hancock.tom Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 Anyone here running or ran it? I'm going to run a campaign starting in a week or two, and wondering if anyone else has any experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Typist Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO I would love to give it a try. I guess I'll have to settle for reading about your experiences! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azato Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO I would like to..but I am not sure which direction I would take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Archer Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO It's one of those genres I don't think I could pull off as a GM - I'd probably turn a campaign into Adventure Time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christougher Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO I was given Post Apocalypse Hero as a gift, although it inspired a few ideas, I never actually got to the point of running it. My first bit of advice: A week or two isn't enough prep time. At least for me; you may prefer to think on your feet. The best suggestion I can give is to decide which of two diections to approach your game from: either you have a post apocalyptic world in mind, and you need to work backwards to the apocalypse that caused it. or you have a planned apocalypse and need to figure out what happens to the world afterwards. Is it low or high powered normals or even superheroic. What powers and abilities are available, and what kind of equipment survived? I may be able to dig up the book for more specific questions or advice. Chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO Run various forms of "Post Apocolyptic" ranging from Realistic "Mad Max" stuff up to full blown Thundarr the Barbarian Conquers Gamma World stuff .....Not to hard, just depends how "real you want it"..... ~Rex....Veteran of Every Post Apocalyptic RPG ever made. Converted them all to HERO but still has a Soft spot for Aftermath and The Morrow Project..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tancred Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO I have a campaign that we have been playing off and on for several years. I actually started it well before Post-Apocalyptic Hero was published. I'll second all of what Christopher said, especially about the amount of prep time. Essentially what I did was get Glupii, the other Hero GM in our group, to help me brainstorm it, and then threw some twists into it so he would be surprised too. I picked a real-world place (Seeley Lake, Montana), looked up as much information as I could on it, and set the starting point there. The game was a Sleepers Awake scenario, and the first session involved the players finding out they were even in a PA game (I didn't tell anyone but Glupii). Our group had never run PA, but I was tired of all our games (d20 and Hero) being fantasy so decided to give it a try. After the first session, the players began to slowly explore their world. A lot of the early part of it could be described as Fantasy Hero with the players having guns (but VERY limited ammunition). My aim for the feel of the game was for mostly realistic, with a very few odd/paranormal touches thrown in just to keep the players guessing. Even yet, several real-world years (and about 3 years in the game world) later the players, even Glupii have no idea how the Apocalypse happened. It just isn't that relevant to day-to-day survival. The game is turning into something like a USA summer series; it goes in seasons. This last season, the game moved out of low fantasy/survival mode and acquired some steampunk/early 1800s touches. I have found that, because I don't want it to be TOO fantastic, I have to be careful about plots I use; I can't just throw in Fantasy Hero plots. I've had a couple of times I had to pause it to think up the next season/story arc, but I don't know if that's just me or just the style I picked. The hardest thing about running PA now is that I keep reading about ways an Apocalypse could happen. It gets harder and harder to stick to my original plan, because there's always one more cool thing to throw in. Anyway, long ramble. But the short version is that you do need a lot of prep time. You have to decide how long after the Apocalypse your game is set, and whether the player characters are from modern day or from the time period of your setting. You also have to decide whether to use a real-world setting or make up your own. Both work, they just entail different kinds of work to prepare. Hope some of that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Tom 2009 Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO It's one of those genres I don't think I could pull off as a GM - I'd probably turn a campaign into Adventure Time. The horror...the horror ()...!!! Major Tom 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO Run various forms of "Post Apocolyptic" ranging from Realistic "Mad Max" stuff up to full blown Thundarr the Barbarian Conquers Gamma World stuff .....Not to hard, just depends how "real you want it"..... ~Rex....Veteran of Every Post Apocalyptic RPG ever made. Converted them all to HERO but still has a Soft spot for Aftermath and The Morrow Project..... I'm with Rex here. Nothing I like better than sitting down with a shiny new atlas and deciding how I'm gonna destroy the world. I've got that same soft spot, Rex. Two of the best ever made. Played the living hell out of The Morrow Project, eventually converted our Lucifer's Hammer inspired Aftermath game into Hero. We also mashed up the rules from Danger International, Champions 2 (for the vehicle rules) and Autoduel Champions and did a Car Wars inspired hero game. So, yeah, count me in as a willing brainstormer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO I'm with Rex here. Nothing I like better than sitting down with a shiny new atlas and deciding how I'm gonna destroy the world. I've got that same soft spot, Rex. Two of the best ever made. Played the living hell out of The Morrow Project, eventually converted our Lucifer's Hammer inspired Aftermath game into Hero. We also mashed up the rules from Danger International, Champions 2 (for the vehicle rules) and Autoduel Champions and did a Car Wars inspired hero game. So, yeah, count me in as a willing brainstormer Heh...ran my Aftermath game modeled on Lucifers Hammer as well. Great Minds. ~Rex.... Such a good book as well. Think I'll dig it out and re read it when I get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO Heh...ran my Aftermath game modeled on Lucifers Hammer as well. Great Minds. ~Rex.... Such a good book as well. Think I'll dig it out and re read it when I get home. It's one of the best Pre-to-Post Apocalypse books ever written, and I hope someday to either see a good screen adaptation , or make enough dough to fund my own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Archer Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO The horror...the horror ()...!!! I love Adventure Time, and it *is* a post-apocalyptic setting after all. But, yeah, not for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravor Posted August 6, 2012 Report Share Posted August 6, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO I'm in the beginning phases of running a Zombie Apocalypse game / Lowish Urban Fantasy Game at the moment. The PCs being (extra tasty zombie bait) immortals hopefully will strike the theme that yes, there are things worse than death out there as opposed to being campy. We'll see... