FNV Companions play Project Zomboid
A/N: Forewarning - i’m not good at zomboid and have a far from comprehensive understanding of the game. This is based off my experience of it. Spoiler warning for Project Zomboid Lore. Also,,,just suspend your disbelief for a moment and pretend that a game like Zomboid could be run on a typical fallout terminal.
Some companions are left out because I don’t know enough about them to write them well, apologies in advance.
Special thanks to my good friend, who wants to be credited as ‘Creative Bounce-Wall’
Not a huge fan of the game's solo experience and only plays with other people. Life’s hard enough, and if he’s trying to unwind on a weekend or on his days off, he’s really only looking to have a good time. Project zomboid isn’t his speed of game at all. Despite this, he loves to roleplay (as a doctor, surprise.) makes very good use of the empty notebooks, has a lore-compliant full ‘7 days of our lives’ soap opera going on between his character and a few others. Could (and probably should) put it in a book and sell it, how good it is.
DO NOT ask him to clear out buildings. His murdering skills IRL do not translate to zomboid. Lost 10 characters trying to clear out one neighbourhood block on Muldraugh and is still a bit upset about it. Establish a base, grab some materials, THEN invite Arcade to join. He’ll keep the place organised, level up his stats and keep everyone else alive. Despite this,he has yet to make it to winter, poor thing. He also turns jumpscare volume down. Once, he screamed so loud that he awoke the whole mormon fort.
General: He spawn in Muldraugh, and ONLY Muldraugh. It’s comfortable, has tons of loot, and, most importantly, he knows the place like the back of his hand. Respawn is OFF. Once burned, twice shy. Canned goods set to abundant, Melee weapons, Medical and Literature set to common. All clothing is unlocked at the start, but only so he can wear medical gear.Otherwise, standard apocalypse settings.
Character(s): For the way he likes to play, you’d think he’d choose less negative traits.
Career set to Doctor (of course) Starts in muldraugh and works his way up to the medical centre above the neighbourhood with high fences next to the grocery store (you’ll know it when you see it). Lives upstairs, turns the downstairs into a makeshift hospital. His character is fixated on finding a cure, or at least a way to slow down the virus from spreading, which eventually evolves into staying alive while the world goes to hell around him. There’s a whole character arc that’s constantly developing, and he puts a lot of care and love into his character. The first time a long-term character died, he didn’t touch the game for two weeks.
-Negative Traits: Short Sighted/Unfit/High thirst/Restless sleeper/Conspicuous/Slow Learner/Slow Reader/Hard of Hearing/Pacifist
-Positive traits: Cat’s Eyes/Dextrous/Outdoorsman/Nutritionist/Lucky/Former Scout/Adrenaline Junkie/Herbalist/Strong
-Mods: True actions:Dancing and True actions act 2.Lying/ Zuper cart carts and trolleys/Snow is water/Players on map/Expanded helicopter event/Smoker + Le gourmet Revolution patch
Like Arcade, it took a while for him to get into Project Zomboid. It’s not that he doesn’t like it, just that it’s a little complicated. He played the tutorial six times before he felt ready to actually play the game (no shade ofc).Eventually found his groove, and hasn’t deviated since. Really enjoys the punishing aspect of the game, only roleplays to the extent of going along with other people’s characters. Doesn’t pay attention to the lore. More or less just plays the game as himself. Gets put into the designated mercenary role if playing with others, and is given a dedicated safe room with full amenities and services, in exchange for clearing out requested buildings. Surprisingly hasn’t died as many times as everyone else. Currently on a quest to clear out Louisville, and god help anyone who gets in his way.
General: Initially spawned in March Ridge and didn’t have a good time. Once he conquered that area, he moved on to greater challenges. Fuck being a badass, this guy is death incarnate. Doesn’t matter what settings he’s playing on, he’ll have 10 in all stats before you know it. His only real request is to increase how many hours an in-game day is from 1 to 4.
Character(s): Death incarnate, all black everything. Pulled a giga-brain move and chose Security Guard as a career instead of veteran. His only recurring habit is to make a memorial for Carla and his unborn child (a grave filled in, with a box of mostly sentimental supplies no one is allowed to touch).
Negative Traits: Illiterate(LMAO)/High Thirst/Slow Healer/Slow Learner /Underweight/Smoker/Sunday Driver
Positive Traits: Adrenaline Junkie/Hunter/Thick Skinned/Athletic/Strong
Mods: Improvised Backpacks/Brita’s Weapons Mod + Armour Mod/Mediaeval Weapons Mod/Scrap Weapons/Adrenaline-Panic Counters Tiredness
”You can be a smoker, but can’t be an alcoholic in this game? Fuck this shit.”
