This is the the final chronicles of the remaining survivors of humanity fighting in futility for their continued existence in the face of Armageddon. This is the...

TERMINAL TESTAMENT [/B][/SIZE]

Objective:
For the gifted human survivors, they will journey to confront the Beast that brought the apocalypse down upon humanity. It is their only hope to kill it for the survival of the human race. For the cursed remnants of humanity and its actions brought on by the Beast, kill the gifted survivors and those that stand in their way.



How to Play:

Time of Play[INDENT]For the sake of giving a more specific time for people to play during combat, it is requested that all players playing as a Gifted or Cursed post between 3:00PM to midnight U.S. Eastern Standard Time with a focus between 5PM to 10PM. I realize this makes it more difficult for those in Europe and even more so for those in Australia, and until a large number of interested players from those areas or other different time zones, I have to cater to those that are playing.[/INDENT]

Pre-Game Playing[INDENT]Before a player starts, if they wish to play as one of the gifted human survivors, they need to post the details of their character. For this game, character creation is simply a matter of providing your character's name, which one of the "gifts" you have, and a brief description of your character, which may include their history, physical traits, and anything you think may help to define them as a unique person. The available "gifts" can be found under "The Gifted" section of the table of contents below. To help gain an understanding of the events your character is likely aware of, and may have experienced, read through "The Timeline" section of the table of contents below. All gifted human survivors start out with their initial maximum twelve (12) hitpoints. Note that, since your character will only be able to have one of the "gift" types, a player only needs to know the conditions for that particular gift to play as them - pick the one you will have most fun with! If you wish to play as one of the Cursed, see the next section below.[/INDENT]

Fighting the Cursed[INDENT]The players acting as the gifted survivors will start each stage by fighting a "wave" of bad guys, who are listed under "The Cursed" section of the table of contents below. While I will always be doing my best to play as the bad guys for the player characters to fight, other people are heavily encouraged at any time to play as one of the bad guys listed , and if they die, they can simply play as a different bad guy. Each Cursed has three (3) hitpoints worth of life. The "Current Status" listed above will dictate which types of Cursed can be played at the time. A wave will likely last for a couple days or so, depending on how things go, before I will call for the end of a wave.[/INDENT]

Actions[INDENT]Unless otherwise specified, any player (Gifted, Cursed, etc.) can only take one action a post, and cannot make two posts in a row, though it does not matter who takes the next action. Some specified exceptions are the runner's speedboost (to their advantage) and the slinger using their own soul (to their disadvantage). Actions available to all players include making an attack that deals no damage as a means to interrupt someone else, and when not allowed to do that (ex. when presented with the runner's explosive), running away. Communicating a reasonable amount is a free action; yelling out detailed plans that would take five minutes to read would be considered an action.[/INDENT]

Recovering from a Fight[INDENT]At the end of a wave, the player character may encounter the Merchant, a mysterious figure who will offer various rewards to help them fight in future encounters in exchange for the "spoils" they have gained. The details of that can be found under "The Merchant" section of the table of contents below.[/INDENT]

Boss Fights[INDENT]Before the end of certain waves, possibly before or after a chance to meet up with the Merchant, the player characters may encounter a "boss" enemy, which will likely be played by me. They are tougher bad guys with special abilities, and who may or may not have standard bad guys to help them. The details of the bad guys will be spelled out before the beginning of the battle.[/INDENT]

Chases[INDENT]Between certain waves, as you travel to a new location, the player characters may also have flee from a horde of bad guys. In these situations, the player characters will start out a certain distance away from the bad guys and must successfully gain a certain distance away from the bad guys to end the chase. Should the bad guys catch up, the player characters will have escaped death at the cost of all characters losing half their current health rounded up. The details of the rules for this mode of the game will be provided when it arises and may be modified depending on the number of players.[/INDENT]

Regarding Player Deaths[INDENT]In the interest of keeping this game going, anyone is able to jump in as one of the gifted human survivors, given that they provide a character profile like the others. If a player's character dies, they can jump back in as soon as they've made a new, different character with a new character profile. The only conditions are that a player cannot play multiple characters (good or bad) at the same time, and towards the end of the game, I may decide to keep new good guys from joining so as to make the climax meaningful.[/INDENT]

Misc. Questions and Revisions.[INDENT]If you have questions at any point, please ask, and I will do my best to answer. Should we discover that the rules are broken in some significant fashion, I may alter them, though I will do my best not to do so in the middle of an event or to the detriment of the game's fun. I will be including the questions and answers that come up, as well as what revisions I may make, in the "Miscellaneous" section of the table of contents below.[/INDENT]

