Captain Obvious Posted June 17, 2007 Report Share Posted June 17, 2007 All the talk recently about Post-Apoc Hero has me thinking about adventures, and there don't seem to be too many out there. There are a fair amount of Rifts or Gamma World style adventures, I suppose, but they're a little more out there than I'd like personally. To me, the best Post-Apoc material is the kind like Mad Max, or Damnation Alley, or Waterworld (not that the actual movie was that great, but the overall style is what I like). What I've seen of the Darwin's World adventures looks pretty good. Aside from the obvious plots of "resist army of bad guys" and "get to safe place", does anyone have any ideas that really work with a Post-Apoc setting? Note: to "really work", there must be room for a high-speed highway battle or something very much like it. I personally have given thought to stealing some classic literature and doing some number-filing. In the early morning brain fog this morning, I imagined a girl and her rottweiler in the American West following the Mother Road on their way back to Kansas, along the way meeting up with a guy dangling by chains from a pole, a cyborg with malfunctioning parts, and an ex-soldier with severe PTSD... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 18, 2007 Report Share Posted June 18, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures I once thought about having a low fantasy campaign that was set decades or even a couple of centuries after the apocalypse. I recently thought about it again. I guess it depends on how soon after the apocalypse occurs you want to set the campaign. Offhand, I'd use something like Burroughs' Barsoom novels, with a few modifications. I'd also consider using Howard's Conan stories for inspiration. (Conan meets John Carter? That may be interesting.) Also, A Canticle for Leibowitz has some interesting ideas for a campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midas Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Try looking for Morrow Project stuff. MP was a more gritty "realistic" work than say Gamma World. The background plot was that someone from the PA future travelled back in time to recruit Viet Nam vets, mercenaries, do gooder's etc, and set them up in cryogenic vaults. When they awake, they have a Damnation Alley Mobile and a mission to restore civilization. Midas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Just remember that all Post-Apoc stuff doesn't have to be gritty to be fun -- remember the kids' show ARK II? A group of young scientists trying to save the world in the 24th Century after pollution brought the biosphere to the brink -- driving around in a Damnation Alley-esque vehicle with a dune buggy, motorcycles and jet pack inside! They had futuristic weapons, of course, but never really used them, plus they had an uplifted chimpanzee of human intelligence helping out the crew... Yeah, I watched every episode -- how'd you guess? Oh! and if that doesn't fill your schmaltz quotient, how about the old Logan's Run series? Logan, Jessica and an android kicking around a post-nuclear world in a hovercraft... Matt "Action-Saturday-mornings-junkie" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted June 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Hmm...for some reason I haven't looked for MP stuff lately... Unfortunately, I don't remember either of those shows. If they were even on when I was a kid, I didn't watch them. I didn't like live-action shows too much, unless they had superheroes or dinosaurs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures "Two days ago I saw a rig big enough to haul that tanker. You want to get out here? You talk to me." There you go, instant Post-Apoc Adventure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted June 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures "Two days ago I saw a rig big enough to haul that tanker. You want to get out here? You talk to me." There you go, instant Post-Apoc Adventure! The Road Warrior is a combination of "resist army of bad guys" and "get somewhere safe". It's an awesome movie, and a good idea for an adventure, but it doesn't have much replay value within a campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Actually, if you take the whole background and aftermath of Road Warrior, you'd have the basis for a pretty substantial campaign. Consider: Survivors of the collapse of civilization start to gather in the wasteland, struggling to survive. Survivors divide into camps, one trying to escape and rebuild (PCs), the other content to scavenge and pillage. First group discovers source of petroleum, attempts to build a camp to refine it, which draws other survivors into a small community. Meanwhile the scavengers have built themselves into a small army which attacks the refiners, forcing them to fight their way out and attempt to flee to a safer area. The travelers have to find their way out of the wasteland, hunting for directions, scrounging for supplies, perhaps meeting other survivors both friendly and hostile. That should be worth a few game sessions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures The Road Warrior is a combination of "resist army of bad guys" and "get somewhere safe". It's an awesome movie' date=' and a good idea for an adventure, but it doesn't have much replay value within a campaign.