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  1. - Top - End - #1
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    Default Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    So this is a random world idea that popped into my head a couple days ago and has been nagging at me ever since. I'm looking to get some outside perspective, ideas, suggestions and general brainstorming.

    This setting is intended for D&D 5e

    The basic idea is a world not unlike our own with advanced technology hits an apocalyptic event. Their civilization collapses leaving behind nothing but ruined cities and the automated robot construction plants that keep churning out animalistic robots that stalk the wild lands. In the aftermath, humanity limps on, and new races appear to share the world (Currently thinking Dwarves, Warforged, Tinker Gnomes, Sayre, and maybe Rougaru. Still waffling on what to allow). Along with new races comes, of course, magic.

    The decades roll past and civilization manages to rebuild to the point of old west technology. Steam engines, revolvers and maybe the very first primitive automobiles. However, another big change that occurs is the return of dinosaurs, which take the place of most domesticated work animals. Rather than horses, people ride raptors, rather than cows people herd triceratops, etc.

    So, something like Red Dead Redemption crossed with Horizon Zero Dawn with a splash of Jurassic Park for flavor.

    That's about as far as I've gotten so far. Just some loose ideas I've cobbled together and am attempting to hammer into a usable setting.

    Thoughts?

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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    The robots would probably need to maintain the factories, powerplants and mines used to produce them and so those would be clean and in a good state while ancient buildings meant for citizens would be in varied states of disrepair because nobody knows how to give orders to the robots nor even know the robots were supposed to obey orders?
    Last edited by noob; 2021-01-01 at 10:46 AM.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    What if the cataclysm that shattered the modern world was the return of magic? It had been active during their version of the ancient and medieval time periods, but slowly went away. People started to rely on technology and robots instead of sorcery and monsters. Then, when magic was all but forgotten, it returned with a vengeance. Random people (latent sorcerers) started exploding, digital systems went offline, and governments rushed to create sorcerer-soldiers to fight in one final war. It did not end well.
    Centuries later, dinosaurs roam the earth, coexisting with humans and their various magically mutated offshoots. Sorcery and gunpowder are both utilized equally, and science has been largely abandoned in the pursuit of the ever-changing logic of magic.

    (What I'm imagining here is train-robbers slinging spells and riding raptors.) I think this idea is pretty cool.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by Erik the Bard View Post
    What if the cataclysm that shattered the modern world was the return of magic? It had been active during their version of the ancient and medieval time periods, but slowly went away. People started to rely on technology and robots instead of sorcery and monsters. Then, when magic was all but forgotten, it returned with a vengeance. Random people (latent sorcerers) started exploding, digital systems went offline, and governments rushed to create sorcerer-soldiers to fight in one final war. It did not end well.
    Centuries later, dinosaurs roam the earth, coexisting with humans and their various magically mutated offshoots. Sorcery and gunpowder are both utilized equally, and science has been largely abandoned in the pursuit of the ever-changing logic of magic.

    (What I'm imagining here is train-robbers slinging spells and riding raptors.) I think this idea is pretty cool.
    Seems like you pretty much get the concept I'm aiming for here. That's good, I was afraid it might be too much for one setting

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    The former great state of Kansas, known before the war for its endless expanses of cereal grains, has since become overrun with wild-growing wheat. It is also traversed by several herds of sauropods, which feed on and fertilize the wheat. On the backs of many of the gargantuan creatures are mobile settlements, inhabited by the smallfolk, who travel with the dinosaurs. They have comfortable homes which consist of a large saddle-like fixture and several poles sticking up and out from it with hammocks hanging between them and a large tarp over the whole thing to shelter from rain.

    By living on the backs of sauropods, the gnomes are able to easily traverse the territory as they graze, which allows them to mediate trade between settlements and harvest grain as they go. Both the gnomes and sauropods contribute to their mutual defense from predators and raiders (mostly raptors and raptor-riders). The gnomes, to keep their mounts appeased, also clean and groom the dinosaurs.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by xanxosttheslaad View Post
    The former great state of Kansas, known before the war for its endless expanses of cereal grains, has since become overrun with wild-growing wheat. It is also traversed by several herds of sauropods, which feed on and fertilize the wheat. On the backs of many of the gargantuan creatures are mobile settlements, inhabited by the smallfolk, who travel with the dinosaurs. They have comfortable homes which consist of a large saddle-like fixture and several poles sticking up and out from it with hammocks hanging between them and a large tarp over the whole thing to shelter from rain.

