New time period?

[azazel1024]

Okay, so I am lazy and don't want to find the old thread about when Dead Reign can happen (example WWII, etc).

Not that I think it exactly warrants an entirely new main book or anything, but I was thinking, it would be darned fun for an advanced technology dead reign setting. By advanced I mean maybe like mid 21st century or late 21st century, but not on the Rifts timeline. Have the frame of reference less or not on Earth at all. My mind is going to Zombie outbreak in the Mars colonies, or jointly across the entire solar system. Earth is completely taken over, NO humans. The moon colonies weren't self sustaining enough and the few survivors are being completely overwhelmed. Mars isn't much better, but can at least be self sustaining without support from Earth.

So, you are in one of the Mars colonies dealing with the zombies rising everywhere. No, they don't need space suits.
-Matt

[azazel1024]

Before anyone says it, no I wasn't really thinking of Doom when I was thinking of this. Zombie, not hell demons (oh yeah, and there is still some humanity alive, even a few independent stations and smaller colonies, not just you Marine!).
-Matt

[azazel1024]

Maybe I will try to get the blessings to create something for the Rifter about alternate time periods and settings for the Rifter.
-Matt

[dhorn]

I like the idea of having an outbreak occur on a spacecraft in distant space. For one, there is no way off the spacecraft - unless there are escape pods, but then, where do you escape to? I had this same idea while watching the movie Pandorum. Instead of devolved human antagonists, it could be a zombie outbreak caused by some sort of alien contagion. Now this is starting to sound like the premise of (one of my favorite sci-fi video games) Dead Space. Hmmm.

[azazel1024]

Hmmm I am liking that more and more. You know what, instead of Earth being exposed, I am thinking Mars is under total interdict and quarentine. No ifs ands or buts about it. NO ONE is getting off.

The colonists exposed something while ice mining. Something trapped within layers of permafrost, undisturbed for millions of years. Something that isn't quite adapted to human DNA. Instead of killing people off it mutates their DNA in to something not really resembling a double helix anymore, but that isn't quite whatever the Martian life used to be. The process kills the hosts higher level brain functions and the hosts metabolism is so skewed that eating isn't needed, oxygen isn't required, but a burning hunger remains in the primative brain that is left. A hunger for anything that once could have been considered edible, plants, animals, even people.

In an oxygen rich environment the virus can't spread, the exposure kills it quickly, but those first miners/scientists weren't so lucky as they were exposed quickly. Now its solely by touch, rare, or by wounding, more common, or death, guaranteeded.

The colonies are slowly succumbing to the martian zombification virus (MZV) as it can remain dormant for weeks in 'mild' exposure cases before the host suddenly succumbs in a matter of minutes and rises.
-Matt

[Roscoe Del'Tane]

Instead of in the future, how about in the past? Take the American Civil War era, or the Wild West, both times of trouble and strife, and their own problems with the weaponry.

Civil war era guns weren't nearly so accurate as Wild West era, and reloaded even slower, but most towns and cities had more defenses in place, making it harder for the zeds to get in (provided the gates were closed before they arrived). They also tended to have larger 'trained' forces about (militia, hunters, and such), and far more melee capable weapons.

Wild West guns were not only more accurate and reloaded faster, but they were of better quality and had more standardized ammunition. On the down-side, most of the towns and cities didn't have even a wall or a ditch around them, leading them to be easily surrounded and over run. Maybe give the Indigenous People a chance to use their natural connection with the earth to 'feed' the zeds with their rituals for an even crueler twist.

Go back even farther and recreate the 300. Having the Spartans holding against a column of invading zombies, killing all day and night until their relief can get there… It would be interesting to see a phalanx try and kill a bunch of zeds!

[Epically]

Before anyone says it, no I wasn't really thinking of Doom when I was thinking of this. Zombie, not hell demons (oh yeah, and there is still some humanity alive, even a few independent stations and smaller colonies, not just you Marine!).
-Matt

I was thinking Ghost of Mars to be honest. If that's what it's called....