[img]https://cdn.fishki.net/upload/post/2018/08/21/2682005/tn/c87f7281bba70d34e4dfc8699cd4f33b.png[/img] [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRRGYEFZF4A[/url] [b]Tales from the Roadside: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Role-playing Game[/b] [i]“The man might leave the Zone, but the Zone does not leave the man. It lingers and persists in back of your skull. You can curse it, but in the end, you long back in.”[/i] --- Captain Sergei Sokolov, commanding officer of the Rangers --- Welcome to the Zone, stalker! “Tales from the Zone” is a narrative role-playing came set in the areas in and around of Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. On 25th and 26th of April 1986, a nuclear disaster rendered the area around Chernobyl inhospitable for human life. After over thirty years of containment, a society of thieves, guides, pragmatists and mercenaries has sprouted into the Zone, as unexplained scientific anomalies and artifacts have been found in the Zone. The “Tales” game will be survival, horror and ambiance themed RP. I'll be looking for a small group of three to four players. Soon after the Chernobyl Disaster, obscure lights and otherworldly radiation spikes were noted centering in the Zone by western intelligence services unlikely any other nuclear plants. According to the first guesses and analysis by the NATO intelligence services, the Soviet Union had tested new, strange technology in Chernobyl. What had happened, in reality, was a surprise alien visitation by an enigmatic race labelled as the Walkers, causing obscure anomalies and a failure of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The Soviet Union tried to contain the alien visitors by military force, but the Walkers’ retaliation caused the nuclear plant’s failure. The Walkers left Earth soon after, leaving only traces of their existence. There are still caches of alien technology in the Zones, valuable for many scientists and other agencies. The Walkers spent a few days near Chernobyl, and left. This visitation put Soviet military on high alert, but there hasn't any trace of the enigmatic Walkers ever since. The aliens left strange devices and biological agents that shaped the areas around Chernobyl. For example, alien bacteria known as the Xeno-971a and Xeno-971b caused mutation in humans and animals alike. Most information was held back by the Soviet Union from the world at large for years, hoarding some of the alien technology for themselves for studying. They have been rumoured to have innovated prototypes of railgun and power armour before the collapse and dissolution of the Union in 1991. The Xeno-971b, or the Plague, is a type of bacteria brought by the Walkers to Earth. It hasn’t spread beyond the Zone, and it doesn’t contract easily from humans to other humans. However, the Plague can kill a human in hours after contracting it. It turns human’s immune system against itself and in later stages, will start destroying the red blood cells. Stalkers can also contract radiation sickness if left unchecked. Fortunately, there’s an ample supply line of Rad-Away medicine. However, it can be an addictive substance. The Xeno-971a, also known as the Chimera variant of the bacteria rewrites human genome and causes rapid changes and mutations. It can cause humans to turn into snorks, ghouls or conjurers, and it also affects animals. It might cause psychic power to appear, but this is still debated. The players will take the role of stalkers, persons who have, for a reason or another, become adventurers, smugglers, thieves, scavengers and trespassers. The reason might be the lure of adventure, scientific discovery, curiosity or just plain greed and selfishness for money’s sake. Remember, characters aren’t invulnerable. The point of the Tales is to form a party of unlikely companions, who will travel around the Zone for loot and oddjobs. There might be something shadowy working against the stability and the status quo of the Zone. Several factions are keeping up an uneasy balance of power and peace in the Zone. The game’s hub in the beginning will be a beached ship known as the [i]Khagan[/i] – only a hulk by now, but a home for a small community of stalkers and a meeting spot. The middle-aged “Yeoman” – real name known only by a select few – holds a trading station, living quarters and a tavern named [i]Genghis[/i] on board the Khagan. Aboard the [i]Khagan[/i] is also a weapons dealer named Kowalski, who is a member of the Baba Yaga Syndicate. In the Zone, there are many dangers, from catching either radiation poisoning or Xeno-971b, to be gobbled up by a mutated monstrosity or be shot by a fellow stalker. But with great risks, come great rewards… [b]Timeline:[/b] April 16th, 1986: Alien scouts arrive near Chernobyl April 18th: An alien scouting party is sighted by a Soviet military patrol. A firefight ensues. Three Soviet infantrymen are killed. April 19th – 25th: More Soviet troops and scientists arrive on the scene and have new sightings on the aliens. The aliens also increase their activity, employing more heavily armed troops and scouts, but they took casualties, as the Soviets employ unexpected ferocity and resistance. The Soviets shoot down an alien spacecraft, but it fragments before hitting the ground. April 25th – 26th: The Chernobyl Disaster happened. The aliens released an unknown energy pulse, that affected the power plant, causing it to meltdown. They also retreat to space with their spaceships. They left in a hurry, leaving a few caches of their technology and scraps to the Zone, along with all kinds of traps, anomalies and surprises to the humans. On the following days and weeks, population of Pripyat and Chernobyl are evacuated. Soviets also investigate alien remnants. [hider=Creatures of the Zone:] [b]Snorks[/b] – Snorks are small, nimble creature humanoid in shape. They are humans, but they’ve been mutated by the radiation and the Xeno-971a. They move surprisingly quickly but aren’t very durable in close quarters. Often attack from an ambush in dark corridors. [b]Ghouls[/b] – A zombie-like humanoid and a necrophage, who likes to eat corpses. They can inflict dangerous neurotoxins if they scratch a human, paralyzing them and shutting down their organs one by one. They aren’t very fast, but somewhat smart and cunning – still can