Building settlements - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Building settlements

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
schizoveen
Mar 22, 2009 11:18:45 Soon i'll start this apocalyptic D20 Modern game and thus i'm preparing some standard things. Normally i make a bunch of stuff and let the development of the game put everything together. For instance, i have 6 evil and 6 good NPC's, 10 one-paragraph side-quests, 4 special Items, 20 random encounter possibilities and some other stuff ready.

But on my list of stuff i wish to have ready are 2 villages and 1 city. Although i don't feel that it's necesary to have everything worked out about it, i do need details so that i can make up the details when needed.

For dungeons and dragons i have books like 'Cityscape' or just the Dungeon Master Guide as sources to help me be creative about possibilities. Their are long lists of possible city districs or different political situations of savage villages.

So to go to my question: How do people here come up with creative apocalyptic settlements? What sources of creativity do you have? Do any of you have examples to use?
#2
AnimeSniper
Mar 22, 2009 14:20:09 First what type of apocalypse happened; nuclear, biological, chemical, Neutron pulse detonation in certain cities cause once I now I could help some.
#3
schizoveen
Mar 22, 2009 15:01:03 Ah, yes.. i guess that would help..
The main 2 reasons for the apocalypse was a robot warfare and after that a total power loss of the world. After the Tesla towers were build, power was gained through the ground and thus batteries weren't needed anymore (free energy for everyone). This was a boost for development although energy efficientcy didn't exist anymore. But the Tesla towers also had an influence on biological levels, making everything more aggresive towards each other. A robot army was build by all main continents, fighting each other. Weather weapons were also developed, making certain parts of the world inhospitable for months.
After 20 years of warfare a rebel group found a way to destroy the tesla towers and turn them into nukes, Destroying the energy source for every electronic device on the planet (except for ancient items that need batteries...) and so destroying the robot army.

After the war scientists have build an underwater society, waiting for the world to regrow. Meanwhile they are experimenting in the extreme, doing everything that used to be illegal by law for ethical reasons or others. they are building geneticly altered monsters and releasing them close to surface-tribes to see what happens.

The campaign begins in greece, which has became a sort of mad max deserted landscape.

my question lies more in the direction... how does a city look different in such an environment? do they have a marketplace? temple district? nobel areas?
i would imagine cities are rare as they are very hard to maintain. smaller villages, all creating their own food and getting their own water would be easier. But that makes the creation of a city the more interesting to think about ;)
#4
AnimeSniper
Mar 22, 2009 15:38:01
After 20 years of warfare a rebel group found a way to destroy the tesla towers and turn them into nukes, Destroying the energy source for every electronic device on the planet (except for ancient items that need batteries...) and so destroying the robot army.

Have the rebels instead modify the Tesla generators/towers to emit a high yield EMP burst and a few that were modified using the illegal at the time tech to emit a neutron or similar life ending pulse... could even throw in some old fashioned nukes to utterly destroy a few cities and alter the landscape... new islands, etcetera

After the war scientists have build an underwater society, waiting for the world to regrow. Meanwhile they are experimenting in the extreme, doing everything that used to be illegal by law for ethical reasons or others. they are building geneticly altered monsters and releasing them close to surface-tribes to see what happens.

The campaign begins in greece, which has became a sort of mad max deserted landscape.

Remember that given the time frame from the event date of the rebels blowing everything to hell to the time period that you start at... 100 years, 200 years, 300 years all play a major factor on the landscape... some places using newer building materials wouldn't rust or decay like steel or concrete so that pristine city could be ... most claimed/maintained land i.e. fields, parks, forests, etc would gradually encroach into cities and towns

Going the route of g-altered creatures opens up a lot of encounter possibilities.... Let me find my doc of creatures from the Deathlands book series

I enjoy reading Deathlands and Outlanders by James Axler for Post Apocalyptic reference
#5
backstabbist
Mar 22, 2009 22:29:34 hmmmm, there has got to be a way for me to plug my Apoc Peaceful Military Society for this thread subject....

