The original setting design that generated heavy criticism towards its plausibility with the general consensus being that wild beasts' dominion over mankind is improbably given humanity's superiority in firearms and resourcefulness.
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A revised setting after taking in criticism from the forums, resulting in the minimization of the dangers of wild beasts. Mutant species are added in to provide a better framework for the game's central philosophy, resulting in this revised setting:
More Info On Mutant Species Here
Attached an image of a rebel soldier and a Combine soldier here, both unmasked.
Combine soldier.
A soldier in the rebel forces.
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Discussions on game mechanics:
Is misinformation fun?
Phase-based Combat System
Equipment Familiarity giving bonuses
Seasons & Weather in RPGs
Best way to kick off in an RPG
Turn-based martial combat
Seeding method to encourage failure
Property based RPG system
A post-apocalyptic vision
Quick question: Top-down or isometric?
My take on turn-based combat
Is this story cliche?
Premise
Bronze/Iron Age materials and housing with modern day comforts (water tanks, simple sewage and coal electricity generators); fairly modern firearm and munition technologies (no sci-fi laser stuff); hydroplasma generators in bigger cities providing almost endless supply of electricity; most houses made of wood (especially in villages) or stone (city houses); 70% of the world covered in thick and nigh impenetrable forests that are home to deadly beasts; and tropical setting with lots of bare chest, abs and thongs.
Imagine firearm carrying humans dressed in chainmails and leather jackets running around lush tropical forests being hunted by wild beasts.
History
Some time in the near future, the world's nations gathered together and secretly funded the Eden project, whose aim is to build 7 massive space cruisers to seek out new frontiers beyond earth. Years go by without much protest towards this insanely expensive project, as most of the world are focused on the impending clash between the Russians and the Chinese.
And overnight, the rich, famous, influential, powerful, talented and smart people boarded the 7 eden ships and tore into space, leaving the entire world leaderless overnight.
The world woke up to total anarchy, and just when they though they had seen the worst the entire world was hit by a massive plague of necrosis inducing viruses, decimating more than 80% of the world's living beings in mere months.
Strangely, south east asia was spared from the plague. Survivors began making their way towards the little continent, but to their dismay they were denied entry and even gunned down upon sight. The violence quickly escalated, leading to the Outsider Wars which heralded in the second dark age.
Many centuries had passed before the dark age officially ended with the formation of the Confederacy of Mankind, which subsequently was renamed into the Combine.
At that point, humans were no longer on top of the food chain. Even though firearm and munition manufacturing was one of the few technology that was retained through the Dark Age, the lack of encroachment into the tropical jungles meant that the wild beasts that prowled within were given a crucial chance at survival. Not only did they manage to survive the chaotic dark ages, but they evolved too.
Transportation & Fuel
In this new world, humans never travel alone in the Wildlands. Villages are raided and razed by wild beasts, and then swallowed whole by the forest, whose growth rate consumed whole cities in mere decades. Even cleared and well worn paths through these jungles provide no insurance against ambushes by these wild beasts, who no longer feared humans and their firearms.
Merchant caravans were the only way to traverse these deadly jungles, and they are often heavily armed by dozens of machine gun wielding guards. Towns and villages were often isolated from one another with no easy or safe paths between.
Goods and cargo are usually packed into large caravans powered by Hydroplasma batteries (a pre-apocalypse technology utilizing hydrogen plasma stored in crude magnetic suspension capsules to provide a constant supply of electricity while weighing lesser than a conventional battery of the same capacity), while smaller carts (with ligher cargo) are pulled by mules whose keen senses serve as a natural warning to the caravan against ambushes by wild beasts.
Village Life
Humans live in wooden huts, reinforced with metal bands and stone. Iron and metal are rare in this setting, while wood is plentiful and stone easily found. Thus, most houses are built entirely from wood and stone, and richer households sometimes spot iron banded doors and metal barred windows.
Hunting and foraging are left to veteran hunters in the village, who do not stray far and always hunt in groups of five or more. They often leave at sunrise and return before sunset, never staying in the jungle for the night. Firearms are rarely used in the villages as ammunition are relatively rare (most caravans only visit a village once per year, some never at all).
Villagers are clothed mostly in leather and animal hides, but most villages have a complete water delivery system consisting of a central water reservoir (with a water pump that extracts water from a nearby stream) connected to individual water tanks in each hut via wooden and iron pipes. Each hut has its own living room, kitchen, toilet and bedrooms, and while most of them are not fenced villagers rarely visit each other in their houses and prefer to meet in the village squad instead.
