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It started like any other news story about a virus 'sweeping the nation'; the newest in a streak of swine flu and ebola-esque epidemics that always seemed to be happening miles away from the safety of your own home. You never thought it would find its way to you.

On April 19th, 20XX, news broke out about the rapid outbreak of what was previously seen as a containable contagion; Strain 16 (Also called the Unilateral Endocrine Seizing Pathogen), an altered form of toxoplasmosis, had ravaged a small suburb of Dallas, Texas. On April 20th, the disease had spread as far as to Houston. By the time the week was over on April 26th, most of the United States west of the Mississippi river was crawling with the infected, colloquially referred to as 'zombies' by laymen.

Hope for survival remains, however. Most humans still living in the western United States have learned that the virus has not breached the eastern half of the country, and has failed to breach containment measures on the Mexican and Canadian borders. It is surmised that the zombies are unable to survive in water, and thus there is one possible escape to the safety of the East Coast; the Crescent City Connection, a bridge in New Orleans.

You are a survivor of the Strain 16, and it has been three weeks since the initial infection broke out. Whether genetically immune, resourceful, or just incredibly lucky, you have managed to stumble your way past the zombie hordes into The Last Stop; a survivor den in Shreveport, Louisiana, where survivors congregate as they prepare to make the treacherous journey south to New Orleans and the CCC. The military has all but abandoned the western US and has been sporadically bombing cities deemed too far gone to save, and you must make it to the crescent city before you are caught in such a bombing; or worse, torn apart by the infected.

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Our Mutual Destruction is a simple, good old-fashioned episodic zombie apocalypse roleplay. In it, you play a surviving human who has escaped the U.E.S.P plague (AKA "Strain 16") that has transformed living humans (or perhaps corpses?) into shambling zombies intent on slaughtering the living.

Little is known about the zombies and the exact nature of their condition save for what has been discerned by survivors or conveyed over emergency military radio channels. It is evident that they do not transfer the disease by bite or scratch, and the only known way of being 'made' into a zombie is to accidentally swallow (or take into one's bloodstream) the tepid fluid that was once their blood. Given the low occurrence of this method of transmission, it is evident that there is some other method of zombie-procreation that accounts for the sheer number of the walking dead.

Of the estimated 180 million residents of the western United States, only about 30 million people have survived the outbreak thus far, with more dying from zombie attack, military bombing, or lack of supplies each day. Most are holed up in survivor dens throughout the United States, trying to outlast the epidemic. Supplies are low, morale has plummeted, and humanity continues to turn on each other in the fight for resources.

How long will you survive?

The roleplay will make very simple use of a very simple attribute system. There are 5 attributes each character will have:

- Physical Ability (Strength, Physical Conditioning, General Stamina and Dexterity)
- Mechanical Ability (Ability to operate machinery, fix devices and firearms, general technical know-how)
- Leadership Ability (Charisma and the ability to keep a cool head under pressure, tactical knowledge)
- Academic Ability (General knowledge of several subjects including medicine, science, higher forms of engineering, etc)
- Perceptive Ability (Marksmanship, Perception of fine details or objects in the far distance, etc)

Upon character creation, you will rank each of these attributes from 1-5, 5 being the ability your character is strongest in and 1 being the ability your character is weakest in. The RP will rely on both ability approximations on the DM's judgment and rolls of an 8-sided die based on your skills.

This is all subject to change, of course, but it's about all I've got thus far.

The RP will take place in 3-4 'episodes' in which we'll switch DMs (probably). The decision on who gets which chapter will be up to me to decide. I'm thinking I will take the first and last episodes and distribute 2 and 3 (perhaps 4 if we decide to extend it) to others to give it their own flavor.

If You Meet Buddha On The Road:
Kill him, for the real Buddha rests in all of us

Humanity has undergone a gross shift in power in recent times, the real 1% is now those with powers, capabilies dreamed of only in one's wildest dreams, violating the laws of nature and physics. Such people are known as "Meta" or if one is feeling particularly degragatory "Mutants" or "Muties" although often those who would say such words do it behind closed doors to themselves. But even in the 1% there is a 1% those with powers with earth shattering capabilities, in offical documents these are referred to as a Thousand. As such they are treated with apprehension, a single Thousand is considered to be similar to a nation and with all the variation in human minds several Thousand have taken up the politics of a nation, some have taken to selling their power to other nations.

After all they have power and why shouldn't they do what they will with it? You can too be one of the Meta, or even one of the Thousand, such is what the universe has gifted you with the capability to do.

• Chicago, IL 2018. Neither of Chris's parents had shown, but that didn't mean he didn't have his family around them the day they were buried. The ceremony had been brief and irreligious, as they would have wanted. You'd chosen the readings together - an eclectic mix of classic rock, modernist verse and Neitzche. Watching the coffin make its descent into the excavated space, you only wished that you could have said that final goodbye in person before they had disappeared.

You play one of a group of friends - what sort of group is up to you. Whatever the case yous have known each other for years. Like all groups of friends, you have your differences, ups and downs, tightness varies. But they're still the best friends you have ever had. The RP is set in the immediate aftermath of the death of one of yous - Chris, the life of the group, the reason many of yous know each other. While no details have been released, police say it was a murder. You don't have to look into this. You might prefer to dive into work, or studies, or a wine bottle. The narrator doesn't judge. But he would be surprised if it wasn't on your mind.

While set in Chicago, this RP will not require any special knowledge about the city. Just understand the basics and you're set.

Posting - General

One of the measures through which RP differs from the typical in what it demands from you.

