I got asked to run a short 2-3 hour one shot for some friends. I struggled a bit because I didn’t have the prep time I normally do for something like that and I didn’t want to just bust out a 5 room dungeon. And I had already promsied to run my normal go to of Paranoia in a bit, so it’s off the table. Then I remembered I have piles of silly one page RPGs laying around. So I tossed out Cracker Barrel Has Fallen because the name was funny, and I remembered it used the Waffle House index, which again is funny.

So I sat down to put some thought into what I could do with that. Then I remembered how bizarre a place Waffle House actually is. They have a secret code for orders, instead of tickets, the wildness of the Waffle House Index being a thing, and the secret music production company that only plays their music in the jukebox of their stores. Not to mention, we all know they can throw hands. As my Waffle House fascination flooded back, I was convinced. This is the perfect place for a horror zombie RPG. (Also for what its worth, I am loosely familiar with SCAD and the town of Savannah, but not really, so sorry if something is off.)

*Edit 9.30.24 – I wrote most of this up in early September,with final drafts done by the 16th and some small edits to follow. I scheduled the post to go live 9.25 at 2PM. On 9.26 Hurricane Helene hit the southeastern US, causing loss of life, and changing many people’s lives forever. I had no idea this was on the horizon when writing this, and people are still determining the impact now. My understanding is that the Red Cross is the best organization to help those in need, and strongly encourage everyone to go make a donation. https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation.html/

Introduction

You’re at a highway Waffle House along I-95 in Pooler GA, just west of Savannah. Hurricane Margot came faster than anyone expected and Jessie, the assistant manager on duty, locked the building down. The National Hurricane Center has closed the roads, and you’re here. Hunkered down, eating hash browns while the storm passes. It’s midnight, and it’s not how you wanted to spend your evening. 

NPC Cast

Information is generally revealed in the order presented. Secret stuff last. NPCs will fail any task they are given that is not specifically called out as something they can do. They need a hero…

