AnimeNfo

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

 RP discussion

[cranston (#84421)]

Re: RP discussion

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

Updated post #1 with character sheets, so there would be an easy place to reference them all together. If more people join in, then I'll try to keep expanding there.

@Cranston: Well the whole zombie apocalypse theme can be used to poke fun at Hollywood, so why not? Oh, and I've done that, too. Gone into a stairwell on the 34th floor to go down to the 33rd. Ended up in the lobby. -_-; Got my stairs workout for the day.

For the layout of "Malton Mall" we may need something a bit more concrete, I suppose that it depends on how much of it we're going to end up getting chased through.

Most shopping malls have a network of hallways behind the stores (Though not all stores have an entrance) which goes to some sort of loading dock. Multiple floors, that loading dock would go to a parkade entrance, possibly also to a freight elevator. Since this is not open to most of the mall, there wouldn't be many people there. Might be a good place for some survivors to hide?

Equipment so far:

Zengar: His car, outside the mall. Assume tire iron available, and whatever he would normally carry with him. Mail, and some foodstuffs.

Cranston: 2x 9mm handguns of unspecified (as yt) make, boxes of ammo, and one steel bar.

Dan: several surplus combat knives (K-Bar or similar) plus one long katana, sharp and of decent quality steel. Maintenance items for same.

Hirad: One massive hangover, and a baseball bat. (I sure hope that's aluminium!)


A miscelaneous note about martial arts: Zombies are about the worst possible opponent for a martial artist. They feel no pain, so they cannot be controlled or deterred. They will simply keep trying to bite at whatver is in reach. Put one in any type of immobilisation lock, and that will just fail. Locks depend on making any movement painful to the point where the human body will not allow it. A zombie will not be detered by sich a thing. If ripping its own shoulder from its socket will allow it to get a bite of your flesh, it will do so. (A certain person that I know had a similar experience with a drug user wielding a knife. The assailant pulled until his shoulder dislocated and both the ulna and radius broke in order to take another swipe with his knife.) That said, they're still subject to the laws of physics.

[zitch (#80114)]

I'll probably join in myself, especially since I have real guns that I can bring into the picture. Heck, even the .22s would be useful, especially if the zombification makes their bones more brittle. Heck, it sounds like bullet caliber isn't going to matter too much; it doesn't matter how many 1/2 inch holes you put in the body of a zombie with a .50 caliber handgun, if you don't hit the brain or separate the head from the body (which, I assume severing the spine in the neck with a bullet will do this too), that zombie isn't going to care. The 12-gauge shotgun might knock them down when hit in the chest, though, especially with those 1 ounce slugs (with 1600 ft/s muzzle velocities) I have for it...

And lol at all of the gun experts, but having a ranged weapon (and knowledge on how to use it) against something that can get you infected up close would probably be useful...

Now the only excuse would be why would I be carrying all of these with me when the zombie apocalypse hits... Maybe I was going out/leaving the gun range. I'll probably meet up with one of the others outside of the mall; or possibly come in a "big damn hero" moment to save the day... err... moment...

I'll write up a character sheet in a moment. Going to take stock of my ammo and equipment real quick.

UPDATE: Actually, my plan is that I'll be going to the range, but will be stopping by the mall the pick up some ammo (a gun and knife store in a mall? Ok, we'll run with that... ). This way, I initially had a reason to go to the mall in the first place. Though I might really need a good motivation to go *into* the mall in the first place... My own first instinct on discovering zombies shambling out of the mall is to get back in the car and drive away...

[cranston (#84421)]

@supra
We shouldn't spend much longer getting out of the mall. We should contrive to meet up with the rest of the players.

@zitch
I agree the 12-gauge would knock them down, after which they would just get back up again. Zombies shouldn't have brittle bones though. At least, I don't see why they should.

[zitch (#80114)]

[cranston (#84421)]

What US Army Surplus Store stocks a katana and longsword? This stuff is being made up, but a Beretta will do just fine. However, I don't have any spare mags because Supra's post specifically said that I got the guns and a

[Vulcan I (#116218)]

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

Heh. The "military surplus" store here stocks edged weapons of all desctiptions, though not guns, but that's here.

Yes, I fully realise that an aversion to guns is a liability and a big one when dealing with zombies who can infect at close range. I guess I'm just hoping that I have enough pure awesomeness with the martial arts that my character has to make it by with support from those who have and can use the ranged weaponry.

