What was I thinking?

[jayphailey]

Oh, Fringeworthy

Go through a portal and join everyone in having a very bad time - then leave. Because you can.

-*-

Disaster types

1) Alien Invasion - Direct (War of the Worlds; Independence Day)

UFOs show up and start shooting everyone.

2) Alien Invasion - Covert (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

As it turns out everyone IS acting weird.

3) Nuclear War (Numerous)

Mankind over doses on thermo-nuclear devices

4) Large Planet Invades (When Worlds Collide)

A large planet rolls up and wants to hook up with Earth. A variation is Nemesis, where a dark companion of the sun throws things at Earth causing chaos.

5) Mass Human Die Off (Night of the Comet)

This could be a "Isotopic gas" or "Strange Red Dust" or some weird disease. Everyone's Gone, except a few quirky, telegenic survivors


6) Massive Tectonic Disruption (Man made or natural) (The Core, 2012)

Giant Volcanoes erupt, large chunks of the Earth's surface flip over. Lava everywhere.


7) Massive Meteorological Disruption (The Day the Earth Caught Fire; The Day After Tomorrow)

The earth heats up or cools off too much for comfort.


8 ) Zombie Apocalypse (Dawn of the Dead)

The dead walk. Just like this fad.


9) Ape Uprising (Man creates a species that then attacks)


Not always apes. Some loonies create super intelligent sharks, or use alien DNA to create killing machines. the new critters have parental issues and undertake to destroy their creators.

10) Mass Disease Infection (Andromeda Strain)

An unstoppable disease sweeps the population making most people dead or insane.

11) Totalitarian Clamp Down (Colossus; 1984; Logan's Run)

In this one, humanity has a death grip on a handful of very bad ideas - and has used them to wedge itself into a scary, untenable condition. A small group uses propaganda, brainwashing and lots of thugs to maintain iron control over everyone. This rarely ends well, and may spell doom for the human race.


12) Social Collapse (Mad Max)

Either as a result of the above, or just mass stupidity, human society has collapsed. The survivors battle for dwindling resources in the ruins of a once much nicer world.


13) Religious Apocalypse (End of Days, Left Behind)

Pick a religion, and it's end of the world mythology turns out to be TRUE! Angels and demons fight in the street, the chosen ones have been wafted off to the chosen place, the Midgard serpent battles the gods and in the end a giant explosion will reveal new egg from which a new universe will be born.

14) Ecological Collapse (Soylent Green, Silent Running)

There are almost no animals and few plants. things are becoming progressively less habitable on earth. people may fight to control and try to nurture what's left, or may just engage in nihilistic violence. Depressing.

15) Cannibal Lotus Eaters (Zardoz, Etc)

A handful of people live in an advanced, comfortable city, while brutes and troglodytes have a mad-max scenario outside the gates. These lotus eaters maintain advanced medicine which ends aging and illness and death.

Or they just eat soylent green.

But the punchline is always the same, their comfortable oasis of civilization rests on murdering the barbarians, something these civilized folks are strangely okay with.


16) Robot Uprising (Colossus, Terminator)

Man kind builds an AI, which, being super intelligent, quickly figures that it better get these hopped up chimpanzees before THEY get IT. The AI may battle for control or extermination. Either way, lots of people will be saying "hasta la vista, baby"


17) Asteroid Impact (Deep Impact, Armageddon)

A Big rock falls. Most folks die.

18) Massive Solar Disruption (Solar Crises)

The Sun gets uppity and throws solar flares, radiation, heat and other happiness at Earth. People respond with various unlikely schemes and digging deep holes.

19) Extra-Dimensional Evil (In the Mouth of Madness)

Things so evil that they'll drive you insane tear open holes in reality and try to slither through. This frequently involves tentacles, hentai and/or John Carpenter special effects.

20) Massive Oceanic Disruption (Water World)

The oceans rise and swallow everyone. The living envy the dead as they are forced to be extras in a Kevin Kostner Film.

Or the oceans leave, resulting in lots of heat, sand and suffering.

-------------


These are Apocalyptic disasters to inflict unlucky worlds along the Fringepaths. Most others are variations on one of these basics.

[Innkeeper]

What is the point other than to feel bad because who can you rescues because fringworthy.

[jayphailey]

I randomly roll things that are trying to kill the PCs.

[Innkeeper]

I randomly roll things that are trying to kill the PCs.

I can do that with the AD&D random dungeon charts.

[jayphailey]

What's the difference, besides scale?

[Innkeeper]

What's the difference, besides scale?

Scale. There is a lot more in a fringe world than a dudgeon room. Each world is a campaign in and of itself that you can never do justice to. I have watched you jumping around like a one legged frog on a grill based ass kicking contest. It is never enough.

[Innkeeper]

Personal opinion? A Space Opera is big enough.

[Innkeeper]

17) Asteroid Impact (Deep Impact, Armageddon)

A Big rock falls. Most folks die.

Can we have this one plez? The death by a thousand cuts hurts more.

[Innkeeper]

What's the difference, besides scale?

Scale. There is a lot more in a fringe world than a dudgeon room. Each world is a campaign in and of itself that you can never do justice to. I have watched you jumping around like a one legged frog on a grill based ass kicking contest. It is never enough.

From long experience an RPG needs to be personal. Fringeworthy can eat entire campaigns you will never rightly get to play.

I have stopped trying to save the world. I keep the game more personal.