End Of The World... Details At 11

[transmetahuman]

The best-selling expose, Living On The Mouth Of Hell, is written by a Sunnyvale High alumnus and former school newspaper editor. The Republican National Convention is attacked by a horde of zombies, while the world watches via live satellite feed. A woman quits her job with a psychic hotline company, drops her fake Jamaican accent, and wins 9 straight lottery jackpots in a row. President Bush claims he was psionically possessed for the last ten years and denies responsibility for his actions- says he never even wanted to be President.

 

Magic, psi, aliens, whatever... it's hard to suspend disbelief of the inhuman competence necessary to keep these kinds of things known only to a secret cabal or conspiracy. Sooner or later word will get out, the world will know, and everything will change.

 

What's your favorite fictional account of a period like this - the transition from "secret magic" to "everyone knows that"? Books, movies, comics, RPG backgrounds, whatever... who has written your favorite or most believable or most detailed take on it?

[Kirby]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

What's your favorite fictional account of a period like this - the transition from "secret magic" to "everyone knows that"? Books' date=' movies, comics, RPG backgrounds, whatever... who has written your favorite or most believable or most detailed take on it?[/quote']

Probably the best 'end of the world' scenario I've ever seen that I've liked is the one in the "Left Behind" series. This is the one where the Christians all disappeared (went to heaven) in the blink of an eye and everyone else was, naturally, left behind. I had been thinking of starting a Champions game like this, but thought the PCs would have to have less-than-desireable backgrounds to fit in. It may work for a Dark Champions game, although I'd worry that the campaign would eventually become about telling more stories instead of telling a moral, like the books seemed to become.

[Mutant for Hire]

Re: End Of The World As We Know It... Details At 11

 

The best-selling expose' date=' [i']Living On The Mouth Of Hell[/i], is written by a Sunnyvale High alumnus and former school newspaper editor.

Shouldn't that be Sunnydale instead of Sunnyvale?

 

I live in Sunnyvale, CA. *gets a worried look*

[sinanju]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

My favorite would be the novel LIFTER by Crawford Killian.

 

THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR THE NOVEL IN THIS POST. IF YOU WANT TO READ IT (AND I RECOMMEND IT), YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THIS MESSAGE.

 

 

 

 

 

LAST WARNING!

 

 

 

 

 

In this novel the hero, a teenage boy living in Santa Teresa, California, learns how to fly. He spends time experimenting with this new ability and finding out what the limits are (he can "run" very fast, and seems to have something of a Champions-type forcefield around him when he uses his newfound ability. He gets recruited for the football team when his amazing and previously-unnoticed speed are noticed. When his girlfriend gets pissed off at him for his behavior (being secretive and unreliable--shades of classic comic book secret identity stuff!) he shows her what he's been doing.

 

Her reaction: "Teach me!" He does (and I was surprised, I figured he wouldn't be able to--that he was the only one who could do it). She has a bad leg and so really likes being able to get around easily without wearing her brace. He urges her to keep it secret. He's obsessed with fears of what would happen if a) they were found out, and psychopaths and other undesirables learned to fly too. His girlfriend disagrees, thinking of the many people who could benefit from learning this apparently _teachable_ skill.

 

In the end, his decision is moot. His girlfriend has taught several others people how to "lift" (as he calls it) secretly--and they hint at the ability while cheerleading at the big high school football game (doing inhumanly high and slow flips in the air, etc). After the game, they drop down out of the darkness into the lights around the field to hover over the field and announce via bullhorn that they learned to do this (lifting) from our hero, and that starting tomorrow, they'll be teaching anyone who wants to learn how they can do it too!

 

Our hero is both horrified and relieved. His secret is out. He hands his football helmet to the coach (also the school science teacher, who knew there was _something_ hinky about this nerd's sudden amazing athletic ability) and swoops up into the air to join the others.

