Random Item Generator

A new page has been added which provides a random item generator. Hopefully it will help add a little more variety when the group scavenges abandoned vehicles and other locations.

The new page is linked at the top of the blog as "Random Generator".  Please add comments if you find it useful and/or have any suggestions on items/locations to add.

Enjoy!

Session 4 Schedule

Session 4 will happen sometime in 2012.  The preliminary availability table looks like Monday, January 2nd is a possibility and will be confirmed hopefully soon after Christmas.
 

Is John as friendly as he seems or is there more to the story?  Will he recover from the abrupt end to the discussion over prescription drugs or has his system gone into shock?  The lack of resistance at WalMart was certainly a surprise.  Is it just plain good luck or are they in for an unpleasant surprise?

Equipped with an apocalypse-modified vehicle, where will the group go next?  Kim let the group know about a Home Depot right across the interstate - could there be another friendly staff member there filled with southern hospitality or there something far worse waiting for them...?

Session 3 Synopsis

Real Date: December 19, 2011
In-Game Date: December 2, 2011

Session Title: Semi Smash Part Deux at the WalMart!

Key:
1.  RV location
2.  More Zombies in the parking lot
3.  Recon at Country Inn
4.  Zombie in vehicle
5.  Firing position for Zombies at rear entrance
6.  Meeting room Zombie battle
7.  Service bay Zombie battle
8. WalMart parking lot Zombie semi smash
9.  New entrance to WalMart

Colton and Greg began the morning with an all-around scan of the area from various top floor rooms of the Fairfield Inn to make sure no unwanted guests had moved into the area. The coast looking clear, the two decided it was time to fetch Chet's .308 which was said to be stored in the RV.  They carefully moved to the RV with Chet's keys in hand. As expected, the rifle was found under the couch in the back along with several rounds of ammunition.

After creeping back across the parking lot and back to the hotel, it was decided that they should stock the RV with supplies in case an emergency escape was ever required.  Despite some minor resistance from the hotel manager, Greg and Colton convinced him that they were not going to abandon him and the others - at least not without telling them first.  Agreeing, but still unsure of the plan, the manager helped load food supplies enough for a couple weeks (for 4 people) into the RV.

Colton's attention then turned to the locked gun case he previously found in the Cracker Barrel's parking lot.  After immediately breaking a hacksaw blade on the hardened plastic case, he turned to the hatchet which the case still resisted.  Not being able to take it anymore, Greg jumped in with a tire iron and helped to pry the case open without further issue.  Falling out of the case and onto the floor was a nice looking 9mm handgun.  No ammo was found in the case accompanying the weapon.

In preparation for the trip to WalMart, the idea to do some recon on the roof of the five story Country Inn across the parking lot came up.  Once again, a few Zombies were spotted in the Cracker Barrel's north lot.  These were quite oblivious to Colton's crossbow shots as each of them fell one after another without realizing they were even under attack.  Making there way over to the hotel without further issue, Colton and Greg entered cautiously keeping an eye out for the crazy guy that was left in the basement.  Other than a few rats scurrying around in the breakfast area, nothing was seen or heard and the pair made their way to the roof.  Two small groups of Zombies could be seen up the road to the northwest as well as to the southeast.  In addition, a much larger group of 40-60 seemed to be slowly moving northwest through the WalMart parking lot.  A few stragglers could also be seen along the road and scattered around the parking lot.

Also spotted from the roof was a car dealership to the south.  Wanting to clear the way when traveling to WalMart, the two decided to sweep the parking lot and see what was happening inside the dealership.  First, a quick scan through the windows of the vehicles was done.  Nothing of interest was seen in most of them, but one held what looked to be a corpse in the driver seat.  Tapping lightly on the glass resulted in the not totally unexpected result of the corpse jolting into motion and vigorously attempting to break out of the vehicle.  With a quick motion from Greg, the driver's window was broken out with a tire iron followed by a dead-on shot from Colton's crossbow putting the Zombie to rest. 

Continuing the vehicle scan, the two moved around the west side of the building and spotted a dozen Zombies shambling outside a pair of doors leading into the building.  Storing their gear behind some parked cars, Colton took aim with his crossbow from about 50 feet way and took down a Zombie.  The rest seemed to be oblivious and this pattern followed for half of the Zombies before they finally caught the scent of human flesh and rushed towards the two.  Falling back to their gear, Colton and Greg prepared their melee weapons and finished off the pursuing Zombies.

