Monday, December 10, 2012

FFO:ATZ - First Battle Rep

July 1st 1944 - First day of the end of World

Dear Diary, I am writing this day on a small paper that I will add to you once I am back. My fingers are frozen by the cold morning, I am hidden in a hollow tree, thinking again and again on what happened and what went wrong....

All was going well. Yesterday we were drinking and fantasying about our future glory, all the Germans we would kill or make surrender. Alcohol helped a lot in that silliness. Jean-Paul the Mayor is now trying to organize us. There will not be enough weapons for all of us, and he asked me to retrieve a pistol that hidden in the burnt out house in the wood. 

The house in the middle
 He did not say where it was, but gave indication that it was hidden in some of the junk that surround the house. I hoped I could find it fast.

Jean Courage in (lead) person
I was somehow scared and was sure I heard noise around the house in front of me. I should have paid more attention as you will read. (PEF 5)


Turn 1 : JC 1 / Z 1

I started my journey to go quickly at the house, find the gun and get back to the village.

( Random Event : Nothing. (I resolved the random events so if not applicable, nothing happen).
PEF don't move)

Turn 2 (5-1)
(PEF stay where it is.)


Turn 3 (4 - 3) , Turn 4 (3 - 5)

The sounds on my right were getting louder; I could hear low voice, some kind of low moan, until I saw the German patrol. Damn, I was heading right into a patrol.(PEF resolved as a 1+1d6/2 zombie horde)



Germans! (normal light for camera)
Germans! (early morning view)

Turn 5 (4 - 2),  Turn 6 (6 - 3), Turn 7 (5 - 3)
I quickly moved on my left, using the morning mist at my advantage and climbed the small hill. I was lucky enough and the Germans did not go after me.
I paused and waited for a while, trying to see or hear if the Germans were still looking for me. I could hear some noise but it seems they are looking for something else and ignored me. At least, they did not run after me which was enough for me.(the zombies shambled NE-SW for 3 turns at a 4 inch pace without any improvement on their location)

Turn 8 (4 - 3)I searched the junk around me and found some canned food (Food+1). I stopped and waited. Did the patrol hear me? … Seemed not. (I resolve the action from Jean with the zombies as following : Each action trigger a hearing test from the zombies as the terrain is quiet with no other sound in early morning that birds, if the zombies pass at 2d6, I assume they hear sounds and move toward the sound direction)


Jean is hidding behind junk on the hill

Turn 9 (3 - 4)
I ran for the house from the hill, but the terrain was difficult and I was not as fast as I expected. I could still hear sound from the South, damn Germans. Can't they go away?

Turn 10 (6 - 1)
I stopped, waiting, listening to the South. I hid behind a box and stopped breathing.

Turn 11 (2 - 6)
They really seemed to be gone. I could hear only the little birds and the typical cracks of the woods in the morning. I resumed my search and looked at the junk in the house.
This was the home of a woodman, he lived there for many years until his wife died and he killed himself. From what I heard, it was a terrible night, with a mighty storm. When people saw smoke, they headed toward it, fearing a fire that could devastate the woods, but thanks to the rain, only part of the house was destroyed. They found the body few meters away, a bullet in the head. Since then, the house saw manyyoung men of the village using it as a challenge for adulthood and every year, more junk was added to the “house of the dead man”.
Looking for the gun, I could only find extra food to put in my bag. Still worth the trouble.

Turn 12 (4 - 4)
I was looking at the darkest corner when it jumped on me! I recognized something was not right, because the right side of his face was terribly torn apart, one his dead eye dangling. It charged me and I could barely react and I fought to death. I pushed it back and it hit the sharp corner of a hard wooden box, dead. (melee fight, Zombie 4d6 (4455), Jean 3d6(116), Jean win by 2d6!, Impact 3, roll 1, OD… that was so short)


A ghoul? A zombie? What's the hell!

 Turn 13 (1 - 6) 
I stared at the body. What’s the hell was that? Obviously it had been a German soldier. But something is really wrong, it was not only my imagination. I smelt its decay flesh, its uniform displayed bullet holes, one of his arm was broken with a wrong angle.
No time to think, I needed to get out fast. I went up the stairs and found the pistol. It was a small police pistol. The cold feel of the steel comforted me. I took the extra ammo next to it, we never know.
(I roll the zombie if they hear, and with 2d6, they hear the sound and will head toward it, zombies are now REP 4).


Jean killed the thing!

Turn 14 (2 - 5), Turn 15 (4 - 5)
(Jean get down the ladder and do not hear the approaching zombies).
I climbed down the ladder and headed South, I really wanted to get out of the wood with these ... "things" in there. It all looked more and more weird by now, with the mist and the dawn. My mind wandering, I did not pay attention until I was face to face with the 4 Germans of the patrol.
But, now, having had a closer at that "thing" in the house , I realized these Germans were acting and walking weird too, more shambling than walking straight. Drunk? I thought not now. 2 of them had major injuries. These were walking dead too!


What? These Germans look like the other nightmarish thing

Turn 16 (5 - 3), Turn 17 (4 - 6)
Still surprised of this discovery and thinking where they come from, what they meant, why they were there..., they kept shambling toward me. Me and my damn brain! Why does it need to analyze when I should be running. One of them almost grabbed my jacket until I reacted and shot him...
Well, to be honest with myself, I missed it and hit the one just behind. it took the bullet as if it was a mosquito bite (and even that, a mosquito bite has more effects!). 
 Not waiting any longer, I ran back to the house and luckily they got tangled in tree roots.

