Shades of Green said:
Yes, most such radiation would be from nuclear reactos (powerplants for the most part) failing and leaking after their operators die in the Plague. Sure, there are probably some failsafes, but were these engineered to work for deacades without human supervision?
Also, don't forget chemical pollution - which is probably going to be far more common. Just think about all these waste dumps being washed and spread by the rishing tides, all the chemical factories faltering in the absence of supervision, and, ofcourse, all the environmental contamination already in place.
Agreed. Making former industrial areas a toxic place to live. IIRC in our campaign we marked off "toxic" areas, but since play began 150-200 years after the ruin toxins had some time to thin even if they did not degrade. PCBs anyone?
... With survivors living in the (above-water) upper stories and using improvised rafts to travel - I like that
That's it exactly!
This is the avenue Fallout followed - and System Shock as well. I might include such things, but most strange creatures would be the offsprings of tailored organisms - especially things such as souped-up guard dogs (if you'd want to go over-the-top, make them rabid as well), or rats genetically-engineered to be used as a tool of sabotage (sneak into the enemy's bunkers and chew on the power and comm cables).
This may be part of the same thing, again with the 150-200 year after timeline we used. Never fully explained it, but the concept being that the "virus" was one designed to do just what you suggest, make smart dogs (ala
A Boy and His Dog), make smarter rats, baboons, etc. (secret military programs are always a good reason). After 150-200 years this virus has mutated or has kept working, or both, providing a ready explaination for the oddities. But again not that they are common.
You could have bio-zombies as well - maybe a modified strain of rabies that takes far less time to get from the wound to the brain, but far more time to kill the subject once making him crazy. Sure, these won't be undead in the D&D meaning of the word, but shamble and bite they will!
I like it. Shambling and biting is all that's required.
I prefer it mutant-light but Nature-heavy; humans vs. humans vs. the elements with several surprises thrown in. Rats won't rise to intelligence by mere evolution or mutation over just a few decades, though, but they could always be purposefully upgraded in that direction during the Biotech Bubble. Make the rat smarter, make it trainable, then attach a camera to its back and let it spy on enemy (or rival corp) installations... And chew on their wires as well
Same here, I should have put in vs. the elements in as well. Certainly natural evolution or random mutation wouldn't lead to intelligent rats, hence a virus designed (or which has mutated) to do such. Maybe there is something the rats need to do to maintain this virus in there system or the virus benefits from its host living longer. But the smart rat (master rat) was one of those rare surprises, and not a whole village of them in our campaign. The biggest danger after humans, IIRC, was feral dogs and rats, big (1-2 foot body), mean, hungry, post-apocalytic rats.
