Colonel Isaac Bradbury

Isaac felt old well before the The Event occurred. Fifty years as a first firefighter and national guard officer do that to a man. He even looks the part despite nano-medicine, bald, sagging jowls, lined face, and shifted weight. But his mind remains sharp, his will strong, and his sense of duty unshakable. If he could get out of the office long enough to march into hell, the other guardsmen would gladly follow him.

Unfortunately - many of the other residents want to send him there as soon as possible.

Colonel Bradbury maintains absolute devotion to the United States first, and to the NEST VIII outpost second. He does not show any great favor to leaving the NEST, and is cool to the notion of stretching the resources by inviting more in. The colonel stands by the military justice system, rather than the jury rigged one of the complex. This also makes him an impartial party in decisions and gains him a great deal of respect.

On the other hand, this makes him an impartial party in decisions where many of the other complex leaders would like to have support. There have already been a few attempts on his life in order to install a more favorable underling.

While none of the attempts have come particularly close to killing him, Isaac has become somewhat paranoid and withdrawn, avoiding contact with people outside the national guard or his hand-picked RATs. He is still one of the most powerful people in the NEST, however, being in charge of the military, most of the RATs and almost all of the armory. In total, he has nearly three hundred soldiers, a dozen light armored vehicles, and about 100 trained scavengers. (Of course, there are others in the complex to fill needs Bradbury will not commit to.)

Strength 4
Quick 4
Tech 4
Wits 4
Range 2
Close Combat 4

Animus: 10
Lucidity: 8
Deadening: 8
Up-Rise: 8 (16 kg in backpack)
Pack: 8 (8 slots/48 kg on hand)

Investigation (Very good at paperwork and logistics)
Access (Firefighter and Soldier)
SA: Rank/Society: National Guard

Equipment of note:
Col. Bradbury has an M-32 PDW in his office and a 9mm pistol on his belt, both of which he can use proficiently - even if his eyesight isn't what it used to be. His office is full of firefighter memorabilia, and he keeps his old turn out gear in his apartment - thought he acknowledges that its for the best to leave the job to younger people (as of 2055 he is 68).

Role in a Game:
Colonel Isaac Bradbury is a major figure in NEST VIII - and more likely than not, is going to be the player characters' boss. He is in charge of the RATs and Military.

Dark Woods Week: Mr Saxon, Mr. Celt

Mr. Saxon

Fresh air, old growth trees, physical exorcise - they say nature does a body good. Damned lie, thats what it is - nature does terrible things to bodies, almost enough to make you glad they were dead first. You've had far too much experience with what the wilderness will do to bodies over the past few months.

All the evidence says its just one careful and methodical person. If you could classify it as human - after dismembered body thirty five, its really hard to pin that title on the culprit.

The trail has gone cold as those women dug out of the ravine, and its really gotten to you. So bad, the boss had to force this vacation on you, suggested an old site out of state he recalled from his childhood. It is a nice enough place, but Hawaii wouldn't get this out of your head, much less here.

Strength 4
Quick 4
Tech 4
Wits 4
Range 3
Close Combat 3

Animus: 10
Lucidity: 8
Deadening: 8
Up-Rise: 8 (16 kg in backpack)
Pack: 8 (8 slots/48 kg on hand)


Investigation
Stunt Driving
SA: Rank/Society: Police Officer

Equipment of note:
Mr. Saxon has his back-up .38 revolver and a police radio in his civilian car, but  as this is a vacation, most of his equipment is miles away in the station.

Mr. Celt

 Heh, he,he, he Yes! Its so nice to take a vacation, to get your mind off of work. So many harlots, so little time, but for each the cleaver shall sing its song.

Strength 3
Quick 5
Tech 5
Wits 2
Range 4
Close Combat 3

Animus:10
Lucidity: 7
Deadening: 5
Up-Rise: 8 ( kg in backpack)
Pack: 7 ( slots/ kg on hand)

Animal Handling
Pharmacology
SA: Surgeon

Equipment of note:
Lucky foot (not rabbit...), good machete, really good cleaver, naughty cleaver, doctor's scrubs, assorted medications, basic doctor's kit (stethoscope, small lights, blood pressure cuff), hemp rope,

Dark Woods Week: Alpha and Omega and Something Inbetween

Mr. A (Create your own Alias)

Mr. A is a kindly looking old man who smiles as he recounts the simple pleasures of his youth growing up on a farm. Then, with the very same smile, he can gouge out a man's eyes with his thumb.

Win, lose, draw - bah! He is not the one who plays the games, or determines the winner of the great international games. Mr. A receives an order, someone dies, he returns for the next one. If the autocrats once claimed to be communist, and are now claiming to be democratic - they're still autocrats, and he still does the job. More of them are foreigners these days, but it goes in cycles.

Today, it is an officer from a foreign intelligence service. Perhaps he will like to hear about how Mr. A's grandson is graduating as an engineer before having a hammer shatter the skull. Maybe he will learn about granddaughter's wedding before the screwdriver punctures the aorta. It is a good day with much to be happy about!

Strength 6
Quick  3
Tech 4
Wits  2
Range 2
Close Combat 5

Animus: 11
Lucidity: 5
Deadening: 8
Up-Rise: 10  (60 kg in backpack)
Pack: 6 ( slots/12 kg on hand)

Wood Working
Negotiation
Special Ability: Martial Arts (+1 DR in close combat)

Equipment of note:
A well stocked tool chest is in the back of his seemingly beaten up truck, meticulously organized into the metric tools for fixing the Japanese made vehicle, and the Imperial measure tools for mutilating people. (Even individual sockets are lethal in his hands). There are some sundries like maps of the area, bottled water, pre-packed food, and a sharpened military entrenching tool as well. Unlike most fifteen year old trucks, inside the cab is almost factory fresh, a testament to MR. A's semi-neurotic desire for neat and tidy surroundings.

 

Mr. Z (Create your own Alias)

Cold war? We won! Terror? We're winning! Its great to be a new part of the old game of nations, especially now that it can all be solved. None of this old tech torture, cloak, and dagger stuff - you see what they're doing from space, confirm with drones, and then shut down their networks with a few mouse clicks. Real spies don't get dirty.

There are some nuts out there, and it is more than a nine to five job. Indeed, you've been warned that there is a foreign agent around here, and a brutal one. These days it probably just means he doesn't want sugar in his coffee while talking about bribes, but it pays to be careful.

