MercuryPrompts

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Theme Prompts

Theme prompts take the existing overarching theme of hope and layer an additional theme on top of it to help focus the episode. For maximum effect, choose ONE prompt from the list below to guide your episode.

Theme Prompts

Creation	Glory	Eternity	Desire	Judgment	Kindness
Reason	Wisdom	God(s)	Sober	Laugh	Found
Grave	Cry	Friend	Blood	Barren	grow
hunt	pride	Begin	Eyes	Fight	Sell
Amateur	Begin	Bad	Guns	Pen	Bound
North	Brother	Long	Tame	Wax	Art
Rise	Bend	Trick	Life	Magic	Give
Cops	All	Delight	White	Push	Heavy
Create	Familiar	Lover	Land	Leave	Love
Empty	Father	Sweet	Pride	Sense	War
Succeed	Shout	Leave	Brains	Head	Boys
His	Enemy	Sinner	Master	Me	Empty
Trash	Mind	Trap	Advance	Question	Push
Narrow	Add	Multiply	Crime	War	Insult
Open	Quality	Blame	Lock	Drunk	Cry
Lost	Cradle	Whisper	Foe	Water	Bounty
shrink	gather	shame	End	Teeth	Flight
Buy	Professional	End	Good	Butter	Sword
Free	South	Brother	Short	Wild	Wane
Ugly	Commerce	Fall	Break	Treat	Death
Science	Take	Robbers	One	Dismay	Black
Pull	Light	Destroy	Strange	Fighter	Sea
Return	Lust	Full	Son	Salty	Prejudice
Sensibility	Peace	Fail	Whisper	Return	Brawn
Heart	Girls	Hers	Ally	Saint	Slave
You	Full	Treasure	Matter	Free	Retreat
Answer	Pull	Wide	Subtract	Divide	Punishment
Peace	Injury	Shut	Quantity	Forgive	Key

Story Arcs

Occasionally it is necessary and/or desirable to have a topic that spans multiple episodes and has a bit more of a plot structure. These episodes will not be aired back-to-back in most cases, so cliffhangers aren't appropriate, but they do give writers the flexibility to extend themes and topics over a period of time. In most cases episodes in arcs will be presented with several days or as much as a week's worth of other theme-driven episodes separating them. Here are some suggested arcs. It is important to note that once an arc has been used, it cannot easily be used again, so check back here to see if a note has been made indicating that an arc has been used. If you would still like to use an arc that has already been covered, you must find a way to make the events relevant again.

Anything that is struck through has been covered.

• Agnes's Cat - Agnes is lonely and wants a pet. Dr. Clark and Max don't think it's a good idea. But she smuggles a cat in anyway and hides it for several weeks.
• Discovery of Hydrophobia - As noted in the writers bible, the zombies in this universe are hydrophobic. But because zombies were part of pop culture and because hydrophobia isn't a common trait of zombies in pop culture, this trait must be discovered. Dr. Clark pieces together the observations reported by Wade and the others to make this important discovery.
• Sam's Voicemail - Agnes's boyfriend Sam left her a voicemail and then disappeared and is presumed dead. Agnes treasures this last example of Sam's love for her and listens to it over and over. To preserve the battery charge on the phone, Agnes plugs it into the generator during broadcasts, but it doesn't charge fast enough. So she begins running the generator during non-broadcast times. Max and Dr. Clark catch her and admonish her for wasting gasoline. When Agnes pleads her case, they suggest she transcribe the voicemails. Agnes is skeptical, but in a rare literary moment Dr. Clark quotes Edmund Spenser's sonnet #75, which convinces her. Agnes then spends the next several days transcribing the voicemails and the others allow her to keep the phone charged while she works on it. At last, the transcription is done, but Agnes can't bring herself to let the original voicemail go. Max suggests she share it with the listeners and so, with the phone's last remaining battery charge, Agnes plays back the actual audio into the microphone for everyone to hear and then the phone dies.

Character-Driven Prompts

• Max can always come up with a new conspiracy theory for what caused the outbreak. Be as outlandish as you want to be, but try to make it seem almost plausible if it weren't so nutty.
• Dr. Clark's research notes.
• Agnes's journal entries or classic literary references.
• Jennifer's philosophizing about faith and the strength she draws from both it and from her family. She can also talk about daily life in the lighthouse.

General Notes

• Illness concerns.
• Interview format with a “zombie expert” - totally normal, like nothing’s wrong
• Episodes about how to get fresh water - boiling, distilling, reverse osmosis, rainwater, etc.
• An episode about how we have to rescue someone and then ask them to leave because we have no room
• Agnes keeps a diary and reads entries from early days before broadcasting. She updates it periodically and we can see her attitude changing.

