Day One

I sat down a couple weeks ago and made notes for my Day One Campaign.  I just went through the questions in the book and answered as honestly as I could.  I don't want to spoil anything for anyone so if you've not played Day One or answered the questions yet, be warned.  I've tried to write this a bit like a journal entry looking back on days past.  The parts in italics are game notes...

The day was Thursday, August 26, 2010.  My family and I were preparing for a long weekend trip when the news began telling stories of strange attacks and crazy behavior in the streets.  I was in the rec room gathering some things and watching the news.  My wife, 'Sweet Pea' (Rep 3 Civilian), and son, 'Monkey Boy' (Age 13 - Rep 3 Civilian), were down stairs packing some things for the trip.  I'm 44, and had always thought it was just a matter of time until something like this would happen.  It looked as if today was the day.  I remember saying a quick prayer of thanks that we were all home together on one of the last days of summer break.  Unfortunately, my mom (Grammy - Rep 2 Civilian) was at her house - not too far away, but far enough.  My best friend, 'Doc', (Rep 3 - Civilian) was at his home on the other side of town.  My first thoughts were about how I could bring these two people to my home.  We needed to come up with a plan...

Once we realized what was happening we sat down and quickly made an inventory of our household.  We are normal people, at least as normal as anyone seems to be until you get to know them.  I am a clergyman, which may seem odd to some, but I really am a regular guy in every other way.  In fact, I would say I'm atypical of most clergy that I know.  Mine tends to be a sedentary job and many of my colleagues are pudgy and out of shape.  I on the other hand am in excellent physical condition.  In fact, on this particular day my family and I were making preparations to travel to Louisville, Kentucky where I would be participating in an Ironman distance triathlon (See previous post). I have no military or police experience but being so fit will no doubt be of some benefit in the coming crisis (My character will be a Rep 4 Civilian).  What's more, I own and am proficient with a number of firearms...

Fortunately for my family I've collected guns over the years and enjoy target shooting.  I inherited several firearms from my father when he died as well.  We were all surprised to discover that we have quite an arsenal in the house:  a .30-06 hunting rifle, 2 .22 caliber rifles, a 16 gauge shotgun, a 12 gauge shotgun, a .45ACP automatic pistol, a .357 magnum revolver, a .38 revolver, a .22 revolver and a .45 Colt black powder revolver.  Unfortunately our ammo is very limited and we'll need to get to a gun store soon to stock up.  (I decided that if anyone goes out of ammo before we get to the gun store then that particular gun is totally out and cannot be used until we find more ammo...)  We gathered up a collection of melee weapons including a battle ready sword, a machete, several axes, bats, hockey sticks, hammers, etc. and finally the chainsaw from the shed.  We laid everything out on the kitchen table and each of us chose weapons that seemed to fit. (Pdoid: shotgun and bat; Sweet Pea: 2xBA pistols and machete; Monkey Boy: pistol and hockey stick)

We live in the suburbs on the edge of a rural area.  Our house is located on 1.5 acres and is surrounded by heavy woods.  We have food and water to last 3 people about 2 weeks (1 food unit per family member).  My garage has some plywood, a few old doors from a remodeling project and lots of lumber scraps that could be used for barricades if needed.  I also have an extensive wood shop complete with many power tools for fabricating wooden items.

My vehicles include a Ford F-150 crew cab pickup and a small 4 door Ford Focus sedan.  We also have a 27 foot travel trailer.  Again, providence was with us as the gas tanks of both vehicles were full in preparation for our trip.

None of us are smokers so there are no cigarettes in the house.  We do however have a well stocked beer fridge in the garage.  We have LOTS of paper towels and toilet paper (my wife stocks up often at a local big box store...).  There's also a little cash and some minor jewelry in the house. (These items may come in handy for bartering as the campaign unfolds...)

Having taken an inventory and armed ourselves, we came up with The Plan.  I knew we needed to get to my mom and to Doc quickly and bring them to the house.  I also wanted to get some supplies to make the house more secure.  Sweet Pea thought we should get some more food just in case and maybe some cash since we don't know how this is all going to turn out.  Doc lived in the city, which just wouldn't be good and Grammy could never fend for herself.  Our house was the best place to hole up and wait out the crisis.  The house is defensible and we are fairly well provisioned.  We needed to act quickly though, get the few provisions we needed and secure our friends and family.  We decided to split up to get more done in less time.

Sweet Pea and Monkey Boy would go to Grammy's (see next post...).  Once they had her they'd stop at the grocery store to stock up on more food and then swing by the bank or an ATM to get more cash.  Meanwhile, I'd take the pickup and head to Doc's.  He and I would then go to the local Big Box Home Improvement store to get some heavier plywood and 2x4s to barricade the house.  We'd also get a generator if we could find one.  We'd then stop by a gas station to fill any gas cans we could find.  We'd all meet at home as quickly as we could, barricade the house, and then decide who would go to the gun store to stock up on ammo.  Once we had that we could relax, pop a brew and wait to see what happened next.

That was it.  We were ready to face the world on Day One.  It seemed like a good plan so we grabbed our weapons, locked up the house, jumped in our vehicles and headed out...

“No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.”  ~ GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON, JR.