[Stick (#5576)]

hmm

would anyone here be open to me making a RP subforum for all of you?

[zitch (#80114)]

[cranston (#84421)]

[zitch (#80114)]

@cranston: sounds good to me. I'll probably have one more entry then while Jerard and Dan much around in the van, so I'll probably use that entry to find Jeff and his truck in the parking garage (parkade for you Canadians... ). I'll wait until a few others gets a round to see where this goes.

I'm guessing that Supra is hinting that someone could be hiding in the cargo compartment in that van if someone wants to jump in with a character, like a store worker hiding out the chaos...

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

Well, actually, I don't think that the ramp itself is blocked, as the car seen earlier was "by" the ramp, not on it... But if may have moved, bumped into gear or something when the driver was assaulted, in which case a cube van (which has already been through a reinforced loading dock door) can probably ram it out of the way.

[cranston (#84421)]

Out of curiosity, how much punishment can the front of the van realistically take before the engine block cracks or something? Going through the bay doors sounds rather Hollywood to me. Smashing aside other vehicles sounds even more improbable.

[zitch (#80114)]

It could be possible that the ramps could be blocked by multiple vehicles, too. Otherwise, I don't remember reading that the ramp itself was blocked, but the mall exit to that level was blocked. I might be misreading, though.

BTW, I guess we're going to largely handwave away the effect of loud gunshots; 9mm pistols are around 160 dB, my shotgun is around 161.5 dB with buckshot and probably even louder with the slugs (Heck, I got some of the workers peaking in the windows going "what the hell was that?" when I was shooting slugs out of the gun at the indoor rifle range). Even the .22 rifles will fire at around 140-145 dB. And, heck, a well suppressed AR-15 (also known as the M-16 or M-4) will still be around 135 dB at the lowest. Any of these can cause tinnitus and may cause long term hearing damage, especially with repeated exposure. (Which is why you should alway have hearing protection on around any firearms, and why I usually double up when I'm shooting indoors cause that sound is being reflected back at you).

I might do something like having Rob getting ringing ears after sending a large number of slugs through the Mossberg. And I might leave him with a bruised shoulder after, say, a few dozen rounds (I do know, in real life, 15 slugs can leave a nice-looking bruise on my right shoulder; they don't call it "kill on one side, wound on the other" for nothing!) and looking for a lighter caliber rifle.

And, of course, that does mean that zombies would probably pick up the sound of a unsuppressed gunshot from far away, especially one fired repeatedly and outdoors, and they will start walking towards it if there's nothing else to distract them. The .22 rifles and suppressed weapons would vastly reduce the range where zombies would pick it up. I can probably make some calculations based on the numbers I printed above if you want to keep the science and tech as real as possible... For example, the 9 mm will still be around 100 dB at 1 km away, or around 95 dB at 1 mile away. That said, the sound of a gunshot may not need to go all the way down to 0 dB before it fades into the environmental sounds for the zombies. They are probably better attuned to hearing nearby hearbeats and breathing, like within 10 meters or so?

[cranston (#84421)]

Handwave as much as each player likes. Also, if you want to be detailed and/or realistic, you can go right ahead. There's no need to keep this so real that players without hands-on experience can't write about it.

Similarly, while I've disparaged Hollywood physics, players are allowed to use Hollywood physics and the "rule of cool" as they see fit.

Anyway zitch, like you said, there's environmental noise. The sound of traffic, televisions, general machinery, piling from a construction site, etc. Currently, the effect of a gunshot out in the open is likely to be less than that if the shot was fire indoors. I rather have it so that the zombies would go towards the closest source of sound instead of the loudest. In highschool of the dead, the author upped the danger level by disabling all electronics/electricity in the city by

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

Going through the door can happen, and not long ago here, people were stealing pickup trucks or similar and using them to go though bank walls (in reverse) throwing an ATM machine in the back and then driving away.

A cube van could do that with a bit of a run at it. Possible that it'd get crap stuck in the radiator (And in fact, I was planning on using that to ensure that the characters HAVE to abandon the cab of the van, thus exposing them to who/whatever is in the back of the thing. Also, once on the outside, it's probably about a 60/40 chance that the van will have at least one tire losing air, and the windshield won't be good for much. For what it's worth, I drove a car home (about 30 miles) with a fist-sized hole in the block where a connecting rod had broken loose from its piston and punched through the side of the block. No oil left (And what there might have been was filled with metal shards.) No coolant, and the exhaust from the right hand side of the engine was nearly pinched shut from the impact. To make matters more fun, the transmission cooler line was punctured, so by the time I got home, the only gear that worked was 1st. Top speed was about 15mph. It made a horrendous noise, but it made it home. I even started the engine later and drove the car onto the flatbed to have it hauled away.

