Post Apocalypse Game

[Eldos]

Hi all

 

Just thought I would share some news from here down under. We've all been playing a bit of Fallout 3 and decided to start a post apocalypse game set here in Australia.

 

Personally, that's one of the great things about the Hero System is that it is very easily customizable for whatever genre one wants to play.

 

Anyway, the first session went well. Our three PCs formed a small trade caravan coming into Sydney - which had been partially nuked about 100 years ago.

 

A raider attempted to rob us but we managed to talk him around with a threat of an imminent from others. We then went into the nearby town and told them that for a small reward, we would clear out these deperados - which we then did.

 

I greatly enjoyed the game and look forward to the next one. Just thought I'd post some good news.

[D. Guss Tibus]

Re: Post Apocalypse Game

 

"a threat of an imminent from others"

 

An imminent what?

[Eldos]

Re: Post Apocalypse Game

 

Don't worry D Gus, I'm starting to use this thread as a campaign log and it will certainly answer your question.

[Eldos]

Re: Post Apocalypse Game

 

Recently I’ve discovered Edsel’s Weekend Warriors campaign log and have decided to create my own. I can’t expect it to be as good as one of Edsel’s, but hopefully it will still be somewhat entertaining. I also agree with several of those that have posted there that a campaign log is a good idea for a game.

As mentioned above, this game was somewhat inspired by most of us playing Fallout 3 and wanting to continue something of the experience on the gaming table. The GM provided the following background and rules.

Background

2010 The Red Army mobilizes, taking advantage of the weakened military and economy of the United States. They launch a surprise attack with the intention of reducing the nuclear capabilities of the USA through covert ops and invasion of while simultaneously nuking major resistance points, army bases, major cities, etc.

The USA retaliates with their remaining nukes trying to force China out by crippling morale, they target civilian populations in China.

China is joined in war by most Muslim nations who want revenge against the United States, as well as the few other communist countries like Cuba and Korea.

The Democratic nations including Australia, join with the US in their fight.

The resulting war is long and bloody conflict. Nearly all nations are drawn in and the population of the world drops by 90%.

Australia didn’t suffer as much nuclear attacks as other places, only Sydney and Melbourne were nuked and with only fairly small bombs both over the industrial districts. But an invasion force did come in and conventional bombing still destroyed nearl all urban areas and even some smaller towns. Smaller radioactive weapons and biological weapons were also used, however and compounded with the drought seemingly without end, Australia is as much a wasteland as anywhere else.

Little is known about the exact timeline of events for Australia but it is something like this.

2010 – War is declared

2012 – Australian north coast invaded

2015 – The war is engulfing large portions of Australia, it is estimated the war could go on for decades. Many people migrate to self sufficient bunkers to wait it out.

2020 – The last newspaper is printed. The front page reads “Is Civilization Doomed?”

2050 – This is estimated when the war ‘ends’. Nations stop fighting each other but many troops are cut off in foreign countries with no way of returning home and most governments are gone – those that remain have been subject to many coups.

2075 – Most enemy forces have been flushed out or integrated into the population.

2150 – This is guessed to be the approximate date.

Factions

Remanent Parliament – The remanent of the Australian Parliament, a small group which supposedly communicates with Canberra. They are despotic but are making small contributions to restoring order. There is an armed force under their command called ANZACS who shoot who they deem troublemakers and take their supplies for themselves and the ‘citizens’ of Sydney. Of course, they decide who qualifies as a citizen.

Diggers – The Diggers oppose the remanent parliament claiming that no government was left at the end of the war. They claim to be left overs of militia and drove the few remaining invaders out. They don’t have the luxury of being underground through the worst of the war and they trained their children and grandchildren in traditions they learned to survive.

Bandits and Gangs – These are small, organised groups that live by taking from others. They don’t hesitate to kill and they will take anything they need to survive by force. One such gang has called themselves ‘The Kelly Gang’ and has modelled themselves on the legends from history.

Mercenaries – It’s a dangerous world and people need protection and are willing to give up their supplies to stay out of harms way. So mercenary groups are common, taking supplies in exchange for what assistance they can offer.

Merchants – Travelling merchants try to scrape out a better living by facilitating trade between towns. It’s a risky business so they often hire on mercenaries to protect them.

Towns and Outposts – There are many towns and outposts, each is a congregation of people trying to survive and there is strength in numbers. The towns are usually named for the suburbs they used to inhabit.

PCs

The first game commenced with three PCs.

Crazy Jones – An old, survivalist type character dressed in a mish-mash of armor and rags. While he’s quite skilled in the wilderness he isn’t the sharpest of people and has a pathological fear of mutant Koalas who (he claims) are venomous.

Brendon “Bren” ?? – He represents the repressed petrol head who dreams of rolling down the broken highways in a working car. He claims to have had a car before but it was stolen. He is now heading to Sydney so that he can build a new one.