Table of Contents:

The Timeline

• The Prophecy
• The First Seal
• The Second Seal
• The Third Seal
• The Fourth Seal
• The Recognized Gifted
• The Fifth Seal
• The Battle of Dark Forces
• The Sixth Seal
• The Year 2000
• The Seventh Seal Delayed Once
• The Seventh Seal Delayed a Second Time
• The Veterans of the Apocalypse Convene

The Gifted

• Dreamer
• Limner
• Runner
• Charger
• Slinger
• Weaver

The Cursed

• The Mutated
• The Undead
• The Machines

The Merchant

• Profile and Rules
• Store

Miscellaneous

• Revisions
• F.A.Q.

June 6th, 1966

A small radio news broadcast mentioned the suicides of a group of six cultists in Pandora, Colorado who called themselves the Heralds of Thirteenth Long Count. Their major claim stated that the “great beast” would make its first mark by the end of six years, six months, and six days. The story became largely forgotten, as did a number of missing person reports across the world, in light of the increasing arms and space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

December 21st, 1972

The first signs of the viral outbreak appeared in Cortez, Colorado. Speculation arose that the virus arrived from an unearthly source and had been, until recently, contained for experimentation in a nearby top-secret government facility. An investigation never took place, however, as the virus swept across the county, across borders and oceans, killing hundreds of thousands within weeks and inflicting multitudes more with various debilitating side-effects such as necrosis, schizophrenia, and hypersensitivities triggered by sunlight. Relations between nations began to dissolve and tensions started to boil.

December 21st, 1979

The Doomsday Clock officially reached midnight when the United States launched a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union for their invasion into Afghanistan. The Soviet Union retaliated immediately, followed suit by the other nuclear-armed nations of the world. Millions died instantly from the bomb strikes. The nations of the world pressed on in their madness into World War III, and the people of the earth started to notice their dreams were dominated by a maddening vision of a “great beast” that lived in the mountains.

December 21st, 1982

Basic resources, having already plummeted from various attacks and gluttonous consumption to feed the war efforts, dropped sharply as the now-called Cortez Strain appeared to spread somehow into wheat and rice fields around the world, turning the crops practically inedible. In spite of their people's suffering, the military forces of the world hoarded all the manpower they could muster to escalate terrifying technologies at an unbelievable rate. Victims of nuclear and biological fallout, as well as volunteers for warfare engineering, are mutated into deformed monsters of their former selves.

December 21st, 1989

With billions having perished, the Cortez Strain seemed to take a nightmarish turn for the worse as the dead began to rise, continuing the inhumane actions they carried out before their deaths. What was left of the nations of the world largely turned their war efforts away from each other and toward the rising undead. Hope for the survival of humanity died and did not rise with the corpses, virtually ending modern civilizations.

October 30th, 1990

No longer wishing to celebrate the annual Day of the Dead as it stood, its former celebrators decided to instead celebrate what they called “Día de Los Jóvenes” or Day of the Youths. The holiday would shower their children with whatever gifts they could, normally a “feast” of food, in defiance of the death and sickness that plagued the world. The day also recognized the “gifts” – strange powers – some of their children seem to exhibit in the past years as something to be cherished instead of feared. The night would often end with prayers to each other that their nightmares of the “great beast” would end – a prayer which would tragically not be fulfilled.

December 21[SUP]st[/SUP], 1992

In their futile struggle to turn the tide of war against the various biological enemies, the top scientific minds in NORAD culminated nearly two decades worth of blazing computer and artificial intelligence research when they activated the Multiple Application Revival Towards Youth’s Return System. Their aim was to reverse the ominous trend the date of December 21[SUP]st[/SUP] brought in the past and have MARTYRS make the proverbial sacrifices in place of people. Instead, a bug in the system caused MARTYRS to not properly identify living humans apart from the undead, and a technological uprising against humanity inadvertently began in its mission to fight the undead. Everyone in the complex was murdered, and the machines prepared to process its own army against both human and undead.

October 9th, 1997

After a forty day siege at the main satellite launching installation near NORAD, a valiant company of men and women, proclaimed "knights" by the rest of humanity, succeeded in their mission to halt the greatest plan from MARTYRS to wipe all of humanity, living and undead, from the planet. Storming into the installation, the company foiled the plan -- an orbital super-laser the group codenamed Dark Forces -- by having the launch crash land into the nearby mountains.

