I extend a HUGE Thank You to all of our supporters. Truly, without you this book could not have been printed. YOU Rock!!!
It’s ALIVE!!!! (Again)
Welcome to Mortiston, USA Cover
Welcome to Mortiston, USA is finished and ready to send to the printer. Please check it out here.
Thanks!
Upcoming Event — Zombiefest
I wanted to let everyone know about Zombiefest
Basically on Saturday April 28th, 2012 between 2:00 pm and 10:00 pm, a zombie infestation will come to Oasis Coffee Spot in New Port Richey. There are numerous fun activities planned including a zombie walk, a brain-eating contest and a selection of zombie films on the big screens at the Cinema 6 Movie Theater. I plan to be there to join in the zombie-shambling, good time. Hope to see you there.
Rule #1 Cardio
I’ve finished the editorial re-writes for Welcome to Mortiston, USA. It’s all in the hands of the publisher and the artist now. I feel relief and pressure to start another project. You gotta keep moving, if you want to stay alive.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m running full tilt. Going as hard as I can, but the horde is still catching up to me. Do you ever feel like that?
Well here is a little game that just might help you out. Zombies, Run!
Time for a Bad Boy
Today’s survivor was not a nice guy before Z-Day. Now though, he’s a real peach.
; )
Name: “Cue Ball” Douglas
Date of Birth / Age: 05.23.1976 / 36
Former Occupation: Criminal Biker
Faction: The Pythons
Height: 5’ 3”
Weight: 135 lbs
Build: Wiry Tough
Description: Cue Ball is short, bald and mean. He has intense green eyes and “short man’s disease”. That is he feels that he must fight harder, cuss louder, drink more and, in general, get up in people’s faces because deep down inside he feels like he doesn’t measure up. Cue Ball is one of the 1% and has been riding with the Pythons literally all of his life.
Cue Ball was sponsored by his father, Glasspack. Glasspack, who was one of the founding Pythons, was killed by a rival gang about 10 years ago. If he hadn’t been murdered, Glasspack might have ended up the leader of the Pythons. Cue Ball knows this, but does not know that Meatballs set the trap for his father, because Glasspack was going to turn states evidence on the Pythons. Meatballs chose to have Glasspack murdered rather than have him called out as a traitor to the gang just to spare his “brother”, Cue Ball, the embarrassment and split loyalty. If Cue Ball ever found out, he’d go crazy with rage.
Motivators: Resentment of being small in stature and at ANY perceived slight. Zealotry for the Pythons Motorcycle Club. Concealed jealousy of Meatballs and his position as leader.
Survival Story: I was cruisin’ west up I-32 with Squiggs, Tire Iron and Hammerhead. We were headed to check out the lab. We wuz supposed to meet up with Meatballs earlier in the day, but we were hungover and pulled out of the motel late. I couldn’t reach Meatballs on my cell, the damn thing had no service for some reason, but I figured Meatballs and the boys would be at the lab. Traffic was crazy going eastbound, out of Mortiston, and there were some dark clouds in the sky. When we pulled around Mount Rogers and saw the . . . well, the end of the world, I didn’t know what to think. Half the town was on fire, there was a mushroom bomb cloud hanging in the air, people were running terrified this way and that; we stopped and talked about what we should do. Squiggs was for bugging out right then. Tire Iron and Hammerhead both agreed that we should check on the lab first, to see if they needed help. It was clear that Squiggs wanted to just book, but he stuck with us and rode on in to Mortiston. Right after we crossed the bridge, we barely missed this group of pickup trucks that were headed east in the west-bound lanes. F those crazy SOB’s! I wanted to turn around and chase ‘em, but we had agreed to check on the lab first. I looked ‘em over good so I could remember what they looked like for dealing with later. Once we rolled into town though, I saw how f’d up everything really was. The stoplights were all out and traffic was insane. When we slowed to a stop to try to talk about the best route to take to get to the lab, we were attacked. It started with this crazy kid, she musta been 10 or 11 I’d guess. Anyway, she ran straight at me, hands outstretched, blood all over her Pokemon t-shirt. I was so shocked that she almost got me. After that it’s really all a blur, but in the end I shot that kid in the face and Squiggs got bit by one of those crazy monsters before killing it, as well. Tire Iron and Hammerhead just fired a few times in front of us to clear our path and then rode off. Squiggs wanted me to keep it quiet that he got bit, but who the F gonna care if he got bit or not. Damn, he annoys the shit outta me some days.
