Monster Hunting After the End

[Colarmel]

So we're doing some collaborative world building in my GURPS group. Vampires blotted out the sun for awhile, using targeted bombing to put a ton of soot into the stratosphere. Then they took over the world. Environment is still pretty dark, but not a total blackout. Other monsters used the opportunity to step out into the open too. Vampires need humans, so they haven't been wiped out, but they are mostly living in camps now.

Any setting thoughts, suggestions as to power level, etc?

[Litvyak]

First thought that comes to mind without checking to see how well it will mesh together: 150 point template from Wastelanders + a 50 point Lens from the same book + a 200 point upgrade lens from MH4. Give them 5 more points of disadvantages, and have the points gained from those be spent on Know Thy Enemy skills from MH1.

[AlexanderHowl]

Well, you would need around 1000 cubic kilometers of material (2-4 trillion metric tons) to block out the sun to any significant degree (a VEI 8 volcanic eruption would be suitable, though the last one occurred 26,500 years ago, and it only caused a year of darkness and a decade of twilight). Your best bet would be to have the vampires be vulnerable to UV light rather than Sunlight (a Common Weakness versus a Very Common Weakness) and have them continuously spray kilotons of sulfuric acid into the upper atmosphere every year to prevent UV light from reaching the surface of the Earth (perhaps it was a geoengineering scheme to reverse global warming that the vampires took over to create the world that they wanted). It would also reduce surface temperatures by 5 Kelvin, which would cause an Ice Age, but I imagine that the majority of vampires would not care. Of course, this is assuming that you care about a pseudo-scientific explanation for the events that led to the End.

[Colarmel]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Well, you would need around 1000 cubic kilometers of material (2-4 trillion metric tons) to block out the sun to any significant degree (a VEI 8 volcanic eruption would be suitable, though the last one occurred 26,500 years ago, and it only caused a year of darkness and a decade of twilight). Your best bet would be to have the vampires be vulnerable to UV light rather than Sunlight (a Common Weakness versus a Very Common Weakness) and have them continuously spray kilotons of sulfuric acid into the upper atmosphere every year to prevent UV light from reaching the surface of the Earth (perhaps it was a geoengineering scheme to reverse global warming that the vampires took over to create the world that they wanted). It would also reduce surface temperatures by 5 Kelvin, which would cause an Ice Age, but I imagine that the majority of vampires would not care. Of course, this is assuming that you care about a pseudo-scientific explanation for the events that led to the End.

I think we're less than fully concerned with it being in some way hard-science viable. Firestorms caused by fuel-air bombing of population centers is traumatic enough that we could call it enough, although we've talked about some way of triggering a volcano.

[ericthered]

Power level will depend largely on what sort of game you want to play. What does success look like?

Escaping the camps and setting up somewhere you can raise your children without fear of being eaten?

Founding a secret society dedicated to destroying the vampires?

Starting a civil war among vampires that will eventually lead to their defeat?

Taking the greatest of all vampires hostage and using his authority to strike a crippling blow to the vampires?

Each of these games will need a different point total.

[Colarmel]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Escaping the camps and setting up somewhere you can raise your children without fear of being eaten?

Founding a secret society dedicated to destroying the vampires?

Good point. I think we want something of a middle line between these. Hierarchy of needs is:

1. A place we can live at peace far from the vampires who rule the cities and the werethings who roam the countryside.

2. Ending the toothy menace so our children, or our children's children don't have to grow up in this world.

[Tomsdad]

Do the vampires still maintain pre fall tech in any way, and/or do they have vampiric mind control powers?

If so I think one question is how will your monster hunter team maintain a base of operations to work from in between "monster hunts" without it being uncovered and having to monster hunt on the run.

In some ways this could veer into a vampiric Reign of steel kind of setting

[Colarmel]

Originally Posted by Tomsdad

Do the vampires still maintain pre fall tech in anyway, and/or do they have vampiric mind control powers?

If so I think one question is how will your monster hunter team maintain a base of operations to work from in between "monster hunts" without it being uncovered and having to monster hunt on the run.

In some ways this could veer into a vampiric Reign of steel kind of setting

Base TL is whatever it is in AtE (I think 5), but the world fell apart at TL8^ with the ^ being whatever they used to trigger the darker world. So TL8 stuff exists and is probably used for construction of the camps and such. Vampires are of the MH variety and do have, IIRC, mind control powers, but they also can't enter private homes or holy ground.

Home base then would logically be some sort of remote cabin, difficult for collaborators to reach without knowing the way, hard for vamps to get to before the sun comes out (which I should be clear, still happens, just for a much shorter period of time) . And the Vamps once arriving, can't enter. although they've got ways of smoking people out presumably.

Now that said, there are other dangers away from the cities: Wereppacks have claimed swaths of the untamed wilderness, helpfully making it dangerous for vampires, but dangerous for people too.

Reign of Steel is probably a great idea to look at, it's different, but some significant overlap.

[Stone Dog]

Speaking of Reign of Steel,
this might help you out.

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by Colarmel

Base TL is whatever it is in AtE (I think 5), but the world fell apart at TL8^ with the ^ being whatever they used to trigger the darker world. So TL8 stuff exists and is probably used for construction of the camps and such. Vampires are of the MH variety and do have, IIRC, mind control powers, but they also can't enter private homes or holy ground.

Home base then would logically be some sort of remote cabin, difficult for collaborators to reach without knowing the way, hard for vamps to get to before the sun comes out (which I should be clear, still happens, just for a much shorter period of time) . And the Vamps once arriving, can't enter. although they've got ways of smoking people out presumably.

Now that said, there are other dangers away from the cities: Wereppacks have claimed swaths of the untamed wilderness, helpfully making it dangerous for vampires, but dangerous for people too.

Reign of Steel is probably a great idea to look at, it's different, but some significant overlap.

Cool. I didn't realise MH vamps had to be invited in, that can get in the way a bit. And anatagnosist werepacks are a good idea. I guess for my point it also depends on how much TL8 is left to the vamps. If it is more at the end of TL8 buildings for camps that's one thing. But if it's blacked out helicopters and IR drones that's another. Still a great thing about higher TL stuff in AtE settings is that you can tailor what's there completely how you want without annoying but if they have 'X' then surely they'd also have 'Y' concerns