Have you ever taken your group or gamed in a Mad Max like setting?
Is there any interest in this?
Is there any interest in this?
Post Apocalyptic settings
- Thread starter Blue Ghost
- Start date
Gamma World?
I started a Zombie game using SpyCraft, but we only got through the first session. Nothing for Traveller, tho.
I seem to remember reading that somebody did a Traveller/Gamma World crossover on some distant planet.
I started a Zombie game using SpyCraft, but we only got through the first session. Nothing for Traveller, tho.
I seem to remember reading that somebody did a Traveller/Gamma World crossover on some distant planet.
Not exactly what you're asking about, but Icosahedron is running a good slow-burning post-apocalyptic game over on RPOL:
http://www.rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=41257&date=1301528828
I'm not sure if it's a publicly readable game but you can certainly request access to see what we've been doing... disclaimer: I'm playing Jannar Haddo so I'm biased for it.
So I guess, yeah, there's some interest.
Gamma World was a hoot back in the day but pretty sure I personally would not be into it now... D&D in a sci-fi costume is not really what I'm about these days. Disclaimer #2: I did create a Gamma World-inspired planet for my TU back then, before the Imperium was all the rage...
http://www.rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=41257&date=1301528828
I'm not sure if it's a publicly readable game but you can certainly request access to see what we've been doing... disclaimer: I'm playing Jannar Haddo so I'm biased for it.
So I guess, yeah, there's some interest.
Gamma World was a hoot back in the day but pretty sure I personally would not be into it now... D&D in a sci-fi costume is not really what I'm about these days. Disclaimer #2: I did create a Gamma World-inspired planet for my TU back then, before the Imperium was all the rage...
CosmicGamer
SOC-14 1K
I had been looking for this type of game outside of traveller but never found a set of rules and group to play. Then up and comes Icosahedron's game.
Also have interest in a wild west type game. With traveller maybe something like Back to the Future where people with higher tech level knowledge are in a wild west setting. I believe it was the third one where they went to the wild west. I don't think I'd want a time machine but somehow stranded on a low tech wild west world. Time to que the oft used missjump?
Also have interest in a wild west type game. With traveller maybe something like Back to the Future where people with higher tech level knowledge are in a wild west setting. I believe it was the third one where they went to the wild west. I don't think I'd want a time machine but somehow stranded on a low tech wild west world. Time to que the oft used missjump?
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Rigel Stardin
SOC-13
Cosmic Gamer:
Look at 18 century America.
The East Coast was settled. The West Cost was partially settled. The middle of the country was vastly unexplored.
Traveller Setting:
Colony world:
West Coast of the planet's main contenient is settled. A mountain range divides the coast area off from the rest of the land mass. Those who have settled the interior are farmers and ranchers. TA DA, you have a wild west setting. Ranchers and farmers are going to fight for the best land. Prospectors are going to be hunting the mother load. Everything you need is there...
Look at 18 century America.
The East Coast was settled. The West Cost was partially settled. The middle of the country was vastly unexplored.
Traveller Setting:
Colony world:
West Coast of the planet's main contenient is settled. A mountain range divides the coast area off from the rest of the land mass. Those who have settled the interior are farmers and ranchers. TA DA, you have a wild west setting. Ranchers and farmers are going to fight for the best land. Prospectors are going to be hunting the mother load. Everything you need is there...
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
I have only run in PA settings. Usually they last only a limited period of time.
Your idea for a Mad Max-like world is interesting, but setting a campaign in it would be difficult to run for very long. The Mad Max milieu was running down. In Road Warrior it was in severe trouble. I pretend that Beyond Thunderdome didn't happen.
What do the players accomplish over the long run in such a setting? Stay alive through another game session? That gets old quite fast.
At least in Rifts, there is the conflict against the Coalition States and the demons from the Rifts, plus the possibility of dimensional and time travel for a break now and then.
I wouldn't be interested in doing more than a few sessions in a Mad Max-type milieu.
Your idea for a Mad Max-like world is interesting, but setting a campaign in it would be difficult to run for very long. The Mad Max milieu was running down. In Road Warrior it was in severe trouble. I pretend that Beyond Thunderdome didn't happen.
What do the players accomplish over the long run in such a setting? Stay alive through another game session? That gets old quite fast.
