So, there's lots of different kind of Apocalypses for post-apocalyptic gaming... what kind would you want to play in most? Which do you think would have the most potential?
RPGPundit
The kind that happens in-game. An actual transition between the normal and post-apocalypse setting would be cool. Although you'd have to think of some way for players to survive.
I'm actually fond of the original state for RIFTS before all of the wars and power creep when most of the world was wilderness and civilization was often as dangerous as the wastes. Today, were I to run it, I'd take some time tuning the future history--and what comes of it--into something that's a lot easier for new players to buy into, starting with when the Coming of the Rifts occurs. (I'd go with something close to mainstream in terms of cultural visibility, such as that well-known date of December 21st 2012.)
I prefer a gamma world style setting because I'm not a big fan of playing "Normal Joes." I like a healthy dose of unreality in my games.
I like the apocalypse in The Morrow Project. It's 150 years after a nuclear war that pretty much wiped a lot of civilization out. You play members of a special team that were frozen with the intention of being woke up 5 to 10 years after the war to help rebuild. Something went wrong and the wake up signal never went out.
So you play good guys still trying to help rebuild society in a world that has pretty much forgotten a lot of the way it used to be. No contact with your prime command base or other units. Good luck.
I'm starting to dig the idea of a fantasy apocalypse. The great civilization has gone boom and there is only the points of light in the wilderness. Lots of ruins hiding great and powerful ancient bad ass shit.
I've been also thinking about the kind of apocalypse that comes disguised as the singularity. I think the end in ice for some would be worse than the fire. Especially for those on their own. Something like Vinge's 'Marooned in realtime'. A small group finds everyone gone and struggles to survive in the waste and wilderness left behind.
Plagues. The idea of survivors coping in the aftermath with misery, suspicion,death as their only companions....I find strangely appealing. Don't laugh but I have drawn inspiration from the B-grade aesthetic of the Van Damme actioner Cyborg :o
Regards,
David R
Quote from: RPGPunditSo, there's lots of different kind of Apocalypses for post-apocalyptic gaming... what kind would you want to play in most? Which do you think would have the most potential?
RPGPundit
Something more realistic than not. It doesn't have to be perfectly real, just not completely outrageous (like many of the PA moveis and stories of the 50s, 60s, and 70s).
I also tend to like the early period, either during or right after the event, you go far enough down the road and you might as well be playing a Pioneer Era or fantasy game. One of my pesronal favorite setting was that from T2K, with a somewhat limited strategic nuclear exchange, fairly large conventional war, and other attendant problems. It was especially good when it didn't concentarte on just military characters.
As to what causes TEOTWAWKI, all of the major disasters can be fun and combinations perhaps the best. I do think that the best are the ones where the infrastructure is seriously damaged.
Darkness. The idea of the sky simply going black is one that's been with me for years, and it still kind of pains me that I've never managed to get a setting/game put together for it.
I'm just not much of an RPG writer, I don't have the patience for it.
Zom-behs.
-=Grim=-
Quote from: SionEwigSomething more realistic than not. It doesn't have to be perfectly real, just not completely outrageous (like many of the PA moveis and stories of the 50s, 60s, and 70s).
Respectfully, I have to disagree with using such a wide brush to paint several periods of fantastic PA literature. The apocalypses are often quite unreal or unlikely (but don't they have to be?), but the way the aftermath is handled was often very realistic. I'm thinking John Christopher, J.G. Ballard, Christopher Priest, John Wyndham.
To get back to the topic, Post Apocalypse is my favorite rpg theme and it is such a smorgasbord, I really couldn't choose a favorite. I'm currently running a classic gamma world type setting with all kinds of wacky mutations and craziness. It started out as a points of light in the darkness kind of thing, but the lights have grown wider and brighter as the story moves forward.
I'd love to do something very real and immediate, an ending of our current civilized world in the present. I'm fascinated with the idea of an abrupt and massive change and how we would cope. Say all motored vehicles stopped working and there was no way to get them to work. Or the animals finally decide to turn on us, with intelligence.
Quote from: beejazzThe kind that happens in-game. An actual transition between the normal and post-apocalypse setting would be cool.
Akira (http://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/akira/index2.html)
(The graphic novel version, though.)
I like the RIFTS post-apoc world, for a less gonzo game I would run a post environmental collapse/post nuke type world along the lines of Mad Max. Where the biggest threat is the environment followed closely by other people. Basically any setting that does not include zombies as the main focus.
Zombies!!!
I've played a couple PA games, but there's nothing quite as visceral as having the living dead destroy everything you cared about.
Hrmm...i'm a huge Zombie fan, but i also enjoy the setting of The Morrow Project, as Peter said previously.
I think i'd also enjoy something like "The Road (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_(novel))", where the players really have no idea of what happened, and it doesn't play into the story as much...or maybe they slowly uncover the reason during the course of play.
Also still think the setting of S.E. Stirling's "Dies the Fire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies_the_Fire)" would be fantastic for a FRP/PA mashup.
Quote from: J ArcaneDarkness. The idea of the sky simply going black is one that's been with me for years, and it still kind of pains me that I've never managed to get a setting/game put together for it.
I'm just not much of an RPG writer, I don't have the patience for it.
Do you watch the new Doctor Who? The episode "Utopia" from last June is set in the year 100 Trillion (!) where all the stars have burnt out, leaving the sky black.
Quote from: StuartDo you watch the new Doctor Who? The episode "Utopia" from last June is set in the year 100 Trillion (!) where all the stars have burnt out, leaving the sky black.
You should check out J's work progress -
A Song in the Dark - the link I seem to have lost :(
Regards,
David R
Quote from: StuartDo you watch the new Doctor Who? The episode "Utopia" from last June is set in the year 100 Trillion (!) where all the stars have burnt out, leaving the sky black.
I've seen every last ep of the new Who, and yeah, that was pretty nifty.
The devblog link is at http://hedgames.blogspot.com
Sadly, I really just haven't worked on it in some time. I kind of lost my patience for the gritty details of game design. It's still something I'd love to see happen, but it would need a team effort I think, as I just don't have it in me to write the whole thing myself.
A Song in the Dark looks pretty cool! I've printed it out to read during lunch, but i'm liking what i've read so far! cool! :D
i especially like the ideas for the Dark, as they're very much like what i imagined for the Faerie Veil that envelopes Texas for my currently gestating game, "Veil Texas". (yes, liberally cribbed from Falkenstein...)
J, I like what's on the blog! Hope you get a chance to work on A Song in the Dark again down the road.
Quote from: StuartDo you watch the new Doctor Who? The episode "Utopia" from last June is set in the year 100 Trillion (!) where all the stars have burnt out, leaving the sky black.
I have to say, Utopia filled me with creative impulses; its like what I wish Fading Suns had been more like. I'd love to do an "end of time" sci-fi apocalypse.
RPGPundit
Obviously, my favourite p-a setting is Gamma World, which to me represents the ideal of p-a gaming. Survivalism, the ruins of civilization, and weird gonzo shit.
I like RIFTS too, but most of the stuff I like about RIFTS is the stuff that's similar to GW.
RPGPundit
Quote from: Dirk RemmeckeAkira (http://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/akira/index2.html)
(The graphic novel version, though.)
Dood. You read my mind. It's expensive as hell, but was totally worth it.
I know it's dated these days, but give me a good, old-fashioned nuclear holocaust anyday for my post-apoc gaming. You can take your Revelations-style, alien invasion, zombies and incurable diseases and throw them in the fallout shelter! ;)