Turn 18 (5 - 5)
In the house, the German I thought I killed raised again, surely awaken by the shot and I shot him too, missing it. It attacked me again and I could barely pushed it back, it tumbled on the floor but definitely not completely dead.

Turn 19 (4 - 2), Turn 20 (6 - 3), Turn 21 (2 - 5)
I ran, they shambled after me.  I stopped and shot one in the head and I believed it was finally dead. I kept running but then….


Benny Hill moment. Escaping the zombies
Arg! They're faster

Turn 22 (2 - 2), Turn 23 (5 - 5)
I twisted my ankle. I saw my last moment in front of my eyes. (Double! and twisted ankle at the worst moment ever, I roll once more, expecting to move, but...)
 I tried to walk again, this is too painful. With the walking dead behind me I scream because of the pain, what I believe is my end... (I changed the phone ring event, obviously not possible in 1944 with Jean trying to walk with his twisted ankle screaming from pain. It attracted no zombie 234 as this is the first day).


Hurry up

Turn 24 (4 - 5)
I moved and was getting some distance. I took on my last bit of energy to take some extra meters and hide in a hollow tree. I should get better tomorrow and head back to the city (Having the ankle twisted, doing a run test can hurt extra, I decided to take the test and assume the hero will hide from his foes and take care of his wound)
 


So close

Summary
That was close! Jean almost got grabbed and surrounded by 5 zombies, no close combat weapon and the pistol is very hard to use (impact 1).
Next game will see few days between this scenario and the next one which will be to find Germaine in the village.
A very fun game, I didn't expect to roll so many zombie at once. Fortunately none of the shot attracted more zombies, nor did the shout for the twisted ankle at the last turn.
I used a rule to shamble the zombies (1d6 move in 1d12 direction), mist (8 inch visibility) and wood (max 6 inch for the human).

Next scenario, I will roll for Jean (1 zombie killed, 3 items found).
I also received 100 transparent base to use as dead markers in my next game!
Markers for next time

Monday, December 3, 2012

FFO : Meet Jean Courage

With Final Fade Out, there is a great free add-on, Day One (here)

I will fill in the information for Jean Courage, trying to be as much 40's and close to what I see for that character.

Age :
24

Marital status 
Single, engaged

Children?
no

Where are the loved one?
Father disappeared, Mother in Paris, Fiancee at her parents home

What does he do for a living ?
Working in a farm with his uncle. His cousin has disappeared too

Has he served in the military?
Drafted and some firefights during the outbreak of WW2. Served in a fortress unit

Ever fired a gun? 
Yes, machine gun, pistols and rifles

Where does he live?
Rural area, in a farm, but with a large military presence (id6 = 5) so count as urban.

Resources?
Farm products with perishable and non-perishable items. As they were 3 until recently living in the house, it would count as 3 non-perishable items of food and 3 perishable items of food (out within 1 month). As long as the farm is not attacked, it will produce 6 food items per month (3 perishable and 3 non-perishable). Also, in the 40's, there are cellars to keep food without electricity and I assume the farm has one. Water is coming from the well as long as it is not contaminated.
I assume also the farm will have wine for 6 month (this is France!), count as 12 luxury items, but will decrease by 1 every month due to consumption (this is still France....).
Medicine will be in limited quantity and only from plants. No penicillin.

Weapons?
Many improvised close combat weapons at the farm, none of the character at the beginning of the campaign. Partially because this is forbidden and he could be shot. No fancy sword or other things.
Firearms (shotgun equivalent), one hidden in the garden of the farm (unknown to Jean) that can be dig up if his uncle feels it appropriate (REP test every in-between scenario). If the uncle dies before he talks about it, the firearm will not be available.
Ammunition for the shotgun can be handmade, but any other weapon such as pistols and military grade will have to be taken on bodies or stolen.

Vehicles?
No vehicle available.
Gaz will be an issue as there won't be any gaz station outside of military camps. There are gaz-powered cars driven by very few civilians too.
Bicycle and horses are more common.

First Things first:
Jean Courage is planning to retrieve a pistol from a cache and get back to the village where he is planning to meet the other members of the resistance and do whatever they can to attack the Germans.
This would be :
- house in the wood (Scenario 1)
- if all goes well, back to the village (Scenario 2)
- waiting for decision (Scenario 3)
and then, let's see what happens. Note that the scenario 2 and 3 may not happen at all, depending on what happens on scenario 1.


Jean Courage in terms of game mechanics:
REP : 4 (Working out in the field, fought and start fighting again)
PEP : 3 (Jean is good with people thanks to his working experiences)
SAV : 2 (Jean is an idealist and sometimes don't have common sense)

Attributes: 
(Random) : 11  -Runt. Count a -1d6 when taking the Charge into Melee test
(Selected) : 3 - Born Leader. +1d6 when taking the Keeping it Together Test if he is the leader. I assume that the zombie apocalypse will reveal the true self of Jean and that he will give up his innocence completely.

Civilian and Survivors:
As Jean just joined the resistance, he won't be considered as a Survivor, but as a Civilian. It will take him, the full understanding that there is no coming back to the old world he knew to ramp him up to Survivor (20 days)
For encounters, as some have fought the Germans for long time already, they will be treated as Survivors. So long time resistant will be automatically survivors.