Post Apocalypse: 4th Millennium

[Grimgrin]

I have a seed of an idea for a new 4th edition campaign. This is mostly flavor text since I don’t intend to radically alter the core rules. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome.
Its called . . . .

4th Millennium
In 4th millennium you battle for survival in world reshaped by mad microscopic robots. You fight monsters and mutants born without natural selection nor divine genesis. You attempt to collect valuable artifacts from hidden bunkers and collapsed buildings (classic dungeon crawls with a PA twist).


Paradise Lost
In the Golden Age of the late 3rd Millennium, humankind had achieved perfect health, long life, and universal wealth with a single dazzling scientific innovation: NANOTECHNOLOGY. Nanotechnology is the construction and programming of viral sized robots that can alter cells, reshape matter, and generate energy. In a world in medical crisis, drowning industrial waste, and limited natural resources, nanotechnology seems a panacea for all ills. These tiny robots are not only tireless workers, but adaptive and self replicating. Medical Nanobots injected into the bloodstream were able to destroy disease, rebuild damaged organs, and fight aging. Energy Nanobots fed organic waste emit any type of energy required. Industrial Nanobots will build any object within minutes given a proper blueprint.
As a result of these marvelous machines by the end of the 3rd Millennium, society was radically altered. Nearly every person (except for violent dissenters and the criminally insane) was host to a colony of Nanobots. These bots not only healed people of disease (and lethal excess), they also provided all the information anyone might ever need. Schools and libraries were a thing of the past. When connected to the Nanocosm, you are instantly provided with any knowledge or physical talent you require. Factories and labor mills became antiquated relics. Industrial Nanobots will replicate any design or device imagined by the human psyche. To a world depleted of fossil fuels and choking on its own trash, a source of clean abundant energy powered by garbage killed two birds with one stone. Unfortunately this prosperity lasted only for a few centuries.
No one knows what caused the Downfall, only nanotech records were kept, and in the chaos and trauma of the event, testimonials are imperfect. Some believe that by their efforts to improve nanotechnology, scientists unleashed a crippling malfunction. Others believe that a regional war employing Nuclear EMP weapons severed the fragile electronic links tying the Nanocosm together. Many have come to believe that the sins of wrath, avarice, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony awoke a divine wrath that laid mankind low. The results are apparent to all.
The Nanocosm is ripped asunder. Nanobots no longer function with the precision and purpose of a united intellect. Fried Nanotech systems no longer function or perform poorly. Corrupted systems produce monsters, mutations, and madness that the hazardous and destructive. Severed Systems function out of tune with reality or to no purpose. You are born to the 4th Millennium and are host to your own personal Nanobot colony. In this world of tattered glory and malignant malice, you must find away to utilize your heritage and adapt to the present to thrive.
　
　
　
No Magic
There is no magic. The beliefs in magic by fools and mad men is based on ignorance and self delusion. Ever since the Downfall, feral Nanobots will infect man, machine, and beast alike. In certain individuals, Energy and Industrial Nanobots will form a colony. It is the action of these Nanobots that are the source of the supposed “magic” of the superstitious. The use of bodily fluids extracted in the performance of “Ritual Magic” is clear evidence of this. As a Nanobot Colony grows in size and power within an individual, they can perform more powerful and a greater variety of magical powers.

Pistols, Rifles, Blasters, Scatter Guns, and Melee Weaponry
The supposed magical implements of these “spell casters” are in actuality Nano-Tech weaponry. The weaponry of the 3rd Millennium physically resembled the firearms of the 20th century (fact or science fiction), but relied on the Nanotech colonies inside the bearer to fuel or power the weapon. The implement itself was only a focus for the Nanobot Effect resident in the shooter. A common implement provides only minor benefits to the combatant. An enhanced implement provides powers of its own and resembles a heavily customized firearm. Melee Nanotech Weaponry was not as common in the past, but has become ubiquitous in the savage 4th Millennium.
Pistols (Wands)
Rifles (Staves)
Blasters (Rods)
Scatter Guns (Orbs)