[paigeoliver]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

Probably the best 'end of the world' scenario I've ever seen that I've liked is the one in the "Left Behind" series. This is the one where the Christians all disappeared (went to heaven) in the blink of an eye and everyone else was' date=' naturally, left behind. I had been thinking of starting a Champions game like this, but thought the PCs would have to have less-than-desireable backgrounds to fit in. It may work for a Dark Champions game, although I'd worry that the campaign would eventually become about telling more stories instead of telling a moral, like the books seemed to become.[/quote']

 

I have read all those books save the last one. The heroes would not at all need "less than desireable" backgrounds. Most superheroes/cinematic heroes are not born again christians, thus most of them would be left behind like everyone else.

 

The only real problem I had with those books was that I was able to spot the exact point in the series where the decision was made to cut 2 books off the projected schedule. It was terribly obvious when they suddenly advanced over a YEAR without incident right towards the very end (in the chopping off heads for not having the mark phase of things).

 

Reneshat says they have very bad theology. I just think they suffer from bad writing more than bad theology and a VERY poor grasp of computers, which are unfortunately fairly important plot-wise.

[Reneshat]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

Oh, they probably had bad writing too. I didn't notice that. I got hung up on the bad theology.

[Bucky]

Re: End Of The World As We Know It... Details At 11

 

Shouldn't that be Sunnydale instead of Sunnyvale?

 

I live in Sunnyvale, CA. *gets a worried look*

I do too. The kids have been making this a running joke for, well, ever since Buffy came out and the daughter fell in love with it. (Well, Spike, but that is another story)

 

SunnyDale is the town with the vampire problem. SunnyVale is a small californian bay area community, with no vampire problem.

[paigeoliver]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

"One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach. All the damn vampires."

[Moody Loner]

Re: End Of The World As We Know It... Details At 11

 

SunnyDale is the town with the vampire problem. SunnyVale is a small californian bay area community, with no vampire problem.

 

As far as you know.

 

Mountain View, on the other hand...

[Wormhole]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

Oh' date=' they probably had bad writing too. I didn't notice that. I got hung up on the bad theology.[/quote']

 

The part that really left me cold was where Choe lets herself be captured and executed. It may be just me, but AFAIK, once the mark of the beast thing happens all bets are off; any Hummer full of GC goons that accosts me would find themselves driving right into a hail of gunfire.

[Mutant for Hire]

Re: End Of The World As We Know It... Details At 11

 

As far as you know.

 

Mountain View, on the other hand...

I was born and raised in Mountain View, bucko. We don't have a vampire problem there. We Don't Talk about the unspeakable horrors that do lie there, but I can assure you, vampires it ain't.

[Mentor]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

Oh' date=' they probably had bad writing too. I didn't notice that. I got hung up on the bad theology.[/quote']

I thought the writing started off OK. The authors then seemed to decide that their popularity required them to stretch a trilogy into an "infinitology". Then the writing became abysmal.

 

You are right about the theology being "unorthodox", for sure.

[paigeoliver]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

I think they should have just made the plot outlines, let Stephen King write the books, and then looked them over to make sure they were allright. Stephen King could have really done something with that series. He could have made it something worth reading more than once. Instead they are like dime store adventure novels that you read in one setting and never feel the need to read them again.

[dbsousa]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

Wasn't The Stand Stephen King's Left Behind? I mean, the hand of God came down and nuked Las Vegas...

[paigeoliver]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

Pretty much. Except that "Left Behind" is a lot longer than "The Stand". Left Behind is like 6,000 pages long.

 

The Left Behind series had plenty of actions but it had TERRIBLE characters. King can MAKE characters. "The Stand" had 50 main characters and I had no problem differentiating between all 50. While in the "Left Behind" series (or anything by Crichton or Grisham), it is almost impossible to tell any characters apart from the other ones unless they have some sort of schtick.

[Bucky]

Re: End Of The World As We Know It... Details At 11

 

As far as you know.

 

Mountain View, on the other hand...

As I work nights, I think if there was a vampire problem, I would know about it and tell you.

 

[unless I was one of the vampires and trying to draw ya'll to Sunnyvale.]

[Moody Loner]

Re: End Of The World As We Know It... Details At 11

 

Well, the Sunnyvale Town Center Mall is certainly an empty husk of it's former self.

