[Game] Let's Make a Post-Apocalyptic Setting

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

If only there were an article in a recent Pyramid to help. :-)

(Short answer: death zones tens of miles across.)

That wasn't a very good answer now was it, and you didn't even ask a question! ;)

Originally Posted by brianfb

With 90% of the population unavailable, and no leadership structures intact, some required maintenance did not take place and several nuclear plants went into meltdown.

What were the effects of this?

To answer properly (but mainly reiterate pretty much exactly what Roger said), huge swathes of land are rendered highly radioactive and essentially uninhabitable to normal humans. The radiation mutated the plants, animals and people that lay within, turning them into hideous murder beasts. There are now tribes of mutants living within these areas, and occasionally coming out to conduct raids against nearby areas.

Are their any lasting effects of the disease after those who survived regain cognitive function?

[(E)]

Those that recover from the effects of the disease can exhibit any combination of the following. (Some options are mutually exclusive)
- Increased strength
- docile
- increased capability for violence
- hallucination related flashbacks
- increased empathy with fellow survivors
- strong delusions based what they experienced while I'll
- decreased empathy
- increased tolerance to pain

Did the disease effect non human species?

[Joe]

Originally Posted by (E)

Did the disease effect non human species?

Yes, and in a big way.

It rapidly infected pretty much all the world's mass-farmed livestock. In the initial weeks of the outbreak, this caused huge problems, since the infection was almost impossible to detect, and the infected meat was therefore distributed very widely.

Shortly afterwards virtually all the world's livestock died en masse, causing massive disruptions in the food chain.

Wild animals have also been known to succumb to the disease - hence the odd monstrosities now roaming the wastes - but generally speaking, they haven't been as badly affected as domesticated beasts. There's still wild game out there to hunt, and that game is often - though not always or reliably- edible.

In what year did the first outbreak occur?

[patchwork]

The outbreak occurred in 2032.

Is a person who has survived a three-month course of the disease resistant or immune to subsequent infection? How about animals? (based on previous posts, it appears that domestic animals do NOT recover from infection, but would like people's opinions on that.)

[trechriron]

Is a person who has survived a three-month course of the disease resistant or immune to subsequent infection?

Both animals and humans that survive the disease are immune.

How does exposure to radiation impact the infection? Vice Versa?

[(E)]

Exposure to radiation has in ar least two instances led to a new variant of the disease though for unknown reasons the disease becomes localized to the area of high radiation that mutated it.

The mutated disease becomes capable of "radiosynthesis" and can pass this trait along to its host organism (radiosynthesis being akin to photosynthesis just radiation in place of sunlight)

Some cases of rapid evolution syndrome have been reported in such environments.

What did the military do during the outbreak?

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by (E)

What did the military do during the outbreak?

The ones who were infected attacked the ones who weren't, and massively outnumbered them, so they usually won. As a last-ditch effort to contain the virus, vast areas of land were bombed, killing infected and uninfected indiscriminately.

How long has it been since the End?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

How long has it been since the End?

its been about 10 years. Only the youth don't remember the old world.

It was mentioned earlier that it was hard to tell if a disease was man-made or natural or what. What sorts of biotech gave rise to that attitude?

[christ0pher]

Originally Posted by ericthered

It was mentioned earlier that it was hard to tell if a disease was man-made or natural or what. What sorts of biotech gave rise to that attitude?

Reliable retroviral gene engineering, get a shot and in a few weeks exhibit new traits.(easy access to new advantages/disadvantages)

What is the most common mutated (mega?!)fauna?

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by christ0pher

What is the most common mutated (mega?!)fauna?

'Roaches, enormous cockroaches, about the size of a large dog, that devour pretty much anything they find, organic or otherwise.

Since it was only 2032 when the End came, how did we achieve retroviral gene engineering in such a short period of time? Did we have help?