I will not survive the apocalypse. Not zombies. Not nukes. Not robots. Not aliens. Not plague.
Some of you have already read this story. But the reason I haven’t
posted these lists in a while is I took a tumble. A stupid tumble.
I had about an hour before I had to grab Sherri and then get
prepped for my Guards of Abashan game. It struck me that they would be likely fighting
in a ruined temple of a bird god that evening. I could go and buy a set of pre-painted
Arakocra for D&D Attack Wing and use those as foes: right scale, bird-like,
flying bases, could be re-purposed for Tengu in L5R. I knew I had enough time to
get to the shop, pick those up, and still meet Sherri.
I didn’t notice the patch of ice at the base of my neighbor’s
drive as I walked around to get to my car. I went down hard on my left side and
back. I got up and barely made it into the house and on the couch before I blacked out
from the pain. I dreamed I hadn’t actually fallen, but woke up to agony and a cold
sweat. Ah, Shock, my old friend. I called Sherri, made her get another ride home,
moved to another part of the couch, blacked out again, woke, and eventually settled
in.
Ice packs, slings, ibuprofen, muscle relaxants, food brought
to me, Netflix, pillows, Suikoden. That was my next couple of weeks. I’m terrible
at being sick and worse when there’s actually something really wrong with me.
I will not survive the apocalypse.
I have no illusions, no “well maybe…” I’m done. Put a fork in
me.
Because having those folks around is the only possible way I’m
not zombie chum.
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To keep this list easy to read I’ve tightened the years covered.
As we get closer to the present the lists expand and contract weirdly. I include
mostly core books, but also significant setting material or sourcebooks. I consolidate
“spin-off” and miscellaneous supplements into a single entry. For example at the
end you'll see round-up entries with post-apocalyptic elements. Given the number
of great things published I haven't included everything I want. I try to list revised
editions which significantly change a line or present a milestone. Generally I only
include published material- print or electronic. I skip freebie or self-published
games. I'm sure I've left something off without adequate reason; feel free to add
a comment about a line I missed (if published from 2000 to 2002). I've arranged
these by year and then alphabetically within that year.
A small company takes on the post-apocalyptic Wild West, reaching
into Deadlands' territories with a new
spin. Here a meteor strike during the American Civil War sparks a cataclysmic shift.
This rewrites the geography and tinges the whole world with a "Western"
frontier lifestyle. Despite that concrete framing, Cold Steel Reign spins off to drag in a host of craziness: demon-harboring
constructs, Templars, and long-forgotten secret magics. I'd assumed this was a straight
alt-history, but the reviews make it clear that it dives fully into the kitchen
sink.
Those reviews also suggest a clunky, crunchy system. Cold Steel Reign offers an abundance of mechanics
and systems which switch from sub-system to sub-system. Add to that a host of editing
problems. The game still has a FB page, last updated in 2012. You can also find
character creation tutorials on YouTube. However Cold Steel Reign didn’t gain traction, with only the mammoth Player's Guide and a GM screen released. That's too bad,
as there's more than a little hint of Stephen King's Dark Tower series present
here.
2. Evernight (2003)
Now I’m going to semi-spoil a 12-year old adventure path. So
you've been warned. Evernight begins with
classic fantasy setting of Tarth. The background's written deliberately broadly:
bright, archetypal, and heroic. A millennium ago this world banded together to fight
off a deadly arachnid foe. Those coalitions of the willing have long since
fallen to infighting. You may have guessed (or know) where this is heading. But
Shane Hensley takes that expectation and twists it. Evernight's a plot point campaign: offering some options and
revelations, but with a tight structure and through-line for the tale.
…Because this is actually an alien invasion of this fantasy world.
Though not really. Well maybe. Anyway the Masters kick off the fun just before
the campaign starts. They land in the ocean and then blast out in flying vessels
to bomb the countryside. They darken the sky and seize control. Now the classic
fantasy PC group must fight an underground resistance against these invaders. Of
course in the backdrop of that lies truths about the origins of the races, the
technology possessed by the invaders, and secrets & betrayals. Overall it offers
a neat take on the freedom fighter formula we've seen in other settings. But that's
combined with a highly scripted presentation. GMs looking to adapt this may
have to get in up to their elbows to make changes. Despite that Evernight remains a solid and worthwhile
resource.
