Post-Apocalypse Campaign

[safisher]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

Places that need a lot of high tech support, pipelines, etc. like Phoenix are likely to be in trouble. Places like Little Rock or Omaha, right on a big river, are going to have some significant advantages because it will be easier to get low tech access to fresh water, power, etc. That will keep the city going long enough, one hopes, for people to rebuild.

That's a very astute observation. The railroad upset the precedence for large cities only on the river.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by safisher

What are the key features (thematically speaking), you would want to see in a PA campaign? Isolation, desperation, man versus man, etc. What draws you to that setting?

I usually go for the whole Last (wo)man on Earth type feeling, but I also really enjoy some sort of transitive element. Say with what you have up there a campaign that begins with some who got isolated during the EVENT* survives for a while on his own but then learns that their are other survivors who are trying to rebuilding society or just a place to live.

Some things that if I would include were I writing a campaign up:

1) Barter/trade rules...what good is paper money gonna do? This would require tinkering with the wealth rules a lot, but I think would be worth it in the end if you can get it functional.
2) Some expanded scourging guidelines, say something like a margin of success chart. You rolled 1 under your skill, you didn't find that semi-new carburetor you were looking for but...you did find one, it needs work. You rolled 5 under your skill...the carburetor is still in the box, lucky you! Maybe techniques for scourging specific things, or in specific places.
3) Set down guidelines for making things: this one ALWAYS comes up no matter what game I run/play in. Somebody always wants to build something, the rules presented in 3ed Low-tech work well enough.
4) Conflict: whether its the nuclear winter you are trying to outlast or mutant space wolves from Saturn. When playing in a post-apocalyptic setting you should feel you are just barely surviving (at least at first ^_^), barely making due, barely able to keep enough food in your belly if not your knapsack.
5) Lastly, if your the GM, listen to what you players want, give them a survey, or just ask them. One man's PA could be alien overlords, anther's zombies, and a third Hell on Earth, The Rapture, and Hallelujah! Praise Jesus. Heck one could ask for all three, know what scares/excites your players, know what they each want and try to tailor it to them. Nothing sucks worse than a Apocalyptic future than just doesn't do it for you.

Hope it helped you some,

Ghostdancer


*in this context meaning what ever world-ending life shattering incident that had happened.

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by safisher

What are the key features (thematically speaking), you would want to see in a PA campaign? Isolation, desperation, man versus man, etc. What draws you to that setting?

I enjoy Gamma World or Twilight:2000 kinds of post-apocalypse games. They seem to be two extremes:

Gamma World has mutants, blasters, mutagenic radiation, and super-science fiction bubbled cities. There isn't much of a theme of "there is no hope, everyone is going to die." You get to play with cool tech, but it's often dangerous and it's not easily replaced. You can build up civilization or just wander around trying to find that Black Ray Pistol you know is out there somewhere.

T2K is more realistic. You can use cool military tech, but you have to worry about radiation and marauders and keeping your ammo supply up. You get less Gun Bunny issues than a modern game - your corporal can't have a totally tricked out custom-made handgun with tactical whatevers and a grip made out of some special material he just read about in Handgunner magazine, because he can't get it and he can't have an unlimited supply of match-grade ammo. You get less mutants, but your concerns can vary the same way - just try to get home or try to set up a base and work local issues.

In both I like the scarcity of resources - you don't have the issue of PCs getting lethal high-tech weaponry with unlimited access to ammo (if they've got the money and connections). You can use a cool technical item, even a damaged one, like "treasure." But it'll all run out unless the GM gives you replacements, so it's worth conserving until you need it. It can be loads of fun running a guy with a .357 magnum pistol and broadsword and a shield made out of a stop sign and some wood, facing off with equally motley-armed fellows.

I think I dislike the "hopelessness and fear" aspect you see in some games...I enjoy the occasional zombie apocalypse, but it's got to be a one-shot or short-term game. I just can't get into civilization crumbling, people dying horribly everywhere, there's-nowhere-to-run gaming for more than a few sessions. After that, really, I just want to shoot mutants with my Mark VII Blaster Rifle or collect brass for my 5.56mm rounds after shooting it up with a band of marauders, not deal with the dying of humanity.

[Running Wolf]

Originally Posted by safisher

What are the key features (thematically speaking), you would want to see in a PA campaign? Isolation, desperation, man versus man, etc. What draws you to that setting?

I tend to like the (just under) over the top stuff... a cross between Fallout and Gamma World.

[Kymage]

Originally Posted by safisher

What are the key features (thematically speaking), you would want to see in a PA campaign? Isolation, desperation, man versus man, etc. What draws you to that setting?

Rebuilding

[DorianTheMen]

Originally Posted by safisher

What are the key features (thematically speaking), you would want to see in a PA campaign? Isolation, desperation, man versus man, etc. What draws you to that setting?

Maybe a Romero-like campaign/cannbal zombies everywhere?

[safisher]

How would you go about equipping PCs for an Aftermath!-style campaign? Do random table rolls for clothing and gear work, or do you prefer a weight-based equipment limit, like in Twilight 2013? GURPS uses the $ as a budget limiter. What are the pitfalls of these styles? What are the preferences of those running/playing in PA campaign?

[Ragitsu]

Where can I learn more about Aftermath! so that I may better inform you?

[The Benj]

Originally Posted by Ragitsu

Where can I learn more about Aftermath! so that I may better inform you?

I picked up a copy of it from DriveThruRPG for a little less than ten bucks US. Sadly, it's not available on e23.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by safisher

How would you go about equipping PCs for an Aftermath!-style campaign? Do random table rolls for clothing and gear work, or do you prefer a weight-based equipment limit, like in Twilight 2013? GURPS uses the $ as a budget limiter. What are the pitfalls of these styles? What are the preferences of those running/playing in PA campaign?

Honestly? Why not all of them, say devote a page to each one and let it go at that. I personally would prefer a random table if I had to choose, with a bonus to the table rolls if you have say Merchant or Scourging at a certain level (making those skills nearly ubiquitous for PCs, as they should be). I still like the idea of some sort of barter system, that seems essential to me.

Ghostdancer