New Survivors of Mayhem City

Here's a shot of my Newest Survivors. The recently moved to Mayhem City from a small town in Colorado called South Park.

The New Kids- Tripps, Dan, Derrick, Lyle, and Benny (names may be changing)

The New kids along side Mantic/Hasslefree Rose (front left), Reaper Peaches (back left), eM4 Cameraman, eM4 Fat Biker w/ auto-shotgun, Reaper Frank Russo, Reaper Ellen Stone, and Victory Force Zombie (front right)

The kids are actually repainted toys from a gumball machine. They are a rubbery plastic of a solid color (there are various colors available) with a "skull" screen printed for the face. There are different "skulls" available, I ended up with 3 cyclops skulls, one semi regular looking skull and one with the teeth looking some what like tentacles. As you can see I repainted them. I mainly painted them up as a comical group of survivors for games of ATZ.  They probably wont see a lot of actual play.

Just a small Update

Just a small update. I do have a couple more businesses (and the Multi-national MGCIS) that I have created fluff for, just need to dig out my notes for them. I also have been throwing around some ideas for characters for my Mackinac Island Campaign, two characters that I am debating on using is one Marshal James Raynor and one Captain Matthew Horner (10 geek points to the first person who can identify where I stole borrowed the names), who will travel around the Great Lakes, aboard Raynor's ship, which is helmed by Horner in a similar fashion to the Marshals of the Old West, traveling from community to community as needed dispensing justice. Another character will be a Sheriff Jack Carter (another 5 geek points for the first one who can identify where this character comes from), who will be the law for one of the smaller communities.

Other then working on some additional background fluff on both characters and businesses, I just received in the mail today my order of 50 Zombies from Victory Force Miniatures. right now I have all 50 primed and the zombie flesh painted in on all of them, my preferred color for my zombies is the now Out-of-Print Reaper Pro Paints Ghoul Gray, once the pot I currently have is no more I will probably use Reaper Master Series Ghoul Skin, Moldy Skin or Bloodless Skin, though right now I am unsure what one of these three colors I will use.

When I get some more free time, and am not painting I will try to post additional business fluff or character stats and fluff.

Fictional Companies in my Campaigns Part 4- Podtel

Well this post is in anticipation of the upcoming Podtel by Christopher Roe (aka Mel Ebbles) as part of his new partnership with World Works Games. Even though the Podtel's are supposed to be for a future setting I do plan on getting the set and building one or two for my Mayhem City Campaign. now on to the Fluff, again this is being written on the fly and may require some further editing, so please don't count it as a final version of the Podtel fluff.

Podtel- The Hotel of the Future Now

Envisioned by the eccentric billionaire, Ian McCauldwell, as the future of hotels. Ian got his idea after visiting Japan and seeing and staying in one of the Capsule Hotels there. Ian though that he could improve on the idea, instead of little cubes for the guest they would be larger and offer some amenities such as a small kitchenette and a bathroom, which the Japanese Capsule Hotels lacked.

Ian chose Mayhem City as the location for his first set of Podtel's. Each complex would consist of 2-4 towers surrounding a pool house for the guests. The first Podtel complex opened in 1989, with great popularity. Ian had another three complexes built in Mayhem City, along with another 2 dozen built across the USA, with 3 in Las Vegas, 3 in Miami, 3 in New York, 1 in Tuscon, 2 in the Washington DC area, 2 in Atlanta, 2 in Detroit, 2 in Boston, 3 in Los Angeles, and 3 in San Fransisco. For the next 12 years Podtels seemed to be doing great business, unfortunately this wasn't the case. Due to some shortcuts construction crews took in building the Podtel's outside of Mayhem City, they began to fall into disrepair faster then they could be maintained. Soon after this news came out Podtel went bankrupt, and all but the mayhem City Podtels closed their doors.