use simple weapons and work often in small packs. [b]Demodogs[/b] – wolves and dogs mutated by the Zone. They often work in pack led by an alpha couple. [b]Conjurer (also known as hex)[/b] – A dangerous ghoul-like creature, who can use psychic and telekinetic attacks, hurling large objects against unsuspecting prey. The Institute hypothesizes that the alien influence somehow caused telekinetic powers to rise. [b]Gargoyle[/b] – Gargoyle are bear-sized mutants. Apparently, The Walkers brought them as shock troops and used them to draw fire to themselves. They can absorb a staggering amount of firepower, and while most of them have been hunted down, a few of them still survived. [b]The Entity/G-Man/The Visitor[/b] - The great unknown of the Zone, the Entity appears as a white, middle-aged man of unusual tall figure and strange manners. He appears slightly otherworldly, as if there was something strange about his being. His presence appears a bit off. He often observes from a distance, and contacts stalkers for unknown motives. He wears a black, striped suit, red necktie and a briefcase. [/hider] [hider=Factions:] [b]The Rangers[/b] – A paramilitary group of former military personnel, who are working as the sheriffs of the Zone. While they often look minor infractions through their fingers, they don’t tolerate theft, wanton murders and theirs is the duty of keeping the status quo in the Zone. There’s about twenty or so Rangers, led by Captain Sergei Sokolov, a former Spetsnatz reconnaissance officer. They often have special forces training under their belt, using guerrilla-type tactics and reconnaissance and observation than full-on assaults, using their influence and persuasion before a crisis can happen in the Zone. If not, they’re quite handy with demolitions and sniper rifles… [b]The Free Stalkers[/b] – These are the freelancers and the independent-minded stalkers of the Zone. They’ve formed small parties and bands without the constraints of factionalism. They do work for most of the other factions, and they believe in individualism and free trade, but beyond that they as varied as snowflakes. [b]The Baba Yaga Syndicate[/b] – A ring of professional black marketers and smugglers, they often bring contraband goods and handle the trade between the world at large and the Zone. While their role is important to the well-being of the stalkers, they can have a mercenary attitude in dealing and haggling. They rarely venture far into the Zone, opting to hire their muscle to carry out expeditions to the Zone. Most often they trade in Rad-Aways, survival gear, weapons and food. [b]The Banshees[/b] – A cult of stalkers and weirdos who worship an alien monolith known as the Dreamcatcher, located somewhere in the Zone. It seems they are quite fanatical to their causes, and rarely interact with other stalkers. Most often they use messengers and proxies, who handle their relations with the other factions. However, they don’t have great relations with the others. [b]The Valentine Institute of Science[/b] – A secretive institute which is rumoured to have studied psychic and telekinetic phenomena for decades. They’ve conducted many experimental projects with alien technology, developing a few earth-shaking technologies, like cancer treatments, new rocket engines and durable materials for planes. Founded by Doctor John Valentine in 1993, the Institute has publicly worked for the betterment of mankind. The Institute has a station near the Khagan, protected by a small group of free stalkers. [b]The Ukrainian Military and Intelligence Service[/b] – The Ukrainian military sends frequently patrols to the Zone to gather intelligence on the state of the Zone and root out wanted criminals. They have some contacts within the stalker population. They are sometimes lead or accompanied by intelligence agents. [/hider] [b]Excerpt from the Institute’s Report, dated 27th of June 2018[/b] [i]“The anomalies we’ve found have been extraordinary, and they suggest in anti-gravitational manipulation. One of the free stalkers found an anomaly, which appeared to make things thrown into it float into the sky. We are yet to study the exact properties of the anomaly, but we have marked it and verified its existence. Doctor Anderson almost rushed to see it, but we had to restrain his enthusiasm, as he has made risky expeditions in the past. Last year, he almost fell into a pit of devil’s jelly – a substance that can melt most known human materials into a mush. Once, he and the free stalker almost activated a vapor – the anomaly that napalms its surrounding area in a 20-metre radius. He is still young and eager, but can make life in the Zone risky. I have worked for the Institute for the past ten years, and I intend to work for years to come, as this work can uplift mankind’s scientific understanding. On another note, we caught a creature that the stalkers call a Conjurer. It clearly has strong potential in ESP abilities and can hurl objects weighing dozens of kilograms with high velocity and accuracy against its victims and prey. We have had the creature under constant surveillance and heavy sedation. We have its genome compiled this time next week, if everything goes as planned. Signed, Doctor Isaac Kasparov Senior Researcher”[/i] The last words of a dying Banshee [i]“For Dreamcatcher!”[/i] [b]Rules[/b] The standard forum rules and good manners apply. Respect another player. [b]Character sheet[/b] [b]Name:[/b] What name your character has? Does he or she have a nickname? [b]Gender:[/b] Are you a male or female? [b]Age:[/b] How old is your character? [b]Description:[/b] Describe your character's physical appearance shortly. It doesn’t have to super detailed but have something distinctive to say about your character. Pictures are nice, but not mandatory. [b]Occupation and skills:[/b] What kind of practical or academic skills and occupational background does your character has? What kind of interests and hobbies the character has had? [b]Character history:[/b] Where does your character come from? Why did he come to the Zone? What shaped your character? [b]Equipment:[/b] What kind of gear the character has? And don’t go overboard – the Zone doesn’t have high-tech or quality weapons or gear. Your character is more likely armed with a Soviet-era Dragunov or a AK-47 than a modern Barrett with a laser pointer.