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"Scavenger hunts", i.e. a use for wallets, phones, and street signs, and more.

Artymis

By Artymis
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Artymis

Artymis

Posted
Posted

 Hello, this will be my first post and suggestion of the forums.

 

 Of course, in the game, there are junk items.

Most of us usually set-up a homebase at some point, and one strategy that's become popular is a term called "Breadcrumbing", where you take some item (mostly junk or bandages) and leave a trail leading to your home base. More about this later in the post.

 I always find lots of junk on corpses, and at one point while looting, I noticed a wallet. If you, the reader, have seen the walking dead, then you'll remember that Rick (the main character of the show, for those living under a rock) decided to hold a mini-funeral for a zombie, by reading-out random items in his wallet. "He had a lady, was an organ donor, name was _________".

 I thought that was a cool premise, you're killing people who were infected, who had lives, not some random creature. Now, I'm not asking for a lot of lore here, or some story to the game, but what if every once in a while, if you found a wallet, you could go through it. of course, not finding anything useful, only some randomized name and face, like in the character creation screen. But here's my big idea:

~Scavenger Hunts~

 Here's where the street sign come into play. Here are my ideas.

 Everybody has to live somewhere, why not make the towns feel more alive? If you find an I.D. (car-keys would be nice, but that's a whole 'nother thread) then it might display some interesting tidbit. kinda like:

Name: John Smith

Address: 2091, Maple Lane

Profession: Police Officer

 Then, you could find his house, one way or another, and find say, a pistol, or a police baton, or even just a random house.

 The streetsigns could also help you find your own, or some building that your friend told you about, making it easier than: "Oh, on that one map, go past the trailers, down the random path, and through the bank, and there's the school/ fire axe".

 Instead, why not make it easier? "I'm on Madrona street, police station's on King Street." or something along those lines?

 One last idea: Secrets

Maybe on a note in a wallet, or a message on a phone (new use for batteries, eh?) maybe some message like: "John, world's gone to s***, get your family, I'll be at the cabin/bunker/house, I've stored-up food/guns/water, let's ride this out." This could bring about those long-awaited NPC interactions, like finding John's family huddled up. Unfortunately, I remember reading that moral choice and karma was a definite "no" (atleast, I think. . .), but then you could make a choice: Leave the family, rob them, or try to make a group with them. 

 

 Anyways, those are just some ideas of mine, I probably typed that a bit sloppily, so I'll just try to summarize

  • Wallets: Contain I.D. with random character, possibly a scavenger hunt
  • Street signs: Helps you locate specific areas/buildings
  • Phones: Additional use for batteries, and useful tool
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Strang

Strang

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I LOVE this idea, especially the wallets with their home addresses. Seeing as electronics are a confirmed yes, how about finding someones phone, and it having messages on it from a friend/family member telling them where they are or where supplies are. This could have HUGE potential. 

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Comrade Crimson

Comrade Crimson

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This is a lovely idea... you could even incorporate this further to things like notes survivors may have left each other, like you stumble into a house and find a letter going like,

 

"Dear (insert name here), me and the neighbours have gone to (location), we have taken all of the essentials and the family photos, and are safe for now... please meet us there."

And then, if you go to said location you may even find a camp or remnants of a camp, either them still being there, moved on... or well.. the unfortunate.

Even notes of "Pick up supplies at this location at this time" type stuff might be cool too.

 

Little gems like that is great for immersion.

 

Or maybe you are asked by a survivor to find their significant others belongings, like their ring from an area to give to them for the sake of closure, or find their favourite stuffed spiffo doll or just little sentimental things like that. Really gives character and feeling to the whole thing too, and would be a great sort of quest style idea if this game ever goes that route.

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ApolloDiaspora

ApolloDiaspora

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Bonus point if you find a membership card for a hunting/fishing/firearm appreciation group in the wallet. There's now a possibility of the stiff's house containing valuable, useful loot items. Or not. The fact that the person was a card-carrying member of the NRA doesn't mean you could find guns at their house. After all, it might have been looted, taken with their family, and so on.

 

Risk and reward! You could head across town to someone's house/meeting point/campsite, only to find the supplies long gone, or a hostile NPC group squatting on the territory.

 

It'd be especially fun to see other professions popping up from the info contained in wallets, even if you, as a player, can't choose them at character creation. Say you find a permit or trade union card for a welder/boiler maker. They could have welding equipment at their house. Or what about receipts? Bills? 'Mr Johnson, your 4WD has just been successfully service by Speed-E-Autos. Please stop by the dealership after 8am on Thursday 25th August to retrieve it' This being found a few weeks later of course. Is the car still there? Is it in working order? Would we need to find a few parts to get it working?

 

Loving this wallet-rummaging idea. Plenty of good ways it can add to the game :)

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