The ones in Mayhem City remained open but were soon put up for sale due to the lack of customers, two of the complexes were bought and turned into cheap apartments, McCauldwell Heights and Mayhem Towers Apartments, with the pools filled in and the pool houses torn down, due to the low cost to rent one of the pods as an apartment they condition of them has also deteriorated over time, where as the other was bought for almost nothing compared to the original building cost and continued to function as a hotel, though the new owners slowly let the condition deteriorate, before selling it. It was again purchased, now it operates as a low cost hotel, still under the original Podtel name, where one can rent rooms buy the hour, day, week or month, while the pool and pool house are still open it isn't advised you use the facility, the occasional body has been found floating just below the scum on the waters surface in the pool. Mayhem PD does rent two of the Pods for use as a mini police station, unfortunately those who live in the neighborhood, know unless you have paid the officers the monthly protection fee not to expect a prompt response time from the officers stationed there, even then those who have paid might be waiting for a officer to arrive well after the crime has been committed. Many in the neighborhood see the cops as nothing more then armed thugs using the name of the law as a way to do what they want, and not to start problems in public about the officers being crooked cops, if they value their lives.

Currently Mayhem Towers, McCauldwell Heights, and Podtel, are all on the Mayhem City Health Departments watch list, and it is expected that within the next 5 years all three will have been condemned due to the deteriorated conditions, unless something is done soon to renovate them.

Fictional Companies in my Campaigns Part 3- Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers

Well here is the third installment of fictional Companies I will have in my campaigns. Please take note that this is a very very rough version of the info, all typed out in about 5-10 minutes, I haven't even proof-read it yet, only did a quick spell check.

Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers

Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers, Mayhem City's premier pawn shop, has been serving the area for over 90 years. Established in 1919 by Ezekiel Robertson. The original Blue Diamond Pawn Shop was located at the corner of W. 4th St. and Baker St, where it remained for the next 35 years before moving to its current location at 1549 Castle Avenue. Ezekiel was a popular broker, primarily due to the fact that he would routinely overlook someone coming in up to a month late to pay off their loan. Though business was rough during the 1930's Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers survived, to become the place to buy and sell secondhand items, or find that rare collectible you have been after. It wasn't till the 1950's with the move to the current location that the business really started to excel. Ezekiel at the recommendation of his son, Issac, branched out to do business in objects other then the standard, gold, silver, jewelry, and artwork. Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers began to take in anything of value from old movie posters, to vehicles, to firearms, Issac also liked to joke around that if the it was legal to buy or take a living human in pawn they probably would deal in that too.

Today Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers while still located at 1549 Castle Avenue, now takes up the entire block. Thier showroom alone is over 3000 sq feet, with another 2000 sq feet outside dedicated to housing the vehicles they have for sale. Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers also currently operates 2 satellite shops one at the Mayhem International Airport, where they sell various aircraft that they have received either in sales or in pawn, and one at Mayhem Marina where they handle the watercraft they have received. Currently there is only one watercraft that the shop has that they wont sell, the 200ft luxury yacht, Mayhem's Pride, the former Division head of Castle Pharmaceuticals yacht that he lost in a poker game with then Mayor William Shoals. The mayor sold it to the Pawn Shop, and used the money to build Shoals Park for the community. Now the yacht is used by Rebecca Robertson-Gaines, Ezekiel's granddaughter, and her husband as a home.

Recently Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers was purchased by Castle Pharmaceuticles, who do have plans of turning Blue Diamond pawnbrokers into a franchise, based on how well the proposed Los Angeles does. With the sale Rebecca Robertson-Gains will continue to work for the Castle Pharmaceuticals as the head of their pawn shops, a position which now gives her the chance to travel the world, primarily via her yacht, scouting locations world wide for future Blue Diamond Pawn shops, as the Mayhem's Pride is equipped with a Helios 3 MCS and a personal office for Rebecca to handle any work she needs to do.






Unknown to almost everyone, with the exception of Rebecca and certain Castle Pharmaceuticals employees, with the acquisition of Blue Diamond Pawnbrokers by Castle Pharmaceuticals, the brokerage has taken a darker turn, in addition to putting pawned items on sale for those who default on their loans, they are also harvesting the organs of those who have defaulted on multiple or high valued loans. The individuals are killed in a "mugging" and then Castle Pharmaceuticals harvests the organs during the autopsy. These actions go unnoticed due to the fact that the Mayhem City council previously passed the Organ Donor Law, giving Castle Pharmaceuticals full right to harvest healthy organs from recently deseased individual so that they may be used to help others in need of an organ transplant. Unfortunately only 50% of all organs harvested get used as intended, the rest are used by Castle Pharmaceuticals for experiments, or sold to the wealthy who don't want to have to be on the waiting list.

