H
Happy Trails
Guest
Original poster
September 26th 1997, two years seven months and twelve days since The End. A band of desperate survivors cling to life in the decaying husk of the world. This desperation does not define them, no matter how overwhelming. They are human and they will not allow themselves to be ended by even biblical calamity, they endure. Together they strive to not just endure, but rebuild. With eyes wet with tears and heads swimming with echoes they will carry on.
Discord - Free voice and text chat for gamers
There are a few decisions to make together as a group at the outset that we'll use the discord linked above for:
- Decide if we want to use a system or go systemless. The system we would use if we choose to is one created specifically for this setting so it would reinforce the themes of it and help keep everything tone appropriate, while also helping to ensure combats flow in a more natural way than the standard "Character x does actions one, two, and three and if those are successful they would do actions four, five, and six". I also like to think it's very light and easy to use, but it's still more numbers than no numbers at all.
- Decide where in the US the party will start. Below is map with the sites of Nuclear strikes marked as red dots and areas of extremely lethal radiation marked as yellow.
- There's a short list of questions I'd like to go over with everyone so that I can make sure this thread both delivers what people are looking for and doesn't cross into any territory that is more than just uncomfortable but outright hurtful to experience.
World Backstory:
In the world of Codetta the Soviet Union, and its Iron Curtain did not fall in 1991. Instead it desperately continued to cling to life. There was never a growing tide of moderacy in its leadership, instead it continued to search for another man with the cult of personality that Stalin once held. It found it in Sonin Dmitriy "Dima" Victorovich.
Dima was the head of the KGB up until the death of previous Chairman Konstantin Chernenko. Chernenko had been in poor health for much of his rule, as that time had also been one of little to no success in any of the Union's goals abroad. In light of this and his predecessor also being seen as moderate failure within the state it was decided to centralize power in the hands of someone who had proven themselves capable of achieving the impossible. Dima was respected as a man of ruthless cunning and installed through what many in the west called a bloodless coup in March of 1985.
It was a short time later that the Soviets embarked on a new phase of aggressive expansion. The first goal of the Victorovich administration was to bring an end to the quagmire that was Afghanistan. Recognizing it as a drain of resources without an end, Victorovich agreed to peace terms on August 3rd 1986.
Three years later, with some in the West claiming that Victorovich had proven to be a false hope for the final Stalinists in the USSR, he made his next move. Seizing upon the turmoil in the collapsing Socialist Republic of Romania the USSR formally annexed the nation "in order to guarantee the safety of its citizens during a time of transition". This acquisition of agricultural land helped further stabilize the USSR and is credited with buying it another few years of life.
This also resulted in a domino of states that were near collapse being annexed instead of allowed independence. Next was Hungary, who's economy most certainly only served to further hurt the already ailing Soviet one. However with the state assuming direct control of Hungary's not insignificant manufacturing base it was able to mitigate this damage more than had been expected by outside observers.
Czechoslovakia managed to resist outright annexation but did see it's peaceful revolution violently put down. The threat of direct Soviet governance, and a fate in common with its neighbor was enough to cow talks of change. In this climate, Bulgaria deepened its ties with Moscow, guaranteeing itself an illusion of independence in return. Poland and Eastern Germany, for the time remained in line, thanks to Moscow's renewed strength and turn towards a new era of Authoritarianism their governments were able to avoid loosening their grasp on power.
This set the stage for the USSR to attempt to settle old business. Now that things were in order at home once more, Victorovich began a new campaign to seize control of Afghanistan. This Second Soviet-Afghanistan War was characterized by a level of Soviet Ferocity and cruelty unseen since the end of the Second World War. Victorovich's strategy in the war was given the name "Devastation Warfare." A mixture of the Shock and Awe Tactics the US displayed during the Vietnam War and the Blitzkrieg of Germany during the beginning of the second World War. In practice this strategy meant a total disregard for any distinction between military and non military targets, on a horrifying scale.
After 3 years of this, even with western aid, the Afghan Government was forced to surrender. At the time of surrender commentators agreed the only thing that could have made a lasting peace possible would have been the denuclearization of the Soviet Union, which under Victorovich was impossible. This episode in history became known as NATO's biggest failing on the Global Stage.
With this in the background during the 1992 US Presidential Election it was no surprise that a conservative warhawk was elected president. Joshua Blackwood ran on an interventionist platform that promised to never allow Afghanistan to be repeated. This policy was fortunately left untested until late into his first term.
On February 14th 1995 Victorovich made another move. While Afghan oil reserves had reinvigorated the USSR's economy to some degree, the massive sanctions imposed by the rest of the world made that a very temporary gain. After only 2 years the writing was on the wall: either the USSR bought itself more time with another lucrative conquest, or it would have to begin to cede power over its massive territory.
A NATO observation plane spotted the massive Russian armored advance into Pakistani territory during the small hours of the night. The observation was reported to the leaders of NATO member nations, who all began to scramble to figure out the appropriate response. With memories of Afghanistan and campaign promises all too fresh in his mind Blackwood was the first to act, instructing the Airforce to use a limited strike to delay the Soviet invasion of Pakistan until congress could be formally petitioned for a Declaration of War when it met in a few hours. This limited response was carried out within 1 hour and 27 minutes of the president requesting it. The Soviet Response was immediate.
Across the USSR silo sites came to life. Victorovich had never been one for limited responses or half measures. In his mind the American attack on his men was their declaration of war. If they were going to invest in this conflict, they would have to do so fully. It took only moments for the rest of the world to realize what was happening and soon every nation with so much as a nuclear grenade began to deploy it. After 18 minutes the firing was over. Any force that could be spent, was, and the world lay in ruins.
World Map:
Sample CS (System)
Name:
Gender:
Age:
Eye Color:
Hair Color:
Height:
Build:
(All physical description is optional if you have character art)
History:
(you may also add personality here but I feel you should be able to effectively convey your character's personality through their history. Also, let's all be honest, what gets put in these sections and what gets played is rarely if ever the same.)
Martial:
Mettle:
Precision:
Smarts:
Charisma:
Martial Skills:
- Martial Arts:
- Melee:
- Intimidate:
Mettle Skills
- Athletics:
- Survival:
- Endure:
Precision Skills
- Ranged:
- Larceny:
- Awareness:
Smarts Skills
- Crafting:
- Demolitions:
- Medicine:
Charisma Skills
- Bluff:
- Leadership:
- Charm:
Specialization:
Stamina Pool:
Perks:
Mementos:
Gear:
Sample CS (Systemless)
Name:
Gender:
Age:
Eye Color:
Hair Color:
Height:
Build:
(All physical description is optional if you have character art)
History:
(you may also add personality here but I feel you should be able to effectively convey your character's personality through their history. Also, let's all be honest, what gets put in these sections and what gets played is rarely if ever the same.)
Gear:
Some Questions To Ask Yourself During Character Creation:
- Who is important to my character and why?
- What keeps them going?
- What did my character dream of doing before The End?
- What daily rituals do they cling to?
- What is their fondest memory?
- What is their most painful memory?
Third person past tense only.
No colored text.
No Mary Sues. If your character is doing something that would kill a normal person, they will die.
Don't Godmod.
Follow the basic rules of grammar.
Follow the rules of Iwaku.
Updates will happen at least biweekly, if you don't post in that time you'll get left behind.