Designing a setting : every apocalypse happened at once

[MalcolmReynolds]

Hey playground, an excercise in worldbuilding.

i remember ages ago coming across a threat talking about what would happen if every lovcraftian horror reappeared on earth at the same time or something (as in if all the effects happened at once, the madness and dead rising and utter chaos destruction etc...)

the idea was really neat, so i kind of want to see if the concept could work as a setting:

'we all knew the end was nigh. all the signs were obvious. it was just a matter of which would come first... we didnt expect them to all come knocking at once"

i think though the trick in this kind of setting, is not to completely screw over everyone, oddly enough. a setting where you're going to definitely die? boring. characters either want to just survive, have cheap thrills before the end or just give up, mostly leading to the last one before too long.

so, what kind of apocalypses could you mesh together and still have it somewhat functional? think 20-100 years down the line, people are still around. it is hard, it is tough, it is dangerous. you very much can die if you make a mistake. but if we survive, there is hope yet.

at the same time, there can be adventure abounds, with the danger and possible riches, the times is ripe for the bold to sieze their fortune.

some ideas ive been throwing around:

-spacial sundering. you know that world we know? separate it into hundreds of little pocket dimensions linked together by shifting portals. think if civ 5 suddenly turned into warlock 2 the exiled, or if all of planescape was previously one continuous material plane before separating as it has.

-racial russian roulette - all the races knew one of them was going to be killed off. entirely. they just didnt know who. one day, all the dwarves in the world suddenly dropped dead. they are no more (leaves the ruins of the empire ripe for the taking or something)

-zombies/possessing spirits/madness virus/whatever, the threat of something that can take you over and use you against your friends. people manage to survive after that.

-the old gods, previously defeated and lain to rest, have awoken. primal elementals of carnage and malice. only, they dont really care. they will stake out their territory, do what they want, but they wont intentially destroy a city for the hell of it. only if its spoiling their view.

so, what kinds of things do you guys reckon could happen? remember 'end of the world as we know it' kind of apocalypse, if ragnarok happens leaving noone alive, not much point in adventuring.

[DawnQuixotic]

Ha. I actually had this exact same idea.
It was a combination of reading sites like SCP and all the world-destroying things they have locked up, and Elder Evils and all the different apocalyptic story hooks (which one could assume all exist in a given "D&D kitchen sink" setting), and other, similar set-ups, and I couldn't help but think what would happen if all these world-enders got loose at once to Final Wars it up, end up destroying each other, and humanity is left to scrape up afterwards, in a desolate, but arguably safer world.

[Raimun]

This (like many things) reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes.

Spesifically farmer Brown: http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhob...mutable_920857

[The_Werebear]

You can probably also get some geographical explosions in there too. Megavolcanoes blowing giant craters in the land and changing the climate, massive flooding taking out coastal cities, perpetual thunderstorms that render entire areas lightning deathtraps, and giant crevasses opening up along faultlines.

Lots of neat adventure areas (especially if there are some partially destroyed cities where the terrain is as nasty as the monsters). Those can be linked to Primal Elementals waking up, or they can be completely independent of them.

[LibraryOgre]

Over time, this is what Rifts became. At first, it was "A small nuclear exchange caused enough death to reopen the ley lines." Now, things that I recall off the top of my head include:

1) Return of Atlantis
2) The resulting massive tidal waves and sea level rise
3) Massive hurricanes
4) Explosion of most of the world's volcanos, including the Yellowstone supervolcano
5) Return of magic, monsters, etc.
6) Massive influx of alien intelligences... creatures of deity power with few of the restrictions

Because, not only did a nuclear exchange happen at midnight on the winter solstice (a magically powerful time), but it happened at the same time as any number of experiments in dimensional travel or other things that make the universe go "pop".

[Gemini476]

For a while now I've been tinkering around with a D&D 3.5 setting where all the Elder Evils are active at the same time (and somewhat negate eachother, so the world is wrecked but not annihilated).

Because of Atropus, the dead walk the earth and all that is killed does not stay so for long.
Because of Ragnorra, all aboveground undead are regularly fried... and all of the living are slowly corrupted into aberrations.
Because of Father Llymic, the sun does not shine and global temperatures have been sinking by one degree a day for a rather long time.
Because of the Hulks of Zoretha, the living have descended into anarchy.
Because of the Leviathan, the world is broken and wracked by foul weather.
Because of Zargon, horrors walk the lands and more are born every day.
Because of Sertrous, all is lost to the serpents.
Because of Kyuss, the worms take all that is.
Because of Pandorym, the gods have forsaken the plane and there is no escape.

