After the End and Fantasy

[Arith Winterfell]

I'm somewhat interested in the After the End series, but am currently torn as to whether or not to pick it up as I'm currently working on a fantasy setting and I'm unsure how applicable it will be to a fantasy version of a post-apocalyptic world or if it is geared more tightly to a post-modern day world.

Here are some general ideas I've been toying with for my setting. The general premise is that a magical war devastated the fantasy world I'm building, leading to such things as storms that can warp flesh and magic (called Magestorms) with perhaps pockets of high to no mana in different regions. Firestorms form and rain down destruction occasionally too. In effect I suppose its the magical equivalent of a nuclear war.

I'm imagining ruins and underground complexes (dungeons I suppose) built from before the destruction that now serve as shelters for communities of survivors. Much of the technology and magic that remains isn't understood by people any longer (I'm toying with possibly up to steampunk like tech). With notable presence of "dimension warping" magic in cases.

For example I'm pondering the idea that powerful mages in the past age knew from magical scrying that the destruction to come was inevitable, so many such mages experimented with dimensional spaces in the hopes of creating safe havens for people to rebuild civilization.

As part of this I'm imagining a sub-dungeon within a ruins in the first adventure which is a fantastical tesseract (a 4- dimensional cube) that has rooms that interact in strange ways with in it as a small area to explore.

I should also note that I have some of the Dungeon Fantasy series already to work with as a basis, but I'm still curious how useful the After the End series would be to my designing a campaign.

[Sam Baughn]

The templates make up about half of ATE1 and they could probably be used for fantasy characters with some modification. The major exception is the Tech, who only really works in a setting with some advanced technology.

The new rules for long-term fatigue could be used in any campaign. The new radiation rules could be used for harmful magical energy or similar, but it would be a bit of a stretch unless you really wanted it to act a lot like (slightly cinematic) radiation poisoning.

Mutations and freakishness are totally suitable for a fantasy game which features that kind of thing.

Gear is mostly only applicable to high-tech settings, although it does give you a couple of quality modifiers and a few improvised weapons which would work well in a fantasy game (but I think everything in ATE is also in Low-Tech).

[Arith Winterfell]

What about setting design help in terms of ideas for imagining the end of a previous era and its effects on the current one? Does the first ATE book delve into that much or is that more something for later books?

I'd pondered the idea that magical storms exist that warp flesh which could result in "mutants" (though I'd need to think perhaps of a different term for them for my campaign, maybe the twisted ones.) And in that case I could make use of the freakish rules for those purposes.

Also are there rules for or traits regarding avoiding or fixing mutations so as to decrease freakishness?

Lastly I'm also pondering myself playing a Necromancer type character in this setting. I keep wondering to myself if these freakishness rules could be reworked under another name...perhaps alienation? Or something else? I haven't read the rules yet of course, but I'm sorta of pondering to myself if I could use them in other creative ways with a necromancer character.

[fchase8]

Have you ever seen AD&D's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Sun? Not to shill for another game system, but it's a post-magical apocalypse world. It specifically has a blasted-out, desert world.

I like the idea of people surviving underground - puts a new spin on the fantasy dungeon, where it is the safe place and above ground is the dangerous area.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Arith Winterfell

What about setting design help in terms of ideas for imagining the end of a previous era and its effects on the current one? Does the first ATE book delve into that much...

No. ATE 1 is almost exactly like DF 1 in that regard. It's just templates, powers, and equipment.

...or is that more something for later books?

Based on the DF mold I'd bet book 2 will be devoted to rules covering most scenarios (with another supplement somewhere done the road... just hopefully not ATE 16 ways down the road).

I'd pondered the idea that magical storms exist that warp flesh which could result in "mutants" (though I'd need to think perhaps of a different term for them for my campaign, maybe the twisted ones.) And in that case I could make use of the freakish rules for those purposes.

That's very much what I was doing in my Magical Gamma Terra game... just without PK's better rules.

Also are there rules for or traits regarding avoiding or fixing mutations so as to decrease freakishness?

Not in ATE 1.

Lastly I'm also pondering myself playing a Necromancer type character in this setting. I keep wondering to myself if these freakishness rules could be reworked under another name...perhaps alienation? Or something else? I haven't read the rules yet of course, but I'm sorta of pondering to myself if I could use them in other creative ways with a necromancer character.

More than likely, yes. Shouldn't be that hard actually.

Originally Posted by fchase8

I like the idea of people surviving underground - puts a new spin on the fantasy dungeon, where it is the safe place and above ground is the dangerous area.

Yes, Earthdawn is a very good setting.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Arith Winterfell

Also are there rules for or traits regarding avoiding or fixing mutations so as to decrease freakishness?

There's a note on the Disguise penalty you get for sufficient Freakishness, but that's not fixing it, that's just hiding it.

I think the intent is that you can't have the mutation advantages without the Freakishness disadvantages to go with it. I'm not quite sure how you'd go about removing a mutation with e.g. standard GURPS magic, but considering there's Restoration, Regeneration, and Partial Shapeshifting I'm sure something could be researched.

"Partial Shapeshifting: Human Head" would be pointless for pure-strain humans, but quite useful for many mutants.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Perfect Organism

The templates make up about half of ATE1 and they could probably be used for fantasy characters with some modification. The major exception is the Tech, who only really works in a setting with some advanced technology.

There is really nothing that stops you from having "technology" in a fantasy campaign. GURPS Low-Tech is full of devices that work at TL0-4. You can do alchemy or artificery or raid Fantasy-Tech for ideas. Or you can view enchanted items as "inventions" and substitute an enchanter for a tech.

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by Arith Winterfell

Lastly I'm also pondering myself playing a Necromancer type character in this setting. I keep wondering to myself if these freakishness rules could be reworked under another name...perhaps alienation? Or something else? I haven't read the rules yet of course, but I'm sorta of pondering to myself if I could use them in other creative ways with a necromancer character.

I'm currently using a Corruption system for Psionics in my game, that, should it get out of control, causes the individual to permanently accrue levels of a Disadvantage called Weirdness, basically just Freakishness with a more mentally-oriented side effect table, and it explicitly stated that it's easier to recognize the individual, and that there is a reaction penalty because of a perceptible psionic aura around the individual.