 

Vampires, I tell you!

 

Of what lurks in Mountain View at night I do not speak.

[Agent 13]

Re: End Of The World As We Know It... Details At 11

 

Of what lurks in Mountain View at night I do not speak.

Whatever it is, I'm sure it has big Googley eyes...

[Chuckg]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

Googley eyes? Hmmm...

 

From the 'A Very Scary Solstice' album:

 

(mp3 here) http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/av-carol-fish-men.mp3

 

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Fish-Men

(to the tune of "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas")

 

Music by Meredith Wilson

HPLHS Lyrics by Andrew Leman

 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like fish-men

Everywhere I go;

From the minute I got to town

And started to look around

I thought these ill-bred people's gillslits showed.

I'm beginning to hear a lot of fish-men

Right outside my door,

As I try to escape in fright

To the moonlit Innsmouth night

I can hear some more.

 

They speak with guttural croaks and to hear them provokes

A profound desire to flee

Their eyes never blink and quite frankly they stink

Like a carcass washed up from the sea.

 

I wish I'd paid attention to that crazy drunken man.

He tried to warn me all about old Marsh's Deep One clan.

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Fish-men

Everywhere I go;

They can dynamite Devil Reef,

but that'll bring no relief,

Y'ha N'thlei is deeper than they know.

I'll continue to see a lot of fish-men

That I guarantee.

For the fish-man I really fear

is the one who's in the mirror

And he looks like me.

He looks just like me.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: End Of The World... Details At 11

 

I think they should have just made the plot outlines' date=' let Stephen King write the books, and then looked them over to make sure they were allright.[/quote']

At one point, I created and ran an RPG that was based in the world after the Apocalypse. Here's the text from the intro of the game materials I wrote:

 

 

 

Aftermath: Roleplaying After Judgment Day

 

 

 

What follows the End of the World?

 

 

My friends, all of us gathered here today have seen events that no man should be able to see, and live to tell about. We have witnessed the Second Coming, the dead rising from the grave, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse racing across the face of the world, the faithful being lifted into Heaven and the wicked being dragged down into Hell. We have looked angels and demons in the face and Death in the eye.

 

And we have been passed by.

 

We are living in a world that none of us were expecting, a world that all good Christian religions would have said was impossible...a material world that exists after the Armageddon, a material world that still contains living souls. A world that contains US.

 

There are those who hope this is Hell, for it is not as bad as Hell is purported to be. Others fear that this is Heaven, for in most cases it is worse than their prior lives. Some feel this is Purgatory, where neither Good nor Evil hold sway.

 

I say that all these speculations are wrong.

 

The world in which we find ourselves cannot be Hell, for there are those of us present who still hold Hope in our hearts. We do not know what it is for which we Hope, but we do not feel the utter despair that signals the fleeing of Hope from our souls.

 

The world in which we find ourselves cannot be Heaven, for where are the Heavenly Hosts, the Blessed Dead, the Saints, the Face of God? In Heaven there is no want, no suffering, no marrying or being given into marriage. All of these things hold sway here, as much as they ever did in the world we once knew.

 

This is not Purgatory, for where is the eternal bland sameness that permeates that place? Where are the souls of the unbaptized dead, who could not gain entrance into Heaven without being consecrated in the Lamb, but were not guilty enough to be sent to Hell? Where are the souls of the men of good conscience who lived and died without the opportunity to have heard the Word of God? No, this cannot be Purgatory.