About that time, Kim and Chet caught up to the dynamic duo bringing the party up to full strength.  Talk of heading directly to WalMart came up, but since they were so close to the dealership, they figured they might as well check out the interior.

The front glass was smashed in so entry was easy.  All was initially quiet until the group approached the double doors of a large meeting room.  Shuffling could be heard beyond the already partially opened doors.  Peeking in, at least a couple dozen shapes could be seen breaking the slits of light which made its way through the cracks of the boarded up windows.  Moving into position, Kim headed for a side door so her axe swing would not be impeded by other party members.  Colton and Greg took up flanking positions on the double doors while Chet stayed a couple paces back readying his 9mm handgun.  Colton started things off with a crossbow shot which took one of them down.  The somewhat crowded group of Zombies immediately noticed the attack and rushed out of the doors.  Chet cracked off five shots with most of them finding their marks.  Colton and Greg began hacking at the onrush of Zombies which could not be kept contained in the room.  Kim attracted the attention of several Zombies as well as she started making slow but steady progress hacking with her axe.  Several Zombies gave the group some close calls as their teeth were shattered with hatchet, knife, and pistol grip.  Chet was able to squeeze off several more rounds emptying his clip, switched to a combat knife, and joined the rest of his group in close combat.  A few blundered defense attempts by the group kept everyone on edge, but the party was able to finish off the last of the Zombies leaving the room dead silent with nothing moving except the dust settling though the sun rays.

Searching around the room produced nothing but a door, opposite the double doors, which was boarded up from the other side.  Kim, seemingly exhausted from the recent melee, had some difficulty hacking through the wood planks with her axe so Colton stepped in and attempted to kick them down.  After scraping his leg and nearly hurting himself worse, he stepped back and let Greg have a try at the door.  Without much effort, the already loosened boards gave way and revealed a silent office.  Six corpses could be seen laying around the room along with several empty water cooler containers, snack food bags, and empty food cans.  Greg surmised that this group likely died of dehydration about a week prior as there was no sign of other trauma nor of Zombification.  

The stench was awful, but searching through the office revealed several useful items including a semi-automatic shotgun, .357 revolver, and a partially disassembled 9mm handgun.  Chet inspected the handgun and found it was missing a piece and therefore would not be usable.  Fortunately it was the same model as his and could be used for spare parts.  Modest amounts of ammo were also found among this, the location of the final stand of the prior inhabitants.  Another boarded up door opposite the previous was the next focus in the room.  Removing the boards went much easier this time and the group once again peeked through the door.  This time an even larger number of Zombies was revealed which took quick notice of the flashlights breaking the darkness.  They quickly rushed out the door nearly overrunning the party.

Another grueling melee ensued and several more close calls were threatened by the ravenous Zombies, but the group once again prevailed and laid dozens more undead to rest.  After the ringing of close quarters gunshots cleared, the group was again met with silence.  Three service bays, two filled with vehicles, appeared to be well intact.  A set of batteries was found wired to a large inverter which was hooked up to a truck with its exhaust safely attached to a tube to vent it outside the shop.  The makeshift power supply was hooked into the shop's wiring allowing the group to turn on and use a good portion of the rooms lights and some equipment.  Someone, probably one of the previous shop technicians, knew what they were doing with the electrical work.

Searching the shop revealed several previously destroyed Zombies.  In the corner was found the body of what appeared to be a non-Zombie in a technician's uniform.  Next to his body, some sort of rifle with three empty clips around it was found by Kim.  The scope seemed to be broken, but otherwise the rifle was in good shape and Chet identified it as an AR-15.  The group stowed it and looked forward to finding some .223 or 5.56 ammo in the near future.

