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Old 09-21-2018, 10:46 PM   #21
Blue Ghost
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

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Originally Posted by LokRobster View Post
The Road Atlas and Survival Guide series is the main RP background detail that I've enjoyed from CW. It has some GURPS Autoduel stats along side the Car Wars stats, and I think it's a fun read.

Still have all the old paper books, and have collected the pdfs for portable reading on devices these days. Scout Commando Corp description is one of my favorite sections from vol2 West Coast.

From AADA vol 1 East Coast: Escape from Poughkeepsie is a classic of CW roleplaying.

I ran across a blog earlier this year about that particular adventure and totes it up as one of the top 3 re-usable RPG modules of all time :)
http://rolltop-indigo.blogspot.com/2018/04/
good RPG read if you GM or create stories.
It's interesting stuff, but almost struck me as being too specific or thurough in describing every inch of the US. Having said that, I found the West coast edition pretty accurate.

I like to think of the post apoc CW-verse as having vast tracks of "desolate wasteland" a-la Mad Max, but with pockets of civilization as per Blade Runner, or something less grungy and more sleek. Maybe even a downtown San Francisco like cleanliness.

I just seemed like, to me and my friend way back when we first got the game, that there wasn't a whole lot of civilization left save for pockets that still had industry, but that the rest of the continent and world were rebuilding while the US, Canada and Mexico were in the midst of high tech tribal or city state warfare. The old west meets the classical city state era, but with a Roman Empire like nation still trying to hold the threads together in the form of the Federal government.

Just me.
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Old 09-22-2018, 02:50 PM   #22
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

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I like to think of the post apoc CW-verse as having vast tracks of "desolate wasteland" a-la Mad Max, but with pockets of civilization as per Blade Runner, or something less grungy and more sleek. Maybe even a downtown San Francisco like cleanliness.
Well, there's "wasteland", and there's "wasteland" -- for ex.: Up here in PNW, there's places to hide *inside* the Portland Urban Growth Boundary; it's been known to happen. The Northeast -- all those mountain ranges. The Midwest is a little harder to hide in, but there's still places one can go to "disappear from history" (the Dakotas, for ex.). The South -- Louisiana is one big hidey-hole, and there's other places where a group might be able to hide for a while (read _The State of Jones_ sometime).

The big question when generating one's hide is: How much food and water is available?
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Old 09-22-2018, 05:58 PM   #23
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

I'm not sure I understand the gist of your reply.
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Old 09-23-2018, 02:38 PM   #24
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

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I'm not sure I understand the gist of your reply.
I was pointing out: There's different types of "wasteland" out there, and what sort is nearest one's "pocket of civilization" is going to influence what said pocket is going to look like. So one does necessarily have to go into detail as to what sort of "wasteland" one is dealing with.

For ex.: Portland, OR, is essentially in the bottom of a valley, with high ground on all sides (save where the Columbia and Willamette Rivers are). Being surrounded by high ground makes it that much easier for the "wasteland" types to bombard the "civilized" folk, making the latter's lives more difficult. That high ground is also covered in trees; "civilization"'s efforts to dig out the "wasteland" types will be that much more difficult, as they won't be able to see the enemy as well (_RASG1_ mentions a similar problem for EDSEL/MA in dealing with the Hill Clans.)

Conversely: Omaha, NE, is essentially flat (it has hills, but not to the extent of OR), and mostly surrounded by grasslands -- not that many hiding places for "wasteland" types. This makes "civilization"'s attempts to spot, and remove, "wasteland" types somewhat easier.

The distinct differences in the lay of the land will have an influence on how "civilization" deals with the "barbarians at the gates"; so one must necessarily go into details as to what the local land is like, what sort of food and water might be available outside a city's perimeter (a besieging biker army outside Portland will not want for food and water; trying that against Las Vegas -- no joy), and similar details.
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Old 09-23-2018, 08:55 PM   #25
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

Ah, okay. I wasn't sure exactly where you were going with your post. But yeah, there's various types of wastelands as you and the Road Atlases point out.