Strength 3
Quick 3
Tech 5
Wits 5
Range 4
Close Combat 2

Animus: 8
Lucidity: 8
Deadening: 8
Up-Rise: 8 (48 kg in backpack)
Pack: 10 ( 10slots/20 kg on hand)
Access (Free running and climbing)

Swimming and SCUBA
Investigation
Hacking

Equipment of note:
Mr. Z. is actually here for a camping trip, (who would have expected that) and has the necessary gear for rock climbing as well. He also has a small nine millimeter pistol an two reloads in a concealed holster.

 

Capricorn Five (Create your own Alias)

Spies, they're everywhere. Killing your cats, reading your e-mail, genetically modifying your food, and turning your boss against you. You might need a wheel chair to get around most of the time, thanks to that failed attempt to assassinate you (DUI - ha! You barely touched anything that night!) but no one is going to finish that job anytime soon.

Out here in the woods, you've got cover from the satellites and no cell towers to scramble your thoughts. An no one ever notices your stockpile of gelignite and fuel oil. If they cross you, they'll learn about it in the worst way possible, but for now its all safe and legal.

Better yet, nothing much around here is electrical, so when the EMP shuts down the country, it will be like nothing happened to you.

But who are all these people showing up today? No one ever comes here, unless they have some ulterior motive. Sure, the old couple that runs this place are clean (that shifty eyed handyman on the other hand...) Do they know something about the plots and the plan to shut down the power grid? Perhaps they want your land and your supplies for the coming civil war. Well, its all yours, and they aren't going to get it!

Strength 2
Quick  2
Tech 6
Wits 6
Range 5
Close Combat 1

Animus: 6
Lucidity: 12
Deadening: 8
Up-Rise: 8  (48 kg in backpack)
Pack: 12 (12 slots/ 24kg on hand)

Organic Chemistry
Cooking
SA: Blasting and Explosives

Equipment of note:
Twenty sticks of dynamite, two .45 caliber handguns,  a semi-automatic .22 rifle, a foil lined van with wheelchair lift, two year supply of slightly dented canned food, five year supply of toilet paper, HAM radio, old camera, proof Lee Harvey Oswald was innocent, thirty-seven teddy-bears.

Dark Woods Week: Mr. Rook and Mr. Crow

Mr. Rook

Damn It! It was all going so well. A young wife you hate to be away from and a job to keep fulfilled - isn't that all anyone could want? Oh how life can be so cruel. You come home early once, with good news about a bonus, and find another man in your bed.

It is not the place for police to be involved in such affairs, it is a personal matter. We shall go to the woods, give the man a day or two to make his peace, and then make sure such a slight never happens again. Accidents do happen, after all.


Strength 3
Quick 3
Tech 6
Wits 6
Range 2
Close Combat 2

Animus: 8
Lucidity: 9
Deadening: 9
Up-Rise: 9 (45 kg in backpack)
Pack: 12 (12 slots/24 kg on hand)

Equipment of note:
Mr. Rook has recently purchased a .30-06 bolt action hunting rifle and a box of twenty bullets, though he is quite unfamiliar with its use. Despite the pretense of a camping trip, he has brought almost no other gear - if asked, its because the lodge should provide sufficient facilities.

Mr. Crow

Damn It! It was all going so well. A young wife to keep fulfilled, and a job her husband hates to be away from - isn't that all anyone could want?

Its great that Mr. Rook hasn't called the police, most people would take this rather personally. Instead he has offered to go on a trip to the woods, and who knows - maybe after a day or two we'll make our peace. Accidents happen, no slight intended - though this does have me a little worried.

Strength 6
Quick 6
Tech 3
Wits 3
Range 2
Close Combat 2

Animus: 14
Lucidity: 9
Deadening: 9
Up-Rise: 9
Pack : 6

Equipment of note:
Mr. Crow has recently acquired a 12 gauge pump action shotgun  with two dozen slug rounds, as well as miscellaneous camping gear, (Tent, sleeping bag, portable stove, bug spray, matches) since his partner has graciously provided the ride suggested the place. Of course, the fact that Mr. Rook has forgotten to bring orange vests, and that rifles are not allowed in this part of the season is quite odd.

Use:
While all characters in the Dark Woods scenario come with equipment and a motive, the players should be allowed to come up with a physical description and demeanor themselves - after-all, what fun is an RPG if they don't have personal investment or creative control?

Reanimates Revisited Four and Five

The three most elusive things in the zone are the Type Four reanimate, the Type Five reanimate, and a trustworthy account of viewing a type Four or Five Reanimate.

I am not quite sure why there is so little doubt about their existence, since they are quite rare if present at all. But like a good conspiracy theory, it lives on even after all evidence to the contrary is presented and the case closed long ago. Perhaps its because in a way, these things make what is happening less scary. Its a pretty tall order to believe that something like the reanimates is just pure chance, and that as dumb as a type one might be - together they seem to have a functioning hive mindset.

Type Fours fill in the need for a "Queen Bee"or a general of the undead army. They're what use the recovered bodies from fights to make new reanimates, and why there is a standard and measured response to parties entering abandoned cities and megastructures. Attempts to sweep an area clear of reanimates will often succeed for a while, and then witness waves of the creatures returning. If all of them were wiped out - how do they know to return to the area - why would they return?

Now, there are people who believe that the reanimates are some sort of divine retribution - but most accept there is some science behind it all. What science - that is the question. Some believe that this is a government conspiracy, and that nanovac was always meant to allow the government to take control of people. Others thing that normal nanovac is benign, but the military had some exotic types on on hand for either enhancing soldiers, or building something worse. Reanimates are supposedly a national emergency response to the appearance of aliens - its just bad luck that they turned on their masters as well.

More recent rumors imply the Type Five is a more recent development from reverse-engineering the reanimates. Blame is alternately placed on old governments trying to force compliance from city-states attempting independence, transhuman enclaves like the Free City of Tesla, or the ABERHAM facility held by New Birmingham.

Gamma Reanimates Part One

There are a lot of names for the advanced Type Three reanimate. Most common is "Kappa" - arising from a misunderstanding about the Greek alphabet. It does not in fact go ABC - alpha-beta-kappa like English. To be fair, even a long time resident of Athens would be hard pressed to concentrate on letter order if they ran across one of these things.

Ones are normal people back from the dead, and one theory holds an Alpha is what happens when they remember part of who they used to be. (Not a theory I espouse, mind you - but it does raise some interesting question of could there be an Alpha-plus with further recall. That is beyond the scope of my reports for now.) Type Twos were the sick and injured with excess nano-vac inside them, and are rebuilt strangely. Three's are cybernetic zombies, raised to the strength of the titanium artificial limbs rather than the calcium bone...

