rp I'm back, with an Organic Roleplay Server

[Suraru]

You guys probably don't remember me, but I ran one of the first zomboid servers over 8 years ago, before MP was official:

It ran for a few months before I shut it down because I became too busy to maintain it.

 

Well, I decided to come back to Zomboid to start my own RP server. I've played around with a lot of the other RP servers, and I wasn't a big fan of how many rules so many of them have. Things that restrict who you play, or how you can play. Things like banning playing relatives all because some people abuse spawn mechanics and metagame, or making you jump through hoops to engage in PvP. Like, I get PvP sucks in this game and should be avoided, but knowing each interaction could turn violent makes every positive interaction very rewarding.

 

So, I looked at how other roleplay communities operate. Places like DayZ Underground, who marry the gameplay to the roleplay with very few mods and rules, allowing the players to organically interact with each other using the game's mechanics to help tell their story, instead of just using it as a visual element. So, I only have 5 rules in my server: no discrimination, no explicit NSFW, no using exploits to your advantage, no bad roleplay (things like, metagaming, breaking character, or using unrealistic character concepts), and permadeath enabled with a 10m respawn timer to prevent randos from griefing (just, shoot the griefer, lmao)

 

Then, for the mods, I compiled a list of lightweight, qol, vanilla friendly mods so the game still feels vanilla, but fixes some major issues (like changing how fast fire kills you, not knowing if car doors are open, or being able to draw on the map). I also added a couple custom mods to help resolve any conflicts between mods, fix some bugs they may have had, and add in a few more options for clothing at spawn, without simply allowing everything. You can view the modlist here: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2968164028

 

I'm also avoiding doing seasons or continuous wipes. I've seen servers last a long time without issues because they have a whitelist cleanup system, and avoid heavy duty mods that kill performance (and also create terrible desync). I know eventually I will have to wipe the server, but that doesn't mean I'll restart the story. Reliving the first days of the apocalypse can be fun, so I might one day add a 2nd server with a 3 month timer, but the main server will be a continuous story, to help the world feel more lived in, and give it lots of history and lore (all player made!)

 

Finally, for the settings, I've tried to make sure zombies are a major threat. The population is on insane, but to compensate they are blind, deaf, and fragile. Transmission is saliva only, since this is a permadeath server. Also, the respawn rate is very, very low. So if you clear out a ton of zeds, it'll stay cleared out for a while (unless someone guides a hoard back in). The idea is players will have to work together to secure a large area, but once they do their hard work will last. Loot spawns are the same, very high with very low respawn rate. I want to see where the loot goes, who hoards, and how players handle that. But again, to compensate, I did give players the vanilla starting kit. The game starts in winter, so I imagine canned food will become scarce as spring rolls around, forcing players to rely on farming and crafting.

 

Admins are also not allowed to use their powers for anything other than tickets. In fact, I've enforced admins to use a separate login to use their powers, helping remove the temptation to spawn items or walls for their base. Too many servers run rampant with admin abuse, so here I've done my best to make sure the admins are very hands off. I've created a few abandoned bases around the world to give it some lore (bases from previous servers, however void of items), and in these early days I'll be hosting a few events, but once the server takes off and has a constant population, events will become 100% player ran, organic and unplanned.

 

 

 

If this sort of thing interests you, you can join the discord here: https://discord.gg/XMZCbgS4eS

 

You can also join the server here
IP: 104.192.227.51
Port: 8774
The password is located on the discord server, there's no whitelist or application process.