Starting Locations

[Torval]

I am in the process of putting some notes down on paper for the upcoming DR campaign that I am going to run. I am having trouble settling on a starting location because I don't have a whole lot of first-hand experience outside of my state and the few spots that I've been on vacation. What states would you recommend as a good starting point for a DR campaign? I do not want to start in Missouri because that is where we live and I want everything to be unfamiliar with their character's surroundings. I'd also prefer not to start in Arizona because that is where the campaign that I am playing at started in. Just to give a little additional information, the players will find clues as to how the zombie apocalypse started over the course of the campaign and if they choose to follow those clues it will end up leading them to Pittsburgh. Not sure if that would affect your ideas for a starting state. Any suggestions? Please?

[Torval]

You could have them literally start anywhere and end up in Pittsburgh. I have some questions that may help us help you narrow down your choices:

1. How much zombie population will the characters have to face right away? Hordes of zombies, or the occassional straggler here and there?
2. How many characters are in the group? Is each player going to playing more than 1 character?
3. General intelligence level of the group (players, not their characters)? Are they smart enough to know what may or may not be useful?
4. I'm guessing you are looking for a city/state, right? Is international an option? Either side of the ocean ok?
5. How technologically advanced should the location be? Fishing village or manufacturing mecca? Somewhere in between?
6. Is city life the way, or should they be starting in a wide-open space? (If you go with this route, I've got a good idea for you.)

If you can give us more details, we may be able to help you narrow the options down.

1,5 & 6. The characters will be starting out in a more rural town. The population will be about 200 people and the nearest real "town" or "city" is about 75 miles away. The zombie plague started about three months ago and will have just reached the town as the game starts. They will have to deal with about 50-100 zombies initially unless they choose not to leave town immediately in which case they will eventually have to deal with almost the full population of the town.

2. There will be 4-5 PCs in the group. They will be playing 1 character per player.

3. Intelligence level of the group is fairly high.

4. Yes, I am looking for a city/state. I would like to keep it within the continental US. I may entertain the option of starting them in Canada but I'm weary of that because I feel like the group would just supply up and head out into the wilderness to some of the cabins/hunting lodges out there.

6. To elaborate a bit more on this, I am not restricting their background. They can be a city-dweller or live in the country, I don't mind either way. One way or another, when the game starts, they will be in this rural area. I have no problem getting them all to the rural area. I would love to hear your idea.

[Torval]

Thank you very much for your help. I'll look into Door County a bit more when I get home from work. Your question about the possibility of an international style game intrigued me the more I think about it. Maybe I would be better off to start them all off on a vacation somewhere? Perhaps a cruise or a vacation in the Bahamas or something. I hadn't really given it much thought.

[azazel1024]

A cruise would be pretty sweet. Everyone's out to sea, travelling along on this big boat. They have no clue what's happening in society. They make it to a port of call, and they are either forced off the boat due to it being swarmed by zombies, or (and this is my favorite part) one lone zombie makes it onto the boat undetected. People start dying, and eventually you have the cruise ship of horrors, with the players attempting to stay alive long enough to make it to dry ground. Where, of course, they have to stay alive long enough to find decent shelter.

I had been thinking something like that as well, it sounds like it would be a lot of fun, and lots of horrors.
-Matt

[J. Lionheart]

A cruise would be pretty sweet. Everyone's out to sea, travelling along on this big boat. They have no clue what's happening in society. They make it to a port of call, and they are either forced off the boat due to it being swarmed by zombies, or (and this is my favorite part) one lone zombie makes it onto the boat undetected. People start dying, and eventually you have the cruise ship of horrors, with the players attempting to stay alive long enough to make it to dry ground. Where, of course, they have to stay alive long enough to find decent shelter.

I had been thinking something like that as well, it sounds like it would be a lot of fun, and lots of horrors.
-Matt

Another great hook in the Crusie Ship adventure is that not only do the players have to stay alive, they have to protect at least a couple of the senior crew as well! Piloting, navigating, and docking a cruise ship is not in the realm of the general population's skills! Better save a helmsman, navigator, and some technicians!

[bigbobsr6000]

My first DR started with 5 PCs uknown to each other in a mall in city near us that we were all familiar with. Then the wave hit. hee hee.

One I set up with different players that had no idea it was going to be zombies at all. Just like if it happened for real. They were bikers in a club. Not like a gang, just a motorcycle group that got together once a week to ride and bs. They were in one PC's place where they worked on the bikes when the wave hit. hee hee.

[bigbobsr6000]

Aircraft Carrier
Submarine, submerged.

[DevastationBob]

Some Ideers:

Astronauts returning from space station.

Scientists in a Bio-Dome pop out when radio contact loss.

Members of an isolationist cult.

Cryogenically frozen (maybe all are now half-deads) thaw out when power gets cut.

Convicts

Mental Patients (all characters roll random insanities) last person in asylum unlocks the doors.

Members of outward bound type expedition return to find chaos.

[DtMK]

Another idea which worked for my game is have your players out at sea when The Wave hit, so their ship now becomes their home until they have to abandon it for whatever reason.