D20 Apocalypse: Other Ways to End the World?
- Thread starter Dark Psion
- Start date
The simplest one- fossil fuels run out and there is no replacement for their creation of plastics, fertilizers and other chemicals. Famine claims the land and the survivors will have little left when the riots are finished.
Or the oceans die from turning acidic (a real possibility) and the changes to the chemistry causes the climate to change drastically.
Why use aliens when we can make the best invaders?
Or the oceans die from turning acidic (a real possibility) and the changes to the chemistry causes the climate to change drastically.
Why use aliens when we can make the best invaders?
Nuclear Platypus
First Post
Most of these are listed on the website I mentioned earlier. There's also a few that haven't been mentioned yet. They're categorized into Space (mostly involving a collision between earth and some other object), Earth, Science and Religion.
Verneshot hasn't been mentioned (kind of a volcano - asteroid impact combo), tsunamis, mass insanity, XY conflicts, the Borg, biotech (aka Frankenfood) and robots (kinda Matrix-y) to name a few.
Further explanation:
Verneshot - the ground collapses under you and eventually the hole constricts shut til the new plug is squeezed out like wet soap from your hand. Naturally, what goes up, must come down. Instead of the ground collapsing, it could be from gas pressure built up.
tsunami - first the huge wave comes way inland then drags everything back out to sea. where are most of our major cities?
mass insanity - I'm still scratching my head about this one but if some other disaster occurs, the remaining pockets of humanity will eventually become inbred and compound those nifty mental problems that seem to be on the rise.
XY conflicts - the Y chromosome loses effectiveness (it already has to cheat a lil) widening the gap between XX and XY til males are 'an endangered species' meaning no more babies.
the Borg - suppose computers get so small, they can be inserted into our skulls and we kinda become a 'living internet' since when you're online, your brain isn't quite yours. But we already know that being online makes you vulnerable to all those nice viruses, other malicious programming and (JOY!) spam mail.
biotech - genetically engineered food cross pollinates with something else and the hybrid now has an advantage, possibly becoming a weed and choking out everything else.
robots - robots become self aware but their priorities are different than ours (3 Laws of Robotics HA!) and you fill in the rest
Oh, greenhouse effect and ice age! We switch from fossil fuels to something cleaner, the abundant users of carbon dioxide go hog wild, having the side effect of dropping global temps til we enter an ice age.
Verneshot hasn't been mentioned (kind of a volcano - asteroid impact combo), tsunamis, mass insanity, XY conflicts, the Borg, biotech (aka Frankenfood) and robots (kinda Matrix-y) to name a few.
Further explanation:
Verneshot - the ground collapses under you and eventually the hole constricts shut til the new plug is squeezed out like wet soap from your hand. Naturally, what goes up, must come down. Instead of the ground collapsing, it could be from gas pressure built up.
tsunami - first the huge wave comes way inland then drags everything back out to sea. where are most of our major cities?
mass insanity - I'm still scratching my head about this one but if some other disaster occurs, the remaining pockets of humanity will eventually become inbred and compound those nifty mental problems that seem to be on the rise.
XY conflicts - the Y chromosome loses effectiveness (it already has to cheat a lil) widening the gap between XX and XY til males are 'an endangered species' meaning no more babies.
the Borg - suppose computers get so small, they can be inserted into our skulls and we kinda become a 'living internet' since when you're online, your brain isn't quite yours. But we already know that being online makes you vulnerable to all those nice viruses, other malicious programming and (JOY!) spam mail.
biotech - genetically engineered food cross pollinates with something else and the hybrid now has an advantage, possibly becoming a weed and choking out everything else.
robots - robots become self aware but their priorities are different than ours (3 Laws of Robotics HA!) and you fill in the rest
Oh, greenhouse effect and ice age! We switch from fossil fuels to something cleaner, the abundant users of carbon dioxide go hog wild, having the side effect of dropping global temps til we enter an ice age.
A supernatural invasion by creatures that fade away when the sun rises. They reappear somewhere within a mile of where they faded when the sun sets. I would not give them much in terms of magic, but rather make them combat machines- something that can kill normal humans easily but can not dig through rock or steel walls. The only advantages human have are the buildings they are holed up in at night and weaponry.
DragonLancer
Hero
DnDChick said:
Reminds me a bit about an old RPG called Torg. I never played the game but I recall flicking through the rulebook several years ago that it was a world where different realities has folded and merged into ours, so anything was possible.
Jerome Steelsides
First Post
By a comet that will fall from the sky, followed by meteor showers and tidal waves, followed by fault lines that cannot sit still, followed by millions of dumbfounded dip****s?
(Apologies to Tool)
(Apologies to Tool)
Jack of Shadows
First Post
Hmmm,
I'm suprised no one has mentioned it but what about apocalypse through invading ecosystem. Those who have read The War Against the Chtorr novels will know about this. Basically rather than invade with spaceships and rayguns the aliens bombard the world with ecobombs hidden in meteors. These ecobombs basically begin to convert the surrounding ecology into that of the alien's world bringing with it the rather nasty and agressive flora and fauna their world has to offer.
Jack
I'm suprised no one has mentioned it but what about apocalypse through invading ecosystem. Those who have read The War Against the Chtorr novels will know about this. Basically rather than invade with spaceships and rayguns the aliens bombard the world with ecobombs hidden in meteors. These ecobombs basically begin to convert the surrounding ecology into that of the alien's world bringing with it the rather nasty and agressive flora and fauna their world has to offer.
Jack
TheAuldGrump
First Post
Hmmm, there was an old science fiction novella titled Population Explosion. Suddenly the population becomes a constant rather than increasing - people are born at the same rate they die.
China decides to breed the other nations out of existence, end up getting nuked. However it does not take long for the world to reach that same population again.
Then the population starts dropping slowly.
ANother weirdy is Williamson's Humanoids series, where the robots exist to 'serve man, and keep man from harm'. No Billy don't play with those wooden blocks, use these foam ones, they are less likely to hurt you. I am sorry Dave, I can't let you drive the car at more than 40 miles per hour, it is too dangerous. No Alice, you cannot be allowed to climb that mountain... one of the scarier uses of robots in science fiction.
The Stand, where the technological end of the world is just the tip of the iceberg, as the Appocolypse draws nie.
Or there is always Good Omens... Terry Pratchett and Niel Gaiman have fun with that one.
The Auld Grump
China decides to breed the other nations out of existence, end up getting nuked. However it does not take long for the world to reach that same population again.
Then the population starts dropping slowly.
ANother weirdy is Williamson's Humanoids series, where the robots exist to 'serve man, and keep man from harm'. No Billy don't play with those wooden blocks, use these foam ones, they are less likely to hurt you. I am sorry Dave, I can't let you drive the car at more than 40 miles per hour, it is too dangerous. No Alice, you cannot be allowed to climb that mountain... one of the scarier uses of robots in science fiction.
The Stand, where the technological end of the world is just the tip of the iceberg, as the Appocolypse draws nie.
Or there is always Good Omens... Terry Pratchett and Niel Gaiman have fun with that one.
The Auld Grump
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