December 21st, 1999

A piercing column of light shot from the Rocky Mountains and cracked the moon. A star-like shower rained upon the whole of the Earth. Tsunamis crashed upon the shores of continents, the faults cracked wide across the lands, and the very world shuddered. Relative few, human or not, were spared from the proverbial wrath of God. The sky remained perpetually twilight and the seas turned red. The remnants of humanity feared for what would come in three years, and their nightly visions of the “great beast” began to call them to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

January 1st, 2000

The primary MARTYRS computer banks were critically crippled when the Y2K bug set its master timetable back to 1900, thus preventing the program from continuing its mass automaton production and network coordination. The remaining automatons, once under its control, continued with their missions, and even some secondary stations did not cease automaton production, though some of the functions of the remaining automatons began acting erratically.

December 21st, 2002

Across the earth, silence fell for the course of about a half hour. When the time had passed, nothing seemed to happen. What battles and catastrophes still reigned on continued where they left off, leaving the remaining humans with a sense of a fate delayed. Humanity clutched to a new sense of anticipation for the next seven years as they continued to be haunted by the collective siren call of the “great beast” in the mountains.

December 21st, 2009

Once again, silence was cast across the world for the course of about a half hour, and again, the suffocating sense of purpose failed to unveil itself from humanity’s breath. The nightmare wailed in the minds of human beings once again, as did the fires of Armageddon.

November 11[SUP]th[/SUP], 2012

As the 21[SUP]st[/SUP] of December, 2012 approaches, what is left of the human race has instinctively felt drawn to journey down the Devil’s Highway and into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in vain hope of ending their maddening visions. Many cry out in their inability to cross the seas, and others perish during their perilous travels. Only a handful of fate-weary veterans have been able to gather in the remains of Cortez on this date and prepare for their march towards the heart of the apocalyptic insanity…

Dreamer
(based on Katzenjammer)

Compared with most people, and especially among the survivors, dreamers tend to be relatively optimistic and friendly. They have been gifted with the ability to support others and to make certain things exist out of thin air.

Supporter: Whenever another of the gifted survivors needs help that normally requires another of their kind or a non-player, a dreamer can help in their place.

• For Limners - A dreamer can act as their "audience" for their attack.
• For Runners - A dreamer can set an explosive for a Runner to use as a speedboost.
• For Chargers - A dreamer can help "charge" their attack.
• For Slingers - A dreamer can provide as a "soul" for them to sling without penalty.
• For Weavers - A dreamer can act as a second weaver.

In no instance can a dreamer use these abilities unless it's directly following a request from their respective gifted player. They cannot also consider themselves having a different "gift" to use this support ability off each other.

Spawn Cursed: At any point that they can normally take an action, a dreamer can take an action to bring an undead, mutant, or robot into existence for them to control (or their specialized versions if in the correct environment). A dreamer can only spawn and control one Cursed being at any time, and can only spawn a new one when the current spawned being has been killed. Other players can kill the spawned being for their spoils. A dreamer can only take an action for themselves or for their spawned cursed being in a post, not both. This ability can only be used during waves and boss fights.

Limner
(based on Gnommernymn)

Limners have a penchant for telling imaginative stories, often stepping far beyond simple lies and delving into nonsense words, and others commonly see them as troublemakers. Limners are gifted with the ability to "paint" an attack that others would be hard pressed to describe, their attacks made more effective the more impressive they sound.

The Show Must Go On: Whenever a limner attacks, they must describe their attack in some outlandish fashion, and are encouraged to even make up words to do so. The effectiveness of their attack is decided by those who are not playing (either as the Cursed or the Gifted with the exception of the Dreamer or another Limner). Each audience member that posts their "vote" of approval adds one (1) point to the attack, and the "votes" can culminate until either the limner is attacked (in which case the points are lost) or the limner posts that they have finished culminating their attack (the declaration itself is considered a free action). A Limner or Dreamer who helps another Limner with a "vote" can do so as a free action, and is not considered part of the "action" turn-taking (unless lumped with another action). A Limner may use this ability to describe another Gifted survivor's attack instead of their own, in which case, any votes are added to that attack as if the Limner had made the attack themselves.

Note: A limner's special attack will be considered a standard attack (that is, a non-damaging interfering against the enemy) should the limner takes another non-free action before at least one vote is given to a posted limner's special attack. The targeted enemy may not take an action until the limner's special attack has been resolved (either by the limner or having been attacked by another enemy). The targeted enemy may, however, "take" the damage prematurely by posting as much, in which case they take whatever damage the limner's attack is dealing at that time as well as be considered interrupted.

Runner
(based on Speedrun)

As the name implies, a runner is gifted with speed. They also tend to live on the edge, generally using explosives to further their thrills and push themselves to the edge.

