
I can actually see that as sort of cool. Say if some people rejected whatever scientific explanations were given for these new creatures / zombies and instead let superstition run wild to explain them.

OP, I am really likeing this setting... very unique, wondering what system you would use for it. Personally, I'm adapting it to GURPS or All flesh must be eaten.

>>3096644
I'm thinking a super-quiet, physically imposing thing. Like the players are inside an abandoned building, come out, and this *thing* is just poking around their vehicle. They aren't too scary (they just hit things and smash things and pick them up and throw it, and they can take an RPG to the chest and keep coming) but they are *super* quiet when they move, even when running. A large thing should be loud, make lots of noise - when it's quiet instead, and no real obvious means of hurting you other than wringing the life out of you with it's bare hands, it should come across as scary.

>>3096917
I meant alien as in different. "Like a coyote, but with scales instead" isn't anything like "like a coyote, but with 8 legs and suckers instead. A furry land octopus, that howls" is something completely unlike anything we've really seen.

I see the government as having several bastions of power, but generally it lets the people do as the people please (with a few exceptions - towns near bases, towns near important "sites", etc.). The government should be a black body in the background, not an active enemy for the most part. There exists an easy possibility for *other* organizations though, or perhaps businesses with no ones good will at heart...

OP, bodies that don't rot isn't very realistic.

You are looking for a different word.

>>3096918
D20 is too ridiculous to have anything even quasi-realistic. Heavily modified World of Darkness, Cyberpunk 2020, or a totally unique system. I'm working on one now that will hopefully be able to handle these type of survival-horror genre games, without the rules-lite stuff of AFMBE, but not as restrictive as d20 or Call of Cthulhu. A nice, realistic middle ground.

>>3096918
UMBER HULKGUAAAA

>>3097007
Dumb. Shitty. Ricockulous. I could go on.

What about Twilight: 2013?

I'm liking the sound of "Species Unclassified"

>>3097007
That's the point. All sorts of crazy shit is happening. Logic, reason, and nature are over there in the fetal position crying.

I was personally thinking using modified Spycraft 1 or 2.0. But, I've only really played d20, so what do I know.

Okay, OP, how's this -

After the plague took its course, the surviving populations of Great Britain and Ireland cut themselves off completely from the rest of the world. All attempts at hailing them have failed, and scout fleets have not returned.

In short, these countries have returned to the control of fey - the surviving citizens mutated into spriggans and redcaps by the ruling fey - twisted versions of leprechauns and wills o' the wisp, ruled over by the lady of the lake, who is, in this incarnation, a total cunt.

They wield vicious, torturous powers, rejoicing in trickery and the fear of their victims.

Like tiny dark eldar.

>>3097089
...?

Eh. Not really what I had in mind.

Possible idea.
Howler
______

*Grey skinned, 4 foot tall skinny humanoid with red dots for where its eyes should be, slightly hunched over. No lower jaw, has a cartiligious 'hood.' where it should be.

* The creature has the ability to create an illusion via the use of the part of their mind associated w/ dreaming in order to bring them closer. Usually, creature tends to take the form of somebody in trouble.
* People note that it's, "kinda like when you have a dream and you are dreaming of someone, you conciously wouldn't be recognise them, but sub-conciously i.e. through accesing your memory, you are forced into acknowledging it as someone you know."

* When it persuades the character close enough, it creates a 'howl' of supersonic levels that renders most targets unconscious.
*Most people remember it as where they 'see' the howler behind the dream as they appear to be in the same location at the same time.

* During this time, theorized that the Howler alters the metabolic system via a symbiotic viral substance that it secretes on its person, which infects the subject.

* The howler attempts to persuade the subject to stay with them after they wake up. Sufficiently powerful Howlers have been known to create 'harems' of enthralled humans and other sentient creatures.
* Conjecture: The creature seems to use the enthralled subjects as a sort of 'metabolic farm,' harvesting the excretions that the subject stores in the cells. For the most part, it doesn't seem that this process damages the subject for any long period of time. It is impossible to stop creating the secretions at this moment in time, however.
* Most survivors of a howler note that the longer they are enthralled by the Howler, the 'more real' the dreams become, in effect becoming an alternate reality for the howler to better control them.

Mudthrower

This omnivorous, meter-long beetle is similar in appearance to a dung beetle, but uses a most unusual hunting methods. Scientists have not yet captured a live beetle to even attempt to study it, but from field reports, it is known that the beetle hurls a quantum phenomon commonly known as "Dung Ball" at it targets. From the eyewitness reports, it seems that the mudthrower will store nonorganic material in its stomach, ranging from simple dirt, to ceramics, and even strong metal alloys. Then, when the mudthrower hunts, it will throw it's dung ball at a target, which appears to be a shimmering orb of no distinct quality or color. When the ball then impacts organic material, it transports the organic tissues to the beetles stomach, and vice versa. Thus, the beetles stomach gets filled with meat, where as the unfortunate prey gets their tissues replaced with whatever was in the beetles stomach. It is unknown how much the beetle eats until it is full.

Mudthrowers have only been seen in Midwestern forests, and their lairs will be apparent by holes in the ground and various vegetation having "spheres" of dirt and other materials where normal tissue should be. Mudthrowerss are pretty nonaggressive, but they are territorial, and will fight to defend themselves. Indeed, it seems that most mudthrower-related deaths have occured only after provacation by humans.

>>3097118
I'm not sure how good this is, so if you want to alter it, do it. As of now, I think it needs a bunch more work to come up to standards.

Gentlemen...join me. If you can find my hidden stronghold, I guarantee you shall find power enough to satisfy whatever you want. We have found a "larval form" of infected humans. They seem docile enough, and training is underway to turn them into the perfect infiltration source. Studies are also in progress regarding their curious hive mentality.

We shall spread and shine the light of science through the world.

Just don't look at the eyes. Any of them.

>>3097122
Liking it, though I'd be more inclined to have a bit of a variety. Not just the weird as shit things, but some animals that are vaguely human, vaguely bird-like, vaguely animal like, and such. Where's the Aberrant tiger-things of quantum immolation, the beasts that feed on Spinal tissue, the rabid mammals that metabolize bones into something like a hornet's nest? the weird scurrying creatures that look like they just came out of Mordheim?

A few thoughts.

First. The "zombies," due to lack of a better term. While I can see that you're going to a great length to discern them from normal zombies, but you've either wandered too far or simply not enough on a few things. Correct me if I'm wrong, though - I didn't read the entire lore you created, being quite a bit of it and not wanting to get my own thoughts lost amongst yours.

They just don't seem.. genuine to the "altered" reality left after the disease. They feel too "explained," if that makes sense. A common fallacy in creating horror stories is to feel the obligation to explain things, and this seems to be one you went for. If you feel the parasites are mandatory for your reality, make them very, very hard to notice, or possibly impossible without dissection; maybe simply a type of worm that affects the spinal column, making vastly dismembered/beheaded zombies a possibility, only truly neutralized after complete incapacitation. To boot, try to work the "operating difference" between host and parasite into their behavior. It seems like a newly created/poorly integrated zombie would have difficulty operating, so they may be more/less ferocious than a normal human, exhibiting insect/animal-like behavior or potentially even becoming an animal. (Imagine that. A pack of fucked-up bodies prowling the forest.)

Continued..

>>3097148

Also, the parasite angle should be exploited further instead of simply writing in, "space/time fuck up." When an infected human wanders off, what are they trying to do? A normal parasite's function is to simply live, but the secondary is quite normally reproduction. From an infected host, they're communicable, doing to other organisms what they did to their humanoid carriers. While both humans and animals simply begin as more feral versions of themselves, they could quickly become "adapted" into the parasite's desired form for incubation/procreation. (Think the Flood for a quick example (Hopefully, as this isn't /v/, I can reference Halo in peace..))

I don't know. I have a lot of ideas I'd like to bounce from a campaign I ran in a similar vein years back. ("Paranormal Police" was what I gave the file names I typed stuff out in) I really can't communicate everything I'm wanting to say and ask simultaneously in a forum, so drop me a line on my e-mail or something.

>>3097122
Now you're thinking with portals.

