Sue and I like to game whenever we go on walks. We've about exhausted all of my D&D lines, and I've kinda screwed up the line Sue started, so until that gets back on track, and under the heavy influence of Abney Park, we made a foray into the world of Steampunk. I whipped up some new landscape, and sue created a shutter-pixie named Locke, and we've been grinding away in the dark post-cataclysmic landscape of North America. I'm trying to run it with a balance of emerging steampunk technology and post-apocolyptic Mad Max/Fallout kind of feel. So far, it's been pretty entertaining.
Here's some stuff I wrote up about the gameworld:
Setting Earth 100 years after a global EMP cataclysm.
Memories are soft on exactly how it happened, but around 100 years ago all electronics, radio frequencies, and computers went dark. Major rioting ensued with the fall of most governments and public utility infrastructure. Power plants became the most powerful piece of property, but many were unstable without electronic monitoring causing at least 5 nuclear plants (including three mile island) to go critical.
People in large cities struggled the most -- finding, transporting, and keeping fresh stores of food became increasingly difficult, and cannibalism soon became rampant.
the stabilized powerplants (those that could be easily operated without electronics--largely old coal plants) became havens for their surrounding communities, as they provided vital power, which they soon began to regulate and control by destroying key substations ensuring their grid would remain within a localized zone of electricity, effectively creating city states clustered around coal plants. The Great Lakes Region of the former United States, for this reason, continued to remain relatively stable with its great number of coal power plants (
http://www.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=115725047472986165665.00046eed968dc7a707394&cd=4&sll=37.926868,-95.712891&sspn=46.431705,78.837891&ie=UTF8&ll=41.861379,-80.375977&spn=5.547099,9.854736&t=h&z=7&iwloc=lyrftr:msid:115725047472986165665.00046eed968dc7a707394,00046eed9a2a4d87d3ca9,40.513799,-79.200439,0,-32)
However the diminishing supply of coal, and increased difficulty of extracting remianing coal in appalachia gave way to rising fears of a permanent blackout, and many city states began fighting over coal aquisition rights, even going so far as highjacking coal trucks and rail cars. the instability lead to more unrest, and many people began migrating north into canada where the open space held promise for a more pure lifestyle living off the land.
Also during this time initially after the EMP shock, the world's weather systems changed drastically with record high and low temperatures. Hurricanes slammed the coasts of the Americas as far north as Nova Scotia, and coastal flooding swallowed tens of miles of shoreline only to recede in terrible drought a few years later. Scientists presumed that the EMP shock on the planet was enough to force the Earth's magnetic poles to begin to shift drastically, identifying Magnetic north to be somewhere near Moscow, Russia 5 years after the EMP cataclysm, and sliding southward into the Caspian sea within a year. There was an increasing worry that the magnetic poles would reach some form of terminal "Flip Point" where they would drastically roll to opposing sides of the planet over a matter of days or hours, and with this fear in mind, several scientists began development on the Magnetron Network.
Using a top secret method, the worlds' top scientists created hundreds of Mini-magnetrons and began placing them at key locations around the world. the Magnetrons, initially stood no more than ten feet tall and were composed of a single four inch diameter black carbon rod buried five feet into the ground, but the great magnetic force contained within the rods began to draw the metal from the ground and surrounding areas, causing the magnetrons to grow into towering dark obelisks in the sky.
At first people feared these things, seeing that the obelisks deadened the ground surrounding them, and eventually began to gather floating satellites of debris that had yet to settle into the obelisk's form, but within two years of establishing the Magnetrons, the earth's weather patterns stabilized, and scientists determined that the risk of the earth floating off course of its revolution around the sun or the potential of a violent magnetic flip were, for the moment deterred.
The existence of the magnetrons, however, fairly ensured that modern technology would never develop along it's original path--the power of the magnets was so great that they could draw electricity out of any object within their radius, a side effect that turned many power plant city states into ghost towns of ionizing metal slowly being consumed by the magnetrons' draw.
