Narrative:
Having just hit the ATM for some money, Joe got in his car and headed home, planning to touch base with the family, then go to WalMart and one of the nearby Supermarkets. Calling home on the cell, Joe said "Hi, sweetie. I'll be home soon. Is everyone okay? And do you have the list ready for the things you want me to pick up from the stores?" "Yes, everybody's fine, just a little scared. The list is ready", Joe's wife responded. "Be careful coming home. There's a roadblock at the end of the street, and a Police car was cruising by telling everyone to stay indoors because of a "Civil Emergency". We might not be able to go shopping to get supplies if they're closing roads." "Yeah, Joe said, "we'll see. Everything seems fine here. Okay, I'll let you go. Love you. See you in a bit." Pocketing his cell phone, Joe saw the Police barrier at the end of his street. Big-ass concrete block. "Damn, no way around that. I'll have to park and walk the rest of the way" Joe thought.
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That wasn't here this morning. Looking up the street, Joe's destination, the white house, is on the left.
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View from the opposite end of the board.
Lucky Joe: Rep 3, Military Reaction Table, Katana, Attributes - Stone Cold and Slow.
Rolled on the Getting There Table, by vehicle. Passed 1 d6 (Rep 3). Rep > location number. Counts as passed 2d6. "Arrive there normally".
PEF Placement
All PEFS placed behind cover and out of LOS.
Turn 1
Activation: Humans 3, Zombies 2
LJ moves 8" up the street. PEF in section 4 now in LOS. False Alarm.
"What's that behind that tree? Oh, stray cat. Gotta stop being so jumpy", Joe thought.
I did a Fast Move once the PEF was resolved to finish LJ's movement. Used only 1 d6 for additional movement, because of "Slow" attribute, instead of additional 2d6 per the advice of Vampifan. (Thanks, Bryan) Rolled a 5, so moved an additional 5". Man, that fatboy can run. :)
PEFs must still have not been in LOS because of the trees.
Turn 3
Activation: Humans 4, Zombies 2. LJ rolled too high, can't activate. Both PEFs pass 0d6, can't move either.
Turn 4
Activation: Humans 3, Zombies 2.
LJ moves 8". Off to his right he thinks he sees something in the tree line.
PEF Resolution - Rep 2 PEF is a false alarm. Rep 3 PEF rolled on Random Road Encounter. Result was "It's Freakin Hot". Either consume 1 food unit, or Rep is decreased by 1 for the remainder of the scenario. Great, now I'm Rep 2. At least I didn't get all killed up by Zombies. :)
Fast Move an additional 5". Rolling good.
The first PEF resolved is represented by the black dice under the tree. It turned out to be a stray cat. (False Alarm)
Completing the Fast Move. There's a PEF hidden in the tree line to LJ's right (Black dice).
Zombie's Turn: PEF in Section 6 can't move, it's Rep was higher than the ZED activation roll. The REP 2 PEF passed 1d6 and moved "1 section toward the nearest PEF, ending its move in cover". Hmmm, this is getting interesting. LJ's got two PEFs in the sector near him and he doesn't know they're there.
"It's quiet ..., too quiet" LJ mutters to himself.
Turn 2
Activation: Humans 6, Zombies 5. Rolls are too high for either side to activate, but for Day One Scenarios activation rolls equaling 11 means the Police will approach you. "If unarmed he will tell you to leave the area", if visibly armed he will draw his gun and order you to surrender your weapon."
I wasn't quite sure how to handle this. It's not illegal to carry a sword around, but you are visibly armed with a katana. I decided to submit it to the Dice Gods. 1-3 on a d6 he arrests LJ, 4-6 he lets him go. Rolled a 5. Yay. What would you guys do?
Policeman: Sir, what are you doing with that sword?
LJ: I'm just taking it home, Officer, I live in the white house behind you.
Policeman: Okay, sir. Just get inside your house and stay there. The Mayor has declared an Emergency Curfew and all citizens are required to remain in their homes and stay off the streets until further notice.
LJ: Yes sir, Officer. No problem.
With that, the policemen gets back in his cruiser, checks the roadblock and heads back up the street.
Turn 3
Activation: Humans 4, Zombies 2. LJ rolled too high, can't activate. Both PEFs pass 0d6, can't move either.
Turn 4
Activation: Humans 3, Zombies 2.
LJ moves 8". Off to his right he thinks he sees something in the tree line.
Pic above shows the 2 PEFs hiding in the trees.
Fast Move an additional 5". Rolling good.
LJ's almost there.
Turn 5
Activation: Humans 2, Zombies 6. All of the PEFS have been resolved, but I figured I still needed to roll because you never know if you'll get doubles (optional PEF generation), a 7 or 11. However, LuckyJoe continues to be lucky and moves 8" to enter his home, ending the scenario successfully, and bloodlessly.
Honey, I'm home. And where's all the damn furniture?
Another lucky run. No Zombies at all, again. LJ is beginning to doubt the existence of Zombies, probably just some media hysteria for ratings. However, next locations will be a Big Box store (need ammo) and a Supermarket (need beer food).
Well, that's all for now. Thanks for looking.
24 comments:
Hi, LJ: fun game-story narrative! BTW beer is food (burp!).
@Jay: Thanks. It was a fun scenario. And I agree. Beer is definitely food. :)
Nicely written and with great photos of your awesome terrain. Look forward to part 3
Lucky Joe is certainly living up to his name. Another great batrep, LJ. I can tell you that here in the UK, if a policeman saw you running down the street with an unsheathed katana you'd be arrested so fast your feet wouldn't touch the ground. I guess things are a lot different across the pond.
