Brock Samson
2011-01-29, 11:19 AM
So, this is inspired some thoughts/dreams I had this morning when waking up. I've never done any GMing, but have given it thought, and I LOVE post-apocalyptic settings.
First off, I'm thinking that the setting will be somewhere around 2040 or so, long enough for an apocalypse to really set in (including the complete breakdown of infrastructure), but not so long that people don't remember what it was like beforehand. At this point in time people are already beginning to start rebuilding some infrastructures.
Here's what I'm thinking "ACTUALLY" happened during the apocalypse. From 2000-2009 there were all the typical portents of DOOOOOOMMMMM!!! and destruction, yadda yadda yadda, then in 2010 it actually happens. Only nothing quite like what people were expecting.
Btw, I'm most familiar with Vampire (oWoD), Kuei Jin (oWoD), and Mage (nWoD) and Changeling (nWoD). And all in all, I prefer the fluff and mechanics of the Old. Yeah, sue me.
Vampire-wise: So, in 2010 the most widely believed rumors by people state that Caine never rose, the Antediluvians did however. Some of them wanted to rule the planet, some of them wanted to (believe it or not) save it from the others. Their warring was monumental and in the end it's widely believe not a one of them survived, most torn apart by hordes of less kindred being sent after them. Vampires around the world who had achieved Golconda suddenly changed into true mortals. Diablerizing went wild and rampant, the Masquerade obviously completely shattered. Nowadays some towns consider the Sabbat the true heroes of the Apocalypse, rising up and tearing down the elder vampires (not many humans left alive to call them evil). The Camarilla completely disorganized and locked with in-fighting, they dispersed. In the 30 years since most of the Sabbat no longer exists, and those that do take more of a "hero" role in what small towns and cities there are, reclaiming some form of humanity when people started thinking of them as heroes.
Wow, I know this is disorganized, hey it came from a dream and I'm trying to fill in the gaps.
The average mortal population was only mostly decimated. Not a lot of nukes actually went off when all hell broke loose, mostly because in the middle of all the craziness all of the electronics on the planet (and sadly even in the space stations and satellites orbiting the Earth) suddenly went dead. No one's sure why, though people think (dun dun dun) "a wizard did it". I'm not sure if I want electronics to stay non-functional, for them to only recently have started working again, or for that to have just knocked out all that were in existence when it happened, completely frying them, but letting people continue to create new ones that aren't fried and do work. Thoughts?
Still, due to all the monsters of the Earth going crazy, guns still working, starvation through infrastructure breakdown, rioting and looting, it was pretty frikkin' dismal for a while. Life is starting to look up more as the years go by though.
Breakdown: So, now there are much fewer vampires throughout the world, with so many being killed. Guess what? The Embrace no longer works! So new vampires don't seem to be created anymore. The ones that are left somehow don't seem to be as affected by Rotshriek or Frenzy anymore (-2 diff for all checks). Here's a biggie, during the day Vampires aren't comatose anymore, but most are fully awake and aware during the daylight, but can't stand the light of day for long. I'm thinking that they can stand direct sunlight for 10 minutes/point of Stamina collectively throughout one day. After that they start taking some amount of Lethal damage until they're eventually put into Torpor. Even stranger some would say, those still in existence have started AGING, albeit slowly, and the players would eventually figure out that the Higher the generation of the vampire, the more quickly their body ages, until at 15th generation you'd age like a human. When vampires throughout the world left found this out, along with being able to stand some of the sunlight and being awake during the day, many of them believed their souls had been returned to them/fixed. It also means those vampires who are terrified of death are even more prone to diablerie because it will prolong their life possibly indefinitely.
The Wall between the mortal world and the other worlds (Umbra/Shadowlands/etc...) seems to be all but completely closed off. It's virtually impossible to cross over into another realm (except through actually dying). So I'm thinking there are literally no ghosts/spirits in this world, or only the few that were currently manifest in the mortal world actually still exist on the plane. Any vampire/mage/shapeshift powers that allow you to affect ghosts/spirits are completely worthless now, and you can't cross over into another realm.
Mages in general have lost tons of power, teleportation no longer exists, astral projection, no spirit powers, no time-manipulation powers. They're not completely de-powered though, but since the world knows about them Paradox and Backlash are even more venomous in their effects, culling a lot of the more blatant mages left alive.
For the Kuei-Jin, because the Wall became inconquerable, the Yama Kings aren't able to affect the mortal world anymore, and of the Kuei-Jin still alive they don't have to fear the Yama Kings power anymore. Again, no new Kuei-Jin are being created though.
Shapeshifters can still procreate, but again no spirit-powers, and a lot of their gifts no longer work. Because of the Change that happened to Vampires most Werewolves no long sense the taint of the Wyrm in them anymore.
Ok, enough rambling, please comment and help me out. I don't really know much of the story for the other games in the Old World (Changeling, Mummy, etc..), but the main theme of the world is that mortals aren't prey as much anymore, are trying to rebuild a semblence of the world that was, most new Creatures aren't being created anymore (though of course it's possible that they sometimes still are, just not frequently). No one can leave their body through any method anymore as they're just shut off from all but the mortal world.