With the search finished, the group found that they now had the means to utilize Chet's repair skills to add some enhancements to the semi.  Heading back up to their hotel, they unhitched the flatbed and drove the truck to the empty repair bay.  The first modification that was made was to add an ignition button under the dash and rig up an electrical booby trap on the regular key mechanism to thwart any would-be truck thieves.  Next, the group scavenged metal parts from the various vehicles in the parking lot and added a cage around the cab to hopefully prevent Zombies from coming into direct contact with the windows and cab in general.  With the cage in place, a series of ground metal spikes were welded into place pointed directly out of the front of the vehicle.  Lastly, the top of the truck was cut down and some metal rails were added to the extended sleeper portion of the cab.  Cutting a hole in the roof allowed for a up to two party members to access the upper gunners nest.

Kim happened to notice a pull-down ladder which lead to the roof which everyone was surprised that they hadn't noticed before.  Pulling down the ladder, Kim climbed up and out on top of the roof.  In the northeast corner some makeshift sandbags made up a small lookout area.  Halfway hidden under some bags, Kim pulled out two ammo canisters which held several hundred rounds of .223 ammunition - perfect for the newly acquired AR-15!  After a bit of target practice in the shop area, she felt comfortable enough to carry it as her primary ranged weapon. 

After a week's work on the group's new primary assault vehicle, they were finally ready to head to WalMart.  Carefully driving through the now familiar parking lots surrounding the hotel, Chet was now at the four lane road ready to cross over into the WalMart parking lot.  A few Zombies were spotted scattered among the cars and were heading towards the semi, but the group decided to ignore them and continue to the parking lot.  Nudging a couple crashed cars out of the way, Chet managed to pull the semi into the parking lot without much trouble.  As they started driving through the lot, Kim and Colton spotted the large group of Zombies that was spotted nearly a week ago from atop the Country Inn.  The party had hoped the herd had continued their migration northwest, but they seemed to have stalled out in and around the woods adjacent to the north side of the parking lot.

Giving the engine a rev, Chet moved the semi on a collision course with the bulk of the group of Zombies.  Smashing through the group, the impaled bodies of writhing Zombies quickly filled the spikes on the front of the semi.  A Zombie began climbing up the back of the semi, but was quickly shot off from the nest above.  Chet skillfully guided the semi through several passes around the northwest section of the parking lot and eventually severely crippled or destroyed close to 60 Zombies.  Dismounting from the truck, the rest of the group dispatched those who were still slowly crawling towards the still-running semi as well as those trying to free themselves from the spikes.

With the parking lot seemingly clear, the group turned their attention to getting into WalMart.  They could see that the security gates were dropped into place along the front windows and entry so they cautiously headed along the north side of the building until they found a loading dock.  Peeking in, Greg saw some boxes, but nothing out of the ordinary.  Knocking at the door resulted in no answer so the group continued around to the back of the building with Chet driving the semi with all of the group except for Greg who walked a short distance in front.  All quiet and secure in the back, the group came around to the south side of the building and saw another loading dock as well as the entrance for vehicle service.  Spray painted on a sign near the door was 'Knock three times to enter.'.

Following the instructions, Greg knocked and after a few seconds a chain was heard being removed from the door.  The door was pushed open from the inside and the group headed in.  "Welcome to WalMart!" a friendly voice greeted the group.  Facing them was a young man in a wheelchair and appeared to be a WalMart employee complete with a name tag which read "Hello, my name is: John".  John wheeled himself back around the makeshift checkout counter and pointed the group to a set of flashlights and the shopping carts.  John explained that he started quite awhile ago as a greeter then advanced to stocking shelves, cashier, and now he is the manager.  A bit bewildered and extremely cautious, the group took the flashlights and a cart and headed towards the isles lit only by the diffuse light provided by skylights. The shelves, although, sparsely populated, were all well organized and detailed down to each product's label facing outward easy for the customer to see.

Sporting goods was the first area the group headed for and found some various ammunition still available which they quickly pushed into the cart.  Various other useful items were collected from the shelves and the group continued their cautious advance to the food section.  Some canned goods and bottled water was added to the supplies and the group thought things were too easy here and something must be up.  They discussed checking out the back stock rooms, but with Kim's advice they decided to go back and talk to John to see if he gave them any hints as to what was really going on here.

