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| The Odd World of Ozworld; gather round as i flesh out my post-alien apocalypse earth | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 4 2013, 09:12 AM (325 Views) | |
| stoss55 | Dec 4 2013, 09:12 AM Post #1 |
Ghoul
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welcome muties and scavs, to the moment you've all been (unknowingly) waiting for! prepare to be awestruck as i set the stage of a ruined Earth, littered with the skeletons of once great cities and vast wastelands of all kinds. now, this setting is still a work in progress so this post will be more of an outline and 'table of contents' to show the overall scope of the setting and where im going to put the most detail (for now). once i get the basics down, i will make a new post or two for each category to really bring that aspect of the world to life. now im no writer, but i like to think i can breathe life into a set of words when i really put the effort into it. that said, if anything is ever ambiguous, lacking in detail, or just has a major plothole that i somehow missed, i urge you to point it out so i can retcon in a proper solution. enough introductions, time for the juicy bits! By the year 2XXX, mankind has advanced to an extraordinary level of technology (take a typical cyberpunk setting as a frame of reference here, just slightly less dystopian). the world has never been more connected; biotech and nanotech have made huge leaps forward, shattering the limitations of the human body, and humanity is on the brink of a golden age. that's when "they" showed up. a race of alien conquerors known as XXXXXXX. though their exact motives were unclear, they caught earth with it's pants down and wasted no time exploiting that advantage. they began a war of extermination by all means possible. they altered the atmosphere to wreak havoc on the climate. they virus bombed the major population centers with a vast array of bizarre and unstoppable diseases and mutagens. the suburban areas were razed until nothing but endless fields of ash remained. forests were flash-burned, leaving a sea of petrified obelisks behind. where the human population was too sparse for these other methods to be effective, they released vicious otherworldly beasts to sow death and terror in their path. by the time humanity could organize any kind of defense, they were already fighting a losing battle. through great tenacity and sacrifice, the augmented cyber-soldiers of earth's superpowers pushed the ground war to a stalemate, while their large stockpiles of ICBMs were finally put to good use slowing the alien's orbital operations enough to create an exploitable gap in the blockade. in a final desperate attack, a boarding party managed to bring down the alien's command ship, throwing the remnants of the fleet into disarray. the invasion force eventually collapsed, all ships either destroyed or forced to land on the planet's surface. the surviving aliens broke down into warbands, terrorizing large areas of the wasteland, but no longer a threat to humanity's existence. humanity had won it's war for survival, but at great cost. much of the globe was a barren wasteland, just barely habitable. the air, while not immediately toxic, was harsh and irritating, and would cause respiratory failure after prolonged exposure in all but the strongest and healthiest survivors. civilization was crushed. the gleaming cities that once stood as an example of mankind's ingenuity and ability were now merely blackened shadows. scientific advancement had halted, perhaps permanently. in a last ditch effort to maintain some form of culture, the surviving governments and corporations pooled what resources they could and constructed roughly a dozen massive domed cities to spare the upper class and great scientific minds from a slow death in the wastes. the rest of the survivors were left to try and scrape out an existence among the bleak landscape and roving bands of mutants and monsters. areas to expand upon: -the aliens (their technology, biology/physiology, their motives, their methods of destruction) -earth before the invasion (the level of technology, social structures) -detailed history of The Last War (bam! spontaneously named the war for survival). -post-invasion earth (the mega-cities, the wastes and their many dangers, notable locations and factions, the new social and political order, the new level of technology and the ability/lack-there-of to create or maintain golden age gear, the post-apocalyptic economy and where resources could be found) and probably many more areas can be expanded on, but that's a good list to start with. besides, it's 2am here, and i had a 12 hours shift today, and my brain is getting a little fuzzy. i'll try and post something new at least once a week, hopefully more often than that. let me know what you think! any comments, questions, or suggests are eagerly welcomed! |
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| Crazy Joe | Dec 4 2013, 05:22 PM Post #2 |
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Mutant Hunter
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I’m interested in seeing more information on your aliens. Why did they choose so many alternate means of conquering the population? Why didn’t they just blast the planet to pieces or alter the climate so dramatically that no Earth species could survive? What’s their motivation for coming to Earth with hostile intent? Most writers say “because it makes a good story” but I prefer more thought put into it than that. When are you planning on running your first game? |
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| tinker | Dec 4 2013, 06:56 PM Post #3 |
CEO of "Rat-on-a-Stick" Industries
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Sounds like a fun environment to try and survive in!! Some good ideas... |
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| mattblackgod | Dec 4 2013, 07:03 PM Post #4 |
Big boss warlord dude!
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Great fluff. I am with Joe on this one. What is the reason for the invasion? It makes little sense to invade just to destroy everything. Do they want the planet? Do they just want mankind wiped out? |
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| stoss55 | Dec 4 2013, 07:38 PM Post #5 |
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Ghoul
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to be honest, i havent thought up a reason that im happy with yet, as to WHY the aliens invaded. it's true, i needed it to happen for the story, but that's a cop out and we all know it. but it was definitely a war of conquest, they need the planet or it's resources not the inhabitants. there probably arent a lot of natural resources left in the earth at this point, and "they need our water" just isnt compelling enough for me. no, they definitely want the planet. either as a refueling station, a manufacturing center closer to the front lines of another war, or as a new home. it's fine if they destroy the ecosystem because either way they need to terraform the surface to suit their biology. but earth has a good magnetosphere to keep out radiation from space, which makes it a much better starting point than other planets in the area. yeah, that's probably what i'll go with. their old home is gone (for some reason to be determined in the future), and earth is the perfect candidate for a quick terraforming, if it werent for all those pesky earthlings. why did they use so many different methods to wipe out the humans? well, you never wanna be a one trick pony, because when your one trick loses its flair you're out of the game. and different methods work well in some situations and dont work well in others. for example, i live out in the boonies. im pretty isolated from my neighbors, and them from their neighbors, that any virus wouldnt spread out here very well. but drop a dozen apex predators from another planet in the woods, and that's a different story. also, if im going with the above story that these are the refugees from another planet, maybe they have limited munitions to work with. i know, i use a lot of maybes, but im writing off the top of my head and i try and give an idea a few days before i make it "official" in case it doesnt grow on me. why didnt they just mess with the climate so nothing could survive? now that is a good question... im stumped, i can't think of a reason besides plot. dont worry though, "because plot" isnt an excuse i like to use, and i'll think of something. it just might take a little longer. perhaps it's something to do with HOW their terraforming equipment works? like, it is a series of very sensitive machines that need to be on the planet surface to work their magic, and the only things they could do from space was an excessive amount of cloud seeding and melting all the ice caps with great big lasers? that's probably the best way to go, but i'll put more thought into. thanks for all the questions and words of encouragement. the more you guys try and pick the story apart, the better it'll end up being as i try to defend it and fill in the gaps 
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