Sounds like fallout 3

>>3096980
I was tending to think it'd be up to the GM or whoever to choose whether you're against, with, or neutral with various groups. Yes on Corporations, and yes that sometimes the government doesn't have all of our best interests at heart. We're all human, after all. Well, at least most of us.

>>3097142

But what happens if y-ARGLPHT

abiogensis sounds like an organic video game console

>>3096918
Thats a goddam umber hulk!

>>3097089

Too specific. OP is focusing on the US, either the rest of the world is in the same situation, or they've all gone nuts.

Although, in this vein, suppose sea and air travel to international destinations have been 100% one-way trips; swallowed by the mists, etc.

I'm thinking of something like a cross between a viper and a lamprey, when it locates prey it coils up and launches itself at the target, latching on with a suction cup like mouth and a ring of barbed teeth. It then uses a spiked tounge to dig down to a vein or artery and drain the victim of fluids. An attack by one or two could be survived, but they generally swarm.

>>3097148
Well, they're not created by the virus, for one thing.

>They just don't seem.. genuine to the "altered" reality left after the disease. They feel too "explained," if that makes sense. A common fallacy in creating horror stories is to feel the obligation to explain things, and this seems to be one you went for.
Hmmh. Well, I was attempting to only explain what was obvious. But yes, I'm going out of my way to make people go, "HOLY SHIT WHAT IS THAT THING DOING!?" I'm not sure how I'd want to alter that if you think that's serious enough of a problem. Though I do want to mention that they don't 'eat' people. They just kill them, then shamble/stalk off. Plus, I wanted them to be both different from the Slow shitloads of braineating fuckers and the fastguys in L4D and 28 Days later. Thus, they take bullets like candy.

> If you feel the parasites are mandatory for your reality, make them very, very hard to notice, or possibly impossible without dissection; maybe simply a type of worm that affects the spinal column, making vastly dismembered/beheaded zombies a possibility, only truly neutralized after complete incapacitation.
I also noted that this wasn't the only way that a
'zombie' could be created. Though it was kinda in the corner. But yeah, it's more insideous if it's inside.

>To boot, try to work the "operating difference" between host and parasite into their behavior.
I did. Guess why the rotters are so horrible, slow, and spastic? If you guessed degeneration of the neural tissue, you get a cookie.

>It seems like a newly created/poorly integrated zombie would have difficulty operating, so they may be more/less ferocious than a normal human, exhibiting insect/animal-like behavior or potentially even becoming an animal. (Imagine that. A pack of fucked-up bodies prowling the forest.)
I like this. Give this man a drink, he may stay.

>>3097218
Everyone's in the same exact situation. Hell, I was thinking of what china would be like with this happening. Think of all those bodies and the small spaces...

Though, it depends on how 'accidentally prepared' everybody is for this situation for what happens. Presumably, Africa's kinda fucked, so is South East Asia. Kim's totally dicked, I'd bet.

Species Unclassified #00521: "Greystone Gouger"

Named after the town they were first encountered in. Much of a Gouger's mass is inside the 3' long knife-like 'horn' (actually an exoskeletal sheathe that houses the organs) protruding from a spherical abdomen, from which six slim five-jointed legs radiate, ending in clawed foot-mouths. They are generally colored grey in the fleshy limbs, while the horn can range in hues ranging from a dark brown to a bright amber. At most times these creatures are docile grazers, subsisting on grass, mushrooms (they appear to be fond of Unclassified Flora #722), brittle minerals, and small animals. While at rest they sit together in social clumps of 3-7 creatures, or hang horn-down from the branches of trees. They seem to possess a keen sense of smell and hearing, the orifices for which are the small holes around the lower portion of the 'horn'.
Periodically, these creatures enter a feral state in which they become aggressive. In this state they will produce modulating shrieking calls, sharpen their horn and claws against trees and buildings, and attack humans and other large animals viciously. This is done by charging their victim at high speed (up to 50 mph), impaling them on their 'horn', and then either lifting their victim off the ground (and further impaling them), or by biting and clawing with their feet (double-jointed legs) while lodged in place. After killing its target, they often stab it a few times with its' horn, and then may immediately become docile once again. It is thought that this rage state may be related to mating rituals, although Gougers have never been seen to attack each other and the rage state is not connected with any local seasons or weather.

>>3097221
Better bring your flamethrower, an M1A2 Abrams with flechette rounds, and a lot of gas with you.

The civilised world lies on its knees, a sickness wracking its body. The affliction causes a necrotising of tissues so perfectly uniform in distribution that victims take on the appearance of corpses long before death occurs due to organ failure or secondary infections. The crumbling remnants of academia swing from fatalistic resignation to maddened optimism in their addressment of what could be done to fight the sickness.
The vast numbers of doctors attempting to stem the tide of infection, invariably falling victim to the malady they treat, have begun to form fanatical extermination squads whose policies are condoned by authority. A notion forms, twisting the tenets of the Hippocratic oath to say that when the oath taker is subject to the half-death of infection they are obliged to spend their lasting days attempting to destroy the source of the contagion. The paramilitary forces formed from the infected medical practicioners find themselves deigned to mete out persecution to the sufferers they were formally treating. Equipped with the leftovers of dissolved military forces, the Doctors' Militia are organised to burn all infected areas and sufferers; a campaign which stalks across blasted lands, mirroring the wave of infection in an addled attempt at backtracking all the way to some imaginary source.
Extensive bombing campaigns start firestorms that incinerate whole cities. Squads of "scorched earth" units are tasked with eradicating outlying locales. The distinctive appearance of the plague doctors, the only sight originally associated with any idea of hope, often causes the confused survivors of bombing runs to rush, open armed, towards the oncoming squads.

Species Unclassified #0144: "Whisperer"

Proliferation: Difficult to classify. Reports center about dark, narrow areas like tunnels, but not limited to those areas. Almost no reports from areas around even moderate human habitation. Exact numbers too difficult to estimate at this time.

Description: Small, dark, and quite skilled at remaining unseen. It is believed by Dr. Lievern and his team that Whisperers often stalk and wear down their prey without ever being seen.
The first indication on being in an area occupied by Whisperers is, naturally, whispering. Described by one soldier believed to have come in contact with them as, "faint enough to hear, but not understand. Noises - definitely words, definitely - but not from a mouth. Oh God." As exposure continues words become distinct and often, as the men of 12 division (SEE REPORT LEIV-MAR-0144-086) recalled, verbalizing things recently spoken by and even thought by those coming into contact with them.

It is worth noting here again that no-one has actually witnessed a Whisperer kill anyone, so it can only be guessed in the more vague terms how many mortalities can be attributed to them annually. The sound of one's own thoughts has proven to be singularly unnerving, moreso than even our top scientists could fathom. Recent studies mapping water-flow in the brains of Whisperer-victims have shown signs of hyper-stimulation in areas known to be strongly linked to fear. A terrifying implication of this could be a possible link to the corpse of a mister Rian Williams who was found, torso mangled gruesomly (and evidently over some long period of time) and whose brain had scar tissue forming in that area of his brain.

No physical description could be attributed to this creature until last week when an unidentified small (mammalian?) quadriped was captured and brought into our facility.
It was of the aproximate size of a house cat. It lacked a tail and in the place of a head was a mass of what I can only describe as "sharp, writhing fibers." It moved very slowly and ate nothing while we had it. The creature had been captured by a team who were experiencing strongest indications of being stalked by a whisperer, upon being captured though, all 'whispering' ceased. There was little doubt in the minds of the men though, that this thing was a Whisperer. Tragically, I never got the oppertuningty to give it anything but the most cursory examination because it died the night after it was brought in.

One Private Lewis Davis was stationed to guard its paddock and was later noted by sources as looking extremely agitated while on duty. Evidently at some point between 0300 and 0400, Davis entered the cage it was being kept in and bludgeoned it to death with the butt of his rifle before killing himself.

About an hour ago, during the preliminary portion of his autopsy we found that he ate three of his fingers at some point before firing the lethal round into his temple.

>>3097263
Hmm...

Damn, should I let anon go mad with grimdarking the shit out of this? I like it, but then the Fallout problem crops up a bit if people get too liberal with it.

had a similar dream, but precious metals slowed the disease or something, really hard to remember that part.

