Post Apocalyptic Hero

[keithcurtis]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Perhaps, but there are far more mutations that occur than you might suspect. Each one of us probably possess about a dozen mutations in our gene sequences.

 

Many mutations, such as "point-shift" mutations, are harmless because they don't affect the reading frames of DNA. DNA insertion, or deletion, is typically much more deadly because it creates a "frame-shift" which can really gum up the works. However, depending on where it occurs, it might be harmless.

True. I was speaking too broadly perhaps. I meant mutations that were observable, not changes to junk DNA which probably happens at an astounding rate.

 

Keith "I can bend my thumbs all the way back, Professor X. When do I get to wear the uniform?" Curtis

[Mencelus]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Thanks one and all for the comments. Especially on metallergy and what not. Will think on it.

 

And as far as mutation goes, let me point back to the last sentence of my initial post:

 

Just looking for ideas or obvious logic loops. Again, I am wanting mutations, so please don't tell me how it ain't possible - I know that already.

 

So, like I said, I want mutations. All other things being somewhat realistic, I'm letting mutations slide because I liked Gamma World when I was a kid dammit! It's good and fun. My main idea is to have mutations be low-key, stuff that could come from the body "logically." (And this is in quotes folks, so pay attention please and realize that I KNOW it isn't logical, but for play reasons...).

 

For example, someone could have wall-crawling powers (due to sticky secretions from the palms) but could not toss fire bolts around (where does the energy come from?). Again, being able to see in the infrared spectrum is fine (eye rod structure is different) but shooting lasers from the eyes is right out.

 

As for age, well, hmm. I liked the number 40, but maybe 60 or so is better. I basically want a few grandparents around who know something. Without most modern medicine, clean water and the like, I had figured 40 years later was the max I could go (that would let people be 50 or 60, a stretch maybe, but this is a game after all).

 

However, I'm not wedded to the idea of having old fogies around. But I did want ruined cities that weren't picked to death yet. My only rationale would be lingering nuclear fallout keeping people away from the "prime" spots. Thoughts on the above?

[Manic Typist]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

You are completely correct Midas. Also, I think Trisome 21 (Down's syndrome) patients also typically never suffer from clinical depression, but that might just be conjecture on my part.

 

True. I was speaking too broadly perhaps. I meant mutations that were observable, not changes to junk DNA which probably happens at an astounding rate.

 

 

 

And really, I have been just being nitpicky. The vast majority of "signifciant" mutations are indeed fatal, or at least inconvienient.

[Jaxom]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

However' date=' I'm not wedded to the idea of having old fogies around. But I did want ruined cities that weren't picked to death yet. My only rationale would be lingering nuclear fallout keeping people away from the "prime" spots. Thoughts on the above?[/quote']

 

Depends on what you want to do with the "old folks"... When I was thinking about this for my own campaign ideas I was thinking 100 years or so and using the "when I was a kid, my grand pappy always said...." kinda stuff.

 

I agree about having things that are not picked over... Not sure how to do that without playing during the fall (5-10 years) or using radiation as the threat. You might be able to use animals of some kind or sink things under water... (We haven't discussed flooding things 200-500 ft. which is also a popular way to change or lock out terrain.) Bioterrorism during the fall might do it. People died in droves and now there is a taboo about the place... Etc.

 

Hrmmm... Not sure what your thought is on robots and automated defenses... Sounds like your "Accident" happens in a relatively modern time but you could push a bit into sci-fi and build an automated police force in NYC. Let the players figure out that the city's broadcast power has finally failed and all the sentries are shutting down. That might explain why looters didn't in the past but can now. Getting that much tech might destroy other plans that you had though.

 

And I am amused that you mention Gamma World. That was exactly what got me thinking about it roughly 6 months ago.

 

[editted to fix a spelling problem]

[Mencelus]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Depends on what you want to do with the "old folks"... When I was thinking about this for my own campaign ideas I was thinking 100 years or so and using the "when I was a kid' date=' my grand pappy always said...." kinda stuff.[/quote']

 

Yeah. Hmm. Grandpappy's uncle stuff sounds good maybe....would let me extend things.

 

I agree about having things that are not picked over... Not sure how to do that without playing during the fall (5-10 years) or using radiation as the threat. You might be able to use animals of some kind or sink things under water... (We haven't discussed flooding things 200-500 ft. which is also a popular way to change or lock out terrain.) Bioterrorism during the fall might do it. People died in droves and now there is a taboo about the place... Etc.

