Riffing on
@Laurefindel and
@Bill Zebub here:
Post-Apocalyptic (PA) RPGs are among my favorites. I actually got lucky enough to work on Gamma World d20 (quiet you -- it was a great project) and so I have LOTS of opinions about what makes a good PA RPG. Of course, not all of those opinions have anything to do with GW, but many do.
That said, I am curious what people feel are important elements in a good post-apocalyptic role-playing game. I am asking both from a mechanical perspective -- what kinds of systems and sub-sytsems focus and/or enhance PA games -- and from a thematic pespective -- what sorts of apocalypses make good PA games, etc.
My personal preferences for PA are either "It's been the last three years" -- specifically, T2K 2E or 4E -- or it's way in the past, and the game is just fantasy with high tech bits strewn about, such as Pugmire. Yeah, Pugmire's the remnants of a blown up world.... Technically, Judge Dredd is also PA, but not the kind most think of.
My favorite settings for PA are T2K and Pugmire.
My favorite mechanics are for T2K 4e, with T2K 2.0 (NOT 2.2).
I did like running Dragonlance Fifth Age - which is a very much post-apocalypse for the setting... The gods withdraw, save for one, Tasselhoff, and he's just watching... and the Dragon-Gods... especially when you have "afflicted kender" - no longer cheerful, they came to know fear, and don't like it. And want to end the sources of it.... at any cost.
I liked the Dark Sun setting, but it only delayed my departure from AD&D by a few months. Most of my friends ported it to GURPS.
I didn't care for Aftermath as a set of mechanics. Nor Morrow Project. Like both concepts, tho'.
I don't have much desire for the silly mutant fantasy like Gamma World, Radz, or Gamma Trollworld.
I also prefer trans-apocalypse to post apocalypse... specifically Shadowrun (where in 1E, the apocalypse was almost over), Alien (where meeting the Xenomorphs is a personal version). Tales from the Loop, Vaesen, and Things from the Flood can all be seen as trans-apocalyptic.
The End of the World series (from FFG, now from Edge Studios) is another - especially since the PCs are modeled directly after the PC by the RAW. I can't speak to the EotW game, as I've yet to run it... but conceptually, it's trans apocalyptic.