The End of All Things

[Synvallius]

This is more of a thread to examine different styles of worlds, than a thread dedicated to any specific world. So if you have any style of world that you've used or prefer to use, just chime in whenever.

I've always been toying with the idea of a dying world, a world in which things are slowly coming to an end that is evident but not forseeable. For example, a gigantic city situated on an even bigger terrace on an impossibly large mountain. One day the terrace snaps off of the mountain and begins to slide down, but it takes so long and moves so slowly that after a time people just stop thinking about it. It could take hundreds of years to hit the bottom and people would probably think that there is no bottom because they hadn't hit it yet. All the while they're slowly picking up speed and their whole world is soon to end.
Or, in contrast, a world in which people know that it is ending but can do nothing about it. Such as a world where you can see the sky unraveling and you can see the edge of reality, but there isn't anything to be done about it. What would that world be like, I wonder? Would the people go mad from knowing destruction is nigh? Or would they just not care because it's unavoidable and there's no sense worrying about it?

Once again, just looking at different styles and flavors for worlds.

[akma]

About your dying worlds: if the innhabitants are indiffrent to the end of the world, it won`t make much diffrence to the setting (unless the players are related to a political movement to change the indiffrence, or the population looks negativly at those who try to save the world).

I think that all the failed attempts to save the world could lead to a lot of desparation in the civilizations. It could give birth to a lot of religions. People could try despratly to find hope and salvation and fail again and again. Maybe there is mass denial.



I like secret conspiracies - secret evil plots hide everywhere, although I didn`t make any that effects an entire setting. I do have two post apocalyptic settings and one post apopcalyptic plane, so I guess that`s a theme I like to use. In one setting the humans (which are the only race) were banished from the surface by indestructable shapeshifters and went underground , in another setting an epic spell was cast that caused eternal rain, and a plane in a third setting is full of immortals and was aged very quickely (it`s rotting, but becuse everything in it is immortal, it`s not dying).



I do have one setting that could be considered a dying world.
Powerfull generals of sea armies want to prove their worth and power, and besides fighting each other, a lot of them sink land. There is only one continent left, and it is constantly shrinking. The tide is very dangerous, and the people of the land don`t have nearly enough power to beat a sea general.

So some of them fled to space. They innhabited other planets in the solar system, and there are colonies in the space itself. But they don`t use technology, they use magic (and not even magitech). I`m thinking of lowering the technology level and availability of magic items to emphasize that. Also, no other planes - no hyperspace. To get to another solar system you would need teleportation magic.

I got the idea from vote up a campaign setting 2, when one of the geography themes that it was possible to vote for was space, but the other people vision in that thread seemed to be magitech.

[Synvallius]

Conspiracies can be fun, I love political intrigue and once had a campaign running with probably five different factions within an empire all conspiring against each other for control of the throne and senate. If a conspiracy type game is well thought out it can be really fun, but sometimes it can really bog down the game, as it takes forever to find out who sent who to kill such and such.
I like the idea of a place that's eternally raining, sound like it would be fun.
So, for your last example, they use magic to go into outerspace, or do they use magic to create space traveling vessels to carry them into space?

[Voltaire]

I think 'dying world' covers a pretty significant chunk of the thematic landscape.

For example, 'Mad Max 2' would qualify - in my mind - as a 'dying world'. Resources and goods are incredibly finite, and the struggle between the marauders and the protagonists is basically over a tanker of fuel. When it's gone, it's gone. Then again, that's more of a societal breakdown, than any real death of the natural environment. So I guess it depends on what you mean by 'dying world', and which part of it is dying.

A good example of a more total death is, from what I recall, the 'Fading Suns' setting.

Like akma pointed out, if it's for a campaign setting, then it should affect how the player characters see and interact with their world. Perhaps to instill a sense of urgency, or to serve as a backdrop for building up dramatic tension. Is the death preventable? Or is it a simple fact of life that characters need to deal with.

Very interesting topic, in any case...

[akma]

Conspiracies can be fun, I love political intrigue and once had a campaign running with probably five different factions within an empire all conspiring against each other for control of the throne and senate.

I remmember I thought about a kingdom in which there is an extremly strong police, but barely any secret police, since the previous ruler was against trickery. So it is a kingdom filled with secret cults and organizations, but none of them have nearly enough power to challange the rulers of the land. Their secret wars include a lot of snitching.

I didn`t develop this idea much.



I like the idea of a place that's eternally raining, sound like it would be fun.