 

Hrmmm... Not sure what your thought is on robots and automated defenses... Sounds like your "Accident" happens in a relatively modern time but you could push a bit into sci-fi and build an automated police force in NYC. Let the players figure out that the city's broadcast power has finally failed and all the sentries are shutting down. That might explain why looters didn't in the past but can now. Getting that much tech might destroy other plans that you had though.

 

There are some good ideas here. Hmm again. I like the automated defenses part, though it makes me wonder why would the inhabitants protected by those systems wouldn't just stay put (of course, could just say they ran out of food, or computer failures led the defense systems to kill them).

 

I don't particulary want the PCs to have access to lots of tech, except as the MacGuffin used to drive a particular story. The players are still discussing what they want their characters to be as a group, so we'll see where the focus goes.

 

And I am amused that you mention Gamma World. That was exactly what got me thinking about it roughly 6 months ago.

 

Yeah, loved that game. I can remember back in the summer of my last year of high school (1992) running a campaign based around the adventure they had in the original book from TSR, something about taking a treaty message or such from one nation to another in the American continent (and the other nation was led by a mutant bear or some such ). At the time, I was really into the American Civil War, so I said that the other nation was the enemy, and the PCs government wanted to negotiate an alliance with that nation against a third slave-holding nation, and the PCs would be the ambassadors.

 

Since the trip would be dangerous, the PCs were a crack military unit, led by a human captain, with 3 mutants and two sentinet animal mutants. And, to make it complete in my teenage brain, I said that the unifroms for the PCs were just like the Civil War uniforms, braid, epulets, and all! They wore blue and the slave-holders wore gray. They carried rifle-muskets and used swords in hand to hand fighting. Ah, the wild imagination of youth. The fun part was we argued about how such an army would function with mutants in it and how the old style tactics, because of mutants, were better than modern warfare and all!

[Frenchman]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

This might lead to a "currency item by weight" economy in the Towns' date=' i.e., if you wnat to buy a gun, you have to equal it's weight in Wheels and Spokes, because oft he metal used in its design. Make sense?[/quote']

I'm pretty sure that a gun (or any created object) is going to be worth signifigantly more than it's weight in raw materials. This may be a good way to get an idea of what it cost the gunsmith to make it though, and from there you can get a sale price.

 

Even with an accepted currency (remember, money is only worth what people agree it is worth/will pay for it) most trade will be barter unless the three towns enact and enforce laws for that purpose. Even today, in a fairly large US city, I have seen (and engaged in) a fair amount of barter - you can't do it with a big chain grocery store, because the people who own that store aren't even aware of your existance, but if you find a momnpop store, you bet you can pay for your groceries with the furniture you make - IF they need furniture. In a society where every business is owned individually, and there are no 'big' stores, craftspeople and those with valuable services (doctors, mechanics, etc...) will find it convenient to just trade what they have to offer for what they need, rather than trade it for money to trade with.

 

About electricity - Power plants aren't the only way to generate voltage. Generators may be heavy, but if you have a few working automobiles and the roads aren't too messed up (prolly the case after only 40 years) then you can go out to the city and haul back a genny for every third house, one at a time. Since there will be many fewer people who are not driving nearly as much, gas stations will take a long time to go empty - even when they do theres still gas in the tanks of the several million cars in NYC - and the boats in the harbor. It would take a lot longer than 40 years for all this to be used up. And even then, many would opt to scavenge or make solar panels and wind turbines instead - with all the resources at their hands I don't see electricity being a big problem. Individual households may not have it, just because it's a pain in the *** to keep it going and set it up, but important people and places (like hospitals and univyour university) will have it available 24/7.

 

Finally, the Internet. What's it's status? How much did people salvage? I know that if I were a survivor of this disaster, one of the first things I'd do is to go down to Comp USA with some friends, set up a bunch of computers on high-speed connections, and start downloading (maybe) and printing wikipedia - which depends on whether I expect to be able to have access to electricity reliably.

Just a few thoughts.

[keithcurtis]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Unless special precautions are taken, gasoline breaks down after about 2 years. Gums and varnishes build up, rendering them unusable unless you have the chemical knowledge to remove them.

My dad used to say, "it turns to turpentine".

 

Keith "use it or lose it" Curtis

[Old Man]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

The random stuff people know always amazes me.

[Frenchman]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Unless special precautions are taken, gasoline breaks down after about 2 years. Gums and varnishes build up, rendering them unusable unless you have the chemical knowledge to remove them.

My dad used to say, "it turns to turpentine".