• Vera Gonzales (She/Her): Newly 20 and a Savannah Local paying her way through her time at SCAD.
  • Vera is a student by day (Fashion Marketing and Management B.F.A), Waitress by night. Her great embarrassment would be for her peers in the Fashion or the FMM program caught her working at Waffle House. They just did.
  • Worried about her dad, and wants to get home and make sure he’s safe. He’s all she has, and the trailer leaks in normal rain.
  • Fairly Panicked. Having a hard time with what’s going on, and acts out if there is no plan. Has none of her own. Will follow the crowd. No initiative on her own.
• Kizzie (Kimberly) Reed (She/her): Line cook 40s.
  • Her shift ended at midnight, but she’s bunkered because of the storm. She just wants to get out of here and will do anything to get with her family.
  • Kids are trapped at home with her husband, Jackson, worried as they are bunkered down. Anthony starts college soon, and Maya is a cheerleader. 
  • Jackson has PTSD from his time in the Gulf, and she needs to be there (She was briefly in healthcare, and is still CPR certified). Anthony has gotten him through it, but no son should have to do that for their father. 
• Mr. Takashi (He/Him): 70s Japanese immigrant, waiter.
  • Wearing a tie, and impeccably dressed, even though it’s the WH uniform, his is pressed and starched.
  • Takashima Masama took this job working nights to help out his daughter Amanda (30s). She came for college and stayed for life. He stays with her kids while she works days.
  • Mr Takashi was a Professor of Physics back in the day, and actually has a few PHDs. He will always differ to Authority, like the government or the assistant manager. But can certainly repair a generator or do “Science” stuff if asked. Won’t prompt it. 
• Jessie Jones (They/Them): early 30s, Assistant Manager
  • The manager has Jessie run the dinner shift, before the other AM (Fernando Berrocal) steps in for the overnight shift. He called in late tonight (“Car troubles”), and if he had shown up, Jessie could have made it home prior to the storm. Jessie is professionally pissed. 
  • Jessie is engaged to Jo Davis (She/They), and they have a small backyard wedding planned on Uncle Floyd’s barn next week. Who knows what’s going on with that right now.  
  • Jessie has only been promoted to assistant manager for almost a month now. There’s a handbook to guide them, but they have no idea what to do. They broke it out to get the generator going, but its just sitting on the counter now. 
• Table of drunk SCAD college kids (20-24). Out all night and hit WoHo on the way home. Generally trying to sober up and lay low.
  • Aaron Gill (He/Him): Think’s he recognizes Vera from class, but hasn’t put it together yet. That quiet girl, right? Design Management Major, whose father only agreed to pay for SCAD because this major sounds like a management position and he can get a job “at a bank or something” with it. Secretly dating Kayden. 
  • Kayden Andrews (He/Him): An Acting major, with a flair for the dramatic. Secretly dating Aaron, but trying to have some unapproved side fun with Riley, Asher, or maybe even Clay Murry with his sexy older trucker vibe.
  • Riley Kent (He/Him): None of the others admit it, but Riley’s soundcloud is actually pretty impressive, and it apparently pays for his lifestyle so good for him. He’s majoring in Sneaker Design as a fallback plan…
  • Asher Cook(He/They): Industrial Design Major, dating Felicity, and currently waiting for his acid to kick in. He thought it would be funny since they are all trapped here tonight.
  • Felicity Brewer (She/Her): Aggressively goth, and majoring in Sequential Art (Absolutely not animation or anime. It’s basically comic books, but not “Tights and Cape Trash”). Doesn’t know that she’s also about to go on an acid trip. Asher didn’t want to be the only one.. 
• 3 solo truckers waiting for orders from dispatch.
  • Clay Murry (He/Him): 40s 
    • Clay has been a long haul trucker for the last 20 years, and up for the last 48 hours already. This isn’t his first hurricane and it won’t be his last. He’s not interested in all this mucking about, and happy to just hunker down and grab a bite to eat. If he hadn’t taken a bunch of No-Doz right before the lockdown, he’d be trying to sleep in the truck. 
    • Thrice married and has 4 kids back home split between two of them.
  • Naomi Hopper (She/Her): 30s
    • Naomi is new to the trucking game, but loves the independence it affords her. 
    • Naomi is coming off a bad marriage to an abusive stalker, this puts her on the road and far away and constantly in movement. 
  • Jess Harvey (She/Her): 70s
    • To hear Jess tell it, there’s nothing unusual about a woman trucker in her 70’s. “Butts fit seats right? Never needed a dick to change gears”.
    • Trucking let her live her life by her rules back before they’d even let her open a bank account. And if the only place to eat happens to have women dancing on the bartop in a bikini, well that’s just the price she had to pay, she’ll say with a wink.

Timeline of Events

6 hours tracked in real time. Every half hour IRL is 2 hours in game. The first hour is the main event. The second hour is RPd out if the first hour is resolved “too soon”. 