    By living on the backs of sauropods, the gnomes are able to easily traverse the territory as they graze, which allows them to mediate trade between settlements and harvest grain as they go. Both the gnomes and sauropods contribute to their mutual defense from predators and raiders (mostly raptors and raptor-riders). The gnomes, to keep their mounts appeased, also clean and groom the dinosaurs.
    Love it. Reminds me of a similar civilization from the book Red Sails in the Fallout, though those were humans on the back of giant sloth.

    But aren't Sauropods mostly of the long neck variety that need trees to eat from? (I am by no means a dinosaur expert)

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by Rider View Post
    But aren't Sauropods mostly of the long neck variety that need trees to eat from? (I am by no means a dinosaur expert)
    Not necessarily. Sauropods were long-necked, but many were quite probably ground-grazers. However, there's still a problem. Specifically, there was little to no grass in the Mesozoic Era, certainly nothing like today's modern grasslands (which didn't come into being until the Miocene). Dinosaurs almost certainly cannot survive on modern vegetation.

    This is really a fairly general principle: you can't transpose fauna without also transposing flora. There's only a handful of places on Earth today that have anything even close to a Mesozoic flora base (New Caledonia, portions of Tasmania).

    There's also a climate problem. The Mesozoic Era, and especially the Cretaceous, was a hothouse world with no polar icecaps where temperatures rarely dipped below freezing even near the poles. Kansas, in this scenario, was under water. It's distinctly unclear if dinosaurs would be able to survive in anything like the continental climate conditions of the modern great plains.
    Now publishing a webnovel travelogue.

    Resvier: a P6 homebrew setting

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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    I do not think it is too odd to say that the temperature did raise to comparable values to the temperatures that existed during the varied dinosaur eras or that the modern dinosaurs were meant to handle the current climate(it is unlikely that the ones who made them had all the genetic code so completing it would have happened and changes like making them slower so that they use less food or making them able to handle the current climate would probably be good candidates).
    Last edited by noob; 2021-01-03 at 06:33 AM.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by Mechalich View Post
    Not necessarily. Sauropods were long-necked, but many were quite probably ground-grazers. However, there's still a problem. Specifically, there was little to no grass in the Mesozoic Era, certainly nothing like today's modern grasslands (which didn't come into being until the Miocene). Dinosaurs almost certainly cannot survive on modern vegetation.

    This is really a fairly general principle: you can't transpose fauna without also transposing flora. There's only a handful of places on Earth today that have anything even close to a Mesozoic flora base (New Caledonia, portions of Tasmania).
    That is certainly an issue, especially since the 'Old West', at least how I imagine it, is largely grasslands (with lots of lands now used for grazing and growing of cereal grasses and the like). I did a bit of research on Diplodocus in particular, which seemed to be mostly horizontal, with a diet of mostly ferns and soft leaves. Perhaps its teeth, which were supposedly good for stripping, might also be good for stripping the leaves and grains off of wheat or whatever. Of course, that would be different from whatever their natural diets were, but the dinosaurs might have been genetically/magically altered to live in a modern environment. If you go further west in the American frontier, there are ferns and forests, which might be more amenable to Diplodocus, as well as the more vertical sauropods.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Well, before I start delving too deeply into the science of dinosaurs n the old west, I'm trying to hammer out some basic setting background.

    Right now I'm working off a shadowrun style concept. So it's earth, and it follows history normally until right around the time the west of the united states was being settled. So round the mid to late 1700's. That's when What I am currently called the Emberfall happened and magic returned to the world. Big rifts open all over and spill some fantasy races into the world, and turmoil ensues. The east coast is torn apart in the matter of a few days. Western cities are cut off from what was considered civilization, and the entire central US becomes a no-man's land known as The Wild where monsters roam and things like Orc tribes and wild elf populations live.

