SEEKING: Writers for crazed world, prison survival adventure.

[GrayOldFart]

This role play is suspended due to ... a lot of things. Thanks for looking. Will take it up again later.​

This idea has elements of "I Am Legend", the new season of "The Walking Dead", and "Revolution", yet it is a separate story from each of those.

As in "I Am Legend", an outbreak has caused people to go crazy. They are attacking, killing, and devouring their fellow human beings. Society is rapidly collapsing, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop the fall.

As in the new season of "The Walking Dead", there is a group of survivors inside a county prison. They include prisoners, guards, staff, and visitors. These characters are free of the "disease" causing the madness and will remain so if they are careful.

As in "Revolution", the goal is not simply to survive but to thrive. One of my main characters will (soon enough) try to lead the survivors in securing the prison, getting along with one another, and creating a farm/ranch/peaceful society within the walls and fences that will support the surviving population ...and possibly save the human race. That effort will include the need to go beyond the prison walls ...which is NOT being careful.

I will add more occasionally as "bumps" and clarifications of what I am seeking in story direction, characters, and writers.

Thank you for reading.

 

[PollySays]

I would be interested in at least hearing more on this idea.
You've got my attention.

 

[GrayOldFart]

I like a balance of "firm direction" and "spontaneous twists".

The "firm direction" of the story is this:

• The world goes crazy.
• Our characters are introduced. They will include inmates, visitors, guards, and staff.
• Some characters will cooperate with one another. Others will want to continue the life of mayhem that got them into prison. Still others will simply want to leave.
• Ultimately, those left will embark on creating a self sufficient oasis in the midst of mayhem. This will necessitate venturing out beyond the walls, where dangers persists.
• There will always be twists and new situations to keep the story alive and interesting.

The "spontaneous twists" portion is driven partially by the host and partially by the writers:

• Character development is, of course, the sole purview of the individual writers, but keep in mind a couple of things if you are creating an inmate:
  • This is a county prison, with violent and non-violent inmates.
  • My main PC -- a guard -- has the keys.
  • This guard isn't going to let a psychopathic serial killer out of his/her cell.
  • I'm not saying that creating a psycho wouldn't create a fun interaction between characters. I'm just saying that he won't be leaving his cell anytime soon unless he is truly needed for some essential purpose. Make sense?
• The host will occasionally throw in a "twist", but these twists will not be designed to screw up your current story. They will be things like the discovery of a new stash of resources, or the loss of a resource, or the sudden appearance of a new character or infected person or something that will simply liven up the story. Perhaps, as in the new season of "The Walking Dead", a new group of survivors will arrive and want the prison for themselves.
• Writers are welcome to introduce "twists", too, BUT WITH RESTRICTIONS:
  • Writer twists must be PM'd to the host for approval.
  • I don't want one writer screwing up the direction the other writers are working so hard to pursue. (Once, I saw a writer kill another main PC without permission. Really...? Are you serious...? Obviously, the post and all future ones from him were ignored, and eventually he left.)
  • If I feel a twist is going to be a problem, I will discuss it with the person proposing it or the person it will affect. If an agreement can't be reached, the twist will be disallowed.

Photographs make visualizing our world easier, so we will use this this prison -- Angola, in Louisiana -- as the basis for our story. The story does not take place in Angola Prison. We are only using the photographs.

 

[DeathsKnight]

-raises hand-

If accepted I want to be a capture vigilante with a taste for killing the unlawful and bad. You have my interest

 

[SweetAsSuga]

My interest is definitely piqued. Already my mind is conjuring up character ideas.

 

[GrayOldFart]

My interest is definitely piqued. Already my mind is conjuring up character ideas.

Cool. I haven't created a Character Sheet yet, but I will tomorrow.

 

[silvastormcloud]

Sounds very interesting Gray. You had me at "Walking Dead".

What pace would you be looking at for the writing group? With life I am probably only good for one genuine post per day.

 

[sodalitas]

Sign me up.

 

[GrayOldFart]

Sounds very interesting Gray. You had me at "Walking Dead".

What pace would you be looking at for the writing group? With life I am probably only good for one genuine post per day.

"Pace" is a conflicting issue for me. I hate to see a story drag on, but at the same time, I understand that -- sorry, I have to say the words -- Real Life does raise its ugly head at times and get in the way.

So here's the way I look at it:

1. I am more concerned with the fact that each writer is moving their character(s) story line(s) ahead than the number or length of their post(s).
2. A post a day is perfectly fine. Every other day works, too, so long as 1 above is being taken care of.
3. Writers who wish to post/write more but who are waiting for the story to move are encouraged to write multiple characters as opposed to rushing the story!
4. Pace is a double edged sword: Delaying the story for others or rushing it past others can each be a problem, so before anyone -- including myself -- does that, the writer should check with others to ensure we are all on the same page, so to speak.

