A Calm in the Storm
August 12, 2016 -The ruined road rolled beneath my feet, roots and ashes alike ripping through the cracks. This path - clearly long since abandoned - had been our guide for nearly a day now, seemingly coming from nowhere in the midst of the forest. The trees were beginning to thin out now, and the building in the distance was becoming more visible. The group began to break out into a jog - our packs lightened weight a terrifying consolation as our food ran out. To us, then, that building represented help; civilization, our true holy grail.
Such a bitter joke. As we entered the clearing, our hearts sank - this half-finished spire rising ominously above the town, its black and shattered scaffolds the knife in this corpse of a town. It was clear that, wherever we were, the site had been abandoned long before the storm - a true ghost town, a skeleton of civilization left to mock us. At least we have shelter for the night...
A Calm in the Storm is a horror/survival game, designed in the vein of (but unrelated to) my previous Action Chat, Search and Rescue. In it, players will take on the role of survivors of Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 storm which made landfall just south of the Chesapeake Bay. Although evacuated prior to landfall, the record-breaking nature of the storm left the region unprepared, and your evacuation site was cut off from further aid. Two weeks after the storm, with food and water running short, you’ve left as part of a small group seeking additional help. With the roads and telecommunications out, you’ve been forced to trek on foot, and after several days travel – and substantial confusion over your location – you’ve stumbled across this abandoned town, where our story will begin.
We’ll be playing on a private Discord server, which will give us some impressive flexibility in managing chatrooms – wrong turns can throw you in and out of communication with your companions, and your equipment and injuries, along with the world around you, will be thoroughly tracked on my end.
As a disclaimer, the game will focus upon atmospheric and psychological horror and natural survival with ambiguously supernatural elements, and will keep a fairly detailed track of the chronology, location, and status of characters and events. While all posts on CFC will adhere to forum rules, there is the probability of stronger language and more mature material on the chatroom itself.
To join, please create a character according to the following guidelines:
Name:
Age:
Physical Description: (Please keep in mind that you’re part of a team hiking through the wilderness to find help. I’m flexible, but some reasoning should be good)
Background: (See above. I’m putting an embargo on combat-trained and mentally ill characters, because of past experiences with these being prone to abuse. Outside of that, fairly wide open. Characters should be from – or at least have some reason to be in – the metro areas between Richmond and Philly (includes DC, Baltimore, and Wilmington) prior to the evacuation).
Other details/skills: (keep it reasonable)
Backpack Contents: (No weapons, please keep in mind scenario)
That’s really it. I know I’ve written a lot after the guidelines, but it can be summed up as “this is a survival game, keep it reasonable” – and if it is, I’ll almost certainly be fine.
Once you’ve done all that, join our Discord server! You should see two channels, #ooc (for game related out of character stuff) and #random (for anything not related to the game). This isn’t the IOT server, but if you’re on that, you’ll be able to switch to it and see when messages are posted instantly without leaving the tab.
Playing is literally just participating – IC – in the chat. I’ll add and remove you to different channels on the fly by using the roles functions. I request and strongly encourage you to only share information OOC that all participants of the discussion could know IC, as that will significantly improve the play experience and atmosphere for all involved.
And for those in weird timezones, I wouldn’t fret – this game won’t hold a set schedule, but I’ll tend to favor weekends for both my RL schedule and to try to accommodate this in timezones outside of my own. I’ve had European, SE Asian, American, and Australian players before, if that reassures you.
Also, if I get enough players quickly, I might have some time to do a semi-railroaded prologue soon. As a rule, though, this game will be more based on backstory and setting than plot, so player freedom is more or less unchained once we actually start going.
Sign up now!
Spoiler Timeline, for those who've been asking: :
July 26 - Evacuations across the region
July 28 - Hurricane Ian makes landfall, just south of the Chesapeake Bay. Major power outages and substantial damages occur even at the evacuation site.
August 8 - Player group leaves evacuation site to search for help
August 12 - OP intro
August 13 - Game start