Different Campaign for SR4 rules, This is the intro for the players. Options

[cybertrucker]

Throughout the ages mankind has had legends of Gods, Immortals, Wizards, and Monsters. Names like Zeus, and Hades, Merlin are but a few of these Legendary figures. At one time the names of these beings were spoken in Reverance or Fear, however as time went on they were passed off as Myths and fairie tales.

These beings of good or evil were always depicted in an eternal struggle. Good vs Evil, the prize being the souls of the living. Even in the modern era religions were based off these Beings and their war for the souls of man. The names changed but the message remained the same. Unfortunately what was passed off for Legends Became Reality. This time however the Benevolent Forces that once opposed the forces of the damned did not come to our rescue.

The year is now 2137. The civilization of Man lies in shattered ruins. 53 years ago Being Appeared in the skies over Rome. In a voice of thunder He spoke his name. "Hades", and when he did a Dark Portal opened up onto our world and an Army of demons and monsters poured through. They fed upon the souls of man in doing so empowering their Dark god. With every human death they would raise the corpse of the fallen to add to their abysmal army. Mankind fought back. Bringing tremendous weapons of War to bear upon the Intruders. But for every death we suffered they gained.

Slowly the nations of our world began to topple. They left no survivors. They were here for one reason, and one reason alone, to Harvest the souls of Man. In a last ditch and desperate effort the leaders of our world lashed out with Nuclear weaponry. Bathing our world in flames, burning the Heavens and the Earth. Before issuing the order for such destruction The governments gathered thousands of people into Giant Shelters that were built decades earlier. In hopes of saving mankind.

For 42 years we have lived within these Shelters. Not knowing what lies on the outside. Not knowing if we were succesful driving back the forces of this being who claimed to be Hades. Not knowing if any person remains alive outside the confines of our shelter. Tomorrow that will all change.

[Zhan Shi]

Earthdawn.

[cryptoknight]

I would have called it either Fallout... or Hellgate London...

[kzt]

Nobody with nukes is going to wait that long before using them. This isn't "Hell's Fair" where there is an essentially unbelievable plot device (and a political axe to grind) to not use them early and often.

And nukes don't have the effect you want. I'd rethink the mechanic a bit.

[Synner667]

Hmmm..
..More information before I decide 'yay' or 'nay', please...

[Marwynn]

Hellgate Fallout: The Opening?

Looks cool. It's a bit melodramatic but it does have gravitas, how are you envisioning this to work?

I agree with the nukes; use early, use often.

[DTFarstar]

Maybe the nukes were ineffective and then a conclave of the remaining mages(if this world has them) get together and transport something wholly to the astral(where it has no physical mass and gravity and presumably friction don't exist. You then accelerate said mass to a near infinite speed with the collective powers of their minds and then send it zipping through the gate back into the material. The immediate friction of an object moving at near infinite speed hitting the atmosphere would cause enough friction and heat to ignite it. So, burning the living crap out of everything not inside a hermetically sealed bunker underground. Of course it would kill all transmissions equipment outside the bunker(and everything else) so you might not know if all the bunkers were sealed perfectly and everyone survived and you definitely would not know what happened while the Fallout from your original "ultimate attack"(nukes) degraded to the point of survivability.


I dunno, middle of the night insomniac brainstorm.


Chris

[cybertrucker]

Ok here is the run down since the dawn of man there have been legends of creatures of power or gods and fiends. These beings of power have been waging an eternal war the prize of this war at least for the more sinister fiends are the souls of the living which they use to power their war efforts. However the benevolent beings of light have stood against them in their efforts. When the fiends entered our world in the past in an attempt to claim the souls of man, their advasaries came to our rescue. Giving rise to myths and legends of Gods and wizards and monstrous creatures.

However what people passed off as myths later down the road, were actually true. When Hades an Archfiend of terrible power came to lay claim to earth. Their Immortal enemies came to stop him. The leader of this group of Immortals went by the name of Zeus, who wielded powerful magic and could throw lightning from his bare hands, and control the weather. The people who met these individuals and saw them battle the evil forces of the Archfiend could only believe they were gods to wield such power. When the immortals finally triumphed over Hades they gave the people who were worshipping them guidelines to live by. As the Archfiends were drawn to certain events.

In other times and other places other fiends have come to our world. When they did they gave birth to many legends across the world. While some legends might still have been pure superstition. Some held truth behind them.

This time Hades has returned. However none of his enemies has come to stop them. At least as of the time nuclear destruction was reigned upon the earth from our own people in our attempts to stop the Archfiends army.

The Archfiend and his army are here to Harvest the Souls of man.

In playing the game. Only Humans are allowed (to start) as this is the story of the survival of man. The players will be leaving these massive bunkers/shelters for the first in over 40 years. There is no communication with anyone else. All of the monitoring systems that were in place have failed over time. The players to start have no magic, however they do have Advanced Technology and rebuilding a human civilization will require knowledge of that technology.

As for a note of magic. Essense is still used. Essense being a measure of the lifeforce or soul of a man. Unlocking magic in this version is like tapping into the very power of the soul to create magical effects. Cyberware and such would still have negative impact on people using magic because of that. In this setting there would not be any technomancers. However hackers would still prove invaluable even though they would be mainly stuck to hardwire interfaces.

The setting is a bleak one, a post apocalyptic setting in which mankind is almost extinct. The remnants of the Archfiends army still roam the land land, and what of other humans that were not in shelters? Did any survive? How have they changed? With new magic twisting the world and radiation are there mutants? What about the Archfiend Hades? Did he survive? ANd what of the immortals? did they finally come to aide mankind and if so how did they aide us?

Anyway these are the things my players will be finding out when we start the game. The reason I chose Shadowrun as a system is because with such a bleak world I wanted a system that gave a sense of Grittyness. I also love the shadowrun Magic system. Which while I am not using magic exactly the same as far as fluff goes it still fits. Add machine to the man you kill the soul. Making it harder for a caster to tap the energies of the soul to power their magic. Also players starting the game will not start off as Awakened capable. They will have to find a way to learn magic. IE maybe the immortals did come.

[Zhan Shi]

Hey, if it entertains you and your players, run with it. That's what rpg's are all about.