I am very nonplussed by the idea of stating out ourselves for this game. I think most people play TTRPG's to get into a more escapist environment, not being reminded how one would fail in a cataclysmic event. So, what are your thoughts on this? I hope they will allow for creating original PC's not patterned on anything.

Easy substitute. When you are "making yourself" think of someone else...

or you could just not play this game, plenty of other rpg's out there...

I would assume there is a section titled "but what if I don't want to play myself?" somewhere, similar to how Rogue Trader tried to address having multiple Rogue Traders or none at all. Otherwise... well to be honest this game doesn't really sound like it has much going for it. It sounds like each book is a generic treatment of a particular end of days scenario, which is surprisingly rare if a quick browse of DrivethruRPG's PA section is anything to go by so there might be a market for that. That being said, the main selling point is that we can play ourselves... which we can already do in other RPGs right?

I'm a human cultist in every RPG that i play

I think what the designers are trying to say (and for some reason people just aren't getting) is play as whoever you want , but we dare you to try to play as yourself . This setting isn't like D&D/high fantasy , or even like scifi like Star Wars Edge of empire where fantastical monsters of unimaginable power and weapons of magical or scifi futuristic capabilities . The zombie Apocalypse one in particular wields itself to "normal" everyday people/weapons .

I'm not going to lie and say I don't want to play as someone who can run miles on end without tiring and have near super human stamina . But I gotta admit I also want to play as myself to see what my limitations are and find ways to compensate or overcome these limitations . If nothing else playing as yourself may make you start thinking of things you can do in real life that could help you be better prepared in a natural disaster situation .

I would assume there is a section titled "but what if I don't want to play myself?" somewhere ...

What are you basing that assumption on?

I think what the designers are trying to say (and for some reason people just aren't getting) is play as whoever you want , but we dare you to try to play as yourself ...

Here's what Fantasy Flight has actually said (emphasis mine):

The End of the World books offer a different roleplaying experience than other roleplaying games. In many traditional roleplaying games, you play a fictional character, ranging from a human thief, to a dwarf war-mage, and beyond. In The End of the World books, however, you play as yourself !

...

Because you’re playing yourself at the end of the world, instead of a thousand-year-old elven warrior, the gear available to you is similarly restricted. As luck would have it, the apocalypse begins as you and your friends sit down to play a roleplaying game.

Nothing I've read suggests that playing yourself is intended to be optional, or that they will provide support for other options. It would make sense for them to do so, but according to the material they've released this won't be the case.

Is there something I've missed?

I honestly don't think anyone from FFG is going to come around and check your character to ensure it is you.

I plan on making character creation a peer review system. Not as a way to keep people honest, but because our friends tend to see us in a better light than we do ourselves.

I'm a human cultist in every RPG that i play

Most RPGs don't even HAVE 9500 year old vampiric demigods, so I'm pretty psyched about 'play yourself'.

I plan on making character creation a peer review system. Not as a way to keep people honest, but because our friends tend to see us in a better light than we do ourselves.

There's already one built in based on reviews of the Spanish Version. It's resolved by voting and reasoning on the maker's argument of why stats are the way the are.

I plan on making character creation a peer review system. Not as a way to keep people honest, but because our friends tend to see us in a better light than we do ourselves.

There's already one built in based on reviews of the Spanish Version. It's resolved by voting and reasoning on the maker's argument of why stats are the way the are.

That seems a good systhem, altough it will probably still result in the GM's girlfriend and the guy who bought the pizza getting slightly better stats

They only happen that way if you let them.

This, to me, is the crux of the problem with this game idea for me. I see far less appeal in playing myself in a fantastical situation than some imaginary person I find more interesting than myself (which, finding myself rather boring, is easy to imagine).

You don't have to be interesting to be in an apocalypse, it gives you a chance to become something you aren't.

It might even make you unboring!

At the very least you won't end the same as when you entered.

It's billed as a "narrative game", so similar to FATE, the point is likely not escapism, but cooperative storytelling to a degree. Yes, there are groups and players out there who are not about leveling and looting, but about just coming together and telling a story.

Playing yourself (=i.e. a flawed, but familiar and utterly three-dimensional person) seems to add additional empathy and conflict potential, making for more interesting storytelling.

It's too early to tell anything, but I really can't imagine I'll find it interesting. I would rather spend time to work out and then getting to know a fictional character who's in some way different than me or even just in a more interesting social situation, even if it's just something small like having siblings or some such element to mix it up.

I think that for me that's part of the draw of most rpgs I enjoy. I need to try to put myself in someone else's shoes.

I understand that that's a personal preference, and that the result might be that this simply isn't the game for me, but I've not yet decided.

That's why I'm writing here, to get other people's input on this aspect of the game. What's the draw for those who find the idea great or at least good? Is playing yourself what interests you, or are you intrigued by how your friends are going to act in this game?

I like apocalypse stories, most groups of friends at least discuss in passing how they'd handle a zombie outbreak. So here's the chance to do that mechanically, for religious there's the wrath of god, for alien conspirators there's aliens, for people that are afraid of the way programming is going and technology there's robots.

I find the draw in seeing how a character as myself would work out mechanically, for all the good and ill it would do. The backstory is already there, and the character has impressive depth. Because you have depth whether you realize it or not, all your opinions and personal philosophies, all your morals and lines in the sand. They're all depth to put in the game and really test how you'd react.

I like apocalypse stories, most groups of friends at least discuss in passing how they'd handle a zombie outbreak. So here's the chance to do that mechanically, for religious there's the wrath of god, for alien conspirators there's aliens, for people that are afraid of the way programming is going and technology there's robots.

While it doesn't have to be someone who's religious or an alien conspiracy fan or worried about the coming robot revolt to enjoy those apocalypses, this is basically correct. I can affirm that my gaming group (and other circles of friends) has sat around while watching certain movies or tv shows and made comments about both what the characters are doing wrong and what we would do in those situtations.

I find the draw in seeing how a character as myself would work out mechanically, for all the good and ill it would do. The backstory is already there, and the character has impressive depth. Because you have depth whether you realize it or not, all your opinions and personal philosophies, all your morals and lines in the sand. They're all depth to put in the game and really test how you'd react.

Well put. I'm sure we've all had characters and seen other players have characters that are basically ourselves except for the name and some superficial changes (especially in games with modern settings).

My only real concern is in the mechanics of how this game will allow us to draw "ourselves" up on paper. The only information we have on this is from a google translation of a review of the original spanish game and honestly I'm not really encouraged by what I read there. However, it was simply a review and we all know how "interesting" the results of google translate can be. I hope that FFE will soon release some definitative information (like a pdf preview).

To be fair it may be an overly negative review.

As RPG reviews usually are....

Not true at all, there are plenty of decent reviews that are fair.

To be fair it may be an overly negative review.

To me, it seemed to be a fair and even handed review, but read it for yourself and decide. Just remember it has been run through google translate.

http://bit.ly/1wkgy7G