The lights flickered out as the power to the building died, and the three survivors descended into darkness. They had locked themselves into the bank vault after being chased by, whatever it was, and now huddled around waiting for the scratching to cease. One of them produced a flashlight and they looked around the empty vault and glanced nervously at one another, no one willing to speak as the sound of metal being scratched echoed through the metal room. It suddenly stopped and a deep silence fell over the three. It was shattered by an unearthly howl which burst out from the empty air and caused the three to fall to the ground, shaking. Then the howl was cut off and the sound of heavy weight hitting the granite floor resonated around the room. An eternity passed as the three sat quietly, no one able to move. Eventually one stood up, listened to the door and slid away the lock. A corpse of the creature lay at the ground before them, its black rubbery flesh drawn taught over its misshaped skeleton, contorting it into a indecipherable form. They looked to one another, a pool of urine forming around the feet of one. They prepared to move and turned off the flashlight...

One week later, a group of scavengers crept into the bank stumbling on the rubbery corpse of a "hellhound" and three dried out bodies, skin stretched across their skeletons. The group ran out of the bank and shut the doors, spray painting the word, "DRINKER" across the front as a warning to others.

>>3097283
>and in the place of a head was a mass of what I can only describe as "sharp, writhing fibers."
oh fuck I'm shitting bricks

>>3097288
No. Stick with the guy doing Unclassified Species, his stuff is awesome.

>>3097306
Hmmh. Well, I'd also like some other creatures that tend to be freaky, but not absolutely, totally fucknuts. Hunters of some kind?

I'd also wonder if there should be a 'common enemy' that humans in the US have to face? Like say some sort of quasi-society group that's just bent on wiping everything out, who know how to use human weapons (kinda), et cetera? Or am I just wanting Orkz bad enough here?

Keith Thompson's Pripyat Beast

When the secondary explosion occurred at the reactor, spewing an almost immeasurable torrent of radioactivity into the jet stream, surrounding locales could only survive long enough to form mass graves for their dead. The under supplied, unprotected and ultimately doomed clean up crews sent their overseeing emergency committee a flurry of distress signals and sporadic reports of beasts emerging from the piles of bodies on the outskirts of towns. These beasts were said to vary dramatically, and appeared to be sickening amalgamations of people and livestock.

>>3097343
Disregard that, I suck cocks. No true 'orkz.'

This archived yet? 'cuz damn.

>>3097359
Damn? A simple idea and it's already archive quality? Damn.

>>3097343
Well, this depends on your setting. Do want it to be horror kind of thing like a STALKER sort of situation or some sort of thing like Fallout, where they have super mutants and raiders? I'm not saying these are the only to choices, but I have a headache right now and can't come up with much else.

Basically you have those two. You can a bunch of creepy fuckoff monsters that are very difficult to destroy entirely or you can have a common enemy that you can eventually wipe out a little more easier.

I personally like creepy fuckoff monsters and shit, but that's because there haven't too many stories or games that scare me enough.

Anyways, this thread kicks ass. Thanks for postan OP, and others.

>>3097344
I bet taking one of those down would feel awesome. I'd probably get a boner.

>>3097305

why, are you suddenly very pleased with your own writing?

>>3097223

Like I said, I was purposefully trying to skim out only the main ideas so that I couldn't get "lost" in what you had. I have a bad habit of getting too convinced of someone's ideas by reading it thoroughly that by the end, my constructive criticism has simply become, "Hm. Good ideas."

A question I had, though; are the zombies or the "mysterious creatures" going to be the primary focus? If it's going to be the zombies, you may want to consider making the creatures more... intelligent? When you first spoke of new animal calls and strange encounters, I immediately began to think of A Whisper In Darkness. The thought of something -higher- on the evolutionary chain than us is a pretty unsettling thought instead of simply using animalistic variations. While it's harder to work with as an encounter, it does create a greater sense of, "Huh. We're fucked, huh?" than things you can use comparisons to describe.

Ugh. Again, I'd rather just use e-mail or IM or something to discuss it. This seems like an amazing setting, but without being able to ask a question and get a response on-demand, it's hard to string ideas together without going in a already planned/unneeded direction. I couldn't remember the password for the other e-mail (I use it so rarely), so use the above one instead if you do want to rap.

Werd.

Species Unclassified #0080: Spewer

MEDICAL REPORT, SUBJECT: PRIVATE ALVIN HAWSER, SURGEON: DR. RICHARD TENNEY DATE: 08-10-2012

Private Hawser was admitted to the medical wing unconcious, having been dragged in by three members of his squad. He had a strange, cancerous-looking growth projecting out from his right elbow and connected at even intervals to his forearm by thin, fleshy strands of what later found out to be nerve tissue. One of Private Hawser's squadmates explained that they had been out on patrol when they came across a trail of "slime" leading to a cavern, where they found several eggs. One of the eggs hatched while Private Hawser has been antagonizing it, and the organism inside attached itself to his arm, causing what he described as "the fucking worst pain" he had ever experienced, equivalent to "having your veins turned into boiling fucking acid".

The shock of this sudden symbiosis caused Priavet Hawser to lose conciousness. It was discovered, upon his waking, that the creature had linked itself irremovably to Private Hawser's nervous and circulatory systems, and that he could, with but a mere thought, influence the creature to vomit forth a particularly powerful stream of molecular acid up to twenty feet away. The first accidental test firing of this acid melted right through the three-foot thick titanium walls of the medical wing.

This acid was produced using nutritional products "stolen" from the Private's own blood stream, and takes a matter of hours to produce enough acid for another firing. It has been determined that the creature poses no immediate threat to the Private, other than increasing his appetite, and attempts to locate and possibly domesticate the creature which laid these eggs has proved unfruitful.

>>3097364
Point taken. Seeing it in that light... Fuck Mutants. Bigga monstas.

>>3097374
>Like I said, I was purposefully trying to skim out only the main ideas so that I couldn't get "lost" in what you had. I have a bad habit of getting too convinced of someone's ideas by reading it thoroughly that by the end, my constructive criticism has simply become, "Hm. Good ideas."
Then add my shitty grammar on top, and then things start to go to hell quite quickly.

>A question I had, though; are the zombies or the "mysterious creatures" going to be the primary focus? If it's going to be the zombies, you may want to consider making the creatures more... intelligent?
No. Focus isn't the zombies, nor directly the creatures. It's more about trying to survive, and, if you can, reclaim what was once ours.

>When you first spoke of new animal calls and strange encounters, I immediately began to think of A Whisper In Darkness. The thought of something -higher- on the evolutionary chain than us is a pretty unsettling thought instead of simply using animalistic variations. While it's harder to work with as an encounter, it does create a greater sense of, "Huh. We're fucked, huh?" than things you can use comparisons to describe.
Higher on the food chain = yes. I wasn't going for just humanoids, or just monsters, or just Mad Max. I was also going for something akin to, "... Is this thing as smart, or smarter than I am?" As well as something that could potentially do a myriad of things to your body that nobody's ever seen before. Only time you'll see it happen is when those... -things- are around.

>>3097306

That's several people, methinks. I did the Spider Parasite. But I could be wrong. If I intruded on some dude's game, I apologize.

>>3097343
Well, this depends on your setting. Do want it to be horror kind of thing like a STALKER sort of situation or some sort of thing like Fallout, where they have super mutants and raiders? I'm not saying these are the only to choices, but I have a headache right now and can't come up with much else.

Basically you have those two. You can a bunch of creepy fuckoff monsters that are very difficult to destroy entirely or you can have a common enemy that you can eventually wipe out a little more easier.

I personally like creepy fuckoff monsters and shit, but that's because there haven't too many stories or games that scare me enough.

Anyways, this thread kicks ass. Thanks for postan OP, and others.

>>3097435
repost?

Just FYI 70% death toll worldwide is not a "near-extinction," cause there'd still be nearly 2 billion people around, which is the estimated world population in 1920.

If anything, the world would be a lot better off.

