The Zone

Kit Suggestions

Everything below should be considered suggestions. The game team is far more concerned that your behaviour fits the setting rather than your clothing.

What the game is NOT

• Post-apocalyptic. Yes it's set in the future, and yes there's been a huge disaster, but the vast majority of the world is ticking along just fine.

• Cyberpunk. The real world of today has many parallels with how a corporate cyberpunk world is supposed to start off, and the game is set as the world has started off along the path to corporate rule, but the Government of the day is still very much in charge.

As such, movies like the Mad Max series are probably not the best place to look for kit inspiration. Weathering kit is probably not necessary either.

What the game IS

• Intentionally low budget. This may well change as time goes on*, but the initial plan is that the game should be accessible to all, with no huge outlay for kit. Old clothes, decent boots and a cheap tactical vest should get any player started.

• Near future. The game is set just over a decade from now in an area that's been sealed off from the outside world for years. The clothing and equipment in the Zone is modern day stuff, any fancy 2030's tech is outside the Zone and not available to you.

The hope is to promote immersion by providing a world that's internally consistent and easy to slide into, rather than through high-end kit and props.

*spoiler alert: it hasn't.

Suggested Sources

Obviously, the game is directly stolen from and/or inspired by the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of PC games, so a lot of kit inspiration can be derived from those.

A typical rookie stalker or bandit.

A more experienced stalker wearing a suit designed to protect against the hazards of the Zone rather than gunfire.

Hoods and masks are a very common feature of the outfits in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. However, the lasertag kit used for this game requires you to wear a headband, so please keep that in mind when designing kit.

Metro 2033 and its sequels are also a good source of inspiration (it shares many of the same design team as the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game).

The Metro games have a slightly more militaristic look, but the theme is still very similar. Military armour, gasmasks, durable and practical clothing.

Themes

Durable outdoor clothing. Freelancers live rough a large amount of the time, sleeping outdoors or in ruined buildings. Long coats, jumpers, elbow and knee pads, waterproofs, face coverings, gas mask if you've bought one ic. Dress for comfort and practicality for typical Manchester weather and you won't go far wrong.

While hoods will be a bit of a pain with the lasertag headbands, hats work pretty well. Anything a Brit would wear to keep the rain off works. If you're getting a military or security helmet, getting one with velcro on the top would be ideal. The lasertag devices that register hits are attached to the headbands with velcro so you can remove the headband and put the sensors on the helmet directly.

Tactical vests, plate carriers and riot armour make the best armour phys-reps. Any team/group emblems or symbols should be simple and quite crudely done. If you've had to scavenge the marker pens for your armband from a ruined house, the artwork isn't going to be up to much.

You should be able to carry everything you own. Most freelancers maintain a hidden stash of stuff, but the risk of it being found and looted is quite high so most people carry all their valuable kit on them as they move around.

Tool kits should be small and portable (see above). Some props, puzzles, traps etc may need you to physically cut or manipulate something, so it's worth putting a couple of real tools in there. Hopefully there is no need to mention not using real tools as weapons…