Bang: A runner is so quick that they can attack in a blur. When a runner selects their target's area with an explosive, the target only has ten (10) minutes to post a retreat from the explosive (and anyone else) or else they suffer a point of damage, regardless of whether any other actions have been posted. The damage also applies to any others who are currently attacking the target, excluding the original Runner who placed the target. A runner can only place down one explosive at a time, and must wait for it to go off before placing another.

Speed boost: A runner may opt to use an explosive targeted at themselves to their advantage. If they make a post before the explosive goes off, they may make one extra consecutive action. They do not gain multiple consecutive actions for multiple explosives at once, they cannot use other explosives when using a speed boost, and they do not gain the extra action unless the explosive is specifically targeted at themselves. For example, a runner could use the explosion boost themselves to interfere with two different attacks when they normally could interfere with one. A runner must use another Runner's (or Dreamer's) explosive to use this ability.

Charger
(based on Snowball Skirmish)

Chargers are typically the ones who have seen the most combat experience, or have at least been involved in the most conflict in their lives. A charger typically takes their time, whether because they stew in their anger or because they are simply patient. This trait is developed in part because of their gift to make an attack of theirs more powerful the longer they take with it, hence the name.

Power up: When they are normally able to take action, a charger can opt to "charge" their or another Gifted survivor's attack by posting that they are doing so, with each turn adding the previous value of damage to their attack in a Fibonacci order (the order starts and proceeds as 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc.). If a charger is interrupted (if they are attacked or take another action themselves) before they use their attack, they lose their charge. Other chargers can help each other "charge" their attacks, but they cannot charge more than one attack at a time, and only other Chargers and Dreamers can help charge a Charger's attack.

Slingers
(based on Mudslingers)

Not unlike the gunslingers of old, these survivors are gifted with the ability to sling the "souls" of other survivors at their enemies. Slingers can range from the heroic altruism of the classic Western cowboy to the callous aloofness of a mercenary.

Soul slinging: With a human's consent of will (given case-by-case or as a 'open-door' policy as specified by them), a slinger can use that person's "soul", when the slinger can take an action, to damage an enemy equal to half (1/2) that person's current hitpoints, rounded up. Unless that person is another slinger or dreamer, however, the person who offered their 'soul' cannot take an action until the slinger (or another of their kind) take their action to put the soul back. A slinger can use their own soul, but must take two (2) actions after an attack to bring their soul back before making another attempt.

Note: A 'soul-sling' will be considered a standard attack (that is, a non-damaging interfering against the enemy) should either the targeted enemy or yourself take an action or have an action taken upon one of you before permission is given for use of their soul in a posted soul-slinging attack.

Weavers
(based on Sentence String)

In the world before the apocalypse, weavers were typically the geeks of the world. They have been gifted with tapping into what they've described as the "code" or the "word" of existence. The strange sentences that they utter have the potential for devastating results.

String theory: A weaver can, with their action, utter a single real word at a target, and if they follow it in further posts with a unique (that is, never uttered by another weaver) and grammatically-correct sentence, they deal a point (1) of damage per word of the sentence to that target. If the attack is interrupted, they must start a new sentence. One additional weaver (or dreamer) may assist them in 'weaving' their attack, in which case the final attack does double damage.

The Mutated
(based off of Thread of the Living Dead)

Whether a victim of nuclear and biological fallout, or a volunteer for their military's genetic augmentation, the mutants are somewhat slow and powerful. They will attack anything that isn't of their kind, though they are twice as effective against the machines, as it reminds them the least of themselves.

As a mutant, they must take three turns: their first turn moving towards a target, their second turn locking onto their target, and their final (and successive) turn(s) attacking the target. Each attack does 3 hitpoints worth of damage, and up to two (2) other mutants may gang up on a target. Against machines, they do six (6) hitpoints worth of damage each. An individual mutant cannot post twice in a row (they must wait for another action post from someone else to be made).

Militant: Mutants that were volunteers for generic experimentation will appears in locations that are specified to be a warzone. Militant mutants only need to take two turns: their first locking onto their target, and their final (and successive) turn(s) attacking the target. They also deal three (3) hitpoints worth of damage per attack.

The Undead
(based off of Consume!)

Infected by the Cortez Strain, the once dead now roam the earth. They typically have little thought other than to attack (and attempt to consume) anything resembling the living. They are twice as effective against mutants, as they generally provide the tastiest-looking targets for them.

