When desperate souls pray for aid, how will you answer?

I would test Loyalty by building up the person's friendship with someone while simultaneously increasing their desire to fulfill some sort of personal goal. Once a bond has been established, I would then present them with a situation where they're forced to choose between their friend and their goal. The test would obviously be failed if they chose the goal over the friend.

Zombie Monday:

@ISentinelPenguinI

I thought you approach to writing about the Grim Reaper personified was very creative. The way he lamented his fate and simply wished it could be less of a problem to them tugged at my heartstrings. Am I correct in assuming that the reason the Grim Reaper reacts with guilt and tries to calm the sick person is because he mentioned how addicted he was to life? Maybe he had some facial expression or other sign that he was about to just go for the kill? I didn't catch it the first time and thought the line that was upsetting the sick person was "It seems the only people willing to sit down and talk with me are people like you. Sick, dying people who were about to see me anyway." but after re-reading the passage I'm not so sure. At any rate, nicely done!

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, haha. I'm sorry for cutting you off? I felt it was already getting too long but I couldn't help writing one more passage. Maybe I'll make it into a storygame someday. I'm definitely going to do the bonus, I just need to get past my writer's block first.

It might help if you told people a little more about your story, such as the genre and who the main character is. The more info you can provide without spoiling things the better I think.

Day 1 - Dusk

Where to begin? I never thought a day like this would come. The dead walking the streets, eating people alive or transforming them into fellow zombies with their infectious bites. I knew something bad was coming, but I never foresaw this. Even as a believer in magic and other supernatural things, I'm having a hard time accepting this. I am a magician after all, I know how easy it is to deceive others with some misdirection. This could easily just be some biological weapon gone wrong, or a natural disease that's mutated to this state. I'm no scientist, but I've read enough books to come up with such theories.

Why am I writing this? Well, to keep myself sane I suppose. I was fortunate enough to find this unused diary (such a waste) in one of the houses our group scavenged and it seemed as good a way to pass the time as any. There's not much else I can while we wait here for the zombie horde to pass, except think, and that I can do while writing. Leader actually loved the idea of me writing in this, though that's due to his visions of grandeur. He expects this will become an epic tale of our survival by the end of all this. As naive as he is, I hope he's right.

On the note of our fearless leader, I suppose I should document our group's current composition. I'll start with Leader and just work my way down in order of group seniority.

Leader

Male, 26-years old

The heart and soul of our group. He used to have a small street gang which is why he has a knack for leadership and urban survival. Apparently he gave up his real name long ago and proclaimed himself “Leader”, and has been such ever since. I must admit it's a great way to discourage competition, especially when you're so effective. The man's just as skilled with his fists and anything he can carry as he is with a firearm. His favorite weapon however is a shovel, which he puts to good use against the zombies. A quick sweep to knock them down then a thrust and stomp to finish them off.

His greatest trait however is that he never gives up, no matter how grim things get. He's pulled more than one of us out of despair with his pep-talks, even after terrible losses. I just wish that didn't come at the price of naivety. He has good instincts and street smarts, and is even good at battle tactics, but the man doesn't know when to quit. His belief that effort and courage can overcome anything may just get him killed one day... probably in an attempt to save the rest of us. I hope that day doesn't come.

Wrench

Female, 25-years old

The mechanic of our group. She was part of Leader's gang since she was a little girl and grew up with him on the streets. Despite this, she's worked numerous jobs including being a car mechanic and a blacksmith's apprentice. Add to that her ability to throw almost anything with deadly effect along with her brawling experience, and she's an invaluable member of our group. Leader never puts her in the thick of the action, which is understandable as they are lovers, but she can nonetheless hold her own when necessary.

On more than one occasion she's saved one of us with a well-aimed rock or tool to a zombie's head. Her favorite weapon is her a wrench, which explains how she got her name. It seems to be tradition in Leader's gang for him to rename people based on their traits. At any rate, while Wrench is one tough woman, she also has a tender side. She disguises it in the form of lectures and rants, but she fusses over us after every battle to make sure we're okay. I am beginning to understand how a street gang can feel like family, assuming you're in a good one.

Numbers

Male, 32-years old

The brains of the group. I was shocked to learn that he used to be an accountant at a prestigious bank. Apparently he'd been suffering from severe depression for years and one day ended up wandering into a bad part of town while in a drunken stupor. Leader found him and recruited him into his gang. Being around Leader and co must have fixed his depression, because he's quit drinking and seems perfectly stable. In fact he's the least emotional person in our group, which makes me wonder how he became so depressed to begin with.

Regardless, he's been an incredible boon to us. His skill for rapidly calculating numbers and odds in his head has helped with both inventory management and swift tactical decisions in the heat of battle. He always knows how much of any vital supply we have left, including ammunition and explosives, and he keeps accurate count of known zombie populations in each city block. He's even started mapping out the city.

His only short-coming at this point is he's not much of a fighter. He can't handle melee combat and while he's gotten some practice in Leader's gang, he's still not great with a firearm. That hardly matters though as Leader doesn't put him in danger. Further, Numbers does something far more important than calculations or combat: keeping Leader out of trouble. Whenever Leader comes up with a ridiculous plan, Numbers always pulls him back to reality with some hard numbers and facts. Given how stubborn Leader can be, it's fortunate that he always heeds Numbers' advice. I must admit amusement at Leader's choice of names for his people. I can't say it's not fitting though.

