[Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

[hancock.tom]

The Stand was one of my favorite books, and I always thought the setting would make for great roleplaying material. Lots of great elements there, since it is our world with 99% of the people dead, everything broken down and a master villain extra-dimensional wizard who was basically an allegory of satan. Not your typical PAH game, but very cool.

 

This would also be one of the few roleplaying settings where you could actually play yourself and have it make sense and be fun.

 

Then, I started thinking about how you would run the game. Combat would be exceedingly rare, and actually having skills that applied to what you were trying to do would be pretty rare too. Each person might have a couple areas of expertise that would be useful post-plague, but most folks skills would be relatively useless.

 

Considering what a small role the actual game mechanics are going to play for the game, I am reconsidering how much fun it would be to roleplay. Maybe this is one of those settings you love but they just don't translate into a game very well.

 

Has anyone thought about this book or a similar setting?

 

For those that haven't read it or seen the movie, here is a link to a plot synopsis: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108941/plotsummary

[Savinien]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

Depending on the story you wanted to tell, it could be fun.

 

Most likely though, it would shift into a The Postman sort of situation.

 

The people in The Stand were imperative to that story because of their abilities to fight Flagg.

 

Other things could be happening in other portions of the country/world. Other lieutenants of Flagg and what the Crimson King wanted beyond that.

 

You'd be responsible for filling that stuff in obviously. You could use Dark Tower stuff in it if you wanted... Include Roland, Walter, the Manni, or whatever.

 

As always, only your imagination holds you back.

[Susano]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

I have a partially started Randall Flagg character sheet. I should post it here.

[hancock.tom]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

Susano, is the sheet based on Flagg from the dark tower, the stand, somewhere else, or do you think they all have the same sheet?

[Susano]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

Susano' date=' is the sheet based on Flagg from the dark tower, the stand, somewhere else, or do you think they all have the same sheet?[/quote']

 

From The Stand.

[Susano]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

Here.

 

Warning, this is for 4th Edition.

 

RANDALL FLAGG

(a.k.a. The Dark Man, The Walkin Dude)

 

Val CHA Cost Roll Notes

13 STR 3 12- Lift 150 kg; 2 1/2d6 HTH Damage

15 DEX 15 12- OCV: 5/DCV: 5

20 CON 20 13-

13 BODY 6 12-

20 INT 10 13- PER Roll 13-

30 EGO 40 15- ECV: 10

40 PRE 30 17- PRE Attack: 8d6

10 COM 0 11-

5 PD 2 Total: 5 PD ( rPD)

5 ED 1 Total: 5 ED ( rED)

4 SPD 15 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12

8 REC 0

40 END 0

35 STUN 5 Total Characteristics Cost: 147

 

Movement: Running: 6"/12"

Swimming: 2"/4"

 

Cost Powers & Skills

Martial Arts:

Maneuver OCV DCV Damage

 

 

Agent of Darkness Powers:

Clairsentience: can view all of Western America

Running: huge NCM, Invisible power effects, can cover all of Western America in a few days

Shapeshift: to disguise/hide features

Followers: Crows and Wolves

Flight: can levitate

TK: can manipulate objects (such as locked cell doors)

Change Environment: Aura of Evil and unease

RKA: No Range, Variable SPX, Extra Time, Conc

 

Perks

Talents

Skills

0 AK: Home Area 8-

0 Climbing 8-

0 Concealment 8-

0 Conversation 8-

0 Deduction 8-

0 Language: (native)

0 Paramedic 8-

0 PS: 8-

0 Shadowing 8-

0 Stealth 8-

0 TF:

Total Powers & Skills Cost

Total Character Cost

 

XXX+ Disadvantages

Enraged:

20 Distinctive Features: Aura of Evil (NC)

Hunted:

Physical Limitation:

20 Psychological Limitation: Manipulative -- Uses People For His Own Ends, Discarding

Them When He No Longer Needs Them (VC, S)

25 Psychological Limitation: Unrelentingly Evil (VC, T)

Reputation:

Rivalry:

Susceptibility:

Unluck:

Vulnerability:

Watched:

Experience

Total Disadvantage Points

 

Background/History:

Randall Flagg is one of Stephen King's more terrifying creations. A supernatural being of pure evil and hate, Randall Flagg is capable of committing horrific acts without a second thought. Seemingly immortal, or at least, ageless, Flagg is first found in the pages of The Stand where he is also known as Richard Fyre, Robert Freemont, and Richard Freemantle. His existence doesn't end there however. In the third Dark Tower book, The Wastelands he is called Richard Fannin and in The Eyes of the Dragon he is simply Flagg.