Stronghold Role: Cue Ball is a soldier and scrounger.
Post Megacon 2012
I 'm OK. Just a little hungry. Wanna get a bite?
The preview for Welcome to Mortiston went very well. I spoke with a few zombie RPG GM’s at the con and I asked them what attracted them to zombies. The answers were all kinda the same, but I want to hear what you think before I reveal what the consensus that I gathered from the con was. So, I put the question to you, whoever you are. If you are reading this, please answer the following question:
What makes zombie stories, comics, graphic novels, books and movies compelling? Is it the horror and gore? Is it the drama between survivors? Is it because they are campy and silly? I want to know what you think.
Is there a doctor in the park?
Happy Valentine’s Day! This week’s survivor ended up in Sundowner Park with the Sundowners before “Order 66″ came into effect. Meet Denise Skye.
Name: Denise Skye
Date of Birth / Age: 03.13.75 / 36
Former Occupation: Medical Student (Intern)
Faction: Sundowners
Height: 5’ 1”
Weight: 115
Build: Soft Athletic
Description: Denise has medium length straight brown hair and blue eyes. When happy she has a bubbly personality that is best described as cute, but there has been little to make Denise smile lately. She was an active runner and amateur volleyball player before Z-Day so she is in very good shape compared to many people. Denise is what most men would describe as “hot”, but she keeps almost completely to herself. She puts herself forward only when someone needs medical attention or when someone suggests a dangerous mission to go kill zombies.
Motivators: Vengeance, Anger and Self-Hatred are what seem to motivate Denise, but vengeance is really the least of the three. This is pretty much a classic case of survivor’s guilt.
Survival Story: I had the day off from work (Mortiston General Hospital), so I decided to run some errands. I was going to get my hair cut at Selena’s Living Dread Girl salon when the missile hit or whatever. I just saw a bright flash in the sky, like a really close lightning strike. It had just started raining, so that’s what I thought it was. The car stopped running right after the “lightning”, so I coasted it to the side of the street. After trying for about 5 minutes to re-start the car, I tried to call for a wrecker. It was then that I realized there was a problem; when I had no phone or internet service. I was pretty close to the park and I knew that it still had pay phones, so I headed that way. The wind and rain were really intense and I was surprised to see some people just kinda milling around on the street. I came close to one couple and something didn’t look right about them. As soon as they saw me, they ran towards me. Well that freaked me out and I just started running toward the park. I thought I was gonna be, you know, attacked or raped. Then I saw this woman in a parked car and she rolled down her window and asked if I could help. . .she had a baby and her car had broken down. . .OH GOD (Sobs). . . I was so happy to see her because I knew that I would be safe. . . But they just kept coming; one of them jumped up on the car — it was then I really saw them for the first time. They were in army green jumpsuits with no names or ranks; they looked like they were on some kind of a drug. Suddenly one of the “army monsters?” – I don’t know what they were, grabbed the woman and pulled her out of the car and . . .and the other one. . .the one that had jumped on the car. . .um. . . smashed through the windshield. . . and then. . .there was so much blood. . .and screaming . . . and the baby won’t stop crying. It won’t stop crying. Don’t you hear it?
I don’t know how I got away. I don’t remember anything else. The next thing I remember is the Rastaman telling me I could clean up in the bathroom and then I should talk to you.
Stronghold Role: Denise has medical training and although a good person, she serves the Sundowners because she is in complete shock and self-loathing over what happened and though she wants to take revenge on the Zeds, she knows inside that won’t make things right for running away from people who needed her help.