At least in Rifts, there is the conflict against the Coalition States and the demons from the Rifts, plus the possibility of dimensional and time travel for a break now and then.
I wouldn't be interested in doing more than a few sessions in a Mad Max-type milieu.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
I remember many years ago saving money to buy the entire Gamma World game (box plus supplements and scenarios).
As luck would have it when I went into the game shop there was a brand new game in called Aftermath in a nice yellow box. I bought it instead.
I used Aftermath to run everything for years - first the post apocalypse game straight out of the box, then an OTU inspired game, a game set in the Dune universe was next, a fantasy world, pulp era action adventure (borrowing bits from Daredevils for that)...
there are probably more but those are the ones I remember.
Most use I ever got out of a set of rules after CT I'd say.
As luck would have it when I went into the game shop there was a brand new game in called Aftermath in a nice yellow box. I bought it instead.
I used Aftermath to run everything for years - first the post apocalypse game straight out of the box, then an OTU inspired game, a game set in the Dune universe was next, a fantasy world, pulp era action adventure (borrowing bits from Daredevils for that)...
there are probably more but those are the ones I remember.
Most use I ever got out of a set of rules after CT I'd say.
But for a Traveller setting, would anyone be interested?
Ditch the western idea for another thread. Leave it out. Thanks.
Ditch the western idea for another thread. Leave it out. Thanks.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Thanks for the plug guys. 
Yes, I'm running a PA game using Traveller, set on a TL6 reservation world that doesn't make it over the nuclear hurdle.
Only the synopsis and planetary details is publicly viewable, but I have room for another player. Your query sounds like you want to GM, though, Blue Ghost.
Well, Cosmic, we have ranchers, and automatic weapons chew bullets pretty fast, so in a while you may get something of what you want.
RoS, I'm curious to know why you don't think a PA campaign would last long?
Also, staying alive through the next session is what motivates a lot of games - including D&D and vanilla Traveller - go to a world/dungeon, have an adventure, survive, go to another world/dungeon...
Depends how it's done, and what else is in the mix. I'm not about to run out of ideas anytime soon.
Yes, I'm running a PA game using Traveller, set on a TL6 reservation world that doesn't make it over the nuclear hurdle.
Only the synopsis and planetary details is publicly viewable, but I have room for another player. Your query sounds like you want to GM, though, Blue Ghost.
Well, Cosmic, we have ranchers, and automatic weapons chew bullets pretty fast, so in a while you may get something of what you want.
RoS, I'm curious to know why you don't think a PA campaign would last long?
Also, staying alive through the next session is what motivates a lot of games - including D&D and vanilla Traveller - go to a world/dungeon, have an adventure, survive, go to another world/dungeon...
Depends how it's done, and what else is in the mix. I'm not about to run out of ideas anytime soon.
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
So, like the Traveller The New Era setting, then?
What type of Post Apocalyptic are we talking about?
Issac Asimov's Foundation trilogy actually went through the various stages of Descending and Recovery. (I ignore books after the trilogy.)
What type of Post Apocalyptic are we talking about?
- Disaster: A great disaster has just struck. You will now live through the immediate consequences. Thank goodness for all that canned food and convenient camping gear to filter or purify water (assuming the "disaster" left anything intact). Now you just have to fight it out with every other group for possession of left-over food and gear. (Dragon Head manga)
- Darkness: A great disaster has recently struck and things have gone to heck. You will live through these dark times. Most people have died out. Every day is an adventure looking for food and water. (The Book of Eli)
- Descending: The world is falling apart, bit by bit, and nothing can stop it. Chaos is already a greater force than law in every country. National governments, services, and transportation systems are breaking down or broken. Law and order exists only in isolated areas, and then only temporarily, or only at the point of a gun wielded by either heroes or villains. (Mad Max early stage, The Road Warrior late stage)
- Aftermath: Long ago, a great disaster struck that reduced the great civilization of the past to ruins. The milieu has recovered just a bit. People begin to emerge from hiding and interact without shooting to kill first and not even thinking about questions ever. There may be some hope for the future, or not. (Gamma World)
- Recovery: Long ago, a great disaster struck that reduced the great civilization of the past to ruins. Recovery in the milieu is gearing up to become significant. The great hope is to retrieve and rebuild the lost glories of the past in order to obtain a better life. (Traveller: The New Era, some versions of Rifts on Earth)
- Recovered: Long ago, a great disaster struck that reduced the great civilization of the past to ruins. Various new civilizations have emerged and have reclaimed some, most, or all of the glories of the past, at least for some of their citizens. These civilizations may be at war with one another to achieve final reclamation, achieve or defend against some twisted ideology (or dark menace). Most people are either caught in the gears, exploiting others, or working toward a higher goal. (some versions of Rifts)
Issac Asimov's Foundation trilogy actually went through the various stages of Descending and Recovery. (I ignore books after the trilogy.)