>>3097364
Here's a thought.
I would prefer this as a horror game to a more camp Fallout vibe. But I like the idea of raiders, not as primitive bloodthirsty ingrates, but as something more horrifying to encounter. Silent, White-Masked and Enigmatic.
They appear in desolate areas, and only when they have been dispatched by whatever entity directs them to retrieve objects, data... or people. Not seen near settlements, some say because they would be driven away. However, the Raiders are quite obviously a match for most settlement's paltry defenses (excluding the military-run ones), so their real reason remains a mystery to the rest of the survivors.
I imagine that the raiders seem to have a mental link with each other, explaining their cold, silent approach and execution. Non-Raider consciousnesses aggravate this delicate network, and they can create more Raiders by abducting 'volunteers' for an unknown procedure. They have no known headquarters, but a place that is frequently used by 'cabals' of Raiders for rest and shelter is marked with a white misshapen skull, spray-painted onto a wall. Such places are frantically avoided (not that they're hard to find in the first place).

>>3097385
Nah, not bigger monsters, better ones. Go to /x/ and ask for help on moster shit. Now you can incorperate the mutant things in the game or story but make it like they're not a huge thing. Like small bases or camps of the mutants. This could work well and have both of those situations I talked about work in tandem, at least a little bit. You could have the humans fighting the mutants and give the humans hope that they can take back their world, but in reality the other monsters are much harder to exterminate due to the other monsters not being in a cohesive group.

God damn I hope this post isn't retarded.

>>3097448
This is a preliminary thought, but note taken. I do have to point out that most people who died weren't thinking they were about to die. Lots of traffic accidents and the like can take their toll. So that number's not exactly correct, I'd think.

Poster from >>3097248
I didn't realize that was all just one guy. I thought it was a case of 'chip in' where you want. Eh. Maybe I should use a different specification.

Specimen #0415 "Drag Rat"
(Image file: The remains of a small (less than 1' long) triped, possessing a single long foreleg ending in a paw with seven radial 'fingers' and two short but powerful hind legs and a long, flat tail. The head of the specimen has four eyes, and a sharp serrated beak similar to a bird of prey. The wrinkled skin of the creature is pale grey, with splotched markings on the hindquarters. The specimen appears to have been bludgeoned to death.)

Specimen is the most-intact of several recovered shortly after the clearing of an old warehouse. Reports state that the creatures are fast, nimble, and quite curious and intelligent. Displayed no initial hostility. See attached audio file.

>>3097488

Audio plays: "We had been clearing out the nearby businesses all day, and the streets were stinkin' with all the bodies we pulled out. Sarge told us it was gettin' to be about quittin' time, so we decided to set up camp in the warehouse. Even though we had been in there a couple hours back, Sarge told us to sweep it again. So we did. Me and Nick got first watch.

Afterwards, we put up a few lanterns in the middle of the floor and got into our rations. I'd just finished my brownie when I hear Nick whisperin' something. I look over, and he's holdin' out a bit of protein bar, making 'here kitty' noises.

That's when I first saw it. It came right up, sniffed at him, and then reached out and took the food right out of his hand and stood there nibbling at it. I grabbed my sidearm and hollered at the boys, but by then there were at least thirty of the little fuckers all over our camp. They were knocking over the lights, climbing into peoples sleeping bags, chewing holes in the packs. The rest of the squad woke up screaming, scrambling for their guns, and then it all got kinda crazy for a few minutes. They were fast as anything, zooming across the floor like little drag racers, and they'd grab shit and then backpedal out of the light just as fast. Shit, they took the silk bookmark outta that little bible my wife gave me, and that was in the inside pocket of the jacket I was FUCKING WEARING.

After a couple minutes of madness they just vanished, leaving us with little bites. Then the grenade hanging from Nick's belt went off cuz one of the little bastards had stolen the fucking pin."

>>3097441
Unfortunately so.

The comp I'm using is a windows 98 from 1998. so it tends to fuck up quite a bit when I try to post.

>>3097409

When I said "focus," I meant more in combat, but still. Point taken.

You could always consider making parasites period the primary "villain"? Minor ones create zombies while different strains adapt their hosts. Coming across a cluster of humans, bloated, splitting, and connected via entrails to create a breeding hut would be a fairly ominous sight. Some create adaptation urges - it's easy enough to rob a few eyeballs and integrate on various regions of the body, or rip off a jawbone or two to create impromptu climbing appendages.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that including both - parasitic zomboids as well as out-of-time horrors - seems to create an inconsistency in horror pattern. I'm sure you've thought this through already, but as I see it, it makes either side harder to be afraid of. The zombies are scary due to the body horror/reversal of established life-death cycle aspect while the anomalous creatures are scary due to them being completely disregardful of our reality. It just seems like combined, they send mixed messages. "Okay, the zombies are scary, but with all of this crazy crap going on, they're pretty... normal."

>>3096160
Sounds cool, can I play?

>>3097491
grenade pin theft made me lol

>>3097453
Two images popped into my mind here.

One of the entrance to an underground shelter of sorts, light flickering as a colossal thunderstorm rages outside. The man on-duty takes another drag from his cigarette, shotgun propped against his chair. A metallic banging jerks him out of his respite. The old shave-and-a-haircut knock, echoing around the entrance chamber.

*Tat-Ratta-tat-tat... tat-tat*

Slowly, readying his shotgun, the man gets up and approaches the door. The rain outside is deafening, and for a moment when he draws the slide back all he can see outside is the rain and the jagged silhouette of the horizon... then his eyes adjust some more and he sees the white shape in the darkness, right in front of him, inside a hood, two black holes for eyes. Then the barrel of a silenced pistol slides through the hatch and presses against his forehead, and he sees no more.

Two is a lot stranger. One of the more heavily populated settlements, and as a civilian is crossing a short bridge, glancing down the dried-up bed of the small river that once coursed through the town, he sees a lone figure standing under the next bridge down the way. A mottled black and grey combat suit, complete with hood, and poking out like the face of an owl (not that the civilian has seen an owl in the past few years), the soft white mask. Completely covering the face, featureless save the black eye sockets. This is a town, they aren't supposed to be here oh god. Then the man blinks, and the Raider is gone. These incidents happen sometimes, a lone raider is spotted just standing, semi-hidden, in or near concentrations of human activity. Not fighting. Not moving. Just watching.

Chronospatial Anomaly: "Colour"

The "Colour" anomaly is considered to be extremely dangerous. It is a mobile anomaly which hovers a few inches off the ground, travelling noiselessly through the area. It is unknown what force compels it to move where it does: some move in perfectly linearly, passing over intervening terrain in a circle around the Earth while others change direction seemingly at random. Despite differences in maneuvering, the speed of the Colour anamoly is always a stable 1.22 m/s.

Whenever an object passes through the focal point of the anomaly, any and all color is instantly removed from it and transferred into the anomaly, leaving the object sepia toned.

The effects on non-biological matter are, so far, unnoticeable. Despite being stripped of most color, non-living objects seem to suffer no ill effects once stripped of color.

Biological organisms are a completely different matter. Once they have lost their color, they often mutate almost immediately, turning into highly-aggressive, bloodthirsty sepia toned monstrosities. Not even bacteria is spared, as evidenced by the horribly and efficiently lethal diseases that follow in the wake of Colour anomalies.

These anomalies, despite the danger they pose, are, thankfully, highly-visible: they appear as floating chromatic orbs, shining predominantly with the colors of the sun (as it is the most readily consumed source of color), but can also manifest colors it has recently absorbed.

It is reccomended that all citizens evacuate the areas Colour anomalies are sighted in immediatly to avoid their destructive potential.

OP, while your idea is, at heart, very generic, the ideas in this thread could make this interesting.

Make sure to watch Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, because that's the feel I think you're looking for. Not necessarily a race of new creatures, but a bunch of horrors that seem like they were plucked at random from their home, sweeping the entire range of "tiny and harmless" to "big and harmless" to "tiny and KILL YOU BY LOOKING AT YOU" to "huge and CITY DESTROYAN but not malevolent, only territorial"
No zombies. Dear god no zombies. The spacial anomalies could work well too.

I'd suggest no obviously sentient creatures, but some of them display some kind of incomprehensible intelligence. Don't make them "hurr hunt down humans, steal stuff, etc". That's what HUMANS do, and these things need to be utterly alien in their biologies and motivations.


