"New" Setting Idea

[Eric42]

Deleted by OP.

[Captain_Nibbz]

This exact thought for adapting Dead Reign has been rolling around in my head as well. That being said, I know too many people who have lost folks to the virus to ever be comfortable ever actually using it in play. Just seems . . . disrespectful?

That also being said, if you decide to expand on this idea I would love to see what you come up with

[Eric42]

I know, I do also feel that it is quite on the nose and it may be way too soon to use it as an idea, but I've had the idea bouncing around in my head for a few days now and thought I'd share it. Honestly, all I did was reframe the first idea from the core rulebook so I don't know if I'll do much more work on it unless I actually find people interested in playing in a game with it as an idea.

[Captain_Nibbz]

Completely agree with you. I've had this idea rolling around in my head since my last game fell apart due to stay-at-home orders last year. I actually did a write up for a short campaign based off of the idea and was totally geared up to run it online for my group before . . . well . . . people started dropping in large numbers and it got a little too real. I thought that it perfectly fit into the frame of how the core rulebook presented things as well. So I guess my input is that you aren't alone in your thoughts lol

[Fenris2020]

(I hope that this won't be too much on the nose or any kind violation of forum policy. If it is, just let me know.)

The following is a "new" setting for a Dead Reign game. It's not exactly "new" but more of a reworking of an existing idea from the core rulebook.

It began in 2019 in China. People came down sick with a new virus that was called the Corona virus, or Covid-19. Despite efforts from the rest of the world to stop the spread of the virus, the virus spread anyway across the world. In March 2020, it became obvious that it was going to be bad as people got sick around the world and many were dying. Vaccine companies rushed a vaccine into production but it takes a while. As the world waited for the vaccine to be made, the number of dead rose. By the end of 2020, the death toll had nearly crossed a million and a half. Thankfully, the vaccine began a slow roll out ahead of schedule in December 2020 and by April 2021, nearly 60% of the world's population had received the vaccine. And the world began a slow return to normalcy... or so they thought.

Late in 2021, people began complaining of various sicknesses. And once again, the emergency rooms began to fill up. At first, no one had any idea what the cause was. But finally, the connection was made: every person that came down sick had also received the vaccine. By the end of the year, they began dying. Very quickly, the death toll was more than three times than that of the virus itself. But then, something unthinkable happened: these dead began to rise.

-

I'll stop there for now and see what others here thinks. It's a rough first draft, of course.

Well, it does go with my joke on Twitter that I'll worry about COVID when it starts turning people into zombies. For myself, I got it back in July, and kicked it about as quickly as any flu.
Perhaps the majority of people who have recovered could be the carriers of the zeke virus when it happens in-game... or they're the survivors who become the player characters.

[Eric42]

Well, it does go with my joke on Twitter that I'll worry about COVID when it starts turning people into zombies. For myself, I got it back in July, and kicked it about as quickly as any flu.
Perhaps the majority of people who have recovered could be the carriers of the zeke virus when it happens in-game... or they're the survivors who become the player characters.

I actually had it just last month. I didn't have bad thankfully and only had a sore throat (and a bad cough) and bad case of fatigue, which I am still somewhat suffering from, though it is getting better.

I don't know what the "zeke virus" is? Google suggested zika virus? Is that what you meant or is it a reference to some other zombie thing?

[Fenris2020]

Well, it does go with my joke on Twitter that I'll worry about COVID when it starts turning people into zombies. For myself, I got it back in July, and kicked it about as quickly as any flu.
Perhaps the majority of people who have recovered could be the carriers of the zeke virus when it happens in-game... or they're the survivors who become the player characters.

I actually had it just last month. I didn't have bad thankfully and only had a sore throat (and a bad cough) and bad case of fatigue, which I am still somewhat suffering from, though it is getting better.

I don't know what the "zeke virus" is? Google suggested zika virus? Is that what you meant or is it a reference to some other zombie thing?

Zeke=zombie. Same as zed.

[Captain_Nibbz]

Zeke=zombie. Same as zed.

Oh huh, never heard this one before. I shall add it to my descriptive repertoire

[Pepsi Jedi]

I lost my father to the virus, only a few months ago.

If someone tried to pitch this to me in real life, as a game, for fun, to sit around and roll dice from and enjoy, and role play out and what not. They would very likely be in the market for expensive dental work.

No.. You don't make this into a game. Any more than you make 9/11 A terrorist simulator.

Over 600,000 people in the US alone have lost their lives to this.

Seriously people. What the frak?

[Warshield73]

I lost my father to the virus, only a few months ago.

If someone tried to pitch this to me in real life, as a game, for fun, to sit around and roll dice from and enjoy, and role play out and what not. They would very likely be in the market for expensive dental work.

No.. You don't make this into a game. Any more than you make 9/11 A terrorist simulator.

Over 600,000 people in the US alone have lost their lives to this.

Seriously people. What the frak?

I actually agree with this but I can't tell you why this is not appropriate as we do this all the time with other events.

We RP in WWI and WWII. Those were horrific events but we still use them in fiction. My wife's family is Vietnamese and I have been to that country. I have seen the damage the US did firsthand and we use in not just RP but the background of half the movies and TV shows from 1970 to 1990.

At the very least you would say it is way too recent. I don't know if having a game centered on the recent pandemic is perse bad but I think at the very least you want to discuss it with players up front to see if anyone has a problem.

[Fenris2020]

I lost my father to the virus, only a few months ago.

If someone tried to pitch this to me in real life, as a game, for fun, to sit around and roll dice from and enjoy, and role play out and what not. They would very likely be in the market for expensive dental work.

