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RukiTanuki
2008-12-10, 07:59 PM
More posturing for my campaign setting.

On the primary continent of my campaign setting, humans are the newcomers. The other races had settled into reasonable arrangements with each other until a few centuries ago, when a massive refugee ship of humans arrived. To make a long story short, the eastern continent (where the humans were originally located) had become ground zero for an apocalyptic event shortly after the refugee ship departed.

With my setting taking place in an industrial era with roughly nineteenth-century technology, this catastrophic event would have taken place roughly at the tail end of a renaissance era. Frankly, I haven't seen a depiction of a renaissance-era post-apocalyptic world before, and I'm trying to brainstorm ways to make it interesting.

For reference, the apocalyptic event can roughly be described as a wave of dark energy that swept through the continent, sapping the life out of most things and animating a world war's worth of corpses as zombies, which proceeded to run amok. I can think of vague similarities to Eberron's Mournland, but for the most part I'm avoiding the Mournland's defining features (mist, screwy magic, etc.) if possible.

Any thoughts?

Prometheus
2008-12-11, 01:02 AM
Except for the zombie part, it sounds a lot like the Black Plague (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_death), which of course, would be 500 years earlier. Of course, in 1918 there is the Spanish flu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu), which is 100 years later. And the Lisbon Earthquake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon_earthquake) in 1755. What I'm saying is that maybe there is a way you can mix real world threats with your plotline. You could either address the plague head-on and have the public realize they are part of some horrible pattern, or you could investigate the historical reactions to these events to gather what might happen. You don't mention religion, but the problem of evil was big in the renaissance times. The aforementioned Black Plague caused people to flock to religion and ready themselves for the end of days and the aforementioned Lisbon Earthquake caused them to question the belief of a benevolent God in control of the world. Wars didn't stop, they just got nastier and more confused. I'd make the inhumanity of humanity (especially in the light of crisis) a common theme, but you don't have to go that dark. Of course, you don't have to have renaissance society with renaissance technology, but that's just a thought.

Renaissance/Industrial Revolution was also a time of population boom and subsequent expansion and colonization. You don't make it clear whether more people die or more people run, but in the later case you could make scarcity of resources a big thing and there exist and on-going effort to reclaim land that is roaming with zombies (of course, they would get increasingly harder and I can't imagine the campaign ending in other way than the PCs heading straight into ground zero).

MeklorIlavator
2008-12-11, 01:12 AM
You could check out the book ReVisions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReVisions). One of the short stories(Terminal Solution?) deals with what it would be like if AIDs erupted in Victorian England.

bosssmiley
2008-12-11, 10:17 AM
Renaissance era post-apocalyptic world? Can you say "WFRP". :smallamused:

Flagellants, witch-hunters, mercenary companies gone rogue, gross social injustice, pox, agues and plague (along with doctors in beaked hats (http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=plague doctor)) :smallbiggrin:

RukiTanuki
2008-12-11, 03:12 PM
Ah, I love responses that get me thinking...


Except for the zombie part, it sounds a lot like the Black Plague (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_death), which of course, would be 500 years earlier.

That's probably a good start. It's not as anachronistic as it sounds, since this event was a magical catastrophe. Besides, I can't help but giggle at the idea of "Black Plague plus Zombies," but maybe I've been playing too much Left 4 Dead lately. :)


You could either address the plague head-on and have the public realize they are part of some horrible pattern, or you could investigate the historical reactions to these events to gather what might happen.

My plan so far is that most of the survivors were departing via a massive ship (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90808) just before the plague hit. Since then, a few legendary voyages have been made back (there's a tempest in the ocean between that makes trips difficult), and those that return had tales of horror at what remained. Subsequently, theories abound as to what happened, but it's fairly well known that the area's a wasteland. The cause worries historians, governors, and other leaders (mostly by how to prevent another event), but the average person has more pressing issues than what happened to a land he's never seen.


You don't mention religion, but the problem of evil was big in the renaissance times. The aforementioned Black Plague caused people to flock to religion and ready themselves for the end of days and the aforementioned Lisbon Earthquake caused them to question the belief of a benevolent God in control of the world. Wars didn't stop, they just got nastier and more confused. I'd make the inhumanity of humanity (especially in the light of crisis) a common theme, but you don't have to go that dark.

I've taken the 4e Tiefling ball and I'm running with it. :) This human empire fell from an internal coup, which had the misfortune of allying itself with astral forces they didn't really understand. When your government falls and the bloodline of each person responsible suddenly looks like a fiend, people tend to react emotionally. Tieflings still take it on the chin from people, even though living on the western continent alone should be evidence that even their ancestors defected from the dark forces people associate them with.

The new tiefling government suddenly found itself in trouble on all fronts: A civil war, supression of a church inquisition, ever-increasing demands from their allies... oh, and a massive dragonborn army looking to correct this extraplanar intrusion.

There's one major church, as there was one Creator God, but (s)he's dead now. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91212) They're split into six or seven denominations. Alternatively, there are circles of worship for primal forces of nature, elements, extraplanars, and even epic heroes. In essence, people latch on to sources of power for their philosophical views.


Renaissance/Industrial Revolution was also a time of population boom and subsequent expansion and colonization. You don't make it clear whether more people die or more people run, but in the later case you could make scarcity of resources a big thing and there exist and on-going effort to reclaim land that is roaming with zombies (of course, they would get increasingly harder and I can't imagine the campaign ending in other way than the PCs heading straight into ground zero).

Fifty thousand people or so fled. Millions were left behind; most perished, became soulless husks, turned undead, or became Shadar-kai. Those left are effectively eeking out the existence you describe. I'll have fun devising all manner of new unnatural ecology for this mutated wasteland. I'm also picturing some of the ecological influence spreading to the tools used, such as a demongraft weapon. (I can't find a picture of Fable II's Enforcer gun, but it struck me as an example.)

Oh, and to clarify, this isn't the primary zone of my campaign. The "main" continent is the western one, where the humans arrived, expanded, and shook up the entire balance of demi-human civilizations that lived there. A loose Federation was formed, though representation (and degree of satisfaction) varies among the races. Even humans are a bit socially divided between the more Jules-Verne city-goers to the east and the Old-West plainsmen. The wasteland on the eastern continent, however, is a good concern for paragon-level heroes to have. I also approve of the idea of having a campaign world fleshed out enough that a very dangerous heroic-level campaign in the wasteland would work. :)