Bill's or Wades Practical Survival Techniques

Blades don't need ammo

“Bullets are for People”

• Unless in dire circumstance such as being woefully outnumbered, a wise survivor will save bullets as much as possible. Though it requires some practice and does present inherent dangers. A melee weapon of the cutting or bludgeoning variety will do good service in hands that love and maintain it.

Water, Water everywhere but how do you make it safe to drink?

• Boiling (Always! Always! Always!)
• Purification tablets (can treat large amounts of water with little effort, small and easy to carry)
• Bleach (small, small amounts)
• UV exposure

Ammo: Beg it, Borrow it, Steal it or make it!

• Reloading equipment ranges from large electric fill and run machines to small hand tools which could easy be fit into a back pack though the required lead bullets, brass casings and the powder present a slightly bigger logistical challenge... the casing issue can been partially solved by the addition of a “Brass catcher” to one's Rifle or SMG (Sub Machine Gun)
• Modern ammo is quite stable but it is perishable, though if properly stored its shelf life can be measured in decades. (I have fired rounds produced in WWII that worked perfectly)

In God we trust, Everyone else hands where I can see 'em

Should I stay or should go?

• While it is much harder to hit a moving target, we can all imagine the briar patches present in Apocalyptic/Post road trips would present... a fortified position can offer stable, long term security but will eventually make you the object of admiration... Few worse things to be in a world gone sideways.

Watch the GD line!

• Should one decide to go the fortified route there are several considerations that are similar to being “in the field”. Perimeter security is paramount to maintaining a secure refuge, the larger the area you try to hold down; the more resources it will require... the very least to be said is that there should always be as many bodies as can be spared put to this task.
• Be careful that you randomize or at least change up your patrol routes and times... A sufficiently patient outsider can take the time to study the movements of the guards and gain entry easily if she knows that every day at 4:03 no one watches the back-door for at least 15 minutes. Ideally you should have at least one team member watching each side of a structure

Cross-compatibility

• The smart team will do as much as possible to streamline their operation in the field and with one another. While a group might have varying models of firearm in it, often survivalist groups, Apocalypse teams and bug-buddies will standardize the calibers of their long and sidearms if not the actual weapons themselves. Most popular now-a-days is the .223/5.56 NATO round known to most through the AR15/M16/M4 family of American rifles and the .40 caliber pistol cartridge. These rounds are readily available from most sporting/gun shops and as a side benefit, being the calibers most used by Police and Military, survivalists will certainly find stores of abandoned munitions or will be able to “DnD” supplies from fallen individuals. Another popular caliber is that of 7.62x39 from the famously revered and reviled Avtomat Kalashnikova (Kalashnikov's Automatic Rifle or AK-47)

Heroes die alone, Teams get the comfort of each-others screams

• Team work is vital in survivalist situations just as it is in many other professions. The difference being if someone isn't a team player at the burger place, someone isn't getting it their way... someone decides to play Rambo in the field they at the very least are endangering themselves and by proxy the entire team. While even a group cannot guarantee safety, it's a damn sight better then the alternative (No Scooby-doo)

Operational Security

• If you are Smart/Lucky, you will have a way to communicate at distance with different team members who might be out foraging or patrolling. Cell service will most likely go down within the first few months of TEOTWAWKI(Prepr speak for The End OF The World As We Know It) along with the Internet. However, outside of a large geomagnetic disturbance or EMP use- battery operated walkie talkies or surplus field radios will be a Teams best bet. The one down side of this is that others with similar equipment will be able to listen in on your radio traffic. Operational Security is tantamount to survival when dealing with other, possibly hostile groups. Radio traffic should be encoded using methods agreed upon by the team. Code words and ciphers can be the difference between a successful foraging mission and a bloody massacre via ambush. Over shorter distances such as between your main base and a small nearby guard post, old style military field telephones are still a fantastic option if they can be found. They consist of two small phone boxes the size of a large purse connected by a wire. As long as the wire is intact and there is battery power you will be able to communicate both ways. The field telephones have the added security of not broadcasting, unless someone splices a wire in by hand no one will be able to eavesdrop on your little talks. Another form of this would be the close control of any tangible sources of information such as code books, maps, supply manifests and so on... all of which should be accessible but easily destroyed if there is a danger of it falling into the wrong hands. If you are using a decentralized scheme for hiding your supplies it is much better to memorize in full the locations than to commit them to paper. Codes, if used should be changed and mixed regularly.

3 Weeks or 3 Days: Food and Water