Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To Say?
I hope you don't think me rude, and I've been on enough boards to not diss the messanger, only the message, but I don't think any of that was relevant to what Steve Long was saying. When he said that we hadn't lived through any apocalypses, he was answering questions about how long skyscrapers, roads, and twinkies last. None of the people from Gaul, Africa, or (native) America could answer that because they were displaced by more aggressive cultures. So, yes, some cultures have fallen by the wayside in Earth's past, but none of them really qualify for an apocalypse by the standards of the genre. And Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren't abandoned, just rebuilt, so there would be no answers there, and Chernobyl didn't happen long enough ago to be considered in "most" PA settings.... (there are a few that happen very close to the apocalypse).
With that being said, I do like the idea your post brought up (and pointed out above mine) about PAs from a setting that was more historical than Modern. I think the book has a PA setting based on Revelations that will be during the Dark Ages (1000 AD right?). Dark Sun is a DnD PA setting where a traditional fantasy setting suffers the equivalent of an ecological disaster/nuclear (magical) war. So, while not really relavent to how long a Hot Dog will last if kept in a cool, dark place, your post triggered some good ideas about a historical Apocalypse.
david