Ramming a car aside would almost certainly damage the radiator, and probably the front suspension as well, but since every cube van that I've ever seen is rear wheel drive, you'd have to physically stop the motor from turning to completely stop the vehicle from there. Even with no oil or coolant, most motors will still run for quite a while (though doing nasty amounts of internal damage) before they sieze. If the van gets used to do that, Occupants won't escape without bumps and bruises, but if buckled up, they will get through and be able to walk away, but the van will NOT drive away from that.

The engine block can be assumed to last until oil and coolant starvation causes bearing failure. Several minutes at least, and up to a couple of hours even given the very harsh treatment that it's about to receive. I'm sure that I'll be mentioning the sickly sweet smell of steaming coolant on the other side of that door...

I am considering this, and am keeping the tech "real" in that I am not pushing past the limits of what a lightly loaded cube van could do in a typical enclosed loading bay. If I had to put a make/model to it, I'd say a Ford Econoline E350 series, with a 351CID (5.8L) V8. This makes it a pretty tough chassis, though somewhat prone to rolling when loaded, particularly if that load sits somewhat high, without an excellent driver (Which my character is proclaimed to be.)

For the noise, I'd say that the noise will DEFINTELY be heard by zombies within a very large radius, however encountering an obstacle like a wall, railing or other impediment will probably interrupt their hunting. Also since the noise is not obviously that of a living being (There will be more noise from closer by, like a nearby zombie) it won't hold their attention for long. Any zombies near enough that they would hear breathing/heartbeats/signs of life when their attention is attracted will become threats. More distant ones would lose interest.

Also, echoes will play hell with location. An intelligence of zero will make them as likely to follow the echoes of shots as the shot itself.

Edit: Okay we survived this far. I'll leave it to someone else to specify the identity of the girl (We have 2 girls as characters of about that age group, so it could be either or neither of them.

I'll also leave the choice of vehicles in which to leave the scene to the next person. "Jeff" is pretty much doomed to not make it, but he gets a chance at a hero's death.

[zitch (#80114)]

Well, we can say that a 100 dB sound that is not a heartbeat is likely to attract a zombie for some short amount of time. At that level, we can say that a 9mm handgun or shotgun buckshot blast at 160 dB will attract zombies 1 km in front of you and, say, 500 m behind you (cause your body is blocking the sound? Basically arbitrarily picking half distance for no good reason) for some amount of time. With, say, the .22 rifle outputting blasts at 140 dB will attract zombies at only 100 m in from and 50 m behind. Well, out in the open as. like Supra says, obstacles like buildings, brick walls, hills, and even forests would reduce the range and make it harder to identify which direction it's coming from. Basically, using a .22 rifle or adding a suppressor will have 1/10th the range the larger caliber weapons do unsuppressed in the same situations.

Shooting indoors will have similar effects, like a hallway would probably extend how far a shot can be audibly identified down that hall, but zombies won't necessarily know which way a loud shot is coming from at different levels or inside a shop some distance down the hall, and would likely walk into a wall the sound reflected from.

And to make things even more difficult, the sonic boom of a super-sonic bullet could be even louder than the distant shot it came from; basically, think of a fire cracker going off in the air. Usually, you hear the crack of the bullet going by at 90 degrees from where the shot actually came from, then you hear the softer "pop" of the distant shot. I'm sure that would definitely confuse zombies along the path of the shot. So, it's probably best not to think too hard about this and just let the zombies respond as the story needs?

Basically, gun shots won't bring hordes of zombies from far away, but they will attract nearer ones. Smaller caliber rounds or suppressed shots will attract much less, but it still makes a sound.

UPDATE: Just finished SupraGuy's entry, and nice one! Yeah, if that's going to be Jeff, he's probably holding the M240, which is exactly as you describe, "something that looked like it belonged mounted to an assault vehicle"... Also, one of the not-so-legal acquisitions... And is probably very loud, as it shoots a pretty large caliber at a very high rate of speed.

