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Storybook Workshop: Apocalypse 101



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Mon May 27, 2013 7:38 am
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Rydia says...



Hello everyone! In two weeks time on the 9th June, at:

10:00am - 11:00am PST
12:00pm - 1:00pm CST
2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
6:00pm - 7:00 GMT
7:00pm - 8:00pm BST
12:00am - 1:00am India

Elinor Brynn and I will be hosting the next storybook workshop!

How it's Going to Work

This workshop will result in a storybook. We're going to start by giving you the premise today and asking you to go away and create a character. Then you bring that character along to the workshop and we'll do some bond building exercises with everyone else who attends.

Now, you don't have to come to the workshop to join the storybook, but you do have to be interested in joining the storybook to come to the workshop.

Apocalypse 101

You think the year is 2031, though it's hard to tell since you've spent the last ten years existing in a bunker. You think you can remember what the surface looked like, but you're sometimes not so sure. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because it isn't going to look like that anymore.
____________________________

Ten years ago nuclear warfare was threatened and preparations for defence were begun. The British army were dispatched all across the nation and charged with the task of building bunkers. Unfortunately, they didn't have the time. Mere hours after the warning was broadcast, the first nuclear missile hit the south coast.

Thousands of people were murdered in an instant.

It was to be the beginning of an end. All across the world, missiles were landing and only the crazy or the overly cautious were prepared.

People used to think Mr. Donahue was crazy. The aging history teacher bought a house that came complete with a world war II bunker, the size of a basement, and he had it renovated, not because he wanted to preserve history, but because he was convinced that the war would happen again. Over the years, Mr. Donahue hoarded supplies: food, clothes, medicine, literature. As technology advanced, so did he.

Mr. Donahue had toilets installed in the bunker and a shower where the water drained off into a bottom tank, ready to be purified and pumped back up to the top tank again. It was even said that he stole a display item from a prestigious museum in order to preserve its existence.

When the first missile hit the South coast, Mr. Donahue, who lived in the North, found that he suddenly had a lot of friends. Neighbours who had heard his ramblings or students from his classes or fellow teachers, all turned up on his doorstep with families in tow.

Ten years later and Mr. Donahue died of a heart attack last fall and things haven't been the same since. One of the things Mr. Donahue didn't think about was what to do with a body.

But for some time now the supplies had been running low and there was a general consensus that the hatch would have to be opened. Our storybook begins with the community reaching a majority vote to send out a team (or at least the body) but not everyone wants to leave the bunker.
_________________________
The character you create should fit into this scenario and be one of the people either willing or persuaded to leave the bunker. The community is about 30 people so the group going out there will know each other well but not necessarily be from the same family or the best of friends.

When you create your character, give them first names only. This is because during the character bonding exercise, we might link some of the characters together to form families. For this reason you should also keep their history very open - if you give your character a husband or wife, don't give them a name or create too many details surrounding them. It might be we'll find you someone suitable.

Where will the Storybook Continue From There?

After the workshop, the storybook will go up and people will copy their edited profiles across. Then we'll progress as an ordinary storybook - others will be free to join and we will follow a vague plot map, but mostly it will be open to interpretation.

The vague plot map includes the discovery that the surface is now inhabited by a mutant race, formed from the humans/ animals who survived the nuclear war and the ensuing radiation poisoning.

More Information

A time will be set for this within the next week, but please feel free to start filling out the character profile below. Remember, even if you can't make the workshop, you can still join the storybook.

If we get more than twelve people, we're going to do something a little different. We're going to split the storybook into two threads. What will happen is the twelve characters will decide to split their group and six will go one way, six another. The two storybooks will essentially be the same one, but it's easier to keep track of six characters than twelve.

Then when we have drop outs, those characters will be killed off and at some point when the groups each drop below four, the two storybooks will merge.

If the drop outs don't happen, instead we'll plan for the groups to meet at set points and locations and we'll switch the membership up so people from one thread will move into another.

Sounds complicated? Don't worry! I'll tell you what to do and it will be easy, I promise.

Character Profile

Please keep these to yourself until the character workshop. If you know you will be unable to attend, please cover the family in full during the history section.

Code: Select all
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b] (all of Mr. Donahue's students would now be aged 21+ (he taught high school) but you may be as young as 16. Nobody younger than that will be permitted to leave the bunker on the first expedition.)
[b]Appearance:[/b]

[b]Personality:[/b]

[b]Strengths:[/b]

[b]Weaknesses:[/b]

[b]History:[/b] (please keep family details vague if you are attending the workshop.)


Questions
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask below! I'd also like you to post below if you're interested in attending the workshop.

When we have a known time, we will create a post notifying you of it, by tagging your name like this: Hi @Audy, remember saying you were interested in this? <3

Thank you for reading :)
Writing Gooder

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Mon May 27, 2013 7:53 am
Omni says...



I'm interested!

So, onto the bunker, do we have weapons, other things like that? Or will we just discuss that in the workshop?
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Mon May 27, 2013 7:59 am
Sassafras says...



Definitely count me in.
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Mon May 27, 2013 8:44 am
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Rydia says...



So, onto the bunker, do we have weapons, other things like that? Or will we just discuss that in the workshop?


There will be no weapons in the bunker on account of British civilians not being allowed to have guns. You may be able to create a make-shift weapon (prestigious museum artefact anyone?) but unless your character is a police officer, no guns.

Your characters are also unlikely to know how to use a gun, unless they come from a very rough background/ the police.

This isn't America so guns will be much harder to find. In fact, York weapons shop (it's the only one I've ever seen as weapons shops are rare and hidden in England) stocks absolutely no guns. It does, however, have some pointy axes and swords that probably need sharpening.

Some buildings will have partially survived the bombing. While I'm going to say no to a weapons shop, I will say yes to the police station and museum. If you're desperate for weaponry, one group can certainly choose between the two :D
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Mon May 27, 2013 11:40 am
darklady says...



I'm interested! Might not make the workshop but I will try :)
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Mon May 27, 2013 12:30 pm
LadyPurple says...



I might just do this!
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Mon May 27, 2013 2:03 pm
StoneHeart says...



Count me in!
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Mon May 27, 2013 6:01 pm
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CowLogic says...



If I have the time, you have the rhyme! That didn't make sense, but if you care you might as well go climb a fence. WOOOOO!
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Thu May 30, 2013 10:14 am
kayfortnight says...



I'll try this, although I might not make the workshop.
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Thu May 30, 2013 5:15 pm
Rydia says...



Hi all! A quick update that the storybook will run at 12-1 CST/ 6-7 GMT on the 9th June.

More timezones and updates to come at the weekend! :D
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Thu May 30, 2013 8:40 pm
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CowLogic says...



Would that be PM or AM?
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Thu May 30, 2013 9:40 pm
crossroads says...



Pretty surely not 6-7 am, Logic xD

Unless am is the case, I'm in as well ;)
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Thu May 30, 2013 9:49 pm
kayfortnight says...



Yeah, if it was a.m., I'd be doing that at around one in the morning :)
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Thu May 30, 2013 9:53 pm
LadyPurple says...



I would totally do it at 1-2 in the morning...but yeah, I'd like to know if I got it right. I always get confused when going from GMT to EST.
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