Dangers in a Post Apocalyptic World

[lwcamp]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

rules from the current supplements;

The GURPS After the End series seems the obvious place to start. GURPS Action: Dictionary of Danger would also be useful for rules like collapsing buildings, chemical cesspools from old industrial sites, thickets of thorn-bushes pushing their way through the deteriorating roads and sidewalks, what happens when you fall into the gearing mechanisms of a watermill, or if you brush against the (uninsulated, because no OSHA) electrical contacts of the generator that watermill is powering.

Luke

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Super-Run City State Idea

Yeah, I could totally see someone doing that, although I'd expect a guy who just has Insubstantiality (presumably with a high level of Can Carry Objects) would have some difficulty making the government think he was quite that powerful. Well, unless he also has some sort of powerful creation ability (I'm assuming something like Snatcher with Creation and Permanent, alongside appropriate skills so that creating a lump of uranium or bottle of antibiotics isn't too difficult). Maybe Warp as well, if he can actually teleport to the lamp's location when "Aladdin" rubs it. Certainly a rather high point character, in any case.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Yeah, I could totally see someone doing that, although I'd expect a guy who just has Insubstantiality (presumably with a high level of Can Carry Objects) would have some difficulty making the government think he was quite that powerful. Well, unless he also has some sort of powerful creation ability (I'm assuming something like Snatcher with Creation and Permanent, alongside appropriate skills so that creating a lump of uranium or bottle of antibiotics isn't too difficult). Maybe Warp as well, if he can actually teleport to the lamp's location when "Aladdin" rubs it. Certainly a rather high point character, in any case.

I was thinking Insubstantiality + Snatcher w/ Creation and Permanent, alongside a small team of very well-provided for experts who can talk him through the technical bits, but whatever works, sure. I figured he can't just be stealing it if some monster super really did suck up all or most of the fissionable material.

[khorboth]

A travelling group of traders comes through in a dirigible. The traders won't let anybody inside their airship/home. The locals are convinced that it's powered by a super and want to drag him out with pitchforks and machineguns, but the travelers insist they are just using old technology.

Option 1 - There really is a super and he feels really guilty so he's trying to make the world better for the normals.

Option 2 - There's no super. Just old tech.

Option 3 (kinda dark) - It turns out that the old technology is based on whale oil and that's why their keeping it secret.

Option 4 (darker) - There's a super and he's their slave. They make him do the flying thing through some kind of nasty torture.

Option 5 (still darker) - There was a super, but he'd dead. His body is super-buoyant and they are using it for flight. If they miscalculate ballast, they may fly into orbit.

Option 6 (eew) - There was a super, and her dead body IS the dirigible. They've tapped into her nervous system and are controlling the powers through crude electrical zaps.

You said you wanted "some gritty elements." Choose your grit level.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

I was thinking Insubstantiality + Snatcher w/ Creation and Permanent, alongside a small team of very well-provided for experts who can talk him through the technical bits, but whatever works, sure. I figured he can't just be stealing it if some monster super really did suck up all or most of the fissionable material.

When I first read your post, I thought he just had Insubstantiality and was faking the conjuring bit, but second-guessed myself when you called out that he couldn't create people. That's a pretty interesting thing for such a potentially-powerful character to do.

Originally Posted by khorboth

Option 3 (kinda dark) - It turns out that the old technology is based on whale oil and that's why their keeping it secret.

Whaling probably isn't frowned upon in the post-apocalypse, so long as it keeps you alive... and there's a lot of calories in a whale. Less if you're rendering all the blubber into oil, of course.

Originally Posted by khorboth

Option 4 (darker) - There's a super and he's their slave. They make him do the flying thing through some kind of nasty torture.

Doesn't have to be torture - power our dirigible or you don't eat is threat enough. They might torture him for vengeance/fun.

Originally Posted by khorboth

Option 5 (still darker) - There was a super, but he'd dead. His body is super-buoyant and they are using it for flight. If they miscalculate ballast, they may fly into orbit.

Honestly, I feel the tortured slave is more dark than this. Of course, if they literally tortured him to death, it gets darker.

Originally Posted by khorboth

Option 6 (eew) - There was a super, and her dead body IS the dirigible. They've tapped into her nervous system and are controlling the powers through crude electrical zaps.

Gets extra nasty if her body was modified by a mad super-scientist (probably one akin to Bonesaw from Worm) to become the dirigible... and she's still alive.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Varyon

See the various super-held cities in The Reckoners for examples.

I'd recommend Ward, the sequel to Worm, as there are towns and city-states/fiefdoms run by villains and villain coalitions because really what are the normies going to do? Beat up evil supers? Run off into the frozen wastes and starve/freeze to death?

No, they suffer under the thumb of the villains because, honestly, it's the better option (especially if the villain actually does keep the lights on, food stocked, and the worse monsters at bay).

Granted that isn't the focus of the story, just like the bureaucracy of the PRT wasn't the focus of Worm, despite it being something that pokes it's ugly head up...

[(E)]

Depending on the exact details of how long supers had been about there may have been equipment and specialised units created for law enforcement. So the ruins of a policestation or FBI building may have weapons and equipment that would seem over the top by current standards.