Evernight on RPGNow
Evernight on RPGNow
As mentioned last list, TSR released a final (and well-reviewed)
version of Gamma World in 2000. But WotC killed that line a year later.
With the coming of D&D 3.0 companies hunted for properties- old and new- to
tart up with a d20 suit. Swords & Sorcery Studios dressed
up a new Gamma World for a 6th edition.
They built on the d20 Modern mechanics,
rather than base 3.0. They eschewed the weird-embracing riff of of Jonathan Tweet's Omega World. Instead Gamma World 6th (or GW d20...?.)
went darker and more "realistic..." Well, not realistic, just less
funny and more grim (which some take as realistic).
Rather than the Ancients and Days of Fire, GW d20 provides a
more detailed and extensive history. Rad remains a factor, but now biotech and nanotech
come into the setting as forces reshaping this future. The game world takes place
just three generations after the wars' end. That’s in line with later Gamma World
editions. Still it makes me wince a little. But I suppose it doesn't
matter in the great scheme of things.
Gamma World 6th has
classes, but luckily those revolve around general archetypes (Strong, Dedicated,
Tough) which remind me of approaches from Fate
Accelerated. You can still be a Mutant...but not really a Mutant animal; instead
you're an “Engineered Animal.” But you can be an android, called Synthetics here.
Mutated characters get to pick their mutations, but have to balance these with negative
traits. Mutations aren't the only way to get powers (called FX). You can get
grafted bio-material, nanotech, cybernetics, and psionics. The mechanics of d20
require more rules to make all that work, leading to complexities and problems.
On the plus side, the game includes interesting rules on handling communities- something
I always like to see in these games.
Sword & Sorcery Studios supported Gamma World 6th decently. Beyond the Player's Handbook, they released two other hardcovers: the Gamma World Game Master's Guide (aka the
DMG) and Machines and Mutants (aka the
Monster Manual). As well three softcover supplements came out the following year.
But the line as a whole soon faded, with everything dropped on the market by the
end of '04. It’s unclear if the line closure came from the d20 Bubble or
more the line’s general reception. Online reviews come off mixed: some like the
new additions and the grittier feel, while others dislike the bad editing and broken
mechanics.
Still, it was Gamma World,
so there'd always be another edition...
4. JAGS Have-Not
(2003)
JAGS or "Just Another Gaming System" produced some
striking setting material, including C-13: The Thirteen Colonies and Wonderland.
Normally I steer clear of self-published material, but Marco Chacon's massive, nearly
500 page supplement for the system looks like a labor of love. Have Not seems to be the setting title for
a bundle of several related pdfs. It has a classic approach: road-gangs, wild dusty-driven
plains, and...well, perhaps a quote from the introduction will do it justice
(via RPG Geek),
"Have-Not is all about rolling into a small dusty town in
armed vehicles and laying the .30-cal smack-down on an evil sheriff. It's about
getting your friends together and heading into the Denver Ruins to brave the death
machines and the bio-horrors left over from the Age of War to bring back bounty
from another era. It's about being an intelligent, telepathic Bengal Tiger with
a cybernetic rocket launcher or Cyborg with a built in rocket launcher-or a mobile
telepathic plant-or maybe just a human, gun slinging bad-ass."
"Have-Not is about exploring a world that's been touched
by a miraculous technology (controlled by the Haves, who are now gone) and then
abandoned. It's about setting things right or seeing what's broken or just getting
rich and powerful-or any of those things. It's about a world that's complex, that's
got a lot going on, and has secrets to discover."
Telepathic Bengal Tigers with cybernetic rocket launchers.
emphasis mine.
German rpg LodlanD
presents another underwater post-collapse society. The Lod of the title refers to
the central city of that setting. Human experimentation to reduce CO2 emissions
resulted in depletion in the atmosphere and a subsequent Ice Age. The surviving
populace fled beneath the oceans, the last habitable place. The German wikipedia
page suggests that unlike other post-apocalyptic games, LodlanD takes an optimistic view. The game suggests that eventually
through technological and scientific progress, mankind will reclaim the surface.