Khan

Male, 24-years old

The magician of the group. Ah, my entry, what to say? I'm so much better at writing about others than myself. I'm a magician by trade, well, retired magician. I started working odd jobs after I quit. I still love magic, mine and the supernatural variety, but I just couldn't keep performing for people who didn't appreciate my work. Each performance would have one less believer and one more skeptic, trying to analyze my tricks and reveal how they work to everyone else, spoiling the show. With the prevalence of magic tricks being broken down and exposed on the internet, it was a losing battle for me.

It's not all bad though, the skills I've learned from those days have proven surprisingly useful in these apocalyptic times. Not only am I excellent at keeping up morale with my performances, but I can also think of many a disappearing act to pull on zombies, a far less analytical audience. Misdirection is incredibly effective against them, and my use of it has allowed us to maneuver through even heavily infested portions of the city. All it takes is a little noise and light, then one zombie's attention is drawn and shortly all others will follow. I don't think they have any sort of pack instinct, but the active sounds of one inevitably seems to lure the others. At any rate, I suppose I'm both the entertainer and strategist of the group. I plan out our shows with the zombie horde and ensure we're always a step ahead of our audience.

As far as combat is concerned, I'm a lover, not a fighter. Nonetheless, I did some fencing back in the day, so I can at least keep zombies at bay with a light melee weapon and my aim isn't bad with a gun. I'm still nervous firing them, but hopefully I'll improve with practice. Hmm, what else? Ah yes, I am also quite good at scouting and scavenging. A magician's eye is ideal for picking out the goods among the wreckage, as well as detecting potential traps. Both natural and artificial. It's not just the zombies we have to worry about, fellow humans can be just as much of an issue.

As for how I joined the group, well, I was actually trying to hide out in my home until things blew over. A foolish endeavor in hindsight, but I wasn't confident of my chances of survival on the streets alone. It is therefore fortunate that Leader decided to raid my apartment complex for supplies and stumbled upon me in his search. He was surprisingly diplomatic in our encounter despite having broken down my door and keeping me in his gun's line of fire. It took a while for me to calm down and adjust to the situation, but Leader has a way of making one feel welcome. Soon, his gang was like family to me, and it's been too long since I've felt a part of one.

There's not much else to say about me, other than I suppose a clarification about my name. I am not related to the Mongolians in any manner, honestly I don't know why my father named me that, but it doesn't matter. It's my name and I'm used to it, and Leader has graciously allowed me to keep it as it allows me to respond quickly to being called. I suppose it helps that my name is rather easy to remember and can be spoken with haste. At any rate, that's all I have to say about myself for now. I sincerely hope I live to make another entry and perhaps to elaborate further on my past. I've always wanted to write an autobiography.

Felix

Male, 5-years old

My dear Felix, what a wonderful companion he's been in these hard times. Not only is he fully capable of feeding himself, but he has repeatedly saved my life by warning me of unseen dangers. Zombies playing dead, floors ready to collapse and scentless gas leaks, he's kept me clear of them all. Truly, those who say dog is man's best friend know nothing of cats. I suppose it helps that I trained him since birth, and he seems unnaturally intelligent even so, but I can't imagine any other animal filling the same role. There's nothing quite like petting a purring cat in your lap after a tiring day of fighting zombies and scavenging ruins. Nor can a dog hope to easily escape the dangers we face like a cat can. I must admit that I dread the day my precious black cat's luck runs out, but so far he's come out of every occasion unscathed. I've even convinced the others that he's bad luck for our enemies. An amusing superstition that I'm starting to believe myself. Well, he has always been my lucky charm.

Eel

Male, 20-years old

The electrician of the group. He was recruited about a week after I was. We found him hiding out in a warehouse, holed up with some supplies and a gas-powered generator. The man was almost living in luxury with all those electronics! That seems to be his passion as well, and he's been a great asset to us since joining. The warehouse itself has served as an excellent new base of operations, and his talent for taking apart and repairing all things electrical has helped us get a significant edge over the zombies and other survivors. He helped rig up a system to electrify the chain-link fence surrounding the area, and while we've had to ration the fuel supply for power, watching some old movies on the TV together certainly did wonders for our spirits.

In the time he's spent with us he's been training for combat and seems to have a talent for firearms. Must be all those video games he's played. That man's reflexes are second-to-none, which has made him an excellent scout. In addition, his favorite weapon is a tazer, and while it isn't very helpful against the undead, it has made recruitment far easier for us. Thanks to its non-lethal nature, we can afford to shoot first and recruit later, which means a much lower chance of us getting shot first. A final quirk worth writing about is Eel seems to be completely devoid of passion or emotion most of the time. Show him anything electric though and he's giddier than a schoolgirl on prom night. I've begun incorporating the occasional sparks in my nightly performances and I must say his excited reactions are terribly amusing. Oh, and as for his name? He chose that as soon as Leader introduced the idea. Leader liked it, and so it stuck.

