Day One
I awoke this day to a scratching on my front door. Summer heat was already gathering, as I had slept late. The night had been restless, and I'd tossed and turned in the warm night air; commotion from the street disturbing and continual. When the scratching began, I'd buried my head further into the pillow with a groan, clenching my teeth and screwing my eyes shut, demanding rest. Insisting on sleep.
The past days had drained me of strength, and the long loneliness of a new widower had begun. But from below, the noises continued. With a snarl of anger, I'd left my bed, pausing just long enough to put on a robe before striding down the stairs.
As I crossed the front room, insistent pounding joined the grating scratches, loud in the silence of my home. It was only as my hand cleared the bolt and began to turn the knob that I fully considered the situation. But by then the door had swung open, and I'd faced the form that stood on the front porch. The stench of decay poured into the room.
My dear, dead wife had returned to me.
Megiddo is a zombie survival game I'd first started thinking about when answering this post by Ska_Baron about combat mechanisms for a zombie survival game he was working on. My post had nothing to do with combat, as such, but rather the psychology of the combatants, when faced with the undead.
The ideas continued to gather, and change, and soon I found myself the unwilling recipient of a game idea. Megiddo: 100 Days of Judgment is a game that revolves around small groups of survivors, fighting their way through a world consumed by the numberless dead. My original ideas, as posted in Ska_Baron's thread on combat, aren't a part of the design, but the role of the mental state of the survivors is still paramount.
I hope Megiddo will bring the genre of zombie-fighting something it seems to lack: horror. The legions of the dead are more than just shotgun fodder, and the nonstop onslaught has dangers no game seems to consider. The campaign system will allow the characters to develop personalities, rather than concentrating on skills. They will rally their hope and courage, not simply reload.
Megiddo is nearly ready for a full playtest, and, thankfully, can work with any number of players, since the zombies are automated. Stay tuned, this one is coming fast!