(Ironic given the inciting incident.) LodlanD
did quite well for itself. Between '03 and '09 it released over a dozen sourcebooks,
supplements, and modules. It follows the trend of other games of the period with
an evolving metaplot. The publisher announced the close-down of LodlanD in '09, with the promise of a new
metaplot arc coming in 2010. That seems to have not materialized, with the designer
instead turning to writing novels.
6. Midnight (2003)
I've often heard Midnight described as the "Sauron Wins"
rpg. That does a disservice to the depth and breadth of the work poured into this
material. The world of Eredane has been under the Shadow for one hundred years.
In ages past, the gods cast out Izrador, the Shadow & the god of corruptions. He in turn severed his place of exile from the heavens. Izrador built
a following and fought on and off with the varied peoples for thousands of years.
Finally with dark promises he pulled apart the rag-tag and exhausted coalition arrayed
against him. Since then he has brought nearly everything under his sway, aided by
blood sacrifices and his highly organized Church of Shadow.
For this setting, Fantasy Flight built a distinct set of d20
rules, heavily tailored to match the premise. The first edition used D&D 3.0,
while the second edition corebook pulled in material from the sourcebooks and brought
everything up to 3.5. The rules include a host of racial options and the elimination
of all core classes save the barbarian, fighter, and rogue. Instead we have the Channeler,
Defender, Legate (Clerics of the Shadow), and Wildlander. With the gods severed,
no other divine magic functions. Midnight
includes prestige classes, but also "Heroic Paths" granting benefits at
each level. Magic has changed as well. There's a ton of material in the core book...maybe
too much. The world's highly detailed and described, with dozens of nations and
peoples. Like other crunchy settings (Earthdawn,
Iron Kingdoms) GMs may have a hard time finding a suitable entry point.
What can the PCs do in this grim setting? I like this summary
from the introduction. "The heroes of Midnight
are condemned by their ideals and forced to wage a war that all but a few believe
was lost long ago." The core book suggests some ideas about tone in passing-
in particular keeping the sense of hope alive. I think that's an important tightrope
to walk here. On the one hand this could be run as an almost Cthulhu-like setting
(ala Shadows Over Vathak). On the other it could be handled more as a resistance-fighter
style campaign (like Evernight above).
It's interesting that you have an active force present and intent on maintaining
the "apocalyptic" state of things. We’ve seen that in several cases (GURPS Reign of Steel),
but nothing as singular.
Fantasy Flight supported Midnight
with a host of sourcebooks, supplements, and modules. There are some amazing ones
and the line has solid production values. A live-action movie intended as a pilot
came out in 2008, but didn't generate interest. The last printed volume for the
line appeared in '07, but FF released a D&D 4e module, The Heart of Erenland,
intended to bring people into the setting in '09. Though I expect their big licenses
remain many times more valuable than this IP, I'm disappointed that following the
d20 crash we haven't seen a revision of this. I can imagine a modern FF board game
treatment of the ideas here (beyond Runebound: Midnight). Perhaps we could even see a Pathfinder, 13th Age or D&D
5 sourcebook someday?
Midnight on RPGNow
Midnight on RPGNow
Another EABA aftermath setting book, but distinct and
unusual. The author's note explains that Neoterra's
premise is built on the "scientifically sound" field of evolutionary sociobiology.
In particular he cites and recommends The Bell Curve. Your awareness of and
response to that will color your reading of the game. My background's in anthropology
and I have a fairly dim view of it; it has problematic aspects. I'll leave it at
that. Neoterra offers a subtle apocalypse.
In this world, the Net has taken over, reducing and controlling humanity...sort
of. The AI’s placed constraints but in general offered humanity complete freedom
from want or need. There's a little mix of Transhumanism and the post-scarcity world
of FreeMarket.
Humanity exists to create style and develop towards "Archetypes," or new
forms of existence. It's a weird set up, at least for me. It definitely has a cataclysmic
incident: a war between sentient technology and the human world. But the game itself
takes place long after that. NeoTerra
offers more a framework than it does a detailed setting, but I suspect
that's the only way to handle these concepts.
