Experiences Realistic* Survival RPs - What's Your Experience?

[TerrorKitty]

I love survival as a genre, it's one of my bigger special interests, and I have a whole list of the best survival movies and even some books and shows, based on what I like personally.

I've always wanted to do a Plane Crash Survival story a la The Grey or Cast Away-esque Island survival, etc etc etc

There's also the good ol zombie apocalypse RP

I've never really seen any of these work out, but I always feel deep down that a group could make it really work. Somehow.

What's your experience? Have you ever done one, would you like to? Give us the details, I'm curious

 

[Idea]

Can you define “realistic” for me in this case?

 

[Big Brother Jack]

I love survival as a genre, it's one of my bigger special interests, and I have a whole list of the best survival movies and even some books and shows, based on what I like personally.

I've always wanted to do a Plane Crash Survival story a la The Grey or Cast Away-esque Island survival, etc etc etc

There's also the good ol zombie apocalypse RP

I've never really seen any of these work out, but I always feel deep down that a group could make it really work. Somehow.

What's your experience? Have you ever done one, would you like to? Give us the details, I'm curious

I would love to try a realistic survival rp and the closest thing to it I did was a zombie apocalypse which was fun but it was on discord so yeah...

I had a guy throw mustard gas at zombies lol and he threw one at a girl who was trying to attack him and they both got hurt.

 

[Jannah]

I don't do too many of these myself, but I'll say this: if you're going for realism, particularly in a group setting, then not all characters should have a medical or military/law enforcement background. I tend to see that a lot in these types of RP's, especially ones with zombies.

 

[Corrosion]

One of my first ever RPs I ran when I first joined this site was a realistic survival RP. I was terribly inexperienced then and had no idea what to do and constantly took control of other people's characters.

I still cringe every time I think about it.

 

[TerrorKitty]

Dang ouchi

 

[GojiBean]

My experience with "realistic" Survival RP's hasn't been that great, honestly. It's one of my favorite video game genres to play in. But as far as RPing, it hasn't worked out yet. And I've been RPing for about 20 ish years now (yes, I'm old, lol).

For example, one of the first survival RP's I joined many years ago was a forest/mountain zombie apocalypse survival RP. No civilization. Just little makeshift huts and tree houses for a "community space." Cool concept. But once the zombies showed up and couldn't climb, it was kinda boring to just say we were "sitting" and "watching in fear" when the suspension of disbelief wasn't there for the fear factor. I mean if you're safe in a tree house, what's there to watch in fear about if we know they can't climb and there's no hint or indication that they'll ever learn how to get to us?

So I didn't stick with that one very long.

Another one I joined later on was a little bit better, but unfortunately the GM set themselves up for a situation they weren't prepared to oversee. The RP's setting was again out in the wilderness, but this time similar to the Last Of Us with the cities that have quarantine sections and gates/walls to keep zombies out. Once the walls broke down the city basically succumbed in one night despite the fact that the number of zombies were only "several dozen" and the city was "littered with armed guards." I ignored the lack of suspension of disbelief hoping that maybe it was just a little bit of forced plot to get us isolated, which it was. But once we were things changed the other way. The zombies couldn't touch us despite us being mostly unarmed or armed with meager and primitive tools and weapons like sticks, planks, bats, etc. The "several dozen" zombies who took out a city couldn't take down 4-5 people in the wilderness who were out of their element with no walls or fences to protect them. Again, I ignored it as a little bit of forced plot and let it go on. And then we reached my favorite part... The actual "survival" part when zombies weren't showing up.

Surviving out on your own isn't something entirely foreign to human beings as a species. But evidently not a lot of people study how the human body responds to desperate survival situations. For example, when your body goes without water intake for an extended period of time not only do your kidneys slowly cease to function properly with waste expulsion from your blood, but other organs can begin to shut down as well. The first to go aside from the kidneys are usually the liver followed shortly thereafter by the brain. During the process as the brain is subjected to dehydration, confusion, dizziness, and other mental lapses become more and more common. And yet... When I brought this up to the GM they shook it off and said "We don't need to worry about that stuff. Just act like you're really thirsty."