Also Supers and an Apocalypse would make Time travel shenanigans a possibility. "Roll to avoid retcon"

[Gold & Appel Inc]

The Silencer: Not exactly a member of the Librarians Militant, but loosely affiliated, The Silencer appears to be an innocuous old lady, but is actually a highly-trained assassin (use the template from Action! #1), a mass murderer with a background shrouded in mystery. She wanders central Manhattan in pursuit of no discernable agenda, but seems especially drawn to Bryant Park and protective of it and the Library. They say she's former CIA, or KGB, or Mossad. They say she's a master of disguise. They say she's a super who can hear a pin drop at a thousand paces. They say she's a ghost who can suck out your breath if you speak too loudly. They say a lot of stuff in Midtown.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Super-Run City State Idea: The man known as "Aladdin" resides in a gilded prison in City State (doesn't have to be Middle Eastern, but someplace that was very First World before the apocalypse. I'm personally picturing Dubai, but follow your joy). He is kept at the most secret and secure fortress the rebuilt government can provide for his protection, because only he can call the smoky being he calls his djinn, and ask it for the miraculous things it can conjure. The people of City State know of no other whose nuclear reactor is still powered, for example, and though much of its energy output is required for the desalination plant now, and the lion's share of the rest is used by the government, citizens who work hard enough can earn privileges like a personal telephone or even a small refrigerator.

The truth is that Aladdin is just a random norm who was rendered homeless by the collapse like so many others. The "djinn," a youngish super named Adnan, puts on a mask, turns insubstantial, and drops by whenever he feels like it to leave some uranium or antibiotics or something, and otherwise does as he pleases in his secret identity as a playboy of infinite means in a paradise of his own creation. He can't create other people, and he's too extroverted to be alone with his toys, but he doesn't want the responsibility or risk of rulership. His sidekick "Al" is 100% convinced of the cover story (down to having a "magic" lamp whose existence he hides zealously), so the ruse can't be foiled by a polygraph, mind-probing him, etc. Adnan likes Al well enough, and won't risk him wantonly, but ultimately the price of the man's comfortable lifestyle is being Adnan's coal mine canary.

I'll think about it. I'm always wary about adding supers who can make stuff ex nihilo. But it's an interesting idea!

Originally Posted by lwcamp

The GURPS After the End series seems the obvious place to start. GURPS Action: Dictionary of Danger would also be useful for rules like collapsing buildings, chemical cesspools from old industrial sites, thickets of thorn-bushes pushing their way through the deteriorating roads and sidewalks, what happens when you fall into the gearing mechanisms of a watermill, or if you brush against the (uninsulated, because no OSHA) electrical contacts of the generator that watermill is powering.

I actually used Action 5 recently. It's so universally USEFUL.

Originally Posted by khorboth

A travelling group of traders comes through in a dirigible. The traders won't let anybody inside their airship/home. The locals are convinced that it's powered by a super and want to drag him out with pitchforks and machineguns, but the travelers insist they are just using old technology.

Option 1 - There really is a super and he feels really guilty so he's trying to make the world better for the normals.

Option 2 - There's no super. Just old tech.

Option 3 (kinda dark) - It turns out that the old technology is based on whale oil and that's why their keeping it secret.

Option 4 (darker) - There's a super and he's their slave. They make him do the flying thing through some kind of nasty torture.

Option 5 (still darker) - There was a super, but he'd dead. His body is super-buoyant and they are using it for flight. If they miscalculate ballast, they may fly into orbit.

Option 6 (eew) - There was a super, and her dead body IS the dirigible. They've tapped into her nervous system and are controlling the powers through crude electrical zaps.

You said you wanted "some gritty elements." Choose your grit level.

That's dark, bro. I like it.

Originally Posted by evileeyore

I'd recommend Ward, the sequel to Worm, as there are towns and city-states/fiefdoms run by villains and villain coalitions because really what are the normies going to do? Beat up evil supers? Run off into the frozen wastes and starve/freeze to death?

No, they suffer under the thumb of the villains because, honestly, it's the better option (especially if the villain actually does keep the lights on, food stocked, and the worse monsters at bay).

Granted that isn't the focus of the story, just like the bureaucracy of the PRT wasn't the focus of Worm, despite it being something that pokes it's ugly head up...

I've never read Worm - I've been meaning to, but at the end of the day I've got other stuff to read beforehand. It's on the list though. I've heard good things.

Originally Posted by (E)

Depending on the exact details of how long supers had been about there may have been equipment and specialised units created for law enforcement. So the ruins of a policestation or FBI building may have weapons and equipment that would seem over the top by current standards.

Also Supers and an Apocalypse would make Time travel shenanigans a possibility. "Roll to avoid retcon"

Time Traveling Supers are possible, but nothing beyond 10 minutes into the past has been documented. The only way for long journeys (and they're one way) is via dark fog - so far.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

The Silencer: Not exactly a member of the Librarians Militant, but loosely affiliated, The Silencer appears to be an innocuous old lady, but is actually a highly-trained assassin (use the template from Action! #1), a mass murderer with a background shrouded in mystery. She wanders central Manhattan in pursuit of no discernable agenda, but seems especially drawn to Bryant Park and protective of it and the Library. They say she's former CIA, or KGB, or Mossad. They say she's a master of disguise. They say she's a super who can hear a pin drop at a thousand paces. They say she's a ghost who can suck out your breath if you speak too loudly. They say a lot of stuff in Midtown.

I like this, but I'm going to rename it "Madame Hush" XD

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

I've never read Worm - I've been meaning to, but at the end of the day I've got other stuff to read beforehand. It's on the list though. I've heard good things.

It's long. I mean... the entire LotR trilogy twice long. And grim. And just a bit dark. But the character does try to make the world a better place, even if she stumbles a bit along the way.

Ward is shaping up to be the same (it's in the midst of being written, so give it a year or two).