Note: I said no zombies, but as someone mentioned, a kind of stationary, "living" corpse that gibbers and writhes, but doesn't attack or move could work VERY well. Leave it entirely unexplained, too. And make it localized; only certain buildings display the "wriggling corpse" phenomenon.

>>3097540
>I'd suggest no obviously sentient creatures, but some of them display some kind of incomprehensible intelligence. Don't make them "hurr hunt down humans, steal stuff, etc". That's what HUMANS do, and these things need to be utterly alien in their biologies and motivations.
Yeah. You've got a point.

As for zombies, I'm kinda attached to my rendition of them, but by no means are they the biggest group of non-humans out there. Of course, they're overused a shitload, but I think if you used them sparingly, it would be productive.

>Note: I said no zombies, but as someone mentioned, a kind of stationary, "living" corpse that gibbers and writhes, but doesn't attack or move could work VERY well. Leave it entirely unexplained, too. And make it localized; only certain buildings display the "wriggling corpse" phenomenon.
I'm liking the idea. Though I'm not sure how to go at it.

Hm. On this whole "raider" idea, there has to be at least one humanoid to be portal'd in, right? A small cluster of psionic humanoids all bundled up and obscured in STALKER-esque hazmat/riot gear would be an interesting enemy.

They're not aggressive, except when on a mission. They pillage odd items, often targeting military labs and other seemingly pointless (in a survival scenario) targets with a surgical success rate. They're not hostile to anything that keeps a distance, but the closer you come, the more aggravated their state becomes. (read: mental "noise" as mentioned earlier)

I like the idea of seeing a group of raiders standing on the frills of a battle. They only watch. When the PCs cross the area again later (assuming they don't run cleanup themselves), the corpses are picked clean of tools, identification (again, it doesn't have to be explained - just an eerie touch), and, in the odd case, organs.

Species Unclassified #0964: "Big Boy".

Proliferation: No apparent pattern in sightings, but fairly commonly witnessed in dense woodland areas

Description: This vaguely humanoid creature stands nearly 7' tall, it's long, thick arms dragging along the ground, with excessively long legs to match. The pitch-black skin appears to be stretched taut over it's muscles, though occasionally it's limbs will swell inexplicably, and it's torso is dominated by a single enormous eye, with no mouth, nose, or other sensory organs apparent.

While it's size would ordinarily lead one to believe it weighs slightly more than a human of similar size, all analysis shows otherwise. This species footsteps sink inexplicably deep into the ground, most measurements showing these holes reaching 2 to 3 feet deep, with some variance based on the material of the surrounding earth. This suggests that the creature either unintentionally bores into the ground with some as-of-yet unknown process, or it's astounding weight actually causes it to sink into the ground significantly with every step.

All efforts to subdue one of these subjects have been completely fruitless. While the creature moves rather slowly, it appears to be completely unstoppable, simply walking through solid stone, buildings, or any other objects that would impede it. It's skin appears to be highly resistant to damage, as well; of the few times this species has been encountered, no weaponry could inflict any wound on the creature, from bullets to handheld explosives, even to vehicular assault.

Socially, these creatures are completely despondent, unreactive to any attempts at communication. They are generally nonreactive to their environment, though curiously, they will occasionally pause and search the area, sometimes scooping up what appear to be ordinary rocks and crushing them against their torso.

Interaction is not recommended, as such action is likely to be useless entirely.

>>3097561
How to go at it? Make the "zombies" an environmental feature, not an enemy. Corpses don't stop moving no matter how destroyed they are, and it doesn't seem to have a biological cause. Use it to really creep out your players, maybe throw a Whisperer in there so that the, albeit unrelated, whispers and corpses start to inflict severe SAN penalties on your players.

>>3097564
are they human? Or something else? I'm guessing the HAZMAT gear are things they looted, though.

I like this, you wanna continue on it? I was wondering if there were going to be some other humanoids, or if the humies were gonna fight among themselves the entire time.

On that note, I'm seeing a Hummer supply train driving through a forest, a bunch of those STALKER Aliens just staring at them as they drive by, guns in hand but at the sides.

>>3097538
>Not even bacteria is spared, as evidenced by the horribly and efficiently lethal diseases that follow in the wake of Colour anomalies.

!!!

http://www.keiththompsonart.com/pages/viraemia.html

Especially given OPs choice of picture, I was reminded alot of this. Definitely get some of this shit inspired into it.

>>3097564
Raiderguy here.
This is good, real good. I liked the fact that they apparently replenish their numbers by abducting survivors though, and as for the appearance, you've played STALKER I assume. The bandits with black coats, sweaters and generally good equipment? Them, but with a white mask instead of a seedy old balaclava. They wouldn't need power armour or anything too extravagant, because they rely more on a lightning-fast telepathic communication, intense physical training and weapon knowledge to be fast, surgical and silent. I am loving your contributions by the way.

Another thought is this: These beings, human or extradimensional, are extremely good at surviving. How do we know? They don't seem to have a defended settlement anywhere (aside from the small cabal shelters) yet in a world full of colossal threats to existence, they seem to do just fine wandering around in the open in the most hazardous regions.

I know that you wanted to keep the people plain people, but if you're going with your original idea that the disease allowed evolution on a quantum-mechanic level (w/e that means) maybe you could have some limited powers to supplement: I SHOOT AT IT *miss* I SHOOT AT IT *miss* IT CLAWS ME *dead*

Maybe the player would be able to consume the bodies of the creatures in order to fill a kind of power reservoir, and then expel it in the form of directed energy.

>>3097575
What if there was a combination of both? Some are just dead corpses, but others are actually listening in? They're not always deadly, but sometimes they can snap if you get too close to one? It's rare, but it can happen.

What I kinda meant about "how I should go about this" is if I should remove the zombies I've got, keep the ones already there, do both, or just go for another idea? Remember, I just thought of this about (now) 6 hours ago.

>>3097616

No.

>>3097457
>>3096917
FYI, NEVER EVER GO TO /x/.

It's /b/ with Ghost Blowjobs. You don't want the /x/philes coming here, all it will be is TROLL TROLL TROLL and MAGIC IS FOR FAGS. There are about 10 people total (seriously) on the board that might help, compared to hundreds on /tg/, and the place is a warren of trolls.

/tg/ is better informed about Lovecraft, better informed about horror, and FAR better with original new content. Stay the fuck away from linking /x/philes to /tg/ if you value this board's sanity.

>>3097561

To travelers of this area, perhaps they can be colloquially known as 'weeds', under a myth that they are re-animated corpses by trees made sentient by the chaos of this zone. Not that that is a reality, but that people believe it. For why they are re-animated, going into mumbo jumbo of electricity in humans and chemical stuff (and I wanted to consider a medical field!), perhaps anomalies within the zone re-animate corpses as well.

Either of these could work towards the idea you touch on here >>3097621 where the corpses behave like plants almost. In the case of the latter, maybe the proximity of another body (with it's own 'circuitry' of nerves and so forth) causes a frenzy in the corpse

>>3097616
Well, looking at the "Spewer" creature, how about finding things like this? Rare, for sure, but they grant their host new abilities in return for increased survival odds.

>>3097576

Ah, that was exactly what I was going for. An unsteady "alliance," mostly out of necessity - while seemingly docile, Raider attacks on bases and encampments have a 100% success rate, no matter how improbable. The reclamation groups tend to leave them be and avoid them if possible and they -are- considered threats, but they're... tolerated.

Such an odd "truce" is formed from ignorance. The only humans to have seen them are now all very much dead (as denoted by the bloody survival gear they're covered in), so their form is up for grabs at best. All of their loot is quickly squirreled away, even though convoys can be seen moving/stockpiling junk. In addition, they have a pseudo-hivemind, never talking to one another but always understanding.

Their primary in-game use is to make the PCs feel watched and uneasy. They're obviously intelligent, but it's vague as to what degree. They're obviously humanoid (in outward appearance), but again beyond general form that's all known. They obviously have a plan, but the ends are sketchy. They don't seem to want to kill, but their dramatic disposition based directly to distance makes it seem like a very possible outcome.