Perhaps it would be better to say the gulf between base and advanced is a matter of limits, and exceeding them. A basic corpse moving after brain death shouldn't have any notable intelligence - an Alpha surpasses that. Two is reconstructed, Beta improved in more grotesque ways. Threes integrate machinery into the reanimation process, but are still human in form.

A Gamma no longer relies simply on the human form and the materials present within it at the time of reanimation - instead it actively assimilates from the environment, and grows. Most of the reports so far claim they retain a general humanoid shape, if somewhat resembling a power armor or alien encounter suit that any normal person. Rumors abound though, that when the bipedal stance can no longer support their weight, they can adopt to something else. What these new forms might be vary from tales of "gun-toting zombie elephants" to tanks merged with human flesh. Although both of these outcomes seem unlikely, all reports do agree that the Gamma merges with ranged weapons making them the only reanimate to consistently be able to fight at a distance. (Alphas might use firearms, but it is unlikely.)

Gammas seem to be the only type of reanimate that shows a territorial preference. They seem only to be found in cities, or large complexes like mega-structures and industrial parks. Within these places, they are truly king and queens - the broken sight lines and narrow terrain greatly complicates the placement and use of the kinds of heavy weapons needed to kill one of these monsters. Meanwhile, it gives the Gamma plenty of places to hide for ambush or escape.

Reanimates Revisited, Type Three

You just don't fight a Type Three. Not without HEAT rounds, mass drivers, or ATGMs at least.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - the reanimates are like an organized army, nay - a super-organism each expendable, yet vital to the whole. Your Type One is the worker ant, Alphas are generals or commandos. Twos and Betas function as shock troopers or fast attack vehicles from - quick strikes from unknown directions.

Type Threes are tanks. I have seen a sniper tag one in the head with a fifty-caliber anti-material rifle, and it didn't even stumble. Less former human, more Rabbi Lowe's unstoppable golem, or that robot from the movie that had its sixtieth anniversary release a bit before The Event. It probably even has metal bones - so far as anyone knows, its what happens when a person with a lot of cybernetics reincarnates.

Its almost acceptable, to have a creature that can punch through concrete barriers, lift a small car, or walk through an artillery barrage like a summer rain shower. With all that has happened, its almost normal. What isn't, is what they look like. These aren't body builders pretending to be machines, they're normal people who were frail enough to need robotic parts surgically implanted. A little balding barber with some artificial legs, a pretty young prom goer that got in a traffic accident after her big dance, a convenience store clerk shot in the lung during a robbery - they're all as likely to be a Type Three as any hulking former marine.

You'll never know until they rip a tow truck in half.

A Type Three reanimate has 12 points of animus, and an SDI of 6. While damage will slow them down, even the average rifle (DR 4) is going to be hard pressed to leave much of a mark.

It might have average intelligence, awareness, and understanding compared to a human (4 each in Wits, Tech, and Quick) but there is no denying it is above human in strength (an 8!) and almost any use of unbridled force is considered skilled. (So for example, an attempt to smash a vault door is 8 dice, and they succeed of 4-6) Perhaps more distressing is that they might have other cybernetic componets that allow other stat tests to be considered skilled as well.

Reanimates Revistied, Beta

Yes, I am calling it a reanimate to be technically correct, but everyone else is just going to refer to is as The Beta. At this point, it has ceased to be anything resembling human. Neither appearance nor temperament hit that this creature might once have been a man or woman - its just a shock trooper more alien than even the quadruped Planetary Citizens.

Other reanimates, "Kappa" aside - look pretty close to human, this one doesn't.  A Beta's skin is like half-melted tires, in both consistency and resiliency - they barely even notice something less than a shotgun slug. Its hands and feet have hooked talons between the digits allowing them the ability to climb many surfaces and tear off huge chunks of skin. Two arms, and two legs is only the minimum, Betas with six or eight limbs have been mentioned in many stories around the campfire. Exaggeration? Possibly. But there are enough things to be scared of without adding fanciful reanimates to that list.

You can find them hunting in packs, or rarely alone - thank god for small blessings.

Fortunately, their intelligence seems to stop at the logic more fewer humans equals better. The Beta might surprise you due to its location and silence - but they don't set the same sort of planned ambushes an Alpha or Type Two might. On the other hand, they're fast and will give chase a lot more readily than other reanimates. Be very wary of this! Betas can run faster than most humans, though they're not too agile, so you need to make rapid turns or duck through small openings to get away.

SDI 5, NT 2 NP 2- Bare hands are useless against a Beta, and even just knives and pistols (DR 2) are very uncertain without burning lucidity or burst fire. Their odd biology means once you do break through the armor, there isn't much behind it.

Betas have low stats despite their toughness - Two for wits and quick, one for technique and ranged. Close combat is a respectable five however, and their running speed is Run/12 making an injured human generally unable to escape through speed alone.

Unlike prior reanimates these ones have notable weapons - and are capable of ripping up armor and opening cars like tin cans - DR 5 with claws means they are close to being capable of ripping a person's head off with a single swipe (remember - DR six exceeds the SDI of two for a human by four - overkill...) Betas are capable of reduceing this if they want to take someone alive for some unknown reason...

Revisiting Reanimates, Type Two

About the only good thing you can say about the Type Two is that they are not as smart as the Alphas, and easier to spot than the Type Ones. Unfortunately, these are both only a matter of degree, and if you don't spot them or account for their intelligence, you are in for a world of hurt.

Perhaps the best way to describe the Type Two is that they reanimated wrong. Many of them seem a bit dis-formed or gangly, and almost all show open sores or pustules, often displaying a kind of quicksilver like discharge. Tumors and discolored patches of skin can be commonly found - hair a bit less so - often its missing in spots or gone entirely. In short, almost all of them look like victims of some terrible industrial accident, horrific disease, or chemical weapon attack.

Don't let these seeming injuries fool you however. They are not slowed down, addled, or falling apart - quite the opposite really. These reanimates are more like packs of Hyenas, if Hyenas could climb walls and ignore a load of buckshot to the face. Reports commonly describe them harrying victims, or one runner driving prey into an ambush set by the rest of the pack.

Treat a Type Two as you would treat a bloodthirsty Samurai wearing a flak vest, and perhaps you will survive the encounter.