[/quote'] No, but it certainly can help kick one off -- imagine the story arc of getting from the refinery to the cost -- 2,000 miles away. You even can end the campaign with arrival at the coast and apparent safety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Naturally some of this adventure-planning and classic story types of the genre is being covered in PAH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Naturally some of this adventure-planning and classic story types of the genre is being covered in PAH. The Deluxe Edition of PAH really needs to come with one jerry can of gas and two shotgun shells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Could turn this into a Post-Apoc version of the "Pulparize it!" thread. Of course, stuff would vary a lot depending on the type of post-apoc game. Substitute out mutants for zombies for chaps-wearing bikers to taste. Aside from the obvious plots of "resist army of bad guys" and "get to safe place", does anyone have any ideas that really work with a Post-Apoc setting? There ARE other plots? The Matchmakers - genetic diversity is important to small groups of survivors. Unfortunately, other groups and tribes that survived in isolation tend to have very different beliefs and cultures these days. Can you make a match between the eligible young man of the River People and a woman of the Tree Squirrel tribe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted June 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Naturally some of this adventure-planning and classic story types of the genre is being covered in PAH. Yeah, but you're going too slow. I WANT IT NOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted June 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Could turn this into a Post-Apoc version of the "Pulparize it!" thread. You know, I meant to sit down with The Three Musketeers and try to Post-Apocalyze last weekend, and never got around to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadmaster Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Try looking for Morrow Project stuff. MP was a more gritty "realistic" work than say Gamma World. The background plot was that someone from the PA future travelled back in time to recruit Viet Nam vets, mercenaries, do gooder's etc, and set them up in cryogenic vaults. When they awake, they have a Damnation Alley Mobile and a mission to restore civilization. Midas Morrow Project is still available http://www.timelineltd.com/ You can also get some of the Twilight 2000 stuff on drive through RPG http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?cPath=21_23 Tri-Tac's Fringeworthy, Rogue 417 source book is pretty good for ideas. http://www.members.aol.com/tritacgames/ BTRC did Down in flames, a bakers dozen of world wrecking scenarios http://www.btrc.net/html/catmain.html#CORPS Finally Aftermath is also still out there, the system is a bit of a mess but it is a great reference source and the adventures were pretty good. http://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/ Steve has his work cut out for him, trying to top Aftermath as the ultimate fat tanker full of gas, leather clad bikers, glow in the dark zombies source book, but I have faith in his abilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Okay, seriously -- here's the adventure types I've used in the many PA campaigns I've run. The absolute two best story arcs ever done for a PA game occur in the Twilight:2000 game. The Black Madonna is one of those "What do you do if you have something that everybody wants?" After spending half of the adventure back-stabbing and getting double-crossed by nearly everybody in Poland, the group finally gets their hands on that country's most famous Catholic relic. The other half of the story arc is the character interactions with the various groups and warlords that are (mostly) willing to kill to get it, and what the characters are willing to trade for it. (Thankfully my group decided to give it to what was left of the Catholic church in Poland, forever earning the blessing of the country's common folk.) The other one was The Last Train To Clarksville adventure where the final ship for the United States has announced it's leaving in two months, and the characters have to refurbish a museum antique steam locomotive, rescue the only guy who's had any experience running it from the local warlord, and then make the desperate run on the rails through contested territories to reach the ship in time. (My group saw several long-running characters make the ultimate sacrifice for their buddies, including two who died fighting within sight of the port -- that was intense.) If you're more for road action in the wasteland, check out role-playing materials for Steve Jackson's Car Wars games, especially the older stuff. That had a wasteland United States with remote pockets of civilization scattered about, all tied together with satellite television. And what's the hottest sport on television? Autodueling -- combat rigged vehicles blazing away at each other on old race tracks, burnt out shopping malls and specially designed arena facilities for fun and profit! More to come... Matt "Can't-wait-for-PA-Hero" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Some of the more basic plotlines from PA movies and books: Damnation Alley (book): Shanghai a former Hell's Angel to run from California through the nuke-blasted Midwest chock full of radioactive mutant monsters to deliver serum to people dying of an epidemic on the East Coast. The Survivalist (book series): Survive World War III long enough to find your estranged wife and reconcile, then raid a secret lab for cryohibernation units to ride out the spontaneous combustion of the atmosphere. Reawaken five hundred years later and try to put the pieces of the shattered earth back together for a new beginning, despite the fact that a lot of really bad guys managed to survive as well. Dies The Fire (book trilogy): Have all the world's modern technology suddenly stop working, find a way to make it through the great die-off during the first year, then start building your own neo-communes and neo-feudalistic societies while some SCA nutcase with a bunch of punk thugs for lackeys who thinks he's Sauron reborn constantly challenges your very existence through superior resource exploitation. The Day After (TV Movie): World War III in Mid-America. Guess what? Nobody survives for very long. Jericho (TV Series): An extremely efficient terrorist group simultaneously nukes dozens of cities in the United