It could make for very interesting found logs. Maybe some gung-ho Marine fag-stomper didn't take kindly to them, and decided to pick a fight with a passing troop.

All that's left are the videos.

Even then, you might want to burn those...

Chronospatial Anomaly: "X-Ray"

A completely harmless anomaly. It typically encompasses a fairly large area, but is completely invisible to all means of detection until one is inside of it. Within the field, victims experience a kind of full-sensory hallucination which completely suffuses their senses.

Victims have described the effects of being in the X-Ray anomaly akin to seeing the surrounding world as a dark, hellish landscape: comrades are seen as vicious monsters; familiar landmarks become perverted, twisted versions of themselves; and the smells and sounds of the world are disturbingly changed. Victims have reported several smells in the X-Ray Anomaly including sulfur, burning flesh or hair, putrescine, vomit and others; while describing full ranges of noises, from ambient sounds of fire burning in the distance, to mumbled gibberish, to loud, unbearable shrieking from every direction.

The effects of the X-Ray anomaly can't harm the victim physically but can cause lasting psychoogical damage if a victim stays within its radius for too long.

Additionally, many younger Raiders are often seen entering known X-ray anomalies naked save for a flask of water and a sack of rations. It is hypothesized that this is a some kind of trial by fire for young raiders, but little evidence exists to support this.

>>3097635
Fuck. *posted a thread already*. Explains why I didn't get anything good from them 4 posts in.

>>3097621
Hmm, I see what you mean. I like the "but wait, some of them arn't dumb and harmless".

Actually, you could base the campaign around that. Convince your players there are no real zombies, then start dropping mysterious encounters with what seem to be motile corpses...and corpses that seem to be spying on them.

I'm not sure how this would mesh with your parasite idea; I think it'd be better to leave it unexplained.

>>3097635
Oh yeah, I forgot.

Well anyways, OP, try and look for some creepy pasta or SCP stuff, if you can.

>>3097664

Leave nothing for man to know. As is to be expected.

Goddamn, before I was kinda unsure. But now I think I'm getting a bit of the hang of this.

Oh, and before I start searching, anyone wanna page through this for ideas? I like the weirdness of it, though it's too... IN YO FACE HAHA IM A WEIRD MUTHAFUCKA to directly port.

http://brasscockroach.com/h4ll0w33n2007/manga/Amigara-Full/Amigara-0.html

>>3097675
DRR DRR DRR

>>3097605

I really wanted their nomadic, seemingly miraculous habits to be a sheer mystery, possible only explained through records others kept. There needs to be at least one complete unknown in all of this, and it being a humanoid one seemed the most unsettling. They look like us. They move like us. They seem to -be- us. Only completely silent and (seemingly) with their own agenda.

That's just my take on it, though.

Hm. Idea for a potential encounter, inspired by a previous post: A knock on the bunker door. A Raider stands there, a few other behind him in tight ranks. At the point of the story this would occur, it would be more than established what they're capable of.

"A Raider and troop stand at your door, seemingly wanting entrance. What do you do?"

>>3097605
Damn, what if they're 'beakies?" (see pic above and the link with one holding an RPG-7) instead of human on the outside? Not one of them takes their mask off. Ever. Would make for an interesting iconic image.

Why am I being reminded of Kenku...

OP, I'm curious if you've read Terry Brooks' "Genesis of Shannara" trilogy, which gives a portrait of a similar world to yours. In his scenario you've actually got manipulative demons in human form working to exterminate the human race. They brought about global nuclear war, poisoning the entire earth; now they command armies of men who turned to them for survival at the unknowing cost of their humanity.

The novels are set about a generation in. Major cities usually have a couple compounds, which the armies of once-men are steadily laying siege to and destroying before abducting the survivors for slave camps where many children will be transformed into demonic forms. Outside of compounds, small communities get wiped out by raiders, plagues and monsters; small "tribes", generally composed of teens and smaller children, compete over resources and rarely have a chance to stay in one place for more than a few years. They fight off threats using lethal injections, tasers mounted on poles, knives and the occasional working firearm- the general tech level everywhere has degraded to medieval, with armies of once men trading artillery for siege towers. All vehicles are electric, running on batteries charged by solar power.

>>3097681
Shit yourself, then swallow your cyanide pills.

>>3097688
Haven't read it. Sorry. I'm going off from vidyagamez, STALKER, and general horror-sense (tm). Plus a few books that I've probably forgotten about in the past but have shaped me in some way.

>>3097605

Forgot to mention.

The idea of abductions seems a little hit-and-miss. The idea of mysterious abductions of those that wander too close for unspecified purposes seems alien enough, but if it's a "brainwash" into their ranks, it seems like they're being humanized too far. They become a little... familiar if you know there's actually humans behind some of those masks.

Again, it was originally your idea, so this is just my input on it.

>>3097697
I tend to agree? Abductions for rank insertion? Naw mang. How about abductions of people for limited periods of time, where they are treated hospitably for a few days, but can't leave until a certain time. When that time's up, nobody stops them, but they don't tell him/her that they can leave.

Either that or you can get people to be turned into beakies and get on with it. I like the former a little more, though.

>>3097646
Another thing about the Raiders. I don't know about making them completely invincible (sure, they can take down the blind colossi in groups of two or three but they shouldn't be deus ex machinas), but if someone were to ever actually manage killing a Raider, what would they find? I imagined a spook-esque situation where the looter would find that the clothing is all tagless, they carry wallets but nothing in them, no ID, money, personal effects etc. If the Raiders want to trade for something (rare compared to their usual Directive: Murder approach), they carry money in cases almost at arms' length, as if something that has touched so many human hands and minds makes them uneasy. As for appearance under the armour... nobody has ever dared to remove it. Not even the few souls brave and lucky enough to have brought one down.

When a Raider falls, a trio of its brethren from anywhere within a few hundred miles (even if the three are separated or on opposite sides of this radius) will commence a journey to retirieve the body of their fallen comrade, becoming tireless and running/stalking/climbing a near-direct path to the body. When a Deathwalk is triggered, the chosen ones have been recorded as having black masks, as opposed to the usual white. It should be noted though, that killing a Raider in the first place is almost unheard of, and actual observance of the Deathwalkers retrieving their comrade is considered a curse of sorts, as those who witness it are paid particular attention to by the Raiders.

>>3097675
>>3097669
>>3097661
Yeah, it's not a good place to go to since the great /b/ purge earlier this year when /b/ flooded it and never left. However, I can give you these two references where the remnants of /x/ (of which I was a big fan of) fled to.

http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/
Complete Fanbase of SCP with intertwining plot, characters, and constantly updating events. Characters live and die, get created and promoted. It's pretty incredible and EZMode for a CTech game backstory and history, the word in depth does not begin to describe it.

and http://www.creepypasta.com/. It has the complete Holder's Series which makes for an excellent CoC game on the fly, as it's episodic based and very linear. And freaky if your players haven't been exposed to it.

WHO WAS PHONE? constantly updates the site, and there is quite a bit of zombie survival stories littered throughout. Again, alot more backstory with easy smash and grab setups for your plot.

Finally, resident /x/writer Josef K. has http://thejosefkstories.blogspot.com/ which updates every week, rather than the monthly updates on the SCP Wiki. He has several awesome post-apoc stories, along with Black Fedora you can find on the SCP Wiki.

>>3097702
Take off the mask, and a C4 charge in the vest goes off seconds later?

Regarding anomalies: Well, think of it this way. The purpose of anomalies is to add flavor to encounters, create hazards during travel, and provide interesting encounters. In a roleplaying game, "I go around" is a sentence rather than an act of gameplay. Instead, I'd suggest having anamolies be zones usually the size of a city block. Detecting them normally means spotting the warped scenery and so on. Finding yourself in one generally means you're in a dangerous situation and must act quickly and carefully to get out, unless you've got some reason to proceed further inwards- like moving into a patch of quicksand.

>>3097685

Very distinct, but it'd be a tad out of place for them all to be wearing middle-age plague masks when only a few would actually be available (if that many). I doubt anyone would actually have a few-hundred-year-old mask on them, so they'd have to have either made them or stole them from an archive specifically.

That is, going on the pure-theft appearance concept.

