The Collapse takes place in the City of Irkutsk, Russia during a pivotal point immediately preceding the fall of modern society. It is set in modern times (aka: now) and chronicles the events leading up to and what occurs during an apocalyptic human extinction event.
The details of the event will be as unknown to the player as to their character so the player should have an open mind in terms of accepting the type of apocalypse to come; whether it be from natural disaster or robot uprising, nuclear war or asteroid strike, zombie apocalypse or alien invasion, or even a combination of more than one of the above - you should probably be up for it as a player. Be aware, I am not going for camp here - I want it to be gritty and dark, but with a heart.
This will be a solo game (1 Player only) driven largely by the narrative between your player and the narrators NPC (your characters companion) and will focus on how one person tries to survive a desperate and terrifying situation. This NPC might be a relative, a lover or acquaintance or a perfect stranger but it must be someone your character would be willing to go through this event with, and someone who there would be an emotional impact in losing for some reason. You tell me who this person is and we will create them before the start of the game. I do reserve the right to put my own spin on the character naturally. The more compelling the bond/relationship between your character and their companion, the more likely I am to accept it.
I’m looking for relatively normal characters leading relatively normal lives; flawed but with what most people would classify as a “regular job” (ie: no military Special Operatives, spies/ninja’s or hackers, etc).
One caveat about the main characters job is at the start of the game your character will be working in another city from where they live so its important their job be of the sort that requires him/her to travel abroad. Factor this into your writing of your own character as well as the writing of the outline for the NPC character who will accompany them.
Your character should have friends and family written into their backstory and should have a believable real-world subplot. There should be things they need to do, to take care of, to get to, etc during this event.
As a player you should be willing to start play in a relatively mundane scenario which will eventually escalate as events of the apocalypse begin to unfold. Expect more of a slow burn than constant, kick-down-the-door action sequences.
Your character should have some sort of work link to the aging Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station in the area. Characters can be locals or foreigners, working as consultants or contractors or something else. They may or may not speak Russian, but if you choose to have your character not speak it, your companion should. There will be a major remediation project going on at the dam, but as winter is starting (Its November) delays have resulted in some complications. I’m currently planning for the story to start with the main character supposed to be having a day off for a national holiday (The Day of Unity), but they will be called into work for some reason, or perhaps choose to work for some reason.
I will select the player who writes the best and most interesting character and NPC combination, aka: the person who gives me the most material for future events and interesting encounters to explore.
Potential Story Themes & Aspects: Desperation, man vs nature, chaos, loss, disaster, post-apocalypse, revenge, violence, urban survival, scavenging, terror, exploration, losing hope, escape.
Inspiration: The Road, The Last of Us, Children of Men, Quiet Earth, Snowpiercer, DayZ .
Hosted and narrated by:
nautilus_project
Completed 02/27/17.
Scenes played: 3
License: Community License
