1KM1KT Free RPG Community

I made this forum because I am going to be running Dead... and Back with my player group each Tuesday. A series of emails is not going to be enough and I am sure that the topics we're going to run over will be good reading for the rest of the community.

My playtest is going to be based in Reading, Berkshire (UK). It's not large enough to be a city state, but much like the real town - it would really like to be. Unfortunately, reanimates appear to be flocking toward Reading (much like they do on a Saturday night now) like bemused cattle. The game is going to start quiet and slow with simple goals and then build as the number of zombies does: your typical RPG escalation.

We're making characters tomorrow night and I hope to throw the characters together by starting them off in a school. I've bought a map to scribble on. This thread is only for feedback for the playtest, not feedback for the game system itself - I'll post that elsewhere.

My plan for the first night is to keep things simple:

1. Overall description and tone with themes
I'll start with a description, tone and feel for the game. I have a little bit of background about what happened to the UK to tack onto what is in the D&B canon. I want everyone to understand that there is near future tech + aliens + screwed planet, with zombies as a background menace. This is a departure from most zombie media, where they take centre stage.

2. Chargen
Next will be character creation. I am not sure how I am going to throw the characters together just yet - I might canvas the team for that. I think the PCs were living north of our town in a commune that fell apart socially and economically. I know where they will start (just outside the main play area).

3. Local area
I'll then give a bit information about what happened in our county (Berkshire) and why our town is particularly important. It's important that I outline what's been going on locally so that they have some inspiration when it comes to the next step.

4. Brutalise our home town
Then we're going to molest our home town of Reading using the little rule-ette I posted in the Roleplaying Game forum. Reading got roughed up in the alien war and it is a place of civic pride, which is trying to build itself into a City State of its own.

5. Start play!
I'll begin play with a simple combat, everyone will have a weapon of some sort so it should go OK. I'll also introduce a couple of NPCs that will help guide the story at first. It will be on rails to start with, shifting to a sandbox. That works really well for our player group - once they have a handle on the setting, they're pretty self propelling and I dangle very few hooks in front of them. Oh, that and they purposefully obliterate any plot I come up with.

6. Wrap up, spend Altruism points
I'll ask the playtest questions you include on the website and try and get the peeps to post up here.