John, seeing the group approaching, asked if they found everything they were looking for and if they were ready to check out.  The question of payment came up and Colton asked if he accepted credit cards.  "Of course we do" replied John as he pulled out the manual credit card imprinter and placed it on the counter.  The group inquired about additional weapons and John explained that they had some problems with them awhile back so they were hidden and are sold by special order only.  Pharmaceuticals came up as well and John pointed the way to the pharmacy and that he would need to see a prescription for any restricted drugs and they could just bring the items to the checkout counter.  Greg stated that he was a doctor, but had no documentation backing up his claims.  An escalating discussion between Greg and John was abruptly cut short by Kim bringing some of her 'assets' to the discussion table which caught everyone off guard.  John was nearly paralyzed by the display and the conversation was quickly short circuited as he quickly wheeled back away from the counter.  One reassuring piece of information was gained by this bewildering exchange as Greg got a good look at John's legs and determined that he was definitely not faking his inability to walk as his frail legs revealed.

With that, the group began to discuss their special order and continued to think though the strange events of this unexpected encounter at WalMart.

Zombie Destruction Totals
Character	Session	All Time
Colton	43	117
Greg	30	89
Chet	56	75
Kim	25	46
Total	154	327

Session 3 Schedule

Monday, December 19th is the target date for Session 3.  We're going to try two Mondays in a row.

The survivors at the Fairfield Inn have now been set up with a total of 2-3 months of food thanks to the efforts of the group.  With the Cracker Barrel's supplies extinguished, all eyes are fixed on WalMart and what it may have to offer as the next closest source of supplies.

Does the dwindling water pressure on the second floor signify the beginning of water rationing?  Will the group regret leaving the crazy man in the Country Inn's basement with knowledge of where they are staying?  Thoughts of using Greg's piloting skills and heading to the airfield are still floating around, but where will they go?  Is the rest of the country in the same condition or is there a true safe haven left somewhere?

We'll find out more next week....

Session 2 Synopsis

Real Date: December 12, 2011
In-Game Date: November 29, 2011

Session Title: To the Cracker Barrel and back again, and again.

Key:
1.  Thick green trail indicates the path used on the Cracker Barrel scavenging trips.
2.  Main hoard of 50-60 Zombies torched with gasoline and eventually beaten down
3.  Zombies encountered while scavenging cars in parking lot
4.  Zombies seen meandering around the semi(shown in orange)
5.  Secondary group of Zombies breaking into the southwest door
6.  Blue trail indicates the path taken to the Country Inn
7.  Zombies encountered in the entry area of the Country Inn


After getting a good night sleep from the Zombie mayhem the day before, the group awoke and poured over some maps they acquired from the Cracker Barrel.  Thoughts of heading to an airfield which wasn't too far away were discussed along with several other points of interest.  Since Chet wasn't feeling up to speed yet, the group decided to stick close to the hotel and to start by gathering up the rest of the supplies from the Cracker Barrel. 

For the most part the parking lot looked clear from the southeast doors the group planned on using.  There were only a couple Zombies lingering in the driveway which were quickly and quietly taken care of by Colton's crossbow.  Colton and Greg wheeled a couple luggage carts out of the south door and headed as quietly as possible across the parking lots and left them in the rear of the Cracker Barrel.  After heading through the front entrance and verifying the building was still clear, the pair opened up the back door and pulled the carts inside.  Soon both carts were filled with canned goods and other non-perishable items and it was decided that they would both work together to take one cart back across the parking lot at a time.

On the way back, Greg and Colton noticed a couple Zombies hanging around the semi which was still parked at the north entrance.  Moving a little more quickly, they avoided notice and safely delivered another 2-3 weeks of food to the survivors in the basement.  Deciding to head back for the second cart, the duo moved back to the Cracker Barrel quickly and quietly as they kept an eye on the Zombies spotted earlier.  Greg popped open a can of Crisco and preemptively greased up the wheels of the second luggage cart to quiet any squeaks.  Pushing it back to the hotel, a canned good fell off causing a bit of noise, but both individuals were too far along to see if they attracted any unwanted attention from the semi amblers.

After delivering the cart for the survivors to unload, Greg and Colton headed up to the 3rd floor on the north side and looked down at the semi below to survey the situation.  To their surprise there were an additional 50-60 Zombies milling in and around the semi!  Acquiring gasoline and burning them was the first thing that came to mind so the two headed back out the south door to a car in the Cracker Barrel parking lot.  Greg grabbed a couple empty 2 gallon pickle jars, a 5 gallon flat dish tub, screwdriver, and a hammer and headed to the car before noticing another pair of Zombies moving their way from the direction of the semi.  Colton took them down quickly allowing Greg to arrive safely at the car.  With a very fortunate hammer strike, Greg was able to puncture the fuel tank from under the car and began filling up the dish tub which was then used to fill the pickle jars which were much too tall to fit under the car.  With the jars full, Greg left the tub under the vehicle to catch what it could of what remained in the tank.

