Day 1
“Man, I hate lame conventions…”
Matthew sighed dramatically and took another drink of rum
and coke. This round, was it the fourth? Fifth? He couldn’t remember…was more
rum than Coke he figured. Still, what else do you do at the hotel bar at possibly
the worst attended Horror convention in North America.
His companion just nodded sagely. “True dat.” He threw back
his own drink and glanced with a gimlet eye at the television running the local
news channel. It was posted on the ceiling, almost at the opposite end of the
bar. The chipper blonde on there seemed to be smiling while informing the
public of a new celebrity faux pas, a new terror attack, just about anything
and ms. ‘Tee Hee’ chick wouldn’t change her delivery one jot. He turned back to
Matthew and asked “Where the hell is CJ anyway?”
“Still in his room I think.” Matthew’s reply was dour, but
he’d been that way as soon as the attendance became apparent. Granted, this was
the first Horror con in Tyson City, “Splattercon!!!” had been all over the
papers in Chicago a few years ago. Well, this sequel in the semi-boonies didn’t
seem to be making a splash. Or a splatter. Or anything.
Connor shrugged, and gestured to the barkeeper for another
scotch. “Well Matt, I can’t but think he might have the right idea. Or is he
still sick from dinner?”
The other man just shrugged. “He’s your brother, how should
I know? Though it is funny, an internal medicine doctor getting sick from Taco
Hut burritos.” He chuckled, an expression not shared by Connor.
“Well” the brother of the aforementioned doctor grumbled.
“It could be worse.”
With a far off crash down the street, there was heard the
pop of electronics and all the lights went out in the bar.
In the pitch-blackness, Matt sighed again. “You just had to
say that, didn’t you?”
* * *
Day 1 –
SPLATTERCON!!!
The player characters will start
inside the Victorian mansion that Tyson City remade into a convention center
back in the 1980s. It is 1am in the morning, with a partly cloudy sky. All
power in board sections 4-8 are out, and sections 1-3 are spotty, with the
warehouse in section 1 lit but not the auto body shop.
The goal of the player characters (PCs) is to leave the
center and get out of the “dead” area. Exiting via the road going west off
board in section 1 or the road leaving
the board north on section 2 are the only obvious ways out of the blackout
area. Other might or might not work…as encounters may show. All PCs came to the
con by taxi, so they have no cars themselves. However, hotwiring may be possible,
as are chances police will show up and arrest carjackers (see Day 1: rules in
ATZ: BDTZ for details).
The Board
Section 1: Auto-body shop, warehouse, road west.
Section 2: wood
Section 3: North road, clear/Hill
Section 4: Electrical Transformer
Section 5: Retail Store
Section 6: Hamburger Hut
Section 7: Road
west, clear/Parking Area
Section 8:
building***Con center
Section 9: Offices, road east
There is one wreck, a car into the transformer at 4, killing
electrics on most of the board
There are 4 starting zombies:
1 in 7 between parked cars
2 at 4, Transformer wreck and ambulance
1 at 8, on the Far East side of the convention building
There are 3 PEFs (Potential Enemy Forces) along the north
endge of the board, sections 1-2. Visibility is down to 8 inches on sections
3-9, but are 12 inches on sections 1 and 2.
Special Rules:
* Even though all PCs are in the convention center, the
center can still be “searched” for useful items or encounters. Searches count
as Suburb instead of Urban in the center due to lack of light.
* Game starts with Matthew and Connor, though others who are
currently out of town (no names!) may join in as they wish. If there’s no post
in a given week, then we assume that the PC is holding in place…no doubt
terrified!
Your move, guys!
Zombie Chow