Fictional Companies in my Campaigns Part 2- Bulls-Eye Burger

Bulls-Eye Burger (Bullseye Burger and Bulls Eye Burger also trademarked and used by the Bulls-Eye Burger Corporation)

A typical Bulls-Eye Burger sign. Most received "bullet-holes" while still at the factory to add to the "authenticity" of the signs, in truth the holes typically resulted from employees creating the signs deciding to use it for their own target practice before they were shipped out to be installed at the various Bulls-Eye Burger restaurants.

Bulls-Eye Burger opened their first restaurant in 1975, it was a small drive up place located just outside Mayhem City (in my campaign Mayhem City is located roughly where Flint, MI is located) in the suburban town of Burtucky. Right away Bulls-eye Burger proved to be a popular place to eat. Within 2 years Bulls-Eye Burger had expanded to 40 locations across the state, and by 1980 there were approx 500 Bulls-eye Burgers across the nation with 3 over in the United Kingdom. By the mid 1990's there was a Bulls-Eye Burger on every continent (including Antarctica at the McMurdo Station and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station).

The main attraction of their menu was the aptly named Bulls-Eye Burger, a 1/4lb burger with lettuce, onions,
tomatoes, cheese (your choice of American, Swiss, or Pepper Jack), 6 strips of thick cut bacon, it also came with Mustard Ketchup, Mayo or the Bulls-Eye Sauce (a special recipe Bar-B-Que sauce).

Bulls-Eye Burger's menu also included other standard staples such as their specially seasoned french fries, onion rings, chicken sandwiches, a fish sandwich, soft drinks, alcoholic drinks (for the adults, they could chose from Whiskey, Scotch, Beer (from both nationally known brands and local breweries), or the Bulls-Eye Bourbon Special, a drink that mixed a shot of 170 proof bourbon with the soft drink of your choice), shakes (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, banana, orange or the special of the month), a smaller burger (the Little Target Burger), a double burger (Big Target Burger) and chicken fingers.

The Bulls-Eye Kids Meal consisted of a small soft drink, shake or milk as the beverage, a small Fry or Onion Rings and the main entree of either a Little Target Burger (with or without cheese) or chicken fingers. Every kids meal came with a prize for the child,a scratch card that the child could win either a small plastic gun that shoots the suction cup darts or a Matt Black Deluxe BB gun (1 in 50 cards was a Matt Black Deluxe), based on the iconic Time Traveling TV hero, Matt Black's handy rifle which he used to kill the evil Aliens, Nazis, Communists, Indians, Cavemen, ect... that might be opposing him in the time period he visited that week. Later Bulls-Eye Burger introduced the Big Bulls-Eye Kids meals for older children, these consisted of a medium soft drink or shake, a small fry or onion rings, and a Big Target Burger (with or without cheese) or a chicken sandwich. The prize continued to be the scratch off cards, but for the Big Bulls-Eye Kids Meals, they small plastic suction cup dart gun was changed to a spring loaded bolt action airsoft rifle, and the Matt Black Deluxe BB Gun was changed to the Matt Black Deluxe .22LR (North American Stores only), with a 20 round magazine (these came with a mail in order form to purchase additional magazines of 20, 40 or even 100 round capacities), and a pad of 1000 targets (consisting of the aforementioned Evil Cavemen, Nazis, Aliens, Communists, Indians, etc... with each one on a separate page in the pad, the order form for the additional magazines also allowed for one to order additional sets of targets), (stated odds were still 1 in 50 for the .22 but in actuality they were closer to 1 in 30). Outside of North America all prizes were either the suction cup dart gun or the airsoft gun (1 in 100 were an airsoft spring loaded bolt action rifle).

Fictional Companies in my ATZ Campaign Part 1

Well I have alluded to a couple of companies I created for the background fluff in my campaigns, the main one and most detailed to day is Castle Pharmaceuticals, though they aren't the only company I created. In my last post I mentioned using the Ebbles Helios Thermosolar generators from the Farmstead set (now out of print, though it may be back in the future via Ebbles lab over at World works Games), so I figured I would knock out some quick fluff for Helios, please note this may not be the finalized background fluff for Helios Communication Technologies.

Helios Communications Technologies

Founded in 1927 by Randolf Alexander Helios. Helios Communications Technologies was originally called Helios Radios. During the 1930's and 1940's 4 out of 5 households that owned a radio manufactured by Helios. When the build up for World War II began, Helios was chosen by the US government as a contractor to produce the field radios. After the war ended Helios radios changed their name to Helios Communications Technologies, to reflect the fact they they were no longer just manufacturing radios for households to listen to, but telephones, broadcasting equipment, and television equipment.

