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Post Apocalyptic Campaign Setting [Background] - Any System (WIP)

Global Warming

melting of ice-caps occurs overnight
flood drowns everything under 30 meters elevation
restructuring of land mass
new waterways

Survivability

40-70% populace drowned
supply shortage
famine

Government

~60% destroyed
restructured into marshal law in larger cities
non-existent outside of cities

Disease

'Black Plague' returns w a vengeance
lose 30-60% of survivors

I am in heavy debate with myself at the moment as to whether or not I should throw in the possibility of Zombies. I know they are completely overdone in the mass media at the moment, but maybe 'dumb zombies' that can't track people and stay near the water-ways, but do horde like in 'Shaun of the Dead'.

Please let me know what you think about this. I'm still working out the rest of the setting.

Tags: campaign, post-apocalytic, setting

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Comment by Gregory on March 24, 2010 at 9:56am: I was thinking more and more about the zombie thing & with the comments from you all, I think I can work them in as a background threat. Possibly along the new coasts where cities used to be. Having the decomposition of the billions of bodies tainting the water to a point where the spongiform has something like a 3-5% chance of infecting anybody that drinks from the coastal waters. With less than 2 billion people left on the planet, it wouldn't take long to start having a few show up here & there, especially in any large cities that have developed along the coast since the 'events'.
On a side note, I've added in the seismic triggering of a portion of the Nukes thanks to that wonderful M.A.D. policy which is still in effect.

Comment by copycat042 on March 24, 2010 at 8:37am: i have a suggestion. If you want zombies, why not do this:

The conditions have caused widespread famine, and some groups of people have resorted to cannibalism. This has caused many to develop a strange, quick-onset, slow progressing form of spongiform encephalopathy (like mad cow disease) which causes dementia, and violent , aggressive behavior. Instant zombies. You could say that it attacks the frontal lobes first, and works its way to the "reptile brain" where it eventually kills the victim. it can be transmitted, with difficulty, so there is an additional danger.

Comment by Lan Kelly on March 21, 2010 at 6:46pm: The zombie thing could be over the top. It depends on how tough it is to survive all the other threats. Zombie's can turn it into a constant cycle of run or hide. Might be ok for a short term run, but questionable for a long term campaign. that is unless it's more of a background threat. Maybe there are pockets of an unknown zombie like plague, limited by some environmental or other force.
My favorite post-apocalyptic style is the Morrow Project. The Heroes are trying to explore, protect and revive civilization from the remnants.