An undead invasion topples civilization, then what?

[Patman21967]

You make a good point....just a musing....maybe the deal was made with an evil god, just for lack of anything better....say Orcus, posing as Death....you know, after writing this, I realized how Gay it sounds...nevermind

 

[The Mad Kaiser]

The Mad Kaiser: I'm starting to like the idea of some unhappy intelligent undead that might be willing to aid the PCs to an extent. The ideas about new diseases is very interesting. Do you know any such resources that deal well with them? Vermin swarms and giant vermin also sound like they'd help give the setting a bit of a distinguishing flair from the normal, average fantasy setting, so consider that idea adopted And the effect of negative energy? Oooo... I can see not only twisted flora/fauna but even the landforms etc... And the character goals/adventure ideas are really cool

For diseases, I would suggest looking at Forbidden Arcana: Magical Diseases and The Primal Codex as well as working on some of your own.

Monster Manual 2 has some interesting Vermin swarms, and Slimes, which would also thrive in a world of the dead.

Fringe Fauna may have some strange animals to use, and my own Kaiser's Garden has a couple dozen weird plants, including an undead plant.

I have also heard good things about The Bonegarden by S&S. The adventure itself may not be that useful, but there are a bunch of undead NPCs and factions to choose from.

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

Haverdash? saw his people, for whom he had sacrificed so much and for whom he had been akin to a god wiped out (this is his view- the truth might be that he had become selfish and corrupt-10,000 years is a long time to be king). And now he himself has embraced undeath.

No matter, death will not cheat him. In fact, it is deaths folly! For now he can rule his people for ever- he will be their lich king! (he might not realize it at this point but to rule a "dead" kingdom is probably the greatest punishment.

There are few enclaves of the living, who are futily triyng to resisit the onslaught of the undead. The there is the prophecy spoken by the High priest of Mennak the sun god before his death
of the Return of the eight,
who saw deaths sight,
who lost their lives,
in deaths blight.

Yet when the Raven Crows,
and the Dark wind blows
the Eight shall return
to end Deaths turn...

or some such nonsense

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

i would also suggest looking through the Raveloft series called "Grim Harvest" as far as mining for ideas. an idea to consider would also be, as others have suggested, undead willing to help since they want to end their misery. A sick twist to this would be to make some of them people that the PCs loved or knew during their lives who are slowly giving in to their evil natures ( imaging your mom gnawing on a femur while you are talking to her)

 

[Dogbrain]

You make a good point....just a musing....maybe the deal was made with an evil god, just for lack of anything better....say Orcus, posing as Death....you know, after writing this, I realized how Gay it sounds...nevermind

The demon Orcus began as the Roman god Orcus, who was their god of death.

 

[Patman21967]

Right, but in DnD, he is basically the Demon Lord of the Undead...Me and one of my players were talking about this tonight, as far as gaming terms go...well...DnD at least...There really is no " Death " just a domain named that, and I am sure that this " Death " has garnered some worship along the way, so maybe we should define what his other spheres of influence are....I'll leave that to Draco...since I hijack enough of his thread as it is....But I see using " Death "for this reason.....It is not a God, just a power...and was once mortal, and therefore have feelings of vengeance. Plus, I would assume that the death domain has control over undeath as well....just some late night musings...

 

[Umbra]

Questions to answer

Some questions I think you need to ask:

What normally happens to a (non-heroic) soul when the body dies? What happens to a soul when the body becomes undead (lesser or greater, Lich, etc)?
What happens to a soul when the undead is destroyed?
Why does Death (or any power) want a (freely given) soul?
Are there other powers? If yes, why have they allowed this to happen?
If the world is overrun by undead (ends up with no life and therefore no death!) what does this mean for Death?
Who will be upset when souls no longer go where they are meant to?

These probably all feed the Conflict required. Which forces in the world want what and what opposes them?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Consider those Niven books officially on my reading list. I've read some of his other stuff and really liked it. And traveling back in time certainly is an idea, but I'm not sure how much I really want to get into the intracacies of time travel. If it happens, it'll have to have a bunch of rules and whatnot to deal with it. Could you expand a little more about this Omega Man movie and Legion? I've never heard of either, and they sound interesting. And I'll see if I can't dig up that Rifts book somewhere.

Omega Man and the story I called "Legion" (because I can't remember its real name) had similar and simple plots (and possibly the same source material): one man, living alone in a post-apocalyptic world fighting against mutants/vampires who rule the night. In both, the protagonists believe themselves to be the last normal humans on Earth (and I believe that in both they are wrong.) In the day, the protagonists wander the city/suburbs fairly freely- but as soon as it starts getting dark, they must find someplace to hide from the hordes that rule the night.

BTW-I have "Legion" around here somewhere, I'll post its real name as soon as I stumble across it. For all of you comic-philes out there, it was released in comic book form, so if the plotline rings a bell, chime on in!

 

[Patman21967]

Sounds like the movie 28 Days to me....but that's cool...Alot of what I am envisioning is what kinda happened in that movie....I've never played Modern, but that would kick ass too....

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It is, somewhat, but Omega Man is from the 1971 with Charlton Heston in the lead, and "Legion" is from the 90's.