Neoterra on RPGNow
Neoterra on RPGNow
8. Neuroshima (2003)
Here's a mundane but related story. I'd heard of the boardgame
Neuroshima Hex, but for some reason thought
it was something like Hive,
an abstract game. So it didn’t register for me. Last year, my friend Chris taught
me 51st State,
a dense and weird post-apocalyptic card game...based on the Neuroshima setting.
Wait, what...I didn't even think there was a setting. So I put together that it
was shared background for a bunch of board games.
But no, that's still wrong. In fact Neuroshima is a huge post-apocalyptic role-playing
game from Poland. It has a dozen and a half supplements, but hasn't been translated
to English. The designers include Ignacy Trzewiczek (now known for his board games
like Imperial Settlers) and Michal Oracz
(designer of De Profundis).
Despite being a Polish design, Neuroshima takes place in a fallen United States. It has a Mad Max feel, mixed with fringe elements
like bred monsters and radiation-damaged nature. A nuclear war ignites a larger
conflict of man versus machine. With echoes of Terminator and Reign of Steel,
the machine intelligence, Moloch, controls most of the northern US. Another
section has been overrun by deadly vegetation from South America. Humanity has split
into multiple tribes and regions. Each has a distinct culture and approach. There's
a strong focus on a person’s origins, with strangers regarded suspiciously. It seems
like a standard setting, though the game offers several dials for tone. These are
called colors: Steel, Chrome, Rust, and Mercury (in order of fatalism).
Neuroshima uses its
own system, based on 3d20 resolution, and has a revised 1.5 edition. Sourcebooks include
splatbooks, campaigns & adventures, as well as city sourcebooks covering Miami
and Detroit. I'm unsure of the current state of publication. I assume it remains
in print, but several web pages related to it have gone dark. Portal Games seems
to have worked on an English translation at one point, but not currently. Though
I imagine the market for translated rpgs is tight, we've seen some recent publications
despite this (The End of the World, Kuro).
To quote my friend Gene, "brilliantly vague for what it
leaves out."
octaNe, according to designer Jared Sorensen, started
with thinking about a “road-trip” school of Magick for Unknown Armies. From that we ended up with what the subtitle describes
as "the psychotronic game of post-modern trash culture america." octaNe goes for highly improvisational and
freeform mechanics in pursuing that. Rules require Rock n' Roll and terrible snack
food during sessions. It includes several modes of play: Retro-Kool Kitsch, Grindhouse,
Mythic Storytelling, and Gritty Hyper-realism. These define play style and goals,
as well as the threat of death for the characters. The mechanics themselves are
light, matching simple dice rolls to narrative declarations.
What do you actually do in the game? Well your characters drive
around in this blasted wasteland having adventures. It might look like road movie
directed by Jim Jarmusch? It might be game that's more Tank Girl than the
Tank Girl RPG? The party's assembled from weird roles: Capuchin Monkey to
Mutant Trucker to Repo Man to Six-String Samurai. It has magical traditions and
high weirdness. At the same time, the setting's thinly detailed, with more than
enough room for the players to fill in the gaps. For example, everything east of
the Mississippi remains a great and mythic unknown...the land of Oz for the restless
PCs prowling the broken roads.
I dig octaNe. It is
weird in a whole different way than early Gamma World. It has a joke and a gimmick,
but that doesn't oversell itself. If you're looking for a fast, crazed, and weirdly
upbeat post-apocalyptic game, check it out.
octaNe on RPGNow
octaNe on RPGNow
10. Redline (2003)
Fantasy Flight's “Horizon” series offered an interesting experiment:
small but rich setting books for d20. You have to admire the throwback simplicity,
describing a whole campaign premise and mechanics in a 64-page book. That’s in an
era where everyone shot out hardcover monsters and a ton of d20 material came in
massive chunks. Redline presents a fairly classic Road Warrior-esque
setting. It wears its sources on its cover. The game uses the tightness to its advantage,
cutting down to six backgrounds for races and five broad character classes. New
skills are added and others tweaked; in particular I like "chatter" for
the convince skill. Ten pages cover vehicle construction and fighting. These feel compressed and take a common "maneuvers with checks" approach. The section on
personal fighting from the cars could have been expanded. Redline’s cataclysm remains present in "The Creep." That's
a corruption mechanic based on contact with old ruins and the toxic biological agents
they contain. I'm glad they limit the background to something mechanical and which
actually comes into play. The book ends with a little over a dozen pages of setting
ideas and monsters. Redline isn't groundbreaking,
but it does the job it sets out to with skill: an easy to grok d20 standard post-apocalyptic
game.
