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Old 09-29-2014, 02:59 PM   #11
Agemegos
 
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Default Re: Help with adventure ideas for sci-fi post-apocalyptic setting

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Originally Posted by Captain Joy View Post
Since we don't have hard data on the levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen – and none are really needed – the planet is perfectly plausible. It's not just the composition of the atmosphere, but it's distance from the sun that will determine its climate.
Yep. Distance from the sun and luminosity of the sun. And the albedo of the planet.

If someone grew enormous masses of plants to absorb the excess CO2 and release oxygen thus making the air breathable a side effect would be diminishing the greenhouse effect, which would make the planet colder and might send it into runaway glaciation.
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Old 09-29-2014, 04:12 PM   #12
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Default Re: Help with adventure ideas for sci-fi post-apocalyptic setting

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Originally Posted by Agemegos View Post
Yep. Distance from the sun and luminosity of the sun. And the albedo of the planet.

If someone grew enormous masses of plants to absorb the excess CO2 and release oxygen thus making the air breathable a side effect would be diminishing the greenhouse effect, which would make the planet colder and might send it into runaway glaciation.
Which would explain why they couldn't cover the planet with lush vegetation as part of the terraforming process. Brilliant, Agemegos!

Back to adventure ideas. You might ask the players what kind of adventures they'd be into. Right now, I'd say initially, set things up for survival but have about a half a dozen teaser conflicts come up—roving gangs, rogue psis, abandoned tech, other enclaves, old enclave extremist preferring the PCs dead to merely banished, potential contact with other worlds, etc.—and see which ones they get excited about. Just a rumor or "random" encounter should be enough at this point. It should be obvious which ones intrigue them; build future adventures around those ideas (but keep dropping occasional hints about the other arcs, just in case.)
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Old 09-30-2014, 09:30 AM   #13
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Default Re: Help with adventure ideas for sci-fi post-apocalyptic setting

1) Whatever the cause of the original plague, the players find that there is a risk of it repeating. It might be more virulent, the same or less; after all since the society is already post apocalyptic something weaker than before might still cause what has been rebuilt to collapse, or wipe out enough of the remaining population to prevent it from being sustainable (whether directly due to insufficient "breeding" stock or because valuable technologies and other areas of knowledge are lost).

2) What is the source of psionic powers? Besides past psions simply doing bad things/being too powerful for non-psions to handle, what if the nature of their powers makes them honestly "bad"? It could be a result of some parasitic lifeform that will ultimately kill them, for a mutation where powers are the small upside of various aspects of the nervous system malfunctioning. If the mind is not supposed to broadcast or receive thoughts, perhaps a telepathic mind is akin to a power generator that's electrical output is no longer safely being carried to its intended destination by power lines.

Using powers may increase, decrease or have no effect on degeneration, and perhaps the powers themselves diminish or increase as one's state worsens. The psychokinetic that once enjoyed moving matter at a distance may soon be unable to control his own body (either directly or at all, even with his own TK), the telepath can no longer block out any other thoughts or keep it's own private, and may even degenerate into some sort of "echo" of all minds around it. Another option (whether used in addition to or instead of what I just said) is that powers do indeed grow more and more potent... and anyone with them essentially has Terminally Ill and when they go out, it will be with their power flaring up in a dangerous fashion. It is optional whether the death will happen even if the flare-up is stopped or not; the pyrokinetic might be doomed to die either way, or his own death may be directly because when his powers flare up, he will incinerate himself and everyone within an appropriate radius.

There could even be intentionally disturbing work arounds, such as those with Astral Projection or Telepathy might become some sort of "ghost"... that might be able to or automatically will possess a new body that comes into range... and it need not be the actual character but mere "copies". So one high level psion with Astral Projection or Telepathy may ultimate go out unintentionally "overwriting" multiple people around him or her, while the true self still dies.

Finding a "cure" (be it total loss of these abilities or a way to keep them without the drawbacks) could provide several adventures. This also could explain yet another reason for the exile; even if psychic powers merely have minor drawbacks, or the major ones aren't directly threatening to the others, there may be extensive breeding controls if the population is barely sustainable, or those in power are simply overly controlling.
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Old 09-30-2014, 04:56 PM   #14
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Default Re: Help with adventure ideas for sci-fi post-apocalyptic setting

Now I'm thinking about a setting where low TL earth is the 'cold damp barely breathable' place and a bunch of aliens are stuck on it, equipped with high technology but still struggling to make ends meet. Thanks for the idea.

I think you need to better define what kind of a feel you want, and better define how these remaining humans live. The hard things for them to get will be oxygen and perhaps food.

