HELP WRITE THE RULES

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

The 403 enclave writes and distributes fliers about monsters, and how to kill them. They pool information from anyone in the enclave that has it, and edit it down to a digestible form.

What do you know about these monsters? What do they look like? How do they behave? How are they dangerous? How can you destroy them? And anything else you think of.

ZOMBIES
The run of the mill.

SUPER ZOMBIES
Like Steroid Zombie and Speedwalker Zombie.

MUTE GHOSTS
Like Abdul was.

DARK GHOSTS
Doretta's last form.

DEMONS
Living or dead, people possessed by demons.

HAUNTERS
The best term people could come up with for owl guy and
white haired lady, assuming they're the same at all.

GHOULS
The eaters of the dead.

NEKOMATAS
After some palavering, this is what Nat and Dr. Melange decided Mr. Fluffles was.

VAMPIRES
Only Ben has any info on these at the moment.

SOLID FLYERS
Ditto these. Ben, what is possible? Feel bold enough to make any guesses what these are and what they can do?

MUMMIES
No one knows much about these. What do you think they can do?

[Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse]

Patti might surmise that the nekomatas aren't necessarily evil, just, y'know, cat-like. I mean, if they could get one of those to work with them, it would make killing zombies much easier. She would probably NOT recommend putting that in the flier.

[DKender]

Patti might surmise that the nekomatas aren't necessarily evil, just, y'know, cat-like.

What's the difference?

I'm sorry! Sorry! I wuv kittons. They are sweetie pies. Sorryyyyy.

[Dr. Jar]

Ashley writes "can hypnotize people. Have really strong magic, and can take control of animals too. Defeatable by fire extinguishers. Not really dangerous by default."

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

I was hoping you guys would try to tell me as much as you can, from your character's point of view, about all of the monsters on the list that they've heard of.

[DKender]

Monsters of the Apocalypse
A Report by Alex Pike

ZOMBIES
When people die, their bodies become puppets to Satan or something. Zombies are easy to kill, and I have killed at least one thousand. Aim for the head. They can survive awful body injuries, but head injuries rekill them fast.

SUPER ZOMBIES
These zombies probably worked out a lot so they are good at moving.

MUTE GHOSTS
Mute ghosts are souls I think. Fire rekills them.

DARK GHOSTS
When all the good stuff leaves a soul, dark ghosts stay behind and can kill people by touching them. Do not look into their eyes because you will be paralyzed. If somebody is paralyzed by a dark ghost, break their gaze or slap them really hard like Micah slapped me. That hurt, but it saved my life. Thank you Micah. You are good at slapping. I have been slapped before, but it's never stung so much. Fire rekills dark ghosts, too.

DEMONS
Demons have a fetish for possessing pious folks like me. When Mary almost got my body, I heard whispers and then a horrible voice calling me into the fires of hell. It was very scary. My body didn't move.

HAUNTERS
They are like poltergeists and can throw around heavy objects, turn out the lights, and kidnap people. Do not get separated around them please. Also dark ghosts are their friends.

GHOULS
Do not eat dead people. It makes you nasty. I have to be more careful about eating random stuff.

NEKOMATAS
I don't know much about cat monsters, but they make things dance. Maybe they can be defeated by a dance-off.

VAMPIRES
Huh?

SOLID FLYERS
Huh?

MUMMIES
Mummies have lost lots of their innards and they are mean. Why can't people be nice to each other? There are so many good parts about the world and other humans. I think mummies want us all to die. This makes me sad.

[∆§Indea§∆]

(( It's not as good as DKender's but this is what I got))



Zombies are easy enough but some strength may differ depending on who they were before and the amount of damage received before zombificaton. A hit to the head seems to work best. They attack people but the only motivation seems to be aggression. No brain eating as of yet.

Ghosts are able to freeze a persons by filling them with the despair of a million dead puppies, fire works best to kill them. Preferably from very very far away. Mute ghosts cause death on touch and create another mute ghost. Dark ghosts perhaps come from the death of those possessed, they seemed to create other semi-possessed creatures on contact. While seemingly immaterial they can be kept in spot with a long sharp instrument. Those semi-possesed come back as mute ghosts once killed.


Demons can appear to be normal for a short time but seem sickly and somewhat clammy to touch. They can take on a more demonic form, create zombies, defy gravity( ala Queen). Apparently dismemberment works here. They like christian types or more likely anyone of strong faith.


Haunters appear human but with creepy arse eyes, they float and talk to corpses. Theyonly take single individuals on what seems like an alternate plain of darkness. Flies, heat and death surrounds them, victims get nosebleeds, exhaustion and can pass out. They usually let victims go for some unknown reason, no known way of killing them. They can communicate with humans but seem to think they are somewhere else or relive old events.

Chairs and inanimate objects seem to be able to fly and attack people around them.

Mummies are gutless, appear sickly but seem to be leading the apocalypse. Probably can make monsters out of people and raise the dead. Probably have some unknown killer magic. As Buffy always says beheading works for most monsters, so hopefully that would work, maybe light them on fire as well for good measure?

[Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse]

ZOMBIES
Walking dead can only be killed by a blow to the head. Generally slow and clumsy. Can occasionally pick up some momentum and achieve startling speeds. Keep alert and travel in teams.

SUPER ZOMBIES
Like regular zombies, but with some remaining physical intelligence. Not slow, not clumsy. No more intelligent than regulars, but capable of significant destruction. May require more than one blow to the head to take one of these out.

DARK GHOSTS
Stinky black cloud ghosts. Highly flammable, but may douse your flame quickly. Keep extra fire. Can move through solid objects, though they sometimes, inexplicably, use some form of telekinesis to move objects: elevators, doors, etc. Paralyze victims with their gaze. Can kill with a touch, turning the victim into a zombie puppet (may be capable of more advanced activity, such as using a firearm). Has been witnessed passing through a person harmlessly on one occasion, though the mechanism is unknown and they should always be assumed to be a lethal threat.

DEMONS
Can paralyze through unknown power, possibly telekinetic, possibly, though not necessarily with it's gaze. Can send telepathic commands to seemingly healthy individuals, forcing them to act at the demon's will, up to and including committing suicide. Can fly and crawl on walls and ceilings like in the Lost Boys. Given this amount of power, it is unclear what limitations (other than pure sadism) keep them from effortlessly killing at will.

HAUNTERS
Initial signs include flying/smashing of objects and unnatural darkness, also possibly flies. If you try to move in the darkness (and maybe even if you don't) you may end up in their alternate universe, which will be a space that is not congruent with the real world. The appearance of this space may draw elements from the victim's memory, probably to confuse or lull them into complacency. The haunters seem like normal humans, but with startling features and a disturbing aura. Proximity can sap a victim of their strength, cause intense headaches, and nosebleeds. It is unknown what happens if they make direct contact with the potential victim. A theme of flies seems to be consistent between encounters, with one instance of swarming horseflies and another instance of a draft-horse sized maggot. Weapons appear to pass through them harmlessly. Suggest running away at all costs if you find yourself in their space.

MUMMIES
Possibly responsible for this whole mess. Apparently have no need for abdominal organs. Perhaps all vital organs are removed and placed in canopic jars? What influence this might have on destroying them is unknown as is basically everything else about them.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

I'd like to see input from Ash and Ben here... Anyhow, eventually, I'll have a thread with full monster info (to the best of 403 knowledge). That'll be important in the future...

[Gillsing]

Ben finally weighs in on the subject:

ZOMBIES
Slow and clumsy, which mostly makes them dangerous in large numbers. Seem to retain some learned reflexes from their former lives. Anything you could do without thinking about it, you'd probably be able to do as a zombie. So if you're the kind of person who could draw and fire a weapon before realising you've done so, you'd probably be able to do that as a zombie. Break their skulls or stab their brains to put them down for good.

SUPER ZOMBIES
Seem to retain some extra dangerous/useful learned reflexes from their former lives, plus the muscles to put those reflexes to use. Break their skulls or stab their brains, or do both with a bullet.

MUTE GHOSTS
Apparently they paralyse people with their eyes, but don't kill on touch. Seems as if they might have some connection to their former lives and/or habits. Highly flammable, so set them on fire. Perhaps it would be considerate to let them transform into dark ghosts first, in case that would allow some part of them to reach the right afterlife. But that's just speculation.

DARK GHOSTS
Paralyses with their eyes and kills by touch. Can fly and go through walls and ceilings, and thus ought to be able to appear out of a floor, and touch a person's foot before anyone would even know a ghost is around. The fact that we haven't lost anyone to such a sneaky attack indicates that these ghosts do not use tactics when attacking. In fact, their attacks may not even be fuelled by aggression, but could be a desire to reconnect with the living. Set them on fire, preferably from a safe distance. Fire on a long stick works quite well for that.

DEMONS
Possessed people who seem able to hypnotize people into doing their bidding, and they also have telekinetic powers which they use on others and themselves to defy gravity. Apparently the can be killed by being cut into pieces and then set on fire.

HAUNTERS
They seem able to create impenetrable darkness, and surround themselves with dark ghosts. Possibly their victims? A deadly combination in any case. Apparently they also abduct single persons into some kind of pocket dimension, though in the darkness it's also possible that they merely distort sound so that it sounds as if someone is farther away than they really are. We haven't killed anyone so far, but perhaps fire might work? Might be bad if they really do create a pocket dimension though, and that whole thing gets torched with the ghost, or leaves the victim stranded in limbo.

GHOULS
People who eat zombie flesh may become ghouls, with a craving for more zombie flesh. A craving that can be suppressed, but which seems to eventually overcome the ghoul, even when the risk of attacking humans is too great. One of them had sharp teeth, a long, purple tongue, and sluggish blood flow. They seem to die just fine by getting shot in the head. Maybe they could even be killed by less lethal violence.