As one of the undead, you must get at least two (2) other undead to attack a target before the attack is successful. A successful attack with three undead deals three (3) hitpoints worth of damage, with each additional undead adding an extra (1) hitpoint of damage, unless it is a mutant, in which case they do two (2). Up to eight (8) undead can swarm a single target. An individual undead cannot post twice in a row (they must wait for another action post from someone else to be made).

Hellish: Especially hellish versions of the undead come out whenever the location is specified to be dark. In this case, only two (2) of the hellish undead are needed to successfully attack for three (3) damage, with each additional hellish undead dealing one (1) damage (or two if undead). A single, regular undead still needs two undead, hellish or not, to successfully start an attack.

The Machines
(based off of Bonus Minigame #2)

Produced, or at least activated, by MARTYRS, these typically humanoid robots are poorly programmed and thus try and kill anything organic and human-like. They are twice as effective against the undead, who they were originally programmed to eliminate.

A robot also needs three turns to "calculate" their attack upon their target. On their first turn, they take note of the time (example, say the post was made at 5:06 PM). On the second turn, they attempt to make the appropriate calculations (in game terms, they must wait exactly ten minutes, so in the above example, they'd have to post at 5:16 PM). On their final (and successive) turn(s), if they "calculated" correctly (to continue the example, if they posted at 5:26 PM), they do the damage equal to the last digit in the time (in this case, six (6) hitpoints worth of damage). Robots do not team up on other targets. Should they target an undead, they do twice that damage. If they are interrupted, they must start again. An individual machine can post twice in a row, so long as they follow the above rules.

Ghostly: Through some strange method, MARTYRS has access to flying gnat-sized robotics, and they are only found in locations that are specified to be indoors. In this case, ghostly robots only require two (2) rounds to calculate their damage.

The Merchant
(based on Cold War Capitalism)

A mysterious and very shady character, it's hard to say whether the Merchant is even a single person, as his tall and thin frame is hidden under a trenchcoat and his face is hidden by their hat. Some people have heard that the Merchant plunder dead bodies like a vulture, though no one seems to have seen it for themselves. The Merchant, however, seems to be very interested in doing business with the human survivors in the past decade or so, and is willing to offer some rather good trades for a player's "spoils" they have, though most feel that, somehow, it's a bad idea to do business with him.

Rules
As the gifted player-characters kill various Cursed, they gain "spoils" equal to the hitpoints of the Cursed that they've killed. These "spoils" range from random junk on parts of the Cursed bodies to, well, the parts themselves. The Merchant will even take your own blood (your hitpoints) which will be worth twice the value (that is, 1 hitpoint of yours will equal 2 points to spend in his "store"), though he won't accept draining you dead, and he won't allow you to buy any health-related items of his with that "credit".

The store itself typically has the option to regain your own health for 1 hitpoint per "spoil" point spent (up to your maximum) as well as specialty items for a particular "gifted" character for a certain price. The Merchant may also have other items for sale - if a character requests it, he may have it available right then or for a future visit.

During the time the players do business with the Merchant, a player may opt to transfer his own blood (hitpoints) to another, for a cost of 2 hitpoints of the donor for every 1 hitpoint the other can regain from them. The Merchant will, of course, point out that he provides a much better offer.

As a final trade, the Merchant will offer to potentially pay a player character for any rumors or general thoughts they may have about the Great Beast. He is rather picky about what he'll pay for, though, and won't generally pay much at that unless he deems it really worthwhile or other players "confirm" it. In the latter case, he will likely pay those who "confirmed" the words spoken.

The Merchant's Store

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 50"]
[TR]
[TD]OPEN[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]




Merchant's Net Profit: 40

Ver. 1.0 - 11 Nov 2012 - The version initially released to the public.

Ver. 1.1 - 12 Nov 2012 - Fixed some minor errors with spelling and sentence consistency. Clarified that players really only need to know how to play as the specific Gift they select. Changed that a standard attack for all players does no damage. Fixed the math for the charger's special power's progression to actually match the Fibonacci order. Clarified the Dreamer's spawning ability. Clarified that Limners can receive "votes" from other Limners. Clarified that "votes" from Limners and Dreamers are considered free actions. Fixed the Runner's speedboost so that it can now only be performed with an explosive set by another Runner or Dreamer.

Ver. 1.2 - 14 Nov 2012 - Clarified need for permission for soul-slinging and for how to round for damage.

Ver. 1.3 - 07 Dec 2012 - Altered the Chase rules from the least-active player dying to all players losing half their health if the Gifted lose. Also added requested time of play for all players during combat.

Questions which are frequently asked, or which I think are important to address.

