Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I've been thinking about something of the sort; that's one of the notes to myself buried in the manuscript that I have to consider and act on (one way or another) during editing and revisions.

I would add it is a very good idea.

[Mentor]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Yeah' date=' something like that -- or from a more gameable perspective, something akin to The Morrow Project. One of the best PA games I ever played in was one where we all played ourselves, who'd been cryogenically frozen and neuro-fed all the details of a given skill-set while we "slept." We then had to make our way across the ruins of North Carolina. [/quote']

 

That "rebuilding team" would be my preference for a frozen sleep genre.

[Labrat]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I've been thinking about something of the sort; that's one of the notes to myself buried in the manuscript that I have to consider and act on (one way or another) during editing and revisions.

 

I also agree that Cultural Packages should be considered. I figure the following short list is valid for making distinctive Package Deals.

 

There really wouldn't be a 'Default' as I would consider as someone who looks a lot like a 21st Century Human.

 

I believe that the following from your list should be considered as Cultural:

Academic

Cryo (someone who somehow survives The Event without being directly influenced by the immediate fallout)

Ganger

Preserver

Survivalist

 

Here are some notes:

Survivalist 'Wildmen' Class = Woodsman, Mountainman, Coastal Dweller, Desert Dweller, i.e. just like the ones found in Fantasy Hero to represent the survivors got out of the urban zones right before The Event happened and taught thier children never to go into the Poisoned Cities. I also think that the AK's for these people would be heightened beyond the FAM level since they would know how to get around hot spots, the Survival skill is also the common denomonator obviously.

 

Survivalist 'Urban Survivalist' Class = which may have some level of appropriate resistance to the blights that caused The Event (of course not total resistance but in the case of a biological Event then this could be possible).

 

Survivalist 'Wanderer' Class = seeking something, may or may not be loners, could be as organized as, say, gypsies but just keep on the move. Usually more interested in selfish goals or the betterment of their family. The same package could represent some kind of Preserver 'Peacekeeper' Class = almost like Wanderers, but seek out where help is needed and then go and stick around for a while until they either solve the problem or educate the locals on how to take care of situations themselves.

 

Ganger 'Warlord' Class = feed off of the poor, oppressing overlord caste.

 

Ganger 'Reaver' Class = hell bent on destruction, finishing the job, wreaking havoc and liking the control that fear brings.

[Lucius]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Have I mentioned how much I'd like to see Fimbulwinter and Post-Ragnarok?

 

 

In a GAME I mean, only in a GAME !!

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary assures all that if you see a strange man sneaking around in a cemetery with a shovel and a pair of nail clippers it's only Lucius

[Funksaw]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I know I'm -way- too late to input here, but I had some ideas.

 

I've always wondered what it would be like to run a Post-Apoc campaign in a part of the world not directly touched by the apocalypse. For example, in a confligration between Russia and the U.S., Europe and the superpowers would get toasted. New Zealand, though... And South Africa, perhaps? How would life change? What would happen? What happens when fully functioning societies of small countries suddenly become the big dogs on the block?

 

I'd also be interested in the post-post-apocolpyse - the three, four generations after the cataclysm, in which the survivors are finally starting to rebuild...

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Just as a little bit of reality intrusion, the star Eta Carinae is "about to" (in an astronomical sense) go supernova. It's 7500 light years away, and in reality it may have already gone. If it were "pointing" directly at us when it goes, it would wipe all life off of the earth in seconds, when the radiation reaches us (fortunately, it's not). More info can be found here.

[casualplayer]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

May I suggest that Cryo be renamed Anachronaut or something? Lots more reasons to take a nap and wake up After the Bomb than just cryogenics, Farnham's Freehold for example..

 

Instead of a Barbarian package deal, how about one called Throwback?

 

Probably can't have a package deal called Evangelical without offending a whole lotta folk, but it's an archetype that crops up a lot in PA works. Type of Academic perhaps? Or name the package deal Zealot?

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

May I suggest that Cryo be renamed Anachronaut or something? Lots more reasons to take a nap and wake up After the Bomb than just cryogenics' date=' [i']Farnham's Freehold [/i]for example..

 

Instead of a Barbarian package deal, how about one called Throwback?

 

Probably can't have a package deal called Evangelical without offending a whole lotta folk, but it's an archetype that crops up a lot in PA works. Type of Academic perhaps? Or name the package deal Zealot?

 

Redline calls them Bornagains. Evangelical is no more offensive than that. Not that it's offensive anyway, really.

[casualplayer]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Redline calls them Bornagains. Evangelical is no more offensive than that. Not that it's offensive anyway' date=' really.[/quote']

 

It's not that the term itself is offensive; it's that some might be offended to have it applied to the rag-clad itinerant that feels his holy book, whatever book that might be, is protection enow from the Horrors That Be. Some don't care for the idea of prophets with fleas, even role-playing ones.

