Journey Back Home (Post-Apocalyptic RPG)

[Griffin]

In 2020, WWIII starts. Several countries use up their nukes. The whole earth is basically poisonous. An enormous part of the population dies. From those who survive, most leave on an enormous fleet of space ships, to a planet far, far away: Miranda.

Several people, however, do not make it to the space ships (including PC(s)). They are left behind to experience the world changing beneath them, to try to survive in the apocalyptic wasteland. The cities are mostly ruins, the forests are mostly gone, the waters are mostly poisonous. The earth's axis has also shifted because of the nukes, changing the poles to where Northern Europe and Australia used to be -- with all kinds of natural disasters as a result. Where the remaining can, they band together, forming gangs, establishing a harsh hierarchy in fighting over the little food and water there is.

Back on Miranda, we see that the radiation has made a huge part of the population, almost everyone, horribly sick. The only people who know enough about the received radiation to still research for a cure? Still on earth.

A small crew of humans (the PCs, some NPCs) return in a space ship back to earth to pick up those scientists. Fortunately, we have a fairly good idea where they are. Unfortunately, our space ship suddenly fails, and crashes a few hundred miles away from where we have to eventually be, killing most the NPCs, and also unfortunately close to dangerous radiation, leaving us to (1) fix the space ship (it's not irreparably damaged, just, damaged) and (2) find the scientists to return home, and also, in the mean time, survive.

Plot points:
+ The radiation creates a new species, split off of the Dandelion. It is incredibly resistant to radiation, to the point that the places where they grow are close to free from radiation, and the water in which they grow is drinkable.
+ The inhabitants of the earth who are not the scientists also want to go home, but not many can travel on the space ship, so they will try to steal it for their own (fleeing) purposes. (Mind you, some of the leftover humans are quite good astronauts, just not the scientists we are looking for.)

So far, there are a few characters which we've discussed in the chat, but which have not been fully fleshed out yet. Pleh is playing a hermit who was left behind on earth, close to the crash site and knows the surroundings. Count is playing the 15 year old child prodigy, son/daughter of the captain of the crew. His father is one of the scientists they are going to pick up. I am playing a pilot/mechanic who is/was having an affair with Count's mother, but she got horribly wounded in the crash (not dead, though). Ev is playing a bodyguard of sorts, sent out to protect the crew in case dangerous things started happening (but this is not what we prepared for). Joe is either playing one of the scientists who was left behind or a crew member.

This thread, for now, will be only for discussing ideas and potential characters and character relationships. Once the RPG starts this will be the chatter thread. A seperate thread for characters will be opened once we create a character sheet.

For the time being, Pleh and I will be organising this RPG. We will be playing along just like everyone else, but make the threads/get the RPG moving/work the rules out/have the final say over the plot.

[ArcticPhoenix]

Alright... I decided to be one of the crew members. I will probably be a female medic/scientist/doctor in between around 25 - 35 years old
I'll likely have a pacifistic nature and perhaps clash with Ev's character.

[Pleh]

Spoiler: show

According to what I can see from this, the earth's poles would not be in Europe and Australia unless they were severely off center, which would produce incredibly bizarre electromagnetic anomalies.

I believe that Uranus is the only other planet we know of with such a strangely off center magnetic dipole. I don't think the world's supply of Nuclear Warheads could shift the earth's core that severely.

At that point, the shifting of the core was likely not collateral damage as much as it would have been the target of the attack and it would have been immensely difficult.

If you want the south pole in Australia because of nuclear bombardment, then the north pole would likely be in North America somewhere.
If you want the north pole in Europe, then the south pole will be in some random part of the pacific ocean, it seems.

If you want both, then the earth will have changed far more than having crumbling building left in ruins. It's possible that the Earth's magnetosphere would no longer shield the planet from the Sun's dangerous solar winds anymore at that point.

[Griffin]

Oh, that was just a general idea, because I figure it would involve a lot of natural disaster and a lot of changing of landscapes if the poles changed. It doesn't (to me) matter where the poles go, really (or even change. It was just another idea.).

The idea here (i. e. in the Netherlands) is always that if you go down and keep digging you end up in Australia, but I know that's not really accurate.

I forgot one thing in the OP: This is not set out to be a very demanding RPG. At least a few people have expressed they don't have a lot of time to invest in this. We just want to start, and leave it going slowly for as long as it goes. Have an RPG to play, to have something to do.

[Pleh]

Sorry, my inner physicist couldn't help but check the facts. We don't have to go into detail about this stuff, but what details there are bug me if I don't at least look at them.

[Nev]

So you and Long are going to help move things along, just making sure...since we said no GM and all. (You meanies, you cut me out ) Anyway, I say we should gauge interest and then start sometime this week or early next week.

I'll be working on something

[Griffin]

Character sheet proposal:

Spoiler: show

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Appearance:
Role:
History:

Example:

Spoiler: show

Name: Jane McGeneric
Age: 30
Gender: F
Appearance: Ordinary blonde hair, ordinary face, grey eyes, ordinary figure.
Role: The space ship's cook.
History: She had a happy childhood, also, a happy adulthood, and, she's a pretty good cook!

Any glaring omissions?

Edit: No need to start posting finished characters yet, we'll open a character thread later, but post drafts/ideas/WIPs by all means.

[Battery]

*tosses name into hat of people who want to join*

I'll get to work on a character. I have all week and should be able to get a profile out pretty soon.
Though I have a question... are all the characters on earth or did I read the main post wrong?

[Griffin]

It was my idea that the opening post would be the space ship crashing on earth, leaving all PCs on earth, yes.

So far all established characters are part of the crew, except for Pleh who will join the crew in their travels, soon. You can be someone else who also lives on earth, but, it would make for a mostly solitary role, unless another player goes in that direction as well.