I can think of a few ways to obtain oxygen, and the method used will have a large impact on your society.

One method is have 'oxygen producing machines' that are left over from the collapse, that create oxygen for the inhabitants to use. These would require power, whether renewable, industrial, or muscle powered. I have high doubts that muscle powered energy would be sufficient, but you can always hand wave that. As for the exact mechanism of an 'oxygen producing machine' my thoughts would be the process we currently use to create bottled oxygen: liquidizing it through extreme cooling. The base tech for this is fairly low: it was first done in meaningful amounts in the 1880's. You could also use Electrolysis of water -- once again, it requires power, and the hydrogen by-product is useful as a fuel-- though tricky to work with.

Another though I had was pressurizing the habitats in increase O2 levels and then use CO2 scrubbers. You would need power to pressurize the chamber, but the filters are low tech to work with: Quick Lime is TL3 if you can get the limestone you need in the first place (though it takes a hefty kiln). Activated Carbon filters aren't as simple to make, but they last a lot longer and can be 'rested' outside to be reused again and again. This of course still needs power to pressurize your habitats.

In fact, if the CO2 is low enough (read not high enough to be toxic), high enough pressure combined with life long acclimatization to high CO2 levels might be sufficient to sustain life, which would mean all you'd need was those pumps. Both pressurization methods might make those who travel outside susceptible to the bends though-- so going outside doesn't just make you gasp for breath, it causes extreme pain if you do it too quickly.

Lastly, its possible that there are natural sources of oxygen on the planet that can be released, whether mineral or biological. I don't know of any examples here, but its possible that they exist somewhere else. I'm imagining a substance that releases oxygen when heated (not burned of course). This is your lowest tech option -- but it requires some handwaving and good luck.

If you use an option that requires power, I suggest using renewable energy -- sometimes less high tech than you'd think: windmills and waterwheels both count, as do solar panels above the caves -- Which will have to be kept clean of vegetation, but I don't think that's a huge deal, and if anything adds flavour.

I've recently been looking into alien biology, and there are a couple of options you can have:

The native life is as edible (or inedible) as earth. This will make food less of an issue: with wide expanses of edible wildlife and population limited by disease and life support, gathering food is comparatively simple. This is fairly unlikely, but common enough in fiction.

The native life is poisonous in its basic chemistry. This makes the planet much more hostile: humans have to grow their own good, and weeding is not only a noxious task but an essential one. it makes a low tech or minimalist tech society much harder to run, and living in the wild requires carrying not only air but food as well.

The native life is edible but lacks essential nutrients: This is actually decently likely: terrestrial DNA codes for 20 amino acids, though a few organisms add a few more in. The 20 picked seems to be something of a legacy: Its been estimated any two amino acid based life forms will only share 25% of the library. In this case you can get a lot of food natively, but will need to grow some high-protein food crops to get all the amino acids you need.

The native life is edible after its been processed: Once again likely enough, the native life uses many organic molecules but has enough chemical quirks to force measures to remove odd components or break them down into things we can digest. These processes could be industrial, but they could also be done by genegeneered bacteria kept in vats -- adding texture back into the food would be an important part of cooking! And don't let your vat die off, because right now you wouldn't be able to get it back. Failing to process the food could be poisonous and potentially kill you, or it could just be hard on your system -- especially your liver. I recommend combining this with 'lacks essential nutrients' -- its just so much richer than being able to eat or not eat the local life.

------------------------------------------------------------------

So if I were to build the world, I'd give each enclave a small plot of farmland (which mostly grows vegtables) above ground, a water wheel or solar farm powering the oxygen machines (of various types), and a scrounging based economy. If they need more light bulbs, electrical wire, solar panels, batteries, or spare parts for the oxygen machine, they go out to nearby ruins and harvest them. The native life is harvested heavily, adapted to farming, or caught in traps. Afterwards its butchered and extensively prepared to make it good to eat. Death is due mostly to the continuing effects of the plague: immunity is slow to kick in, and many children still die at birth. This may be higher tech than you were envisioning but its the society I'm envisioning.
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Old 09-30-2014, 08:20 PM   #15
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Default Re: Help with adventure ideas for sci-fi post-apocalyptic setting

Play a game of "The Quiet Year" with your players. It's a map-making game that takes a few hours to play (including time to learn the rules), and will leave you with a map, and a post-apocalyptic community with characters and a sense of the history and surroundings of the place.