And speaking of pace, I was supposed to have the Character Profile Form up already and haven't. So, I am going to try to work on it right now, but as it is after midnight, I can't guarantee it will be up tonight.

 

[GrayOldFart]

A quick note: I fixed the problem with the prison photogragp in post three above. Sorry about that. I just bought a tablet a few days ago and am still learning how to use it; much different than a desktop computer.

 

[GrayOldFart]

This will serve as a Character Profile Form until I can create something better. please, complete the following and PM it to me. Fill out a separate one for each character please. Please be brief in your answers, to make it easy for other writers to use your profile form.

Writer's Name:

Character's Name:
Place in Story (ie, Inmate, Guard, Staff, Visitor, etc.):
Character's Photo:
(Try not to use a famous celebrity, please.)
Gender:
Age:
Physical Description:
Personality (be brief):
Background:
Miscellaneous:
Anything you want to tell us about you, the writer:

 

[GrayOldFart]

While the profiles (and other information) will be in an OOC thread later, I am posting this profile here simply to set the standard for profiles. I prefer them brief and to the point, so all writers can easily find information about your character.

Writer's Name: GrayOldFart

Character's Name: William "Bill" Taylor
Place in Story: Corrections Officer (most senior one known to still be alive).
Character's Photo: (coming)
Gender: Male
Age: 32
Physical Description: (waiting to find photograph)
Personality (be brief):

• Quiet, reserved.
• Was often verbally abused by agressive Inmates.
• Once "in charge" of much of the prison, his dreams of greatness emerge; he always wanted to be the leader of something.

Background:

• Abusive father, alcoholic mother; lost his virginity to his step-sister and was forever infatuated with her. (Ironically, she is now an inmate at County.)
• Navy (6 years); City Police (2 years); County Corrections (3 years).
• Divorced; daughter (see below); girlfriend.

Miscellaneous:

• Sarah, his girlfriend, brought Bill's daughter (Becky, 9), to the prison when the mayhem began ...and left without her. (She is being looked over by one of the female Staff members in the CO housing area.)

Anything you want to tell us about you, the writer: Later.

 

[GrayOldFart]

deleted. double posted.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Anotheroldguy is that you??

 

[GrayOldFart]

This link is to the IC thread. I am sorry that it is taking me so long to get it up, and I have PMs that I haven't even read yet. Sorry. I have been sick and trying to work also.

I will have every thing caught up by the end of the weekend though. I promise.

BTW, don't post at the IC yet, until I get to read everyone's PMs. You can compose your replies if you want, but I wouldn't be in such a hurry. We aren't in a hurry.

 

[GrayOldFart]

Anotheroldguy is that you??

??? Not sure what that means...? Explain ...but not here, since this thread is about the story. Are you interested in the role play? I looked at some of your writing; I like it!

 

[GrayOldFart]

Okay, so I started a second thread with a different title, because "Zombie Prison" was a bit misleading. These aren't zombies so much as they are simply psychotic, wild animals.

The new thread can be found at "Crazies". I am going to create the OOC right now and post the character forms that I have received.

I would like each of you to PM me what kind of story you would like your character to be involved in. That was something I forgot to put in the form. Do you want your character to hunt Crazies; or help with organizing the survival; or try to escape; or try to rape and pillage and murder and all that other fun stuff; or get chased by Crazies through the prison, on an unending flight for survival?

Setting a direction doesn't mean your character has to stick with that direction, of course. Spontaneity is the life blood of role play. But, it would be nice if I knew what you wanted out of this story, so give me an idea of where you want to go.

Remember that the set direction of the role play in general is:

• Crazies take much of the prison and kill many people.
• We maintain a portion, but need more to survive.
• We reach a relatively peaceful situation.
• We realize that to survive we must do more than simply sit around and eat from the storage room; we need to create a farm/ranch, we need to venture into the outside world, we need ... we need ... we need...
• And each new phase brings new adventures.

There is a lot of room within that "direction" for a lot of stories. Don't ever hesitate to ask about direction or twists or new characters or ...

 

[GrayOldFart]

Okay, so I think I have all of the character profiles that were submitted to me posted in the OOC Thread. If you are posted there and have contacted me about your character's direction, you are free to post in the IC. Please do not post in the timeline beyond the end of post number one; right now, we just need to introduce how are characters are handling this situation, as opposed to moving the story along.

Here is my assumption:

• "Predator" is still in his cell. (That will change very quickly, though.)
• Miles is still in his cell. (That, too, will change very quickly.)
• The visitors are in the Visitor's Center Commons area or in their "cells".

Once each of you has posted, we will begin to move the story along. (The two prisoners are still waiting for Bill's posts, but that will happen soon. I'm sick and need to nap, but as soon as I wake up, I will post immediately.)

 

[GrayOldFart]

So FYI, I put up some really good information about the prison in the OOC, including a description of the grounds, a description of the buildings, and a description of the affects on the inmate population by the Crazy.