Holy Symbols, Totems, and Designer Gear
Some people of the 3rd Millennium preferred to wear their Nano-Tech tools as jewelry or clothing. But fashion is useless if others can recognize your superior tastes in choosing designer clothes and expensive jewelry. To secure product identity in this highly competitive field of fashion, merchandise was specifically coded to an iconic style for every “Brand“. Certain powers were linked to specific symbols. For example the Red Cross and the Caduceus were icons of two competing medical research companies and were permanently incorporated into their Nanobot implements. Military, Security/Espionage, and Sports Equipment research also used cultural icons to permanently mark their intellectual property. One company used Ancient Roman designs to designate its ready-to-wear ballistic cloth (togas/robes) and sporting equipment (gladiators/centurions). Others chose Japanese, Punk, Medieval, Viking, or Nature themes for their brand.　

 

[Cheshiremythos]

Don't forget the vestige pacts, those people who have memory imprinted nanites in them of people from the 3rd millennium. Are each of the sub groups for humans/haflings different races or are they simply different factions/background? What about primal "casters"? Are they people who have found a way to "naturalise" the nanites and put them towards some environmental aspect?

 

[Grimgrin]

Don't forget the vestige pacts, those people who have memory imprinted nanites in them of people from the 3rd millennium.

That's a good idea for vestige pacts, but they wouldn't be part of the Nihilists (besides I don't have that book ). I'm reworking the 'tribes' and adding more factions to cover more D&D classes/races and philosophies.

Are each of the sub groups for humans/haflings different races or are they simply different factions/background?

The tribes are political entities not just races. The great tribes are all originally the same race (human), but during the third millennium it was fashionable to use your personal nanobots to alter your physical appearance (the halfling form for example was typical for the densely packed mega-cities of the world). Most people are jammed into a specific phenotype (except for dopplegangers and shifters to a lesser extent). The Great Tribes have a racial majority, but are typically composed of varied races. Some people were born to a specific tribe, but have joined another that suits their goals and beliefs better. All humanoids in 4M have the average lifespan of a human.

What about primal "casters"? Are they people who have found a way to "naturalize" the nanites and put them towards some environmental aspect?

Everyone has nanobots (this is the source of healing surges and action points in 4M). Primals have nanos more commonly found in the designer animals and plants (war beasts & bio-art) of the past. Some can change into plants or animals, others have beastly muscle mass, and several can conjure nano-cloud beasts to assist them. (i.e. druid, barbarian, shaman)

 

[Grimgrin]

Addendum 1

Action Points & Healing Surges
The nanobots in are body work sporatically, but they have a highly developed sense of self preservation. At times of great stress, the colony will provided its host with a boost of speed, skill, or power. Miraculous healing is also a common experience in the 4th Millennium. Contrary to provincial beliefs, healing prayers do not tap into a divine agency but nanotechnology. "Clerics" and "Paladins" possess the command protocols to active the curative subroutines of the Nanobot Colony of the host creature.

Post Apocalyptic Tribes
The remnants of humanity have entered a new "Dark Age" with the collapse of the Nanocosm. Without their Nanobot factories and communications people struggle just to survive. Nanobots no longer reliably manufacture and repair machinery. Tasks left to automated systems such as farming, building, and navigation must be rediscovered. Before the Downfall, people were completely dependant on Nanobots for communication, computation, memorization, transportation, and medicine. Now they must make do with on poorly remembered skills and muscle driven technology. To endure, survivors of like-mind banded together for protection and stability. These social groups became the five Great Tribes of the Fourth Millennium. As a player character you may be the racial or spiritual embodiment of your tribe, a social misfit that pursues a character class atypical for your family, or a renegade that follows a radically different philosophy and morality than the rest of your family.

Nihilists (Tieflings, Half Orcs, and Goblinoids): This tribe is commonly seen as selfish, uncaring, and vindictive. Its members generally have the belief that life goals are pointless and moral values are worthless; might makes right. Nihilists are infamous for their warlocks.