The author lets you pay for the game with cash or with good deeds.

http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/the-quiet-year/

For a long time, we were at war with The Jackals. But now, we’ve driven them off, and we have this – a year of relative peace. One quiet year, with which to build our community up and learn once again how to work together. Come Winter, the Frost Shepherds will arrive and we might not survive beyond that. But we don’t know about that yet. What we know is that right now, in this moment, there is an opportunity to build something.

The Quiet Year is a map game. You define the struggles of a post-apocalyptic community, and attempt to build something good within their quiet year. Every decision and every action is set against a backdrop of dwindling time and rising concern.

The game is played using a deck of cards – each of the 52 cards corresponds to a week during the quiet year. Each card triggers certain events – bringing bad news, good omens, project delays and sudden changes in luck. At the end of the quiet year, the Frost Shepherds will come, ending the game.
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Old 10-01-2014, 07:51 PM   #16
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Default Re: Help with adventure ideas for sci-fi post-apocalyptic setting

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Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
Now I'm thinking about a setting where low TL earth is the 'cold damp barely breathable' place and a bunch of aliens are stuck on it, equipped with high technology but still struggling to make ends meet. Thanks for the idea.
Iceworld by Hal Clement, the aliens have major problems dealing with a hellish world like Earth where instead of being breathable the sulfur is all frozen out of the atmosphere. The main character is a cop investigating undercover a drug smuggling operation for a new drug called something like taffaco.
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Old 10-01-2014, 08:01 PM   #17
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Default Re: Help with adventure ideas for sci-fi post-apocalyptic setting

Instead of or as well as powered machinery greenhouses can be used. I'd also expect the locals to have adapted some to lower O2 levels. There have been three separate groups that did that here on Earth. Tibetans, Andeans, Ethiopians, and each has a different adaptation. You might even have a group that can survive without breathing equipment for at least a while.

What makes you feel like you are smothering isn't lack of oxygen but too much CO2. So that might cause mental stress to people and a similar physical adaptation.
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Old 10-02-2014, 10:59 AM   #18
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Default Re: Help with adventure ideas for sci-fi post-apocalyptic setting

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I've been working on a sci-fi post-apocalyptic adventure setting, but I'm struggling for adventure ideas or interesting premises for the players to explore.

A general outline of the setting is this. Agomara III is an alien world, which has no intelligent alien life, and was colonized by humanity some time ago. They built many colonies, complexes, even a vast underground tram network system. The surface of the world has an atmosphere with a measure too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen for humans to breath, but otherwise is not hostile to humanity directly (being only rather cold and damp).

Humanity created advanced systems, robots, and did a number of experiments in gene engineering to create different servant species.

A number of generations ago however, a terrible lethal plague resulted in a apocalyptic type plague death for much of the population. The interstellar community simply quarantined the planet and made sure people couldn't leave the planet either.

The starting setting of our game takes place numerous generations later (long enough to form small new societies in the form of small enclaves). Our protagonists are psionically gifted people who due to their mind reading abilities have been exiled from their various enclaves and left to wander the steel complexes and forgotten ruins of Agomara III.

This comprises the general plot setup of the setting, but I'm having trouble coming up with specific adventure ideas and interesting societies for the characters to interact with.

I also have a website I've put together (with story and art) for the setting for those that want to take a look: http://agomara3.weebly.com/

Feel free to also ask questions for clarification about the setting. Thank you in advance for the help with ideas.
Just based on what you have here, sorry I havent read the website yet...

The prodigal sons return.... The geneticaly engineered servant species, long since unheard of, have been living close enough and secretivley to learn to feed off the Psi energy emitted. Saddly this lobotomizes the ones fed upon if done long enough. Depending on how advanced that life was, this could be an episode of House MD or a weird Sci Fi take on Vampires.

The Grandeur that Was Rome.... Go read 'By The Waters of Babylon' and then leak to the players that there is an above ground city. It was in testing just before the plague hit. Lots of creepy people to meet there and something new to explore. Bonus points for a twist like This is where the plague was developed.

A plague O'er both your Houses... The plague has caused some genetic mutations, robbing a particular portion of there Psi, but also making them resitant to it and granting them enhanced lung capacity, strength, and temperature tolerance. Using the Sigil of the Earths Swordfish they are resolved to break through to the surface, if only for short times and begin its development as the the true indigenous people of Agomara. The plague has also affected a seperate tribe and given them enhanced psi especially TK, but has increased their need for oxygen and ANY trips to the surface means a potential leak in the controlled atmosphere that they cannot endure. They're only solution is to get off this world and find one that is oxygen rich. TO do so they are willing to destroy and refit the old tech in an attempt to build a spacefaring vessel.

Just a few ideas. I may have more if I cant read your webpage :)

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