I still am yet to describe the Visitors building in which most of our characters currently are; sorry about that, but I just ran out of time. If you are going to post for a character there, just be vague about the surroundings until I get a photograph and description up for you.

It's probably more detail than anyone will ever need, but I just wanted everyone to know what our "world" is looking like right now. Role play can some times be difficult in a group story if we all don't have the same vision of our world.

I also wanted to put out some feelers for characters:

• A Corrections Officer who has been hiding for days in a tower.
• A State Corrections official (female) who was "being naughty" with someone in the Admin building when all hell broke loose, and now she's trying to figure out what to do.
• A visiting mother or father who had reluctantly drug his/her 7 or 8 children to the prison to visit his/her spouse.
• A female CO (I think SweetAsSuga wants to play this role, but there's no reason why we can't have another one.)
• And more...

 

[GrayOldFart]

This is a bump for new writers AND an apology for my current ones: I made a mistake, which I will explain here.

In my first IC post, I spoke of the Visitors being housed in an unused cell block during the lock down, yet when I created the OOC pages about the buildings and the decimation of the prison population by the crazies, I totally forgot to include the empty cell block. (I'm down with the flu and simply not thinking well.)

The easiest way to fix this is this:

• In the aerial photograph in the northeast corner (upper right) is a rectangular building sitting diagonal on the far side of Building 4. This building will become the "Trustees Housing Building", or Building 5 (B5), and will be the one that was being renovated.
• For the storyline, the Trustees were being housed in B1 or B4, depending upon their gender. (We can have Trustees survive the Crazies if someone wants to write one, but if not I won't explain them further.)
• I will change this information in my first IC post, but I don't see how this info could affect anything that's been posted yet so far. (I haven't read DeathKnight's post yet but as his character is an inmate, I doubt that it will affect him.)

 

[GrayOldFart]

A bump to new writers and a note to existing ones:

• Bump first:
  • There is still time to climb aboard.
  • We need visitors, inmates (violent and non violent), maybe a CO or staff member hiding some place.
  • Both men and women.
• And the note: I won't be at my computer for the rest of the day.
• I'm thinking that a few more days of our characters getting to know one another can be followed by the real action:
  • My thoughts are that Leli and Scotty can become part of the "new" CO force ... and get themselves into some trouble while on Patrol or a scavenge.
  • That Bill can work with The Predator to clear the yard and cell blocks of Crazies... but something unexpected will happen. Things are gonna get messy!
  • That Miles can get isolated while on a scavenge, too.
  • I also want to introduce some conflict between humans. Perhaps we find a wing of hard core criminals who want control. (I was thinking that maybe this could come after Bill and the others begin to talk "government" and "chain of command", thereby creating conflict between them, too, when some of the "kill or be killed" types want to wipe these convicts off the face of the planet, while the "dove" types think that they should just be left alone in their cell block and fed.
  • And other fun things!
  • These are just my ideas, based on some of the "Direction" notes I've been sent and profiles. If you have a different idea, of course, I want to hear it.
• I am, of course, always open to plot ideas. The only requirement, as stated, is that the story line continues on its established direction:
  • Good guys settle in.
  • Crazies are in the way and have to be dealt with accordingly.
  • Resource depletion dictates searching more of the prison.
  • Ultimately, a couple of time leaps bring up forward to them building a society, creating a farm and/or ranch, and life begins to get normal.
  • Then ... more troubles. Damn.

Okay, so I'll see y'all tomorrow or, if I am lucky, later tonight.

 

[GrayOldFart]

Never Mind:

Decided to write her myself.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^​

Available Character:

Oh, and I just found out that Annabelle Grimm is now an available character. Her writer can't stick with us, and she will be missed; although she hasn't posted yet, I have read her other works and really enjoyed her writing.

 

[sodalitas]

Found a picture for Miles, though it may be from a few years ago!

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Might be interested in joining this, if it's not too late and you don't mind waiting a bit. Got an idea for a character (characters, most likely, though I'm known for creating PCs just for the fodder value), but want to check the pace of the thread to see if I can merge it in and work the character correctly.

Let me know if it's a possibility.

Q_C

 

[GrayOldFart]

Might be interested in joining this, if it's not too late and you don't mind waiting a bit. Got an idea for a character (characters, most likely, though I'm known for creating PCs just for the fodder value), but want to check the pace of the thread to see if I can merge it in and work the character correctly.

Let me know if it's a possibility.

Q_C

Never too late. Use the Character Form and PM them to me (not post it).

For everyone's information, I am trying to keep an OOC that is designed to assist new writers on catching up on the story easily. While I would love to see all writers -- new and old -- read every post ever written, I know that once a role play has been going for a while, reading all of the IC just to join in can be quite a task. That's what the Timeline Page is for ... enabling people to get the picture and, hopefully, read the posts later.