Big Brother House (Borehamwood)
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The Big Brother House is a large building in Borehamwood. Along with the two warehouses, it is an island.
Its location is within the area named Elstree Studios, which is located in the suburb of South Borehamwood.
As the "goal" of the Dead Set DVD competition, to some degree it is a magnet for zombie and survivor alike. Although all player types are eligible for the competition, anyone wishing to remain a survivor (for bragging rights) will presumably need to be well equipped to deal with the risks of infection, PKers, and the need for constant barricading of the House in order to keep out zombies. Zombie players, for their part, will find Memories of Life the only "necessary" skill for entry - patience and good timing allowing them to use a full quota of AP in order to storm the Diary Room (once they are able to open doors).
Players with no interest in the competition could still be satisfied by the XP to be gained from others rushing to the House. While an alternative objective for individual survivors is to simply remain human for the limited duration of play, and thus gain fame in the manner of The Monroeville 100, player groups have set the goal of holding the House alone. This, again, for general bragging rights in a manner akin to "king of the hill".
Interior
Big Brother House is an unique large building mechanic-wise, unusually for large buildings different blocks behave differently.
- the runs are dark buildings;
- the diary room doesn't have any access to or from the street: one can only enter it from inside Big Brother house. This also means it cannot have barricades;
- the control room features CCTV monitors that cycle through Big Brother lounge, diary room and gardens.
Newspapers
Various newspapers appear to state that the Big Brother house is located within certain suburbs, but these could be tricks. A typical example is as follows:
- "It's a local paper, with a story about security at the Big Brother house in <suburb>."
Watching the House
It is possible to see who is inside the Big Brother lounge when inside a mall by pressing the "Watch Television" button.
Timeline
Once the location of the House became increasingly known, the slow trickle of prospective housemates increased to a steady stream. It became inevitable that the House would soon become the focus of a determined portion of the population.
Borehamwood's would-be housemates awoke to see scattered packs of zombies in the countryside surrounding the Big Brother compound. Housemates were confident of their numbers, some choosing to raid outside for short periods each day, learning the skills that would hopefully ensure their survival.
Some survivors used the nearby supermarket as a temporary stop, to re-equip and build up AP, before making the last dash to the house. The supermarket, barely powered, had been fortified as best possible over the course of the week. It's resources would no doubt be invaluable, perhaps a better proposition for survival than the Big Brother house itself.
Across the rest of Borehamwood, ferals and hordes alike were dimly aware of these happenings. Some began the long shuffle south, while others remained entranced by the flares and lights of the dying town. Groups of survivors huddled around their televisions, watching the housemates on the still active video feed, debating whether it was safer to remain in their foxholes or to opt for strength in numbers.
Although lone zombies had managed to enter the House from the beginning, the housemates believed themselves safe behind their heavy barricades. Unfortunately, midway through the second week, it became apparent that the zombie hordes wanted in at any cost. Some survivors, satisfied in their attempt at fame, were only to happy to sit and wait for the inevitable. 50 zombies soon became 100. Survivor forays outside the house dwindled, for fear of infection.
With apathy and fear rife it was inevitable that, by the week's end, the Big Brother house would be overrun by the living dead. Some survivors had already fled, some had stayed behind in the mistaken belief that numbers favoured them. Of the remnants, only a few were able to put up any semblance of resistance.
Survivors across the city watched the events unfold, live. Anyone hoping to send a message to the world would now have to face the largest horde seen thus far. That problem aside, what hope was there if the single greatest concentration of survivors had fallen?
Cowardice and patience had paid off for those still living, but where would the undead turn once their ransacking of the House was complete? By the third week, the horde has dispersed across the suburb. The House had drawn a significant horde of survivors and zombies, gave them plenty of experience, and had now unleashed them into the world. South Borehamwood was a no-mans land, and the zombie tide was expanding north.