I'd say at this point, he's already been bitten. I'll have to get Rob into the parking garage some how so Jeff could "pass the keys", so to speak. And have hordes of zombies coming from the upper-level ramps so Jeff could go out in a blaze of glory... Probably with a grenade as a "dead-mans switch" in his left hand.

The SUV will have supplies, but gas will also be a problem eventually.

P.S., I'd also suggest that Jeff have the M240 propped up bipods on several boxes of beer. And have one box open, with several empty cans around and him working on another...

P.P.S., disclaimer: I in no way recommend you go drinking and shooting. Firearms are very dangerous and may cause severe injury or death if not handled carefully.

[cranston (#84421)]

M240? I should think that to be a wasteful weapon to use on zombies. Aimed shots for the head are impossible. I imagine the kinetic energy would have the bullets mostly passing straight through the zombie without stopping.

[zitch (#80114)]

True, but it is an often vehicle-mounted weapon that can be carried and used by hand; fits the bill as Supra mentioned... And I figured the larger 7.62 rounds would be louder than the 5.56 rounds the smaller M249 fires.

Besides, with 10-15 rounds fired each second, and we're talking about about ranges at less than 20-30 meters, the bipod down (which was why I was saying on top of boxes of beer if he was crouched over), and him leaning forward into the gun to control recoil, we're not talking about alot of bounce. This medium machine gun is designed to take out targets at 150-600 meters, if mounted on a vehicle or setup on a bipod or tripod. Take aim at the upper body, and the natural rise of it M240 will bring it to the head, and if the head wasn't hit, you're spitting enough lead that the spinal column would likely be hit on the way through, and bones would be shattered.

UPDATE: now that I think about it, you probably could use either the M240 or the M249. The latter would have a much higher fire-rate, too, which would sound more like a "roar". And the 5.56 rounds are better anti-human rounds than the 7.62 (which are better anti-human-behind-brick-wall rounds), though I'm not sure about their effectiveness against zombies (I.E., I don't know if the rounds can penetrate into the spine from the front). In any case, the 5.56 NATO rounds are designed to fragment and cause serious wounding in a human, just don't think that would be as effective on a zombie's body (though a shot through the head with either would be just the same).

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

Mind you, this ALSO might explain the collapse of the mall entrance... Funny, but I had a bipod in mind while writing that, but I forgot to describe it.

@Cranston: Had to poke the "hollywood stunt" thing in there.

The cube van's roof will be basically crushed down by the ramp ceiling. Additional pressure would also have bottomed out the suspension, and it would be likely that at least 2 of the rear 4 tires will be cut and flat. A sideways impact on an "H" chassis like that will cause it to bend, but since the van was tipping at impact, the fuel line and tank will be fine, and even if not, and explosion would be extremely unlikely. If the body can be cleared from the pillar, it would still move, Further damage would only matter at this point to repair attempts, which I think that it's safe to say we will not be doing. There should be a good size puddle of coolant, possibly oil as well growing underneath that van, I don't think that anyone is going to be driving it anywhere at this point.

Whether or not Bill is the "shoot at the head" type, I was assuming that a sufficiently "overkill" weapon would do enough damage to the bodies to disable them from moving, and even if they're not aimed, probably enough rounds hit the heads of fallen or crawling zombies to stop them. Bill was also watching for signs of movement, which would mean that he'd already seen/experienced a "dead" body keep moving and coming out of the pile, maybe that's where he'd have been bitten?

[cranston (#84421)]

Nope, Jeff failed to mention his arsenal.

I've picked up Zengar who suffered a case of "my car hates me". (I.e. Car engine refused to start for no discernible reason other than the car wishing for his demise.)

[zitch (#80114)]

So I can assume you and Zengar are dodging between cars heading to the north-east side of the parking lot? By inference, it looks like the main entrance/food court/atrium of the mall goes to the North, and it looks like I am to the west (as I had panned my binoculars to the right to spot the cop shooting/feeding frenzy). I'll be driving around the South of the mall and will probably meet up with you soon, especially if I hear your gunshots with my windows down. I'll figure out a way for Rob to get in touch with Jeff (probably through cell, as congestion clears up, or get lucky).

UPDATE: Currently putting together my entry.

UPDATE 2: Done!