By 2003, Palladium had published 50+ Rifts sourcebooks, not including material released for compatible games.
That divergent and multi-faceted setting takes places in the wake of a mystic/dimensional
catastrophic event- but far in the past. Those events settled into the division
of different worlds and dimensions. But Rifts
Chaos Earth takes place in the immediate aftermath of the Great Cataclysm. The
players serve as agents of the Northern Eagle Military Alliance, trying to hold
things together and deal with changes wracking the world.
That's not a bad premise- putting players into a world still
shifting and changing towards something drastically different. For Rifts
veterans, it offers a riff on familiar concepts and a chance to see the world from
another perspective. But Rifts players
have always struck as wanting more and more kitchen-sink material. Chaos Earth reverses that trend, so I'm unsure
of the full appeal. And the Rifts label
might have put off those otherwise interested in post-apocalyptic gaming. Still
Chaos Earth offers a done-in-one rpg,
with a ton of setting material (and equipment). Palladium released two supplements
for the setting: Creatures of Chaos, a bestiary, and Rise of Magic, which added extensive material for many magical classes.
12. Sine Requie (2003)
I mentioned this line before on my History of Horror RPG list,
one of several cross-overs. Sine Requie
is an Italian RPG presenting a horror-tinged alternate history. While the horror
begins late in WW2, it differs from products like Weird Wars: Weird War II. Instead it takes up in the aftermath of the
dead rising from the earth and all manner of unspeakable supernatural things happening.
It opens in 1957, enough time for all manner of changes. The Soviet sourcebook describes
a country run by a soulless computer, the ultimate technocratic dream turned to
terror. Italy has a radical Inquisition. And the Nazi regime remains in power. The
game has a mix of human and supernatural elements bringing darkness to the world.
Sine Requie uses tarot cards for resolution
rather than dice, but as far as I can tell has not been translated into English.
It has several area sourcebooks (Sine Requie:
IV Reich, Sine Requie: Sanctum Imperium
for example.)
A Malhavoc Press publication under the Swords & Sorcery
imprint. When the Sky Falls details how to drop
a a meteor strike into your campaign. We've seen that before in Apocalypse and Wrath of the Immortals.
This aims to be a d20 toolkit for that event. The book's split 50/50 between set
up & execution of the event and dealing with the magical aftermath. The former
has some decent ideas on different kinds of meteorites, foreshadowing the event,
and changes to the world. This last bit gets less treatment than you might expect,
but this is only a 64 pages. The second half offers new systems arising out of the
event: new magic styles, spells, items, and monsters. This feels a little less earthshaking
than it could. A related supplement in the same series is Requiem for a God. That offers ideas for handling the passing of a major
divinity on a setting. That could also lead into apocalyptic scenarios.
When the Sky Falls on RPGNow
Requiem for a God on RPGNow
When the Sky Falls on RPGNow
Requiem for a God on RPGNow
14. Miscellaneous:
Corner Cases
Two items fall at the margins, maybe post-apocalyptic or of interest
to PA gamers. Armageddon: 2089 - Total War is a d20 setting for "WarMek"-based battles and
conflict. The cover suggests a devastating war to end all others, but I suspect
that's less important than cool machines blowing each other up. More relevant is
Days of Fire. This presents
a player-facing book of information about the coming End Times for World of Darkness,
set within the cosmology of Demon: The Fallen. I guess
you could consider some of the other "in-game" White Wolf books like this
also apocalyptic (like Hunter Apocrypha).
These are the 'found-footage' films of the rpg world. I mention this one since it
seems to have a link to the big world-destroying event we'll see on the next list:
Time of Judgment.Armageddon: 2089 on RPGNow
Days of Fire on RPGNow
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