Sidenote; the last time I was going through Portland and Oregon as a whole you couldn't stop and pump your own gas. But I guess that laws changed recently in the last couple of years or so. I always wondered why that law was there, but figured it was to keep travelers from pumping gas and running off … Car Wars' bandito style >:) I also remember a sign saying for all out of state driver to stop and pull over at the visitor's center. I seem to recall the AADA atlas describing Portland as a police state.

I guess in your description you could call Portland a reinvented frontier town with a law and order bent. And with your description it would make for some interesting RPing scenarios.
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Old 09-24-2018, 08:34 AM   #26
Terquem
 
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

I'm trying to remember the name of a "post apocalypse" made for TV movie I saw back in the 70's where the cars ran on steam power and the weapons were all archaic. Can't seem to find it on the :webs" because I can't even remember the actors names but I can see their faces.
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Old 09-24-2018, 11:11 AM   #27
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

Was it an American film?
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Old 09-24-2018, 11:15 AM   #28
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

Definitely - I thought it had Richard Keil (Jaws from Moonraker) But I think it was some other very tall character actor
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Old 09-24-2018, 11:29 AM   #29
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

Finally found it, "Planet Earth" with John Saxon - interesting sci-fi, post apocalypse steam powered cars battling on the desert.
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Old 09-24-2018, 04:09 PM   #30
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Default Re: CW as a roleplaying game?

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Ah, okay. I wasn't sure exactly where you were going with your post. But yeah, there's various types of wastelands as you and the Road Atlases point out.
I tend to forget: What's obvious to the poster may not be as obvious to other readers. :)

"In a way, it's like the arena", as Feyd-Rautha put it[1]: A pocket of civilization on an open plain is going to require a completely different defense from one closed in by mountains, and so on.

[1: My god, I'm *OLD*....]

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Sidenote; the last time I was going through Portland and Oregon as a whole you couldn't stop and pump your own gas. But I guess that laws changed recently in the last couple of years or so. I always wondered why that law was there, but figured it was to keep travelers from pumping gas and running off … Car Wars' bandito style >:)
Nothing like that -- it's an attempt to create "entry-level jobs" for people just entering the workforce, or for people who (to be polite) can't do other jobs. (EDIT: There was supposed to be a remark here concerning the CWverse's "30+% unemployment" -- and that not including the vagrants, biker-gang members, and other folks without jobs who *aren't* on the welfare rolls, and so would not be counted among the unemployed -- and how, to that end, Oregon may well have any number of "make-work jobs" to try to convince the public "thing aren't *that* bad".)

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Originally Posted by Blue Ghost View Post
I also remember a sign saying for all out of state driver to stop and pull over at the visitor's center. I seem to recall the AADA atlas describing Portland as a police state.
I don't recall OR being a "police state" in _CW_ -- I don't think a "police state" would have allowed "Golden Enlightenment" [2] to exist. But I don't have access to _RASG2_ at the moment, so I can neither confirm, nor deny, what "the book" says.

[2: I'm old enough to remember why that joke is in there -- you darn kids get off my lawn; there's a cloud to be yelled at....]

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Originally Posted by Blue Ghost View Post
I guess in your description you could call Portland a reinvented frontier town with a law and order bent. And with your description it would make for some interesting RPing scenarios.
One aspect of Portland the writer of _RASG2_ missed is the compact nature of the city -- between the natural barriers (the Willamette, the Columbia, and the Cascades Mountains) and the long-standing "urban growth boundary" (a political device intended to prevent Sprawl and Slums, by limiting the amount of land which can be developed and forcing developers to redevelop existing plots rather than running off and building new elsewhere), Portland doesn't have a huge "footprint". And the Food Riots might not have been a huge concern; there's not much grain being grown in the Willamette Valley, and cursed-near-every plant up here has some sort of fruit or vegetable to go with it (we have blackberries inside the UGB, for crying out loud). That lack of size and violent history means one could conceivably eliminate *all* vehicle traffic in-city without making trips inconvenient. Talk about a op for RPing -- "what do you mean we can't take our cars where we're going?" >;) (Of course, knowing the players I attract, the campaign would devolve into "how can we slip a duelling car into the city piece-by-piece?"....)
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