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Despite the new Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead LP that just started, I felt that CDDA should be represented here, as well. I'm not going to cover the basics of gameplay here, because it's already done better than I would in the aforementioned CDDA LP thread. What I am going to do is die repeatedly in ill-conceived mall cop runs.
The world I've made is largely default. The only difference is that I've extended seasons from 7 to 28 days.
I added a couple of the included mods, as depicted below.
The scenario description seems to imply that you've "survived" in the mall for a bit, but given your starting equipment and points (and the traits and skills I've taken), the more likely explanation is that this character fell asleep in a supply closet for a few days and woke up to a bewildering hellscape.
The really entertaining part of the mall cop scenario is that malls are horrifying death traps, seething with seemingly endless mobs of the undead. You're basically starting off in something that should be mid-game, and we're going to do so additionally handicapped by choosing the "Paul Blart" combination of traits. We're also doing base stats right across the board. I took a point in bashing weapons to represent yelling at and attacking imaginary shoplifters, then dumped the rest of my skill points in cooking because FAT. I had a point left over, so I dropped it in driving because it's useless right now.
Our profession (Mall Security) gives us no extra skills, no bionics, no traits, and the following inventory:
I lucked out a bit in starting in a quiet hallway. This is not common. Typically, my mall cops tend to spawn in the middle of a food court completely choked with zombies. On the unfortunate side, the two doors immediately south of me are locked and despite being security, I have no key. I snap open the baton and wield it, just in case there's any unpleasant surprises.
Just down the hall is a door to the arcade. I grab a couple snacks before running back to the service tunnels, because there's a couple of zombies and I would rather not deal with that shit right now.
The next set of doors in the tunnel leads to a movie theater. I wanted to duck back out and keep exploring, but a fat zombie (a former colleague, perhaps?) and a regular zombie spot me. If I try to run now, they're going to bust down the door to the tunnel, making a lot of noise and probably trapping me in a tight space. My response to this threat is to immediately trap myself in a tight space by running through the aisles of chairs. My rationale was that the chairs will slow down attackers while I bop them with my baton. What I failed to remember is that I'm in a mall and there are always a hundred zombies just out of sight.
I kill the fat zombie, but take a couple of deep (read: infected) bites, and attract a lot of attention in the process. So the plan now is to just run the fuck out of this mall and try to find a doctor's office or pharmacy in town.
I looped back through the arcade, then out into the service tunnel, slamming doors shut all the way to slow pursuit. Apparently, my tussle in the theater attracted more attention, which resulted in another bite while I fled blindly. I frantically take the double doors opposite the theater, and suddenly I'm outside! Also, I lost the screencap of my victorious emergence into a wider world, and a snowstorm!
And it looks like there's a pharmacy at the southern edge of my map. I chow down on a few snacks and start across the field. I spot a car outside the mall, but on closer examination, the far half is a pile of twisted metal. While heading south, I notice two things: First, it's cold as fuck outside and snowing, and I'm in a sad mall security uniform. I'm also being chased pretty doggedly by at least one zombie. Since I didn't add the slow zombies mod and don't have the Quick trait, I'm not confident in my ability to outrun them.
I continue to flee unsuccessfully for a few minutes before realizing that I'm actually playing one of the newest experimentals, which means I can actually run. I can't do it forever, especially a fat bastard like me, but I can put some distance between me and these assholes. And that's just what I do, down past the office towers and right into the waiting arms of these fucking guys:
I cut right and try to dodge them, but they stay right on my ass. And that's when we learn what really makes spitter zombies such a pain in my ass:
They vomit vile green shit everywhere, like the first time my ex-girlfriend discovered Midori sours. They're also fast as Hell, and with 79 pain and multiple leg injuries, there's no way I'm going to outrun them. I turn to make these bilious fuckers rue the day they crossed me and
