For me it has to be Gonzo. A bleak post-apocalypse doesn't work as it makes no amount of sense. The environment would improve if all the people died. So any sort of "realistic" PA setting would be more like Grizzly Adams than The Road.

So, I guess I'd pick option d) Reskinned Western

Quote from: finarvyn;1006151That's a tough one. I guess the answer is: "depends upon the edition and the group."

1E Gamma World had drawings of rabbits with guns but the text didn't sound terribly gonzo, so my group ignored the pictures and played it grim and gritty. Some of the later incarnations had some pretty wild stuff in them so it was more obvious that gonzo was the intended style, but I didn't really get that so much with 1E.

In general I find that my players come up with gonzo ideas and sure-fail plans, so the rulebook doesn't need to do that for me. Some of the most gonzo games I've run were supposed to be serious Call of Cthulhu sessions, which turned crazy when decisions and/or dice rolls made everything fall apart. I prefer for the humor to come out of play and not the rules.

1e for me, so yeah, rabbits. I had forgotten about those. Also the pathetic mutant that wasn't supposed to survive chargen.
But those rabbits never showed up in our games, although other  weird things did. So I guess colour me gonzo, but more toward the low-gonzo end of the spectrum.

Quote from: Ted;1005958Midnight, essentially bleak and hopeless with the uncommon motes of light set against the unrelenting gloom of Izrador.

Noah Antweiler mentioned Midnight in one his videos. Care to spin a mini-review about it? It's in my sights for procural.

Quote from: jeff37923;1006131No. The RPG version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road would be a suicidal downer and not at all entertaining to me.

I saw the film years ago. Was one of the saddest, bleakest, most depressing films yet it nailed the thriller vibe when it needed to. The two bullet thing was genius. Whole thing totally put me off my at-the-time naivete about awesome, mutant 'splody post-apocolyspse'ing...

... yet I still think it would be a fascinating setting to explore if expanded upon and set about a decade later when things have settled down a tad.

"How Do You Prefer Your Post-Apocalypse?"

Medium RAW, reasonably crunchy and with spicy content, please;)!

My fave PA work is probably Roadside Picnic and the Stalker videogames. A pity those are so little explored in the hobby.

I say c in to b preferably with A side of magic returning / being rediscovered.
I would give after the bomb with A supliment to add in magic as an example ( and sadly A game I have never gotten off the ground).  

Quote from: Tetsubo;1006289I'd say C, leaning towards B. My preferred system is the 19932 edition of Gamma World. I think it's easier to start gonzo and move towards a more serious tone.

Greetings time traveler thank you for letting us know that rpgs will still be around nearly 18000 years from now.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1006363Noah Antweiler mentioned Midnight in one his videos. Care to spin a mini-review about it? It's in my sights for procural.

Sure happy to.

Elevator pitch: Imagine a world where Sauron finally won and it happened a hundred years ago.

Longer treatment: god of evil, Izrador, is banished to earth and a veil descends between the gods and mortals. Izrador rallies evil to himself and ventures forth from the frozen north. Twice over a thousand years he is defeated, but the third time is the charm. He suborns four great heroes to serve as his Night Kings as the orcish armies of the North finally prevail.

Dwarves retreat to mountain holds, the elves to their forest, but the humans and halflings feel the full brunt of occupation and slavery. The land is ruled by legates, magic is illegal, channellers are roundeded up and disappear.  

The light of freedom is extinguished unless you few, you happy few, you band of freedom fighters take up the challenge and rage against the darkness.

There is obiviously a lot more to it, lots of coolness.  We played for 3 years and it was a great campaign.

I'd say a mix of B and C.  Nothing Gamma World level of crazy, but maybe a bit more out there than Fallout.

Deadlands:  Hell on Earth has a lot going for it in that regard.

I can take Twilight: 2000 in small doses, but would generally  prefer After The Bomb (TMNT) or Gamma World. Bleak does nothing for me in the long-term. The real world is bleak enough.

A and C

Quotea) Bleak and Hopeless

Other Dust
Pretty dark, gritty, etc..   it works very well and has lots of sandbox RPG style material to work with.
Additionally, it's compatible with the scifi RPG "Stars without Number, so you draw draw material from there too.
That and Silent Legions RPG, Spears of Dawn and probably other RPGs made by the same guy.  

Quotec) Wacky and Gonzo?

For this category, I like Gammaworld 7th edition.
This was a pretty unpopular version, but I really liked it and even though it was based on 4th edition DnD rules, it worked really well for the Gonzo style.

Quote from: Itachi;1006393My fave PA work is probably Roadside Picnic and the Stalker videogames. A pity those are so little explored in the hobby.

Love the book and film, game was good but I didn't have the time to commit to it.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1005766Would you rather play in a P-A campaign that is:

a) Bleak and Hopeless
b) Challenging but Optimistic
c) Wacky and Gonzo?

Depends.

"Realistic" PA is pretty bleak and hopeless. AKA, Twilight 2000.

I run Rifts, Gamma World and Waste World as challenging and gonzo, but the gonzo makes sense in relation to the setting. AKA, my gonzo stuff isn't there for cheap laughs, but integrated into the setting as a bizarre, but believable aspect.

Quote from: Voros;1006487Love the book and film, game was good but I didn't have the time to commit to it.

There was a certain... religious proselitizing*? in the film that bothered me a bit and makes me rank it below the other two. it's a great film nonetheless.

*from my interpretation, the stalker in the movie wants to believe in the "sacredness" of the zone, which the movie puts in doubt until the very ending, when the girls shows blatant telekinetic powers, thus validating the stalker's belief. Some people interpret that the cup slides due to vibration caused by the train in the background, but I don't know, the scene seems pretty obvious to me. I wish the ending kept with the dubious nature the film sustained til that part.

Bleak & Hopeless is never to my liking.

Quote from: Itachi;1006529There was a certain... religious proselitizing*? in the film that bothered me a bit and makes me rank it below the other two. it's a great film nonetheless.

*from my interpretation, the stalker in the movie wants to believe in the "sacredness" of the zone, which the movie puts in doubt until the very ending, when the girls shows blatant telekinetic powers, thus validating the stalker's belief. Some people interpret that the cup slides due to vibration caused by the train in the background, but I don't know, the scene seems pretty obvious to me. I wish the ending kept with the dubious nature the film sustained til that part.

Tarkovsky is a deeply religious filmmaker for sure, all his films are. He's as Russian as they come. And yes, clearly it is telekinesis at the end. They used a string to pull the glass off the table. A great ending I think. I'm not a believer but can appreciate religious artists, whether it is Tarkovsky or Tolstoy.