Type Two Reanimates use the Necrotic Threshold - SDI 4, NT 1 NP 3 - meaning it takes three hits of at least two damage (the first "absorbed" by the NT" each to take one down. Given that a character generally only attacks once in a combat round, this is quite deadly. This gets worse, when they appear  in hunting pairs, or groups of three to eight.

Stat wise, the reanimates have low technique (2), but high for a human strength of 6, Wits 4, Quick 5, and close combat 5 and DR 3, though only ranged of one - they don't use tools often.

 

Revisiting Reanimates, Alpha

A quick note and apology - I just realized I forgot to update the link to the right to the new game file, that has now been rectified. The video post and the game files page had the correct link to the DoW release.

And now back to your regularly scheduled abomination.

***

Alphas are the stuff of nightmares. That sort of terminology does get thrown about a lot for the higher level creatures, and not without reason. Certainly the carnage wreaked by Betas is easily noticed, as is the whole swaths of destruction left by a Kappa. The terror of an Alpha is subtly. Its very easy to mistake the kills inflicted by one of these undead serial killers for the work of another human being. Quite likely, their kills are under-reported for this exact reason.

Other types of reanimates have hardiness or speed on their side, Alphas not so much. They're almost as easy to disable as a normal human - but key word is disable. Like the rest of the reanimates, you're still not going to destroy them  like that. You still need completely remove and then desecrate the head at some point to ensure nothing recovers the body and brings it back.

Finding it to do that though, is the catch. Chances are, it will find you - while you sleep. Alphas know how to hide, to track, to wait for targets to be distracted by other threats, and how to use tools. They can and will cut through barbed wire, scale a fire escape, enter the door, quietly sneak up on people, bash their heads in with an ax, then make an exit.  Thats right - these things know how to sneak and observe.

Hard as it is to tell a type one from a human, an Alpha is even harder. They know the value of camouflage and bathing occasionally - though they don't seem to be too picky about cleanliness. Alphas move as fluidly as a normal person, not with the stiffness of a One, or the loping of a Two. The lack of speech is similar to other reanimates, as is the high body temperature, but those signs are not obvious at first glance.

Some say you can tell them apart by their curiosity - Alphas are known for prodding defenses or exploring areas, or just walking off to the beaten path. Then again, those are all quite human behaviors as well. These creatures seem to have a fondness for melee weapons - but once again, many prudent humans also rely on such.

So yeah, its a reanimate with a survival instinct, near human intelligence, and extremely difficult to tell from a normal person up until it bashed your head in with a hammer. They are thankfully rare, but that certainly doesn't mean you'll only find one at a time.

An Alpha has stats similar to a baseline human - four strength, five wits, four quick, three tech, three ganged, and four close. Some might even qualify for certain skills, though that would be rare. They can run, (speed 10/run) but are not likely to give chase - preferring to reevaluate and ambush the prey at a more opportune time.

Alphas are harder to damage than humans, but not necessarily as oddly tough as their lower ranked Type One - SDI 3, NP2.

Revisiting Reanimates, Type One

More people are killed by Type One Reanimates than any other. They're just that ubiquitous, and many travelers are all too quick to dismiss them as a minor threat. It is true that the fastest they can move is a slow jog, nor are they much stronger than a normal human - most seem a bit emaciated in fact. Type Ones aren't known for subtly or grace either - although they don't speak or groan (of course, none of the reanimates vocalize) they are the most likely to just blunder through underbrush and puddles giving clear clues of their presence.

All the same, anyone with a good handle on their mental faculties and in good health has ways to avoid reanimates entirely. Chances are, you'll be facing the Type One in less than optimal situations. Furthermore, since they seem to hibernate in hidden places - its possible to think an area is clear, just to get ambushed. None of this is helped by their tendency to group up - dozens at a time is a very possible threat, disturbing an unexplored office tower could release hundreds.

Probably one of the more vexing things about the simple reanimate is that it doesn't use its brain. Put a bullet through its forehead, it won't notice. Right between the eyes - still not going to stop it. Through the chin at an upward angle - nope. The brain is already a small enough target - figure a five inch circle or so - but for a type one, you need to hit a certain part of it, at the low center - about where the spine and cranium meet. Short version - shave their mustache with a shotgun, or it will keep coming. You can knock them down for a short while aiming at the legs, but their bones seem to fuse in minutes, and then they're right back up.

Incinerate them, dissolve them, remove the head entirely and crush it with a sledgehammer separately, encase the things in concrete and dump it off a pier. If you haven't done that, they'll come back in a few hours. Or disappear and re-group.

Even the ones extra dumb individually show the strange group survival instinct reanimates are known for. Unlike movie zombies, reanimates will break off an attack that has almost no chance of success. This works both ways, unfortunately. If they don't seem to be giving up despite horrendous odds against them, chances are, the reanimates know something you do not - so be prepared to run!

As to appearance - do we really need to go over this? By now everybody knows that they look like a normal, but very unkempt person. Unless they have been in a fight with humans recently, there will be no tell-tale wounds or detached limbs like a move monster. They tend to move in a stiff jointed fashion, or appear drunk if a bit more limber than usual. Like all reanimates, they have a higher than normal body temperature - though you need a rather accurate themrograph to notice the roughly 2-3 degree C (6-9 F) difference, so don't rely on that method. About the only other notable physical sign is that they tend to shake their head a lot and scan the horizon by turning their heads rather than just shifting their eyes - but that is an easy thing to miss.

In game terms, the Type One would be a Sufficient Damage Index 2, 3 Necro Points, Jog (6) creature. People with weak weapons and minimal combat training are woefully unlikely to hit or penetrate the vital area. Fortunately their low SDI means that they can be torn apart by powerful weapons, or at least harmed by traps easily enough.

For physical stats, they have about Three in most areas, though four in close combat, and only two in ranged.  Someone who was a notable physical specimen before reanimation might carry over these enhanced abilities, but weaknesses are compensated for by the reanimates unusual life-cycle.
Rumor has it they can be trained, with some claims stating New Birmingham is amassing a small army of them equipped with old rifles.

Even without city-state interference, they can work their ways into hordes - SDI 3/HF3 for a small one, and SDI 4 HF 5 for bigger ones. Their SDI goes up as a horde, since their limited weak-spots mean the "spray and pray" tactics and shrapnel laden explosives normally needed to stop mass groups are not too effective.

Brian Gunderson

Brian is having a bad day. But it can't last forever. One of these days, he is going to wake up and it will all be over. All the cannibals and raiders will just be a bad dream. Soon it he will be secure in the fact that he did not waste the first fifty years of his life following every rule, crossing every T, saving every penny, and enforcing even the most esoteric statues of federal labor law. Certainly all the money he put in the bank hasn't just dissipated with a burst of electrons and a little war - right?

