With all the hacks out there, I was wondering what have folks done with the base rules only. it mentions that your apocalypse can be almost anything [even an economical one where society is still very recognizable to today; just bloodier].
What strange Apocalypse world games have you run or played in; using no rules other then the basic rules!
I did a one-shot of a flooded world apocalypse, where the moon’s growing proximity to the Earth fucked with water levels horribly; add to that chunks of it had fallen off and the tides were wacky and the water was high and periodically moon chunks would fall and crush bastions of civilization. The Chopper’s gang used hovercraft.
I did a long series with a frozen world apocalypse. It was placed in the middle of an urban center, but most everything was buried except for its upper levels; the place was run by a local shopping mall that still had supplies left because they rationed out how much mass produced food court rations and Macy’s coats they gave away. The sub-basements of the mall connected to tunnels used by “yetis” — the bandit outsiders who would periodically raid and kidnap people and supplies. The tunnels were also home to weirder life that we don’t talk about.
I also did a shorter series with a bunch of survivors in some subway tunnels in a world where the near omnipresent chemical-laden rainfall had reclaimed civilization, poisoning those who it touched. Amongst the survivors, chemicals had accumulated in them in such a way that as the generations went on the sex binary broke down further and further until the full expression of the sex spectrum was the norm at the cost of most people’s fertility. In this world, the city had been affected by warfare, and a colossal wall had been constructed. The giant machines that built the wall remained, and some factions worked to get them working again.
I played in a game by Brian Poe in which the apocalypse was caused by kaiju awakening and terrorizing the land.
It was fucking awesome.
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We had a run (six sessions) of living on Eden Heights, the top of a skyscraper sticking out of the deadly fog that covered the city and, as far as we knew, most of the world.
I also played in a one-shot inspired by Summerland, in which trees sprung up overnight and took over everywhere. People lived in small communities in the clearings, but there was always something among the trees.
Our current game is actually set on a different planet (Golgotha), where for some unknown reason all the stations and ships fell to the surface, and tiny hardholds grew around their remains, as the flora and fauna of most of the planet is highly lethal.
I’ve run a post alien invasion apocalypse where neither side won and wrecked saucers decorated the landscape.
I just finished a fungal infection apocalypse where a disease caused most of the population to climb to the tops of buildings and let their heads explode. Turns out the victims (their minds at least) ended up in the psychic maelstrom.
My wife ran a “magic comes back” apocalypse where the laws of tech and magic switch every few weeks. One day internal combustion works, another and you need to power up your elemental engine instead.
My first AW game I played in was one where a psychic darkness clouded the earth. Being out in the dark was a very dangerous activity. the darkness could get inside your head.
We followed that up with a coMC’d game of space apocalypse where reavers infected with space madness had toppled civilization. planets were dangerous (too many reavers) and the survivors hid in space.
This is an awesome thread.
My current AW is biological/ecological disaster set in Boston. Sea levels have risen and made the city almost unrecognizable. The virulent strain of bio-weapon that wiped out the population now makes much of the food and water unusable. Drinking the wrong water or getting stung by any of the vicious plants/animals will get you a ride on the Pain Train, the uncurable, painful disease that will eventually kill you.
IN the past, I’ve used base AW with just flavor changes to run stock sci fi adventures. Think Chronicles of Riddick. It works really well.
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I still really want to run a one-shot in the world of Ariel http://arielbook.com/about.html
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I’ve run a deep space mining ship turned fire-and-forget prison inspired by Ann Aguirre’s book Perdition.
I’ve played in a nature reclaims the world which is now full of giant mutant animal monsters.
Perhaps the most oddball one I played in is a mid 1930’s where physicists did something that destroyed light. There was heat, but dark was a living thing that blanketed the earth.
The current game I’m in, the world is covered by blood rain. It contaminates most of the water.
Our current apocalypse is a combination of ecological and technological, with rising sea levels creating a Black Lagoon style situation of high seas piracy, with chopper gangs as pirate crews, and hardholders having the option of larger vessels or hulks as their hardholds.
The technological element was unexpected. When asked to describe the psychic maelstrom, our Gunlugger described a more frenetic equivalent of a videogame shooter’s HUD or an overwhelming blizzard of augmented reality data. Kill here. Shoot this. Threat here. Enemy incoming. They will kill you. You will die. die. die.
Everybody loved it and ran with it.
I’ve since decided that a rampant Singularity has gone bad. Very bad. And with the remnants of a global datanet and transmitter/receiver nanites in everyone’s body, anyone can tap into a broken world-mind. Nobody chose a brainer, which is a bit of a shame, as that could get even crazier.
Man these are AWESOME!!! All of this with the base game (+Flavor)!!! For games with things like ships and what not you didn’t have to drastically change stuff, or for far future settings?
Not really. We drafted some piloting moves but I think they only ever came up once. Mostly the action was either on board or when docked.
Well, mine was a prison, so no, mostly me lee weapons. Mainly they lived in fear of when some scav tried to pull the wrong bulkhead and the entire ship de pressurized.
The chopper and driver rules work great for space ships!
I will have to check those out!
Appalachian mountain-top removal.
Missile silos in the frozen wastes of Nebraska.
The volcanoes under Hawaii erupted.
Cajun bayou after the sea levels rise due to climate change.
Dust bowl “dirty 30s”, complete w/black dust everywhere, including inside your lungs.
Mall of America.
Detroit.
The one I’m currently running is what we call Plantocalypse .
Basically 100 years ago a bunch of meteors hit the earth and this super fungus grew out enveloping cities. It releases spores that make insects and other animals massive and connced by a hive mind.
Its called The Green.
The survivors we follow live outside New York , or the Tall Green as its known in universe.
If the spores get inside a human you lose your memory and wander off into the green where you blood becomes thick sap and your skin becomes a thick fungal plating.
Only way to prevent this is with gas masks.
Matthew Brown that sounds cool!
Thanks. Wish I could take credit but it was all my players. They are terrified of the Green though. They went in once and pissed it off.