It's the End of the World As We Know It: Apocalyptic Campaign Settings

[CleverNickName]

(Required Listening)

I was reading through a bunch of threads over the weekend (writer's block, ugh), looking for inspiration for my next D&D campaign. I noticed that "the end of the world" is a very popular plot device: sometimes the heroes have to stop the end of the world, sometimes they have to survive the end of the world, sometimes the world has already ended long ago.

How about your current campaign? Are you running a pre-apocalypse campaign like Lord of the Rings, where the heroes are trying to save the world from impending doom? Or maybe you're running a post-apocalyptic campaign like Ravenloft, where the world has already fallen and the heroes struggle to rebuild and survive? Maybe it's a mid-apocalyptic setting like Dragon Age: Inquisition, where our heroes fight to save a dying world as unspeakable horrors happen all around them?

Or maybe your campaign is one of the truly rare ones, where "the end of the world" is never even considered?

Vote for the option that fits best, and give us any nuance or details in the comments.

 

[Deset Gled]

In many of my games the players save the world from destruction, but failure is also an option. Would you call that pre-apocalypse or no apocalypse?

 

[CleverNickName]

In many of my games the players save the world from destruction, but failure is also an option. Would you call that pre-apocalypse or no apocalypse?

I'd say that if the goal of the campaign is to stop a coming apocalypse, then it's "pre-apocalypse."

I think that "no apocalypse" implies the world isn't going to end no matter what.

 

[The Soloist]

With D20 Modern I did an Apocalypse is About to happen campaign. The PCs almost succeeded in stopping it but ultimately failed. They survived because they had a unique gene and the alien virus couldn't affect them. The campaign became Apocalypse Just happened, what do you do?

 

[dragoner]

It would be funny to do an "after the end" post-apocalyse game like the play Steambath definitely not Mad Max II.

 

[payn]

My default is usually no apocalypse. The PCs are just average folks and the world turns with or without them.

However, im in a Fading Suns game and im kinda trying to categorize it. There was an advanced society, but it had fallen. The society now is trying to reclaim old stuff and find out why stars are getting snuffed out. So, it could technically be pre and post I guess?

 

[Deset Gled]

However, im in a Fading Suns game and im kinda trying to categorize it. There was an advanced society, but it had fallen. The society now is trying to reclaim old stuff and find out why stars are getting snuffed out. So, it could technically be pre and post I guess?

If the forerunner society was more advanced than current society, I would consider it post.

 

[Fifinjir]

Mid-apocalyptic fits best. The prison keeping the oldest demon kings in check has been destroyed, nights where the stars turn blood red and nightmares walk as flesh are more common, dark magic becomes stronger, and thus more nations are using it making wars become more brutal. It’s a mess, but things haven’t completely collapsed yet.

Also, divination and such completely stops working if you try to probe past a hundred years or so.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I'm playing in a Blades in the Dark game right now, which I'd label as post-apocalypse. There's definitely a post-industrial dying Earth vibe to it. And the last game I played in was Thousand Arrows, which was metaphorically mid-apocalypse -- Japan wasn't going to be at all the same once we addressed Oda's ambitions.

 

[Zaukrie]

I've thought about either writing a novel, or campaign, about the end of the world. The various nations and churches and power groups are trying to find other worlds that they can send people to, but most other worlds aren't suitable or are too dangerous to send people to (kind of stargate, but with urgency). The nations/factions aren't all cooperating. Some people think the gods have abandoned them, but they are actually fighting some kind of world eater to give their worshippers time to find portals to other worlds (though they are kind of dying and distracted by the fight, so they can't help them as much as they want). Pretty easy to send your group to different kinds of worlds for a few sessions, while exploring, and protecting the "scientists" who are trying to determine if the world is safe.

Or, they've found a "safe" place (or possibly one of seveal), but are building out the first settlements and protecting them from "monsters" that don't want the "invaders"......