 

What we must face, my friends, is that this is a world none of us, neither heretic nor student of theology, predicted or could have predicted. It is a world unlooked for, and we ourselves are in a position, a life, unforseen. Some refuse to accept this strange new world, and have retreated into catatonia, or a kind of madness in which they go about some ghastly travesty of their former lives, going each morning to empty and crumbling offices, scheduling meetings attended only by phantasms, and filling out paperwork that will never be read. Others hold the view that we are the ones who were neither good enough, nor evil enough, to be drawn into either extreme of Heaven or Hell. Some of these are attempting to bring closure to their lot by sinking themselves into sin and depravity whilst others seek to cleanse and purify their soul through good works and thorough examination of heart, mind, and soul, rooting out any thought that does not lend itself to the path of Righteousness. Both feel that, should they become evil enough or good enough, they will be taken into one of the Eternal Realms. Why are they so desperate to leave this world? Before, even if they professed non-belief, somewhere deep down inside they knew, KNEW, that they would continue into Eternity after death. Now that certainty has been shaken, nay, ripped from their souls. They feel the same terror, the same uncertainty, as men aboard a sinking ship. They want off, some degree of surety, no matter it means an Eternity in torment. What they fear is utter nonexistence, and they will pay any price to avoid that fate.

 

What about the rest of us? We, who have neither become conscienceless killers or living saints? Who are we, really, and why do we find ourselves in this world? Many names have been applied to us since that fateful day: The Forsaken, The Lost, The Forgotten, The Left-Behind. We have called ourselves Outcasts, Scraps, Refuse. I am against all those names, for they bring with them a sense of unworthiness, of futility, of despair. I for one do not care to live my life in despair, waiting for the material world to finish falling apart around us. I do not meekly accept my lot, believing it cannot be improved.

 

I say we are The Survivors! We remain, and we should not forget that we still live, should not give up Hope and fall into the arms of Despair. No, my friends, I cannot give you a sure and certain direction in which to proceed, or a goal for which to aim. I no longer know if the Almighty has a part for us in his Grand Plan, but if He does, we must not foreclose that possibility by our actions.

 

It may be that this is all some sort of Final Test, and that we are even now being judged by the Almighty. If it is such a test, it would serve us poorly indeed to loose faith now, after surviving the ultimate cataclysm. If it is a test, let us not stumble now, in the last few yards of the race. Let us not fall down and quit when the finish line must surely be close.

 

On the other hand, it is possible that we have been forgotten by God, that we have fallen through the cracks in His system as so many unfortunates have fallen through the gaps in Man’s own systems in ages past. If that is the case, then God is not perfect, and does not deserve our continued devotion. If that is the case, then we must say "Up Yours, Almighty God! I don’t need your and your self-serving Laws and Commandments!" and forge a new world, a world that will be but ours, a world in which we owe no fealty to an undeserving Creator who allowed the Devil and his Minions to run rampant among the innocent, bringing thousands of years of pain and suffering.

 

I don’t know which is the right answer, my friends, but personally I’m inclined to the latter rather than the former. To me, this seems like the final insult to a race who has fought, suffered, and died for so many years trying to live up to an impossible series of Laws laid down by Someone who never had to worry about trying to meet those Laws.

 

I’m not going to try and make your decision for you...each of you is perfectly capable of making up your own minds, of telling right from wrong. Isn’t that how all this started in the first place?

 

When I step down from this podium, I am through with God and anything He asks. Me, I have important things to do...like making sure that new barn gets finished before the winter comes, so we have someplace to store our grain. All of you are encouraged to stay and help; with your support, I’m confident it can be accomplished in the time we have. As a further incentive, a number of the ladies have put together a large dinner, to be served at the end of today’s work.

 

Now, before I go, who’ll join me in a rendition of "Take This Job and Shove It"?

 

 

-- The former Reverend William "Billy" Sunday,

during his first (and last) sermon after Judgment Day

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Not long after the beginning of the New Millennium, it happened: The End of the World, as foretold in the Book of Revelation. The Apocalypse. Armageddon. Angels and demons walked among mortals, the dead rose from the grave, and the Four Horsemen began their dread ride. Men ran riot through city streets and countryside in an orgy of terror, destruction, violence, and panic. Cities burned, homes and lives were destroyed, and a nuclear missile or two were detonated.

 

Amid all this chaos, the representatives of Heaven and Hell went about their duties, collecting the living, the dying, and the dead and bearing them off to their place in Eternity. No weapon made an impression on them, nor did any amount of begging, pleading, bribing, or other attempts to stay their hand. To those who had to endure it, it seemed both to last forever and to be but a heartbeat in length.