[Labrat]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

It's not that the term itself is offensive; it's that some might be offended to have it applied to the rag-clad itinerant that feels his holy book' date=' whatever book that might be, is protection enow from the Horrors That Be. Some don't care for the idea of prophets with fleas, even role-playing ones.[/quote']

 

Post-Tribulationists (Post-Tribs?) would work just as well but they are definitely a recurring archetype in the genre. Unfortunately they usually backlit by bloody alters and pillars of flame while hoisting a sword in their hands... authors like to stereotype them as 'zealous weirdos'. Can't say that it wouldn't happen that way once the fear of 'I missed the train home' set in.

 

I agree with casualplayer's more genre-specific archetype names too. Gives more flavor to the game. 'Throwback' is brilliant, and I agree that 'Cryo' should be changed. 'Arachonaut' is ok, could be catchy, but how about something along the lines of 'The Awake' or 'Yesterday's Children'?

[Steve Long]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I'd also be interested in the post-post-apocolpyse - the three, four generations after the cataclysm, in which the survivors are finally starting to rebuild...

 

That's actually every bit as common in PA literature as settings that take place during or in the immediate aftermath of the apocalypse. All three of the sample settings I'm primarily creating start by default hundreds of years after the bombs fell.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

That's actually every bit as common in PA literature as settings that take place during or in the immediate aftermath of the apocalypse. All three of the sample settings I'm primarily creating start by default hundreds of years after the bombs fell.

 

This is really disappointing to me...

If PA Hero is going to be a stand-alone, unsupported product, I'd much prefer to see the sample settings each address a different PA "Period". Three "Hundreds of years later" settings seems to be a bit of redundancy. Hundreds of years later is the PA time period most divorced from player familiarity... Most modern artifacts will be gone, none of the "If we don't work for a better tommorrow, our children will never know that man once harnessed the lightning, flew, and walked on the moon" pathos, no wasteland raiders in carefully maintained cars (think rubber tires are going last hundreds of years?), no fighting scavengers for the right to search an old gas station and maybe find a few packs of smokes in a broken vending machine....

 

The Hundreds of Years Later setting is TOTALLY valid for PA gaming, but a mono-focus on the era seems like a huge waste to me, unless you're planning on really only making one base setting and presenting aways to tailor it to various apocalypses.

[Labrat]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

This is really disappointing to me...

If PA Hero is going to be a stand-alone, unsupported product, I'd much prefer to see the sample settings each address a different PA "Period". Three "Hundreds of years later" settings seems to be a bit of redundancy. Hundreds of years later is the PA time period most divorced from player familiarity... Most modern artifacts will be gone, none of the "If we don't work for a better tommorrow, our children will never know that man once harnessed the lightning, flew, and walked on the moon" pathos, no wasteland raiders in carefully maintained cars (think rubber tires are going last hundreds of years?), no fighting scavengers for the right to search an old gas station and maybe find a few packs of smokes in a broken vending machine....

 

The Hundreds of Years Later setting is TOTALLY valid for PA gaming, but a mono-focus on the era seems like a huge waste to me, unless you're planning on really only making one base setting and presenting aways to tailor it to various apocalypses.

 

IIRC Steve isn't the only one making the mini-genre books, Darren and others will be also creating some. I'm guessing that all of the major eras will be represented (Zombie-Hero and Revelations will probably be even 'during' The Event). At least I hope I'm right about that...

[Lucius]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

 

Nothing but the dead and dyin'

Back in my little town

 

 

Somehow these lines always struck me as sounding kind of postapocalyptic...

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary adds "and the whole song seems out of character for them..."

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Somehow these lines always struck me as sounding kind of postapocalyptic...

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary adds "and the whole song seems out of character for them..."

 

You want good PA music?

 

Try Pink World by Planet P , aka Tony Carey.

 

Here's an example...

 

A Letter from the Shelter

Well, we all go down

to our caverns underground

and in our backyard caves

we'd hear the sirens sound.

And we took it very well,

when then black rains fell,

when the dust came down around us

we were safe and sound.

 

It was baby needs shoes,

the pta and barbeques.

It was two-hand touch

out on the white house lawn.

We were nobody's fools

fillin' in the swimming pools.

We poured concrete and steel

when the neighbors had gone.

 

Now we all live here together,

yes we all live here as one.

Now we all share the comforts of a hole in the ground,

and we all remember livin' in the sun.

Here in the shelter

 

We heard nuclear freeze,

we heard first-strike strategies,

we heard how to pay the taxman

when the big one falls.

We heard good guys and bad guys,

we heard little lies and big lies,

about who comes out the winners

and it's not that bad at all.

When a madman gets a gun,

he's gonna point it at someone,

if it's up in Texas tower,

or over there across the pond.

If you step on his pride

or if he hurts somewhere inside

he might let one fly

when his nerves are gone.

 

Now we all live here together,

yes we all live here as one.

Now we all share the comforts of a hole in the ground,

and we all remember livin' in the sun.