Most villagers wear nothing more than loin clothes and cloaks made of animal hide, and have elaborate tattoos all over their body to signify which family they belonged to. Each family would specialize in one profession, which is how these villages remain united as they can only survive if all families work together as one.
City Life
Cities are usually built on top of pre-apocalypse ruins, and its management is almost always fighting against encroachment of vines and weeds that bury themselves deep into even the densest concrete.
City folks are usually better clothes than their village counterparts, spotting well woven shirts, trousers and skirts of various design and colors. Individuality are valued in cities, where most people prefer to dress uniquely. However, the same individualism has caused severe apathy amongst the city folk, where one can get mugged in the middle of the street in broad daylight without anybody else even bothering to care. Separation of duty is the rule in the city, where such matters are left exclusively to the militia/sheriff.
Most houses are supplied with ample electricity to operate various pre-apocalypse technologies like fridges, lights and fans, and most houses are connected to the city's sewage system allowing proper waste management (which are reprocessed into fertilizer and sold to villages).
Like the villagers, city folks prefer to specialize in specific areas, and they do work together to accomplish common objectives; but unlike the villagers they have no love for each other and only work together out of necessity. Volunteering for tasks are virtually unheard of in the cities, as most are busy caring for themselves to bother about what is going on with the government.
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A revised setting after taking in criticism from the forums, resulting in the minimization of the dangers of wild beasts. Mutant species are added in to provide a better framework for the game's central philosophy, resulting in this revised setting:
Basic Premise
The game(s) is set in a "post-modern, post-apocalyptic world where every human is a mutant of some sorts" world. It revolves around the question "what does it mean to be a human" to the extreme, with each mutant species convinced that they are the logical next step for the human species, while viewing the rest as nothing more than failed evolutionary variants.
The game's aesthetics resemble an apocalyptic parody of modern day life, with a slight touch of advanced technologies like hydroplasma cells, rail guns, powered exoskeleton suits and advanced all-terrain personal hovercrafts.
And it is in this world that the player creates their own story - of their journeys in the desolate and deadly Wildlands where every next step could very well be their last.
Cause of Apocalypse
The world woke up one day in the near future (2013 to be certain) and realized that all the world's leaders have boarded into 7 massive Eden ships and fled into space, leaving the world behind to total anarchy. For the first week there were riots and skirmishes all over the globe as people scrambled to fill in the leadership void; but just when things were starting to sort itself out a deadly epidemic broke out all over the globe, wiping out tens of millions every day. In mere months the entire world's population had been reduced to mere millions, who no longer had any food left as the virus affected all living beings.
The general consensus amongst the survivors of the First Deadly Epidemic was that those who left in the Eden ships foresaw the apocalypse event, and rather than fighting it they fled instead. The exodus would come to be known as the Great Desertion in history, and turned into the source of universal hatred and blame amongst the survivors of the epidemic.
South East Asia Survives
Miraculously, survivors of the epidemic found out that South East Asia were largely untouched by the epidemic, as well as isolated islands in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Knowing that their survival now hinged on the small little third world continent, survivors from all over the world packed up their gears and made the long journey to the last sanctuary on the planet.
For a while the South East Asians welcomed these people with open arms: a testimony of humanity and compassion long thought forgotten in the cynical and apathetic first world.
However, as more congregated in the continent, resources began to dwindle and soon a deadly tension between the natives and the foreigners threaten to spiral chaotically out of control.
The Outsider Wars
Nobody remembered how it happened, but the uncomfortable tolerance between the natives and the foreigners finally broke in the year 2014, one year after they voluntarily offered their homes and food to these immigrants.
Quarrels quickly escalated into skirmishes, and subsequently into total war. Thousands laid dead every day from raids and ambushes, and rival villages and towns sent war bands against each other for all sorts of reasons, of which many of them were trivial in retrospect.
Though the exact cause for the Outsider Wars would probably be lost in the annals of oral history, one thing remained for certain: the war became the herald of the dark age and the dawn of mutantkind when one of the skirmishes accidentally destroyed an experimental research facility, which released gallons of mutagens into the atmosphere.
The Dark Age
The airborne mutagen were not detected until years later when its effects began to manifest. Babies were born with severe defects and adults began suffering from strange and incurable diseases. More people died of cancer than bullets, and soon scientists came to the harrowing conclusion that South East Asia was no longer safe anymore.
Protective gear were quickly issued to all those who could afford it, and for the unfortunate they either stole or murdered for it. Travel became tedious and dangerous, resulting in communities being isolated from one another as time went by.