While the entire setting is hilariously lethal because of all the overlapping apocalyptic effects and going to the surface is one of the worst ideas there is, I've discovered that it would actually be perfectly possible for some creatures to survive due to some quirks in the rules. Being resistant to cold damage and having darkvision negates most of Father Llymic's stuff, being undead protects you from most of Ragnorra, Atropus, and the Hulks, being underground protects against Ragnorra, Leviathan, and Zargon's effects, Pandorym mostly just makes teleportation impossible rather than killing people, while most of the Elder Evils are perfectly fine with the various effects their minions quickly end up as undead because of the extreme cold (and then, if they're aboveground, cease to exist as positive energy fries them)...

The world is pretty much completely wrecked, though.

[Grinner]

For a while now I've been tinkering around with a D&D 3.5 setting where all the Elder Evils are active at the same time (and somewhat negate eachother, so the world is wrecked but not annihilated).

*snip*

This...This...This is genius.

There was a thread not too long ago where the participants were trying to brainstorm a setting devoid of the standard fantasy races...I think you've hit upon the solution. It all fits so perfectly...

...I need to sit down for a bit.

[Gemini476]

This...This...This is genius.

There was a thread not too long ago where the participants were trying to brainstorm a setting devoid of the standard fantasy races...I think you've hit upon the solution. It all fits so perfectly...

...I need to sit down for a bit.

Yeah, I came up with it during one of the various Tippyverse threads, as an example of a setting that would still be playable will not having the possibility to turn into the Tippyverse.
Pandorym pretty much stops Teleportation Circle completely, after all.
It's not entirely new, of course - there was discussion back in the Tippy's Terrific Trial threads or whatever they were called about something similar.

The problem is finding some races that work for PCs - something with Cold Resistance 5 and Darkvision should be enough to survive, although unless you want them attacking people at random you really want them to be Undead as well. Warforged aren't enough - the Blood Moon affects all living creatures.
I've found some templates I can throw on things, but I'm still hunting for ones resistant to cold.

And most of the campaigns would probably need to be focused on the frozen, undead-infested underground rather than the frozen hellscape that is the surface. Seriously, the surface is hilariously deadly - ignore the instant death if you're undead, ignore the rampant EL+2 serpents, ignore the horrid diseases, ignore the rampant demons and aberrations: the weather is probably the worst. Seriously, there are two random tables for horrible weather. Both of them are active at the same time. The weather changes every hour and lasts 1d3 hours, and yes it overlaps. It's just miserable.
Each hour has a 30% chance of causing a DC 30 save-or-become-an-NPC effect. Which will quickly lead to your death, since Whelps of Zargon aren't immune to the 0K temperatures.

Like, you know the Hulks of Zoretha? The weakest of the Elder Evils, but still a five-man band of alien colonizers/Super Sentai statues that aim to kill all life on the plane? The Fire and Acid Hulks (aka Red Ranger and Green Ranger) are neither immune nor resistant to Cold damage. What does that mean? They'll rapidly become unconscious from hypothermia.

The funniest bit about the Hulks trying to colonize an extremely hostile environment is that not even the Elder Evils are entirely prepared for it. Their minions die rapidly from Father Llymic's cold and Atropus raises them as zombies who are then vaporized by Ragnorra. Some days later, Ragnorra raises them from the dead as aberrations and the cycle begins anew.
Also, every day that any of the Elder Evils get hurt for whatever reason (like, say Cold damage) they need to make saves to avoid getting corrupted and become Ragnorra's slaves. That template won't stop them from being unconscious from hypothermia, but it's the (mindcontrolling) thought that counts.
Also also, even if the Hulks decide to pack up and leave they can't. The barrier that stops Pandorym from leaving the plane stops every method of planar travel that isn't based on Wish.
They are the saddest Chaotic Evil lovecraftian horrors.

The setting is very much a work in progress, but yeah. To use a Dwarf Fortress term, it is very !!Fun!!.

[SamaelOfChaos]

This topic actually reminds me of one of my fave console games to date, if anyone has ever played Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call (or Nocturne), the game actually starts with the literal end of the world... and then things only start to get weirder.

[Grinner]

The problem is finding some races that work for PCs - something with Cold Resistance 5 and Darkvision should be enough to survive, although unless you want them attacking people at random you really want them to be Undead as well. Warforged aren't enough - the Blood Moon affects all living creatures.
I've found some templates I can throw on things, but I'm still hunting for ones resistant to cold.