Once the pickle jars were rigging up using bed sheets, Greg acquired a lighter from one of the survivors below and went to an upper window on the southeast side.  The plan was to get the Zombie's attention and lure them away from the semi to avoid blowing it up as the jumbo molotov cocktails rained down from above.  The plan worked and the Zombies began beating on the side door breaking in the metal screen reenforced window.  Colton kept the Zombie's attention as well as monitored their progress through the door from the 1st floor hallway as Greg rained fire from above.

Unfortunately the fire was not nearly as effective on the Zombies as the pair had hoped for.  Although a handful did succumb to the flames due to their brains boiling, the bulk of them began pressing through the window and entering the hallway.  What ensued was a blur of hacked up Zombie parts, black ooze, choking smoke of burning flesh and gasoline, thrown hatchets and knives, a broken scythe, and several life or death moments.  As the pair began to get a handle on the Zombies at the southeast door, more pounding and glass breaking caught them off guard at the southwest door.  An additional group of non-burned Zombies began coming through their newly made entrance and Colton quickly moved to intercept.  Between the two of them, over 50 Zombies were laid to rest before things became quiet.

The hallway was a disaster area and the smell of burned flesh lingered after the smoke cleared.  Both Greg and Colton were a complete mess - covered in bits of Zombie and stunk like the dead themselves.  Neither had any desire to clean up the mess in the hallway and to cover the doors so Greg used his leadership skills and organized a cleanup and repair crew from the survivors in the basement.


As the pair had nearly finished up their showers, they noticed the water pressure had begun to drop significantly...  Not worrying about it too much and instead thankful to be washed and in fresh clothes, the two headed back down to check out how the hall clean up went.  They were pleasantly surprised to find the Zombie corpses had been removed from the hallway and the doors completely boarded over.  Now joined by Kim, the trio heard shuffling coming from the room adjacent to the southeast exit.  Peeking in the room, Greg saw about 10 Zombies milling around - the smell of burned flesh assaulting his nostrils as he quickly closed the door.   Colton, having just showered, had no desire to fight any more today.  Greg, however, was able to convince him that they really can't leave a bunch of Zombies inside their once safe haven.  The three prepared their attack and burst into the room after Colton started things off with a crossbow attack.  With fire axe swinging, Kim wasted no time in dispatching several Zombies along with Greg and Colton at her side.  The Zombies in the room were soon put down, but did require several key defensive moves to avoid their deadly bite.

With nobody in the mood to clean up, the Zombies were left in the room and the door was shut as they left. 

After another good night's sleep, the group decided to go back once more to the Cracker Barrel to recover another scythe for Greg and polish off the supplies that may remain.  After making sure things were all clear, the group wheeled over the carts and began scavenging.  It took over an hour to fill the carts to less than a quarter capacity before the group gave up and turned their attention to the cars in the parking lot.  Colton spotted what he thought was a gun case in the back of a truck.  After breaking open a window, he was greeted with a surprisingly loud car alarm.  He quickly popped the hood and unhooked the battery only to find there was some sort of battery backup on the alarm.  Fortunately he found the horn and smashed it thoroughly to silence it.  After the group nervously peered around looking for a Zombie onrush, they quickly went back to going through cars - breaking open windows, popping hoods, and chopping battery cables to disable alarms.  Various items were found including a few hunting knives, some groceries - some still good, a plumber's tool kit including a small hand torch, several sets of jumper cables, flashlights, and several other potentially useful items.