 

Finally, the last angel disappeared into the blackened, bloody sky, a sky draped in the smoke of ten thousand fires still burning on the funeral pyre that was the world. The final demon slipped back below the torn and blasted earth, dragging the last terrified, shrieking soul with it. The thundering hoofbeats of the Horsemen sounded no more, and only the greedy crackling of flames and the occasional sound of the final collapse of civilization remained.

 

It was then that you realized you were still here, still alive to hear the sounds of the fires doing their work, cleansing the ruins of the world. The Apocalypse had come and gone, and you were left behind with no idea WHY.

 

Before long you discovered there were other survivors, but not many. Some were mad, others in denial. Some were no longer truly human, or perhaps never had been to begin with. Now you, the Forsaken (or the Survivors, depending on your degree of optimism), are trying to forge a new life in the shattered remains of a strangely altered world.

 

Welcome to Aftermath, roleplaying after Judgment Day.

 

 

 

The World

 

The Aftermath world is a strange amalgam of the shattered remains of many different Earths, from a wide variety of times and alternate histories. The only constant between them is that in each, people feared the Apocalypse might be imminent, and in each, they were right.

The basic geography of the world has not changed much, but Man’s imprint on the face of the world did not fare well in the End. Vast tracts of forest reclaimed settled lands in an eyeblink; medieval towns replaced more modern counterparts, and here and there bastions of incredibly advanced technology appeared where none had been before...a spaceport for interstellar ships replacing Cape Kennedy, for example.

 

The Survivors come from these various times as well: Renaissance nobles, pre-industrial Mongol nomads, 20th - century bankers, and 50th - century star pilots. Some come from somewhat further afield -- vampires, wizards that can work real magic, knights from Arthur’s Britain. All came from worlds in which they were, if not actually common, at least possible. And all remember living through the Apocalypse. All remember it taking place in their own time and in their own world. It is almost as if Armageddon occurred simultaneously at a wide range of dates in history, and in a mind-boggling array of "parallel" worlds. There are creatures that were human at one time, as well as those that never were. There are undead creatures who were people rising from the dead during the End, but who never finished the job before the End was complete. There are living people who died before their world’s Armageddon, but who woke up mostly out of their grave during that terrible span of time. Mythical creatures now roam the countryside, as well as species believed extinct. Pretty much if you can imagine it, it’s probably out there, somewhere.

 

Long distance communication is almost unheard-of since the End; most technology was destroyed during Armageddon or stopped working not long thereafter. Couriers and bards are making a comeback as valuable professions now, but travel of any distance is still engaged in only with caution -- there are a lot of nasty things and people stalking the shadows of the ruined planet.

 

One disadvantage of advanced technology is that it requires an extensive infrastructure and regular, specialized maintenance or it stops working. With most of the world’s cities in ruins, and few with the specialized technical knowledge remaining, the average level of technology is roughly equivalent to the Victorian Era, with steam power being something that most places have managed to put into service. There are rumors of isolated enclaves where a much higher level of technology has been preserved, but so far no one has verified the truth of any of these tales.

 

As they have since time immemorial, people almost immediately began to band together for protection, usually under the guidance of a self-appointed leader. True to human nature, there were those quick to capitalize on the situation following even the End of the World. They began to amass power, wealth, and resources.

 

Some of the most valuable resources are people. The type most in demand are those from a pre-industrial age, with a lifelong knowledge of agriculture and animal husbandry, and those who can keep the remaining technology working. Everyone else is usually assigned to some sort of unskilled labor, the local militia, or if they have aptitude for a needed craft, placed as an apprentice with a knowledgeable craftsman.

 

Another valuable type of person is the sort who can take care of himself, and is willing to take risks for payment. These new mercenaries (often referred to as "Openers") are not usually hired for militia, but are instead paid to be couriers, carrying messages, information, and specialized valuable goods from one community to another. Other times they are hired to investigate possible caches of usable food, weapons, or technology that may be lying as-yet unplundered in the new wilderness. Through the efforts of these so-called Openers, communication between far-flung communities is slowly being re-established. Sometimes they have even acted as mediators, bringing compromise between two opposed forces before it broke out into open war.