I feel rather torn about that. I want to say you're overthinking it, but if it's derived from Tippyverse, should it remain true to RAW?

Also, have you checked Frostburn yet?

[Kid Jake]

I remember an old Twilight Zone episode that seemed sort of neat. It can be summarized as:

"Oh no, we're moving closer to the sun! We're all going to burn!"
"Oh my god, now we're moving away from the sun! We're all going to freeze!"

So one day it's 140 degrees in the shade and you're struggling to keep your shoes from melting, a couple of hours later it's below freezing and you're covered in sweatsicles. It'd make an interesting survival scenario.

Yeah, I came up with it during one of the various Tippyverse threads, as an example of a setting that would still be playable will not having the possibility to turn into the Tippyverse.

I remember bookmarking that thread so I could steal that idea later.

It was a good read.

[Gemini476]

I feel rather torn about that. I want to say you're overthinking it, but if it's derived from Tippyverse, should it remain true to RAW?

Also, have you checked Frostburn yet?

Where do you think I got the specific need for Cold Resistance 5 from? Unearthly Cold is pretty nasty.
Really, that was pretty much the second book I looked at after Elder Evils.

So far I've got the Deep template from the same DragMag issue as Arctic and whatnot, but I haven't really looked around all that much. I need to speed it up a bit.

And yeah, once I've got the basic RAW "you could totally survive and adventure as a group of Liches" part down I'll start homebrewing aberrations and snakes and oozes and worms and all that. Oh, and the progeny of Zoretha. But I want to see if the concept can stand on its own within the 3.5 RAW to try to contest the Tippyverse when it comes to settings based on RAW interactions.
I've also got some ideas for additional limits imposed by losing planar access coopted from the Manual of the Planes and some ideas for rewriting classes and new prestige classes and whatnot. Like having a prestige class who have a lantern that turns off Father Llymic's sign in the vicinity, bringing light and warmth where there was none. And a prestige class for the devoted of Sertrous, since he's the closest thing to a god around, who get around the 20% preparation failure Pandorym introduces as well as being able to summon forth snakes and such.

One thing that I'm really unsure on is Binders. On the one hand, they're awesome. On the other hand, how on earth would their entire class work with what Pandorym's Seal does to planar access? Do Vestiges just get through that, or what?

And I just realized that Druids are pretty horribly nerfed in a setting where the Animal type is mostly a thing of legends. Hmm. Maybe just make them all like that fast-progression PrC that kills plants and has undead instead of animals.

Another thing that I think I'll need to make, should I manage to still have "intelligent, living creatures" around, is a random reaction table. Probably based on Diplomacy of some sort. Seriously, the Blood Moon makes that kind of stuff pretty useful.

Lots of stuff to do, anyway.

[The_Werebear]

One thing that I'm really unsure on is Binders. On the one hand, they're awesome. On the other hand, how on earth would their entire class work with what Pandorym's Seal does to planar access? Do Vestiges just get through that, or what?

How exactly does the seal work? Does it replicate Dimensional Lock, or is the wording different? My gut feeling is that Binder's would have access blocked, as vestiges are pulled from an extraplanar source, even if that source is a big pile of void.

Then again, dimensional lock doesn't explicity block summoning and calling spells, nor prevent summoned creatures from going back. Vestiges could slip through that crack.

[Arbane]

My first thought when I read the title: "The bad news is, the dead have risen and hunger for the flesh of the living. The good news is, the swarms of locusts are chewing them up pretty quickly..."

[Gemini476]

How exactly does the seal work? Does it replicate Dimensional Lock, or is the wording different? My gut feeling is that Binder's would have access blocked, as vestiges are pulled from an extraplanar source, even if that source is a big pile of void.

Then again, dimensional lock doesn't explicity block summoning and calling spells, nor prevent summoned creatures from going back. Vestiges could slip through that crack.

The gist of it is that it stops all Conjuration(Calling, Summoning, or Teleportation) spells from working, alongside various other assorted effects. I guess you could lump Binders in with Contact Other Plane and Commune as "things that try to contact other planes", but yeah. RAW there's nothing to say that it stops binders, and while fluffwise it feels like it should... stopping Bind Vestige from working pretty much makes Binders as a class useless. And that's pretty sad, since they're a cool and not overpowered class.
But yeah, I guess Binders will just have to be one of the casualties of the setting.

