You are in a large room.
The far wall is made of floor-to-ceiling glass panels, and outside the sky is blood red. Silhouetted against the dusk is a man behind a desk. You can’t see him clearly.
“Welcome back,” he says.
You all look around and at each other. “What year is this?” someone asks.
“2019,” says the man at the desk. “It’s been a year since the 56th expedition went into Zone Z.”
A hand goes up. “Uh, hi. I’m new here. Is this not the right room for park ranger orientation?”
“No, no,” says the man, standing up. “This is much better. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Clive Gumm, administrator of the Northern Limit.” He walks over a light switch and flips on the lights. You can see his face now – sweaty, nervous, trying to smile. Those of you who have met him before thinks he looks older. Or maybe younger.
“The Northern Limit,” he continues, “is a U.S. government agency set up to monitor unusual phenomena above the 60th parallel. Our budget has been drastically reduced by the current administration, and this may be our last expedition. I’m sorry to say that our corporate partnerships haven’t worked out.” He walks over to a picture of himself with a bunch of people in mascot costumes. “We lost a lot of good brands out there.”
“Maybe I should just go,” says the park ranger initiate.
“Did you figure out the Glow?” asks someone else.
Clive nods. “We did. It was eventually decided that there are things inside the Zone that are too damaging to the human mind to be experienced directly. Therefore, you’ll all be going under the influence of powerful hallucinogens.”
“Hey, the doors are locked,” says the park ranger initiate from the back of the room.
“I knew each of you would come here,” says Clive. He walks over to a beat-up metal cabinet and takes out a cardboard tray. On it are brown paper lunch bags. On each bag is one of your names.
“Whether we’ve met before or not, I know you all have certain skills. You will be given the tools to amplify those skills. To become the best version of yourselves.”
“I’m not getting to leave, am I?” asks the park ranger initiate.
“Stay,” says Clive, soothingly. “See what Zone Z has to offer you. This may be your last chance.”
Welcome to Werewolves 98: Return to Zone Z! Whether you’ve died here before or are just arriving for the first time, Zone Z has a little something for everyone.
This is an advanced difficulty game, set in the same world as all my other werewolf games. You will play members of a scientific expedition headed into a remote part of Alaska where the normal rules of physics and biology no longer apply. The original Zone Z game, WW56, ended when enough players succumbed to a dream-force called the Glow. That won’t happen again; the drugs will see to that. There may be side effects.
The original Zone Z game was based on the book/movie Annihilation and the earlier film Stalker, with some Phillip K. Dick influence thrown in. You won’t have to have read or seen any of those to enjoy this game, but it won’t hurt, either.
Please read the following carefully:
- Everybody has a role. Roles can change. All roles will initially be secret.
- There isn’t a hard order that night actions occur in. This is to allow as many of them to go through as possible.
- This game, like the original Zone Z and the House of Wimbiscus, will feature Events. Events are real-time opportunities for the characters to change the story. They tend to be chaotic, so I went to reassure everyone that they won’t affect the basic werewolf mechanics of voting and night kills. They’re in a class by themselves.
- If you played in the original Zone Z, you’re more than welcome to bring back the character you played before, even if they died. Nobody really stays dead in Zone Z.
- I will not update the death count as the game goes on.
- Death in this game is not necessarily permanent. Check your QTs daily.
- Town wins when all the wolves and the serial killer are defeated.
- The wolves win when they are equal to the number of town-aligned players left.
- Serial killer wins when it comes down to just them and one other person.
- Additional win conditions may become available as the game progresses.
- A tie at the end of day results in No Kill. A majority of living players voting for any one person (or No Kill) ends the day early.
- No editing posts.
- No quoting or screencapping from your QTs.
- If you have any other questions about rules, please ask in QT, and I will answer publicly here.
- Last, and most importantly: Anything I (as moderator) say, from Day 1 onward, could be a lie. Use your best judgments to find the truths of Zone Z.
This is a game for 20 people, but I can expand it to 24. I don’t want to go higher than that, because it will make the events even more chaotic than they normally are.
PLAYERS
- E-Dog
- Spookyfriend
- Ralph
- forget_it_jake
- LouieBlue
- Sister Jude
- April
- Hayes
- Mayelbridwen
- Hohopossum
- Goat
- Owen1120
- InDEEEEED
- MacCrocodile
- Lindsay
- Wasp
- Grumproro
- Mr. I’m My Own Grandfather
- Banner Thief
- DemyxDancer
- Mr. Plow
- Lamb Dance
- Lovely Bones
- Mr. Glitch
BACKUPS
- Josephus Brown
- DW
Day 1 will start… soon.