Earth Inherited (d20 Apocalypse)

[jezter6]

I just picked up d20 Apoc and I've been fairly impressed with it, but the one thing that really caught my eye is Earth Inherited (EI), although I don't think I would use it straight from the book.

The thought of demons vs angels has been a long time setting idea of mine, and luckily someone went and did most of the work for me and I don't have to write things up myself...add in Blood and Relics (RPGObjects) and it just seems like more and more fun.

I know that all the really good people disappear during the Rapture, but it just seems odd that the game seems to suggest that all remaining people are battling angels just as much as they are battling the demons that are fighting for earth. Somehow I think the 'better side' of humanity would start to show in people and they would join with the angels to fight evil, but it doesn't seem that way in the RAW.

So I guess my question is this: Who's using EI as the backdrop for their campaign, or at least planning on starting one soon, and what are you doing with it?

 

[SWBaxter]

I know that all the really good people disappear during the Rapture, but it just seems odd that the game seems to suggest that all remaining people are battling angels just as much as they are battling the demons that are fighting for earth. Somehow I think the 'better side' of humanity would start to show in people and they would join with the angels to fight evil, but it doesn't seem that way in the RAW.

I think the idea is that the better side of humanity is already safely out of the picture, so from the Angels' point of view they're operating in a free-fire zone. Mortals battle Angels for the same reason they battle Demons - so as not to get killed by them. It'd make an interesting series of subplots to figure out exactly why everybody who's left has been written off by the (allegedly) good guys.

 

[DnDChick]

I got the impression that the angels in the EI setting were in some way cast out; perhaps they aren't all that good to begin with. They still battle demons and devils, maybe more out of instinct than duty, but they were banished to Earth because they weren't as dedicated to "The Deity" as they should have been.

 

[jezter6]

I guess I can see it, but it paints a dim view of humanity (in an already dim situation). I'm thinking of reworking the story a little bit so that humans are not quite so neutral (or angels are not quite so neutral...or both)

Either that or starting out before the Rapture and leading up to the big apocalypse event, but I'm kind of old school and want my heroes to be the champions of good, not champions of "hey, if we don't like demons, and we don't like angels, we can kill everything because it just doesn't matter anymore."

Maybe nobody just disappears and this is mankind's time to 'prove themselves' to be led to the good happy place or be sent to the 'bad hot place.'

I don't know...I'm full of too many ideas

 

[spider_minion]

If I were to use this setting, I'd try to blur the good / evil line as much as possible. Demons would be out to destroy the angels and further their own self-interest and ego (such as having slaves carve them statues and such). While they would be certainly evil, they wouldn't go out of their way to harm others unless they would have something to gain. Angels would be single-mindedly determined to fight the demons, and would view humans as worthless and flawed beings that are beneath them. Holier-than-thou in the most literial sense. They wouldn't hesitate to kill the mortals if it would help them in their war.

I wouldn't play either side as being too monolitihic either. There would be plenty of angels and demons confused by what's going on and would have their own agenda.

The afterlife would be a mystery to the survivors. Since the gates of heaven and hell are closed, what will happen to their souls? Maybe they would rise as undead.

Why the demons and angels were cast out of their realms would also be unknown.

Children, who are too young to be good or evil, would remain on the war-torn earth.

The PCs would be on a search for answers and meaning in a seemingly nihilistic and unjust world. Magic and technology would be their tools to fight back. Perhaps to learn more the PCs would ulitmately have to head deep into the earth or up into space. What would they find . . . I have no idea.

I gotta think about this more . . . maybe I'll run a campaign like this.

 

[spider_minion]

Maybe nobody just disappears and this is mankind's time to 'prove themselves' to be led to the good happy place or be sent to the 'bad hot place.'

Or another idea . . .

Maybe there wouldn't be a good place at all for a reward . . . but rather, to prove themselves the human race would have to create their own future, and fight back against the cosmic forces that seek the destroy them. The powers that be might think that this world has had enough, and that its time to create a new and improved race without this whole 'free will' problem.

Perhaps I'm too fond of a bleak existentialist version of the Earth Inheirited campaign.

 

[Falkus]

I like Earth Inherited, it gives me that Terry Pratchet Good Omen's feeling. That god doesn't care anymore than the devil does, and all humanity is to them is points.

 

[PJ-Mason]

I got the impression that the angels in the EI setting were in some way cast out; perhaps they aren't all that good to begin with. They still battle demons and devils, maybe more out of instinct than duty, but they were banished to Earth because they weren't as dedicated to "The Deity" as they should have been.

Thats how i saw it. The angels left behind must not have been all that pious. By the same token, i don't see the demons as being all that evil, if they got kicked out of hell. But then i love lots of grey morality so................

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Maybe the Inherited earth is actually Purgatory.

 

[SWBaxter]

Either that or starting out before the Rapture and leading up to the big apocalypse event, but I'm kind of old school and want my heroes to be the champions of good

Well sure, but being champions of good means a lot more if everybody's trying to kill you. Anybody can be a champion of good when it means half the supernatural beings ripping the earth apart are now on your side, but it takes a real hero to do the right thing when it won't stop the angels from trying to kill you and will make the demons work harder at it.