Remember, Rob has the following

- Mossberg pump-action with one buckshot in the chamber, 2 in the tube magazine, and 5 slugs on the stock, sitting on the passenger seat (into the footwell, with the barrel laying on the front of the seat).
- The Beretta 92FS 9mm at his right hip, and 3 standard mags and 1 extended mag on his left.
- The 2 .22 rifles, one with a scope and 14 rounds and the other with no scope and 16 rounds, both also on the passenger seat.
- The Springfield XD 9mm loaded with 3 full spare mags in the booksack in the passenger seat.

Rob also knows of headshots, but not of the super-hearing of the zombies, or how they became zombies (he would know about the movie lore about zombies infecting on bites, but he hasn't quite made the connection yet).

Make use of them as you see fit. There's a number of ways Rob can enter the picture here. I'd imaging like having Rob jump on top of a parked van with the scoped Marlin 60 .22 to snipe off zombies that get too close from 50 or so yards away if he can't get the car to them. It'll leave small holes (about 6mm), and barely have any kinetic energy (so no zombie heads jerking back from being hit by one) but they will penetrate and cause damage to the brain. Whether it only takes a single shot or might take multiple head shots to take down a zombie with a .22 is up to you. You will hear the crack of the super-sonic round if it goes by (again, think small fire-cracker going off in the air) and the thunk as it hits the zombies.

Also, he will give up 3 standard mags for the Beretta (he'll switch between the standard 15-round mag currently in the gun with the extended 32-round mag) when he sees Jerard carrying them and knows that he's low on ammo. The Springfield is also a possibility for Zengar too, if he doesn't get one of the Berettas Jerard's carrying.

Plus Rob does have holsters for the Beretta M9A1s, if that's what Jerard is holding. These will be in the booksack.

My own intention is that Rob will learn of Jeff's fate from Jerard or Dan, and there will be one last phone call (Nice thing about the M240 is that it's belt fed. Jeff'll have enough boxes to last as long as it needs to... )

[cranston (#84421)]

Very likely to end up giving one of my guns to Zengar when things calm down and we establish that he can use one. Now's no time to talk, and I've no time to reload my first gun (which is empty).

As for the woman with Supra, I would suggest not using one of the other player's characters. We're the third week into this and they still haven't joined in, so I'm skeptical of their eventual participation. Better to develop your own supporting character.

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

Yeah, actually, I was hoping htat one of hte other players might read at that point and claim the character from that position, but... Yeah.

I wouldn't have thought that I'd leave a couple of people behind. The Supra will seat 4 (Though 2 will need to be on friendly terms to share the back) I know that I was drawing them off with the horn, but I'd definitely loop back to pick people up. Even I know that 2 handguns don't hold a lot of ammo, and I don't remember Jerard taking the box of ammo with him, so it's probably on the floor on the passenger side of the car.

[cranston (#84421)]

Supra's made a mistake in his recent post. He didn't pick up on the part where Zengar and I had already moved away from the stalled car. To preserve continuity, I'm going to go with the idea that he picked us up some distance away from that car.

[zitch (#80114)]

Might as well add a short entry while I'm at lunch.

UPDATE: Done. Feel free to distribute the weapons as you see fit. The .22 rifle practically has no recoil or "bang" to speak of, (especially from the shooter's perspective), so it would fit well with either Jen (if she's in any shape to use one) or Zendar (his character sheet says he can't handle heavy recoil too well, but he should be good with most small-arms weapons smaller than 50-cal anyways. No 12-gauge Mossberg for him, though... )

Jerard now also has 3 already filled mags for his handguns. Rob still has a full mag in his gun, the spare extended magazine, and the Springfield that's loaded with 3 of its own spare mags.

[cranston (#84421)]

It's a new calendar month and I'm busy calculating my company's profits again. I'm afraid I won't have time to post anything substantial until the weekend. In the meantime,

WHERE ARE ALL THE REST OF YOU PEOPLE? *sigh*

Maybe our posts are so long that the others don't have time to read?

[zitch (#80114)]

I know! I hope it's not just Cranston, Supra, and me here!

I don't know about length, other than my first two entries, the posts have been rather quick to read. Heck, I spent way too much time on those first two entries, just to have what I was planning on setting up simply glossed over in the end... But that's the name of the game.

And now that I've caught up with the others, my entries will be much shorter, especially when the action heats up again. My last entry took all of 15 minutes to write, while I was munching on a sandwich. Granted, I was planning it in my head for a bit before lunch...

We may have to keep summaries and updates of the current situation here once in a while so people can just jump in easier.