NEKOMATAS
A fiercely independent trickster taking advantage of people's love for fluffy animals. Weren't cats holy in ancient Egypt? Maybe there's a connection to the mummies?

VAMPIRES
Reports of blood-drinkers attacking Tacoma. Increased strength and homicidal derangement. Can fly and speak, though apparently the speech was all demented demands for blood and such.

SOLID FLYERS
These guys seem to hang out in a part that we'd have trouble getting to, what with the blocked bridges. But since they can fly, they might visit us at some point. There's footage of one of them entangled in a phone line, so their agility might not be supernaturally good, and perhaps they're not too bright. What they can do is anyone's guess, but if they can fly they might be able to swoop down and pick people up and possibly drop them to the ground from a lethal height.

MUMMIES
Given that these are the ones who seem to have orchestrated this whole zompocalypse, it seems a safe bet that they can open some kind of portal to some place where dark ghosts are gathered. The black smoke at the Columbia Tower explosion seems to have consisted of thousands of dark ghosts, and since our Seattle mummy had already sent his tape to one or more news stations, it sure seems as if he was the one who made that happen. Since we haven't had an explosion of dark ghosts since then, it might have been a one shot deal. Or perhaps it just takes a while to make it happen again, and we need to put a stop to it before we lose another 90% of humanity.

[Dr. Jar]

ZOMBIES
Easy to kill, normal people who were killed or turned directly somehow. They hunch down at night and are generally not that challenging besides being pretty strong.

SUPER ZOMBIES
Never seen them, seem stronger than the other zombies around if they could break Greene's arm.

MUTE GHOSTS
Someone's immortal soul before it passes on and leaves its body. They seem peaceful and inoffensive. It does not look like they try to harm people yet.

DARK GHOSTS
Malevolence left in a person after their immortal soul leaves their bodies. These things smell like gasoline and vapor and can kill people by touching them, especially when they look into their eyes.

DEMONS
Don't know anything about these, but they prove that demons exist. Apparently only take over religious people, and make them act super powerful. They can take people over by looking at them too. I don't know where they come from, but they are one of the most frightening creatures.

HAUNTERS
Patti didn't want to talk much about these. They turn off the lights and lure people into dark places that are like another space outside of ours. They are able to lift and throw things, and there are lots of dark ghosts around them. They seem to give people nosebleeds, and bullets pass through them.

GHOULS
They eat the zombies and turn into semilucid creatures that are like zombie.

NEKOMATAS
Cat monster the size of a large dog. Apparently has two tails which I did not see, and is able to use magic, dance, and hypnotize people and animals. It is able to make people obey by looking at them, and has very arbitrary desires, like taking people outside for walks, and making things dance at its whim. I am not sure why they are brought back here, but they are cute. It is too bad they are mostly evil, but I don't think Mr. Fluffles is. Defeat-able with a fire extinguisher.


VAMPIRES
Never seen them, never want to.

SOLID FLYERS
No idea.

MUMMIES
They can raise people from the dead, bring in demons and gods, and have supernatural powers. I believe they are at the heart of this, and so I hope we can track down our own and destroy him. Perhaps there is a way to free everyone from them, but it will take time.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Thanks everybody! We'll consider this info. This thread has fun character stuff - people's takes on everything - so we'll archive it. Under "the rules" sometime soon, I'll post the current edition of the 403 monster notes, which will be modified over time as more stuff is discovered in the game.

[Gillsing]

Seeing as Ben is a weeaboo, and I specifically mentioned Japanese ghost stories as one of his zompocalypse strengths, I guess that Ben would know about nekomatas after all. He probably has a book of Japanese myths where they're mentioned, and definitely a manga somewhere.

At the time I just hadn't read the post where Nat said that it was a Japanese thing, and since Ben hadn't been involved he wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion from just hearing about a large, white cat. Though perhaps the dancing and the ghostlights would've clued him in. As a player I could of course tell from the name that it's Japanese, but when in doubt, play obtuse.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Hey, if that's the case, can you summarize here everything Ben can glean from his book collection (including manga)?

[Gillsing]

((Save me Google, you're my only hope!))

Apparently long-lived cats can turn into nekomatas, and their tails fork into two, which is where the "mata" comes in, since it can mean "fork". They get more powers the older they become, and depending on which powers they have they can walk on two legs, speak human languages, turn into humans, have the dead do their bidding by performing a ritualistic dance including gestures with paw and tail, leap over dead bodies to turn them into zombies, create ghostly fireballs, fly, and eat sleeping humans. One story involved a household being plagued by poltergeist phenomenons, which ended when a 'forked cat' was killed with a sacred arrow to the head. So maybe that might be worth looking into.

Seems as if a nekomata might as well be a regular cat that's been possessed by a demon. Nekomatas are supposed to haunt people who wronged the cat when it was alive, and apparently the current undead seem to think that all humans have wronged them and need to die. So that still fits even if that cat never lived in the 403.