Dead City, USA (Zombies, WIP)

[OctoberRaven]

Welcome to Dead City. Population 2,000 living, 4,000,000 undead

It's four years after a zombie outbreak spread from Baltimore, Maryland and enveloped most of the United States and some of Canada. The US government managed to eventually contain the outbreak, but Baltimore was quarantined having been deemed impossible to reclaim. What the government hasn't told the public is that there are still people living in what is now called "Dead City". People who are now trapped within iron walls, unable to rejoin society.

While most survivors hole up in isolated shelters with whatever supplies and food they can find, there are three factions of living in the city, each with their own agendas.

The Children of the Black Earth: Before the outbreak, Lucius Grover was a minister and city councilman. How he is the leader of the Children of the Black Earth, a cult which he started to spread his new philosophy: The world is doomed to fade into a lifeless oblivion. His followers, including his disciples Damien and Alistair as well as his consort Belladonna, often kidnap survivors for unspeakable ritual sacrifices and slave labor. The Children operate in the Industrial District, where Lucius' "sermons" play constantly over speakers in the streets.

Red Jokers: A street gang that existed before the outbreak, and the only such gang that still survives. While the original gang was only twelve strong the group has risen to nearly a hundred. Of the original twelve only three are still alive: the founder and leader, a psychotic murderer known as Carnival; his bodyguard, the muscular Freak; and the twisted Spider. Like the children, they also take slaves, and are also rumored to be cannibals. They control the slums, and most survivors are wise to stay out of their territory as few are lucky to leave.

Satan's Angels: A motorcycle club that dabbled in the drug trade before the outbreak, but now have become dedicated to cleaning up Dead City, albeit through sometimes questionable and violent means, and have sometimes even robbed or killed innocent civilians to bolster their own supplies. Lead by Eddie Remington, the club has managed to keep Uptown secure for a year now. Unlike the other two organizations, they don't take slaves, however it's said they have a few "groupies" in their territory.


There are, of course, other survivors as well. A handful of vigilantes and protectors, and a few doctors as well, among others.

Database (http://www.fileserve.com/file/E3TPJfa/Dead City.zip)
Pictures (http://www.fileserve.com/file/VmVExPQ/DeadCityUSA.zip)

SendSpace mirror for both files (Note: DeadCityUSA is the picture folder. (http://www.sendspace.com/file/5bhapt)


Another mirror for both files, this one permanently hosted by raggy, who is totally awesome. (http://www.umkonline.tk/modules/PDdownloads/viewcat.php?cid=32)


NEW UPDATE 1.1 DATA ONLY (http://www.sendspace.com/file/atgph6)

[bignate8327]

I am right now downloading the trial to Comic Book Hero, can't wait to try it out and I like your idea about zombies. Can't wait to hear more about your mod.

[dvdWarrior]

That sounds incredible! Maybe it's just The Walking Dead talking here, but zombies have kinda become "my thing" in the past couple of weeks, so seeing something along these lies for CBH is right up my alley.

Can't wait for this.

[ShadowedFlames]

Wait, wait, wait.

Baltimore?

Is there something PM3 isn't telling me? :p

[Johnny Fenoli]

Creative mods like this, are going to make or break this game! Good luck to you!!

[OctoberRaven]

Wait, wait, wait.

Baltimore?

Is there something PM3 isn't telling me? :p


I chose Baltimore on a whim, actually. I wanted a big city that wasn't done often in media (New York, LA, Vegas, etc). I originally wanted to make it Ft Meyers, Florida but I decided it was too small.


And now, let's meet one of the three selectable heroes in the game!

Bruce Raimi
aka Big Bruce, The Brucemeister, Loosey Brucie, Mister Buckshot

The antics of Bruce Raimi are well known to the survivors of Dead City (partly because he brags about them so much in the Historical District). Bruce is a skilled zombie hunter who has dealt with members of the Children of Black Earth and Red Jokers, and even managed to fight Eddie Remington to a standoff. Of the three major "protectors" of Dead City, he's the most outspoken and sociable, though some wonder if this is more a curse than a blessing.

While he would never admit it, before the outbreak he was a greeter at Z-Mart.

(Okay so I kind of had to make a homage to the most awesome zombie killer of all time... the other two heroes are more original, trust me)

So far in the mod I've got 30 characters, 24 of which are potential antagonists (as slaves and MC groupies aren't combatants). Twelve of those are zombie hordes, eight of which stay in Downtown while the other four will randomly appear in other parts of town.