So here we are, in the Red Supra (stick shift, somewhat beaten-up), we have:
-Dan (Supra's character) driving (left side, front seat for you not in N. America). He's armed with a katana and various knives.
-Jerard (cranston's character) in the front passenger seat, with two handguns (I guess I've established them to be Beretta M9A1s), with 5 magazines total, and a .22 rifle (Savage Arms 187N) with 16 rounds in it. He's probably loading up the two emptied mags right now.
-Zengar (Daizengar's character) in the rear passenger-side seat (behind Jerard). Currently nothing in hand except the clothes he's wearing.
-Jen (Character free for the taking) in the rear driver-side seat. Probably still hasn't recovered from her shock.

And in the Silver Accord (automatic, no damage yet), there is:
-Rob (My character) driving. He has a fully loaded Beretta 92FS on his right hip, a 32-round extended spare mag on his left hip, a set of 3x binoculars in a pants pocket and his shooting glasses in a shirt pocket.

He also has another fully handgun (Springfield XD-9) with 3 spare mags, and boxes of ammo for all of his weapons (~25 9mm, 15 12-gauge slugs, and ~520 .22LR) and other items in a booksack on the passenger seat.

He also has his modified pump-action shotgun (Mossberg 500, with 3 rounds of buckshot left in it, and 5 slugs in the shoulder-stock holders), his scoped .22 rifle (Marlin Model 60 with a 14-round tube magazine, though he had just shot once from it without having time to reload so it's down to 13 rounds in the weapon), and a bokken in the passenger footwell.

Right now, the Supra is leaving the Mall parking lot, heading to Jerard's girlfriend's place. Rob is following in his Accord.

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

Well, Hirad (Vulcan I) made a brief appearance, last seen had grabbed a baseball bat in his house somewhere. Hopefully somewhere closeish to Jirard's girlfriend's place... Or the "Toyota dealership on 9th" which is probably close to the mall, and they may (or may not) stop there first.

[cranston (#84421)]

I've got 2 Barettas and rougly half a small box of ammo for them. No extra mags. Didn't find any in the shop we stole the guns from.

[Daizengar (#99576)]

[zitch (#80114)]

Well, if it wasn't clear, Rob handed you 3 fully-loaded mags for the Berettas in my latest post. Plus his non-scoped .22 rifle; basically, Rob is figuring that he alone won't be able to use all of his armaments, and trying to maximize who he can protect with them by letting others use them (especially those who know how to use them). He's concentrating on getting somewhere safe before worrying about which gun would be most suitable for which character.

UPDATE: Hey Daizengar!

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

By the way, good call on the adrenaline crash. Since the character is essentially based on me, I know from past experience that coming down off of an adrenaline rush like that hits HARD. It will basically sustain itself as long as I'm driving (To within reasonable limits) but pretty much as soon as I'm able to relax a bit, It'd be like I got hit with a hammer.

A half hour's downtime pretty much takes care of it, and a cup of coffee would take the groggy edge off afterwards.

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

My poor car.

I hadn't really planned to do something like that, but it occured to me while reading the last updates that the car alarm could be used in that way.

The setup as described (90 seconds just aging the transmitter, then 90 seconds of screaming) is actually possible with the alarm system that I actually have on my car, and the transmitter makes some interesting noises for that entire 3 minutes, not to mention that it will continue vibrating for 1 second in 15 second intervals until I either disarm the alarm or 24 hours (Or the battery is exhausted) whichever comes first, which means that it's a continuing distraction for other zombies outside who might be attracted to the noise of shooting, the alarm or both, but aren't already in our way. When it's time to leave, there will be a few of them in that area.

I'd intended for them to find an animal corpse, perhaps an annoying neighbor's dog, but I suppose that can happen inside the building, too. (There might be an annoying yappy dog that Jerard is happy to see with a hole in it's neck... You know, that chihuaua that barks every time you walk anywhere near the door?)

[zitch (#80114)]

Heh, nice setup. Now that I think about, the Accord also has a panic button that could be used for distraction too. Though it's just the horn going off, not a dedicated car alarm.

