Day One – Location #3 – Mrs. Whiteface
Cast: Mrs. Whiteface
Objective: Going home
Area: Rural
Pic. #1: The green house in the distance is the objective.
Pic. #2: The setup at the start of the game. How peaceful!
Mrs. Whiteface is driving home. The old car is coming to a stop on the road to her house. There isn’t anyone in sight. She forces herself to calm down, switches off the engine and listens. At first there is nothing, but just when she moves her hand to the keys she hears a low moaning sound…
Mrs. Whiteface is on the road at the right border of the table. She is sitting in her pick-up, but the engine isn’t running.
Turn 1: (Seven!) Good start. Mrs. Whiteface is still trying to figure out where these strange noises are coming from (inactive) when two zombies appear. One old man on the road in front of her and one big woman on the meadow to her left.
Turn 2: (Seven!) OK, Mrs. Whiteface is still in observation mode (inactive). Obviously she isn’t in the mood for quick decisions today. Two more zombies appear while the previous two are moving closer. The new zeds are a young couple, they appear on her right side between the small house and the right border.
Turn 3: The zombies stop a moment to ponder about their upcoming meal (inactive). Mrs. Whiteface (active) grits her teeth and tries to start the car. Guess what: the old car that has never broken down since 1948 chose this moment to stop working. I fear the worst…
Turn 4: (Seven!) Mrs. Whiteface is unnerved. She shouts a lot of four letter words (and none of them sounds like “love”) and her small hands hammer down on the steering wheel (inactive). Three more zombies heard the dinner bell appear on the scene. One guy at the border on her right side, another young guy comes around the corner of the small house and the third one – a guy in a chicken suit – exits the white pick-up.
The previous zeds move, with two of them in charging distance. They will charge Mrs. Whiteface and not her vehicle because the engine isn’t running. Bad luck, but this round they won’t go for her, but for the windows of her car. Mrs. Whiteface passes the Zed Or No Zed test with two successes, I think she’s seen worse in the class room every day.
Pic. #3: This could have been played on a 1'x1' table...
Turn 5: The camera changes to slow motion…no one activates this round.
Turn 6: Only the Zeds activate. Zombies move closer and the next two zombies charge. Mrs. Whiteface has to fight against 4 Zombies this round. Believe it or not: she kills one zombie and evenly matches the other ones.
Turn 7: (Doubles!) Uh-Oh! Suddenly there is a group of terrified civilians running up the road. Mrs. Whiteface will have to fight 4 of them.
Comment: I had some rules trouble with this one: usually I would fight terrified civilians in the same activation round they appear. This time I am already in combat with some zombies, so I decided to finish that melee before. For this I needed to roll for activation…
Turn 8: (Doubles!) There must be something terrible down the road. More terrified civilians run around screaming and pushing. A group of five tries to get to Mrs. Whiteface’s pick-up. Allow me to recapitulate: Mrs. Whiteface is in melee with three zeds, three more zeds are in charging distance and nine terrified civilians are in a bad temper. I am sure there will be a lot of Zed Or No Zed checks and fighting between them as soon as I have rolled for activation…
Turn 9: (Seven!) No way! Three more zombies appear. As least Mrs. Whiteface has a barrier made out of terrified civilians. Everyone activates.
It’s Mrs. Whiteface vs. The Zombies and not surprisingly the zombies win. I use Cheating Death to get her into safety with a reduced Rep and the possibility of an infection with the zombie virus. I could have gotten her into safety before she was wounded by a Zombie, but that would have been real cheating.
Closing Comment: I have an idea how to handle the fate of Mrs. Whiteface and little Dotty in the future. I will tell you more when Day One is over. Mr. Whiteface is out there. He is still walking (to location #4) and in a very bad temper.
Great photos.
ReplyDeleteUh, I have a bit of bad news for you though..
Ed told me once that there are no Star perks like cheating death when you go down to Zombies. This is a very hard game.
Hmm, the rules don't say anything about it. Just that you have to check for infection by zombies. So I deduced that Cheating Death has to work against zombies, because to be infected you have to be injured by them in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe rules say that LTL doesn't work against Zeds.
Mrs. W. has been OOF'd by the Zeds, not OD'd if that is of any importance.
Whiteface / Oliver
I've found something in the Yahoo Group
ReplyDeleteMSG #60112:
"> Eh? I thought the Cheating Death rule COULD be used when being killed by a
zombie (I'd just lose a point of Rep and still have to take an Infection roll)?
Correct. But a Rep 5 Star drops down to a Rep 4. Take the test which means on a
1-4 you're a zed. Better dead than zed.
> Page 5 only explicity states that Larger Than Life cannot be used when killed
by a zombie... Am I missing something obvious? :)
Nope, see above."
It never rains but it pours is a perfect description for this batrep! Wow, those activation dice rolls were a complete bitch that did North no favours!
ReplyDeleteShould North have survived this encounter by using the Cheating Death rule? Damned right she should! Besides, it's your campaign and your word is all that counts. Let's not forget, North has paid a heavy price to survive this encounter. Losing a level of Rep is a very big deal when you're only Rep:3.
I am so glad to hear you have a solution to her and her daughter's dilemma! I can't wait to see how this unfolds.
While going to bed yesterday I did realize something: Mrs. Whiteface is Rep 2 (former Rep 3) and not Rep 4. To avoid being infected with the Z-Virus she has to roll a "7" on the Harry Are You OK? check. With one D6...
ReplyDeleteVampifan, in your "Minding The Gap" scenario I wrote something in the comments about true horror. Now the horror has arrived in Whiteville. I have no solution for this one. Poor Mrs. Whiteface.
Whiteface / Oliver
Hmm, good point! Poor Mrs. Whiteface indeed! I've just checked and you're right - you do need to roll 9+ to avoid turning into a zombie if you've been bitten. Losing that level of Rep makes it impossible for her to survive. Of course, you could get round it if Mr. Whiteface finds The Cure before the day ends. What are the chances of that happening? As Willy said above, this is a very hard game!
ReplyDeleteHmm, the hospital isn't in Whiteville. It's on the other side of the next mid-sized city. The biggest problem is that Mr. Whiteface doesn't know that he has to find a cure (or that there is a cure!) and where to find his wife. All one Day One.
ReplyDeleteI've just watched the "The Walking Dead" trailer over on http://dawnofthelead.com. Great stuff! The sun ain't gonna shine anymore...
I've seen "The Walking Dead" trailer as well. I have high hopes for this show. I just hope I won't be disappointed by it as I am a huge fan of the comics.
ReplyDeleteWell the good news is all the terrified civilians would have caused the zeds to head after them and leave the car.
ReplyDelete