Q. Holy cow, there's a lot to read! You expect me to know all this by heart?
A. Of course not! There's a lot to read simply because this is more role-playing and grand in nature. Basically, you just need to know that, like a lot of my games, actions are typically made without double-posting. The rest is various levels of gravy. And, of course, I'll be more than happy to clarify parts here and whenever.

Q: So how does a typical "round" go then?
A: Here's one example of how a part of a wave might play out.

Let's say there are two Chargers ready for a wave. We'll mark them as C1 and C2.

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 50"]
[TR]
[TD]C1
C2[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Let's then say a Mutant enters the field, making his way towards Charger #1. We'll mark his needed "turns" with dashes. If the Mutant is not interrupted before his second approach, he only has one dash, and if he succeeds in his third, there are no dashes and the Mutant has successfully made an attack and is able to make further attacks.

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 100"]
[TR]
[TD]C1 - - M1
C2[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Let's then say a second Mutant enters the field and is also approaching Charger #1. Here's a primitive look with that.

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 100"]
[TR]
[TD]C1 - - M1
^ - - M2
C2[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Mutant #1 is quick enough to post again, taking his second required action.

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 100"]
[TR]
[TD]C1 - M1
^ - - M2
C2[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Charger #2, thinking his friend might be too slow to defend himself, attacks Mutant #1 with a standard attack, which does no damage but does its job. Mutant #1 has now been interrupted, and any further attack attempts need to start from square one. We'll indicate that just by having Mutant #1 at the bottom of the list (he's not on top of Charger #2 in this case, just as Charger #2 isn't on top of Charger #1.

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 100"]
[TR]
[TD]C1 - - M2
C2
M1[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Charger #1 takes this opportunity to charge an attack. His next attack will do 2 damage, should he choose to do so.

Mutant #1 makes his move towards Charger #2, because he's mad.

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 100"]
[TR]
[TD]C1 - - M2
C2 - - M1[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Charger #2 decides he needs to start charging and does so for a potential 2 damage the next round.

Charger #1 quickly follows up with another charging, for a total of 3.

On a roll, Charger #2 charges again for a potential total of 3.

On fire, before the Mutants have time to try advancing enough to attack and interrupt, Charger #1 attacks at Mutant #1, killing the mutant.

Charger #2 then attacks Mutant #2, killing that mutant as well.

The two good guys then keep an eye out for more bad guys certain to follow before the wave ends.

Q: So just to clarify, if an enemy is attempting to attack and hasn't yet successfully done so, I can take an action to interrupt him?
A: Yes, and when they are interrupted, they must start their attack from square one. An exception to this rule is the runner's explosive, in which case, most players can only run away from it as their action.

Q: Once a bad guy has successfully begun attacking someone, do they have to repeat the process to attack again?
A: No. So long as the bad guy is not interrupted, attacked themselves, or otherwise take a different action, the bad guy can continue their successful posts dealing damage. For mutants and undead, so long as a non-interrupting/etc. post has been made by someone else, they can post for another damaging attack, and for robots, so long as they make their successful post within exactly 10 minutes, they can continue attacking. Yet another reason robots can be especially dangerous!

Q: Some of these special abilities seem to require timing instead of waiting for a post to go by, though. How does that work?
A: In the case of Machines and the Runners, instead of waiting for a post to go by, they wait for a certain time to go by. They can, however, still be interrupted or otherwise negated by another person posting such. Especially in the hands of a skilled player, runners and robot are dangerous foes and will need to be attacked quickly! Fortunately, a runner's attack is relatively weak, and a robot's effectiveness relies solely on his own timing and luck.

Q: Can mutants and undead team up on a good guy?
A: They could, yes. If at least three undead (or two hellish undead) are successfully attacking, a mutant can add himself and is considered three undead for the purposes of dealing damage and teaming up (meaning if there are already 6 undead, a mutant can't join). If at least one mutant has already attacked a good guy, an undead can jump as if the mutant was equal to three undead, and if two mutants are attacking, only two extra undead can join. Keep in mind, though, that mutants and undead are just as likely to fight each other, especially the undead against the mutants. And, to emphasize, robots cannot team up at all with themselves or other Cursed, so if a robot is successfully attacking someone, mutants and undead can't join, and visa-versa.

Q: Will various Cursed ever fight each other?
A: While the bad guys may, by circumstance or whim, fight each other, they are generally compelled to attack those that are gifted.

Q: Is everybody bound by the rules, good guys and bad?
A: Yes. Ideally, even I, acting as the "game master" would be bound as well. In all likelyhood, though, I will need to fudge and post "reasonably" in order to give the good guy players something to actually fight in a fun manner. NOTE: An unofficial set of guidelines for myself will be spelled out in the near future.