    The setting is focused on the west coast, with no one having had word from the east in almost one hundred years. Naturally the reappearance of dinosaurs and monsters of myth have left the local fauna devastated, so people have adapted to taming dinos instead. Trains run up and down the coast, but no longer cross the country. Only recently have people begun exhibitions into The Wild to try and cross and find out what happened on the east coast.

    That's as far as I've gotten so far.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by Rider View Post
    Well, before I start delving too deeply into the science of dinosaurs n the old west, I'm trying to hammer out some basic setting background.

    Right now I'm working off a shadowrun style concept. So it's earth, and it follows history normally until right around the time the west of the united states was being settled. So round the mid to late 1700's. That's when What I am currently called the Emberfall happened and magic returned to the world. Big rifts open all over and spill some fantasy races into the world, and turmoil ensues. The east coast is torn apart in the matter of a few days. Western cities are cut off from what was considered civilization, and the entire central US becomes a no-man's land known as The Wild where monsters roam and things like Orc tribes and wild elf populations live.

    The setting is focused on the west coast, with no one having had word from the east in almost one hundred years. Naturally the reappearance of dinosaurs and monsters of myth have left the local fauna devastated, so people have adapted to taming dinos instead. Trains run up and down the coast, but no longer cross the country. Only recently have people begun exhibitions into The Wild to try and cross and find out what happened on the east coast.

    That's as far as I've gotten so far.
    I think it would be interesting to reverse the typical elf dynamic of being a benevolent, dying, magical species. What if, in the fantasy world, the elves maintain massive empires? Elven dynasties feud amongst each other in opulence while legions of orc slave-soldiers fight in their unending wars. The elves are fey in their mindset, maintaining complex and obscure rules of etiquette and honor. The elves in the Wild West world are outcasts and escapees from the fantasy world.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by Erik the Bard View Post
    I think it would be interesting to reverse the typical elf dynamic of being a benevolent, dying, magical species. What if, in the fantasy world, the elves maintain massive empires? Elven dynasties feud amongst each other in opulence while legions of orc slave-soldiers fight in their unending wars. The elves are fey in their mindset, maintaining complex and obscure rules of etiquette and honor. The elves in the Wild West world are outcasts and escapees from the fantasy world.
    I'm not really going for a dual world concept. Where the fantasy races and monsters came from is known only as the Veil, and I'm leaving it obscure and abstract. It is largely irrelevant to the setting as it is inaccessible and one can't go there. It only opened during the Emberfall for a few hours, then it closed and has remained closed.

    I do envision elves in this setting to be more tribal and primal rather than ethereal and ever-living fae.
    Last edited by Rider; 2021-01-10 at 11:13 PM.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    So, first of all, you had "Old West" "Post-Apocalypse" and "Dinosaurs" in the title. I would play crap out of that setting! That is like what 10-year-old Sandy wished the world was. It's the perfect world.

    Now adult Sandy wants to know about the mechanics. Would you be changing speeds stats and stuff to reflect that it's Dinosaurs? Would there be Chernobyl style hazard areas from the cataclysm? Can I lasso a T-Rex if I have a +5 strength modifier? Can one of the quests be a Triceratops cattle drive? And now we are back to ten-year-old Sandy. This sounds awesome and I want to play in this sandbox!

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Two expert-class craft/knowledge skills would be a must:

    Mechanic- to make and maintain party equipment and to jury-rig remnant tech at need.

    Gunsmith- to make and repair firearms. Assuming alchemy covers gunpowder making, a gunsmith is still needed to choose the right powder for a weapon and to load/reload ammo.

    Also consider an additional class:

    Technomancer
    d6 HP/level
    Saves as Rogue
    6+Int Bonus Skill Points/level
    1 Feat +1 each at 3,6,9,12,15, and 18

    At level 1 the TM can 'Determine Use' of an unknown technological device with a d20+Mechanic Skill Ranks+Int Bonus vs. DC of the device.

    At level 2 the TM can 'Power Up' an unknown technological device from his available Batteries for a number of rounds equal to his level. To succeed the d20+Mechanic Skill +Int Bonus roll must exceed the DC of the device. The DC is also usually the Burn Out save, which if failed, results in the device being ruined. (Repairs may or may not be possible.)