• 2AM –  You’ve been hunkered down in the Waffle House for 4-5 hours now, and the storm is not letting up. It’s impossible to see outside. Power to the city went out hours ago, and the only thing providing any light is the gleaming yellow sheen of the Waffle House sign reflecting across the wet parking lot. The street lights and nearby shops went dark long ago, and the House is like its own little world, isolated by a wall of darkness. You’d always heard of how intense Waffle House takes emergency preparedness, and thought it was a joke. Now you realize it’s anything but. The assistant manager, NAME, assures you they have plenty of power and supplies to run for a week, maybe even two depending on how things go. Theres nothing to do, but theres plenty of food. The TVs been static for hours, and radio has just been emergency messaging to stay off the road. You’ve stared at that clock on the wall for hours, but time doesn’t move. 2AM. Its been 2AM for months. Suddenly the wall phone rings in back. Everyone looks in awkward silence for a moment, before Jessie answers it. You can hear Mr. Carr on the other line, the general manager for Waffle House Southeast.
  • “I take no pleasure in reporting that Cracker Barrel has fallen,” You knew this was coming. First it was Zaxby’s, then Bojangles, and now Cracker Barrel. “The National Guard can evacuate you, but they can’t get there for 6 more hours. Hold down the fort until then, don’t let anyone leave, and I’ll see you under the yellow sign, and whatever you do bzzzzzzz” silence. “The Lines Dead” Jessie says slowly as she looks up to the room.
  • 3AM – Fuck this, I’ve got kids. I can make it. Kizzie is leaving. They don’t need two waiters, Vera can run the grill. Or hell, it’s an emergency, let anyone do it.
    • If Kizzie leaves, no one can work the grill, or knows where everything is. Food becomes a hassle and morale is destroyed. 1 Step to Red. 
• 4AM – SLAM! Someone is banging on the big glass window. You turn, and an injured man is slamming himself shoulder first into the window. Not like a linebacker making a tackle, but like a drunken bear staggering upright. Describe Zombie (The Wounded): Drenched in rain with wet hair whipping wildly from the wind, this woman strikes a startling pose. Your first instinct is to help her, but the hair on the back of your neck begs you to slow down. It’s obvious this person isn’t consciously aware of what they are doing. Walking, staggering, sure. But no real articulation, almost like shes sleep walking. And the moan. She is just letting out a consistent low moan. No gaps for breath, no emphasis for breathing. Just an endless groan. As you stare and think, her physical  appearance is more concerning. Her eyes are a milky white, and her face is slack jawed. And the blood. Black crusty stuff, and shes covered in wounds that don’t seem to bleed, a few of which might even be lethal. SLAM! A second joins on the other side. You turn to face it and !SLAM !SLAM!SLAM! You’re surrounded and they came out of nowhere. Dozens of them.
  • People panic. Someone needs to take control and make decisions.
    • Was there an accident? Bus collision?
    • Do we let them in? Do we lock the door? Barricade?
    • How do we get them away? They are going to break the glass. 
    • If it stays chaos 1 step to red
  • 5AM – Slam! This time from the storage room door. That’s how you access the generator downstairs. Everyone freezes and looks at one another. Jessie swears they asked Vera to lock it, but Vera said they’ve never done it, and thought she did. This is getting heated.
    • If they can’t settle it, Vera has a breakdown and locks herself in a bathroom. 1 to Red. 
    • Regardless, there are zombies in that room. They can’t work a pull door, but there is no more food until that is solved. Add +1 to the DC for each hour this goes unsolved as more undead pile in.
• 6AM – The SCAD kids start to panic. Felicity fell onto the floor and vomiting. Felicity starts to trip hard on acid.
  • “What happened” kids recount their night. With prompting Asher will come out and say he slipped her some acid cause he thought it would be funny.
    • If they don’t find out it’s “just Acid” 1 step to red. Even if it’s “Just acid” have to deal with that.
  • 7AM Glass is cracking on the big bay windows by the hall.
    • If they can’t find a way to lure the wounded away, they will break in. Especially if not barricaded. Big Fight, probably game over. 
• 8AM – Mr. Takeshi points towards the clock. “Look, its 8AM. The national guard should be here.” and he turns to look outside. Sunlight is starting to come through, and you can start to see the mayhem in the light of dawn outside. It’s a wasteland, cars are flipped, trees down, and power lines whip about in the puddles like electric snakes. And worst of all, the National Guards HEMTT seems to have crashed into the Semis, destroying both. Clay demands to run out and check his out.
  • If Clay goes outside, the wounded swarm from all around. 1 red step as the situation is much much worse. 
  • Someone needs to settle down the survivors and get them a plan. 
• 9AM – The Generator sputters and dies. What do you do?
  • Go be a rag-tag group of survivors and maybe this is the intro to a game of “The Walking Dead”. 

Maps and Handouts

I googled the breakfast and lunch menu. Thats everywhere, but I prepped it for on hand. I also grabbed some maps to make sure I knew what was nearby if they go very off the rails. This place had a link to a floorplan for a waffle house, but not a Waffle House, but the floorplan was solid.