States, leaving a Mid-American town in chaos and confusion as the citizens face one crisis after another while still trying to clean up the debris of their lives from before the bombs. Still more to come... Matt "Still-waiting-for-it-Steve" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Your basic scenarios -- Grocery Run Your group needs basic supplies and has a lead on where to get some. Problem is, the way you got the information, anybody else who's looking probably knows the same things you do. Turf War A group of toughs is raiding nearby settlements and your crew is hired to take them out. The twist? These guys are from a hospital complex that's sheltering hundreds of homeless children. If they're stopped, it'll be mass starvation and most of a generation lost. Treasure Chest People are suddenly dying from radiation poisoning. Your group is tasked with finding the source before anyone else on the home turf succumbs. (If you've read Alas, Babylon you'll figure it out.) Siren Song A ham radio operator on the home turf is picking up a strange signal that sound like a distress call of some kind. A group of volunteers is selected to seek out the source of the strange signal and render what aid they can. (If you've seen On The Beach, you'll see how this one ends, too.) A More Perfect Union The groups in the region decide to hold a conference to hammer out some issues involving trade and mutual defense. Unfortunately, there are also some grudges to settle and before too long, there's a murder or two, but the most likely suspects claim innocence and have the proof to back it up. The group, decidedly neutral in these affairs, is asked to solve the murders, but not take too long, as the violence just below the surface of diplomacy is set to boil over... Snipe Hunt A group of wolves threaten the home turf's precious supply of farm animals, but every hunter set against them has died. Now it's your group's turn to solve the problem -- can you piece together the clues to save your own lives from the pack's deadly secret? Hope that's what you were looking for, Captain. Matt "Bubbling-over-with-ideas-on-a-slow-radio-night" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadmaster Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Lets not forget the decent wasteland wanderers vs the high tech faschist society (examples being Tank Girl and Rebel). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures I had thought about a campaign with megacities with societies based on Blade Runner and Max Headroom. But those would be rare and far apart. In between lies the wilderness, which would be more like the Mad Max movies. There would be some areas with a little civilization, like Bartertown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Another source of ideas -- Lucifer's Hammer, in which a comet impacts the Earth. and The Tripods trilogy, in which aliens have taken over the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures I'm gonna go Alita in my someday-to-be PA campaign. There's no actual disaster, as such, but the rich and powerful will have abandoned the Earth for space, and all that are left on a blasted, worn and abused planet are the desperate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Offhand' date=' I'd use something like Burroughs' Barsoom novels, with a few modifications. I'd also consider using Howard's Conan stories for inspiration. (Conan meets John Carter? That may be interesting.)[/quote'] The entire big walled city in the middle of the wilderness with no supporting surrounding settlements theme was a founding principle in creating Savage Earth. I wanted that. Much of the campaign ground rules sprang from trying to find economic and ecological ways of supporting that essentially unrealistic but exceedingly cool concept. Keith "Here are the creator notes" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures The entire big walled city in the middle of the wilderness with no supporting surrounding settlements theme was a founding principle in creating Savage Earth. I wanted that. Much of the campaign ground rules sprang from trying to find economic and ecological ways of supporting that essentially unrealistic but exceedingly cool concept. Keith "Here are the creator notes" Curtis That concept works if the city can generate the resources it needs to operate. Synthetic food and/or hydroponic gardens, resources from mines below the city, a petrochemical source for the creation of plastics, a highly managed birth rate so that the population doesn't outstrip the city's capacity, a highly structured society to pidgeonhole the young into essential services while the priviledged few remain in power (or could be managed by sentient computers) -- yeah, that's really not a place I would want to live. But then, if the alternative is trying to make a living in the wastelands, a freedomless society might not seem so bad... A better take on that would be a city based on the preservation of society, much like the monastery in Canticle for Liebowitz that preserves pre-holocaust information and technology. If you're really looking for something like Keith's vision, check out the Samauri 7 anime series -- during the first few episodes, they nail this concept down cold. Matt "Loves-YouTube.com" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snake Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 Re: Post-Apoc Adventures Hi. I've started posting the scenarios for my PA game on the http://www.aftermathrpg.com/ site under the forum/thread "General PA Disscussion/Scenarios" Originally written for Plague World, I've made them as generic as possible so should fit in your idea of a PA. Had good feedback on the second scenario - "The Invisible Death" and I feel it has a good PA feel. 3rd scenario "Warriors of the Wastelands" is in progress. If u need more inspiration I would check out SM Stirlings "Dies the Fire" series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.