One of these days he is going to have a psychotic episode and jump off a building after realizing he is useless in this new world. Fortunately, he has some good friends, a couple of ex-wives to search for, and a briefcase full of  prescription medicine. 
 
Name

Brian Bjorn Gunderson

• Strength  4
• Wits  4
• Technique  6
• Quick  6
• Close Combat  2
• Ranged Combat  2

• Animus  12
• Deadening  8
• Lucidity  10
• Pack  10
• Up-Rise  10

• Wood Working
• Swimming
• Location Perk: City Inspector

 

Appearance
Brian is rail thin, but not all that tall. Even when he fails to shave for days at a time, he never has more than a shadow of a beard and a scruffy mustache.  Even in his suit, homeowners have mistaken him for the Mexican gardener - a pretty mean feat for someone with European parents who grew up in Wisconsin.

Equipment
To his credit, Brian has kept his car running even after the EMP since he insisted on keeping it in underground climate controlled parking lots to preserve its resale vale. At some point he acquired a handgun, probably left behind by ex-wife number two (the one from Texas... or was it Arizona?). He also has suits, rubbing alcohol, air fresheners, tax forms, and a variety of other suburban nick-knacks

Disposition
While we like to believe that anyone can survive a disaster with a bit of quick thinking and pre-planning, the fact is there are some that just would not be able to. Brian is one of these people, and frankly his continued survival seems as much about a cruel universe toying with him as any sort of saving grace. He is the definition of a put in his dues and always on time "Walter Mitty" type of person whose choices are never based on what is fun, or even what is optimal - but on what is the cheapest and and within the rules.


Brians numerous Ex-wives never said he was a hurtful or mean person - simply a joyless and neglectful one who preferred punctuality and scheduled over intimacy and experience. A boring miser fit to be the foil to fun loving children on a low budget afternoon cartoon show.

Recently all that has been undergoing a mild change. He is till a penny-pinching bore - but he does feel a initial need to make his life worthwhile and do something to improve the lives of others.

Use in a Game
Brian is in denial about the depth of the situation, and probably more afraid of the idea that he has wasted his life than of anything trying to eat him. On one hand, he can just be a drag on the group, and quickly eaten to show the group the GM is serious. Brian does have his uses, however. Finding medication for him can be a minor adventure hook, as can be his instance on finding his ex-wive or old co-workers to make sure they're still alive and OK.

In the end, he does care for other people, its just he feels that any displays of this should wait until after everything else has been taken care of and he's retired to Hawaii.

Charlie Hendrix

Charlie has no relation to the famous guitarist - he doesn't even care for that style, a smooth jazz aficionado. Though he would never mention such at work, there he is all business. Indeed, Sargent Hendrix is the kind of overly serious, straight laced police officer featured in 1960s procedural dramas like "Dragnet" and mocked as "the man" in later years.

Rather a surprise to his parents, who really were second generation hippies trying to keep the dream alive. What would shock them even more would be his well hidden violent streak unbecoming of either a flower child or the city's finest. If it can shoot, he has a distressingly close relationship to it and if danger is involved, so too is an unsettling joy.

Name 
Charlie "Moonbeam" Hendrix

• Strength  4
• Wits  3
• Technique  3
• Quick  3
• Close Combat  4
• Ranged Combat  5

• Animus  9
• Deadening  7
• Lucidity  6
• Pack  6
• Up-Rise  7

• Negotiation: Charlie is a Response team member, and knows how to defuse hostage situations.
• Animal Handling: He cared for many animals on his parent's organic farm
• Martial Arts (+1 DR for hand to hand): Charlie is a Response team member, and knows how to take people down when negotiations fail.

Appearance
 
Charlie is the caricature of every police-officer - light blond hair, piercing eyes, perfectly straight tall stature. If he was a marine, he would be one of those sentinels at monuments - unmoving for hours until a perfectly timed ceremony changes the guard.

Equipment
 
It is not unusual for a US police officer to carry a gun off-duty. To carry more than one, and occasionally talk to them when no one else is around, is a bit unusual. Two hidden gun cabinets, one in the hall closet, and another in a log cabin in the woods, each with multiple rifles and handguns would probably attract federal attention if he wasn't such an upstanding citizen, with notes about hsi good conduct in the official police registrar. All the guns are legal but when the undead rise, he will acquire fully-automatic arms from the police stocks and be reluctant to give them up for anything.

Spending so much on guns doesn't leave much money for anything else, and Charlie lives quite modestly and simply, even keeping the vegetarian ways of his parents. 

Disposition

It is rare for him to speak, but when Charlie speaks, you listen. He is forceful, confident and usually only opens his mouth when there is something important.   Just don't get into an argument about firearms, police procedure, or farming - those are areas of expertise and he does not like being wrong about those. Few people would call him friendly, or forgiving, but can respect that he leads by example.

It is rare for Charlie to laugh, but when he laughs - be afraid. So far he hasn't let himself have too much fun with living targets - but with the undead, every bullet is a celebration. He often seems wilder than the raiders that have popped up as society fell.

Use in a Game
 
Raised on a farm, serving in the police, and dangerous in combat (and somewhat creepy when doing so) Charlie is a good support NPC that can protect new players or go down in a blaze of glory to show the PCs that the world is dangerous even for well trained SWAT officers. His slowly draining sanity can also be an unsettling note, his tendency to talk to firearms and flip between perfect cop and movie villain is a way to psychologically play with characters.

Mr. Williams, School Bus Driver

Aside from his parent (long deceased) Mr. Williams has not a single person that uses his first name. Whether it is a matter of professionalism  in front of the children, or unfamiliarity with teachers, or low rank compared to principles - no one refers to him by something other than surname or "bus driver".

Overweight, quiet, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he does not seem like one who would outlast the first few hours of an undead uprising. However he is a man of hidden depths and is capable of great bravery for the purpose of protecting children. Mr. Williams is an excellent chef, collecting dozens of cookbooks and even keeping a Dewar flask of liquid nitrogen on hand for fancy molecular gastronomy creations. His creativity extends to model building as well, from ships in a bottle to remote control jets at 1:20 scale. Quite often, he does better than the actual mechanics at diagnosing problems with the school bus' turbocharged diesel engines.