Jk but she’s raiding Liquorty-split first. Don’t call her along if you’re not planning on swinging by there. Enjoys roleplaying, but not to the same extent as Arcade.Mostly dicks around with joke characters, her favourite being Long Johnson, who’s proficient in long blunt weapons. Doesn’t break the immersion of other players, though. Capitalises on Boone's Bloodlust and follows behind him like a vulture, scavenging all the loot he ignores to sell at exorbitant prices. Doesn’t pay too much attention to the lore, only to the extent of making relevant conversation with whatever roleplayer ends up in her shop. Main clientele base consists of the hardcore builders.
General: Spawned in Riverside and legitimately thought her game was broken until she came across Boone. More than a little upset that there’s no Merchant career, or any NPC’s, but quickly found a way to make it all work in her favour. Enjoys a challenge, but doesn’t want things too intense. Respawns are off, infection mortality takes 1-2 weeks to kick in, and infection can only be spread via saliva. No loot respawns, so that her monopoly will remain unchallenged.
Character(s): Tried on a few personas, but her favourite has to be Long Johnson, former saleswoman for outdoor fishing supplies, proficient in spears and phallic puns. Goal number one is to stay alive. Goa number two is to get stupid rich, so she can stay alive. Career set to Park Ranger
Negative Traits: Unfit/Very Underweight/Smoker/Sleepyhead/High Thirst/Athsmatic/Prone to Illness
Positive Traits:Speed Demon/Gardener/Inconspicuous/Lucky/Strong/Organised/Handy
Mods: Better Sorting/Improvised Backpacks/Brita’s Weapons Mod + Armour Mod/Mediaeval Weapons Mod/Scrap Weapons/ Zuper cart carts and trolleys/Recycle and Reuse almost anything
An actual masochist. The more she gets punished, the more she enjoys it. Gt gifted the game and literally did not stop playing for two days straight. The thing that peeled her away from the screen was Raul threatening to smash the holotape. Has a set preset for her canon fodder character, whenever she needs to clear out an area she really has no business even approaching, but really only uses them to further her character’s plot, of course. Master of roleplaying. She and Arcade Get Into It. Unlike him, who has one dedicated character, she has a rotating cast of characters. Her favourite is an absolute fucking meme, and she will not let go of it no matter how Arcade feels. She's the only one who's made it to winter during solo play on default Apocalypse settings. Got pretty spoiled while playing with Arcade, and now sets Canned Goods and Medical supplies to abundant. First one to perfect the fence lunge strat, and a master of peeling hordes until they're all dead. Another motherfucker who needs to commit her character’s deeds to paper and publish it. All of her characters keep journals. She’ll forget about them, come across a corpse that died in an…interesting way and bring herself to tears with shit she forgot she wrote. Buries all her characters, and all the zombies in her area too. Really really enjoys playing ‘A really CD DA’, and is the only one who can really get anywhere with it (swear i’m not just showing my ass here).
General: Muldraugh is the only valid spawn point, it has EVERYTHING. An added bonus is the objectively best base is less than a day's walk. The warehouse is even on the way there. (It’s the cabin in the woods with a well, up the street from the food stand and across from the warehouse, it's so safe).
Character(s): (these are the traits for her main character, though it varies depending on what character she’s playing at the moment)
Negative Traits: Deaf (laugh all you want, it's free points) Unfit/Smoker/Slow Reader/Slow Learner/High Thirst/Prone to illness/Cowardly
Positive Traits: Eagle Eyed/ Strong/ Fast Healer/Adrenaline Junkie /Runner /Graceful /Inconspicuous/Cat's Eyes
Mods: Brita’s Weapons Mod + Armour Mod/Mediaeval Weapons Mod/Scrap Weapons/Scrap Armour/True actions/More traits/Weapon Condition indicator/Sapph’s cooking/Skill recovery Journal (she tries to get Arcade to use this one, but he won’t fr some godforsaken reason)/ Just throw them out the window/
Curse the soul who made it possible for this robot to interface with this software. ED-E sees the whole venture not as a way to interact with his companions in a meaningful, perhaps revolutionary way, but as a means to fuck with them even more. The main victim of his devious schemes is Arcade, of course. Machines might be able to forget, but ED-E has Arcade’s condescending remark burned into his hardware. In hindsight, it was less than wise to get on a debatably sentient machine’s bad side. Software being his native form of communication, ED-E was easily able to woo the application into doing his bidding causing game-breaking bugs, corrupting save files and overall making things unbearable in ways that targeted Arcade, and Arcade alone. When forced to play fair, he goes out of his way to attract as many zombies as possible and lead them directly to where Arcade’s clinic is.
