Apocalypse Hero

**C_Zeree** · May 6th, '03, 08:16 AM

I don’t know how popular this sub-genre is. Trying to find out, hope to get some input. Applicable to both Fantasy Hero and Star Hero.

Rifts did it. Gamma World. Not an aficionado, I don’t know all the titles.

One of the many things I’m toying with is a Fallen Earth. Years ago I thought Rifts had great flavor, still do, so I wanted to capture some of it.

The Fall
1 - I began with a plague, super germ escaped from a US research lab (Thank you S. King). Doesn’t destroy the world, they get it under control predict over 1 billion dead. People very upset and scared.
2 – Terrorism in US, retribution from extremist religion blaming US corruption for the plague. Two bombs cripple downtown LA, generating even more US hysteria.
3 – US extremist retaliation. Claim subversive Chinese action released plague. Nuclear style weapon detonated in Shanghai.
4 – Unexpected natural disasters in short spans, percussions of destruction. Massive earth quakes along Pacific Rim. Dormant volcanoes erupt. Storms build and rage, thunderstorms, tornados, hurricanes boil up from nothing. Storms last for months, flooding and famine.
5 – The Fall is complete, humanity tries to recover, but fails.

So just how many ways are there to destroy civilization, as we know it?
How have you our how’d your GM reshape the world?

***Steve Long*** · May 6th, '03, 08:42 AM

There were a couple threads on this on the old boards; you could probably find them pretty easily by trolling through those old posts.

And of course Star Hero has a little discussion of this topic, since I know it's going to be a while before we get to do a subgenre book for it.

**Lord Liaden** · May 6th, '03, 09:49 AM

For an unusual, and rather disturbing take on the fall of civilization, you might see if you can find a copy of the supplement Champions in 3-D and take a look at the "Horror World" section. Even though it was written up for Champions, the threat in this world is more environmental and not really defeatable through brute force, so the power level of the PCs is much less of an issue.

Remember those investigators in H.P. Lovecraft's stories who barely prevent the evil cultists from summoning the unspeakable Horrors from Beyond? In this world, they failed. Rather than immediately ushering in the Apocalypse, though, these monsters subtly insinuate themselves into the human population at first, working to tear down the fabric of society and any potential resistance before bringing in larger numbers of their fellows. By the era that Ci3D describes, the process is almost complete: true humans are a dying race fighting a losing guerilla war, our cities have become vast nests of nightmares, and the planet's native ecology has been decimated by imported monstrosities.

I have to add, though, in all seriousness, that this world is not for faint hearted players.

**C_Zeree** · May 6th, '03, 10:30 AM

I was re-reading part of Star Hero last night, making me think of "Fallen Earth" today. Rolling a d6+1 to determine the number of years till AH's release...

LL - For some reason your comments sounded familiar.
http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...ghlight=Horror

Then I remembered.

Off to search the old boards!

**misterdeath** · May 6th, '03, 10:39 AM

Keith "man of a thousand names" Curtis has a really nice website. You can get it from his Member's Profile.

D

**C_Zeree** · May 6th, '03, 11:29 AM

Haven't had a chance to read any of the above posts, but I will do so. I would enjoy any open discussion people have here as well.

Toadmaster frequented the AH threads, seen him around the new boards. I'm off in search of the Aftermath Book he was talking about, perhaps I'll get lucky on e-bay.

...Edited for clumsiness

**Lord Liaden** · May 6th, '03, 12:10 PM

I am doubly humiliated: I forgot that I had brought up Horror World with C_Zeree in the past; and I forgot to mention Keith Curtis's excellent Savage Earth setting. Senility must be setting in.

Speaking of forgetting, I hadn't realized that there were that many discussions of post-apoc gaming in the Old Forum archives. Interest appears to be fairly substantial. I have to agree with some of the comments I read there: an "Apocalypse HERO" genre book discussing the different ways that civilization could end and the consequences of each, and setting a game during the fall, after the collapse and/or beginning the reconstruction, would be useful to a broad range of post-apoc games and probably pretty sellable. And since Darren Watts seems to be behind the idea, we probably will see it at some point.

**Peregrine** · May 6th, '03, 12:47 PM

Originally posted by Lord Liaden
For an unusual, and rather disturbing take on the fall of civilization, you might see if you can find a copy of the supplement Champions in 3-D and take a look at the "Horror World" section. Even though it was written up for Champions, the threat in this world is more environmental and not really defeatable through brute force, so the power level of the PCs is much less of an issue.