Name 

Mr. ---- Williams

• Strength  3
• Wits  3
• Technique  7
• Quick  3
• Close Combat  4
• Ranged Combat  2

• Animus  8
• Deadening  6
• Lucidity  6
• Pack  10
• Up-Rise  10

• Repair: From tiny model engines to a school bus
• Wood Working: His tall ships are not plastic kits
• Cooking: If Julia Child has cooked it, so has Mr. Williams.
• Driving: Certified driver with an impeccable record over twenty years

 

Appearance
Ralph Kramden of "The Honeymooners" would be a good start, though Mr. Williams is older, fatter, balder, and wears rather dated wire rim glasses. Even in his own life, he seems to be just a walk on extra of a generic older man in the background. Most people are so used to seeing him from a short time twice a day - and in a dark uniform hunched over a steering wheel at that - they wouldn't recognize him off duty in khakis and a red sweater. Often he seems like a low budget and elderly version of the human characters from "Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood".

Equipment
Mr. Williams would never handle a gun, and would strongly oppose allowing a child to be near one. On the other hand, he is quite adept at handling all sorts of sharp objects from hobby knives to meat saws for parting out cow halves ("You see sir, the meat is better and cheaper if you get it from the farm, and you need freshness for carpachio...") and chainsaws for ice sculptures. His garage is full of tools, electrical equipment for scale railroads, jet fuel, a Dewar flask of liquid nitrogen, a wood burning stove, and old "popular mechanics magazines". His aging car sits under a canvas fly on the driveway. (Likely a Buick of some description.)

Disposition
Mr. Williams will preface almost every statement with an apology - as if each time he speaks he is interrupting or acting out of place. Everyone is a sir or madam, maybe a Mister or Misses if the situation is very informal. Much of the time he doesn't even bother speaking to adults. To children he is more of a stern but soft-spoken authority figure. For everyone else, he is at best wallflower.


As unassuming as Mr. Williams is, he takes his responsibility to keep children safe extremely seriously.


Use in a Game
Mr. Williams can provide valuable transportation, and possibly maintenance if coaxed. His house could make for a rather interesting base for those of the "McGuyver" persuasion. Although unlikely to add much to a debate or plan, he is nearly guaranteed to follow it to the letter - with one exception. He will not harm children, and would rather wrestle an abomination the the ground with his bare hands than allow it to harm a child. Its likely that a player's first encounter with him is a valiant attempt to use the bus to evacuate children or otherwise move them to a new home.

Alice Ferral

Alice has the generic good looks of a hopeful model waiting tables in LA. She would rather be a boyscout than an actress, however, and prefers X-rays to glamor shots. Although many of her professors lauded her perception and efficiency - the grind of emergency calls in bad neighborhoods at strange hours rapidly wore away her good demeanor and professionalism. The Undead rising was almost a change of pace, and at the very least - a new challenge.

While drug overdoses and domestic violence calls have all but disappeared, they've been replaced with worse things. Too many incurable necrotic infections, and a shortage of almost all medicines mean once treatable conditions are far more worrisome. The hours are still bad, and the neighborhoods aren't getting better either.

She is just about at the point of giving up the stethoscope to grab a shotgun and move on to new pastures and proficiencies.

Name 

Alice Narbon Feral.

• Strength  3
• Wits  3
• Technique  5
• Quick  5
• Close Combat  2
• Ranged Combat  4

• Animus  10
• Deadening  7
• Lucidity  9
• Pack  8
• Up-Rise  8

• Awareness: Special Ability - Initiative Rolls are considered Skilled - Years as a first responder have taught Alice to keep an eye on everything.
• Medicine: She is a trained and Licensed Paramedic and ambulance driver
• Investigation: Far too much experience looking for clues of drug abuse, domestic crime, and otherwise working backwards to find the pathology of an injury

 

Appearance

Everything just seems slightly above average for her - from height to breast size. Even in a room full of brunettes with shoulder length hair, she'd be easy to pick out - even if she didn't dye her hair as she usually does. Alice bottle blonde, and rather proud of it, though when she doesn't need to worry about professionalism and the fact most people don't trust doctors with magenta hair - more unusual colors will show. .

 

Equipment

Alice knows how valuable her expertise can be, even if she hates dispensing it and dealing with patients. Thus she tends to lug around as much medical equipment as she can. A shotgun, if available is going to be with her almost constantly. A .38 chiefs special snub-nose revolver (a gift from dad) will probably accompany her, even in the shower and to bed. The lifestyle of the EMT and put upon has also taught her the value of high-caloric snacks and energy drinks, and a half dozen of each are quite likely to be in her backpack as well.

 

Disposition

On a good day Alice is a consummate professional, capable of almost any life saving feat short of open-heart surgery. Unfortunately, good days are somewhat rare.More often she is in a mood that reminds people of a violent alcoholic - though strangely - Alice is quite the "straight edge" and won't touch anything more intoxicating than coffee. If her free time not spent surly or practicing medicine, she likes techno, video-games, stunts, unconventional sports - sort of like the stereotypical sophomore party animal at college.

Despite the foul moods, she is fairly loyal to friends, and open to new ideas, seeing the undead situation as something to explore. Alice is usually quite quick to point out she is not a pathologist, a surgeon, or a mortician - and is thus not going to cut up necrotics or otherwise try to find a cure - she is just going to enjoy the situation while it lasts.

 

Use in a Game

Alice can be a doctor for the group of course. More to the point - her observational skills means she can often find clues to link players into adventures, or point to problems in less than stellar ideas. The search for medical supplies can be a good plot hook or source of income - having a doctor to separate the wheat from the chaff is a helpful addition. Conversely, the stream of people seeking her aid, and her often confrontational attitude can get the group in trouble.

For a game set in the Anarchy Zone, she might be a member of the "Ambulance Chaser" group - or at least be approached for membership. However, Alice would be one who prefers the raiding over the civic duty elements. In an Oberbours game, she would be the one comparing the outbreak to a videogame, and trying to play the hero or otherwise investigate further - arguing loudly with anyone who things discretion is the better part of valor.  She may even go so far as to lie that she needs their help to find the cure (see above). Furthermore, and emergency call to an isolated location is a "good" reason to end up at a creature testing site.

Yegov Yevghenni Lvod

Yegov is Siberian, and proud of it. From his point of view, it was either Siberians alone, or perhaps his father in particular, that helped save Stalingrad, Moscow, and turn Kursk. He has made it a personal mission to defeat the impossible whenever possible to keep their memory alive.