    At level 3 the TM can 'Charge Batteries.' This feat includes knowing if a particular battery can be recharged.

    At level 5 the TM begins to comprehend basic electrical theory and can read basic electrical schematics. The Mechanic Skill may now be applied to power and lighting systems, but not to electronics, computers, or cybernetics, (which may continue to be used as the earlier feats describe.

    At level 7 the TM may 'Make Repairs' which restore a device to one of three states:
    Erratic operation in which annoying or unpredictable behaviors occur,
    Functional operation in which the device operates as intended,
    Or Damaged, which increases the next Repair DC by 5.
    Each device which can be repaired has two DCs. A single d20+Mechanic+Int roll is compared to both DCs. Achieving the higher results in a Functional repair. If that fails, the same total achieving the lower DC results in an Erratic repair. Failing both DCs results in a Damaged device, and each DC is increased by 5 for subsequent repair attempts.

    At level 9 the TM learns to craft batteries. This also allows construction of alternators and generators. The TM also gains a +TM levels bonus to avoid Burn Out results from Power Up attempts.

    At level 12 the TM begins to comprehend solid state devices and can use any of the TM feats to power, repair, or operate electronic equipment.

    At level 15 the TM learns how to 'Operate Basic Computers,' but not cybernetics. This allows tqoubleshooting and repair of computers via component replacement, but does not allow repair of damaged cards, boards, or components, nor does it grant comprehension of any computer languages.

    At level 18 the TM gains the ability to 'Operate Cybernetic Systems.' The TM can control and possibly reprogram robots, but cannot create or repair cybernetic components. This does not exclude the repair of mechanical, electrical, or solid state electronics systems on a robot.
    At this level the mysteries of computing begin to open up and computer programming is possible, as is the fabrication of electronic components.

    At level 21 the TM can reproduce the wonders of the Ancients.

    A TM requires a tool kit which grows as he levels. He also requires a workshop to fabricate components and a lab to train and experiment.
    Assume a took kit requires 1 cubic foot per level at 20 pounds per level.
    Assume a workshop requires 5 cubic feet per level for equipment and a workbench plus floor space to place the work and to work around it. 1000 cubic feet would be a minimum, but this can be a tent or makeshift shelter to protect the work from the elements.
    A lab is a permanent structure of no less than 1000 cubic feet plus 100 cubic feet per level. It may be rented, but must be stocked at costs similar to a wizard's lab.

    Donkeybot
    The great Technomancer's Guild builds and sells (to its members only) a robot draught machine designed to pull a donkey cart at walking speed. Its weight capacity is 200 pounds and its towing capacity is 2000 pounds on level ground. (Common roads limit this to 1500 pounds, while sleds may require less than 750 pounds.) Two or more donkeybots may be teamed for greater weight capacity, but not for increased speed.
    The Guild also offers a variety of batteries for sale to its members.
    Last edited by brian 333; 2021-02-23 at 12:36 AM.

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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by brian 333 View Post
    Two expert-class craft/knowledge skills would be a must:

    Mechanic- to make and maintain party equipment and to jury-rig remnant tech at need.

    Gunsmith- to make and repair firearms. Assuming alchemy covers gunpowder making, a gunsmith is still needed to choose the right powder for a weapon and to load/reload ammo.

    Also consider an additional class:

    Technomancer
    d6 HP/level
    Saves as Rogue
    6+Int Bonus Skill Points/level
    1 Feat +1 each at 3,6,9,12,15, and 18

    At level 1 the TM can 'Determine Use' of an unknown technological device with a d20+Mechanic Skill Ranks+Int Bonus vs. DC of the device.

    At level 2 the TM can 'Power Up' an unknown technological device from his available Batteries for a number of rounds equal to his level. To succeed the d20+Mechanic Skill +Int Bonus roll must exceed the DC of the device. The DC is also usually the Burn Out save, which if failed, results in the device being ruined. (Repairs may or may not be possible.)