"Forget being an enclave spy bot, 'ED-E', as you call him, is a malevolent piece of software and should be terminated immediately" - Arcade Gannon
General: His one goal is to find Arcade and make him as miserable as possible, and the only thing really stopping him is the godforsaken lag from too many uglies in one area. He's left some surprise hordes other characters have stumbled across (much to his amusement).
Character(s): Default character. Unemployed. Death comes in many forms, after all.
Negative Traits: Claustrophobic/Agoraphobic/Cowardly/Slow Healer/Short Sighted/Overweight/Conspicuous
Positive Traits: Sprinter, Athletic, Strong, Thick Skin, Adrenaline Junkie
Joshua Graham ||WARNING, VERY OOC||
Step one: Clain holy grace church.
Step two: Raid police station
Not really a fan of video games and wouldn’t play if it weren’t for the begging, pleading and bribing of others. Really only does it for the benefit of others, and doesn’t enjoy it much. Really mellowed out after the events of Honest Hearts. Touching a game, much less Project Zomboid would be inconceivable before. Doesn’t really ‘get’ the game, but is surprisingly competent. Good, even. Thinks there’s more enjoyment to be had away from a terminal screen, and doesn’t mind that others play so long as they don’t neglect their responsibilities. Understands enough of the game to know how things work, and will suggest solutions if someone should ever become stuck somehow. Encourages the dead horses who play to transcribe the entire mormon Bible into the game, as memorization practice.
Gameplay: Spawned in muldraugh only because it was the first option, really. Default settings.
Character(s): His one (and only character) is more or less himself, sans burns. No real dimension to them, and he only plays if someone needs help clearing out a building or wants to show him something they’re proud of. Career set to veteran. If he could be convinced, and if there was a public server with a good amount of players, he could start delivering sermons, as a way to reach more people. Actually serves to deepen the roleplay experience for some. Will do Bible study with those who are genuinely interested.
Negative Traits: Sunday driver/Slow Reader/Unlucky/Slow Reader/Weak Stomach/Thin Skinned/Slow Healer/Restless Sleeper/Sleepyhead/High Thirst
Positive Traits: Dextrous/First Aider/Eagle Eyed/Athletic/Strong
Mods: None, but will play with whatever anyone else plays.
Ulysses || WARNING, VERY OOC||
Never enjoyed the game and overall ignored the lore until he discovered the debug menu and cheats, then he became very interested. He’s a major fan of the horror genre and setting, but detests horror games; real life is strenuous enough, and a game like Zomboid is not relaxing to him. The realism and overall environment, however, piqued his analytical nature. He created a sandbox world with no zombies just so that he could absorb the world and the lore uninterrupted. Through this, he came to love the game not for what it was, but what it could be molded to be. Ulysses is a man who enjoys writing as much as he does reading, and Zomboid serves as a beta testing ground his characters deeds and thoughts before he commits then to paper. To Ulysses, Zomboid is a visual, interactive writing tool. If there's a gamebreaking bug discovered, expect him to have patched it a week later. The dev team has reached out and offered him a position, but he had yet to reply (he just wants to finish his book first tbh) In this regard, His greatest ally is ED-E. The bot's antics serve as free bug testing for just about every aspect of the game. They haven't interacted at all, but so long as ED-E doesn't fuck with Ulysses specifically, the world will know peace.
Author of some of the most immersive and comprehensive mods in the workshop. Forum users have to assume Ulysses is always watching, always looking for an aspect to improve. While mostly focused on immersion, he's made a few joke ones (shocker, I know). Equal distribution between mechanic and location mods. His personal favourites are the 'Corpses as fertilizer' mod, the 'Back Alley Surgeon mod - which relies on his NPC mods - as well as his Expanded Cannibals and Improved Isolation Hallucinations.
General: Overall gameplay depends on what character he’s puppeting around. Spawns depend on who, or what map he’s playing on, though the most frequent location is in Rosewood. Debug menu is up, and God Mode is toggled on. Settings may vary, but the staples are Sandbox mode with respawn turned off, Weapons set to abundant, Nighttime sprinters, Low population, Water/Electricity Shutoff in 0-2 months and helicopter events set to Often.
Character(s): Ulysses has several, numbering in the dozens. All are unique and serve a purpose in his overall plot. Each character has their own preset
Negative Traits: Depends on the character, but Slow Reader gives him time to write and edit a few paragraphs.
Positive Traits: Depends on the character, but dexterous is almost always a must.
Mods: Authentic Z/Superior Survivors/4-colour Bic pen/Cannibalism/Assisted Suicide/The Only Cure/True action (all versions)/Expanded Helicopter Events/Skill Recovery Journal
He uses more mods on a rotating basis, depending on what setting he has in mind.
(I’m sorry if this feels like a copout, he’s just complex. Please don’t crucify me.)