Maybe have one recurring raider that wears one? He appears by himself most of the time, so the mask he wears stands out. Established that, to some degree, you're being followed.

>>3097685
PROTIP: Those "beakies" are modelled after real-life plague doctors from the Black Plague era. They actually wore those masks.

OP, have you been watching Stephen King's "The Mist" lately?

>>3097705
Addenum: I meant WHO WAS PHONE? updates creepypasta.com.

I hope all that is useful to both you and /tg/. I've abused the SCP wiki to high hell for game ideas/artifacts.

>>3097717
Even better. I knew plague docs wore those masks, which is kinda why I'm of the idea of making the raiders into 'beakies'. Stop me if I sound retarded, though, but that kinda sounds badass. Are they birdmen? or do they just wear weird masks? If you wanted to, you could also go All native american about it. I remember seeing some masks duing a summer camp Indian event (West Coast) that could open up and and things, of which was epic.

>>3097719
No. The beginning of this shit just hit me like a train after I had this one weird dream and then something happened as I was on my way to school.

>>3097712
>>3097702

Do dig. You could create a neat scenario where the first recorded Raider death has occurred and your base was the nearest, so it was brought there for study. However, the Raiders would like the body back...

It'd give the PCs a good chance to participate in a battle against them without being the targets themselves, near-ensuring a swift demise. Like, more of a "seeing it in action" event.

As for the rigged mask, it would solve the "What do their faces look like?" problem, but just removing their clothes as well would ruin their aura. Perhaps multiple wires to the charge placed across the entire body on the lowest level of clothing?

>>3097732
Well, the "mysterious crazy monsters from out of nowhere" is straight out of The Mist. At least read the wiki entry.

>>3097746
Kwak'wala birdmasks, anyone? (Not sure if it's actually Kwak'wala, but it's not like anyone knows waht the fuck I'm saying.

>>3097727

I'd rather the plague masks be like some new quasi-religious science "cult"

>>3097701
>>3097697
Okay, I agree with you guys. The raider thing has just been my constant stream of ideas, so some are not so well thought out. MAybe they shouldn't have once-been humans. But if they can seemingly get reinforcements every now and then, maybe there should be rumors. Maybe they know how to gain access to their native realm, and can pull more of their brethren through. Maybe there's noone inside the Raider armour, as if the tattered remains of a long-decayed soldier's suit just got up and walked off. Maybe they're fanatical worshipers of Quetzalcoatl who convene in secret? Nobody knows, and almost noone cares so long as the Raiders stay far away.

Permanent abduction? Cool. Hospitable treatment but you cannot leave for an unknown amount of time? Very cool, particularly from a disturbing/tension-building perspective. But if a player is detained in a Cabal's shelter, or taken to a larger Raider base, would they witness other behaviour by the Raiders that while alien to the player would be the daily routines of the Raiders?

Honestly, I'm REALLY hating the idea of these raiders. They would be great in a Fallout style world where there's humanoid monsters everywhere, but you wanted something alien and anti-Fallout. These Raiders...they're just your typical Rubber Forehead Alien bullshit.

>>3097756
What if they're based on the 'beakies?'

"LISTEN TO THOSE GODS UNDER THE MASKS, THEY HAVE THE PASSAGE TO SALVATION!"

And the beakies facepalm.

Or just have it as a red herring. They have it, the science cult has it, who the fuck knows why they both took it.

Thinking about it, I'm starting to get into a quasi 'mask fetish' over that kwak'wala mask.

>>3097756
Says who? I happen to be a 17th century Cherokee chieftan! :<

>>3097727

Eh. I'm not sure of giving them any planned motif would capture their enigmatic status as well as just the bloodied clothing they took from the first source they came across. Again, it seems to be humanizing them a bit to give them a human theme. Their similarity but simultaneous distance from "normal" is supposed to be their hook, so giving them something comparable would rationalize them a bit too far.

Just my two cents on it.

>>3097727
Seconded

>>3097776
D:.

That's... plains. Not the North-West Washington coast.

Chronospatial Anomaly: "Leech"

The Leech anomaly is a strange area of warped magnetogravitational attraction. A Leech anomaly can enclose a massive area, and is typically seen first by the particles of matter moving towards its nucleus.

Leech anomalies target one specific element, such as Oxygen, Gold, Nickle, Copper, Argon, etc. and slowly, gently pulls all of it out of the surrounding environment towards the center.

The dangerousness of this anomaly depends on the target element: A carbon-targetting Leech would pull all of the carbon atoms out of a victim's body, turning them into a messy slush. An aluminum-targetting Leech can pull the aluminum atoms out of a victim's armor, tooth fillings, accessories, weapons and, also, the structural elements in the buildings in the area, leaving them prone to collapse.

If a person can get to the center of the Leech Anomaly, they will find a floating chunk of whatever element the Leech targets for. In the case of rare metals, attempting to enter the anomaly to acquire them can be very lucrative, provided the chunk can be moved out of the anomaly before all of its atoms are pulled away.

>>3097788
ARE YOU ARGUING WITH A 17TH CENTURY CHEROKEE CHIEF? I WILL PUT A VOODOO CURSE ON YOU, BOY! A chieftan goes where he wants, and need not be confined to your silly "Great Plains". We are a magical folk!

>>3097768
They're becoming too large a part of the world, you're right. These guys are meant to be rare, like, most people would be lucky to see a cabal of them once in their life. We need to get back on track with the other phenomenon.

>>3097696
Armageddon's Children is the name of the book, if you're interested.

The actual point of the novels is to bridge the author's modern-day demon-hunting series (which always warned against doomsday if the heroes failed) and his fantasy setting, which has always quietly been acknowledged as having post-apocalyptic origins; "dwarves", "gnomes", "trolls" and so on are all actually subspecies of humanity that developed out of groups of survivors. So Armageddon's Children describes how you have various kinds of "freaks", which all started out as humans and became what they after surviving a particular sort of hazard- "Lizards" are created via a disease which starts by drying and hardening your skin in expanding patches, "Croaks" are brain-dead zombies who've taken in to much radiation a la Fallout ghouls, etc. Some mutants are mindless animals, but others are still eccentrically sane (though either timid or homicidal).

Random thought. Somewhat intelligent, friendly, benevolent creatures that aren't very good at being friendly. Say, some creature that likes humans and has noticed that lonely humans sometimes get preyed on by some other species. So it'd seek out lone people and small groups, and try to direct them to other humans. Which is fairly hard as the creature in question isn't capable of speech. So you'd have a large, alien looking god knows what following you and making angry noises when you're walking in a "wrong" direction.
Also, if the creature's not too bright, it might not consider that whoever it's trying to herd you to might not be there anymore. Or it might not have been human in the first place, if the thing's bad at telling little pink squishies apart from, say, raiders or zombies.

>>3097772

They could be an odd source of worship for some of those cults spoken of earlier..

>>3097768

In horror, the scariest things are the ones only a peg or so removed from ourselves, with a close second being the 100% unrecognizable (see: Lovecraft). The Raiders would be more scenery than actual enemies, and it's not like Fallout invented mysterious people with their own plan.

>>3097766
Mebe. I was thinking they'd just be at outposts and such, just sitting around while they wait for something.

But, no. Being once-humans is even more rubbery than that one guy said. It's... eh. No backstory to what they are. They've all got C4 or some sort of way to get rid of their body so the humans don't know shit.

For one, the Fallout mutants and raiders (discluding the normal-schmormal humies) generally were "GRAH! ME SMASH AND TALK AND SAY LOTS OF THINGS ABOUT YOUR DADDY AND HOW HE WAS A VIRGIN" while these guys are just. Silent. Effective. wearing weird bird masks (maybe). What the shit?

>>3097785
weird, strangely familiar yet distant logos that are suspiciously like Native American iconography, but only on their masks?

You kinda do have a point, after reading that again...

>>3097804
"Oh dear. It appears that the pinkskins are attempting to eat my bellybutton. Better get moving. Tra lala la la..."

Behind him, a path of destruction.

Dammit, now I'm daaaawing...

