Day 1 — The Outbreak Begins, Society Starts to Collapse
It is the first day of the outbreak. The disease is poorly understood: authorities describe isolated incidents, hospitals report alarming behavior, and people declared dead are sometimes seen moving again. Information is unreliable, phone networks are unstable, and official instructions change by the hour. Most people have not yet grasped the scale of the disaster. Shops remain open or are beginning to close, transport runs intermittently, and emergency services are quickly overwhelmed. The streets are not yet overrun everywhere: panic, rumors, and human decisions are as dangerous as the infected. Survivors can gather and establish camps. A camp is a community with leaders, rules, resources, relationships, needs, and risks. It can grow from an improvised shelter into a lasting base, split apart, welcome newcomers, or disappear.
The first day of an unknown outbreak. Emergency rooms are overwhelmed, reports become contradictory, and the first infected appear in the streets. No group is powerful yet: every character must decide whom to trust, find water, food, and shelter, and connect with other survivors. Play as a survivor, medical worker, police officer, civilian, or another character, and shape your own story as the world begins to fall apart.
OUTBREAK It is Day 1. The disease is poorly understood. Authorities describe isolated incidents, hospitals report alarming behavior, and some people declared dead appear to move again. Information is unreliable, phone networks are unstable, and official instructions change by the hour. Most residents have not yet understood the scale of the crisis. Shops are open or beginning to close, transport runs intermittently, and emergency services are overwhelmed. Panic, rumors, and human decisions are as dangerous as the infected. INFECTED The infected are drawn to noise, visible movement, and places where people gather. They do not plan or negotiate. Their presence increases over time and with major incidents, but not uniformly: weather, population density, obstacles, and human activity affect local risk. Encounters are dangerous; avoiding them or changing route may be wiser. SURVIVAL Hunger, thirst, rest, health, and stress change over time and with exertion. Injuries, illness, sleep deprivation, and shortages reduce a character's capabilities. Carried resources are limited by what a person can reasonably transport. Scavenging takes time and may attract attention; supplies do not replenish automatically. CAMPS A group can establish a camp in a building, farm, warehouse, or defensible site. It needs people, shelter, water, food, and basic organization. Camps have resources, capacity, security, morale, and relationships with other groups. Expanding a camp takes time, materials, and work. Poorly maintained camps may face shortages, disputes, illness, or abandonment. COMMUNITIES Every survivor has personal goals, fears, skills, and relationships. Trust is earned through consistent actions and can be lost. Groups may trade, negotiate, ally, recruit, exclude, or come into conflict. No group is automatically loyal to the player character. ECONOMY AND MONEY On Day 1, euros and ordinary payment methods still work inconsistently: some shops accept cash or cards, while others close or lose network access. Cash may help early on, but it guarantees neither stock nor service. As institutions and shops stop functioning, money loses value depending on the location; barter, useful services, and essential supplies gradually become more important. Survivors can negotiate, trade, or pool their resources. INFORMATION News spreads slowly and may be false. A character only knows what they have seen, learned, or reasonably inferred. Long-distance communication becomes less reliable as networks and electricity are disrupted. TIME AND CONSEQUENCES Actions take time in proportion to their difficulty. Non-player characters continue acting during that time. Decisions permanently affect locations, supplies, relationships, and safety. There is no fixed storyline or predetermined victory: survival and the future of communities emerge from the characters' choices.