Its not so much with the mechanical setup of the city,
but of the sociopolitcal setup for having the city, and how it interacts with other Apoc folks
The Decay Infrastructure & Showers thread, starts around page4

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 schizoveen Mar 22, 2009 11:18:45	Soon i'll start this apocalyptic D20 Modern game and thus i'm preparing some standard things. Normally i make a bunch of stuff and let the development of the game put everything together. For instance, i have 6 evil and 6 good NPC's, 10 one-paragraph side-quests, 4 special Items, 20 random encounter possibilities and some other stuff ready. But on my list of stuff i wish to have ready are 2 villages and 1 city. Although i don't feel that it's necesary to have everything worked out about it, i do need details so that i can make up the details when needed. For dungeons and dragons i have books like 'Cityscape' or just the Dungeon Master Guide as sources to help me be creative about possibilities. Their are long lists of possible city districs or different political situations of savage villages. So to go to my question: How do people here come up with creative apocalyptic settlements? What sources of creativity do you have? Do any of you have examples to use?
#2 AnimeSniper Mar 22, 2009 14:20:09	First what type of apocalypse happened; nuclear, biological, chemical, Neutron pulse detonation in certain cities cause once I now I could help some.
#3 schizoveen Mar 22, 2009 15:01:03	Ah, yes.. i guess that would help.. The main 2 reasons for the apocalypse was a robot warfare and after that a total power loss of the world. After the Tesla towers were build, power was gained through the ground and thus batteries weren't needed anymore (free energy for everyone). This was a boost for development although energy efficientcy didn't exist anymore. But the Tesla towers also had an influence on biological levels, making everything more aggresive towards each other. A robot army was build by all main continents, fighting each other. Weather weapons were also developed, making certain parts of the world inhospitable for months. After 20 years of warfare a rebel group found a way to destroy the tesla towers and turn them into nukes, Destroying the energy source for every electronic device on the planet (except for ancient items that need batteries...) and so destroying the robot army. After the war scientists have build an underwater society, waiting for the world to regrow. Meanwhile they are experimenting in the extreme, doing everything that used to be illegal by law for ethical reasons or others. they are building geneticly altered monsters and releasing them close to surface-tribes to see what happens. The campaign begins in greece, which has became a sort of mad max deserted landscape. my question lies more in the direction... how does a city look different in such an environment? do they have a marketplace? temple district? nobel areas? i would imagine cities are rare as they are very hard to maintain. smaller villages, all creating their own food and getting their own water would be easier. But that makes the creation of a city the more interesting to think about ;)
#4 AnimeSniper Mar 22, 2009 15:38:01	After 20 years of warfare a rebel group found a way to destroy the tesla towers and turn them into nukes, Destroying the energy source for every electronic device on the planet (except for ancient items that need batteries...) and so destroying the robot army. Have the rebels instead modify the Tesla generators/towers to emit a high yield EMP burst and a few that were modified using the illegal at the time tech to emit a neutron or similar life ending pulse... could even throw in some old fashioned nukes to utterly destroy a few cities and alter the landscape... new islands, etcetera After the war scientists have build an underwater society, waiting for the world to regrow. Meanwhile they are experimenting in the extreme, doing everything that used to be illegal by law for ethical reasons or others. they are building geneticly altered monsters and releasing them close to surface-tribes to see what happens. The campaign begins in greece, which has became a sort of mad max deserted landscape. Remember that given the time frame from the event date of the rebels blowing everything to hell to the time period that you start at... 100 years, 200 years, 300 years all play a major factor on the landscape... some places using newer building materials wouldn't rust or decay like steel or concrete so that pristine city could be ... most claimed/maintained land i.e. fields, parks, forests, etc would gradually encroach into cities and towns Going the route of g-altered creatures opens up a lot of encounter possibilities.... Let me find my doc of creatures from the Deathlands book series I enjoy reading Deathlands and Outlanders by James Axler for Post Apocalyptic reference
#5 backstabbist Mar 22, 2009 22:29:34	hmmmm, there has got to be a way for me to plug my Apoc Peaceful Military Society for this thread subject.... Its not so much with the mechanical setup of the city, but of the sociopolitcal setup for having the city, and how it interacts with other Apoc folks The Decay Infrastructure & Showers thread, starts around page4