Blowing Up Your Fantasy World
And letting the survivors sort it out
I love apocalyptic movie and shows like The Walking Dead, The Mad Max movies and Sean of the Dead. I also like fantasy, so an apocalyptic event in my fantasy world checks all the boxes for me.
In the setting I’m doodling with, the horror of apocalypse comes through a powerful hex cast be a coven of witches, now called The Witches of the Blackened Earth, who unleashed all manner of hellishness over the land
What I like most about apocalypse settings is how groups form in the throes of the end of all things and shortly thereafter.
I think most of my PCs looking to join a group would look at 3 things.
The Leaders
Would you join a group if psychopaths like Negan and The Govenar were the leaders? Would you join Pappagallo’s group from The Road Warrior whose goal was to guard a precious resources? How joining a group led by Matthias (Omega Man), a cult leader who wants all technology destroyed.
It’s possible that the PC do not want to join a survivor group but but start their own and lead a group from rag tag to becoming a force to be reckoned with.
The Fortifications
Are survivors broken up into diversified fortifications like in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga? The Biker Horde, led by Dementus, who live on the road and in tents? Are they like Immortan Joe who has a citadel inside a cavern? Maybe they’re like Bullet Town,
“an abandoned lead mine to the west of The Citadel, the Bullet Farm was refurbished into an arms factory and used to manufacture small arms, gunpowder, and ammunition to fuel The Citadel's war effort against other gangs that roam the Wasteland.” - Mad Max Wiki
Not only do they have a secure bastion, they actually create something everyone else needs, bullets. Trading and bartering become much easier if you’re a useful bunch and not a bunch of moochers.
The Resources
Would your PCs join a group of scavengers living day to day or would they seek out a town or village with a military presence?
Bullet Town had bullets.
The Citadel had water.
Gas Town had gas.
Where does the group get its food and water or are they cannibals?
Does the group have a set of skills in making things or a they a useless bunch of hippies like those of Babylon in Zombieland 2.
Survivor groups run the gambit and that is the fun of it, you never know who you’ll run into in the wasteland.
Other Questions PCs might ask
How are they fixed for medical supplies?
How trained are they in warfare?
What alliances and/or enemies do they have?
What about weapons and armor?
It’s because I wanted a resource to answer most of these questions that I wrote the latest issue of Crit Happen #7: The Survivors . This issue is the fourth in my Hex Crawl of Horror series.
This issue has
20 d12 tables to create your own survivor groups
Survival Group Origin Sheet
Survival Group Worksheet
And a dozen sample Survivor Groups to plug into your game
How would you or your PCs decide what kind of group you would join? Or would they start their own? Let me know.