 

Attitudes and government in communities varies widely. Some are a type of democracy, others are military dictatorships or even religious enclaves, filled with the devoted who are still waiting for God to come for them. Each community poses its own potential threat to travelers, as there is no telling what may be against the law, or even punishable by death, from one settlement to another.

Those most at risk are those visibly non-human. In some rare towns they are welcomed, as they sometimes have much-needed skills or powers. In many, however, they are seen as living icons of the "wrongness" of the post-Apocalyptic world, and may receive bad treatment ranging from being overcharged by surly shopkeepers to being killed by torch-wielding lynch mobs.

 

This hysteria is actually getting more intense as time goes by, not less. In part this is because communities often need to be paranoid about strangers for their very survival -- there have been whole towns wiped out by voracious non-humans. It is also because people are becoming more worried as time passes, because the world is beginning to wind down.

 

The laws of physics that govern the material world are beginning to come unraveled, like a machine starting to break down due to lack of maintenance. For example, the sun still rises in the east...usually. Sometimes, though, it doesn’t. Eclipses are now no longer predictable via orbital mechanics, and one can no longer depend on something falling down when thrown. Oh, it still does 999 times out of 1,000 but those times when it doesn’t remind people that what little of the world remains is crumbling around them. Most see this as proof that God and the Devil have turned their attention away from the material world -- that it has served its purpose and has been discarded. This is not a comforting thought for those who remain behind.

 

Magic and many other strange Powers are at work in the world as well. In some cases the breakdown of natural law is a boon to those who wield those Powers, as it is easier to work a change in the world if the ties that bind it together are a little loose to begin with. On the other hand, since magic tends to obey its own laws as well, it is not unknown for previously-reliable spells to fail or malfunction due to the fundamental structure of reality fraying.

 

This evidence of continued decay of the physical universe has spurred many to try and attract the attention of the Divine or the Infernal -- and some don’t care which. These people just want out of a fading, fraying world and are willing to do anything to obtain that way out. The methods vary from individual to individual, but all are united by their utter lack of success to date.

 

Others seek a more mundane solution to the problem. Some still-functioning starships have been taken out by their pilots, who are seeking the remains of other inhabited worlds elsewhere in the universe, or perhaps a part of the universe that isn’t breaking down. So far, none of these exploratory missions have returned.

 

Most people, though, are through putting their faith in "higher powers" and simply strive to live from day to day. Only time will tell whose approach is the correct one.

 

 

 

Death and Dying

 

Yes, it is still possible to die in the world after Judgment Day...but what happens to the souls of the newly dead? The events of the End of the World made it plain that the Catholic view had most of the salient points correct, and the souls of the dead had an afterlife awaiting them. But what happens to those who die after the afterlife has been closed?

 

The truth is, no one knows. Some suspect that simple and utter nonexistence is the fate of those that have died since Judgment Day. Some believe those who have died after the Apocalypse are awaiting a sort of second-round draft pick, in which the Divine and Infernal forces return for more souls.

Then there are those few, those very few, who claim to have lived through Armageddon, died in the time after the End of the World, only to wake up again, an unknown time later, far from the place they died. Are they telling the truth? Will you wake up again, in the ruined world, if you die here? Don’t bet your life on it.

[Batman]

Re: End Of The World As We Know It... Details At 11

 

President Bush claims he was psionically possessed for the last ten years and denies responsibility for his actions- says he never even wanted to be President.

 

As a conservative [yes, theydo exist in Berkeley], I fail to see how this is amounts to the end of the world. Except for the psionically possessed part. That Jerry Falwell character sure's been acting strangely these days...

 

For apocalypse stories, the Matrix sure had a decent one. Whaddya know, those powers you THOUGHT you had...were really computer programs designed to get even MORE bio-juice pumped out of you. Sorry.

 

Note: I can already see the flamewars sprouting as a reaction to the first half of my post. Let's throw water on it before it gets out of hand, yes?