    At level 3 the TM can 'Charge Batteries.' This feat includes knowing if a particular battery can be recharged.

    At level 5 the TM begins to comprehend basic electrical theory and can read basic electrical schematics. The Mechanic Skill may now be applied to power and lighting systems, but not to electronics, computers, or cybernetics, (which may continue to be used as the earlier feats describe.

    At level 7 the TM may 'Make Repairs' which restore a device to one of three states:
    Erratic operation in which annoying or unpredictable behaviors occur,
    Functional operation in which the device operates as intended,
    Or Damaged, which increases the next Repair DC by 5.
    Each device which can be repaired has two DCs. A single d20+Mechanic+Int roll is compared to both DCs. Achieving the higher results in a Functional repair. If that fails, the same total achieving the lower DC results in an Erratic repair. Failing both DCs results in a Damaged device, and each DC is increased by 5 for subsequent repair attempts.

    At level 9 the TM learns to craft batteries. This also allows construction of alternators and generators. The TM also gains a +TM levels bonus to avoid Burn Out results from Power Up attempts.

    At level 12 the TM begins to comprehend solid state devices and can use any of the TM feats to power, repair, or operate electronic equipment.

    At level 15 the TM learns how to 'Operate Basic Computers,' but not cybernetics. This allows tqoubleshooting and repair of computers via component replacement, but does not allow repair of damaged cards, boards, or components, nor does it grant comprehension of any computer languages.

    At level 18 the TM gains the ability to 'Operate Cybernetic Systems.' The TM can control and possibly reprogram robots, but cannot create or repair cybernetic components. This does not exclude the repair of mechanical, electrical, or solid state electronics systems on a robot.
    At this level the mysteries of computing begin to open up and computer programming is possible, as is the fabrication of electronic components.

    At level 21 the TM can reproduce the wonders of the Ancients.

    A TM requires a tool kit which grows as he levels. He also requires a workshop to fabricate components and a lab to train and experiment.
    Assume a took kit requires 1 cubic foot per level at 20 pounds per level.
    Assume a workshop requires 5 cubic feet per level for equipment and a workbench plus floor space to place the work and to work around it. 1000 cubic feet would be a minimum, but this can be a tent or makeshift shelter to protect the work from the elements.
    A lab is a permanent structure of no less than 1000 cubic feet plus 100 cubic feet per level. It may be rented, but must be stocked at costs similar to a wizard's lab.

    Donkeybot
    The great Technomancer's Guild builds and sells (to its members only) a robot draught machine designed to pull a donkey cart at walking speed. Its weight capacity is 200 pounds and its towing capacity is 2000 pounds on level ground. (Common roads limit this to 1500 pounds, while sleds may require less than 750 pounds.) Two or more donkeybots may be teamed for greater weight capacity, but not for increased speed.
    The Guild also offers a variety of batteries for sale to its members.
    The major issue is that most of the class features of the TM is knowledge and so once a few TM reach a given level it would not make sense for their knowledge to be untransferable through a few years of teaching.
    If you could give an explanation like "adding specific cybernetical parts people do not know how to produce to their own brain" or some other dangerous process as an explanation for their abilities then you could have them use tech and say "oh even operating the simplest device is impossible without the right implants interfacing with the device" and then not have the entire point of the setting destroyed in the bunch of session a team of adventurers needs to reach high levels.
    Last edited by noob; 2021-02-23 at 05:41 AM.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Valid points. I had origionally considered that Technomancers used magic to produce their wonders.

    But then I remembered a quote from a time-travel story:

    You can't railroad until it's time for railroading.

    The idea is that technology can't progress beyond the infrastructure that supports it. This means that farmers have to produce enough surplus to support millions of workers who do not farm. These non-farmers have to mine, refine, and manufacture the feedstocks of the mass industrial efforts which produce the technological miracles. Other non-farmers have to move the food, fuel, and fun around from where it's created to where it's wanted. Add in managers, entertainers, teachers, police, and soldiers, and you discover you need tens of millions of citizens to railroad, and hundreds of millions for cell phones.

    Without the supply chains, knowing everything you need to know about computers does not get you on-line. The other guy needs a computer too. And a wi-fi router.