 

Keith "use it or lose it" Curtis

uhh...you sure? Cuz I know that a car that has been left in a field for 50+ years is capable of starting up and driving away as long as the pistons and such haven't rusted too much. I've seen it happen a lot, thats what my father does for a living - restore antique automobiles.

Besides, turpentine is flammable and could be used in other ways.

 

Jacques "My Dad is Better Than Your Dad" Gandolfo

 

(Just kidding on that last part)

[Frenchman]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

As long as I'm here, I dug up my mutation tables from back when I was running a PA campaign. Most (if not all) of the mutations it produces should fit your requirements - it is sFX neutral, after all. The hyperlinks in the tables should lead you to the appropriate destination table, but I'm not too sure if I finished everything on it.

[Mencelus]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out when not at work.

Giving me some good things to think over all. The weight/money thing was just off the top of my head, not really thought over deeply. Mostly, I wanted a limited form of "currency" at work, and bartering for stuff and services as well. I live in Hungary now and quite a bit of barter goes on (even in some established stores at times!).

 

As for the gasoline - to be honest, I had sort of assumed that people would have used it up in those last years before the burnout, or that governments would have started hoarding it before then (causing riots and whatnot I'm sure) so that by the time the war hits there wouldn't be many cars on the roads anyway (save for government uses and public transportation, perhaps elites who have connections, etc). All of which hastens the collapse of civilization (can you imagine the number of people who wouldn't be able to get to work regularly?).

 

Thanks all again for the ideas. Still mining...

[keithcurtis]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

uhh...you sure? Cuz I know that a car that has been left in a field for 50+ years is capable of starting up and driving away as long as the pistons and such haven't rusted too much. I've seen it happen a lot' date=' thats what [u']my[/u] father does for a living - restore antique automobiles.

Besides, turpentine is flammable and could be used in other ways.

 

Jacques "My Dad is Better Than Your Dad" Gandolfo

 

(Just kidding on that last part)

Ask your dad what had to be done to the fuel lines and carburetor. My guess is that a car left in a field for 50+ is absolutely incapable of starting up and driving away. The battery would discharge at the very least. All rubber hoses would crack or rot in that time unless the field was a desert that never freezes or gets terribly hot.

 

I put the turpentine bit in quotes because I wasn't sure if my dad (who was an in-flight mechanic in Nam) was speaking figuratively. I can't ask him now.

 

Regarding the viability of old gasoline:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline#Stability

 

Keith "All of the preceding was based on my limited knowledge of auto mechanics and should in no way be inferred to be a slight on anyone's dad. :)" Curtis

 

PS. Upon re-reading, it sounds like I'm implying my father died in Viet Nam. This is not the case.

[Frenchman]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Ask your dad what had to be done to the fuel lines and carburetor. My guess is that a car left in a field for 50+ is absolutely incapable of starting up and driving away. The battery would discharge at the very least. All rubber hoses would crack or rot in that time unless the field was a desert that never freezes or gets terribly hot.

 

I put the turpentine bit in quotes because I wasn't sure if my dad (who was an in-flight mechanic in Nam) was speaking figuratively. I can't ask him now.

 

Regarding the viability of old gasoline:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline#Stability

 

Keith "All of the preceding was based on my limited knowledge of auto mechanics and should in no way be inferred to be a slight on anyone's dad. :)" Curtis

 

PS. Upon re-reading, it sounds like I'm implying my father died in Viet Nam. This is not the case.

I did ask him last night, and you're right - I just never noticed him putting stuff in the gas tank - but he did tell me that with a little gas and a jump start, a lot of cars would be able to roll themselves up onto his trailer.

Thanks for setting that straight in my head

 

Edit: I like how that wiki link refers to tractors as "small engines"

Edit Again: I re-read my previous post, and I want to apologize for coming off as sarcastic and snooty - I had only meant a bit of friendly joshing.

[azato]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Just a slight detour (minor hijacking) -

 

Lets suppose that the vehicles have been sitting around for a hundred years (or more). Lets further suppose that you can get ahold of some good fuel and that there is no major problems with the engine other than taking it apart and cleaning it. At this time, as Keith noted, all rubber components are disintegrated. Other than gaskets and such, which can be made out of other material, how would you get and keep a car running and funtional when there are no tires and hoses. Perhaps you can fabricate metal tubing for hoses, but what do you do when you cannot get ahold of tires?

[keithcurtis]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

You can make wooden spoked wheels with metal rims. They work fine at low speeds.