Zaz

Male, 17-years old

The scavenger of the group. He's the most recent addition to our merry band. The poor boy was absolutely traumatized when we found him, and I certainly understand why. He and his family had been managing to survive by scavenging in a safer part of town and avoiding conflict, but they were soon found by what I can only describe as monsters. Worse than zombies in many respects, these degenerates, these insults to humanity, this gang of heartless thugs captured the lot of them and... I can hardly bear to write about it.

I suppose I'll put it bluntly, his mother was raped in front of them, after which his father was killed. His mother kept him alive by threatening to kill herself if they touched him. It is unfortunate we couldn't save her, but we had no idea they would start killing innocent people when we first encountered them. Zaz only survived because he was locked up at the time, and we were able to finish them off before they got to him. Needless to say we welcomed him to the group and have been trying to help him recover.

It's been about a month since that time, and while he's no longer in shock, he's psyche is still rather fragile. He is constantly on edge and I fear the tension will kill him before the zombies do, but it does have its advantages. Out of everyone in the group, Zaz is the most alert, and can always be counted on to keep watch. I dare say he's even better at detecting an ambush than my cat, if only because he's so paranoid that he considers possibilities we'd never entertain before it's even a problem. It can be tiresome, but it has honestly helped us avoid some trouble and I can't fault him for it after his experience.

In combat, Zaz is an absolute coward, but still surprisingly effective. I wouldn't trust him with any sort of firearm, but Wrench has been teaching him to throw things and he's become rather good at it. Given his penchant for picking up anything of interest, he's never short on projectiles either. On the note of which, the boy has a real talent for scavenging. He doesn't even seem to realize how useful the items he picks up are, but whenever we're in a pinch he usually has what need somewhere in his overstuffed backpack.

Like Numbers, Zaz tends to be kept out of combat if it can be helped. Leader also allowed him to keep his name, given the trauma with his mother. It's an easy enough name to remember anyway. The last thing of note about Zaz is he's incredibly superstitious. It took tremendous effort on my part to convince him that he was not in any danger from my cat. Thankfully I was able to convince him with the saying that black cats grant luck on approach and take it away when they leave. It's led to him being unwilling to go anywhere without Felix around, but that's a small price to pay. I sincerely hope we can help him through his issues someday.

Day 2 - Dawn

Oh my, have I really been writing that long? I suppose so. There was more to cover than I thought, and I suppose I do ramble even on paper. Well, I should wrap this up. Leader is calling everyone to discuss our next move. The zombie horde seems to have moved on, but we can't be sure until we do some scouting. I'll check on Felix and see if he's at all skittish before we even consider going out. Whatever happens, I'm glad I was able to become a part of this family. I have faith in our group and I believe we can survive this, but if not, I have no regrets.

Given that you like Civ, you might enjoy Age of Wonders III or Warlock 2: the Exiled. I managed to enjoy both of them for a time though I admit I eventually quit both, as they didn't satisfy my particular desires. I probably just need some appropriate mods though.

Since you're not that picky I'll just list a few random games I've recently played that were fun. All the games below as well as the ones above can be found on Steam.

Dungeons of Dredmor: Fun Roguelite RPG with a lot of humor. The classes/skill paths you can choose are ridiculous, funny and a lot of fun. An example of skills you can choose: Necronomiconomics / Emomancy / Magic Law / Fleshsmithing / Archaeology. The Magic Law path lets you fuck with other magic users and Archaeology gives you a free Fedora to start with, and later lets you send named items to the museum for XP. My description does not do it justice though, so I recommend looking into it more yourself.

Path of Exile: Free-to-play, kinda Diablo-esque online rpg. It's got multiplayer but it involves forming a party if you want that and it's not necessary to enjoy the game at all. I like their use of gems which you stick into slots on your equipment to give you various magic abilities. These can then be leveled up through killing monsters with them equipped. It's also got a pretty dark atmosphere which you may appreciate.

I've got more to recommend but typing these descriptions takes a bit (perfectionist, want to do the games justice, etc) so I'll leave you with this for now.

Are you looking for games of a similar nature, or something completely different? If you can narrow down genres you'd prefer or anything in particular you're looking for I can probably help.
 

I was already interested in The Magick Academy just from skimming your projects list, but now I'm enthralled. You're combining magic school with Harvest Moon, two things I absolutely LOVE! I second the motion for you to work on The Magick Academy next, though you might benefit from a well-deserved break too. I just read through this thread and it looks like you pushed yourself pretty hard through sickness. Having recently been terribly ill myself, I know the feeling and you don't want to burn yourself out, as that's far worse than a small break.

Regarding the co-authorship situation, I'd personally love to offer to help, but I'm not sure you'd want the help of someone who hasn't posted their first storygame yet. I'm not a newbie, but I'm not really "tested" either and I'd hate to disappoint. Plus like you I have a big chunk of personal life issues that drain my time and energy, so I wouldn't be able to do as much as I'd like even if you did want my help.

I'm happy to beta-read/test though, that's something I'm good at. At any rate, good luck with TOW and whatever you choose as your next project! :)