Zombie Apocalypse - Concept Thread

[Original Poster]

I need something to keep me writing so I decided to try my hand at an input-output styled RPG based on survivors trying to make it through a zombie apocalypse. Concept: We reside in an unnamed US bay side city 16 months after the outbreak. The characters will begin separately and meet up as the story progresses. By the time the story begins, NPCs will be extremely rare but will surface from time to time as the Proprietors of Secure locations, Traders or Bandits. After the characters meet up they will get picked off. As this is an input-output RPG you can PM the best action you can imagine but ultimately I've got to kill somebody. Don't be upset, this is an open RPG and you're welcome to make a new character. You're also welcome to make a character after the RPG begins. I will not introduce new character immediately, but will slowly bring more in as the story progresses. Character Applications: Because of the nature of this RPG, there's no concrete parameters to follow when writing up a character. All I ask is that you embolden the word Character above your application so I can easily differentiate applications from other posts in this thread. Anything you don't include in your application, I will have to invent for you, so it is suggested you give a brief history, explain what your character was doing since the outbreak, and where you character ended up at the beginning of the story. It is also suggested you describe your character's personality, appearance, skills, weaknesses and starting equipment. The better you describe their personality, the more likely I am to capture the voice you are envisioning. Outlandish appearances will most likely be made more realistic, and characters with too many strengths and not enough weaknesses will be balanced. Also don't pretend your character has a backpack full of grenades, a flame thrower and an AA-12. You may earn these items as you progress, but if you want your character to start out with anything at all, think small for now. A rifle or a submachine gun is fine as long as you explain where you found it. Setting: The unnamed city has several points of interest which I will now explain to aid people interested in writing detailed histories for their characters. Please note I am giving a very general overview and you are free to invent as many other locations as you want. The city is 50 square miles resides on a peninsula with a landlocked southside and a C shaped bay cupping the north and east side. The west side faces the ocean. Two bridges connect the city to the suburbs across the bay from the north and west points. Between these two bridges, on the northwest point, is the Wharf. Because the Bridges were locked down at the beginning of the outbreak, most people fled to the Wharf in an attempt to find a boat to flee on. Because most had already left within the first few hours of the outbreak, the wharf became the setting for the greatest massacre in the city. Hundreds of thousands died, either trapped on the piers and eaten by zombies, or by freezing to death in an attempt to swim across the bay. The bridges were locked down by the military before they fell to the outbreak. Any military equipment to be found within the city would be found at these locations as the military mostly ignored the city itself, which they considered beyond recovery. When the mob of escapees finally broke through the military's checkpoint, they found themselves greeted by another mob of escapees on the other side, and both mobs were trapped in the middle of the bridges as the hordes attacked from each end. Those that dove off the bridges endured the most painless deaths of anyone. A handful of people survived for a time by climbing the suspension towers but most of these people either starved or succumbed to a horde of zombies the waited below. Downtown centers around the Wharf and spreads out southwest from there, with the highrises decreasing until they meet either the residential west-side or industrial south-side. Between downtown and the residential side, not too far from the North Bridge, there is a very large hospital. After the initial outbreak began to swell in this south, many infected were rushed to the hospital hours before it fell to the horde. Because of this the hospital became the source of the second prong of the attack, effectively pincering or sandwiching people between it and the airport. Several beaches line the west side of the city, most of these beaches are locked down by fencing and privately owned but the largest ones are public. Many people also attempted to flee to the beaches, after seeing several tankers less than a mile off in the ocean. However, many zombies ended up roaming about on the shallow shelf, plucking swimmers down by their ankles. The landlocked southside of the city is mainly an industrial district, populated by plants and factories. This is also where the airport resides, and where the first infected was found within city limits. Because the infection started from this southern point, the zombies were able to comb through the city with little possible escape for anyone north of the airport. A military base resides on an island in the bay, almost directly northwest of the wharf. Because of its location, this military base remained unaffected, however they lost contact with the Defense Department as well as the US army 3 months after the outbreak. Most of the residents left on rafts for the tankers out in the ocean. As of now, only 42 soldiers remain, along with 57 rescued civilians. Despite their relative safety from the horde, they remain on the brink of starvation, dependent on the meager supply of fish their able to catch and the supply runs they make to the various suburbs along the north and east shores of the bay. During these runs one soldier is required to remain on the boat in case the party does not return, which is very typical. Several derelict tankers sit less than a mile from the bay, in the ocean. They dropped anchor to await the arrival of rescued civilians from smaller water craft but many of these civilians were infected and the ship's crew ended up losing control so they either abandoned the ship or became infected themselves. Most of these ships are still full of zombies meandering about aimlessly. Suburbs surround the city, not only to the south beyond the industrial district but across the bay to the north and east. These suburbs vary in size, some making up small cities in themselves. Each has their own unique story about the outbreak and each has been abandoned since. Good luck!