Some people would make jokes about Siberians as country bumpkins -akin to how some people in the USA mock  Southerners as "rednecks". His enthusiastic and sometimes simple demeanor would seem to feed into that. However, few people in the group are willing to mock a man who earned respect by leading from the front, constantly carries a PPSh-41 submachinegun, and is often dosed on enough combat drugs to be able to run a marathon after having both legs amputated by a chainsaw.

Name: 

Yegov Yevghenni Lvod (English: George, son of George Lvod)

Rank: 

Began as a lieutenant when first joining the group. By the groups shut-down, his rank was officially Major General - though more from the stance of organizing strategic assets than actual authority over a large number of people. 

• Strength  (5) -- 5
• Wits  (3) -- 4
• Technique  (4) -- 4
• Quick  (2) -- 3
• Close Combat  (4) -- 4
• Ranged Combat  (4) -- 5
• Animus  (9) -- 10
• Deadening  (8) -- 9
• Lucidity  (5) -- 7
• Pack  (7) -- 8
• Up-Rise  (9) -- 9

 

• Wilderness Survival
• Negotiation
• Ammo Conservation
• (S3 Access (Free-Running)
• (S4 Investigation)
• (S5 Driving)
• (SA 2 Martial Arts (+1 DR to Hand to Hand)
• (SA 3 Clout: General Officer)

Numbers in parenthesis are at the beginning of his career. Over Thirty years in an elite unit has given him far more skills and ability than a usual person. (About extra 45 AP spent)

Appearance:

The Average person not familiar with the non-European Republics of the USSR would be rather taken back by his appearance - rather more akin to Inuit or northern Mongolian than Caucasian. Aside from that, he is far more average in height and build than one would expect of the take charge leader of a special forces unit. Dark hair, eyes, and a tendency towards fairly drab military style colors tends to mean he doesn't stand out in a crowd, unless cackling and firing an automatic weapon at undead. In combat, he wears a standard issue armored coat and gas mask, making him as anonymous as the rest of the troops. 

Common Equipment:  

Yegov has an almost unhealthy love for the PPSh-41 submachinegun, and and an enjoyment of all things shotgun - especially the massive 4 gauge KS-23 when it becomes available in the early 80s. He also has a combination trench-spike/knuckle-duster and a TT-33 pistol with his at all times. As the unit commander, he has access to anything in the units armory or vehicle park - even limited access to chemical weapon stocks (after-all, that is part of the unit's mission as well).

Disposition:  

His soldiers affectionately call Yegov "the shotgun general" because he insists on leading from the front, and would never dream of calling in an airstrike when he could personally use buckshot. He is enthusiastic, but cares for his troops and would never order them to do something he wouldn't. He Yegov is not particularly prone to reflection or reading when he could be active and isn't dumb, just not always the first to find the least violent solution. Although enlisted men like him well enough, he tends to confound other officers since he has little patience for paper work and often delegates such to others, or simply ignores it - there is a reason why a "general" is in charge of a sub-battalion sized unit.

Use in a Game:  

Characters actually a part of 2552 will meet him on an almost daily basis - he has a habit of waking up soldiers by using firearms in their vicinity. However, he is encouraging, runs physical training with them, and is always there to brief them or even lead an operation.

Post fall of the Soviet Union, he preferred to split his general's salary amongst the others in the unit, and did his best to hide or clean up the unit.  Yegov has no regrets about the unit, and is more than willing to hunt down a creature if given the chance, but does not take kindly to investigations of his old unit.  He is not prone to talk to his daughter about the unit either, though she might be slightly more helpful to detectives.

Dr. Joeseph Conrad Kurtz

Background

If you're going to ask - yes, I am a doctor - just not that kind of doctor. Specifically, I was an anthropologist and museum curator. Its not some false honorific I gave myself after coming to a position of strength. Who do you think I am - Idi Amin? Yes, yes - well before your time.

I am also not some low-born hard drinking thug. Not that there isn't some truth to that stereotype of raiders, but you won't find them in my group. Or most places these days - after the first six or twelve months, raiders tended to either get smart or get killed. We had the advantage of starting smart, and getting better from there. If fact, I have a college education and came from a quite well to do family, as do a number of my comrades.

You would not be the first person to tell me that the Event was a truly unexpected time, and I should not blame the government for what happened. I respect that you can hold such people in high regard, but must respectfully call that sort of thinking a load of s---.

I've spent years studying people. I knew what sort of problems would arise in a scenario like this, and that the government had to be there to avoid it. But government on all levels - local, federal - even even things as small as members of chess clubs looking out for one another failed. In an insane time, men must do insane things.

At some point, my group will be obsolete, or we'll settle down to our own little state the same way Genghis Khan found it more profitable to levy taxes than level cities. Now is still not that time however.

Statistics
Strength: 3
Quick: 4
Tech: 4
Wits: 5
Close Combat: 2
Ranged: 4

Secondary Attributes
Animus: 9
Deadening: 8
Lucidity: 9
Pack: 9 (18kg)
Up-Rise: 7 (42 kg)

Skills
Negotiating
Repair
Wilderness Survival
Investigation


Appearance
Despite rumors to the contrary, Kurtz is not particularly large or imposing. In fact, he is more of the very mundane and balding visage an artful director would cast as a Nazi accountant to demonstrate the banality of evil. His clothing choice is based on comfort and utility, often reminiscent of an African game warden. Most people are quite surprised to learn he is nearly seventy years old, but the abilities of nano-vaccine and a healthy lifestyle means even a septuagenarian is capable of leading the attack from the back of a bouncing light armored vehicle with little discomfort.

Equipment
The "Tower Reversed" is one of the largest bands of raiders in the USA anarchy zone - and the most heavily armed outside of a few rouge military units. It is not as vicious as some of the smaller groups, however, confident in both its power, and lead by the calm and collected Dr. J.C. Kurtz. Most other bandits know not to mess with the band named for the tarot arcana - unless they want to learn the card heralds destruction.

The group is known to have at least a dozen APCs and light armored vehicles - though these are rarely used due to their poor fuel economy. Instead, standard pick-up trucks modified into technical with boom-tubes or heavy machine-guns are the preferred means of transit.

Kurtz personally prefers a dune buggy equipped with a heavy machine-guns and a forty-millimeter boom-tube grenade launcher as his personal mount. Outside a vehicle, he shows a preference for several antique but well maintained weapons - a Gwher-98 bolt action rifle and a Colt .45 M1911A3, though he is pragmatic about others as necessary, and is rarely far from an M-32 PDW.
 