Not every community were fortunate enough to receive these protective measures however, and were forced to weather the mutations. Tens of thousands of deaths through cancer and diseases soon paved the way to a new generation of mutant variants.
The Mutant Dawn
While many humans were killed by malicious mutations, small numbers of them benefited from it instead, providing them with new means to survive the desolate lands. Soon, their fortune spilled over to their descendants, and from their bloodline came a new generation of humans who bore little to no resemblance to pre-desertion humans, but retained similar culture, mannerism, tradition and lifestyles.
Communities blessed with protective gear believe themselves as the last remaining "pure" humans, and zealously enforce this fact by exiling/executing any community members who display but the slightest sign of mutation. This xenophobic zeal soon redirected its attention outwards, and a genocidal scheme soon brought these communities together in unity. They formed the Confederacy of Pure Humans, locked and loaded their firearms, and launched the Great Purge.
The mutants were caught by surprise as armies of biohazard suited clad militias tore into their peaceful villages and slaughtered every men, women and children. At first the mutants fled from the "Pure Men", but soon they began to fight back. The mutants rallied under the inspirations of a visionary mutant by the name of Criss, who then formed the Crissen Order whose membership was open to any mutant who were ready to shed blood for the better of mutantkind.
The war between the Confederacy and the Order ground down to a stalemate in the fields of Blacksand before a massive pre-desertion metropolis ruins, dying the earth red with the blood of the fallen. It was there upon the stained grounds that both sides began questioning of the reason for warfare. For the first time in centuries of bloodshed, they finally pondered about peace.
The Combine
The Confederacy and the Crissen Order finally merged after a long truce, uniting into a new entity called the Combine that promised a fair future where mutants and pure humans could live alongside each other in peace.
Because many were unprepared to discard their prejudices and vendettas for fallen comrades and family, the early days of the Combine were stricken by many difficulties; many of which led to brawls, murders and discriminations. Legislation of a constitution that advocated the superiority of the Pure Men (who happened to be the majority race in the Combine) led to even more dissatisfactions, and soon a scheme was hatched to wrestle the society under control.
From the vaults of pre-desertion technologies the high council of the Combine approved the release of the same virus that wiped out all civilizations after the desertion. The virus was deployed in the guise of a research facility accident, which many found to be questionable given the high council's lackluster efforts at containing the spread. Citizens of the Combine were then forced to wear the same biohazard suits that were once associated with the very identities of the Pure Men in order to survive the Second Deadly Epidemic.
Rebellion and Splintered Core
Many vehemently protested the new measures of donning the biohazard suits, as they deem such actions as discriminatory and a subjugation of their mutant identities. Instead of biohazard suits, the protesters suggested that the Combine redirected all its resources towards a two pronged strategy: (1) connect all existing airtight residential vaults called biodomes with a network of tunnels; and (2) accelerate the development of a vaccine that was supposed to have been completed years ago. The first measure was agreed by many (even amongst the Pure Men) as the most viable strategy, which made the rejection from the high council raise even more questions and conspiracy theories. Despite the rare joint protests of all mutant groups (including many Pure Men as well), the high council instead sent riot control police to suppress their dissenting voices, resulting in unnecessary bloodshed over the course of two weeks.
This dissatisfaction quickly led to the formation of two splinter groups; with one preferring to leave the Combine in peace and the other choosing a more violent route.
Those who left the Combine traveled north and eventually settled down in Oasis. They eventually merged with the Lorekeepers whose sole objective in life is to rediscover pre-desertion knowledge, forming a semi-religious order known as the Awakened Order.
Those who chose to resist the Combine's new law with violent means escaped into the underground tunnels beneath the Combine cities and called this new home the Gloomy Tunnels, from where they plotted rebellions against the government. In honor of the first mutant who was executed for refusing to put on the biohazard suit, they called themselves the Saberions after her maiden name Sabari.
It is during this time that the protagonist is born, in a quiet little village in Oasis called Moonstone.
More Info On Mutant Species Here
Attached an image of a rebel soldier and a Combine soldier here, both unmasked.
Combine soldier.
A soldier in the rebel forces.
=========================================================================
=========================================================================
Discussions on game mechanics:
Is misinformation fun?
Phase-based Combat System
Equipment Familiarity giving bonuses
Seasons & Weather in RPGs
Best way to kick off in an RPG
Turn-based martial combat
Seeding method to encourage failure
Property based RPG system
A post-apocalyptic vision
Quick question: Top-down or isometric?
My take on turn-based combat
Is this story cliche?
talkingDeathclaw