Q: Can you tell us about the art used?
A: In most all the cases, the images (and music later on) was made by someone else which I found. The only thing I did to the images was put them through some filters (if you're curious, it's sepia tone, dark strokes, crosshatch, and film grain). The exception is the photo of the Merchant, which is a photoshopped photograph of myself.

Q: I'd like to play, but I'm just not able to check this thread often!
A: If enough people are interested and have conflicts, I'll be more than happy to try and set a "game time" that people can post. I myself will only be able to post so much. Remember that playing as a bad guy is considerably more flexible than playing as a good guy, and regardless, spectators who post their thoughts are always encouraged!

Q: You apparently based this game off a lot of other forum games you made. What's up with that?
A: Since I'm considering this likely my "magnum opus" of forum games, I want to tie as much as I have done into this game. Some are chunks of the gameplay, while others will just be nods of sorts. You won't need to know about the other games, in any case, as they're just referenced for my own indulgence.

I had hoped to make a video for the initial post to act as a "title/overture" deal. However, I am already a day late for my own goals in this matter, and I think this will be good for now. I will be doing my best to "run" this game, and it'll be more fun the more people get involved! I'll start as soon as I can when there's at least two people who have set-up for playing as gifted human survivors.

Lucky da Medici

Gift: DREAMER

Physical Traits:
Uncouth mane of thick brown curls (which he steadfastly claims is a gleaming golden)
Half-lidded eyes, one of which is a milky white (which he steadfastly claims are as a blue as the sea, even tho the seas are red now)
Lean, lank frame (which he steadfastly claims is a broad, muscular physique)
Chin strip of hair (which he steadfastly claims is sexy)
Raspy tenor (which he steadfastly claims is a sensuous baritone)
Gray hoodie (which he steadfastly claims is golden armor made out of light, with the hood being a scarlet cloak)
Cowboy boots two sizes too large (which he steadfastly claims are golden armored boots made of light)
Ripped, black jeans one size two small (which he steadfastly claims makes his butt look sexy)

History: Lucky da Medici was conceived on June 6th, 1966, born on December 21st, 1966 as a premature baby in Cortez, Colorado. His family moved away before the outbreak of the First Seal, however. In fact, he has an important connection to each of the big events in the timeline - he was there, he was important, etc etc.

This is what he claims. Much like his appearance, no one really believes him. For one thing, he's in his early twenties, not late fifties, his claims of eternal youth notwithstanding. The only really uncanny thing is that he does seem to have an intimate knowledge of these timeline events...but then, he is a dreamer, with those vivid conjurations of imagination that go along with that. Those details are just made up. Probably.

For Lucky is indeed a dreamer. In fact, he believes he has dreamed up this entire world. This kind of explains why he's sort of happy go lucky and isn't really fazed by anything. It is just a dream, after all; and if it's a dream, why not dream himself as the central figure in it? With this attitude, he should have been dead several dozen times over already, but he's given the nickname Lucky for a reason.

Whether his luck will hold remains to be seen...

Glad to see someone's willing to take a shot at this game! For the rest of you checking this thread out, post some sort of reply, even if it's just "I don't want to be involved at all because of _____." Let us know if you'll be following it at least, or if you might play later, or if you wish to play as a bad guy or what-not. Even if you're not interested, please spread the word to everything you do think might be interested -- we could get some new members this way.

Also, if you wish to be involved but have schedule conflicts of some sort, please bring them up, and I may decide to only have the game "run" between certain times so as to facilitate better gaming! I myself will be sleeping and such between approx. 2AM-10AM US EST, I generally work between 10AM-6PM (though there are times I can check throughout my shift), and on Tuesday and Thursday nights, I'm generally busy with other stuff. Ideally, this game will be done by the end of December 21st, though depending on how things go, it may go later.

>>For the rest of you checking this thread out, post some sort of reply, even if it's just "I don't want to be involved at all because of _____."

I don't want to be involved at all because it looks like there are too many mechanics. I usually play text games for their stories, and had I wanted a story-driven game with stats and character sheets and the like, I would've played / hosted a table-top RPG.

The only forum game on this forum that I've genuinely enjoyed was Tibby's post-apoc adventure. Too bad it was murdered in cold blood when someone decided it should go into the ISB forum.

Koobie: Thank you, and fair enough. Free-form RPGs (that's basically what you're describing) certainly are fun stuff, and in this case, I wanted to take the challenge of designing game mechanics as well. In any case, free-form RPGs don't really have much of a home here. The ISB was probably the most appropriate place for it, and it's only considered "murder" because of the vicious cycle of nobody visiting it because there's 'nothing' there and 'nothing' is there because nobody visits it. Personally, I think what killed Tibby's thread was Tibby not continuing it.