As the group was finishing up the last few cars, five Zombies were spotted coming out of the trees to the north.  The trio took up hiding spots behind the vehicles and waited in ambush as they monitored the approaching legs seen shuffling towards them.  As one of the Zombies caught the scent of the group it began heading quickly towards Greg who found his hiding spot to be sorely lacking.  Standing up to take the oncoming attack, he noticed another larger group of Zombies heading at them - also from the north woods.  The group decided to stand and defend their ground and everyone held their nerve as the Zombies closed into melee combat.  After yet another broken scythe, several near death experiences among moments of nail biting tension, the group was able to finally dispatch the group of 16 Zombies.  Kim noticed that one of the Zombies had a backpack with some supplies and 20 rounds of .357 ammo, but no gun was found.  Tired out and fearing the Zombie groans would attract more attention, the group quickly wheeled their luggage carts back to the hotel to get some rest.  

The next morning the group decided they wanted to make another outing and this time get across THREE parking lots to see if there were any survivors in the Country Inn which was visible from their hotel.  On the way a few trucks with trailers plus what looked to be a U-Haul trailer were spotted in the parking lot to the south.  Kim coaxed the lock on the trailer open only to reveal emptiness.  The other truck/trailer combinations proved fruitless as well so the group continued on their mission.

After mopping up a couple meandering Zombies along the driveway to the Country Inn, the group soon arrived and cautiously approached the front entrance.  Seeing about a half dozen Zombies, a quick plan of attack was made which was lead off again by a shot from Colton's crossbow.  The shot was right on target dropping the Zombie in its tracks and best of all none of the other Zombies took notice of the silent attack.  The second shot dropped another which did get the attention of the others so Kim and Greg charged in with axe and knife in hand.  After quickly securing the lobby, the group decided to clear the hotel before turning their attention to scavenging.  Most rooms were completely empty - even stripped of the bedding.  Two rooms were locked via the security bar, but were knocked open using the fire axe revealing two pairs of Zombies which were taken out without much hassle.  The only other room of interest was both dead bolted and secured via security bar.  No sounds were heard and there was no answer to Greg's knocking and calling out.  Although the door put up quite a resistance, Kim's fire axe finally won and the group began searching through the room.

With the main room clear, attention focused on the bathroom in which dripping water could be heard and strong smell of decomposition filled the air.  The group's flashlights revealed the shower partially filled with water and what appeared to be a body floating within.  In attempt to verify the corpse was not a dormant Zombie, Colton gave the shower door a few knocks which resulted in it popping open spilling out its gruesome contents.  Although a little difficult to make out, it appeared as though the corpse died from self inflicted injuries and had been in the running shower for a few weeks.

With all above ground floors accounted for, the group decided to give the roof a look.  'Picking' the lock to the roof access door, the group took a look around from a new vantage point. Several bedsheets laid out with a red cross painted on them were being held in place on the roof with the pea gravel covering the roof.  Some Zombies could be seen up and down the main road running between the Country Inn and the WalMart parking lot.   The group then realized they hadn't checked the basement yet, and headed downstairs.

Flashlights in hand, the group peered into the darkness of the basement, but spotted nothing.  The setup was similar to that of their all too familiar Fairfield Inn basement.  A main kitchen area, sleeping area, and a locked maintenance/storage room were the main points of interest.  Entering in to the kitchen area, Colton spotted several .22 shell casings.  Several dead bodies - most shot in the head - were scattered around the room.  Another body, which had some flesh ripped away on one arm, was inspected by Greg who found the cause of death to be a meat thermometer to the back of the head.

With no food or other items of interest in sight, the group turned their attention to the locked door.  Greg knocked and called out to anyone in the room and were met with the shouts of a crazed man demanding that they go away and leave him alone.  After several convincing rounds of speech from Greg, the chain on the door was unlocked from the inside, but the man still demanded that they leave or he would kill them just like he killed the rest of the people.  He also mentioned he had a gun and stood firm on his statements that everyone is going to die and turn into Zombies so he would kill them if he had to.  The group debated whether or not they would kill another human and although Greg and Colton decided they would if they needed to, Kim convinced them it wasn't worth the risk of getting shot and that they should just leave.  After finding nothing after a quick search of the bedding area, Colton and the rest headed up and out of the basement, did a scan for Zombie movement, and headed back to their hotel.

After the gruesome events of the day, even Colton found it difficult to get good sleep while being haunted by the incident with the floater in the bathroom.  The threat of the crazy man in the Country Inn also weighed on the minds of everyone not to mention the seemingly endless flow of Zombies.