>>3097793
I think they COULD be used, but it would have to be delicately. They can't be obviously humanoid, which means you need to establish there's nothing underneath the walking clothes. They didn't steal it, it just started walking and a floating, white mask of unidentifiable material where the missing body's head was.

Make them travel in threes, and unless it is the central plot of a campaign, NEVER have more than three appear.

Don't have them steal stuff, leave them as ghostly watchers. Noone knows what they're watching, or what happened to the body that used to be in the clothes.

Maybe establish that breaking the mask (with heavy weapons) de-animates whatever it is, and provokes a reaction from the other two (murder? retreat? Up to you).

70% is nothing like extinction; it's more like going back to the 1900's, but with today's technology. After the initial shock passed, most people would actually be better off.

>>3097793
Yeah. Back to more monsters, or should there be some detail on what humans are doing?

>>3097811
Last thing I'll contribute to the Raiders, but how about this: The only recorded instance of a person trying to remove the clothing/mask of a Raider describes an intense feeling of dread that overwhelmed the looter as they approached the body. No matter how hard they push themselves, they cannot force their hands to lift off the mask.

Maybe the Raider corpse creates an intense psychic beacon through unknown means, which summons the troop of their brethren to retrieve the body. A side effect of this beacon is that nothing can approach within a meter or two of the body.

>>3097821
I'd disagree. Perhaps they'd raid, but very rarely. And I do like the idea of having a body behind the rags, but nobody can get to see them cause *BOOM* or something similar.

Otherwise, I kinda get the feeling that they're like prophets as described as just a mask, and what are they good for besides staring at everyone?

I dunno at this point.

>>3097821

Simply watching takes out any real threat it feels like they should have. It'd be just like a sheet-ghost won't leave you alone. They'd need to be obviously deadly and quite intent on something, but the PCs are never quite sure when they might step over the line.

Regardless. I had an idea for a creature.

A bat-like "barnacle" that attaches itself to any organic surface available, feeding off the nutritional runoff (or the forcibly absorbed nutrients, should the latch-ee not supply enough). They're non-aggressive, but so much as bumping into what they're on cause a serrated mouth to open and a whip-tongue to lash out at the offender. Trees, animals, zombies... (Imagine a shambler walking around covered in the things. The fuck.)

Know those ants that live in acacia trees that defend them while eating their fruit?

>>3097825
You're forgetting the Infrastructure's in shambles, society is still wracked with watching a whole 7/10ths of their number simply died off, a whole number more got killed by the accidents that resulted, and now there's things in the woods that make your brains to splat or any other exotic ways of death.

>>3097854
I didn't mean they shouldn't be deadly, I mean they shouldn't steal stuff. Make it so their watching is definitely a kind of searching; they are looking for something, and anyone in their path gets slaughtered, but they don't hunt humans that arn't getting in their way...unless the humans have something mysterious they want (reference strange artifact picked up in previous session, etc).

Attencione: I believe this thread to be in autosage. A new one needs to be founded and this one saved into wordpad or something if archiving isn't an option.

quick suggestion, increase the incubation period on your super plague.

quick, example. Ebola outbreaks are nasty and spread fast, but they rarely spread very far because they burn out fast. They kill the host too quickly. And that makes it something that is more easily contained.

Something that takes longer to kill, or doesn't display obvious symptoms for an extended amount of time before hitting with the effects would serve better as a superbug that managed to get everywhere.

Or you could imply it to be part of a bioweapons program. The russian approach to bioweapons for example is not to make 1 super strain, but to use a cocktail of strains for maximum effect.

Crackers
________
Skittish little kangaroo-mouse looking things with wirebrush like fur that hop all around the place and are kinda like a nuisance. When they die, their body turns into extremely acidic goop that burns through most known materials. Entire nests have laid buildings to shambles as the deathtoll rises. They can walk through their own dead without any troubles, however. The reason why they're named crackers, however, is because they have the ability to crack their joints loudly enough to sound like M-80s. When threatened or otherwise, they start cracking like mad.

>>3097865
>>3097889
Saved an HTML of up to the crackers post

>>3097868
cont
As for the zombies, i wouldn't relate them to the disease. It doesn't really tie in to the quantum stuff you mentioned.

How about instead of the usual cannon fodder. What if "zombies" were more more uncommon,

Quantum immortal. Tragic case of regular people trapped in a limited quantum immortality flux. To them, reality is completely ungrounded and sanity is very quickly shorn from them as they violently merge and vibrate with other selves on any number of adjacent universes, living in a constant state of fear, panic, and pain.

They tend to react unpredicatably, confused, and psychotically to their surropundings, and often become very violent. They often seem not quite connected to their environment, and though their appearance my shift rapidly from one moment to the next, they seem to alwaysbe in a haggard state with very little sanity or reason left at all.

What marks them as being particularly dangerous is actually killing a quantum immortal is an incredibly difficult task. Shoot them in the head and the bullet will somehow have not enough powder at the time to penetrate bone, or it may have skimmed across the scalp, or a bird might have flown in the way. Explode a bomb in their path and they'd likely be in an area of no shrapnel or significant effect. Push them off a building and they'd likely land on something soft enough to make a safe landing on. There are essentially he concept of quantum immortality working in reverse. And to kill one, you have to simply keep trying and hope one of the methods manages to stick to them in this universe. Unfortunately for some other shmuck, in some other universe, they still have the problem.

Well, homes, I've got to call it a night; I've class on the morrow. It was a pleasure working with you, and if the new thread is still around when I get back on the computer, I'll be sure to hit it up. Drop me a line if you'd prefer to converse directly.

Adieu~ <3

Other symbiotes/mutations:

"Sheller"
This symbiotic infection is contracted by submerging part or all the body in a pool of matte grey ooze that appeared in a small farming town. Where the viscous liquid makes contact with the body it causes the skin to thicken and harden, growing prodigiously on the backs of the forearm, shoulders, outer legs and back, and growing less to not at all on other softer areas. The sensation as the skin cells multiply and mutate has been described as "like a bee sting, slowly throbbing and swelling, but strangely numb." The resulting leathery plates are surprisingly hardy, showing resistance to fire, electrical shock, blunt impacts and even small arms fire, at the cost of permanent disfiguration.

The small farming village has now been fortified and converted into a "Sacred Ground" for a sect of religious fanatics who bathe in the pool as a rite of initiation. They also appear to have subjected some livestock and hunting animals to the Sheller pool, as calloused misshapen abominations roam the rotting wheat fields and sparse farmyards in the surrounding region. Two side notes: Other similar pools have wildly different but always lethal results ranging from chemical burns to simply being sucked in. And the Hardened Ones seem to have a superstitious loathing of insects, saying that should an insect somehow be submerged in the Sheller ooze (which would appear to repel insects for over a mile anyway), "Well... you won't like what comes out."

Damn, autosage. hit me up too if interested in continuing. Might be able to drawfag some stuff later.

"Jeez, this mask isn't coming off easily," grunted the man as he struggled to grip the smooth nose of the raider's mask. I was attempting to get further south when I ran into him at an outpost. We were both headed in the same direction and while he did seem a little crazy at first he knew survival and had enough gear to prove that he knew the basics of scavving. Things went downhill when we found the raider. I've always been more put off by raiders than other people, but when we passed this one the man changed entirely. "You killed my son, you fucking fucks!" and then he shot the raider, just like that. When it comes to raiders they are tough, they're strong, but several rifle shots to the chest followed by several stab wounds and they go down. I should have started running when I saw the man raise his gun, but now there was some sort of grim fascination holding me there, rooted to the ground. I would see what was under the mask. "It's starting to give, boy, now wat-" the man fell flat on his back, clutching the raider's mask, when the skin gave. The man pulled off the raider's face with the mask. The raiders once again proved to somehow know what was going to happen before it happened. They somehow attached their skin to the mask, remove the mask, remove the face. The man was furious. "Bastards!" the man screamed. "Man up and show me your fucking faces!" In that next moment several things happened. While the man was stopping to breathe in a bullet pierced the middle of his forehead, a raider in a black mask walked into the clearing from my left, and I heard something behind me. I spun around and saw the third of the deathwalkers, he had a pistol pointed at my head.

Damn. For some reason thread 2 isn't working right.

Impressive work guys...