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hancock.tom Posted August 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO Lucifer's Hammer is basically what I am going for. Somewhere in between Lucifer's Hammer and Dies the Fire. My game is going to be set in Charleston, WV - a combination of world geopolitical turmoil (nuclear war in the middle east) and tectonic plate shift caused tsunamis have rendered society pretty much back to the dark ages, except for what they have hung onto. The coastline of the USA is devastated, and without power/irrigation, much of the west and midwest reverts to a dust bowl scenario quickly. One of the "suprises" I intend to spring on the players is that West Virginia is one of the places on earth that are better off. The early plotlines are going to have the PCs facing off a bit with minor political overlord A (a cult leader basically) and eventually overthrow her hold on part of the city. Another political leader who seems nice but really isn't will be sitting there waiting for them to put him on the throne - or to be a rival. Meanwhile the in between plots with bandits, scavenging, rumors of equipment, etc. will fill in the blanks. Once they've got the city straightened out, they either decide to stay and improve life there or move on to form their own area. Generally thats what I've got planned, I have a lot more detail written out but don't want to share too much on a board that could be read by players. Its low post apocalyptic, like mad max. nothing fantastic. I'm going to rely a lot on tough moral decisions, environment-as-villains, political intrigue, and your basic bandit/cannibal type plots to make it go. I'm really looking forward to the group being faced with some tough decisions and having to make hard decisions instead of "powering through" with magic or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted August 6, 2012 Report Share Posted August 6, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO Lucifer's Hammer is basically what I am going for. Somewhere in between Lucifer's Hammer and Dies the Fire. My game is going to be set in Charleston, WV - a combination of world geopolitical turmoil (nuclear war in the middle east) and tectonic plate shift caused tsunamis have rendered society pretty much back to the dark ages, except for what they have hung onto. The coastline of the USA is devastated, and without power/irrigation, much of the west and midwest reverts to a dust bowl scenario quickly. One of the "suprises" I intend to spring on the players is that West Virginia is one of the places on earth that are better off. The early plotlines are going to have the PCs facing off a bit with minor political overlord A (a cult leader basically) and eventually overthrow her hold on part of the city. Another political leader who seems nice but really isn't will be sitting there waiting for them to put him on the throne - or to be a rival. Meanwhile the in between plots with bandits, scavenging, rumors of equipment, etc. will fill in the blanks. Once they've got the city straightened out, they either decide to stay and improve life there or move on to form their own area. Generally thats what I've got planned, I have a lot more detail written out but don't want to share too much on a board that could be read by players. Its low post apocalyptic, like mad max. nothing fantastic. I'm going to rely a lot on tough moral decisions, environment-as-villains, political intrigue, and your basic bandit/cannibal type plots to make it go. I'm really looking forward to the group being faced with some tough decisions and having to make hard decisions instead of "powering through" with magic or something. Sounds like a solid basis to work from. I just finished rereading the whole After the Change series (Dies the Fire), have you read the counterpart Nantucket series? It gives a good perspective on what kinds of technologies could be salvaged into forming the basis for a post crash technological level. where in the time scale are you setting this? Both of the examples you mentioned are mostly set During the Apocalypse. Technological civilization will survive in some sense for the first couple of generations... too many diesels, too many solar panels, tons of alternators waiting to be turned into water or wind generators, black powder is too easy to make. Heck, low power solid state LEDs are everywhere now, they're tough as heck, and easy to wire. My default assumption is that the first 50-75 years are likely to stay around 19th Century tech levels, on the lower end for the rural types (Flintlocks/caplocks/crossbows and animal pulled farm implements) with Victorian tech for the upper classes (Limited electricity, indoor plumbing, artisan crafted machines and weapons, limited industrial production). It'd take active social suppression to wipe out that level of tech, it's just too well understood and documented. The old Anti-tech fanatics idea could be used, perhaps tied into your bad guy Cult. Opens up an amusing option...if West Virgina and environs are stuck in the dark ages because of the local cult, once they've stomped him and King Jerk@ss is trying to take over, having a Royal Australian Air Force Airship show up on a survey flight could really throw things into a tailspin if everything's been swords and crossbows to that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted August 7, 2012 Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 Re: Post apocalyptic HERO Bring in the Horse Clans!!! ~Rex...really needs to get his hands on this Dies the Fire stuff after he finishes with this box of old PA fiction.....lot of goodies in here heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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