Slow? Yes...But rolling fast!!!
Well done and pretty damn lucky that no zombies were around!
(Beer is part of the survival gear in order to keep the good spirits up!)
@Brummie: Thanks very much. I am already eyeing a big box I've been saving to use for a "big box store". I think I'll just apply texture in and out and get it going. :)
@Vampifan: Thanks, Bryan. Yeah, I guess it is different here. I still remember the days down in Texas when every pickup had a gun rack and most would have a shotgun or rifle, sometimes both. Pistol in the glove box. :)
@Lord Siwoc: Thanks. We used to say, "I may be slow, but I am go, go, go." :) And beer in the Zombie Apocalypse will just be carbo-loading. :)
Good report, I'm sure when you do get zombies it will be a handful. I think it varies by state. California, if I'm not mistaken, is hyper about any kind of weapon and you would be stopped. Here in AZ I think they would leave you alone if it were sheathed. If I were a cop a dude walking around with a naked blade would give me pause for concern.
Another seemingly uneventful report. You've fared quite a bit better (luckier) than a lot of other Day 1 reports I've read.
As for the sword issue, I probably would have had the officer attempt to take it from you OR perhaps do some sort of Rep roll where you try to negotiate that you are just taking it home which is up the street.
@Sean: Thanks. And yeah, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop with the Zombies. I imagine the next time there will be loads of them. I agree with what you said about the sword. I think it probably would vary state to state.
@Adam: Thanks. They don't call me Luckyjoe for nothin'. :) Thanks for the advice about the sword thing. That sounds workable.
I think this Fatboy would run fast as well if you'd activated the Z's!!!
@Ray: LOL. Yeah, me too.
Hi Joe, must start by saying that your terrain is looking so good ! the Zuzzy mat really adds to the atmosphere as do the buildings and other scenery items 10 points for your set up.
as I was reading through your scenario I thought to myself that this is to quiet or non eventive, and a couple of things that you could have done to spice your scanario up a bit came to mind,
in the rule book ATZ(BDTZ)on pg 28 under the heading 'Attracting Zombies' this talks about running vehicles having the possiblity of attracting Zombies and also on pg 29 under the heading 'How Zombies Appear' it talks about 1) noise attracting zombies and 2) how zombies or other humans may be found in buildings, you know what zombies are like they appear in the most unexpected places! maybe even your own home! or it could have been another human trying to loot your place for resources or whatever...etc I hope this is taken in the spirit as I was not having a go at you, jus some friendly advice :)
I look forward to your next batrep, thanks for posting this one.
Personally, the ability to play the first day and meet no zeds is a plus. It really makes ATZ something special. NMRIH, for example, is all about movie stand off, more or less :)
Go on Joe! I agree with some of the lads; beer might be food but cider is one of your five-a-day. If I saw somebody running down the road waving a katana, and I was in my panda car, I think I might run them over (LOL). The Extraordinarii's idea is a solid one. I'vee been suprised a couple of times with the noise thing. Good stuff. GREAT scenary. Bring on more.
@The Extraordinarii: Thanks very much, both for the kind words and the advice. I appreciate it. I think the shortage of Zombies may just be related to the Day One Scenario as there are special rules that actually limit the Zombies. "No Zombies are placed on the table at the start of the encounter, nor will they appear in buildings" is one example. I'll take a look at the noise thing. I also think it may be that use of PEFs is reducing Zombie numbers, too. I may switch to the old method of rolling of rolling 1d6 per character to determine how many Zombies, rather than PEFs, which in the early game are weighted more heavily toward non-Zombie encounters. Also may add a couple grunts to increase the number of d6 rolled for initial Zombie generation. That may fix the Zombie shortage. What do you think of that?
@Mathyoo: Yes, I can appreciate that, but this makes 3 scenarios in a row without Zombies. I'm ready for a little action. :)
@Irqan: LOL. I'll be careful to wear my Katana under my coat, then. :) That's a good point about the noise. I'll try tweaking that, too.
you lucky, lucky Joe you! Two games and not a Z in sight.
@Lead Legion: LOL, I know, what's up with that, right?
Good write-up, and luckily another home run.
Bit unlucky to get home though and find your wife has moved out, taking all your stuff !
Good ruling on the police/katana I thought.
I thought PEFs were in addition to the normal 1+1d6 zombie placement- another rule read-through needed I fear.
Nice batrep, Joe. LJ sure is lucky and pretty fast for a fatboy. Might rather be a problem to stop him with all that momentum ;)
I think the conversation with the police might have taken a while longer over here, but across the pond that might be different. You could have probably used the challenge system in the original rules to talk the officer out of taking the katana from LJ, but I would have to read that again to be sure. But if it's no problem in your state, your solution is just fine.
I am legally allowed to carry around my stage combat sword around here since it does not count as a weapon because of it's dull blade ( ;) ), but an unsheathed katana would have the officer order you to at least lay it down and show some ID with a lot of explaining to do.
@Zabadak: Thanks. LOL about "taking all your stuff!" That's an interesting question about whether you still roll for initial zombie placement as well as using the PEF system. I'll ask about that on the THW forums.
@Stefan: Thanks and you're right, once he gets going he becomes the irresistible force. Hope he doesn't hit an immovable object. :) Good idea about the challenge system.
GREAT AAR! KEEP THEM FLOWING!
Your terrain is awe inspiring.
@BaconFat: Thanks very much. Those Stoelzel Structures models are easy to make and come out great.
awesome toys <3
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