Though actually, Rob would probably holding fire on the shotty and letting the two with the rifles take down the zombies at a distance, for two main reasons:

1) Range - the buckshot is more suited to close range (<20 meters). Though he could use slugs that would be accurate up to 75 meters, but...
2) Loudness - per my discussion above, the Mossberg is *loud* (around 160 Db @ 1 meter with buckshot, probably louder with slugs). The .22 rifles Jerard and Zendar are using are 20 dB softer (140 dB @ 1 meter). If the car alarm is at or above 120 dB (I'm assuming at 1 meter, since most car-alarm info don't specific show far away from the speaker it would be at this decibel), we'd be only 15-20 meters away and the .22 rifles would at best be barely audible to those around and beyond the car! The shotgun would definitely be audible.

If anything, Rob would be on reloading duty. Basically, one of them would hand back their rifle when out, Rob would remove the follower, fill the tube magazine with .22 rounds, replace the follower, pull back the bolt to load the first round into the chamber, then hand it back. About a 10-15 second process. In between loading, he would also be watching for zombies that get too close.

I'm also sure the two would be taking one shot every 2-3 seconds as they'd be aiming carefully for head-shots. Zendar would be faster since he has the scope and can be more sure when pulling the trigger.

UPDATE: Actually, I'll put up a short post about this.

UPDATE 2: Done!

I figure that they would go through the ammo in their weapons in around 30-45 seconds each if they were on a constant pace (I.E., have zombie heads available to shoot at), Zendar first because he has the smaller capacity and because he would be shooting faster because it's faster to make a more sure shot through the scope. It'll probably take around 10-15 seconds to hand back the rifle, have Rob reload the rifle, and get it back.

This is one reason why tube magazines aren't very popular for military rifles these days...

I'm sure that there isn't much talking going on with all the noise going on. And I'm sure the racket might get some live human attention too...

[cranston (#84421)]

Well, if there's anyone left alive, they're still in hiding and won't come out until it's safe. Rather, until they think it's safe, which could be hours after hearing nothing outside their door. Or maybe they're all dead?

By the way, we're not going to draw the zombies out of the building this way. Making a beeline straight towards the noise they hear is one thing, but they won't backtrack to find a staircase or open door or something like that. Eventually, we either clear the block one apartment at a time (except for the ground floor) and re-secure the two staircases, or bypass the remainder on our way to Carrol's apartment. Doing the latter might have a consequence when we leave. Someone opens the steel door to find himself face to face with a zombie.

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

I wasn't thinking that this would clear zombies from anywhere except the lobby.

I think that the number of visible zombies was fixed in the "dozen or so" range, so we shouldn't be exhausting ammo out here, but I guess that depends on the population in the lobby.

[cranston (#84421)]

I wasn't even thinking there was a lobby.
I was imagining the structure to be thus:

=S=================S=
=S=================S=
=S=================S=

S for staircase
= for apartment unit

Basically the entire groundfloor is easily accessible from the street. Going up requires the use of one of the 2 staircases, one of which is closed.

[zitch (#80114)]

Well, if there were only a "dozen or so" zombies to take care of, it could always be the case that it took multiple shots to take down some of the zombies (especially with shots that aren't square-on the brain-case area, where the .22 rounds would bounce off a side (from the shooter's perspective) of the skull, or a shot to the cheek area which would be deflected away. Or there could just be pure misses, too. All depends on range, or zombies being partly blocked by trees, cars, or whatever).

As for the sounds, some of the noise may have traveled through open door and may sound like it's coming from open stair-cases. It really depends on how you want to set this up.

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

Heh. I've never seen an apartment building like that outside of anime. The ones here all have the stairwells and hallways indoors, with an entry lobby. Well, that makes more sense when you have to deal with long, stupid-cold winters, like we get here.

Okay, well, since it's been established that zombies have gotten as far as the second floor, that also means more victims, therefore more zombies.

I'll proceed from this point as per the building design that you spoke of. Certainly the idea of "one shot, one kill" isn't necessarily going to apply here, since we're dealing with a situation in which the users of these firearms are presumably shaken. Jerard's likely to be shooting at the bodies of people that he may have known, at least in passing. Also, none of these people are exactly professional soldiers, so... Yeah. Stray rounds will be a given, particularly at range.

I'd kind of figured that Rob should be able to do more than load weapons, but considering the logistics, that's probably his best course of action. I'd have thought that one could steady a pistol enough for accurate enough shooting, particularly from a prone position, but hey, what I know about these things comes from FPS games and TV. I've personally never fired anything other than a .177 calibre air gun. No wait, I did shoot some tin cans with a .22 once when I was 12, and I've gon paintballing once. (Did miserably, as you may suspect.)