Firstly I want to see initiative. This is not a straightforward, linearly plotted narrative. What the characters do will be entirely up to you. There is a plot. A puzzle which, upon being solved, will bring about the conclusion of the RP. I hope you solve it - I think it's neat. But you might choose not to. You might rather reject such bounds on your creative energies as the will of an illegitimate tyrant and go play crepes in Vegas, or join a death-cult, or run for president, or spend all your time on a weird elder scrolls roleplaying sub. This is a story about your characters - it's set-up to be yours, not mine.

Secondly, I would rather see you spend a week on a post which engages your environment and meaningfully moves the plot forward than post daily filler. Character interaction and development are the central ethos underpinning this RP and the better your post, the better the response might potentially be. Engage your environment, use all your senses. If you find yourself writing a couple of lines, you probably need to stop and think about how that's moving the plot forward. Of course write quality over quantity. But note that this is intended to read more like collaborative fiction than your usual RP here.

Sometimes you might find yourself contained in rapid fire conversation with another player. This happens. And normally when I'm engaged in conversation with a person I am not simultaneously absorbing the sweet scent of the surrounding petunias while the crisp Sping air cools my brow and I feel the morning sun glide through my fingertips. At least that I am paying any notice to. To this end, I introduce the innovation of collaborative posting. That means, if you feel like you're about to engage in lengthy dialogue with one or more characters, don't be afraid to jump in private messaging and conduct the interaction there, and then submit the entire interaction as one post. This keeps the contents of the conversation restricted to one post - as opposed to split up over several pages - and also allows for the production of a crisper final product. You can find an almost four year old example between MARS and myself, here.

This isn't necessary but I would prefer it.

Posting - You and Your Envoirment

The most important difference between this RP and most RPs from the perspective of play is that you, the player, have a substantial role when it comes to narration and control over your environment. Fundamentally this is an RP about character development - not a mission objective - and the environment very much exists to service this. In this RP you will find you have wide-ranging powers to use the environment to tell a story.

The vast majority of interactions are going to take place in generic locations: public parks, cafes, train stations and other places we typically frequent on a day-to-day basis. In these environments, players can control the outcomes of mundane interactions. So don't wait for me to dice roll as to whether you have managed to successfully purchase a soft drink from the vending machine. The hope here is that players will be able to connect the outcomes to their personality: adding to the above, don't wait for me to have your klutz-of-a-character spill their coffees all over themselves either. This also extends to you being able to invent objects that would be plausibly found in the environment: if you're in a cafe, you don't need to check for sugar, just grab it.

One further extension of this is allowing players to control supporting characters. In other words 1) introduce supporting characters were plausible, 2) write their dialogue. So, if you're in a cafe, it's fine to sketch in a barista and have your character briefly flirt with them while they order coffee. Just don't be a Mary-Sue, your character's jokes probably aren't as funny as they think they are. You can also introduce supporting characters which move along a scene. If you want to write in your character's ex-boyfriend as sitting in the back of the cafe in the motivation of some narrative goal, do it. There's no iron-clad rule here but with the supporting characters you create, it's best not to let them linger more than one or two posts in dialogue-mode. Their purpose is to service your character (or, eh, contribute to their development), they're not supposed to be a second character.

There are two further rules. If you're engaging in combat, I have to roll dice, so in that instance, you don't have a right to control. If someone else has created a supporting character, you cannot control that character without their permission.

Posting - An Example

Below is an example post:
Most obviously we see that this post introduces the supporting character, Tara. Note that she's removed at the end of the post. Note further that she's manipulated in such a manner as to develop our idea of my character. Less obviously is that my character doesn't need to wait on the DM to locate Gregory for them, he can just be found. This post will be a good guide as to how far you can go.

Character Sheets

If you would like to join this RP, please fill out and submit in-thread the following character sheet. I included reccomended sizes for each section, being as detailed as possible is appreciated.
Per example,
Character Relation Sheet

Please submit one of these sheets for each other player-character.
Rules

To be written.

Yes A Dishonored roleplay by yours truly. Now sit down while I try to drop some knowledge like it's hot. (that's how the cool kids do it right?)

Sagguto: A City of Serkonos. Known for it's ornate bridges and it's labyrinthine waterways that carve through the entire city. This is the city in which you reside. The police force has been cracking down on 'improper' behaviour hard in the last months, a tale of a youth having their arm broken or their teeth chipped has not been uncommon. All the [Steward/Prince] can say is that such items are going appropriately according to the proper channels.
[Steward/Prince] Amerin: The one in charge of overseeing the entire city, a man who those in charge refer to, and who talks directly to the Duke's ears. Rumours are swirling about him, but despite all checking it out they seem to remain that, rumours. All polls show that he remains loved by all.
Commissioner McKinney: A stern woman, who's adherent fixation on the law could be called religious, or fervent. Whispers abound are about her actions with prisoners suggesting a lust to punish to the death.


Now all the boring parts are done lets' get to sheet making, first of all don't forget your MAGPIES
M - Mystic, governs your capability with bonecharm creation, void magicks and other such magical rituals
A - Agility, governs how well you can tranverse terrain like rooftops, flexibility and speed
G - Guile, governs how well your tongue sounds to other people, your capability to traverse the social ladders
P - Perception, governs how you look, how accurate your aim is
I - Intelligence, governs how expansive your knowledge is, guns and such like that could even be manufactured.
E - Endurance, governs your capability for punishment
S - Strength, governs the strength beneath your arms and legs.
You start with 0 points in each attribute, with 35 points,
Now onto the Marks and Charms portion, you have several choices, you can take 4 Bonecharms, 4 Void/Mark Powers or 2 Bonecharms and 2 Void/Mark Powers. You can place down what you seek for the Void/Mark Powers/Bonecharms however they will be decided in part due to your character's personality and station, and perhaps other things.