In Game
Kurtz is in no small way a nod to the character in "The Heart of Darkness" (Or its redressed version - "Apocalypse Now") Although raider well known for firepower and ruthlessness in taking convoys or robbing settlements, he is also charismatic, educated, a connoisseur of fine drink, and quite personable when not holding a gun.

Players might run into his raiders as recurring enemies, a source of employment, or even a sort of anti-hero, depending on the tone of the game.

The man has all but memorized Machiavelli's "The Prince", Sun Tzu's "Art of War"  and a number of other classics. It would not be wholly wrong to portray him a bit like a Bond Villain, minus the rampant megalomania and with a fairly Libertarian bent. He is quite willing to dine and converse with captives - explaining his motivations and offering them deals if he is suitably impressed.

Prototype Citizen Game Atributes

DriveThru RPG Japan Donations

The standard one through seven attributes of Dead and Back are based around human standards. Most of the players are likely to be familiar with this species, and may be playing one.

Strength:

Citizens are smaller than humans, and unlikely to win in an outright physical contest. Their typical strength runs from one to three on the human centric attribute scale.

Quick:
Conversely, Citizens are fairly fast moving, and quite agile. They are well adapted to climbing and rough terrain. Their minimum quick is two, though it still maxes out at seven - they are not super-human.

Tech:
Comparing Alien and Human intelligence is almost impossible - it is hard enough to create unbiased intelligence tests for different segments of one nation. However, given that they have computers, power armor, firearms, and of course space ships - it seems fairly evident that they are on par with a first world power in matters of education. There is no difference in range for tech.

Wits:
Although they often seem nervous around humans - a human standing near a tiger wouldn't be so calm either. Generally, citizens do have a handle on their emotions and reactions. In fact, with a wider field of vision, excellent hearing, and their sensitive antenna - they have excellent awareness. As such, their Wits ranges from two to nine

Combat Attributes:

Citizens tend to show the same range of ability in a fight as humans. Although quick and perceptive, they are not notably strong, and combat training is hard universal.

Animus:

For a citizen animus is calculated as normal. However, when it come to jumping, they can clear a gap equal to one third their animus with a running start, or a full fifty percent with a short start.

Deadening:

Citizens get a three point bonus to deadening - they are capable of going longer than a human without sleep, and require less food and water.

Lucidity:

As with intelligence, psychological stability is rather hard to accurately measure between different societies. However, between a divided society and the uncertainty of their position in this new world, the Citizens still seem to be in a collective state of shock. As such, they have two points less lucidity than a human with similar stats.

Pack:

Each point of pack for a citizen is only one kilo, but the limit for object numbers is the same -  (Tech + Wits)

UpRise:

A citizen can only carry about half as much as a human - or 2.5 kilos per point of up-rise.

Skills and Abilities:
Citizens are quite capable of learning just about any skill - though guild alliances often determine their areas of expertise more than personal interest. Despite the common impression from by humans - the use of an encounter suit is a fairly rare special ability.

Shipwright G#G#BCb-8 (of the family) x'k-LA (in the nation of) Ozensosk

Strength: 2

Quick: 4

Tech: 5

Wits: 6

Close Combat: 2

Ranged: 3

Deadening: 8 11

Lucidity: 10 8

Pack: 11 (11kg)

UpRise: 7 (21kg)

Bio

Known as "Sing Sing" to the humans she has met G#G#BCb-8 is a fairly typical example of a Citizen. Prior to arrival on earth, she worked at a port maintaining electronic equipment and loading vessels with the ubiquitous bipedal "fork-lift" of the PCs - the Eekaide robot. 

These skills made her a valuable addition to the colonial fleet, despite her initial reservations about leaving. Two of her brothers were originally slated to go - but the untimely death of FGBCB-6 turned here attitude 180 degrees. The murder was apparently part of a long running intrigue between here family and another - and she did not not want to be present for the cross fire.

Due to her technical skills, she was not thrown into the initial combat against the humans. However, the losses taken during the conflict meant she was given training in using the attachable weapon systems.

KC Kats

Background

KC is the self proclaimed advocate of the anarchy zone. He is the archetype of a man who saw society crumble, the panic in the last government areas, and decided to wash his hands of the whole thing and live for himself. Although KC doesn't speak much about his life pre-event, hisuncanny ability to acquire goods that were once kept in safes and high security hints that he may have been outside the law even before the aliens arrived.


Somehow he finds the time and transit to cross the entire country, write books about his experience, and deliver recordings to the few working radio stations to help educate listens about the beauty and dangers of the wilderness. ("He is Robert Prisig and Sal Eden as envisioned by Romero" according to Thomas Hobbes, one such radio station manager)

Despite several years of life in the wild, KC can be quite altruistic. If he found something good to trade with a city state, he is willing to give it for a fairly ow price. However, he prides himself on not being mercenary, and thus won't take orders to find something specific. He lives by the adage "violence is the resort of the incompetent"  and avoids conflict when possible.

Statistics

• Aim: 2
• Quick: 4
• Tech: 4
• Strength: 3
• Wits: 2

 Secondary Attributes

• Animus: 8
• Deadening: 5
• Lucidity: 6
• Pack: 6
• Up-rise: 7

Skills:

• Burglary
• Access
• Scavenging
• Medicine

Physical Description

Fond of wearing button down shirts and cargo pants full of odds an ends under a worn leather jacket, KC has the distinct visage of hells angel who teaches literature night courses at the local community college. Physically he is a well taken care of round faced man in his 50s, though seeming much younger due to the maintenance nano-antibodies provide. Slightly graying hair is usually kept under a green bandanna, and he often wears wire rim sunglasses.


Equipment:

Given that he pretty much literally wrote the book on how to get by in the zone, its safe to presume he has just about any survival tool necessary and a spare to lend should the players need it. KC is also an avid scavenger and trader, and will most likely have something of value to trade.

As for some of the less standard items: Multiple fuel turbine Motorcycle, Lock Picks, Professional video recording equipment

He prefers non-gauss weapons, his defenses of choice consisting of an AK-101 5.56x45mm assault rifle, P-226 9mm pistol, and a claw hammer. KC is quite non-confrontational and will do all he can to avoid violence.

Game Hooks

KC is an explorer and can function as an expert guide, a source of useful information, or a supplier of equipment pilfered from hard to reach places.

He is willing to offer a substantial reward to anyone who can find a nano-blueprint of his motorcycle, as he wants to make this model to be manufactured again, allowing more people to explore the zone.