Mortiston Survivors
Each week I will post a character profile for one of the few lucky survivors of Z-Day. Each character profile will contain a name, description, faction, role, background information and a survivor’s story told from the point of view of the character. The characters are meant to be used as background for zombie RPG’s set in Welcome to Mortiston, USA, a zombie apocalypse campaign setting to be released at Gen Con 2012, but they may be able to be adapted to work as survivors for your zombie game even if it isn’t set in Mortiston, USA.
This week’s survivor: Reverend David Taylor
Name: Reverend David Taylor
Date of Birth / Age: 02.09.1959 / 53
Former Occupation: Minister
Faction: KZED Folks
Height: 6’ 5”
Weight: 130 lbs
Build: Gangly
Description: David has graying wavy blond hair and blue eyes with hazel highlights. David’s striking eyes aid his public speaking despite rough facial features. Even though ugly, he was a vain man because of his position as a minister and community leader. Because he lost his cat, (Petals) to Z-day, keeping pets post Z-day is a sore point that he is very aggressive about. He calls it a waste of resources and seems to aggressively dislike animals, when the opposite is really true.
Motivators: David is motivated by his belief in God. He believes that his natural tendencies towards jealousy and vanity are why he is being punished by God. So primarily he wants to be a good minister, but he is also jealous and vain.
Survival Story: I was driving back from the Black Horse Reservation. You know, it took me almost all morning just to get in out there. They had the gates locked and men with guns were everywhere. . . hmmm. I wonder how they knew something was gonna happen. Anyways, I was driving back from having dropped off some donations from our congregation to Soaring Eagle’s small Christian group out on the reservation. I guess it was about 1:00 or so when I left the Rez and started back into town. I turned on the radio and couldn’t find anything, but some talk radio show. Then I realized it was DJ Grant Jazzy and I heard him warning people to avoid contact with others and to above at else to stay calm. It really wasn’t until then that I knew something was wrong. I looked up and finally saw the smoke and fire coming from Mortiston. I thought about my congregation and then suddenly I came across a car wrecked into a light pole. As I slowed down to see if I could help, I saw a muscular young man jump out of the car and begin running away. Suddenly a young boy with blood all over him jumped out and gave chase. The little boy ran strangely, kinda like his legs didn’t work right. Then he jumped and landed on his brother’s back and. . . , I think they were brothers, but I don’t know — oh God, how horrible. It was horrible; the little brother or boy wasn’t. He was one of those things. I just kept driving. One of them ran straight at the truck, slammed into it and bounced off. Still I just kept driving. I had to run over some of them. God forgive me. I was heading towards my Church at first, but the flames told me it wouldn’t be there. Once I saw how bad everything was, I just drove as fast as I could towards the KZED radio station. I figured I heard Grant Jazzy on the radio so it must be safe up here.
Stronghold Role: David serves as a support person. He cooks, he cleans, he helps out with medical treatment and he ministers to people.
That’s all for now.
Going to Megacon
Well it appears that yours truly will be going to Megacon in Orlando, FL. on the 18th & 19th of February. I will be in the vendors booth for Scrying Eye Games. Come check out some preview pages for Welcome to Mortiston, USA releasing at Gen Con 2012, as well as some of Scrying Eye Games very cool products. Look for something like the image below in the vendors hall. Hope to see you there!!!
image courtesy of Scrying Eye Games, copyright 2012
What is Welcome to Mortiston, USA?
Welcome to Mortiston, USA is a universal zombie apocalypse setting for multiple licensed RPG’s. Welcome to Mortiston, USA tells a sad story of 111 days of death and decay, less at the hands of the walking dead and more because the factions tear the town apart. All of the changes to the characters and locations during those 111 days are annotated in the individual entries so that each character and location is modified by the changes that occur during the story. This is done using a combination of maps, timeline, and relationship charts detailing both the physical changes and its effects on the remaining population. So, Welcome to Mortiston, USA is a RPG supplement that not only details people, places and things, but also how time affects them. Mortiston needs heroes and if those heroes can’t step up, then in 111 days only the dead and the damned will walk the streets. There is no hope here; you’d better bring your own.
Learn More at our Kickstarter