A fun new statistic to keep track of is the number of in-game Zombie kills.  Although it will likely eventually get some character killed due to unhealthy competition, everyone seemed to be keeping a tally of kills on their character sheets anyway so I figured we'd keep track of it here too.

Zombie Destruction Totals
Character	Session	All Time
Colton	54	74
Greg	44	59
Kim	16	21
Chet	0	19
Total	114	173

Session 2 Schedule

Monday, December 12th is the target date for Session 2.

With the food supplies for the hotel survivors replenished, what will the next move of the group be?  The Wal-Mart is just across the road, but seems much further now after the encounter at Cracker Barrel.  Chet is tending his bruises after falling in the parking lot a few times and will be sitting this one out (Jim isn't available).  Still, the potential of increased supply levels - including armament - is difficult to resist...

Map courtesy of GoogleMaps

Character Point Generator

A simple character point generator has been made available in Google Docs.  To access it, you will need a Google account and click on the link in the upper-right labeled "Character Point Generator".  From there, you can select the File menu and 'Make a copy...'.  Name it what ever you would like and now you have an editable version of the generator. Only fields with a green background need to be modified - just change the Die values and enter the Survivor Points.  Monitor the total points at the bottom of the sheet and balance it until you get the target character points you would like to use.

The characters listed on the right are 120 point characters meaning their die costs plus survivor points equals 120 total points.  They would probably be considered 'high powered' as most 'normal' people these days lack most of the skills useful to post-apocalyptic survival.  My D8 in Playstation and D10 in watching TV just don't quite make the cut as useful skills... ;)

Basics of character creation is something that is on my list to add to the rules.  Let me know if you have any questions or issues using the spreadsheet!

Session 1 Synopsis

Real Date: November 28, 2011
In-Game Date: November 28, 2011 (a happy coincidence)

Session Title: The Raid on Cracker Barrel

You may want to read all of the back-stories of the characters (linked on the right) before reading through this post.  It contains some context that will be needed to better understand what is written below.

Map courtesy of GoogleMaps

The characters started in their adventure at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Lithia Springs, GA.  Along with the four party members, 11 other survivors are holed up in the basement of the hotel.  A month had passed since the 'incident' and with food supplies running low, the hotel manager who was among the other survivors, overheard the party talking about venturing out.  He offered the group a double-barreled shotgun and some ammo if they would bring back food supplies to him and the rest of the hotel patrons.  Low on weapons and seemingly good natured, the group agreed and planned to head to Wal-Mart which was across the street.

First things first, Colton made up a makeshift spear from a mop handle, some duct tape, and a heavy-duty kitchen knife.  Although he had his hunting knife with him, he wanted to be able to attack from a bit of a distance.

The plan was then to acquire the rest of his hunting equipment which was in his 4x4 Jeep out in the parking lot.  Waiting until nightfall, he very stealthy made it to the middle of the parking lot next to his Jeep.  Colton then quietly dispatched a Zombie with a quick spear thrust through the back of the head.  With all immediate threats taken care of, he quickly unlocked his Jeep and pulled out his gear - most notably, his crossbow. 

Confident in his skills, Colton decided to stop by Chet's RV and get it ready to move.  He failed to spot a Zombie in the woods directly adjacent to the parking lot and near the RV.  Being caught off guard, Colton thought about firing his crossbow at the Zombie, but lost his nerve and ran back to the side hotel door where his friends were waiting for him.  The Zombie followed after giving off an awful moan which attracted a few other of its kin.  Nerve regained, Colton and the group quickly dispatched the small group of Zombies as they reached the hotel door.

Ideas of going over to Wal-Mart were pushed aside after the group noticed a much closer potential food source - a Cracker Barrel was just across the parking lot. The group carefully made their way across the hotel's parking lot and took cover in a tree line separating the two parking lots.  Although Chet gave his best attempt at being stealthy, he had some problems in the dark and tripped over something in the parking lot.  Fortunately no unwanted attention was drawn and other than a skinned knee he was no worse for wear.

Still only armed with a heavy frying pan he found in the kitchen, Greg attempted an attack on a Zombie who got too close to their hiding spot in the treeline.  Unfortunately, he lost his grip and the pan noisily bounced off of the pavement.  Fortunately, another party member was nearby to finish off the Zombie, however the clatter attracted another Zombie which was within earshot.  That Zombie was dispatched by Colton from distance.