    So, I went with individual tinkers playing with relics under the eye of a jealous Technomancy Guild. Their technical miracles are one-off creations using half-understood theories. They can't create a second lithium battery because all of the available materials went into making the first.

    And the Guild watches its members and the dabblers too out of fear that they might waken the sleeping giant which had previously destroyed their world.

    Of course, the original post I made was intended to provoke thought. The worldbuilder is free to use what he likes and discard, modify, or recreate the rest.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by brian 333 View Post
    Valid points. I had origionally considered that Technomancers used magic to produce their wonders.

    But then I remembered a quote from a time-travel story:

    You can't railroad until it's time for railroading.

    The idea is that technology can't progress beyond the infrastructure that supports it. This means that farmers have to produce enough surplus to support millions of workers who do not farm. These non-farmers have to mine, refine, and manufacture the feedstocks of the mass industrial efforts which produce the technological miracles. Other non-farmers have to move the food, fuel, and fun around from where it's created to where it's wanted. Add in managers, entertainers, teachers, police, and soldiers, and you discover you need tens of millions of citizens to railroad, and hundreds of millions for cell phones.

    Without the supply chains, knowing everything you need to know about computers does not get you on-line. The other guy needs a computer too. And a wi-fi router.

    So, I went with individual tinkers playing with relics under the eye of a jealous Technomancy Guild. Their technical miracles are one-off creations using half-understood theories. They can't create a second lithium battery because all of the available materials went into making the first.

    And the Guild watches its members and the dabblers too out of fear that they might waken the sleeping giant which had previously destroyed their world.

    Of course, the original post I made was intended to provoke thought. The worldbuilder is free to use what he likes and discard, modify, or recreate the rest.
    The issue is that the infrastructure to sustain tech is here or else all the robots would break down in a few years and be a minor detail in the setting.
    So once you can start controlling robots and have a team of strong adventurers you can probably start stealing the entire robot tech infrastructure and then have a pocket of civilisation that is like how it was prefall that will slowly expand as you capture more robots and more of the factories that keeps repairing the robots.
    (I assume the robots fixed the electricity issue by being nuclear powered but they might not be in which case there might even be power plants to steal)
    Last edited by noob; 2021-02-24 at 06:16 AM.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Again, your reasoning is sound. I don't wish to argue in favor of one style choice over another, but would like to help the OP refine the ideas chosen for inclusion in the campaign.

    As an example, let's use the current issue:

    The robots keep producing more robots. Who knows why? But if a robotic factory is 'liberated and repurposed' the new owner discovers that the power supply is cut off and the supplies to maintain it and continue production suddenly stop. The owner ir stuck with a factory that does nothing. The effort to get it back online requires a supply chain that would start a new tech economy even without the factory. And there just aren't enough people to do it.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by brian 333 View Post
    Again, your reasoning is sound. I don't wish to argue in favor of one style choice over another, but would like to help the OP refine the ideas chosen for inclusion in the campaign.

    As an example, let's use the current issue:

    The robots keep producing more robots. Who knows why? But if a robotic factory is 'liberated and repurposed' the new owner discovers that the power supply is cut off and the supplies to maintain it and continue production suddenly stop. The owner ir stuck with a factory that does nothing. The effort to get it back online requires a supply chain that would start a new tech economy even without the factory. And there just aren't enough people to do it.
    Just capture all the elements of the chain.
    You see the issue is that they are all present.
    Maybe you have to capture 10000 different things to make the chain work again(if it looks like real life chain) but the fact it is possible is an issue because it means that recovering all the tech will just be a matter of generations instead of being a matter of millenniums.
    Last edited by noob; 2021-02-24 at 02:29 PM.

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    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Yes, but that is the case anyway. We do nothing today that Hero of Alexandria didn't already know how to do. Why did it take 2000 years to go from his steam pistons and other machines to railroads?

    But once we had the minimum population we got railroads and all its derivative tech, like electricity.

    If humanity is made up of small villages of subsistence farmers, you will never be able to afford the investment it takes to grow a supply chain. Now add the anti-tech religion that burns books and smashes laboratories and for most people, technological advancement is not a desireable goal.

