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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    SolithKnightGuy

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    Sep 2012

    Default Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

    I'm working on a world for my 4E campaign that's a mashup of Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Greyhawk, and various other D&D worlds. It's just been through a plane-shattering war between good and evil, and now the few survivors are trying to hang on. While developing the world itself is important, I'm more looking for things from the post-apocalyptic genre to translate into this world. For example, relics from the past are a trope that will be in play.

    So, fire away for suggestions on what to include in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world.
    I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel

    Former DM for "A City Alone" [4E D&D - IC, OOC]

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Everyl's Avatar

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    Default Re: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

    Not just relics - absolute wonders that have been lost to the ages. The ruins of a flying city, crashed to the ground (perhaps part of it, now permanently tilted at a crazy angle, is still occupied by scavengers). Region-spanning systems of magically-empowered irrigation that no longer work, resulting in formerly fertile lands going arid. Have the ruins truly reflect just how much was lost when the past golden age ended.

    As an extension of that, scavengers. Smaller and more durable relics of what came before would be highly valuable. People with the know-how to repair larger and more complex relics could become powerful and influential people in the ruins.

    Since the apocalypse in this case was a planar war, you have a lot of leeway for ways the world itself could have changed. Entire regions could be tainted, either by corrupt forces or by way too much magic being fired off there all at once. The results of this could be very fantasy-like (null-magic or wild-magic zones) or pseudo-SF (the fantasy version of irradiated wastelands).

    Stragglers. Who fought in this war? Odds are, no matter where they were originally from, at least some of them got stuck in the world when the war ended. Planar entities stranded in the World might need to redefine their roles in existence - no longer able to fight directly in their great conflict, what do they do with their time instead? How do they survive in the ruined world, and how do they interact with the natives? This could also be a good way to bring plane-touched races into the setting (those exist in 4e, right? Tieflings, Aasimar, Genasi, etc).

    And that's all I've got for now.
    I have decided I no longer like my old signature, so from now on, the alphorn-wielding lobster yodeler in my profile pic shall be presented without elaboration.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Knaight's Avatar

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    Default Re: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

    There's a lot of fantasy to pull from - the standards pretty much come in two types, post apocalyptic and part of a long decay, with a world actually improving almost never showing up in fantasy. As such, I'd emphasize the rebuilding - a great deal was lost, but society is getting back on its feet, and as a whole it will recover, even if it's still in the stage where the lingering effects of the apocalypse could easily kill individual people in it. I'd also recommend some serious hesitation around the specific things that were the instruments of destruction last time. After all, in stories about the aftermath of nuclear apocalypses, how many characters are there thinking that building nukes again is a great idea?
    I would really like to see a game made by Obryn, Kurald Galain, and Knaight from these forums.

    I'm not joking one bit. I would buy the hell out of that.
    -- ChubbyRain

    Current Design Project: Legacy, a game of masters and apprentices for two players and a GM.

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    Ogre in the Playground
     
    SolithKnightGuy

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    Default Re: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

    Quote Originally Posted by Knaight View Post
    There's a lot of fantasy to pull from - the standards pretty much come in two types, post apocalyptic and part of a long decay, with a world actually improving almost never showing up in fantasy. As such, I'd emphasize the rebuilding - a great deal was lost, but society is getting back on its feet, and as a whole it will recover, even if it's still in the stage where the lingering effects of the apocalypse could easily kill individual people in it. I'd also recommend some serious hesitation around the specific things that were the instruments of destruction last time. After all, in stories about the aftermath of nuclear apocalypses, how many characters are there thinking that building nukes again is a great idea?
    Society ain't getting anywhere close to back on its feet in this game. There's one city left and it's territory is under siege by a wide variety of nasty things, and it's the only remnant of a few thousand years of peace. Definitely aiming for the more doom-n-gloom side of things here.

    On the other hand, they're trying to hang on til the good gods get their act together and come back, so there is that element of waiting on paradise 2.0.

    There is definite hesitation over some of the stuff from the old days, but at the same time it's all they've got to take on some of the things still wandering around.

    Anyways, all those are setting-specific. Keep the ideas coming!
    Last edited by Nightgaun7; 2014-04-04 at 09:47 AM.
    I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel

    Former DM for "A City Alone" [4E D&D - IC, OOC]

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    DrowGuy

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    Default Re: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

    Is there currency? If so, who mints it? What is it made out of? Are there moneychangers? banks? Is one city-state's money good in another city-state or town or village? Who has the most and how is it used? Are there guilds or tradesmen associations? Any city would have some kind of government running it and collecting taxes. What services do they provide? police? roads? schools? an army?

    If not, and a barter system is used, who has the most non-liquid assets? Consider the utility of the object being traded, a decanter of endless water would be more valuable than a Holy Avenger to a small village. How would you quantify trade for services? Where do wizards learn magic? If there are clerics and gods, how is the clergy organized?

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    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Omeganaut's Avatar

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    Default Re: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

    I'd also imagine there would be a lot of blame game going on. While your outlined situation seems dire, there would still be separation between the followers of different gods. Churches would blame other gods for the calamity at hand, and there would be some sort of standing rivalry going on, with or without any direct information from patron gods. Thus you have your factions, divided based on which god you follow. Churches become strongholds where gang-war type acts happen frequently and are only stopped by having a standing force around the church at all times.

    That's my take on the situation.
    I have returned, and plan on focusing on world-building. Issues are being dealt with.

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    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

    What caused the apocalypse?

    An epic war (the gods fighting, the Bloodwar, celestials vs infernals) would pull any powerful native creatures such as dragons and beholders into the fighting (or simply eliminate them as potential threats.) Similarly, large creatures (elephants, dinosaurs, giants, etc.) would be turned into living siege engines or harvested for food. This seems a good way to eliminate the vast majority of such creatures in the campaign while allowing the possibility of one showing up in particularly rare circumstances. It could also result in some ridiculously powerful survivors of the war (solar, balor, dragon, etc) setting themselves up as rulers of cities or kingdoms. Centers of civilization would be almost entirely destroyed in the fighting, but replacements may have sprung up under powerful warlords. Scavenging and raiding would supplement farming.

    A great calamity (asteroid, god-fart, magic gone awry, rapid climate change?) Now we just wiped most large creatures off the map with starvation. Isolated pockets might survive and creatures with alternate food sources (mineral digesting dragons) wouldn't be to adversely affected initially. Smaller creatures would have a huge advantage finding shelter and enough food (think a world overrun with kobolds.) Depending on the scale of the calamity the damage to civilization could vary, but I got the impression we are using a near total level of destruction. As such, communities larger than a tribe would seem unlikely. Hunting and scavenging would be more common than farming due to ease and quick payoff. Rapidly reproducing savages would gain an additional advantage over the traditionally longer lived races dependent on skill at building defenses. For that matter, all aggressive groups would have a distinct advantage over defenders struggling to repair defenses ruined by the "calamity."

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