[Nev]

My awesomeness...or crapiness, found a cool website and decided to make this :


I must say, I didn't notice it at first but the dandelion seeds are like the people who escaped. It can signify how we have gone off and settled on another planet which we would no doubtedly destroy...like a weed. And if you look at it in a different way, it looks like the seeds are trying to get back to the plant...journey back home!

[Pleh]

So you and Long are going to help move things along, just making sure...since we said no GM and all. (You meanies, you cut me out ) Anyway, I say we should gauge interest and then start sometime this week or early next week.

I'll be working on something

You can still be part of the process, Ev. Running this thing is a responsibility as much as it is entertaining, so we will be more than happy to dump some of the moderating workload onto your neck too.

I like the pic and the application it has to our plot. Well done.

[Hybrid]

Question: has the radiation altered any of the people on the planet? i.e. superpowers, but not so powerful to make it fair.

[Pleh]

To answer your question, I post the following. Keep in mind that there is no GM and my say is not final, but this is what I envision for the game. Anyone should feel free to argue these points.

There are very few people left on earth alive. Most exposure to radiation is simply lethal, but certain powers are possible to manifest.

Some powers I would be okay with might be:

Increased mental capacity, which I will consider to be telepathy with limitations: no telekinesis, but lots of mind-reading and limited hypnotic-based mind control. With the mind control, it would be like Jedi mind trick, the strong willed are more able to resist and even the weak willed can sometimes resist a command which would obviously place themselves into danger.

Another possible power could be enhanced strength and/or reflexes due to abnormal muscle growth.

More likely than the other two is a resistance to pain (and, as such, an ability to ignore damage) through the loss of nerve systems. You can have deadened senses which enable you to push your body further than normal people could.

Having extra body parts is highly unlikely since most mutations might make you ugly and lumpy, but usually would not be useful traits. A third eye or arm is possible, but the extra body arm would tend to be dead weight which either doesn't function or doesn't function well.

I don't want to see anything like X-Men mutations. Those are overpowered and too much unlike the world we've been creating.

As a general rule, I would want to see super powers go hand in hand with a handicap. Most people who are damaged enough to experience radical mutation are likely also dying slowly from radiation poisoning. The more radical the change, the longer or more intense the radiation exposure and the more likely that you will also die from it. The smaller the ability, the more likely that you can survive for a greater duration of time.

Naturally, I could not, and have no interest in attempting to, list all possible powers here. Those listed above are a sample to give you an idea of what I feel is right. By all means, share what you were thinking about and we'll talk about whether it sounds reasonable.

I dislike the idea of having someone with a power like Cyclops from X-Men, but you actually could say that his body fights the heavy radiation by expelling it in a concentrated beam from his eyes.
However, I would argue that such a system would likely be terribly bad for his eyes and he would soon go blind from all that radiation passing through his retina.

Just to give an example of how to fit these kinds of things into our story.

[ArcticPhoenix]

Hmm... I'm not generally for the idea of powers in this RP because of the advantage it would give some of the players but I like your idea pleh; that there is a serious disadvantage to having powers. Also so far we only have 1 player (so far as i know) that stayed on earth and people from the crew aren't likely to have had enough contact with radiation... although it could be argued that they were exposed before they left.. since the reason we are coming back to earth is to find a cure for our poisoned...
Wow... you can really think yourself into a hole with all these vague ideas..
Anyways, to state my own opinion: if people really want, then I am for the idea of slight powers (such as those stated in pleh's post)

And I would encourage the creation of a character thread soon.

[Pleh]

In the interest of keeping things moving, I am going to consider Long's suggestion for a character sheet to be the official one unless anyone decides to voice any objections.

Soon either Griffin or I will post a character thread, since it seems we are mostly in agreement in terms of the character sheets.

If we decide that powers are canon, then we can add any information on those under an "Other" category at the end of the character sheet.

[Nev]

I love you AP *hugs really tight*never ever go away again


I have some Ideas I will share tomorrow

[Tiny]

AM JOINING


Character 1: Gang badass

Character 2: Super-religious freak.

[Pleh]

You have two characters or two ideas for characters?

[Griffin]

She has two ideas for characters, both of which she wants to play.

I am okay with it, so, if anyone objects, I guess now is the time to post?

[Pleh]

I vote "yes" on the initiative to allow Tiny both characters and am willing to accept this as precedent for other players to design second characters.

[Battery]

Kinda claiming it while I can. If no one has issue with this, I think I'll play a medic. I'm currently working on a profile, and hopefully I can have it posted tomorrow.

[Nev]

I vote yes aswel, more fun. I would like to ask if I could be training Ricky in Militaryness, just an idea since she is only 15...

[Pleh]

Seems like they wouldn't send anyone out into the field who didn't have the training they needed before they left.

However, you could be teaching other people to defend themselves.

[ArcticPhoenix]

Alright... I decided to be one of the crew members. I will probably be a female medic/scientist/doctor in between around 25 - 35 years old
I'll likely have a pacifistic nature and perhaps clash with Ev's character.

i was kind of hoping to be the medic.... but i guess since you've made a character i don't get much of a claim on it do i?

[Battery]

Alright... I decided to be one of the crew members. I will probably be a female medic/scientist/doctor in between around 25 - 35 years old
I'll likely have a pacifistic nature and perhaps clash with Ev's character.

i was kind of hoping to be the medic.... but i guess since you've made a character i don't get much of a claim on it do i?

Well, there can be more than one medic, and within a group of scientists looking for some kind of medical cure it is quite necessary. That's kinda why I decided to be a medic as well. If you have a problem with it, I'd be happy to change.