Opinions Wanted

[Torval]

Well once I get the book then this is going to be my first serious attempt at running Systems Failure. I've got an idea cooking in my head for how I want things to play out. Tell me what you guys think of this. I am restricting the classes to what I want for this campaign because its my first time with Systems Failure and I want to get a feel for it before I allow for the more "creative" OCCs.

Classes Available: Sawbones, Peacekeeper, Survivalist, Grease Monkey.

I am not sure if I will have 3 or 4 players yet. I do not want any duplicate classes for this game. A Sawbones and a Grease Monkey both have to be in the group even if it is only 3 players.

Alright, this is how I will set the game to them. The information that I post here will be explained to the group as they sit down to play. They will have already picked and created their characters; however, they will not have taken control of them yet.

This is a group of friends who used to hang out all the time. They were all hanging out on New Years Eve when things went south. The clock struck midnight and the entire power grid for the United States went out. They had to kill one bug that came through the power lines to their house and ended up killing it by beating it to death with chairs. It managed to kill two other friends who were with them before they could put it down. They group of friends quickly assessed the situation and had not idea how many of these bugs there would be or what they were but they had all decided to initiate plan Zed. Plan Zed was their zombie apocalypse survival plan. They all made it to Walmart but they were not the first ones there. They negotiated with the people who had it locked down(who happen to be ex-military) in return for supplies. They traded all their keys to their vehicles except for one vehicle in return for supplies and a safe place to sleep for the night. The Sawbones was given a .22 rifle with 200 bullets. The peacekeeper was given a 12 gauge camoflauged turkey shotgun with 50 shells. The grease monkey was given a .270 black synthetic stock hunting rifle with 50 bullets. The rifle also has a decent quality starlight scope on it. The survivalist was given his choice of a 12 gauge shotgun with 50 shells or a compound bow with 24 arrows equipped with broadheads(if he takes the bow he also gets a hip quiver). They were all allowed to take a camoflauge hunting outfit from sporting goods and a Buck skinning knife. All of the guns would also come with slings. They are all also allowed to take one hunting backpack and one daypack(a waistpack). They are also all given a compass, a plastic canteen, 4 glow sticks and a zippo with a full bottle of lighter fluid. The sawbones is allowed to have an emergency first aid kit from the camping section. The sawbones is also given a fillet knife from the fishing section and a spool of 12lb test fishing line to use as makeshift medical equipment. The grease monkey is allowed to take a handheld toolbox and fill it with only tools/spare parts that he may feel they will need. [Have the player list out what all he wants to take and then approve it. It must all fit within the toolbox only.] All the players are allowed to take one sleeping bag. They are given two cases of water(40 bottles) and 40 cans of food.

This will basically be the opening story that I tell to the group. The equipment that they are given is non-negotiable - other than the grease monkey needed to figure out a list of tools/spare parts that he wants to take that I must approve. They will take control of their characters when they are woken up the next morning inside of the Walmart by the group of ex-military that is already controlling it.



IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE ONE OF MY PLAYERS THEN DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER




Alright so here is the basic outline that I've got for my game so far. The blackout occurred from a surgical strike from a chinese terrorist organization that is unofficially funded by the chinese government. The chinese government has actually developed a top secret bio-engineered weapon, the bug. They terrorist organization that has infiltrated the US is well equipped with these and load a ton of them into the power lines. In order to control these new bio-engineered weapons they had to create a hybrid, the splicer. At the beginning of the campaign there will be only one splicer in the game because they didn't really field test this idea too much before they launched their attack. They wanted to be able to take advantage of the Y2K scare because by the time people realized that it wasn't just Y2K coming to fruitation - their plan would already be well underway. The splicer basically acts as the leader to the bugs and is the liason between the bugs and the chinese.

I know that this isn't too terribly much information but I'm just trying to lay a basic outline down and until I get the book I don't want to go too much further with it. Anyways, what do you guys think so far?

[Natasha]

Nice intro. The twist could be interesting or it could be cliche.

[Torval]

Thanks for the response. I guess the Systems Failure board isn't too active these days, eh?

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

NOPE, but it is kinda cool intro.

[Torval]

NOPE, but it is kinda cool intro.

Thanks for the opinion. Not sure how many more I'll be fortunate enough to get on this board.

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

NOPE, but it is kinda cool intro.

Thanks for the opinion. Not sure how many more I'll be fortunate enough to get on this board.

Not many, acually, I dont rememeber what i was saying no too.....

[Torval]

I think you were saying no to this...

Thanks for the response. I guess the Systems Failure board isn't too active these days, eh?

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I think you were saying no to this...

Thanks for the response. I guess the Systems Failure board isn't too active these days, eh?

Probably, the board might not be too active, but don't let that get you down. The game is freakin sweet.

[Spinachcat]

Could be interesting. I suggest having the PCs decide on what their Plan Zed was going to be. In fact, it may be fun to roleplay out that New Year's Eve party and the bug attack THEN you jump in with 2 DAYS LATER and the wake-up in Wal-Mart.

However, I am unsure why they shouldn't just roleplay out what happens at Wal-Mart. Maybe they would rather keep their vehicles and seek guns elsewhere. Maybe they will surprise you.

Also, I would be surprised if a Peacekeeper and Survivalist didn't already have all those guns and gear at home anyway.

[Torval]

Why not take your players to an actual WalMart and have them pick out what they think they'll need?

Do you mean actually have everyone meet me up at the closest Walmart here and have them make a list of what they want to grab? That's freaking awesome. I'm going to have to try that out some time in the future.

It might not be too active, but I started a campaign as an intro to modern style Palladium RPGs for my gaming group (we had basically only really played PF up until a while back) and the core group is really liking the game so far. In fact, two of my players recently bought a copy of the book as well. Great deals too, second hand but in very good condition and real bargains on amazon. I got mine new from noble knight games a while back.

Anyway, this was quite some time ago... so how did it actually go?

To be honest, I had everyone pick their characters and then never ran that game. I reverted back to Palladium Fantasy to run in it's place. I love Systems Failure from reading through the book but I just don't feel confident enough to run it. I don't feel like I'll be able to make a good enough story out of it. I feel like there is more than enough information to make a good story out of it but that I won't be able to do so myself.