Feel free to critique certain things, or add more awesome ideas. Please help, I actually really like the idea of this setting.
First off, I'm thinking that the setting will be somewhere around 2040 or so, long enough for an apocalypse to really set in (including the complete breakdown of infrastructure), but not so long that people don't remember what it was like beforehand. At this point in time people are already beginning to start rebuilding some infrastructures.
Here's what I'm thinking "ACTUALLY" happened during the apocalypse. From 2000-2009 there were all the typical portents of DOOOOOOMMMMM!!! and destruction, yadda yadda yadda, then in 2010 it actually happens. Only nothing quite like what people were expecting.
Btw, I'm most familiar with Vampire (oWoD), Kuei Jin (oWoD), and Mage (nWoD) and Changeling (nWoD). And all in all, I prefer the fluff and mechanics of the Old. Yeah, sue me.
Vampire-wise: So, in 2010 the most widely believed rumors by people state that Caine never rose, the Antediluvians did however. Some of them wanted to rule the planet, some of them wanted to (believe it or not) save it from the others. Their warring was monumental and in the end it's widely believe not a one of them survived, most torn apart by hordes of less kindred being sent after them. Vampires around the world who had achieved Golconda suddenly changed into true mortals. Diablerizing went wild and rampant, the Masquerade obviously completely shattered. Nowadays some towns consider the Sabbat the true heroes of the Apocalypse, rising up and tearing down the elder vampires (not many humans left alive to call them evil). The Camarilla completely disorganized and locked with in-fighting, they dispersed. In the 30 years since most of the Sabbat no longer exists, and those that do take more of a "hero" role in what small towns and cities there are, reclaiming some form of humanity when people started thinking of them as heroes.
Wow, I know this is disorganized, hey it came from a dream and I'm trying to fill in the gaps.
The average mortal population was only mostly decimated. Not a lot of nukes actually went off when all hell broke loose, mostly because in the middle of all the craziness all of the electronics on the planet (and sadly even in the space stations and satellites orbiting the Earth) suddenly went dead. No one's sure why, though people think (dun dun dun) "a wizard did it". I'm not sure if I want electronics to stay non-functional, for them to only recently have started working again, or for that to have just knocked out all that were in existence when it happened, completely frying them, but letting people continue to create new ones that aren't fried and do work. Thoughts?
Still, due to all the monsters of the Earth going crazy, guns still working, starvation through infrastructure breakdown, rioting and looting, it was pretty frikkin' dismal for a while. Life is starting to look up more as the years go by though.
Breakdown: So, now there are much fewer vampires throughout the world, with so many being killed. Guess what? The Embrace no longer works! So new vampires don't seem to be created anymore. The ones that are left somehow don't seem to be as affected by Rotshriek or Frenzy anymore (-2 diff for all checks). Here's a biggie, during the day Vampires aren't comatose anymore, but most are fully awake and aware during the daylight, but can't stand the light of day for long. I'm thinking that they can stand direct sunlight for 10 minutes/point of Stamina collectively throughout one day. After that they start taking some amount of Lethal damage until they're eventually put into Torpor. Even stranger some would say, those still in existence have started AGING, albeit slowly, and the players would eventually figure out that the Higher the generation of the vampire, the more quickly their body ages, until at 15th generation you'd age like a human. When vampires throughout the world left found this out, along with being able to stand some of the sunlight and being awake during the day, many of them believed their souls had been returned to them/fixed. It also means those vampires who are terrified of death are even more prone to diablerie because it will prolong their life possibly indefinitely.
The Wall between the mortal world and the other worlds (Umbra/Shadowlands/etc...) seems to be all but completely closed off. It's virtually impossible to cross over into another realm (except through actually dying). So I'm thinking there are literally no ghosts/spirits in this world, or only the few that were currently manifest in the mortal world actually still exist on the plane. Any vampire/mage/shapeshift powers that allow you to affect ghosts/spirits are completely worthless now, and you can't cross over into another realm.
Mages in general have lost tons of power, teleportation no longer exists, astral projection, no spirit powers, no time-manipulation powers. They're not completely de-powered though, but since the world knows about them Paradox and Backlash are even more venomous in their effects, culling a lot of the more blatant mages left alive.
For the Kuei-Jin, because the Wall became inconquerable, the Yama Kings aren't able to affect the mortal world anymore, and of the Kuei-Jin still alive they don't have to fear the Yama Kings power anymore. Again, no new Kuei-Jin are being created though.
Shapeshifters can still procreate, but again no spirit-powers, and a lot of their gifts no longer work. Because of the Change that happened to Vampires most Werewolves no long sense the taint of the Wyrm in them anymore.
Ok, enough rambling, please comment and help me out. I don't really know much of the story for the other games in the Old World (Changeling, Mummy, etc..), but the main theme of the world is that mortals aren't prey as much anymore, are trying to rebuild a semblence of the world that was, most new Creatures aren't being created anymore (though of course it's possible that they sometimes still are, just not frequently). No one can leave their body through any method anymore as they're just shut off from all but the mortal world.
Feel free to critique certain things, or add more awesome ideas. Please help, I actually really like the idea of this setting.