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Two of the worlds in the subsector I made for my campaign have a "Post-Apoc" type feel, though I didn't go in for mutants and such. The players haven't gone to either of them yet, so I don't have a ton of details worked out.
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Eden's Envy – D995CCD-9 Ga Hi In G
("Blade Runner"/"Running Man")
Eden's Envy (ironically named) is an overpopulated hyper-authoritarian slum, complete with arbitrary enforcement and "blood sport" games played by convicts. (Many of whom were just passing ship's crews who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.) It is Amber Zoned, and only avoids a Red Zone because there is no reasonable external authority in the area to interdict the system. (The locals don't have a space fleet of any sort - even though skimming the GG is illegal, they have no way to enforce it, etc.)
Merchants still risk trips there because of some rather unique local products and the world's voracious appetite for offworld electronics and food delicacies. (In other words, VERY high trade modifiers). You can sell your wares (and get out as fast as possible) at the local Star Port (which isn't much of a port, but does have a market), but if you want better returns, you'll need to seek the less savory corners of the underground market.
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New Zanzibar - D667476-3 Ag Ga Ni Lt G
("Fallout"/"Mad Max")
New Zanzibar was once the political and cultural center of a vibrant and progressive interstellar pocket empire. Two generations ago, it lost a war with a neighboring empire, all but perishing in a nuclear blaze. Now, the old capital world is a bleak wasteland sparsely populated by nomads and junkers looking for high tech refuse from before the war, as well as some hopeful "colonists" (many of whom never left to begin with) trying to re-establish a foothold on what was once a pleasant garden world. Since many people still have family or business ties to NZ, ships are occasionally chartered on "safari" expeditions to reclaim old holding, but most of the (once extensive) urban centers are little better than rubble and twisted steel now. The new capital world has embarked on a project to use nuclear dampeners to clean out many of the irradiated spots and agriculture has returned to NZ, but travellers would be well advised to remember anti-rad gear and medication if they plan to venture into the ruins.
(The "Balkanized" government is really more like the "no goverment" tribal situation, though some of the "tribes" are organized enough to be considered nations. This could prove to be a significant problem if the pocket empire attempts to re-assert control and move the capital back to NZ, but the locals are becoming quite independent-minded considering how much personal risk they have taken to reclaim NZ....)
Players can potentially find many powerful (and illegal) weapons and devices here (NZ used to be TL14), though they may need substantial refurbishment. Merchants can generally sell food, clothing and luxury items, as well as agricultural and construction equipment, though with no working starport (the "class D" port is too dangerous to use, but if it could be secured...) and limited cash in the hands of the inhabitants, it's not always easy to find a buyer or to avoid having your cargo "liberated" from you.
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Anyhow, those are just two "post-apoc" type worlds I've put together.
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Eden's Envy – D995CCD-9 Ga Hi In G
("Blade Runner"/"Running Man")
Eden's Envy (ironically named) is an overpopulated hyper-authoritarian slum, complete with arbitrary enforcement and "blood sport" games played by convicts. (Many of whom were just passing ship's crews who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.) It is Amber Zoned, and only avoids a Red Zone because there is no reasonable external authority in the area to interdict the system. (The locals don't have a space fleet of any sort - even though skimming the GG is illegal, they have no way to enforce it, etc.)
Merchants still risk trips there because of some rather unique local products and the world's voracious appetite for offworld electronics and food delicacies. (In other words, VERY high trade modifiers). You can sell your wares (and get out as fast as possible) at the local Star Port (which isn't much of a port, but does have a market), but if you want better returns, you'll need to seek the less savory corners of the underground market.