Several Zombies were seen lingering at the Cracker Barrel entrance as well as a few roaming throughout the parking lot.  The roamers were taken down by Dalton's crossbow which allowed the party to peek into the gift shop area of the building.  An additional 20 Zombies were seen milling about the room.  Kim decided to create a diversion by charging in with the fire axe and take out a Zombie in the front followed by a hasty retreat back to the hotel - Chet planned on following along while Greg and Colton gathered the food.

The plan worked without a hitch and resulted in nearly 30 Zombies pounding at the north door of the hotel.  Kim and Chet kept the Zombies busy by attacking them from the second floor window above the door with various makeshift weapons.  Much to Chet's disappointment, the fire hose nozzle didn't work very well as a projectile.  It did, however, come in handy to hose down the Zombies after pouring down a 5 gallon bucket of detergent over them.  With the Zombie's footing compromised, Kim hacked up some bedposts and threw them resulting in one kill.

Back at the Cracker Barrel, Colton and Greg wiped out the remaining three Zombies in the now deserted building.  After filling up a food cart with a bunch of canned goods from the kitchen, the two pushed the cart out through the parking lot back to the southern door of the hotel.  A couple Zombies were spotted and quietly taken care of by Colton's crossbow.  Thanks to the diversion provided by the other two, the food cart was successfully delivered and provided supplies which should last the survivors in the hotel another month.

On their way back, a semi was noticed parked close to the hotel.  The whole group, newly reunited, headed down to check it out and left the soapy Zombie hoard pounding at the north door.  Due to the dark and limited familiarity with unhitching a semi trailer, they left the flatbed attached.  After Kim popped the lock of the driver side door with the fire axe, Chet hopped in and searched around.  In the glove box he found a 9mm pistol and a couple boxes of ammo.  Taking his newly found weapon, he then began hot-wiring the vehicle.  In a few minutes he was able to get the engine humming and Greg hopped in to ride shotgun - with his double-barrel shotgun.

Colton headed back to the hotel in preparation for the next step of the plan.  Kim stopped on the way back to check out a nearby unhitched trailer which was locked, but was quickly hacked open with the fire axe.  The noise made chopping at the lock was irrelevant given the semi idling nearby.  The trailer was full of various auto parts - probably destined for the auto dealership further to the south of the hotel.  Hopping out of trailer, Kim was startled by a Zombie that was closing in on the commotion with the semi.  Fortunately, she kept her nerve and delivered a solid chop to the head to the Zombie.  Kim then high-tailed it back to the hotel and joined Colton.  Both eventually walked inside the hotel up to the 2nd floor above the Zombies still lingering at the north door.

Skillfully driving the semi, Chet pulled through the hotel parking lot and lined up the Zombies in the headlights.  With a couple good pulls on the semi's horn, he then rolled the semi over the Zombies who still had no good footing thanks to the soapy mess previously created.  A few of the Zombies managed to climb up the hood and sides of the semi during the forward/reverse/forward maneuvers, but were swiftly dealt with by Greg's shotgun and Chet's newly acquired 9mm.  A failed driving attempt resulted in the semi over-shooting the crushing area and going headlong into a tree, but resulted in no damage.  After the group of Zombies had all been destroyed or at least mostly crushed, the group dispatched those that remained and all seemed quiet until a scream for help was heard from the woods.

Although limping and easily mistakable for a Zombie, Colton's keen eyes were able to hold back an attack on the approaching individual who was now well illuminated in the headlights of the semi.  When approached, the figure passed out due to fatigue and an apparent wound in the abdomen plus a few scratches which could be claw marks on the arm.

Leaving the semi parked right outside the hotel's north door for easy access, Chet turned off the lights of the semi and the group headed into the hotel with their newly acquired refugee.  After a medical check, search for bites, and patching up from Greg, the man looked like he would recover albeit unconscious for the time being.  The group was still a bit wary, however, and locked him in a room over night for further observation.

With that, the group retired to the safety of the basement and tried to get some sleep after the very eventful evening.

Zombie Destruction Totals
Character	Session	All Time
Colton	20	20
Chet	19	19
Greg	15	15
Kim	5	5
Total	59	59