Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

[J. Chamberlin]

Howdy, Heroes.

 

After trying unsuccesfully to get my friends into a super hero campaign (go figure, I'm the only grown-up I know who likes comic books... bummer) I've decided it might be more to their liking to do a post-apocalypse kinda game. Actually, it would be their liking to do a D&D game, but not while I'm GMing, by gum.

 

So, the world is going to be essentially a mix of Fallout, Mad Max and Gamma World, set to the tune of an old Clint Eastwood movie. Some time in the 1950s every country lit off their nukes and blew the world to Hell; some survived by living in underground shelters, some just got lucky, yadda yadda yadda. Now, the year is 2250; background radiation is down, bunkers are opening up, and our heroes lifetimes are taking place.

 

My question to you lot is this; if you were going to play in such a campaign, what character would you make? I ask this because I'm hoping you guys will come up with some cool ones and I can have a whole bunch of free and easy NPCs for the weekend. Oh, I understand if you don't want to give me the character write-ups, but lets have some ideas anyways.

 

Merchants? Slavers? Cannibals? Preachers? Gunmen? Lawmen? Anything come to mind?

[csyphrett]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

The way you described your setting, you are almost certainly going to need mutant gunfighters to enforce the law, run off scavengers, and complicate things no end.

CES

[Prometheus]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

You could take pretty much any character from Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales, file off the serial numbers, and have a pretty good character for a "post-apocalypse kinda game". Lifting a storyline (or two) from Xenozoic would make for a decent adventure as well. The world isn't quite as bizarre as Fallout or Gamma World, but it can certainly be as inhospitable.

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

The new d20 Apocalypse has a lot of useful tables and such for running this type of game. All usable in Hero very nicely.

[Old Man]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

 

Merchants? Slavers? Cannibals? Preachers? Gunmen? Lawmen? Anything come to mind?

 

I think you'll be fine with those right there.

 

The plants from Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (AD&D - but a good one for critters, trust me)

 

Don't forget about the roaches. They've had 100 years of uncontested rule to get bigger and badder. Not car sized mind you, but like...dog sized.

[Susano]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Some suggestions:

 

Hell Tanner

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsbook/helltanner.html

 

Max Rockatansky

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsmovie/madmax.html

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Thank, Mike. I had written Damnation Alley off as a bad movie based on a bad book. The world sounds much more interesting. I'll read it.

[Susano]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Thank' date=' Mike. I had written Damnation Alley off as a bad movie based on a bad book. The world sounds much more interesting. I'll read it.[/quote']

 

Here's Hell's car:

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsvehicles/damnationalley.html

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Thank' date=' Mike. I had written Damnation Alley off as a bad movie based on a bad book. The world sounds much more interesting. I'll read it.[/quote']

 

Supposedly the novel-length version wasn't too hot (I read it before I became as discriminating as I am now...it was kewl at the time), but the original short story wasn't too bad. Especially from a gamer's perspective.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Merchants? Slavers? Cannibals? Preachers? Gunmen? Lawmen? Anything come to mind?

 

How about a tinkerer who tries to get older tech working, but with more readily available power sources? Like a car with a still taking up the whole back seat to produce alcohol from organic matter...maybe a pistol-sized raygun that's attached to so many wet-cell batteries that it's essentially become an emplaced weapon...stuff like that.

[Susano]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Supposedly the novel-length version wasn't too hot (I read it before I became as discriminating as I am now...it was kewl at the time)' date=' but the original short story wasn't too bad. Especially from a gamer's perspective.[/quote']

 

Zelanzy stated he didn't like the novel as much as the novella. The novella is tighter and better paced, the novel does make Hell a little more sympathetic.

[ThothAmon]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

A few suggestions:

 

Jon Shannow AKA The Jerusalem Man the blessed religious gunslinger from the post-apocalypse novels of David Gemmel.

 

Ash the hard man survivalist type thawed out from his magical sleep in 'Army Of Darkness'.