As the zombie hordes are made to represent a small portion of hundred of thousands of undead, these and nameless members of the big gang will be the only truly immortal characters. I haven't decided how often people do die forever, but apparent deaths will happen fairly often as most of the combat is very violent and intense.

I should also note that the power levels are VERY low in this mod. The highest attribute that nonzombie characters have is 200. Also that nobody has points in technological or magical abilities, or even any nonphysical powers.

Currently I don't have any renders or any way to make renders, but this may change.

[Danish Superhero]

This sounds soooo awesome, cannot wait to hear more and I for sure can't waitto play it.

[Johnny Fenoli]

What if instead of renders you use pictures of real life actors in the roles of each character. You could also use real images from movies for the zombies too.

Not to hijack your thread at all, I quite like it, but it could be something like this:



The Children of the Black Earth:

Lucius Grover (played by Poet/Rapper Sage Francis)
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRVDfl88nwT-nb0WeFuS9hwQWgDsLe_4ieblwf68_Xz9xCHvb1Q

Damien (played by Edward Furlong)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2011/01/edward_furlong_a_p_0.jpg

Alistair (played by Jason Momoa)
http://m1.paperblog.com/i/1/17077/jason-momoa-sera-el-nuevo-conan-L-1.jpeg

Belladonna (played by Fairuza Balk)
http://www.sh33pie.com/dtm/Fairuza_Balk.jpg



Red Jokers:

Carnival (played by Gbenga Akinnagbe)
http://akcdn.okccdn.com/php/load_okc_image.php/images/250x250/250x250/0x0/0x0/0/15069775780901578494

Freak (played by Shad Gaspard)
http://www.worstpreviews.com/images/headlines/headline15602.jpg

Spider (played by Kirk Acevedo)
http://content7.flixster.com/photo/11/18/48/11184873_gal.jpg


Satan's Angels:

Eddie Remington (played by Sam Elliott)
http://thehostmovienews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/06-sam-elliott-mustache.jpg


Bruce Raimi (played by John Goodman)
http://www.cinemablend.com/images/news_img/22439/john_goodman_22439.jpg


http://blog.psprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Shaun-of-the-Dead-1.jpg
http://scottemerson.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/tar-man.jpg
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc262/Reef-Shark/fm477_night_of_the_living_dead1--1.jpg
http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/50553_449407375692_310802_n.jpg
http://www.filmsquish.com/guts/files/images/Dawn%20of%20the%20Dead1.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2HyfGBM03s/TqYdkWeFKWI/AAAAAAAAAFE/O0fXzbZE1Fg/s1600/zombies.jpg

[OctoberRaven]

That's a good idea, but some of those guys aren't quite what I have in mind. For example, Carnival would have a bit of a resemblence to The Joker, or more accurately one of the Joker Gang guys from Batman Beyond (which was the only cool thing about that show, am I right?)

That Alistair is DEAD ON though. That picture looks like a guy who will gladly cut you in bite-size pieces with a halberd.

Progress Report: Up to 64 characters now, counting faceless groups. I've added groups of surviors in each district to provide word on the street and give people someone to socialize with. I've also added more zombie hordes (now more nomadic ones than stuck in Downtown), and also some zombie hunting parties so the villains have more people to plot against. These hunting parties (also unnamed as of yet) like the nomadic zombies can appear in any district at any time.

And now a little something about another playable hero....

Vendetta
Nobody is entirely sure who Vendetta was before the outbreak, but until just a few months ago she was (or claims to be) an escaped slave of the Red Jokers. While Vendetta is targeting Carnival specifically, she has been seen in other parts of town fighting zombies and other troublemakers in Dead City. Unlike most of the big players of town, she doesn't favor firearms, instead preferring more silent weapons, a katana and some throwing knives.

[OctoberRaven]

Semi-update:

Continued testing as a watcher has been promising so far. The game world is fairly active with NPC encounters happening every two or three days once plots start up. I've even seen an attempt at murder on a civilian group!

These is one issue I will have to address that Satan's Angels members don't seem to get along well, likely due to their status as wildcards. As the MC is supposed to be too coherent to have infighting, I might have to make a splinter group and thus two different MCs. If I do this, there will be a fourth playable hero.

I now have 26 roaming hordes and about 12 in downtown. I might add more roamers but that may be overkill.