--------------
New Zanzibar - D667476-3 Ag Ga Ni Lt G
("Fallout"/"Mad Max")
New Zanzibar was once the political and cultural center of a vibrant and progressive interstellar pocket empire. Two generations ago, it lost a war with a neighboring empire, all but perishing in a nuclear blaze. Now, the old capital world is a bleak wasteland sparsely populated by nomads and junkers looking for high tech refuse from before the war, as well as some hopeful "colonists" (many of whom never left to begin with) trying to re-establish a foothold on what was once a pleasant garden world. Since many people still have family or business ties to NZ, ships are occasionally chartered on "safari" expeditions to reclaim old holding, but most of the (once extensive) urban centers are little better than rubble and twisted steel now. The new capital world has embarked on a project to use nuclear dampeners to clean out many of the irradiated spots and agriculture has returned to NZ, but travellers would be well advised to remember anti-rad gear and medication if they plan to venture into the ruins.
(The "Balkanized" government is really more like the "no goverment" tribal situation, though some of the "tribes" are organized enough to be considered nations. This could prove to be a significant problem if the pocket empire attempts to re-assert control and move the capital back to NZ, but the locals are becoming quite independent-minded considering how much personal risk they have taken to reclaim NZ....)
Players can potentially find many powerful (and illegal) weapons and devices here (NZ used to be TL14), though they may need substantial refurbishment. Merchants can generally sell food, clothing and luxury items, as well as agricultural and construction equipment, though with no working starport (the "class D" port is too dangerous to use, but if it could be secured...) and limited cash in the hands of the inhabitants, it's not always easy to find a buyer or to avoid having your cargo "liberated" from you.
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Anyhow, those are just two "post-apoc" type worlds I've put together.
iron warrior
SOC-12
For a really unique twist on PA game settings, try "Age of ruin" for EABA.
Interesting. Just skimming what you wrote, I'm actually creating something not too disimilar, but there's a different basis for its creation and existence. Nice job.
That's kind of what I was getting at. Thanks.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Dunno, I've never gamed TNE, but from what I've picked up, probably not.
My premise is that in this TU, worlds natively under TL7/8 are interdicted under a form of Prime Directive and are not contacted until they have proven themselves worthy of citizenship by handling nuclear weapons responsibly.
One such planet has undergone a global nuclear war and the game is about how the survivors handle the situation.
Well, I have elements of all 6 types - except the 'long ago' bit. The immediate concern is the Disaster. Darkness is a possibility, Descending is sure to happen to some extent, Aftermath and Recovery are alternative options to Darkness, and the PCs may even help to bring them about - or not.
I figure there are two options for recovery - either it will happen quite quickly, with only a brief, reversible descent, or the civilization will collapse entirely and must climb out of the stone age over several millinnia. A third option is that it won't recover at all, but that doesn't make for a fun game.
I like those worlds, Hdan, especially NZ.
RainOfSteel
SOC-14 1K
It sounds like you've got some sort of progression of the milieu going on it there, something beyond just, "Where is my next meal coming from," or, "What foe do I defeat for the next village elder?"
That sounds like it could last longer than the typical post-apocalyptic game.
That sounds like it could last longer than the typical post-apocalyptic game.
Ya know, I know there's all this chit chat and griping about Traveller should be "setting free" and all.
But, frankly, while the rules may let you run such a campaign, and there's mechanics and such for most everything, it doesn't sound like Traveller to me. Twilight 2000 maybe, depending on how much military you want. But, not Traveller at all.
Now, I can see (and perhaps this is splitting some hairs) a party as part of the interdiction force/service, perhaps going down to evaluate the planet. Be part of some assessment team to get the interdiction lifted or extended. Perhaps THEY violate the Prime Directive, or they're down there trying to clean up a violation. Something like that.
But just post nuclear holocaust scrounging for gas, food, and ammo, and ignorant of the greater universe around them (i.e. they think they're "alone")...meh. Doesn't sound very "far future" to me is all.
You do realize that something like 60-70% of the worlds in the OTU are tech level 9 or less, right?
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
What's in a label?
If a group of friends want to use the rules they're familiar with to play a PA game, who's to argue?
As Fusor suggests, it's no different in principle from any other dirtside game on a low tech, backwater world away from outside help.
Anyhow, I'm not sure this talk about MTU is helping the OP, it doesn't seem to be what he's looking for.