 

Tank Girl feminist warrior of the Australian desert.

 

Middenface McNulty mutated Scots bounty hunter from 'Strontium Dog' comic strip.

[Agent 13]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

The Plain People: Amish, Mennonites and the like - Likely to adapt well after the fall of civilization, and their pacifism allows for a classic Magnificent Seven scenario.

[J. Chamberlin]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Awesome ideas so far guys, thanks. Keep 'em coming if you can.

 

I hadn't even thought of bounty hunters yet, or blessed gunfighters, but both of those ideas sound wicked. Throw a little passive Menonite in for flavour and by gum I think I have an adventure for the weekend. I doubt any of my players have ever heard of the Magnificent 7 anyways, maybe I'll just lift it directly.

 

Also, thanks a load for the write-up of Mad Max; I've been trying to think what he would have but I haven't been able to rent the movies to save my life. Never heard of Damnation Alley though; which version should I be after, movie or book?

 

Just to throw another log on this particular fire, have you guys got any cool ideas for settlements? I have a few more or less fleshed out; a small town that is basically everyone-friendly, a town for humans only, an out of the way mutant settlement, a town based around an opened Bunker (wicked tech), and a community of slavers. Any other ideas? Settlements are easier to come up with than characters I think, so I've got alot more on them so far.

 

As always, you folks are much appreciated. And repped.

 

j

[SKJAM!]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Just to throw another log on this particular fire, have you guys got any cool ideas for settlements? I have a few more or less fleshed out; a small town that is basically everyone-friendly, a town for humans only, an out of the way mutant settlement, a town based around an opened Bunker (wicked tech), and a community of slavers. Any other ideas? Settlements are easier to come up with than characters I think, so I've got a lot more on them so far.

 

j

 

The old SCA song, "The War Comes Home," comes to mind. A community founded by medieval recreation enthusiasts and DIYers; A RenFest surface society but hardnosed practicality underneath.

[Susano]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Also' date=' thanks a load for the write-up of Mad Max; I've been trying to think what he would have but I haven't been able to rent the movies to save my life. Never heard of Damnation Alley though; which version should I be after, movie or book?[/quote']

 

Book. The movie apparently blows major chunks.

[Dr Divago]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

My question to you lot is this; if you were going to play in such a campaign' date=' what character would you make? I ask this because I'm hoping you guys will come up with some cool ones and I can have a whole bunch of free and easy NPCs for the weekend.[/quote']First question: do you have a doc or pdf version of this setting? it may be interesting...

 

Now, let's talk about PC and NPC...

 

This world appear to me a lot similar to far west setting; people who came out from bunker are now building up some town around bunker, and small little cities are growing each year more.

Given this world situation, i think lack any form of government, or at least any form of "civilised" government , so i think they are "state-city", independent city where laws are dictated by mobster-like governor, people that became commander during "refugee in the bunker" days.

Some cities can be allied and creating a "coalition".

Some people are scavenging around, forming rogue squadron or bandit squad or similar.

 

So Characther speaking, i think about:

1) some Sheriff or someone who can be charged to make people respecting "laws" using same language of bandit he chase: guns and violence. 'cause laws can be written by mobster governor, sheriff may be similar to mobster too...

2) Pony Express of some type; someone who can connect cities bringin information, post and supplies

3) carovan like may be only method to travel fast and with relative security, so carovan man and of course carovan watcher

4) bandit. Rogue man. and like. People-who-attack-carovan-and-moneytrain and similar are well accepted (in GM sense, of course...)

5) if water is absent, or just little presence, water bearer convoy can be common sight, and may be well armored and escorted. Even: water searcher can be a well accepted sight. And target of rogue bandit, of course, so this are escorted by very heavy armed and armored gunman

6) This is important: even in very very dark setting, there are people that work to make life happier, or less gruesome. So some services are available: bartender, weaponsmith (or blacksmith in general), artisan and even "girls who make life less boring".

