When Nukes Fall, Shadowrun in a post-apocalypse setting Options

[Cable]

Has anyone played shadowrun in a post-apocalypse setting. Better yet, has anyone run shadowrun in this setting. I'm going to GM in this setting soon and would like some comments on what the world would be like. Corparation, dragon, runner attitudes in the new world. Also, I'm going to be running it in a Rifts-like setting ( BUT NOT IN RIFTS! Mostly because the system is horrible.) So any suggestions on cool locations and NPC types would be appreciated...

[Botch]

Harlequin's Back or there is the classic adjustment of Planet of the Apes

[Herald of Verjig...]

Don't forget that there will not be pocket secretaries. There will be Pip-boys instead.

Also, the only megacorp worth talking about is Vault-tech.

[Chance359]

Don't forget Fallout and Fallout 2. A the final run of the sage could be to find a G.E.C.K.

[Cable]

Harleys not bad. I wanted to mention that I figure dragons wouldn't view (meta)humans as play things anymore because the're a real life threatening creature. So the ones left would be trying to erase or subjugate humanity.There couldn't be many left. I don't want this to turn into a dragon hunting game. (And what PC could live through a dragon hunting game anyways?)

[Cable]

Fallout! Thats good material.

[Kagetenshi]

[Herald of Verjig...]

As for dragon populations: most dragons laired in locations at least as safe as a Vault-tech Luxury City Vault with fortifications. So don't expect many to die from the nukes.

You could have a few dragons who chose to let some population of humans hide in their (secondary) lairs in exchange for their servitude and that of 2/3 (rounded up) of their descendants. The other 1/3 (rounded down) is encouraged to either willingly enter servitude or search for other sparks of civilization.

Toss in ghouls, mutants, and the occasional godzilla footprint and you have yourself a setting.

[Tribunal]

I've thrown around a post-apocalyptic Shadowrun game in the past, but never made much headway in putting a game together. An environment with limited resources has a certain appeal. Players would start to think things over before they unload that last clip of ammo that they had to trade everything they owned for. You would also have to have a Bartertown that is run by dwarf named Masterblaster, that's a given.

As far as settings, it would probably depend on how long after the bombs drop and what cities did not get a direct hit. Early on, I could see Seattle or most cities ruled over by warlords who are continually at war. Runners could work for one of these warlords or just show up in town and get first hand knowledge of how visitors are treated or welcomed if they have the right skills. I could see powerful mages or shamans with their own domains (Think the war wizards from Thundarr the Barbarian for this one).

I think the key factor in a game like this is the players will always be in need of something that loads of nuyen will no longer buy them. Whether it's weapons, ammo, or that much need replacement part for that 10 year old cyber limb that tends to freeze up a lot in combat, bartering will become a primary skill and your players will always be thinking of what they can trade that latest acquired item for.

[Sargasso]

That's a setting with some great story potential. There's a few obvious changes because of it of course. Cybered characters are at a *dis*advantage, because in shadowrun, cyberware needs regular miantiinance. which would be increasingly more difficult to find. For a real laugh, let someone start with as much beta and detla grade ware as they like. Only beta or detla ware grade clinics and hospitals can service their ware, how many do you expect to see operating?

[the_dunner]

Reading through the comments about dragons in a post-apocalyptic world, I'm reminded of the movie Reign of Fire. Ignoring anyone's opinion of the film, that might make a very interesting alternate Shadowrun setting.

[Botch]

[Omer Joel]

I remember that a long ago (that is, atleast one or two forum versions ago :)) someone posted his "Rude Awakening" alternate setting, that had the Lone Eagle incident as its point of divergance from the Cannon timeline. In this version, it did hit, and caused an all-out nuclear war between the USA and Russia. If you could track down this post, it might provide you with interesting information on this subject.

[Siege]

This has been bantered back and forth with people doing a number of the quickie conversions.

Super-mutants = trolls
Stimpacks = suped up nano-healers, one shot use

And so on.

I don't know of anyone who's actually run it, but unless the characters are based in a town, expect combat to be kept to a minimum. Biotech doesn't help when you're in the middle of nowhere and let's face it, random mutant scorpion encounters just suck.

Geckos are worse.

-Siege

[Moon-Hawk]

You can get some good inspiration without looking far. Bug City. The CZ has a lot of those elements. Restricted resources, warlords, radioactive areas, etc. The Chicago CZ is a mini apocalypse. With bugs.

[Ecclesiastes]

Don't forget about all the Manawarps that would be cauesd from the nukes.

[nezumi]

[Casper]

But you guys fail to see that nukes do not work in the shadowrun universe. they just simply don't. Everytime a nuke has come up in the fiction of background it has always failed to detonate. So there for Shadowrun will never be a post apocolyps world like Rifts or mad max

[Kagetenshi]

As the background count clearly demonstrates, the Cermak Blast went off.

~J

[Tanka]

[Adarael]

If you really want an idea of what Shadowrun could be like post-apocalypse, allow me to make a suggestion.

Look at the game Tribe 8, by Dream Pod 9, who did Jovian Chronicles, Heavy Gear, Gear Kreig, and the upcoming Core Command.

Tribe 8 at DP9.com

The long and the short of it is that in the future, mankind's world gets shattered by a bunch of extradimensional beings called Z'bri, which are basically the Horrors. They come through, and the dimensional gates which let them through seal them off from their home, driving them totally nuts. So they set about enslaving humanity and doing horrible things to them and feeding off of pain and misery, ala Earthdawn. Humans set off a buncha nukes (which they don't explicity SAY, but becomes apparent in expansion books when you find radioactive, glass-bottomed lakes surrounded by remnants of cities) and the world is plunged into the dark ages. Cue forward a couple hundred years, some humans break free of the Z'bri, and decide taking the world back would be a good idea.

It's just about the best RPG nobody's ever played.

[Ecclesiastes]

Cermak worked, but it was weird IIRC. Didn't it only blast a small area, when it should have been a full force nuke?

[Tanka]

[Ecclesiastes]

I knew there was something funky about it, just couldn't remember what it was. How 'odd' was it?

[cykotek]

When Cermak went off inside a hive at the peak of a giant investiture ceremony while enclosed in wards and barriers of incredible power, its 5-kiloton warhead was restricted to a blast zone in the hundreds of meters (an unrestricted blast would have widespread damage out to over 1 kilometer). The resulting radiation fallout ends somewhere near the 1 kilometer radius range, while the actual mana warp (background count 6+) doesn't start until closer to 500 meters from ground zero.