Helios released the very first cellular phone in 1965, the Ranger Mk. 1, for US military communications use. The Ranger Mk. 1 while housed in a backpack, proved to be very popular with the military due to the fact that the soldiers could use it to call home while in the field, and when needed to call secure lines, as the Ranger phones were able to use the the signal encryption that the US military used. These phones gradually replaced all other US Military communication radios, both in the field, in military vehicles/watercraft, and command centers on US military bases, on board navel vessels and on bases the Ranger Mk. 1 were built into a special console that eliminated the portability of the phone, larger navel vessels also received Ranger Mk 1.5 phones (also built into a console) for the crews personal use for calling home to family while deployed at sea. The Ranger Mk. 2 released in 1980 cut the size of the phone in half. From the Mk. 2 model Helios released a civilian version the Eagle. Initially the Eagle was used by those who ran companies, financial moguls and brokers, Helios seen the need to release a more consumer obtainable model, which they did with the Pilot, a cellular phone that while it cost $200 without any service when initially released, Helios did offer great rebates, in some cases up to 80% off the retail price, for those who purchased it, they also went with including a free years worth of service with selected cellular providers that Helios partnered with. Currently 1 in 3 cell phones are a Helios smart phone using the Helios Sunfire OS, and 1 out of 3 phones by other manufacturers use the Sunfire OS. The Helios Sunfire OS has proven to be an very popular OS for smart phones. It is both efficient and easy for the user to use, phones with the Sunfire OS also have on average a better battery life, typically a talk time of up 15 hours to 20 hours longer then other cell phones, and 300 hours (12 1/2 days) of stand by time.

Helios also was one of the leaders in the pda/multi-media phone/smart phone field along with computer networking, both wired and wireless. Helios modems, routers, and network servers sales soon surpased even those of Castle Pharmaceuticals, which lead to a partnership between Castle Pharmaceuticals communications division and Helios, with Helios as the majority partner. Through the partnership Helios manufactured select communications equipment, primarily limited to computer networking equipment, and the Castle Pharmaceuticals Axiom cell phone, for Castle Pharmaceuticals to sell under thier own branding.
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During the early 1990's Helios released the Helios Satellite Communications System (SCS), which has since been adopted by 80% of the worlds broadcasting networks. The Helios SCS consists of the Helios 1 Communications Array. The Helios 1 unlike other Broadcasting arrays of the time was a fration of the size, the dish was about 6ft wide, and attached to a base station of approx the same height. The Helios 1 was designed to be upgradeable with any new technologies that would come out in the next 30 to 40 years. In fact Helios 1 SCS were broadcasting the first true digital signal back in 19968, years before any other broadcasting communication system was. Helios soon released the Helios 2 SCS a smaller man portable version primarily for use by news teams in the field, that was able to broadcast its signal out to a 1000mile radius without having to broadcast to a satellite orbiting in space. Helios also released the Helios 3 a higher powered version of the Helios 2, that was able to broadcast up to a 10,000 mile radius, again without having to broadcast to an orbiting satellite, further if it was broadcasting to repeater stations. It isnt uncommon for a news team to carry two Helios 2/3 units, one mounted on thier vehicle and one that they will set up on location for those times where its not feasible to have the vehicle right there on site. The Helios 3 SCS also found favor on various marine vessels due to the range it could broadcast, because of this Helios released the Helios 3 Marine Communications System (MCS) version of the Helios 3 SCS, with refitted the Helios 3 with more durable weathering seals, slightly higher power, the Helios 3 MCS could transmit out to a 15,000 mile radius, and also the Helios 3 MCS has a built in emergency life support system that transmits the MCS's location in case of an emergency to search and rescue teams, that consists of an inflatable life boat for up to 15 people, and a weeks worth survival bars, a high calorie, high protien energy bar and a small water distillation/desalination plant that can process 2 gallons of water a day for 4 weeks, in addition to the standard first aid kit, flare, survival blankets, etc...



I am do have other companies and businesses I have created for my background fluff, that I do plan on posting later, as previously mentioned I will be adding an additional page to my blog of the various companies like I have done with Castle Pharmaceuticals.