The Cosmic Reset Button: Destroying the World

[Michael Hopcroft]

One of the new anime series this season in Japan is a video-game inspired show called World Destruction. It involves the activities of the World Destruction Committee, a group dedicated to bringing the cosmos of that setting to an end.

And they're the good guys. Their opposition, the World Salvation Committee, is ruthless in the extreme. And a lot of ordinary people seem to think there is something fundamentally wrong with the world, and that it was about time it came to an end.

Which brings up an interesting question: if one world ends and another takes its place, are there circumstances under which the people can survivie the transition? Would many of them barely even notice anything beyond subtle changes in the way their universe works? Or is it impossible even in theory to get rid of a flawed cosmos without spreading untold destrutyion and infinite death?

After all, the concept of apocalypses are as old as humanity itself is, and most religions that have an apocalypse in their canons describe it as something the faithful would embrace as a good thing.

[Blue Jogger]

I had magic go away in mine, (based strongly on The_Magic_Goes_Away).

Since most of the creatures required magic to survive, most of them died. It was very messy, post-apocalyptic time.


Of course the other classic is two (or more) worlds merge, all of the previous worlds end, but the new one is an eclectic blend of the pieces. Most of the people survive, but they only have dim memories of a past that no longer exist and a new retcon of memories that never happened.

[csyphrett]

Weis and Hickman had the world shatter into pieces and be connected by a limited use gate. The populations were moved onto the different lands and set up new lives in vastly different environments.
CES

[Curufea]

Stephen King's the Langoliers has the word destroyed and recreated every second

I suppose it really depends on how you define apocalypse. Could it be something as subtle as wiping out everyone's memory of a person, a country or race?

[1EyedJack]

Maybe the faithful should embrace it, but they should also realize that it is the end of the possibilty of the lost to find the path to god, enlightment, assecntion or what ever the faith holds as the ultimate promise. Also there is usally a great deal of suffering, to which the faithful may not be compltetly immune. So it is possibile that good people would resist an attempt by others of their sect to prematurely trigger the apocolipse

[QueenOfItAll]

Which brings up an interesting question: if one world ends and another takes its place, are there circumstances under which the people can survivie the transition?

Depends: how do YOU want your game to go?

Would many of them barely even notice anything beyond subtle changes in the way their universe works?

Depends: how do YOU want your game to go?

Or is it impossible even in theory to get rid of a flawed cosmos without spreading untold destrutyion and infinite death?

Depends: how do YOU want your game to go?

In other words: there is no, there can be no, "correct" answer. Set up your game world howsoever you wish.