I'm also going to add three more threats to the city. I won't give away details, but two of these threats will be an exception to the otherwise Romeroan zombies that plague the city. The other is a human wildcard and that's all I'm going to say about that.

[OctoberRaven]

I've decided to use the HeroBuilder system in lieu of 3D renders (at least for now, as I don't have means to do full-blown renders).

Here are the backgroundless pictures for the three key protagonists (taken from screen caps, so don't mind the borders):

Bruce Raimi
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5531/bruceraimi.jpg

Vendetta
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/120/vendettap.jpg

Donna Roivas
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7690/donnaroivas.jpg

[OctoberRaven]

Progress Update: Pre-cut pictures for the named members of the Children of the Black Earth and Red Jokers done. I think I'm going to give most of the zombie hordes the same picture of three zombies to expedite things. Next will be the Satan's Angels.

[OctoberRaven]

Mod update:

Made the Satan's Angels full-blown villains, added armed survivor groups (both wandering the city and stationed in each district), and added a fourth playable hero, Sam Remington, the son of Eddie and founder of Satan's Angels splinter group, the Bone Riders.

Here's all the pre-cuts I've made in HeroDesigner so far. (http://imageshack.us/g/155/alistaira.jpg/)Note that this contains all of the female characters except one, and also has a sneak peek at one of the 'special' threats I alluded to earlier.

[OctoberRaven]

Mod is 99% Complete.

There's a picture I need to fix and I also need to continue testing.

Mod will be released when the full version of Comic Book Hero is launched.

There will be 89 total characters. A relatively small world, but the high hero to villain ratio ensures that there will be something going on.

In the meantime, here's some background info:

Donna Roivas
Donna was born in Baltimore and lived there all her life, except for her college years in Norte Dame. A history buff who is an active member of the Society for Creative Achronism, she used her skills with archaic weapons to survive in the outbreak, more recently trading her iron crossbow for a modern polycarbon one, and utilizing a collapsable baton as a pocket-sized sidearm. After the Satan's Angels raided the Historical District, she added a taser stick to her arsenal so she can stun unruly humans rather than resort to lethal force.

She mostly stays in Historical Baltimore, raising morale by telling survivors that the government would surely rescue them once their presence is discovered.

Every week though, she begins to believe it a little less.

Sam Remington

The son of Satan's Angels president Eddie Remington and his old lady Minnie, Sam was fully patched in (inducted) to the club less than a week before the outbreak. When the club voted on wether to relocate or stay and help their home city, Sam was the swing vote. The Angels worked hard at securing Uptown, but after making it into a respectable haven for those who were previously trapped in the slums and on the outskirts of the industrial area when the Children of the Black Earth began taking over that part of town. As the Red Jokers and the Children got more aggressive, so did the Satan's Angels, to Sam's increasing dissaproval.

The last straw was when the Angels went to the Historic District to, in Eddie's words, "negotiate a supply trade" to boost their diminishing food supplies. However when the survivors of the Historical District refused to share their rooftop garden crops, Eddie turned violent, even trying to hold respected physician Steven Wu at gunpoint. Sam would physically remove Eddie off the doctor, even coming to blows with his father. After Eddie decided it was best to leave, Sam took off his denim kutte and threw it in his father's face. Several junior members of the club also took off their kuttes and rode off with Sam.

Now Sam Remington is the founder and de facto President of Bone Riders MC, who distinguish themselves easily with leather kuttes instead of their former club's denim. Uptown has now turned into a battlefield with the two clubs struggling for territory. The Bone Riders are outnumbered, but haven't relented in their goal to keep Uptown from being a den of murderers and slavers like the Slums and Industrial District.

[Bighammer]

An idea for a non playable enemy Wild pack of dogs and animals escaped from the zoo like Bear or Lion.

[OctoberRaven]

While it's not a bad idea, Bighammer, I'd imagine that the zoo would be one of those big public places that people would flock to in the early hours of the outbreak... and would be overrun when people realized far too late that it's a bad idea. As such, if the animals managed to get out during the zombie frenzy, the vast majority of animals would either be dead or fled the city by now.

Makes perfect sense in the early stages of the outbreak (see: Dead Rising 2). Not so much four years after the fact and about six months after the wall surrounding the city has been finished.

[Bighammer]

I was thinking you could also use them as an attack option for the hero groups like they keep em and breed them to protect themselves.

[OctoberRaven]

Hammer, that has a similar problem: Animals panic at the presence of zombies. Any guard animals kept in the free areas would simply be there as living zombie alarms.

