SUN-01 A Cruise to Remember (Dread)

[eddi]

Plot:
Power is out when morning dawns on the Sapphire*. Sam Wheeler leaves for her morning run, but stumbles across two bodies. She attempts to help and is approached by a third. A staggering third, who attacks her. She subdues him and goes to fetch her husband and 16 year old child. Their ruckus draws in the rest of us (OCD workaholic Sophia, nonchallant but ruthlessly effective Richard and ditzy Susan). A quick survey of the situation and it is clear to Richard that we are dealing with zombies. He gets a weapon.

We move to flee. We encounter more. We fight; we flee. We collect weapons. We flee. We find boats! A black helicopter comes to ensure we don't escape the ship. We go to the skeet deck. We take down the helicopter**. We fight and flee back toward the boats.

Throughout all of this: the Wheeler family is at times deteriorating and at times improving; Sophia starts off with righteous indignation but quickly progresses towards brutal survivalism; Richard and Susan form a tentative romance.

Sam is using a firehose to thin the numbers of the zombies when one gets in too close and her move to compensate results in the stream propelling her over the side.
We make it into the water and it seems like nothing will prevent Jonathan from looking for his wife... but then he happens to see the signed divorce papers. We escape.

Loved the banter between the characters and their 'heroics'. Curious is we could have unveiled more of the back-story if we'd done some digging in the Captain's area.


Mechanics:
I like the surveys. The answers aren't necessary for the plot, but they help establish the details and motivations of your character, as well as possible relationships. (As Sean I think pointed out: our having a family of three made this a much tighter and manageable party.)

Man, the Jenga tower is tense. I'll admit, I'm not thinking much about the fiction when I'm trying to remove a brick. I'm thinking about that fucking brick. But it does tie in that the consequence of failure is death for your character.

So happy I finally got to play Dread. This was a ton of fun. Thanks very much to Dale for running this and everyone else for providing such delightful and memorable characters.

* I have a suspicion this wasn't the full name of our cruise ship.
** A generous interpretation of 'we'. Richard, Jonathan and Mrs Wheeler took down the helicopter. It was glorious.