 

Keith "but they'd be noisy" Curtis

[Frenchman]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Or just drive it on the rims - no speedbumps though.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

I have it on good authority that if the apocalyptic event is a runaway planet hurtling between the Earth and Moon, anything surviving the initial event will still be in usable condition two thousand years later...long enough for Earth to be reborn, a strange new world rising from the old, a world of savagery, super science, and sorcery.

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

I have it on good authority that if the apocalyptic event is a runaway planet hurtling between the Earth and Moon' date=' anything surviving the initial event will still be in usable condition two thousand years later...long enough for Earth to be reborn, a strange new world rising from the old, a world of savagery, super science, and sorcery.[/quote']

 

Lords of Light!!

 

Are you serious?!?

 

[Mencelus]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Lads and Ladies, my thanks.

 

Got some good ideas here and input enough to keep my engineer player happy, I think. Also enough the dramatist and the tactician to keep going. Two weeks before the game now and I just got character concepts in (I'll be making the PCs since this is the group's first time with HERO). It's a short series, maybe three or four sessions, all told, just enough to fill the summer months with some fun.

 

Anyway, thanks all.

 

And other ideas, shoot.

[azato]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Ok, lets suppose you wanted to do a Morrow Project type campaign. [For those who do not know, Imagine someone foresaw a nuclear war and froze a number of military units in suspended animation, wherein they were to wake up shortly after the attacks in order to restore order. However, the signal did not occur for something like 100 years after the nuclear exchange.] How would you keep the tires from disintigrating (I assume one would need to use another material)?

 

Based on today's technology (even experiemental stuff) what would you use to power the vehicles?

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

Ok' date=' lets suppose you wanted to do a Morrow Project type campaign. [For those who do not know, Imagine someone foresaw a nuclear war and froze a number of military units in suspended animation, wherein they were to wake up shortly after the attacks in order to restore order. However, the signal did not occur for something like 100 years after the nuclear exchange.'] How would you keep the tires from disintigrating (I assume one would need to use another material)?

 

Based on today's technology (even experiemental stuff) what would you use to power the vehicles?

 

Hmmm. Funny, I never thought about that.

 

Well now... Tire rubber would be tricky. If, like the Morrow Project, the teams were intended to awake only a few years after the war, the tires and any other rubber would be toast. The spares in the bolthole/Depot , however, might well be vacuum sealed and packed with a protective coating, so they MIGHT suvive. The hoses and suchlike might already be flexible metal rather than rubber, for longer use in anticipation of limited resuply.

 

Power is a different story. TMP used handwaved Fusion power. A more realistic approach would probably use Hydrogen Fuel Cells. The Team would need some processing equipment to fill 'em up, but its pretty easy to do. Second, third, and fourth on my list would probably be a Straight Vegetable oil system, followed by Methanol, followed by Biodiesel. Any current tech I know of is gonna require fuel. Hydrogen can be catalyzed from water, using electricity that could be generated in a variety of ways. SVO requires an oil press and filter, and a lot of plants. Biodeisel requires the same, plus a still (to make the methanol), plus lye (made from hardwood ash). Methanol needs just the still (and plant matter).

All are gonna be somewhat labor and resource intensive

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

I'd say there'd be a lot of tracked vehicles involved.

 

As for a power source...

 

Very few people know this, but the original diesel engine was designed to run on any flammable liquid... not just petroleum-based diesel fuel. Thanks to the greedy oil companies, the original design has been "lost" to history.

 

Or, so it seems. Through my underground contacts, I have learned that the original diesel engine has been preserved and modified by covert agencies within the government for precisely these purposes. Fill the tanks with any liquid (or combination of liquids) that burns, and you're good t' go!

[Old Man]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

IIRC modern Army vehicles are able to take a wide range of fuels. The turbine-powered M1A1 MBT has a dial where you tell it what you just put in the tank--gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel...

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

See?

[Beast]

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero

 

in some cases but gasoline has the most power output per pound that any other fuel save nuclear

 

a gas turbine will also run on just about anything

 

I'd say there'd be a lot of tracked vehicles involved.

 

As for a power source...

 

Very few people know this, but the original diesel engine was designed to run on any flammable liquid... not just petroleum-based diesel fuel. Thanks to the greedy oil companies, the original design has been "lost" to history.

 

Or, so it seems. Through my underground contacts, I have learned that the original diesel engine has been preserved and modified by covert agencies within the government for precisely these purposes. Fill the tanks with any liquid (or combination of liquids) that burns, and you're good t' go!