Basing a character on a real person who is not you is acceptable; making up details about a real person who is not you is not.
Understood. I'll change the names. I could easily imagine a divergent world where they both did exactly what was said of them. Uncle Bob tried to get into the army, but was ineligible for one reason or another. Lee was in the reserves, he almost got sent to Iraq in the 90s. I've known him all my life, and if he isn't tough enough to take Special Forces training, I don't know who would be. And that's not even an exaggeration. He was born a hard worker. I'll change the names.
It's also rather rude to take other people's characters for your own stories. Lauren Hastings is not a generic, and I do not recall giving permission to anyone to use her.
I didn't realize that MJ. I assumed that the characters in the books were pretty much open season for anything related to Multiverser. I now realize that is utter rubbish, and I'm kind of surprised that I thought it in the first place. Learning as we go, eh MJ?
And you say you can't see Lauren Hastings as a biologist. In college, Lauren Myers married a different man named Hastings, who was a molecular biologist working for the military. This inspired her to pursue sciences more solidly whilst in college, and she ultimately changed her major. See how easy that was?
Could I have your permission to use that character? Kind of brazen to ask now, isn't it?
Although it's good to have characters as teams, if you're bringing the verser into this scenario it might be better to have most of these disconnected, or very small groups fighting on their own.
I meant it more like small groups fighting on their own. But they all know each other. If you have a player like me who is more into guns, you drop them into one of The Survivalists safe house caches. In there, he will find a gun or two and a couple days worth of food, hidden in plain sight. What does he do? If your player is more technical, you introduce him to The Garbageman. If that player wants to get a gun, The Garbageman says "I know just the guys to talk to." and takes them to see The Survivalists. If the gun nut player decides he wants to upgrade his computer, The Survivalists take him to see The Garbageman. Known more by reputation and occasional business than by friendship.
I found the way around naming them. The Survivalists, The Garbageman, The Scary Amish Guy, The Mormon Missionary, etc.
Speaking of The Mormon Missionary, Osevens, I really like that. I had to reread it a couple of times to understand it all, but that sounds really good. I could almost imagine one of those door-to-door knocking missionaries becoming exactly what you said. I used to have a couple of them living in my apartment complex, and this one guy, I'll call him Soup Man, he could have turned into exactly what you said. I'd almost be surprised if he didn't. Soup Man would have been a little more crazy and off kilter than you're imagining I think, but otherwise, you're right on the nose with it. I also love the idea of the old Lee Enfield rifle, which is a British 303 caliber. And I wouldn't even want to change the calibers. There are certain tactical advantages to having oddball caliber guns. Everyone and their brother has a 30-06, so the 30-06 ammo would be looted quickly. The 303, being FAR less popular, wouldn't be looted, and so he would find a few boxes that the guy looking for 30-06 left behind. A GE roll would favor him finding ammo over a more popular caliber after a while. The zombie he shot with it wouldn't be able to tell the difference, ya know?
He leaves everything else in his car - a very basic American-made model, probably a Chevy or Ford, maybe modified with a solar power system to be easier on the environment and more survivable given how fuel is harder to come by.
An unstation wagon or a van. He probably lives in the car, after all. I'd be leaning towards an unstation wagon personally. (inside joke) It just seems to fit the motif of the character better than a van. If you've seen Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, you might be able to figure out why I called it an unstation wagon.
Couldn't that charge meter just be their damage value? Give them a bod-based autoheal measured in seconds per intensity that only works in sunlight. If you want activity to drain charge, simulate that by reducing the rate of regeneration while the zombie is engaged in strenuous activity.
Scott, I wanted them to be next-to-but-not-impossible to kill in the daytime. If you've got an M-60 and a few thousand rounds to burn, you might get a few of them. Not quite like that, but you get the meaning. They're so stupid, you'd probably have to reread what I put down. So, they're not all that aggressive in the daytime. So, harder to kill. At night, take their head off, and hope the sun doesn't come up in time. High bod to make up for lack of intelligence. They're easy to avoid in the daytime, so I didn't want it to become a massacre. What fun would that be? I'd want to keep a running stalemate between the living and the dead.
What I was saying about growing into trees, I was thinking of those trees with vines that snatch people, from about a thousand Sci Fi movies. They can only infect people, so the chipmunk that lives there doesn't know it's not a normal tree. Zombie chipmunks? I mean come on....
This is going well.
(Doing Therapy)