Jim “Outback Champie” Champion – A traveling camel merchant from Wagga Wagga who trades agricultural goods for city salvage. He is glib tongued and only carries a replica pistol, preferring to not to expend rare and valuable ammunition – he is quite good at fighting with his hockey stick as a club.

[Eldos]

Re: Post Apocalypse Game

 

Game Session 1

15 November 2008

The trio of characters are all traveling together into Sydney from the south. They have been moving through ruined suburbs for some time, sometimes inhabited, sometimes not. Outback Champie and Crazy Jones have traveled together before but Bren is a first timer with them and hasn’t even been to Sydney previously.

The group are headed for an inner city community called St Pauls, when a man brandishing a pistol comes out from one of the ruins nearby. He demands some of the supplies that Champie has on his camel.

Champie responds that they were shaken down recently by another group of bandits. He then implied that this other group of bandits then sent them in here to distract this group for an attack. This had the desired effect (with a good persuasion roll) and the bandit ran off to round up his friends to defend their camp from fictitious raiders.

The group reached St. Pauls and Bren is about to leave to start looking for parts to build his car when Champie stops him and invites him along to talk to some of the traders there. Champie has figured (correctly) that the bandits to the south that they came across are impinging on trade here and hopes that he can earn a reward by getting rid of them.

In order to persuade Bren to join him and Crazy Jones, Champie organizes that as a reward, the merchants of St. Pauls will tell the group of a place where Bren can find the parts he needs to build a car. It’s agreed on and Champie begins on a plan to defeat the bandits.

Discovering that neither of his companions have any stealth skills, Champie decides that he will sneak in and lead the bandits into an ambush. Bren sets up in an abandoned car while Crazy Jones climbs onto the roof of a mostly intact house.

Deciding that just after dark is the best time to move, Champie sneaks in and finds that there are four bandits who are sitting down for a meal in the ruins of a house. He throws a rock and hits one – then runs.

As expected, the bandits give chase and a few fire and miss (due largely to range mods and the darkness. As Champie manages to get behind the cover of a partially remaining wall of a house, Crazy Jones takes a truly excellent shot with his rifle and hits one of the bandits, the only one armed with a rifle, in the knee.

The remaining bandits take cover and start to use the cover around to move up. The one hit in the knee though is still active and returns fire toward Jones but is largely ineffective due to range, darkness and that Crazy Jones is under some cover.

Two of the other bandits, armed with pistols, have moved into a position across the street from Bren when he starts shooting at them. Jones changes targets but as both groups have cover only a few minor wounds are sustained.

Meanwhile, Champie notices that the last bandit is attempting to flank the group from the side. He also notices that the man has a shotgun and, using himself as bait, draws the man out. Champie only manages not to be shot at by a successful stealth check. Jones changes target again and knocks the man over – at this point Champie comes into his own and beats the man savagely (in the groin of all places) with his hockey stick.

The standoff is still going on with the two shooters across the street, so Champie tries another bluff. He takes out his replica pistol and throws it toward the pair across the street yelling, “grenade!” The bluff works for one who dives for cover but the other doesn’t fall for it (made a good perception check) and fires back.

Committed, Champie runs across the street with only his old riot shield for defense. This works against the pistol wielding bandit but the rifleman manages to hit him in the hand for a minor wound just before Jones manages to take him out for good with a well placed shot.

Once in melee range, Champie quickly disarms one of the pistol wielders while the other charges at Bren, who shoots him and knocks him down. The one Champie is fighting pulls out a knife and fights back but isn’t terribly skilled. In the end, Champie takes a step back and Jones shoots the guy.

In the aftermath, only one of the bandits survived. He was brought back to the camp and told that if he tells the group where everything is, he will be let go with his life. He does try to hold back a bit but it is decided that he poses little threat on his own so he is let go. Champie gets his camel to pick up the bandit’s goods and someone from St. Pauls to witness the event so that the group can claim their reward.

[Eldos]

Re: Post Apocalypse Game

 

Game Session 2

22 December 2008

Three more PCs joined the game for this session, although Crazy Jones’ player was away for reasons unknown. These new characters are:-

Doc – Played by a first timer he is, as one might guess, a man of medicine. Of African/American descent he is also quite handy with a rifle.

Nigel – A very politically incorrect Australian Aboriginal who is also quite good at surviving in the wilderness. He prefers to use spears to guns but is willing to when necessary.

Robbo – Not much is known at this stage except that he took reputation (11 or less) of ‘Good Bloke’.

Yes, it looks like the comedy relief characters are in.

The PCs are heading out to find the old car manufacturing plant that the merchants of St Pauls told them about so that Bren can get parts to build a car.

Along the way, the PCs find Doc and Nigel walking in the other direction. They tell that they tried to get into a place that sounds very much like the car plant and lost one of their friends inside (Robbo’s player couldn’t make it until later). They embellish that they killed dozens of people holding their friend captive but to no avail so they decided to look for help.