No.. You don't make this into a game. Any more than you make 9/11 A terrorist simulator.

Over 600,000 people in the US alone have lost their lives to this.

Seriously people. What the frak?

I actually agree with this but I can't tell you why this is not appropriate as we do this all the time with other events.

We RP in WWI and WWII. Those were horrific events but we still use them in fiction. My wife's family is Vietnamese and I have been to that country. I have seen the damage the US did firsthand and we use in not just RP but the background of half the movies and TV shows from 1970 to 1990.

At the very least you would say it is way too recent. I don't know if having a game centered on the recent pandemic is perse bad but I think at the very least you want to discuss it with players up front to see if anyone has a problem.

Glad you saw the damage the US did firsthand... did you also see the damage the communsists did when they took over, as well?

[Warshield73]

I lost my father to the virus, only a few months ago.

If someone tried to pitch this to me in real life, as a game, for fun, to sit around and roll dice from and enjoy, and role play out and what not. They would very likely be in the market for expensive dental work.

No.. You don't make this into a game. Any more than you make 9/11 A terrorist simulator.

Over 600,000 people in the US alone have lost their lives to this.

Seriously people. What the frak?

I actually agree with this but I can't tell you why this is not appropriate as we do this all the time with other events.

We RP in WWI and WWII. Those were horrific events but we still use them in fiction. My wife's family is Vietnamese and I have been to that country. I have seen the damage the US did firsthand and we use in not just RP but the background of half the movies and TV shows from 1970 to 1990.

At the very least you would say it is way too recent. I don't know if having a game centered on the recent pandemic is perse bad but I think at the very least you want to discuss it with players up front to see if anyone has a problem.

Glad you saw the damage the US did firsthand... did you also see the damage the communsists did when they took over, as well?

Yes in fact half the above family had to flee for their lives, but nobody roleplays that part of it nor is it ever really in any movies or TV shows so wasn't really part of the conversation. Nice red baiting though.

[Eric42]

I think you're being a bit too unkind. I admitted from the getgo that it was a little on the nose. But then, it's also about the vaccine, not Covid itself. AND it really isn't much different than what presented in the DR core book anyways: I just gave it a name that made it a lot more relatable. I and my entire family has had Covid and we've had our problems with it too, so I know and understand everything.

[Pepsi Jedi]

No.
Simply no.

Nor do I believe someone that had it and who's entire family had it would be putting this forward. That's a lame 'defense' to justify it after the fact. If that were the case you'd have lead in with that. Not come up with it after the fact and when you've been called on it. If you 'knew and understood everything' you'd never dream of bringing this up.

JUST LIKE you would not make a role playing game around 9-11. You shouldn't be doing this.

This isn't a 'historical event' that happened 50.. 100 years ago.

My dad died a few months ago. People are still dying. Over 600,000 in the US alone

GET A FRAKING CLUE.

This is NOT ok.

[Eric42]

I have seen people play games based upon 9/11.

Whatever man. I think you're missing something but whatever.

Mods: could you delete or at least lock this thread?

[oger333]

So world war Z is off the table , any game that deals with death is off the table. If one can't explore the concepts of death because someone some on knows died, then every game / every store told would never happen. I'd be game. Because people die from the Flu every year, people die in car accidents, if it was just people stopped dying. and walked the earth. Could it be a virus or supernatural power, a mutation. Rifts Open up and release energies

[Captain_Nibbz]

So world war Z is off the table , any game that deals with death is off the table. If one can't explore the concepts of death because someone some on knows died, then every game / every store told would never happen. I'd be game. Because people die from the Flu every year, people die in car accidents, if it was just people stopped dying. and walked the earth. Could it be a virus or supernatural power, a mutation. Rifts Open up and release energies

I think that you missed the original argument that people were making by about a mile.

I agree with the OP. Can the mods lock the thread? I don't think we're going to be able to have a civil discourse on this topic as this is still much too fresh for most people.

[oger333]

It's about. Distrust. And how the core book mirrors the current times we live in. again, it's a fresh wound for people, ok. But no reason to crap on a person's idea . Bring up that people lost loved ones .ok, in the zombie apocalypse store people would lose loved ones. To take a real life experience and now see what a game character would deal with and have to overcome is a value to talk about . i lost my grandmother. It's a very hard thing . I and may family still process it, and it's been 6 months is something that hits like a ton of bricks let a lone how It's rocked my grandfather a man that helped raise me. Is even another thing to process . But to crap one an idea of role playing a world base off of today isn't for everyone. BUT TO THEN SAY They WOULD GET VIOLENT WITH SOMEONE WHO'D BRING IT UP ISN'T OK. Say it's not ok with them and move on, not to talk about violent actions

[Curbludgeon]

There is a place for games which play with current events, even up to wry takes on needless deaths as the direct result of disinformation. A system whose books still include warnings intended as disclaimers against the Satanic Panic of the 1980s ain't it. This is in sufficiently poor taste that it's better suited for /tg than here.

[Captain_Nibbz]

To quote the original post:

I hope that this won't be too much on the nose or any kind violation of forum policy. If it is, just let me know.

I would argue that it was too on the nose for some people on the forum. They did what Eric42 asked and they let them know it was too on the nose. A threat of violence is obviously too far, but kind of perfectly illustrates the point that its too close to home still for a lot of people. I don't know that Pepsi was actually trying to threaten the OP, more just illustrate how sensitive of a subject this is to them (and likely might be for other people as well).

That being said, I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother. Losing anyone close to you is never easy, especially if it is to something unexpected or sudden. I hope your grandfather finds a healthy way to cope woth the loss.