    Instead of a world striving to harness the lightning you have a world afraid to strike a match because they already burned down the house once. The TMs are seen as the crazy kids who play with fire, (at best.)

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    HalflingPirate

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    Nov 2011

    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    The Dino Express

    This double-barrelled breech-loading rifle fires a pair of .75 cal. bullets which are about five inches long from rim to tip which its manufacturer claims can drop a T-rex in its tracks. Because of the recoil the double barrel floats in a spring and air cylinder which forms the forestock, and a thick rubber pad is on the butt of the shoulder stock.

    The rifle's potential range of several miles is curtailed by the rifle's innaccuracy at ranges exceeding 100 yards. However its stopping power at any range is undeniable. When both barrels are fired simultaneously the user risks inflicting 1/4 damage on himself.

  22. - Top - End - #22
    Troll in the Playground
     
    HalflingPirate

    Join Date
    Nov 2011

    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    The Landship

    A major investment by a master technomancer resulted in this steam-powered vehicle, which now stands deserted on the open plains.

    It looks like a small riverboat supported on sixteen train trucks. Each truck has four wide wheels, the outboard pair being linked to a double-action steam piston with the inner pair freewheeling. Each of the trucks is independently suspended on massive coil springs, allowing at least some travel over rough ground.

    The bottom of the structure is twelve feet above the ground, with two gangplanks allowing people to board the ship over the rail twenty-five feet above the ground. At that height a deck runs from front end to rear, enclosing the lowest and largest of the three decks. Above this, divided by a wide walkway, is a windowed two-story house topped with a small pilothouse on the front, and a windowless engineering and cargo house with a pair of smokestacks on the front corners.

    Four sponsons, each located at the second floor level of the front and rear corners of the ship, mount inch and a half smooth bore muzzle loading brass cannons.

    The ship is here because it is out of fuel and water.

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    Ogre in the Playground
     
    ElfPirate

    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Seattle, WA

    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by Rider View Post
    Seems like you pretty much get the concept I'm aiming for here. That's good, I was afraid it might be too much for one setting
    In my considered opinion, there are relatively few settings that wouldn't benefit from dinosaurs and robots. Sounds awesome!
    Quote Originally Posted by Darths & Droids
    When you combine the two most devious, sneaky, manipulative, underhanded, cunning, and diabolical forces in the known universe, the consequences can be world-shattering. Those forces are, of course, players and GMs.
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  24. - Top - End - #24
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

    Join Date
    Mar 2021

    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    Quote Originally Posted by Rider View Post
    I'm not really going for a dual world concept. Where the fantasy races and monsters came from is known only as the Veil, and I'm leaving it obscure and abstract. It is largely irrelevant to the setting as it is inaccessible and one can't go there. It only opened during the Emberfall for a few hours, then it closed and has remained closed.
    Okay, but what happens when a PC asks a wood elf about their hometown?

  25. - Top - End - #25
    Troll in the Playground
     
    HalflingPirate

    Join Date
    Nov 2011

    Default Re: Random World Idea. Old West, Post-Apocalypse with Dinosaurs

    "We speak of it as a veil because what lies behind it is obscured. Wisps of memory and fragments of forgotten horrors came with us throtgh The Veil, but even the great sages have been frustrated in trying to reconstruct the past because the few distinct details which come through never match those which are reported by others.

    "I am one of the fortunate. My own memories are of a night spent speaking with an elder, perhaps my mother or grandmother. I know we sat upon grass beneath a star-clouded sky, but I can no more recall the patterns of the stars or the blades of grass than I can recall the face of the person in my memory or the words we spoke.

    "Some allowed the empty past to consume them. Monasteries were built to care for them, or to imprison those whose empty memories drove them to madness. Many ended their lives. Some, even now, hold their sanity tightly reigned out of fear of becoming the horrors of their forgotten past.

    "We do not willingly walk into the darkness that lies behind the veil. I warn you, as a friend warns a friend who walks a dangerous ledge, to avoid speaking of the past behind The Veil with strangers lest you cause them to lose their reigns. And I advise you to speak of it among friends only with great tact."

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