Dnd post apocalyptic setting

[Redhood101]

I had an idea for a setting that seams like a journal magical dnd world at first but it turns out the world is actually our normal earth after like a giant atomic war. Kind of like adventure time. Where everyone but a few magical creatures have forgotten the old world. Does anyone have any ideas how I could make this work? Or any thoughts at all?

[Mechalich]

I had an idea for a setting that seams like a journal magical dnd world at first but it turns out the world is actually our normal earth after like a giant atomic war. Kind of like adventure time. Where everyone but a few magical creatures have forgotten the old world. Does anyone have any ideas how I could make this work? Or any thoughts at all?

This already exists, it's called Shannara, it's one of the most popular fantasy series of the last half-century. I suggest visiting your local library.

[GaelofDarkness]

There's plenty of options for something like this. (beat me to it with Shannara but hey, I haven't read them either). If you want to be a little different with the setting, a while back I toyed around with the idea of a setting inspired by Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (which isn't fantasy but does have a lot of fantastical elements that could fit fantasy well) but never really did much with it.

The main thing I'd think you'd need to address is where is did all the magic come from (assuming you're not going with a low fantasy setting where "magic" might just be modern science from a pre-industrialized society's perspective). Was magic always around but just hidden from us mundane folk? Was magic so weak so as to be practically non-existent/beyond detection and has only started rising after the nuclear winter started stirring up slumbering forces? Is magic entirely new - maybe brought here by entities whose attention we attracted with nuclear bombs? Did the bombs blow a hole in the fabric of reality bridging the mundane-arcane divide? Maybe magic is just the result of hyper-advanced technology like nanotech not being understood after all. The limited types of spells and abilities are just what the tech was programmed for. Meteor swarm is an orbital bombardment, Gate is a form of wormhole technology that was being experimented with, etc. Sorcerers are just people who through inheritance or mutation have the gene sequences that mark them as having security clearance to access the security/defense networks.

[Grognerd]

It is not "our world but in the far future", but the Desolation RPG is set up as a post-fantasy apocalypse. Magic went awry, wrecked society and geography both, and then, after an 18 month winter, the PCs get let loose in a world that is completely rebuilding. Gold is useless, metal is scarce, magic is suspect (and painful to use!) and options are wide open.

[Yora]

I think the main question always has to be "How is this different from a regular D&D setting?" What changes by the fact that in the distant past it was Earth?

[Lycan999]

This is a setting type that has been done may times before, from the Prince of Thorns trilogy to the Septimus Heap books, which are about as different in tone as you can get. It can be very interesting from a world building stand point but as others have pointed out the question comes back to what unique feature of having it set in post-apocalyptic Earth are you going to build on to make it memorable? If you focus on the Fall or some other secret of the past it could be interesting, but if you just want crumbling cities and weird technology there are other potentially more interesting options.

[sktarq]

Another version of this is Pugmire....which is much more on the wholesome end of post end of the world situations

[Stan]

China Mieville's Bas Lag books are sort of post apocalypse - Beings invaded from another dimension and it twisted the laws of reality - like Adventure Time but noire instead of goofy.

Ask yourself:
1. What was the Apocalypse? Nuclear war has been done and isn't likely to crate a fantasy world. Something reality bending is better.
2. How long ago and do current people know about it?
3. What is the same and what is different from a standard fantasy.

For example, I have a homebrew setting that is mostly new world colonization. The uncivilized continent had an advanced civilization that blew itself up some how a thousand years ago. A magical blast ripped souls from bodies. Excess magic causes weird mutations. The excess souls can cause possessions and other weird things. Orcs are descendants of humans living a couple hundred miles away - they have immunity to the side effects similar to plague survivors.

[Kyrell1978]

You could certainly take some ides from Dark Sun. It's basically set after a magical apocalypse.

[Anymage]

Like other people are saying, "turns out it's post-apocalyptic earth" is a fairly common idea.

The big question is, what ultimate payoff are you looking for? Tales of a Time of Science that self-destructed and is now treated as too dangerous for right-thinking people to want to learn about? (This has issues, but again it's a popular trope so you'll be given some latitude.) A Planet of the Apes-esque twist that they only discover after the campaign is well underway? If it's not going to affect the narrative in any way, it's just a matter of a few maps looking a little familiar and isn't really a big deal.

[Stan]

It's a small bit but you could use modern floorplans for maps of ancient dungeons. Just imagine how they'd be after centuries of neglect or of use by later occupiers.

[Nifft]

I had an idea for a setting that seams like a journal magical dnd world at first but it turns out the world is actually our normal earth after like a giant atomic war. Kind of like adventure time. Where everyone but a few magical creatures have forgotten the old world. Does anyone have any ideas how I could make this work? Or any thoughts at all?

Gamma World (especially the 2010 edition) seems like it might suit your needs. That's explicitly D&D, and also very much the post-nuclear wasteland feel.

Numenerra (from here) is something like 11 apocalypses in the future.

Earthdawn (from here) is magical post-apoc in the style of D&D, but also the pre-history of the modern Earth -- and Shadowrun is the future of this world, which isn't post-apoc yet.

Eclipse Phase (from here) is sci-fi, and everyone knows the Earth is gone, but nobody knows why. Fun game, but not really D&D.

[Tvtyrant]

Isn't fantasy basically post-apoc anyway? The grand daddy LotR is, it even shows up in Narnia.

[sktarq]

It was actually said you should have lost golden age in the 2e DM's guide under the building your own world section.

DnD very much pulls on the "Dark Ages"/Migration Period/Early Middle Ages period of Europe for its inspiration as a baseline. This has strong themeatic links to post apocalyptic stories.