Clovis Delacroix

Gift: SLINGER

Physical Traits:
Tall and thin with a oddly sallow complexion.
Seems always tired with dark bloodshot eyes.
Pair of dusty, dark grey (or are they horribly faded black) slacks that were no doubt once part of an expensive suit.
Threadbare light blue button up shirt, with sleeves rolled up.
A suspiciously fine pair of Lucchese, Botine style boots (almost certainly stolen).
Clean shaved and surprisingly well groomed dark brown hair, despite his overall lackluster appearance.
Smells perpetually of menthol cigarettes (though he claims dismissively to "never touch the filthy things.")


History: Clovis was born in Bogalusa Louisiana, in late February of 1992. In his early years he had been a rather sickly child. So much of his early life was spent in the hospital that one doctor grimly noted "He seems to have been born with one foot already in the grave." He was generally a quiet mild mannered boy, however as many a startled nurse could attest, he was prone to sudden and violent outbursts.

On December 21st, 1999, Clovis and his mother(all that were left of the Delacroix family) left Louisiana on account of much of the state being threatened by unpredictable tidal phenomenon. They traveled northwest and resettled in Oklahoma for a time. As several years passed Clovis's mother began to suffer from increasing dementia. Finally in late December of 2009 Clovis struck off again, instinctively drawn further west toward Cortez Colorado... His ailing mother had mysteriously "disappeared", and was never heard from again.

This is pretty impressive, Geb. I won't be playing because this isn't really my thing, and it's enough not-my-thing that the amount of text up there is completely impenetrable. Basically, tl;dr, but only because I already know I'm not too interested, y'know? Clearly there's an audience in Al Ciao, Alran, whoever else, but I can't help but think you'll find little success here. I really do hope you post this on some other boards if at all possible. It'd be a shame for it to go unappreciated, but I think here, due to our small size and relatively low interest in interactive fiction, it will be.

To reiterate: I'm impressed! I hope this somehow works here, and barring that, that you find a good venue for it elsewhere. I'd be curious to know how it turns out, too, if that's the case.

Darth_Alran! Glad to see you've taken an interest! Now that we have at least 2 people playing as good guys, we're ready to start! For a few reasons, I will give until tomorrow evening (Wed. Nov. 14th around 7PM US EST) before I make the introductory post and start the "first wave." Please keep in mind that, until (or unless) we get enough other people playing as bad guys, I will have to 'fudge' the rules in that I will be playing multiple bad guys at times. I only intend to do this so much as to make it interesting for you guys and will do my best not to do anything 'unfair' in this regard. If there are times you will be checking Massassi more than others, please let me know! Otherwise, please review the rules and such to make sure there aren't any last-minute questions or concerns. Thank you!

saberopus: Thank you for the well wishes, and if you know anyone else who would be interested to give this game a go, please let them know about it! Also, if you change your mind, you don't have to play as a good guy; you could play in much briefer spurts as a bad guy or few. We could always use spectators as well.

Alrighty, I will try to check in around 6 PM CST. ^^

Stage 1: Where the Strain Began to Spread

Sorry, don't know how to play this video :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUwDH8yMsHc
As you step off the Devil's Highway and onto west end of Main Street running through the ghost town of Cortez, the low wind stirs decades-old newspapers ever-so-slightly down the empty, snow-dusted road. Mountains break the horizon to the east. Apart from the scars of a forced occupation long-gone, there is only the heavy weight of fate bearing down.

The sun, a blemish high in the sky, stares from above. It is not dark.

While the beatings of a military presence are apparent, it is not a warzone. However, you get the impression that you will enter one before leaving Cortez.

Traveling east towards Dolores Road, you most certainly remain outdoors​.

From behind a convenience store, a mutant wearing a biker outfit appears. It begins to lumber towards Lucky.

(I'll call him biker mutant to distinguish from other mutants, and will generally give identifiers so they're not just numbers).

Lucky motions to Clovis. "Incoming!" He makes overly dramatic conjuring motions, spawning a mutated husk from dust and tumbleweed.

Lucky: 12 HP
Mutant Spawn: 3 HP

(Argh, subscribing doesn't seem to work well for me. :(...)

The biker mutant is either too stupid or too apathetic to show any notice of Lucky's new friend. The biker mutant continues to move towards Lucky.

biker mutant: 3HP (2/3 turns before attacking Lucky)