[Ravens_cry]

Over time, this is what Rifts became. At first, it was "A small nuclear exchange caused enough death to reopen the ley lines." Now, things that I recall off the top of my head include:

1) Return of Atlantis
2) The resulting massive tidal waves and sea level rise
3) Massive hurricanes
4) Explosion of most of the world's volcanos, including the Yellowstone supervolcano
5) Return of magic, monsters, etc.
6) Massive influx of alien intelligences... creatures of deity power with few of the restrictions

Because, not only did a nuclear exchange happen at midnight on the winter solstice (a magically powerful time), but it happened at the same time as any number of experiments in dimensional travel or other things that make the universe go "pop".

That was my thought as well. Even reading the thread title my thought was "That's Rifts."
Also . . .SMMOOOGG! ! !

[The_Werebear]

The gist of it is that it stops all Conjuration(Calling, Summoning, or Teleportation) spells from working, alongside various other assorted effects. I guess you could lump Binders in with Contact Other Plane and Commune as "things that try to contact other planes", but yeah. RAW there's nothing to say that it stops binders, and while fluffwise it feels like it should... stopping Bind Vestige from working pretty much makes Binders as a class useless. And that's pretty sad, since they're a cool and not overpowered class.
But yeah, I guess Binders will just have to be one of the casualties of the setting.

Alternately, you want them in there that bad, you can always rule that the lock stopped everything that was already in the material from going back. Binders would be drawing in trapped souls and extradimensional gribblies that are stuck on our side.

[Gemini476]

Alternately, you want them in there that bad, you can always rule that the lock stopped everything that was already in the material from going back. Binders would be drawing in trapped souls and extradimensional gribblies that are stuck on our side.

Yeah, it already does that. One of the earlier signs before planar access is completely cut off leads to summoned creatures attacking their summoner once they realize that they're stuck.

I guess that just means that I get the chance to homebrew up some races/templates of people descended from those stuck under the influence.

[Grinner]

The gist of it is that it stops all Conjuration(Calling, Summoning, or Teleportation) spells from working, alongside various other assorted effects. I guess you could lump Binders in with Contact Other Plane and Commune as "things that try to contact other planes", but yeah. RAW there's nothing to say that it stops binders, and while fluffwise it feels like it should... stopping Bind Vestige from working pretty much makes Binders as a class useless. And that's pretty sad, since they're a cool and not overpowered class.
But yeah, I guess Binders will just have to be one of the casualties of the setting.

But vestiges don't inhabit planes. In fact, they're not even supposed to exist. More to the point, I feel that they really fit this setting well. Really, you ought to keep them.

[Asterai]

The webcomic What It Takes has something a lot like this as its backstory. Relevant page.

Paraphrasing the text: "It was a domino effect. First the Flip [of earth's magnetic poles], then the bees [went extinct, and every other creature that relied on magnetic fields], then the famine [cuz no more pollinators], then the flu, then the crazies [who apparently got into some nuclear silos, fun times were had by all]."

I reckon this could work in nearly any setting with a little flavor tweaking. Magnetism not a thing? The ley lines are on the fritz. Pollinators not a thing? How about earth/tree/fertility spirit things. Famine, sickness, and the breakdown of society that follows mass deaths are universal, but the illness isn't necessarily mundane in nature... or in effects. Either the illness itself or the general-purpose power vacuum could lead to nutters and/or doomsday cults getting their hands on powerful old magics that are ordinarily very well safeguarded.

It starts with a natural event that's not a disaster in itself, moves to mass extinctions and the breakdown of society, and wraps it up with a proper man-made disaster. A neat, well-ordered package of fails.

[Mono Vertigo]

I've got something similar going on in a game I'm GMing right now (but not telling which one, and so you shall get no details ).
In the real world, one apocalypse has started taking place, where several subgroups of people are hunting down and killing each other, with weapons that will result in the end of all known intelligent life in the rather short term.
At which point an ancient Elder Evil kind of entity decided to take over the world and plunge it in darkness (well, another kind of darkness) and stasis, and doing funky stuff with the (un)dead.
So, the 2nd apocalypse, which is undergoing, is technically less bad than the 1st one, which will resume if that Elder Evil is vanquished, because it'll take more time and cause less suffering before the world really ends. (Still not a stellar conclusion.)
The PCs, who will end up very powerful if they don't TPK themselves before that point, might cause other apocalypses before resolving the preexisting ones, because that's what PCs do.

And before that whole mess another apocalypse happened a long time ago, but intelligent races obviously survived it and only Elder Evil remembers it, so it's no big deal today and is not really relevant, but it goes to show that apocalypses are a relative thing.