Nukers (Infernal Pact): The Nuker faction tends to the be the most violent, destructive, and combative of the Nihilist Tribe.
Pukers (Dark Pact): This faction is especially spiteful and secretive. Pukers use poison, treachery, and duplicity to achieve their goals.
Freaks (Fey Pact): This faction is composed of anarchists that delight in chaos and emotional frenzy.
Bleaks (Star Pact): This faction is composed of fatalists that believe in inevitable doom and unchangeable fate.

Scalar (Dragonborn): Scalars are common on to the arid grasslands and deserts of the 4th Millenium. Their reptile metabolism allows them to survive on less food and water than a typical humanoid mammal would require. Scalar are usually nomadic gypsies, hunters, and herdsmen.

Waste Landers (Bladelings, Goliaths, and Dwarves): Waste Landers are resistant to the constant dangers of their homelands. Toxic Jungles, Poisonous Swamps, and Sprawling Pipelines are their favored habitats. Waste Landers are well known for preferring exotic weapons such as the double axe, and loyalty to kin and county.


Wild Child (Fey and Beastly): Wilders favor wild places, independence, self-sufficiency, and individualism. They ignore laws, boundaries, traditions, and have little respect for bureaucracies.

Fetishists (aka Ferals) attribute good or bad fortune to a location or inanimate object that is believe to harbor a spirit. Fetishists are unpredictable since they look for omens and portents in everyday items, and prioritize the ‘spiritual matters‘.
Hong Di Faction (aka Terra Cotta Troopers) believe they know how to restore the Nanocosm to harmony by a mystical practice called "Feng Shui". They are always busy building new monuments, cleaning debris, and demolishing obstacles to the proper flow of "chi". The Hong Di are the most unified and organized of the Wild Child factions.
Socialites (aka Cosmos) are not intentionally wicked but find their own goals and fashion needs of foremost importance.
ReSickles (aka Reapers) follow the "Three Fold Path": Life, Death, and Rebirth. They take no more than they need, own a few treasured handed-down possessions, and trust in Nature's providence. They violently opposes conspicuous consumption, destruction, and waste. Reapers common use sickles and scythes in combat and favor motorized bikes and trikes as transport.

Metros (Human and Halfling): Metros live in the ruins of urban areas and modern boom towns.

Frequent Flyers: This faction has lived for generations in airports and follows the tenets of an esoteric prophecy called the "Imminent Departure". Status seekers are attracted to this faction with its emphasis on elitism and special privilege.
Hospitallers: Hospitallers are a member of a religious order or charitable institution involved in the care of the sick and the destruction of the undead.
Globalists: Globalists are fortune seekers that risk life and limb to make that big score. Many a "Land Baron" pounded the first claim stake in boomtown build over a rich salvage site.
Beacons: Beacons are always scanning and fiddling with microwaves, gamma rays, and radio waves in the hope of reestablishing the Nanocosm. Technologists and revivalists are attracted to this faction.
Honorbound: The Honorbound are group of people follow a strict code of behavior. Members of this faction often work as enforcers, arbitrators, and peacekeepers in their communities. The honor bound have a reputation for fairness, enforcing legal contracts, recovering stolen property, and crime patrolling. Only the highly motivated and disciplined are invited to join this faction.

 

[Grimgrin]

Looking for some ideas for PA class features, PA wondrous items, PA character backgrounds, etc.

 

[Cheshiremythos]

I figured that for the Nihilists you were just listing the warlock bits under them, I guess it makes more sense that they be actually sub-tribes and what not. I like the idea of the Hong Di faction, a lot. I might have to pick them up in my PA game. (Not 4e though)

For wondrous items Take a look at sites online that talk about "20 years down the line this could reign in this market" (say colour e-ink in the e reader market or something). Project out from there, its a fun experiment in general but it could lead to some useful advices.

Im not sure on the PA class features, I haven't tried my hand at class design. Its a new beast compared to 3e work. The backgrounds though, you already have. The nihilists, the Hong Di all of them. If they don't directly link to a class or race then they can be considered backgrounds. Hell, you could have specific backgrounds for warlocks, clerics and paladins if not all the classes.

Give me some time and I should have some info of my own to post. Im doing a PA game now for 3.5 but it has nothing to do with nanites or way in the future so. Maybe it will prove helpful.