7) if setting admit "old technology" and similar (similar to Yasuhiro Nightow's Trigun anime and comics), some tinkerer who can repair old tech or searcher who live to search and discover old weapons or technologies.

Even if setting are not using old "higher than actual" tech, some scavenger who search inside old XX-century's cities to find something useable can be not so rare

8) if setting admit it, radiation mutated man or woman, survived "end of the world" accident mutating in some powerful version. This can be accepted (maybe appear like normal man with blu eyes), refused (his skin is purple! he can bring doom to the city! kill him kill him!!) or simply be beastlike monster without human intellect... or maybe this is only xenophobiac prejudice...

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

One possibile "friendly face" group that the PCs in a post-apocalypse game

could encounter would be the inhabitants of a city that has managed not

only to preserve the technology of their ancestors, but also have the means

to maintain that technology (or to build or develop new technology).

 

Another possibility along these lines would be for said inhabitants to be

dedicated to a single mission (medical assistance, reconstruction efforts,

etc.), something along the lines of the TV-movie Island City.

 

Major Tom

[csyphrett]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

To go with the tech advanced idea, there's always the old chestnut of the computer brain leading a society.

CES

[Guest Admiral C]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

 

So, the world is going to be essentially a mix of Fallout, Mad Max and Gamma World, set to the tune of an old Clint Eastwood movie. Some time in the 1950s every country lit off their nukes and blew the world to Hell; some survived by living in underground shelters, some just got lucky, yadda yadda yadda. Now, the year is 2250; background radiation is down, bunkers are opening up, and our heroes lifetimes are taking place.

 

My question to you lot is this; if you were going to play in such a campaign, what character would you make? I ask this because I'm hoping you guys will come up with some cool ones and I can have a whole bunch of free and easy NPCs for the weekend. Oh, I understand if you don't want to give me the character write-ups, but lets have some ideas anyways.

 

Merchants? Slavers? Cannibals? Preachers? Gunmen? Lawmen? Anything come to mind?

 

1) Cattle Ranchers herding 8 ft tall mutant cattle with three sets of horns that (sometimes) eats people.

 

2) Primitive folk from cavemen to people who reverted to dark ages technology.

 

3) Doctors. You can play this alot of ways from near shamans to snake oil salesmen. Reliable frontire surgeon.dentists or mad doctors who think toasters are for curing ailments of the extremities (like warts or the clap) and the ancients just like their tools to be painful to remind them their alive.

 

4) General madman wandering the wastes. Sometimes they have vital information or skills buried in their madness.

 

5) Weird near-Rifts stuff like anthros, crashed alien ships, 50's era robots locked in the bottom of the Pentagon.

 

6) Zombies!

 

7) Any group commited to revitlizing the rail roads. And not normal railroads to but big four track monstrosities that allow a reworked car to drive down the two center tracks or rolling command center or gunboat mounted on wheels.

 

8) Morlock like society of people unable to leave the bunkers because their blind. Flesh eating optional. You can play it up as either the sad victims, or underground monsters.

 

For inspiration you could always check out Steven Kings Dark Tower series. I think Mr. Surbrook has a writeup of Roland on his site.

 

You could check out James Axlers Death Lands saga, but I'd eaither mine ideas from his (and his leigon of writers) website at http://www.jamesaxler.com/dlwsg/Default.htm or pick up one or two of his books used. But probably not more than three. There is a movie for it too, but the best part is that is has Traci Lords in it.

 

Adm

[pinecone]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

I remember fondly from an old post apackalypse game a Utopian society of canibals......peacful, law abiding, maybe a little too nosey...but if you break the law, they have no jails, because they Eat the offenders, minor crimminals might just lose a limb.....

[Susano]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

For inspiration you could always check out Steven Kings Dark Tower series. I think Mr. Surbrook has a writeup of Roland on his site.

 

A basic Roland:

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsbook/gunslinger.html

 

Also, John Gaunt (a.k.a. Grimjack)

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionscomic/gaunt.html

[J. Chamberlin]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Arite, so I've had a few days to work on this beast and, with thanks to you and your suggestions, I'm truckin' right along.

