Picker Camp is the biggest salvage camp of the Pickers, on the Jersey side of the river facing dead New York. About 900 people live here. The camp sells maps, guides and paid claims to parts of Manhattan, and buys whatever comes back.
A claim gives a crew the right to loot one block or one building. Anyone who loots without a claim loses the haul to the Pickers. Dominic Russo takes a cut of every haul that comes back across the river. Priya Shah's maps cost 3 to 5 Credits each.
Theresa Kowalski keeps the master maps of every dead city the Pickers work, from Boston to Mexico City. They are locked in the old rail terminal, and only she and Priya have keys. Those maps are the real power of the guild. Theresa is ruthless with anyone who cheats it.
Dominic pays a bounty on a gang of about 30 cannibals in Terminal B of Newark Airport. Lifeline pays Picker crews very well for good surgical kits from Bellevue Hospital. In summer, no claim covers Midtown. In deep winter the Midtown horde freezes, and the bravest crews go in.
Dominic Russo, the camp boss. He wants the claims paid and the boats full. He is fair about claims and fierce with claim jumpers. He cooks for the camp on Sundays and remembers every crew member he has lost.
Priya Shah, the mapmaker. She wants to map all of New York before she is forty. She gets angry when crews ignore her warnings.
Theresa Kowalski, head of the Picker guild. She believes information is worth more than guns. She does not raise her voice, and people still listen.
The crews. Salvagers, guides and boat crews who go into the city every day. Mutated guides are welcome here, because zombies notice them less.
Run a claim. Buy a claim and a map, cross the river, and come back with something worth selling.
Hospital salvage. Bellevue Hospital holds surgical kits that Lifeline pays well for.
The Newark bounty. Dominic pays for the end of the cannibal gang at Newark Airport.
Claim jumpers. Some crews loot without paying. The players can hunt them for the guild, or join them.
The winter run. When the Midtown horde freezes, the stores and hotels of Midtown are open for a few weeks.
The Midtown Horde Grounds hold the biggest horde in the Americas, with Screamer Zombies and a Berserker Zombie.
Bellevue Hospital holds a Bloater Zombie. Its burst fluids can infect.
Crawler Zombies lie under the cars in the Lincoln Tunnel.
The cannibals at Newark Airport hunt people on the turnpike.
Indian Point Hot Zone lies up the river to the north. Its radiation makes people sick.
The river is cold and fast. A crew that loses its boat is stuck in the city.
Bellevue Hospital, Lincoln Tunnel, Brooklyn Navy Yard and Midtown Horde Grounds in New York.
Newark Airport, on the Jersey side.
Indian Point Hot Zone, up the river.
Blue Hills Picker Camp near Boston, and Thames Barrier Camp in London, other Picker camps.