Remember those investigators in H.P. Lovecraft's stories who barely prevent the evil cultists from summoning the unspeakable Horrors from Beyond? In this world, they failed. Rather than immediately ushering in the Apocalypse, though, these monsters subtly insinuate themselves into the human population at first, working to tear down the fabric of society and any potential resistance before bringing in larger numbers of their fellows. By the era that Ci3D describes, the process is almost complete: true humans are a dying race fighting a losing guerilla war, our cities have become vast nests of nightmares, and the planet's native ecology has been decimated by imported monstrosities.

I have to add, though, in all seriousness, that this world is not for faint hearted players.

No joke. I'm in a PBeM that is currently in this world. Mein Gott, what a mess!

Of course, for general post-apocalyptic goodness, you can't beat The Morrow Project. Once you swallow the premise, there's a lot of fun to be hand.

**Starwolf** · May 6th, '03, 12:54 PM

The old RPG Aftermath gave a lot of good background. I have also referenced Twilight 2000.

For reading material that I have adapted to game settings, I have used both Battlefield Earth by L. Hubbard. and The Siege of Earth by John Mathew Faucette. I have also used a series called the Guardians, but I can't recall the author right now.

***Steve Long*** · May 6th, '03, 02:09 PM

A post-apoc setting that I like a lot, that most people don't seem to have heard of, is the Pelbar Cycle by Paul Williams (the first book is The Breaking Of Northwall). It's fascinatingly like a game campaign, in that as the books go along, the characters learn more about the world around them, and become more powerful/civilized, etc.

**Kaeto** · May 6th, '03, 02:11 PM

How about Morrow Project?

***Derek Hiemforth*** · May 6th, '03, 03:32 PM

I've seen two major types of "fallen Earth" settings. For lack of better terminology, I'll call them "negative focus" and "positive focus" viewpoints.

In the negative focus game, the players' goal seems to be exploring (in a philosophical sense) the effects of civilization's destruction, and the characters' goal is generally just to stay alive. The characters tend to be morally ambiguous, largely because there is little distinction between good and evil. There's little, if anything, the characters can do to change the world. In other words, exploring the wretched squalor of the world is itself the purpose of the game. These games are often set fairly shortly after the Armageddon event, while the scattered remnants of humanity are still crawling in the mud wrestling with mutated rats for scraps. Examples of this type of world come mostly from gaming, as it would be hard to sell this kind of story to a film audience. I'm sure there must be some, however.

In the positive focus game, the post-apocalypse world is used more as a backdrop rather than an end in itself. The Armageddon event often happened long ago, so the Earth has had some time to recover. There are usually new civilizations arisen, though of course they are usually smaller than today's civilizations, and different in nature. This game plays more like a fantasy game, with the characters more likely to do things for altruistic reasons than in the negative focus game. Examples include the film Logan's Run (especially once they escape the city) and the cartoon Thundarr The Barbarian.

As you can probably tell, I really don't care for the negative focus game.

I like to participate in stories where the PCs are heroic, and it's hard to be heroic when you're stuck in the first two levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

**DocSubtlety** · May 6th, '03, 04:26 PM

My first baby steps as a GM were all done under Gamma World, and to this day, post apocalypse settings are my favorites.

For a look at the ways the world could end, I strongly recommend: Exit Mundi.

**Blue** · May 6th, '03, 07:01 PM

Originally posted by DocSubtlety
My first baby steps as a GM were all done under Gamma World, and to this day, post apocalypse settings are my favorites.

I too began my GMing career in Gamma World! With all those kids who had D&D, I was the only one with Gamma World, which made me very popular for a time.

Funny that after all this time I've never read any post-holocaust fiction. (Well, I am Legend is a post plague tale, but that's as close as I get)

**C_Zeree** · May 6th, '03, 07:02 PM

There seems to be interest.

I think I’ll start compiling a list of apocalyptic source material. I’d like to know what is out there and it would help me build my own worlds.

I’ll create some categories, start filling in with books, RPG’s, web pages, and the like, so people can go browse at their leisure.

I’m sure people have seen a lot out there, so if you think I’m missing something just drop a post, and the list will grow. Or if people have lists I would be interested in seeing them so I can compile.

Not only will it be cool for us, Apocalyptians. But, whenever Daren or Steve or Mr. X begin writing Apocalypse Hero, they have the references section half way done.