Here in the shelter

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

IIRC Steve isn't the only one making the mini-genre books' date=' Darren and others will be also creating some. I'm guessing that all of the major eras will be represented (Zombie-Hero and Revelations will probably be even 'during' The Event). At least I hope I'm right about that...[/quote']

 

What I'd LOVE to see in a PA setting is a base setting/apocalypse with options for how to approach it in different time scales, say a "During the Fall" period, a "One Generation/20 years later" period a "Hundred Years After" and maybe even a "300 years Later: Legends of the Fall".

[Steve]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

What I'd LOVE to see in a PA setting is a base setting/apocalypse with options for how to approach it in different time scales' date=' say a "During the Fall" period, a "One Generation/20 years later" period a "Hundred Years After" and maybe even a "300 years Later: Legends of the Fall".[/quote']

 

I think that's a pretty good idea and agree.

[Spidey88]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I concur completely as well.

[archermoo]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

This is really disappointing to me...

If PA Hero is going to be a stand-alone, unsupported product, I'd much prefer to see the sample settings each address a different PA "Period". Three "Hundreds of years later" settings seems to be a bit of redundancy. Hundreds of years later is the PA time period most divorced from player familiarity... Most modern artifacts will be gone, none of the "If we don't work for a better tommorrow, our children will never know that man once harnessed the lightning, flew, and walked on the moon" pathos, no wasteland raiders in carefully maintained cars (think rubber tires are going last hundreds of years?), no fighting scavengers for the right to search an old gas station and maybe find a few packs of smokes in a broken vending machine....

 

The Hundreds of Years Later setting is TOTALLY valid for PA gaming, but a mono-focus on the era seems like a huge waste to me, unless you're planning on really only making one base setting and presenting aways to tailor it to various apocalypses.

 

As a note, both of the settinglets that Darren did are set during their apocalypse.

[Korvar]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I am minded to link to When Sysadmins Ruled The Earth

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

You want good PA music?

 

Try Pink World by Planet P , aka Tony Carey.

 

 

One of the best concept albums ever recorded.

[casualplayer]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Post-Tribulationists (Post-Tribs?) would work just as well but they are definitely a recurring archetype in the genre. Unfortunately they usually backlit by bloody alters and pillars of flame while hoisting a sword in their hands... authors like to stereotype them as 'zealous weirdos'. Can't say that it wouldn't happen that way once the fear of 'I missed the train home' set in.

 

Actually the examples that spring immediately to mind are Doody from the comic Scout, The Pilgrim from the comic Just a Pilgrim and the Folk of the Fringe from Orson Scott Card's short story collection of the same name. I'm more interested in a nuanced, potentially sympathetic character package deal than How-to-make-Thulsa-Doom.

[Labrat]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Actually the examples that spring immediately to mind are Doody from the comic Scout' date=' The Pilgrim from the comic [i']Just a Pilgrim [/i]and the Folk of the Fringe from Orson Scott Card's short story collection of the same name. I'm more interested in a nuanced, potentially sympathetic character package deal than How-to-make-Thulsa-Doom.

 

Sure, that's another aspect that pops up in the genre, but is it worth it's own package deal/write-up? IMO some of the suggestions made, even mine, on second glance are more or less addressable by Psychological Limitations than actual common skill sets.

 

This sets me up nicely to ask Steve once again to consider putting some aspect of the Sanity rules into this fine product, even as a practice run for the too-far-in-the-future Horror Hero. Is 'zealousness' also insanity? No it's not, but 'zealousness with murderous obsession' is. Also 'zealousness with morbid depression' could also be. 'The End Of The World' would certainly wreak havoc on the mental stability of those used to a fast-food nation where TV tells us what to do and the Internet solves all of our problems. If left entirely to his own devices, a good population of modern mankind may just freak out completely. However this would pass with time and definitely with subsequent generations so the application to the genre may be limited, thus deserving only a blurb in whatever section Steve puts Characteristics in (INT/EGO).

 

Of course this is all rhetorical since I've already been told 'no', but like a kid a Christmas my requests won't cease until after Santa's already come and gone. Of course Horror Hero is the best place for the Sanity rules that I'm referring to, but I think a mention of it is appropriate for the genre. This is the last time I mention it. I promise!

[Zorak1003]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

A lot of great suggestions on the first page here- I'm sure I'm repeating some things others have put in, but definately some "real" info about how long things like roads and buildings, water pipes and powerlines take to decay, along with discussion on how long AFTER the End the campaign is taking place- One where the PCs themselves all remember the past cicvllization is obviously very different from a campaign set many generations later.

 

And while I think sources like 1984, Logan's Run and THX-1138 (and the RPG Paranoia) are really more dystopian than PA, Iw ould like to see isolated pockets of survivors in dystopian settings touched upon.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Something occurred to me this morning...

A lot of the Japanese P.A. settings, both movies and video games, are MUCH higher tech. Essentially Star Hero settings before the Apocalypse, leading to much wilder artifacts and critters (such as the descendants of aliens, stable populations of genetically modified "mutants" like cat-girls, full-conversion cyborgs, anti-grav, "precursor artifacts", etc...).

Might be worth mentioning somewhere.