Shotgun Diaries: Deadly Biology [ EDIT ]
This game has been retired! That means it's no longer being run.
Shotgun Diaries is a narrative gaming system in which the GM and players create a story about a group of survivors trying to live day-to-day while being constantly assaulted from all sides by the living dead.
Characters are based on Archetypes that are well-known tropes of zombie fiction: Strong survivors, Clever survivors, Dangerous survivors, Sneaky survivors, Fast survivors, and Helpless survivors. Instead of stats, abilities, and skills; players are allowed to roll dice as long as their characters stay in accordance with their survivor's archetype, and are penalized when they stray.
The simple mechanics of Shotgun Diaries encourages players to try and keep their characters working together as a cohesive group for the good of all, yet presents situations where they may be tempted abandon those in their group to save themselves when sticking around looks to be suicidal. The game's unique Fear mechanics can also inhibit even the most selfless players from allowing their characters to act in the best interests of the whole and cause them to flee in panic.
As the characters struggle from one day to the next to stay alive a Zombie Clock runs constantly in the background counting down unit by abstract unit, until the survivors sanctuary is inevitably overrun by the dead, and the survivors are once again forced to flee amid chaos and death.
For the Games Tavern post made, which summarizes gameplay and character creation processes a little bit better, see the following link:
http://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/1501/
Characters are based on Archetypes that are well-known tropes of zombie fiction: Strong survivors, Clever survivors, Dangerous survivors, Sneaky survivors, Fast survivors, and Helpless survivors. Instead of stats, abilities, and skills; players are allowed to roll dice as long as their characters stay in accordance with their survivor's archetype, and are penalized when they stray.
The simple mechanics of Shotgun Diaries encourages players to try and keep their characters working together as a cohesive group for the good of all, yet presents situations where they may be tempted abandon those in their group to save themselves when sticking around looks to be suicidal. The game's unique Fear mechanics can also inhibit even the most selfless players from allowing their characters to act in the best interests of the whole and cause them to flee in panic.
As the characters struggle from one day to the next to stay alive a Zombie Clock runs constantly in the background counting down unit by abstract unit, until the survivors sanctuary is inevitably overrun by the dead, and the survivors are once again forced to flee amid chaos and death.
For the Games Tavern post made, which summarizes gameplay and character creation processes a little bit better, see the following link:
http://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/1501/
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Because people die during a zombie apocalypse, and because they die somewhat quickly and dramatically in Shotgun Diaries, each character will be allowed to start the game with two separate characters. This will give each survivor a slight advantage to begin with, as they can automatically start benefiting from each other's aid and assistance from the get-go, assuming the player made characters that actually get along with one another.
A more detailed explanation on how character creation, gameplay, and character advancement works will be provided in a separate thread called "Shotgun Diaries Rules" should this game generate enough interest and players to be run.
The game is simple enough that it can be run for one player with one GM, especially if the player can manage more than one character (not a difficult task in this system), though I wouldn't mind a few more players than that. I've put a cap on a 4 player maximum for this game, simply because by allowing each player two characters, 8 total characters might be about as many as I'm comfortable running this first time around. I'm hoping to get this game started by Monday on January 25th, and would hope to have at least one or two players with characters by Sunday the 24th.
Thanks for you time reading this. If you decide to play, good luck and I hope you have fun.
A more detailed explanation on how character creation, gameplay, and character advancement works will be provided in a separate thread called "Shotgun Diaries Rules" should this game generate enough interest and players to be run.
The game is simple enough that it can be run for one player with one GM, especially if the player can manage more than one character (not a difficult task in this system), though I wouldn't mind a few more players than that. I've put a cap on a 4 player maximum for this game, simply because by allowing each player two characters, 8 total characters might be about as many as I'm comfortable running this first time around. I'm hoping to get this game started by Monday on January 25th, and would hope to have at least one or two players with characters by Sunday the 24th.
Thanks for you time reading this. If you decide to play, good luck and I hope you have fun.
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