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Old 06-04-2018, 06:51 PM   #1
Nightmaster
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro
Default Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

By survivalist I mean a campaign where the players would be throw out of their confort zones (professions and such) and have to work hard to simple survive.

I have three main scenarios to put my players into but I am at a loss on how to setup things up so that my players dont know what the game is all about. I like to make surprises like a Fallout Campaign I have run a few years ago (they didnt had it coming =P).

The first scenario is a classical Zombie Apocalipse. The catch is that the Apocalipse would have already happened and not in its initial stages like most scenarios of that type are played out. Like a few years after it started.


The second scenario is the classical Fall of Civilization. In this case the event that trigger it would be a massive Solar Eletromagnetic Storm, like the one that occured in 1859 (Solar storm of 1859) except that much more powerful. The end result would be the same, Human Civilization falls, the damage is so extense to the power grids and telecomunications world wide that no country is able to recover (of course electricity still works but any electrical device/generator that was powered at the time was destroied beyond repair and spare parts for a disaster of that scale no country in the world have). Wars for basic resources happen and thanks for the lack of medical and food supplies at the very least 70% of the world population dies in the first years.


The third scenario is the Lost World scenario (kinda). The players find thenselves stranded in a different land, with creatures of ages past (Dinosaurs and etc) and they dont know how or why or by order of Who.


How I make my players get surprised by all that in a way to avoid some smartasses in my group to "be prepared" for the setting?

Hope you guys can lend me a hand with this
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Old 06-04-2018, 06:59 PM   #2
Nereidalbel
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
Default Re: Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

Simplest method? Use Option 3, and use the same rules as games like Ark: Survival Evolved: the group wakes up on a beach in a strange land, wearing only simple cloth underwear.
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Old 06-04-2018, 07:05 PM   #3
Nightmaster
 
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Default Re: Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nereidalbel View Post
Simplest method? Use Option 3, and use the same rules as games like Ark: Survival Evolved: the group wakes up on a beach in a strange land, wearing only simple cloth underwear.
And the non-simple? =)
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Old 06-04-2018, 07:28 PM   #4
Dalin
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
Default Re: Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightmaster View Post
The first scenario is a classical Zombie Apocalipse. The catch is that the Apocalipse would have already happened and not in its initial stages like most scenarios of that type are played out. Like a few years after it started.
This one is tough because of the timeline. You could, I suppose, have them create characters for whatever sham campaign (pre-apocalypse) you had setup. Starting points and initial campaign frame will obviously have an impact on character effectiveness after the apocalypse. Special ops team? High school drop-outs? Carnival troupe?

Then, at the first session, narrate the apocalypse and the broad outlines of the intervening years. You could then allow each player to spend a certain number of points from a set menu of advantages and skills that they may have gained between the apocalypse and the campaign present. A few disads too, of course, and perhaps the option to swap out quirks. Then start the game proper.

This doesn't quite have the same impact as playing for a while and then blowing up the campaign, but it could be fun. I'd be up for it as a player. (But I usually enjoy GM surprises.)
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Old 06-04-2018, 07:32 PM   #5
Nereidalbel
 
Join Date: May 2013
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Default Re: Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightmaster View Post
And the non-simple? =)
Option 2. It's the easiest one for somebody to prepare for, especially if they have any advance notice beyond "make basic human characters with this point level."
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Old 06-04-2018, 07:55 PM   #6
Dalin
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Default Re: Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightmaster View Post
The second scenario is the classical Fall of Civilization. In this case the event that trigger it would be a massive Solar Eletromagnetic Storm, like the one that occured in 1859 (Solar storm of 1859) except that much more powerful. The end result would be the same, Human Civilization falls, the damage is so extense to the power grids and telecomunications world wide that no country is able to recover (of course electricity still works but any electrical device/generator that was powered at the time was destroied beyond repair and spare parts for a disaster of that scale no country in the world have). Wars for basic resources happen and thanks for the lack of medical and food supplies at the very least 70% of the world population dies in the first years.