Anyways, the mod is released, links to it on the first post. As I'm not using 3D renders the picture pack is really small so it won't take long to download. Enjoy!

[Bighammer]

brother the pics don't work I am getting the database after downloading both I have done it twice.

[OctoberRaven]

Odd. They work for me.

Go in the editor, Edit Database -> Database Info. Under Picture Pack, does it say "DeadCityUSA"?

[OctoberRaven]

Minor error in the database, easily fixable and not worth releasing a new version for.

Details in the first post.

[OctoberRaven]

Also, I noticed that the link to the picture folder was wrong. That's been corrected. Apologies for that mistake.

[jhd1]

Is there any chance someone could upload this to a different website (Sendspace?). I'm having no luck at all downloading this mod :(

[OctoberRaven]

Sure!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5bhapt

Both folders put together. The larger one (DeadCityUSA) is the picture pack.

[jhd1]

Sure!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5bhapt

Both folders put together. The larger one (DeadCityUSA) is the picture pack.

Awesome, thanks - it worked perfectly. Having a look around the mod now and it certainly looks fun. I didn't expect to see the world set up as it is (location-wise), but I can see why you've done it.

Very minor thing - in Doctor Steven Wu's bio it should say "chief medic" - you've got the 'e' and the 'i' the wrong way round. :)

EDIT: It is fun, especially once the hordes start coming in thick and fast! I've not really had any problems as Bruce Raimi yet, but I am only four issues in. I've got a feeling when they gang up on me I'm going to be in trouble :p

[Bighammer]

You should rename Bruce Raimi's action; sawed off shotgun, BOOM stick....and how bout the fast repeater action he took that ghoul out with at the end of army of darkness...

[OctoberRaven]

jhd: Hordes don't gang up on each other yet. I designed a team (the zombie hivemind) to do that but for some reason it hasn't panned out that way.

Messing with the gangs might give you problems though. Hell, Eddie Remington is probably the best single combatant (apart from the two rare encounters).

Bighammer: I considered doing that. Might make him quip about it in future versions.

[jhd1]

jhd: Hordes don't gang up on each other yet. I designed a team (the zombie hivemind) to do that but for some reason it hasn't panned out that way.

You need to set the Zombie Hordes to work with other villains. Currently they don't, that's why you're not seeing them team up. The 'proper' teams are for use in team missions only, as far as I can tell (certainly it won't make any difference to the hordes as they will never attack in groups).

[OctoberRaven]

Well the regular hordes aren't meant to. They're each designed to represent a collective as it is.

The Mass Hivemind, however, IS meant to, as it represents a departure from the traditional Romeroan zombies: Zombies that consiously work together to swarm on their victims instead of by instinct. And they are set to team up with others AND work for exclusive (their only relationship of course being with the queen itself).

I'm going to try putting the Hivemind in Downtown instead of unknown to see if this changes anything.

[Bighammer]

My vision of Bruce Raimi...


http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m547/Gueta123/Untitled.gif

[Bighammer]

My vision of Alistair....

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m547/Gueta123/Alistair.gif

[EuchreJack]

It's an awesome mod, but perhaps you should boost everyone's stats by 100, then it can mess with other mods.

Since the time and dimension are different than the default, simply boosting all stats by 100 should put the mod in line with the default database, because only characters with dimentional and time travel (two different attributes) would be able to travel to this location. AKA only the player and maybe a couple others.

Speaking of which, perhaps the time should be set to "present", as this seems to parallel modern times, instead of being significantly before or after it.

[OctoberRaven]

Good suggestion. I might implement that as I was going to do a global change to people's powers so that weapon attacks (specifically projectiles) use energy.

[OctoberRaven]

So re: the future of the mod.

I will be releasing a revision. This revision may or may not come with new art.

What will be in the revision will be a boost to statistics, fixing the Militant Survivors and the Zombie Mass Hivemind, and a change to people's powers. Everyone with a projectile will have it moved up a tier -1 level so they'll use up Stamina. Same with taser sticks as they have 'ammunition' as well.

I may also make other changes, including a slight storyline update.

[raggy]

I have mirrored the combined file (data and pictures) in my website. :)

http://www.umkonline.tk/modules/PDdownloads/viewcat.php?cid=32

[OctoberRaven]

Major thanks!

I'm waiting to see about new art before I add the revision, but I'll link your mirror on the first page.

[OctoberRaven]

Belated update, but 1.1 data is up in the first post.