INVASION APOCALYPSE!!! Campaign
Introduction
In the summer of 2016, a massive alien vessel entered Earth orbit, shorting out all electronics in a 5,000 mile area as it passed overhead. The United States and other nations launched coordinated attacks but their missiles and aircraft fell from the sky before they could even approach the alien vessel. The alien vessel took three days to orbit Earth, soon leaving the entire planet without electricity. The sudden appearance of powerful extraterrestrials and the loss of electricity were too much for human society to bear. Populations rioted, cities erupted in flame, and governments fell as human civilization descended into conflict and chaos. Thirty years later, the tattered remnants of human civilization endure numerous hardships as they struggle to survive and prevail. The giant ship now known as The Visitor continues to orbit, its purpose as mysterious as they day it arrived.
The End
The page references below refer to After the End 2: The New World.
Primary Cause: X-Factor (p. 7).
Secondary Effects: Bombs Away! (p. 4), Mega-Virus (p. 5), Things Fall Apart (pp. 6-7).
Tech Level: 8 (See GURPS After the End 1: Wastelanders, p. 29, for information regarding post-apocalypse technology and equipment costs.)
When: 40 years ago.
Appropriate Hazards (in order of significance): Disease (pp. 13-15); Gangs (pp. 15-17); Paramilitaries (pp. 23-24); Mutants (pp. 18-21); Radiation (p. 25); Aliens (p. 20).
Campaign’s base city, nation, empire, or planet: Southwestern United States
Brief description of important neighboring powers, political/economic situation, etc.: Humanity has been reduced to perhaps one billion people worldwide, and the decades-long electrical interruption has caused most of the world to slip back to TL5 at best. Steam power, windmills, and water wheels can be used to power simple machines, but anything with wires will be shorted out when the Visitor gets within 5,000 miles, dashing any hopes of making long-term electrical devices or using the ones they find in good condition. Even simple flashlights fail when the Visitor comes back into range. Most survivors live in small, walled settlements of a hundred people or less. Some of the larger, well-off settlements still boast the rudiments of industry or have a decent stock of supplies, guns, and ammunition.
See INVASION APOCALYPSE!!! FAQ for more information.
Information for PCs
Note: Player characters are a group of wandering adventurers who have joined forces for survival. Use of templates from After the End 1: Wastelanders is strongly suggested! The page references below refer to After the End 1: Wastelanders.
Starting point value allowed for PCs: 150
Disadvantage limit (including Quirks): -50 w/additional -2 for Quirks.
PC races allowed: Human
Especially appropriate professions: Doc, Scavenger, Tech, Trader.
Starting Wealth: $500. Up to 4 points may be sacrificed for additional funds (Ate1 28).
Languages available: English & Spanish are commonly spoken throughout the region.
Cultural Familiarities available:
Advantages, Disadvantages, and Skills
Required advantages, disadvantages, and skills: Use of templates from After the End 1: Wastelanders is strongly suggested!
Especially appropriate Advantages: Combat Reflexes, Hard to Kill, High Pain Threshold, Radiation Resistance.
Especially appropriate Disadvantages: Callous, Code of Honor (Pirate's), Loner, Sense of Duty (Companions).
Especially appropriate Skills: Brawling, Games (Deathball), Scrounging, Sport (Deathball), Survival.
Disallowed advantages, disadvantages, and skills: GM may reject individual disadvantages on case-by-case basis.
Appropriate Patrons, Allies or Contacts: Allies and Patrons may be developed in-game. Players are allowed to start with one Contact or Contact Group.
Special Abilities Allowed for PCs
Exotic/supernatural traits: N/A
Cinematic skills: N/A
Are PC mages allowed? No.
Are PC psis allowed? No.
Are PC gadgeteers allowed? Yes.
Are there special limits on gadgeteering? None other than those obviously implied by scarcity of supplies and resources.
Unusual Background cost(s) for these abilities: Gadgeteer requires Unusual Background (Gadgeteer) [5]. Quick Gadgeteer requires Unusual Background (Gadgeteer) [10].
Legal or social restrictions on these abilities: Some communities frown on the use of alien technology and may seize or destroy alien-based equipment.
Rulebooks and Resources
GURPS 4th edition Basic Set (B). Required.
After the End 1: Wastelanders (AtE1). Required. Includes templates, gear lists, and other information necessary to survival.
After the End 2: The New World (AtE2). Essential. Contains descriptions and survival information for a variety of hazards. Forewarned is forearmed.
Pyramid Magazine: Venturing into the Badlands, Issue 3/3 (January 2009) (P3/3). Post-apocalypse issue. Description and rules for DEATHBALL, which may also be downloaded here (link to PDF). Also contains the original article ("The Day the World Broke," by J. Edward Tremlett) that inspired this campaign.
Pyramid Magazine: The End is Nigh, Issue 3/88 (February 2016) (P3/88). Post-apocalypse issue. "Post-apocalyptic Guns," by S.A. Fisher and Hans-Christian Vortisch, contains excellent non-rules information about firearms, and the rules found in "Better Improvised Weapons," by Peter v. Dell'orto, are applicable to this campaign.
Pyramid Magazine: After the End, Issue 3/90 (April 2016) (P3/90). Post-apocalypse issue.
See also
- The Blood of Heroes. Post-apocalyptic action adventure starring Rutger Hauer and centered on a game not unlike Deathball.
- The Postman depicts a society of survivors, survivalists, and paramilitary gangs that closely resembles the milieu of this campaign. (Yes, the novel is way better.)
- Dies the Fire or Revolution bear only the thinnest superficial resemblance to this campaign. Electricity and the laws of physics still work in this campaign world. The scarcity of electrical power is a result of a continuous electromagnetic pulse generated by Visitor, not merely a convenient and inexplicable plot element.