 

Personality/Motivation:

 

 

Quote:

 

Powers/Tactics:

"He looks like anybody you see on the street. But when he grins, birds fall off telephone lines. When he looks at you a certain way, your prostrate goes bad and your urine burns. The grass yellows up and dies where he spits. He's always outside. He came out of time. He doesn't know himself. He has the name of a thousand demons. ... His name is Legion. ... He knows magic. He can call the wolves and live in the crows. He's the king of nowhere."

The Stand Page 818.

 

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

 

Appearance:

In The Stand, Flagg is described as a tall man, dressed in faded jeans, workshirt, denim jacket, and rundown cowboy boots. He wears two buttons on his jacket, one is a yellow smiley face, the other asks "HOW'S YOUR PORK?". This last button usually shows a pig wearing a policeman's cap, but that image has been known to change.

 

Flagg is dark haired, and in good physical shape. People have a hard time remembering what he looks like, and staring into his face is a good way to drive yourself mad.

 

Designer's Notes:

 

 

(Randall Flagg created by Stephen King, character sheet created by Michael Surbrook)

[hancock.tom]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

Very Cool... very high PRE was something I was thinking about.

 

I was also going to give him a few dice of unluck as a disad since his plans always seems to get screwed over, regardless of how well-laid they are. The whole glammer magic thing is hard to quantify in hero terms since stephen king basically uses RF as the ultimate plot device, but what you have here is really great.

[nHammer]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

For something like this I wouldn't tell the players what type of campaign it is. I'd have them make up a normal person, be it a construction worker, a soldier, or a buisnessman, whatever. Then I'd spring the concept on them.

 

After this it could go a few ways. Maybe roleplay each person seperately until they meet up, or write a story of what's going on and how they meet.

 

I've actually considered doing a George Romero/The Walking Dead zombie type campaign like this.

[sinanju]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

For something like this I wouldn't tell the players what type of campaign it is. I'd have them make up a normal person, be it a construction worker, a soldier, or a buisnessman, whatever. Then I'd spring the concept on them.

 

After this it could go a few ways. Maybe roleplay each person seperately until they meet up, or write a story of what's going on and how they meet.

 

I've actually considered doing a George Romero/The Walking Dead zombie type campaign like this.

 

I'd rather have the GM tell me what sort of game it's going to be and then tell me to make up "an ordinary person" for it. I've been in too many games where the GM "sprang it on us" in such an adversarial way that I'm probably permanently hostile to that kind of thing. If you're dealing with role-players, they ought to be able to make up the sorts of characters you want even if they know they're going to be dropped into a different genre of game.

[hancock.tom]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

 

I've actually considered doing a George Romero/The Walking Dead zombie type campaign like this.

 

Its got some flavors of that, as you travel around and realize what people are really like in a world with no laws. Not zombies at all, just regular people who without any structure become evil and selfish.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

There are just too many good ideas for Post Apoc settings that can be used out there.

[Curufea]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

Post-Apoc genre films should be funded by governments. They're really an ad campaign for "what you would do without us" ;-p

[Susano]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

Instant Post-Apoc plot seed in three sentences:

 

"Two days ago I saw a rig big enough to hall that tanker. You want to get out of here? Talk to me."

[Super Squirrel]

Re: [Post-Apocalyptic HERO] Stephen King's "The Stand

 

Instant Post-Apoc plot seed in two sentences:

 

"We had a report the old abandoned military facility had a vast water supply. Unfortunately, our initial scouts never returned."