The third scenario is the Lost World scenario (kinda). The players find thenselves stranded in a different land, with creatures of ages past (Dinosaurs and etc) and they dont know how or why or by order of Who.
Both of these are easier than the first scenario because you can actually game through the shift. In both cases, I would first think about what types of adventures I would want to run after the shift. What types of characters would be ideal? Do I want it to be about regular people (cab driver, construction worker, office drone, etc.) in extraordinary circumstances? Or brainy experts (engineers, professors, scientists, doctors, etc.) applying their talents to the new world order? Or people with some combat training (martial arts instructor, cop, retired marine, etc.) fighting for survival?

Once you have a sense of that, then you can use that to figure out what campaign frame you need to present to your players. If they buy the frame, then they won't be looking to add skills and abilities that don't seem worth it. You could go as far as to provide templates for players to choose from.

For campaign three, for example, you might decide that they will be passengers on a cruise ship. Then, if you don't want to risk them deciding to be a bunch of Navy SEALS on vacation, you provide templates for a semi-successful mystery writer, a doctor, a trust fund kid, a programmer at a tech startup, a televangelist, etc. Enough variety to be interesting, and plenty of leeway within each template so that each player can build a character they're interested in, but you avoid anything too surprising.
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Old 06-04-2018, 10:02 PM   #7
copeab
 
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Default Re: Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

You may find GURPS Y2K useful, as it covers a lot of the ground you are looking at.
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Old 06-04-2018, 10:14 PM   #8
Nightmaster
 
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Default Re: Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

Most of the time I like to GM "Sandbox" Campaigns. They have a certain "Theme" but otherwise the flow of the campaign is completely determined by the players actions. I know that sandbox campaigns can be a real pain to plan ahead but I like the challenge.

As for characters I try to avoid pre-made ones (I really dont like then much dont know why). I usually allow my players to decide what charactes they want. My reasoning with that is that if a given series/anime/movies happened in real life the "characters" in those events were not planned, they simple were.

This can cause a imbalance in the group? For sure!!! but I like my RPG games to be like "simulations" of a given reality rather than a theater/movie script.

In that Fallout campaign I mentioned my setup has to ask my players to come up with ideas for volunteers of a UN sponsored research about cryogeny for a future colonization effort on a star system 65 light years away a few years after the first slow FTL drive was developed (slow because the maximum speed was x10 liight speed). I added a lot of world detais and etc and when they all decided the charactes (with some really interessing backgrounds) I played the first session without any character sheet and... voila!!! War... War Never Changes!!! =P

So I am most probably be doing something similar and if the experience tells me something, most probably I will be getting a mix of ordinary people and brainy experts with very few soldier types (only one player of mine likes to play soldiers/warriors mostly)
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Old 06-04-2018, 10:14 PM   #9
whswhs
 
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Default Re: Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

I'm going to recommend that you start by telling your players (a) that your campaign is going to be about something unexpected happening to their characters and (b) you want them to design Citizens, that is, people who lead nonadventurous lives in a fairly mundane setting. Of course, they may still choose to have hobbies like backpacking or martial arts or maker activities; you can't really prevent that. But you could note to them that taking highly specialized skills may result in their having spent points that aren't going to be any use.

There are variants on this, of course. If you're doing a Lost World sort of thing, you can have them build, say, graduate students who might be invited on an expedition; the Miskatonic University sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu could be a source of inspiration here.

I discussed something a little like this in my Portal Realms supplement for GURPS Fantasy, including how you handle equipment when you go from one realm to another.
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Old 06-05-2018, 04:02 AM   #10
Ultraviolet
 
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Default Re: Asking for sugestions on how to start a "Survivalist" campaign

I agree with the previous poster saying you should be sure to coordinate with the players that the campaign concept is one of a major event changing everything. Some players don't deal well with surprises.

Also, be sure you are on the same page with what kinds of characters are intended. Suggest some template, make some restrictions and recommendations.
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