Edit: Proceeding to the building under the assumption that at closer range, pistols will be a better choice than longer guns, so I'll assume that those so armed will swap their weaponry over, but hang onto the longer weapons.

It's midday, and in the middle of what would DEFINITELY be termed a crisis. I think that it's safe to assume that Carrol was either at work already or has been called in (And even if there are no phones working, I think that she'd probably figure out that she's needed, and probably went in.

[zitch (#80114)]

Actually, in close quarters, given the choice between a handgun and a longarm (especially one with iron or a red-dot sight), I'd pick the longarm most of the time for two main reasons: Steadiness and firepower.

That said, the firepower side of things are pretty moot given the zombies, but holding a rifle or shotgun at two separate points is a much more stable position than a handgun held at one, the recoil of a longarm is taken in the shoulder instead of the hands/arms, and the length of the longarms aren't that much further than how you're supposed to hold a handgun. As a reference to steadiness and length, see this video of me shooting my Beretta:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaw6gEvUeS0

I'm not a huge guy, but at 5'10" and 215 lbs, I'm not small at all. And I've trained myself to take the handgun's recoil with my elbow rather than my wrist to reduce how much the gun flips up. But you can see how the recoil still travels through my arm and into my body and causes the gun to raise about an inch or so, and the Beretta 92FS is one of the larger guns shooting one of the smallest caliber handgun rounds. Most handguns actually have more recoil than that Beretta (a fact that most female friends that have gone shooting with me and my girlfriend actually prefer shooting my Beretta than my girlfriend's Springfield XD, which is around 2/3 the mass and shoot the same caliber round).

And the target is around 7 yards away, and that was still the fastest I could shoot and maintain a 4" group on the target. With the .22LR rounds in the .22 rifle, given the very low recoil that's absorbed entirely my shoulder, I could get a 2" grouping pulling the trigger as fast as I could.

That said, the choice might be closer given a .22 rifle or a 9mm handgun, especially if we're talking about live humans (which I'd probably lean with the handgun when going close-quarters), but with the zombies I probably still pick the rifle for accuracy. And if the longarm is very long (like a .50 sniper rifle) is a bolt-action or has a small magazine capacity (like the Remington 700 that Cranston's *ahem*girlfriend*ahem* has), or has a telescopic scope (Both of the previously mentioned rifles, most likely, and the Marlin 60 Zengar is carrying), I'd go with the handgun. So the Marlin 60 could be given to Jen to carry or something.

(Also note all of the holes in the ceiling there. Yeah, there are some "cowboys" that sometimes go there, which is one reason I'd rather not go to that range anymore...).

(Another note about that video: as the rounds are shot out and the empty cases are ejected, the gun does get lighter. That plus fatigue while holding the gun up do account for the apparent increase in recoil through the video)

Maybe I should take some pictures of me holding the Mossberg (which actually has a retractable shoulder-stock to make it even shorter than what I normally put it at for "comfortable" shooting), the rifles, and the handguns for comparisons.

I guess electricity is still running in most places, but I would think we're going to have to worry about lighting eventually (which was why Rob grabbed the flashlight out of his glove compartment before leaving the car). We can always say that Dan grabbed a flashlight (or two) out of his car too later. Or not, if he's that disorganized...

[SupraGuy (#92823)]

Dan's not thinking that far ahead. He's running on the last dregs of adrenaline, and though he would likely have a flashlight in the car (or two, or more...) it'd probably take some time to find one.

There would be other things in the car which might be useful, but less so than the goodies that he's already got.

Oh, and given the character, if anyone DOES hand Dan a gun, someone who knows something about it is going to take it away. Imagine the worst of the "rookie" mistakes that someone might make handling a gun, and he'll probably do it. However, it'd take some convincing to get him to even pick the thing up in the first place.

I had an update in the works, and my browser crashed.

[cranston (#84421)]

It's the GF, not the wife. And, yeah, I've got the keys to the place.

I've also got a story update in progress. I'll wait for Supra's and check mine for continuity issues.

A further note about the time of day. It's the middle of the day, shortly after lunch hour. Most people should've gone to work already. The only people who should still be in the apartment are retirees, NEETs, people on leave, housewives. Anyway, there shouldn't be all that many people around.

I was thinking of writing Hirad in around this point, but I don't want to do so if his player isn't around. So, if you ARE around, make a post.