Good Sources for creating a Post-Apocalyptic World?

[Zuoken]

I will soon be co-DMing (infrequently) with another fellow DM, who has expressed interest in creating a Post-Apocalyptic campaign world for our d20 Modern/d20 Future game.

I don't know much about the genre myself, although I have seen many references to it in my roughly 1 year of gaming. I was wondering if anyone has some good sources/links/books that would help someone unfamiliar to the genre.

Thank you from the Pillar of Enlightenment,
Zuoken

 

[VorpalBunny]

The best advice I could think of would be to check out Gamma World 1st thru 6th editions. (If you're looking for d20 Modern compatible go with White Wolf's 6th edition.) and Darwin's World 2nd edition. It's d20 Modern compatible and superior to WW's Gamma World IMO.

 

[Pozatronic]

What kind of post-apocalyptic world are you looking for? Mad Maxish or a few hundred years after the fact? I've only skimmed the new edition of Gamma World, and it does look pretty neat. I've only played one edition; it was an AD@D analog (with THAC instead of THACO) and my group had a lot of fun with it. If you want something a little more fantastic, with super-machines and magic and a bunch of crazy ass , I would gives RIFTS a skim through. Just for the flavor. The rules are aweful and as the setting went on it got more wonky, but if you strip it down to it's bare core, it gets kind of cool. The D20 modern/future books would actually work good for converting it. Use the rules for Morreaus for the Dogboys, you've got your rules for mecha and power armor so you could convert that easily. The Juicer could be a template or a Prc, you've already got rules for magic and psionics...stuff like that.

Or maybe that's just me.

 

[Falkus]

Play Fallout.

 

[Masada]

Darwin's World is produced by RPGObjects and is available in both print and PDF. It is more current and IMO more complete than the Gamma World stuff. Altho, there are still lots of great homebrew converts of GW.

Darwin's World also has individual supplements as well as a featured place in Modern Dispatch (also from RPGObjects).

http://www.rpgobjects.com

http://www.rpgnow.com

Also the new d20 Future SRD is out with a small sampling of Mutations (compared to GW or Darwin's World).

 

[Emiricol]

Another nod to Darwin's World II (Be sure to get stuff for the II). It's available in sections as PDF, or as a gigantic hardcover, and uses the D20Modern rules so very easy to import the stuff you want into D20M and D20F.

I used to own Gamma World, but in my opinion, it was not on par with Darwin's World II.

For useful PA links, try Yahoo! groups (there's a couple Post Apocalyptic groups). Also, http://www.darwinrpg.com/index.php?page=pro - everything below the DWII Hardcover listing is for Darwin's World II. http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2056& for their details-light Gazeteer, for flavor.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Post-apocalypse Earth for a nice overview.

Movies: Cyborg, Mad Max, Def Con 5 (stupid name).
Books: The Postman (avoid the damn movie).

http://www.geocities.com/paforge/ - supercool general post-apocalypse (PA) goodness.

 

[Masada]

I just discovered last night that there are 4 Darwin's World PDF's available for free on the RPGO website. Three adventures and one campaign source book.

Free is good!

Thanks RPGO!

 

[MarkAHart]

For overall ideas, check out E.E. Knight's "Vampire Earth" books (Way of the Wolf and Choice of the Cat). These books depict an Earth in the future after humanity has been conquered, with a few holdouts against some rather nasty bad guys. The books do a nice job of depicting life in a post-apocalyptic America.

 

[The Grackle]

Do you want to know about RPG stuff or about the actual post-apocolyptic genre?

If you want movies check out this site.

Many of these movies are very terrible, and that's almost a requirement for the genre. A few I would recommend as not so terrible; Blood of Heroes, a Boy and his Dog, The Quiet Earth, and Beyond the Thunderdome(of course!).

I'm sure there are millions of sci-fi books too, but I can't think of any at the moment.

 

[Gomez]

I really would check out Hiero's Journey and The Unforsaken Hiero

They are by Sterling Lanier and are classics of the post-apocolyptic genre. Great reads both of them!