Champie doesn’t feel good about a fight against such strong odds in a fortified position but Bren is still keen, stating that at least they now have a little information about the car plant. Around it is a maze created from junked cars, within are hidden many traps.

When the now enlarged group of PCs arrive at the car plant, they can see that this isn’t going to be easy. The top floors of the plant are visible some sixty meters passed a six meter wall of wrecked cars. There is one entrance to a veritable maze of cars which presumably leads to the entrance.

Bren goes first and tries the peaceful route. He hands his shotgun (the same one captured from last game) and hold his hands up shouting, “I just want to talk! I fix cars and I can probably help you!”

Most of us are not sanguine about his chances and stay back a little way from him in case something really unpleasant happens. Nigel, begins to climb the wall of cars with some success. Inspired, Doc tries the same thing – with no success at all.

Bren quickly notices a tripwire across his path attached to a grenade of some kind. He points this out before stepping over it and moving on – still yelling and still with his hands up. Doc and Champie enter the maze but decide to take a different path.

A shot rings out and a bullet hits a wreck near Bren – who, to his credit, holds firm and keeps moving, yelling that he just wants to help (you have to give the guy credit for trying – if not for good thinking). When the second shot comes out for him, he jumps for cover in a wrecked vehicle (Bren has bought combat movement inside vehicles as well as contortionist – thus the GM has ruled that he can get in and out of some of the wrecked cars that make up the walls of the maze).

Meanwhile, Champie and Doc have found that there is a glass throwing trap devise up a side corridor from them. Champie readies his shield and both dive across – shards of thick glass fly at them but bounce harmlessly off of Champie’s riot shield.

Unfortunately, Champie moves a little too far and trips another tripwire and the grenade goes off, seriously impairing his right foot. With some luck though, Doc managed to dive clear and then quickly returns to treat his wounded teammate.

Nigel has reached the top of the car wall now and is moving fairly directly toward the building in a stealthy fashion. Bren, who has given up the peaceful approach has managed to move ‘though’ a car wall and sees a rifle lying at the base of a nearby wall. Untrusting, he moves passed it and around – then noticing that a car is suspended above the rifle and rigged to come down if the rifle is picked up.

The shooter has finally found Nigel on the wall and begins firing at him, but the Aboriginal, using a woomera, can throw a spear well over sixty meters and forces the man to diver for cover.

Meanwhile, Doc has finished treating Champies leg wound and moves closer up now that the glass thrower has run out of ammunition. He notices the sunroof of an SUV on top of a nearby wall pop open and another enemy with a rifle shoot at Nigel. The Doc preps his own rifle and shoots the new assailant in the head, killing him instantly.

Nigel has moved closer to the building and shoots the sniper that had dived for cover as he got up for another shot at him. From his vantage, he sees that he can move up right next to the building and climb through the broken windows. He does this and notices a cable that seems to run from this floor to the traps outside. Taking his machete, Nigel cuts the cable (suffering a few points stun from electric shock) and thus disables the traps.

While Doc tries (once again in vain) to climb the wall of cars, Champie examines what looks like the only entrance into the courtyard around the main building. It is a large entranceway in the middle with a car body, suspended by a crane above it. Obviously the car is rigged to fall on anyone passing under it but Champie also notices a great deal of disturbed dirt in this gap. Taking care, both Champie and Doc move close to the wall avoiding any dirt that seems disturbed (we learned later that this also contains 5 landmines).

Just as the rest of the group get across, Nigel kills the last opponent with his machete – this was the one who was remotely triggering the traps.

In the aftermath, Bren is overjoyed and begins immediately finding parts and trying to assemble a car. It is clear that the group will be here for several days at least while Champie’s foot heals. Robbo is found locked in one of the basement rooms (the player finally arrived) and there is a store of food and water which allow the players to stay there for a while.

After a week, Bren has managed to build his car. It is somewhat basic with almost no exterior panels and few comforts, but it does run . . . for about 30 meters (the player rolled a 17 on his construction roll). The engine is broken and Bren is pretty distraught but wants to try again.

Champie has other ideas though. He wants to maintain his trade run and once his foot is healed he heads back – with a bunch of tools, unnecessary weapons and other things salvaged from the car plant to trade. Bren forsees trading in a car, maybe with a trailer behind but Champie is pretty much against it. He does help Bren organize a deal with another merchant who uses a vehicle for trading. Chen, an Asian merchant has a 4 wheel drive and a seemingly unlimited supply of fuel. He knows little of vehicles though so he organizes a deal where Bren will maintain his vehicle in exchange for some fuel.

Bren then starts looking through the massive maze of wrecks for an engine that he can use.

[LordGhee]

Re: Post Apocalypse Game

 

Just a thought but partially and nuked should not be used in the same sentance. lol

 

good gaming to you all, sounds like fun

 

Lord Ghee