 

I figured I'd at least post the basics of the characters that were made for the game - I haven't done them in .doc or .hdc yet, but I will. I just want to get whats in my head down on paper before I start redressing old work.

 

So, there are three basic types: Tribal, Vault-Dweller and Townsfolk. My D&D knickers are showing again on this one; these are mandatory Package Deals (read: Classes) that determine a character's Everyman skills, tech level, available starting gear, and everything else we all know Package Deals and Classes are good for.

 

Tribals are those people descended from the exposed survivors of World War 3. After 200 years of survival in the nuclear landscape, these folks are primitive, superstitious and poorly equipped. They're also the finest hunters, trackers, survivors and farmers you'll ever meet. Think Indians from all the cowboy movies.

 

Vault-Dwellers are descended from those folk that managed to beg, buy, steal, earn or otherwise secure living space in one of the many Bomb Shelters built before the War, released into the Wasteland within the last few years. Not all of these Shelters survived the holocaust, but those that did produced a group of people scientifically advanced and technologically brilliant - there wasn't much to distract them in their safe, secluded, locked sanctuaries. Unfortunatly, they have little to no practical experience in the Wasteland, and rely on their understanding and possession of advanced technology more than any other group.

 

Townsfolk are a mix of the two; their grandparents, great-grandparents or further generations left their Shelter and were able to survive and thrive in the blasted environment. Their children and their children's children became more and more adapted to their surroundings and to much of their ancestors technology; Townsfolk are familiar with high levels of technology and also with Wasteland survival, though not to the degree of either Vault-Dwellers or Tribals respectively.

 

Phew, okay, introductions aside. Here are the overviews of some of the characters:

 

Mel - A wandering Towner with a gimp leg, a few guns and a pet dog. Mel fills the role of the group fighter, but thats just because his mechanical skills haven't really come into play yet; he's also the guy with the best (and most) equipment. Mel is such a cutout he might as well be a pre-gen character, but the player comes up with so many brilliant lines I just let it slide.

 

Phil the Cannibal - The group's other Towner, Phil is the thief of the party. He is greedy, dishonest, and a crackshot with his hunting rifle; he's also very pragmatic and has no reservations about eating fallen opponents - not really rare in the Wastelands, but pretty unusual among Townsfolk. He's an excellent sneak, lockpick, and spy, and has more 1-point contacts than you can shake a stick at.

 

Big Mack - This one cracks me up. Big Mack is a Tribal from a group of reverse-Amazons, this guy is the ultimate chauvanist; he regards women as slaves or trade goods, and absolutely refuses to listen to one. He loves hand-to-hand combat and is a master of wrestling. His Tribe values physical strength above everything, and are terrifying in melee combat. Here's the best part: just like Amazons, they're all homosexual and use intergender sex as a means of reproduction only. You should have seen the looks on the other player's faces when Big Mack, all STR 20 of him, explained that part of his Tribal philosophy.

 

The Chosen One - Another Tribal that has no real name, this guy is basically the driving force behind the plot so far. A strange plague is affecting a lot of the Northlands, and his Tribe prophesized that he would be the one to stop it. He is an expert tracker and survivor, and was given his Tribe's most prized magic item to help him on his quest - a Desert Eagle .50 cal. The others call him "Chosen" (wee-ooh!) and Big Mack swore an oath of brotherhood to him when he learned of the prophecy.

 

Thats about it for now. All thats coming to mind anyways. Whatcha think?

 

j

 

p.s. Sorry, Dr. Div, I don't have anything written up on computer just yet, but I'll be converting it over the next few weeks. I'll post it up when I have something coherrent put together.

[Susano]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Does Mel have a rebuilt black muscle car with a blower tucked away somewhere?

 

Just askin'

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Friendly faces in the Post-Apocalypse

 

Looks like a pretty cool game shaping up.