The Red Plague

The Red Plague is a 2020 seven-person roleplay hosted by Jamsterbuggy.

Plot

See also: The Red Plague/Logs

Atmia is a small town, considered isolated in an already disconnected world.

There are a number of reasons one would come to visit Atmia. Perhaps you're here because its famed connection to the mystic arts, or maybe you just wanted to get away from all the chaos for a bit. You could even be a local, or someone applying to their esteemed college.

Whatever reason you came to be here, you will be sure to regret it.

The year is 2043, and the world is still adjusting from the Great Power Outage of 2012. On March 14th, 2012, nearly all electronics ceased to work. It is estimated hundreds of millions died in the ensuing anarchy, but the exact number is unknown. No one knows exactly what happened either, but the most commonly accepted theory is that a strong EMP was launched into the stratosphere by some government. Whatever caused it no longer matters to the people, though, as the events that followed changed everything.

Countries struggled to establish communications with their citizens, a problem that still heavily persists today. Because of these poor communications, several countries were misled into thinking other countries were the cause of the Great Power Outage, leading to several small wars. Eventually these wars congregated in one massive whole, leading to World War III.

It soon become a well-accepted theory that Russia was the cause of the Outage. In retaliation, an action that everyone considers to be the biggest tragedy in human history, the United States, United Kingdom, and China nuked all of Russia. The attack was a surprise, and as such, nearly all of Russia's citizens were exterminated. Even worse, the reason everyone thought Russia was to blame turned out to be misinformation caused by the Outage.

The people lost faith in their governments because of this, and revolutions became common even in countries not involved in the nuking. Eventually, a single group known as the Army of One began popping up in many different regions. Unlike the revolutions, the Army's methods were peaceful. They preached that the world should come together under one government, so that there could be a connected effort to reestablish communications and also to prevent a horrific event like the nuking of Russia from happening ever again.

The Army succeeded in their goal and united the world. All the countries of Earth have lost their borders and go by a new name: Bennu. Although there are struggles with the loss of electronics, things have been getting better. Currently there is a focused effort on connecting towns to the Bennu system, which apparently drastically improves communication systems.

Gameplay

Like his previous RP Nightmares: A Small Hamlet, TRP takes place in a small town and features a village's worth of NPCs.

There are six major gameplay mechanics in The Red Plague: relations, kismets, time, sleep, favors, and the plague.

Relations

Characters are provided with a mental inventory of the relevant non-player characters they know and meet. The game master updates this with notable non-player characters' names whenever a player character meets them, alongside notes about who the resident may be.

Kismets

Kismets are akin to an "ongoing topics of interest" journal system. Plot and sub-plot threads that player characters happen upon are added to their kismet lists. Following these kismets through will either reward a character or have dire consequences; they'll never lead nowhere.

Time

Time is divided into hour-long "blocks" to better solidify the passage of time during nebulously-defined actions. Travelling among Atmia's districts and performing certain actions will cost time blocks, while talking to other characters and taking minor actions usually won't. However, taking many consecutive minor actions or talking all session may still consume time blocks, per GM discretion.

Sleep

In order to encourage better time management, characters are strongly encouraged to sleep between dusk and dawn for at least six of their time blocks, or the next day, they'll suffer quickly-compounding negative action modifiers from lack of sleep. Players must carefully budget how to spend time blocks, as certain kismets are only available during the night.

Favors

The townspeople of Atmia have an interesting concept of barter called "favors." Instead of giving physical objects to one another, they give favors for helping them in some way. In return for their help or giving player characters an object, non-player characters will typically require favors. Players can get favors through many ways, such as following their kismets or helping non-player characters with requests.

The Plague

The titular plague is first introduced by Ozymandias at the end of the town's Festival of Fertility. He gives five rules to it and its related effects:

1. "First and foremost, every day a certain number of districts will be at risk of contracting my Plague. Anyone who stays in said district overnight will have a chance to catch it. Heh, and good luck getting the townspeople to abandon their homes."
2. "Secondly, those who become Infected will have a chance of dying every night after they are Infected. Every day that passes increases their chance of death. It will be nearly impossible to survive past 3 days."
3. "Third, among you seven is my essence. It will actively try to hinder you as you squirm about, bringing about you death quicker. An aside to the third rule, you will not be allowed to harm any of the other six. Harming one of them, including anyone innocent, will make me stronger. You must use your heads to deal with one another; do not rely on brute force."
4. "Fourth, among you seven is a Rat. The rat does not know who they are. I will not tell you what the Rat does; you will have to figure that out yourselves."
5. "And for the fifth and final rule: there is no way to kill me. I am immortal. Struggle as you may, there is no remedy that will work against me. You will simply have to watch as the Plague slowly but surely devours this town, yourselves included."

Cast

There are seven player characters and an unknown amount of non-player characters present in Atmia.

Player Characters

• Enoch Elberg, played by Swiggle
• Feng, played by Fafnir
• Michi, played by Crying
• Mint Lumiere, played by Liminori
• Ivy Rivera, played by Kestrel
• Uncle, played by Bokkun
• Oster Wise, played by Qlonever

Non-Player Characters

• Ozymandias

Trivia

• The setting of The Red Plague is not connected to any other Sad Otters roleplays.