post-apocalyptic campaigns!

[Jim Hague]

Another trope that I don't think's been touched on yet is this: we did it to ourseves.

Think about it a bit - like the ever popular zombie flick, post-apocalyptic fiction isn't so much about the disaster as what happens after. The world, after all, isn't the people on it. The world is a system that the apocalyptic event breaks down, catastrophically.

The real meat in any post-apocalyptic game or fiction is dealing with the aftermath - do you succumb to savagery, turning on your fellow survivors to eke out a bare and pitiless existence in the wasteland, or do you choose to try and rebuild, perhaps avoiding the mistakes of the past? The drama is, ultimately, a human one. Everything else is just a set piece.

 

[DMH]

A great place for resources (games, movies and books):

http://www.geocities.com/paforge/home.html

Click on the top to get the menu. The forum mentioned at the bottom of the menu is mostly quiet, but we do have some activity from time to time.

As for novels, the best I can suggest are Earth Abides (no mutants or wacky technology, just an excellent description of how things fall apart after a plague) and A Canticle for Leibowitz (few mutants and little tech). Do not get the sequel to Canticle- it just isn't worth the time.

The absolute best RPG supplement for apocalyptic and post apocalyptic settings is GURPS Y2K. It looks at different types of cataclysms and how society reacts to them. There is almost no rules in it if you don't like GURPS. I can not strongly enough suggest this book.

 

[IcyCool]

Be sure to speak like Ron Perlman while you GM.

[Ron Perlman Voice]"War. War never changes."[/Ron Perlman Voice]

 

[Jim Hague]

Though it's only vaguely post-apaocalyptic, the mention of Ron Perlman reminds me that he's lending his voice to a certain sullen-eyed Cimmerian real soon...

 

[kadath]

Another trope that I don't think's been touched on yet is this: we did it to ourseves.

"We didn't listen!"

The drama is, ultimately, a human one. Everything else is just a set piece.

Totally agree!

 

[Psion]

Rutger Hauer

 

[Shallown]

There was a neat game called warp world putout by BRTC I think and it had some cool ideas. Basically the big bombs dropped and with so many deaths happening near simultaneously it ripped the fabric of the world apart. Soon out of the warps appeared the elves, dwarves, goblins and ogres of time forgotten as did magic returned. The neat element was that it also awoke sentient creatures above the earth that saw technology was to blame and supressed technology. So you might be able to fire a gun but soon the gods reached down and stopped technology from working in that area. So there were also spells that hid technology for a short time and some people wore a piece of technology (like a digital watch) to keep technology supressed around them at all times. Magic spells were neat becuase many were based on old technology that no longer worked so people knew about telephones and cell phones, so the spells often just duplicated the effects of technology so they had phone home spells and such.

The only draw back to the game was the companies complex gaming system which was normal for the times. It was a great and fairly releastic system just too much system for the fun. The world it had was very cool though.

Later

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Krynn(Dragonlance) right after the Cataclysm.

 

[Tonguez]

Another trope that I don't think's been touched on yet is this: we did it to ourseves. .

So you want intelligent gorillas and mutant psychics who worship an armed Nuclear warhead

 

[Jim Hague]

So you want intelligent gorillas and mutant psychics who worship an armed Nuclear warhead

To quote Seth Green:

"If that is one the menu, yes!"

I'm of the opinion that the nature of the Collapse isn't what really matters, except to set up environmental factors that the survivors have to deal with. The real struggle (at least in an introspective sort of campaign) is between the survivors themselves - like I said above, it's what choices they make, once society's veneer is violently stripped away.

But hey, souped-up dunebuggies, stop sign armor and crossbows have their place too. The two aren't mutually exclusive.