So yeah...

Realism in survival RP's tends to vary in my own personal experience. Usually it swings towards "realistic setup, unrealistic rest of the journey." Typically the more gung-ho the GM is about the "obstacles," i.e. the zombies, rogues, or whoever in the world presents a threat, the less they actually pay attention to the way the human body responds to desperate and deprived situations which is going to happen when first starting out.

Human beings haven't survived in the wilds for hundreds, if not thousands of years in some cultures. So we'd have to learn how to do so all over again which takes time. And the longer it takes to re-learn how to survive, the more likely it is that a lot of people will have died or in other ways succumbed to the elements and forces of the world that they're not longer prepared to shield themselves against (such as dehydration if they don't know where or how to get clean water).

I would absolutely LOVE to dive into a realistic survival RP if I felt that the GM was competent and paid actual attention to the way the human body works when dehydrated, starved, injured, etc. But so far those things always seem to take a back seat so I don't bother much with the genre in RPing anymore.

Still, I have (a little) hope for the future.

 

[Mitheral]

My experiences have been one of dismay. Last really good group survival RP I did was in the 1990's. All of the members were college students. And it was based in a real world setting to start out.

We 'ice cream scooped' my bedroom and surrounding section of the house and transplanted it into a whole new setting. On the plus side, one of my hobbies was collection books on how to rebuild civilization from stone knives to laser, IC chips, robots and nuclear power - literally. I actually had textbooks on all the subjects. My other hobby was a collection of knives and swords. Part of the volume scooped out included two huge floor freezers filled with meat and veggies.

The group roleplayed themselves. They had a great time, which was the whole point. I will have to admit, I enjoyed listening to them try chemistry experiments by following my books. (I was a chemistry major and THE top student at my college.)

*******

As to the presence of medical, military, and such, it really depends on how long it has been since things went south. Those ARE the people with better odds of survival. It makes sense if they survive. If it is a generation later, it makes sense to pass on those skills.

But if the adventure begins shortly after the apocalypse, then it makes more sense to have a group of mostly normal people who flock to follow a real survivor.

One doesn't have to be actual military or medically trained to have serious survival skills.

 

[Wind]

These are one of the ones I wish to heaven and hell could be done with a 1x1 but just too many variables fight against it.

 

[TerrorKitty]

It's true. I've always wanted to do a plane crash in the woods a-la "The Grey" style or something, but it just...Never gets anywhere

 

[Mitheral]

Furthest I ever got with one of those was character creation - a few of them ... then ... nothing.

 

[Lichen8404]

In my experience they're super fun but tend to run out of steam really quickly. Especially like realistic slice of life stuff, they're amazing when they last though!

 

[Jannah]

In my experience they're super fun but tend to run out of steam really quickly. Especially like realistic slice of life stuff, they're amazing when they last though!

This has largely been my experience too. There's only so much you can do with these plots/settings, especially if you're trying to keep things realistic.

 

[CecilDMMasters]

If by survival you mean the stuff like finding shelter, treating wounds, gathering food, building up a base for protection or traveling through dangerous or just unknown lands then I've had trouble with these scenarios. I've had a few good partners with this as part of the rp. But many even if it's discussed as part of a plot it tends to fall short many times. The survival part is highly glossed over with cheats. Like a seemingly magical instant house capsule With all needed amenities. Or them wanting to time skip hunting. Or suddenly they reveal their character is a helpless sensitive who needs cared for. Or they suddenly toss an annoying kid in to be the main plot. And the time someone completely ignored the conversation about traveling over a land full of hostile animals and life warped by alien and cross dimension experiments to have hos character call a rescue chopper to take them to his characters home city.

