Astroid hits Greyhawk - The aftermath

[terrya]

Hello All,

In a new game im about to start with some friends of mine I have decided to run a game set in Greyhawk but with a twist, the world has just been hit by an astroid! I have always loved the Greyhawk setting and know allot about the geography and the history that goes with it but one of the biggest stumbling blocks I have always had with my players is, why does'nt the circle of 8 just fix it. This left me thinking well what would could I do to take Greyhawk back to the dark ages and for people like Mordekain not to be around, simple hit them with an astroid!

Now to the question, I'm looking for ideas as to what affect people think this would have on the world! I already intend for it to of caused a wide spread disease that is causing something like dawn of the dead meets that one with will smith in it! (zombie appocalypse). I also plan to have some areas be completely flooded and warped from their orginals. Im just hoping people can give me some really good ideas as to what affect an astroid hitting Greyhawk might of done!

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

There was a d20 supplement published by Malhavoc Press called When the Sky Falls that discusses what happens after an asteroid strike. It should spark a few ideas.

Edit: You could also look at the 4E version of the Forgotten Realms and the radical changes made due to the death of the deity of magic. Just make sure none of your players are attached to Greyhawk as much as most fans of FR are to "their" world....

 

[Serendipity]

... why doesn't the circle of 8 just fix it!

Not sure which rules system you're running but per what's actually been stated to be the circle of eight's abilities (a couple of archmages, and some lesser casters) .... none of them could do enough damage to an asteroid to affect it much (besides, what are they going to do - fly into low orbit? Unless they can travel through space, nothing they could do would do anything except replace a large explosion with a bunch of smaller but still detrimental to civilization explosions).

In any case, Seconding the recommendation for When the Sky Falls, as it's a really incredible book that I've gotten a lot of use out of in my homebrew game.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have a homebrew in which it wasn't one meteor, but many...and yes, I DID use When the Sky Falls.

If the meteor or meteors are bad enough, the city will be gone. A crater. And around it will be a wasteland created by fire, ejects, and superheated air & ash. Some will be entombed, a la Pompeii

Get enough material ejected into the air, and it will plunge the region or world into a winter like state, meaning mass die-offs of plants and animals. If this state persists, you can hve extinctions and the collapsing of civilization.

Even magic may not be sufficient to help- enough time in perpetual darkness and cold, and anything flammable will be used as fuel for fires, including scrolls & books of the mundane and magical variety.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Fantasy setting...
I think I would go to "impact winter" but where there is also a rift open and creatures of winter, frost giants and such invade the world from that plane

 

[Penthau]

Obsidian Apocalypse

On drivethrurpg I got a free download of a setting description called Obsidian Apocalypse: World of Abaddon (PFRPG) that added an extra twist to the meteor. It was charged with necromantic energy and everyone who died also were raised as undead. It also interfered with summoning magics so that things that were summoned couldn't return when the summons ended, which seemed to irritate them a bit.

It walks through the ~50 years after the strike to the campaign start.

 

[Wycen]

So it's even more Monte Cookish. When the Sky Falls plus Ptolus.

 

[amerigoV]

An alternative: Savage Worlds has a setting called Sundered Skies where basically a fantasy world breaks apart into a shards. I have not read through the plot point, but the PCs learn what really happened through the campaign. You could simply replace the individual shards with chunks of Greyhawk.

Triple Ace - Sundered Skies

 

[fireinthedust]

BOOKS:
* Midnight campaign setting: animated dead rising, effects of being cut off from other planes with only one evil deity in residence; altered classes and character options you may want to consider switching to.
* environmental books: winter, sure, but also desert environs, and books about necromancy
* Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved game has a d20 class called the winter witch. depending up on how much time has passed, they could replace druids somewhat.
* elder evils has epic-level bad guys. One of them is a PLANET/moon that orbits a world and buffs the undead. Well, what if it exploded and landed (in one spot or many) on Greyhawk?



GREYHAWK FANS: Well, you could always give them an opt-out in the form of going back in time to prevent the asteroid from sundering the world in the first place.
"Fulfill this quest, and this world may never have to have been!" rasped the old mystic, his tattered cloak wrapped about him to keep out the cold in the former jungles around Cauldron.
* let them know it's a limited number of sessions in this setting
* if the players like the setting, just keep going
* Or end it anyway, and let them remember it from time to time
* it could be an alternate reality, like Age of Apocalypse, and guest stars from there could make cameos; or one session down the line could visit the setting, I dunno


TIMELINE: How long has it been since the asteroid hit? The longer it's been, the more extreme the setting.
* how many sessions do you want to play this in? A limited number can focus the story, each game showing one facet of the changed setting. Take a famous site, turn it on its ear, fight some monsters there and get a slab of information and a peice of the McGuffin (final thing that lets you reset to normal Greyhawk, maybe).


NECRO WINTER: It's due to a necromantic "asteroid", so it's not really a "frost" event so much as a necromancy event that makes the world in a sort of magical nuclear winter.
* all the dead rise as zombies
* everything is locked in winter, possibly also perpetual night
* necromancy is more potent (give all dead +2 to strength, or even +2HD, or just bonus hp that has no other game effects)
* summoned creatures don't return, making them hostile (also a perpetual food source)
* elemental fire creatures would be sought out as a source of heat, making them more powerful
* underdark as shelter; war for resources and territory intensifies (drow necromancers buffed)
* survivors rally around Paladins and Clerics who can slay undead
* good and nature would rally together
* after a long time, druids would become scarce, and nature would take a real hit in power.
* elves and gnomes, forest creatures would need to adapt
* forests would become harsher, with tropical plants dying off: a maze-tomb of dead trees
* Tomb of Horrors is about the rise of a necromantic power. Even if Acererak isn't to blame, he and others like him would be bolstered by this event.
* what's the point of a free city if there are no resources? well, survival in the face of roving bands of undead!



ASTEROID
* ground zero is auto-kill/animate zone.
* maybe it's a necro artifact from somewhere, another plane
* if you've advanced the timeline since it struck, some big bad (Vecna?) has taken up residence, or came along for the ride in the first place.


SITES
* city under seige from zombies at the gates
* underdark refugees finding a ruin to explore
* ground zero
* dead forest and the creatures that live there
* elven stronghold (not so strong?)
* try not to bog down in sites that aren't memorable, if you only have a few sessions just dump them into the main events

 

[Dioltach]

Here's a thought: underground races will prosper. Anything that doesn't need as much sunlight or warmth will be very much at an advantage in the aftermath of a big meteor strike.