In the mean time, some technology started to resurface. Vintage cars--muscle cars from the mid-late 20th century contained few electronic components, and were relatively easily restored and hybridized with ethanol and solar fuel cells. Solar and wind power also began to grow in effectiveness in areas far from the Magnetrons' influence. Thus four major types of society began to emerge:
The Protectors -- Cities and peoples living near and supporting the upkeep of Magnetrons. these people often lived rusty dark lives with no electrical power available to them. their machines rely on solar, or more commonly, steam. Within the last 15 years or so, many people living in these areas claim to be able to manipulate the world in unnatural ways. Some call it magic, others mutation, and a few very smart folks noticed that the Magnetrons follow key joinings of ley lines, amplifying the fae power flowing into the area. Either way, this magic is soon applied to technology and clockwork steam technology begins to grow and thrive allowing for the bending of natural laws of science to create great flying airships without helium or balloons. Rumors of clockwork prostetics simmer across the land as the protected areas slowly build great walls around their domains to keep their inventions protected from the Wandering.
The Naturalists -- Peoples that lived far from Magnetrons' reach. These areas tended to bee the loosest forms of civilization with return to farming, beasts of burdon, and hunting. The wilds of Canada and more rural areas of the Southern united states returned largely to this way of living
Those Who Challenge God -- Some cities far from Magnetron lines, used aggressive solar and wind technology to try to recapture the modern world before the EMP cataclysm. These areas became the central locations of innovation. The first airships graced the skies over these cities, combining zeppelin technology and solar power. Despite their distance from Magnetron influence, no inventor can revive electronic technology, radio waves, or computing. Scientists are at a loss as to why this technology no longer works and lack the tools to delve deeper into this.
The Wandering -- Over the last hundred years millions of people were spurned from their homes to the dusty roads, some forming ragged bands of nomads, flitting through ruins looking for food, work, or trouble. Most people in settled areas fear the wandering, but for the most part, most wandering ar good people looking for food and work. there is, of course, a dark undercurrent of wicked people out there too that do more than their share to earn the fear felt by most folks about these vagabonds.
The current landscape of the former US holds few major cities, with the most influential being:
Pittsburgh -- Those who challenge god
Homer City -- largest powerplant city state
Sioux Falls SD -- Largest Protector City
Stevens Point WI -- those who Challenge God
Rochester NY -- Protector City
Seneca NY (a new city grown on Seneca Lake) Naturalist Collective
Bangor ME (Now a prime Port of trade) Those who challenge god
Reading PA (Prime Port City and resort area) Those who Challenge God
North East of the former US -- AEC (After EMP Cataclysm) 102
In the years after the establishment of the Magnetrons, along with the growth of "magic," the appearance of supernatural creatures began to grow. Unicorns were sighted in Ireland and around Vancouver, Canada. Pixies, Faeries and other fey creatures have also been found, though they remain rare.
In AEC 85 a dragon was sighted over the ruins of Asheville, SC and burned the remains of the city.
In AEC 86 a team of mercenaries brought down a 20 foot dragon near Stonehenge in England.
In AEC 92 a 25' long Sphinx emerged from the ruins of its own statue in Egypt. It razed a nearby city and demanded that the locals keep it fed with a steady supply of virgins.
In AEC 92 the Protector City Rochestor unveiled a new model of clockwork airship operating on a modified hunk of magnetron and gears. The plans were stolen and pirate clockwork ships began appearing over the skies, levying attacks on protector cities to gain more magnetron hunks.
In AEC 93 a small army of Trolls emerged from the swamps around Shreveport, LA and nearly decimated the city, retreating only after a dying defender accidentally dropped a live grenade near an abandoned gas station, causing a huge explosion and killing two trolls
In AEC 95 confirmed reports of Vampires and Werewolves surfaced from the Black forests of former Romania.
In AEC 98 a Medusa like creature appeared on a small island in the Agean sea, turning all the residents of the village there to stone. The creature was slain by a well-read history buff a year later
In AEC 100 a creature claiming to be the forest king emerged near the Seneca Collective and demanded fealty of the surrounding lands; with the local naturalist's support, the surrounding forests of the Fingerlakes return to their virgin states, trees awaken, and faerie creatures begin appearing in great numbers.