Remmember the rule about not posting in old posts:
Everain. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181001)



So, for your last example, they use magic to go into outerspace, or do they use magic to create space traveling vessels to carry them into space?

They use magic to go directly to space. No physical objects are created in the process.



Like akma pointed out, if it's for a campaign setting, then it should affect how the player characters see and interact with their world. Perhaps to instill a sense of urgency, or to serve as a backdrop for building up dramatic tension. Is the death preventable? Or is it a simple fact of life that characters need to deal with.


I think the best way to create a sense of urgency in a dying world is to have the date of destruction known and unpreventeble. Maybe you can`t even postpond it. The players could try to achieve some goal, which may or may not include their future survival, before that date.

[Synvallius]

I suppose it would be right to clarify what I mean by a "Dying World."
By dying, I mean a world in which the environment, plane, or even a specific area is coming to a complete and total end. As in, the environment has been so badly abused that their are no more resources left to survive off of, that the plane is slowly crumpling in on itself, or that (like my earlier example) a city is slowly approaching destruction.

[Voltaire]

I think that the more immediate the calamity is, the better the tension it introduces.

It would make for some very, very dark settings. Maybe a world in which people no longer fight or strive to accumulate things (wealth, family, security etc), but where the vast majority just look for the next big 'high' (doesn't have to be drugs; any sensation that they haven't experienced before would do). Too many implications to even try wrapping my head around, at the moment!

[Lord of Shadows]

I am currently using a homebrew campaign setting (see signature) where the world has been decimated by a plague. It is based on material that first appeared here on these forums a few years ago. Neither divine nor arcane magic was effective against it, and it seemed like it just had to run its course.

It's in playtest now, so I can't give away too many details (in case players are reading), but a powerful Outsider just met with the party and told them that the Plague "had not run its full course yet," and he gives the party a clue that may help them prevent what he calls the "extinction event" unfolding on their world.

Some pretty apocalyptic stuff. The players are loving it.

[Yora]

Some time ago some accidentally had a cool idea for a science fiction setting hidden in a larger text.

Suppose humans travel to the stars and find lots of planets that had been settled by other species. And they have all died a long time ago.
The galaxy is full of emty ruins, and humans appear to be the only intelligent species that still exists.

[akma]

stuff about a plague


How did the players avoid infection? Pure luck?


The galaxy is full of emty ruins, and humans appear to be the only intelligent species that still exists.

Cryptic. I like it.
Maybe not just the only intelligent race, but that only creatures from earth survived, intelligent or otherwise.
Maybe the ruins are completly intact, except from historical writing who were mysteriously partly deleted.

[Lord of Shadows]

How did the players avoid infection? Pure luck?

From the core rules:

It is suggested that the players’ characters for some reason have not been infected, even after exposure. This will provide for more normal game play and continuity. Of course, an enterprising DM could decide to have the Plague affect the party in some way anyway. There are also the Plaguetouched and the Flesh-wrought for those players who want to explore more unusual options.

Basically, there is no reason they couldn't be infected, except it might make for a short campaign. I picture it kind of like The Stand by Stephen King, only there are more survivors. For now. What the party does may affect what happens in the future.

Plaguetouched are plague survivors who have been deformed ("touched") by the plague, and Fleshwrought graft body parts onto themselves to gain extra abilities. Sort of Frankenstein-ish.

[hoverfrog]

Have you ever heard of a game called The Morrow Project (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Morrow_Project)? The world died, almost. The PCs were placed in suspended animation programmed to wake them after a certain time to begin the rebuilding process. It is a fantastic setting

The PCs are the ones who haven't given up hope for a better tomorrow. Even though they have to survive they want more for the survivors. I imagine that if your world is dying then all you want is to live another day, to make sure that you survive even at the cost of your neighbours.

Giving up isn't the only option of course. Some people during the plagues of Europe led a life of debauchery believing that if the end times were upon them then they should live as if there were no tomorrow. Some would refuse to accept the evidence before their eyes even to engage with those who pointed out the impending doom. Some would turn to saviours, whether they be charlatans or not, just for the hope of something beyond the doom upon them.

[Lord of Shadows]

I have heard of The Morrow Project, I seem to remember seeing ads for it years ago somewhere, perhaps in old issues of Dragon magazine? At the time I wasn't interested, as I was all about "fantasy" RPG and Morrow was "too sci-fi." I must admit, though, that I am glad to see it is still around. It is an interesting idea, and I always thought it would make a cool movie... or even series of movies. It is hard-core apocalypse as far as "the end of all things."