 

[amberskies]

If by survival you mean the stuff like finding shelter, treating wounds, gathering food, building up a base for protection or traveling through dangerous or just unknown lands then I've had trouble with these scenarios. I've had a few good partners with this as part of the rp. But many even if it's discussed as part of a plot it tends to fall short many times. The survival part is highly glossed over with cheats. Like a seemingly magical instant house capsule With all needed amenities. Or them wanting to time skip hunting. Or suddenly they reveal their character is a helpless sensitive who needs cared for. Or they suddenly toss an annoying kid in to be the main plot. And the time someone completely ignored the conversation about traveling over a land full of hostile animals and life warped by alien and cross dimension experiments to have hos character call a rescue chopper to take them to his characters home city.

i 100% agree with this, i dont like it when characters magically have a lighter, a tent or something else that makes survival way easier. i really love having them make the best of the resources they have around and try to survive. i also agree with the skipping over part; i love doing the little things like rping the characters building something, or going fishing or hunting, or a detailed exploration of the jungle if the island happens to have one. if you skip all of that, what else are your characters really gonna be doing apart from sitting n chatting? :v

imo it has a lot to do w partners as well. ive had a roleplay going on for over a year now with this one partner and when things get a little boring, idk how but we manage to throw random ideas and end up coming up with REALLY good and interesting plots. for me, getting along with my rp partner and chatting ooc a lot is super important bc then i feel more comfy sharing ideas with them

 

[Jannah]

i 100% agree with this, i dont like it when characters magically have a lighter, a tent or something else that makes survival way easier. i really love having them make the best of the resources they have around and try to survive. i also agree with the skipping over part; i love doing the little things like rping the characters building something, or going fishing or hunting, or a detailed exploration of the jungle if the island happens to have one. if you skip all of that, what else are your characters really gonna be doing apart from sitting n chatting? :v

imo it has a lot to do w partners as well. ive had a roleplay going on for over a year now with this one partner and when things get a little boring, idk how but we manage to throw random ideas and end up coming up with REALLY good and interesting plots. for me, getting along with my rp partner and chatting ooc a lot is super important bc then i feel more comfy sharing ideas with them

Well, I don't mind the characters having lighters, tents, etc., but only if it makes sense for the backstory. Like, maybe the character is a heavy smoker so always carries a lighter on them, something like that.

 

[amberskies]

Well, I don't mind the characters having lighters, tents, etc., but only if it makes sense for the backstory. Like, maybe the character is a heavy smoker so always carries a lighter on them, something like that.

oh yeah that makes sense for sure, but sometimes it’s totally random and they suddenly have an entire toolkit that solves every problem n it feels really unrealistic you know what i mean. for example this isn’t island survival but i had a maze runner roleplay with someone once and our two female characters that showed up at the same time were given a bunch of clothes they could choose from to change into. the other person made their character whip out a whole ass pair of heels, makeup, jewelry, a dress etc and i was so confused hahah

 

[Jannah]

oh yeah that makes sense for sure, but sometimes it’s totally random and they suddenly have an entire toolkit that solves every problem n it feels really unrealistic you know what i mean. for example this isn’t island survival but i had a maze runner roleplay with someone once and our two female characters that showed up at the same time were given a bunch of clothes they could choose from to change into. the other person made their character whip out a whole ass pair of heels, makeup, jewelry, a dress etc and i was so confused hahah

Well, in that case it's getting into deus ex machina territory, and it's not even a creative or clever usage of the trope. I've seen RPs where that sort of thing can be pulled off effectively, though.

 

[amberskies]

Well, in that case it's getting into deus ex machina territory, and it's not even a creative or clever usage of the trope. I've seen RPs where that sort of thing can be pulled off effectively, though.

oh yeah for sure, if its done in a way that makes sense im 100% for it, but if it creates plotholes or just doesnt make any sense it totally spoils it for me

 

[Stricken Steel]

Why not do something Walking Dead style?

I mean, Food is rare. Ammo is rare. Weapons are...eh. Armor should be pretty easy to find, lol. Newspapers around the arms and legs, WWZ style.