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Post by Pawel on Jan 7, 2020 14:10:07 GMT
So, the Blight ruined the Earth. Mainly, by killing half the human population - which, on its own, would probably only help the Earth - but also by destabilising civilisation and bringing quite a lot of economical and actual warfare. This in turn ruined nature conservation movements, lowered everybody's ethical sensitivity bars, etc. If entire continents are hungry and fight for canned goods, not many worry about bees dying out.
Then the GEO steps in and makes everybody see the bigger picture and care for it (or rather forces everybody to acknowledge there's no other way). Virus Fischer gets stopped but nature on Earth is a wreck. Ecosystems are dying, some have collapsed altogether. Biodiversity is in shambles. The big circle of life is full of holes.
Most of us run our campaigns on Poseidon, of course (though there's plenty of room to play "Expanse"-style stuff in the Sol system as well - especially if we get the right sourcebook(s), wink wink), but most of our characters' backstories are set on Earth. Surrounded by the devastation, all kinds of economical and economical scars of the Blight.
How bad is it, in your games? It's sort of down to each Game Moderator's interpretation, I guess - though I'd love to hear Jeff's take on this!! We know how many billions of people kicked the bucket during the Blight and, especially with the Amazon and Australia burning in the real world, climate disaster gaining pace with each passing year and ecological diversity as it stands facing oblivion in this decade, not to mention beyond 2100, what sort of nature do you allow to remain on Earth in your games?
Do you lean more towards much sadder, much quieter version of what we're surrounded by now? Trees are still around in terms of quantity, but in terms of quality they tend to be sickly and in terms of diversity they're mostly only the most resilient species, etc? Insects are mostly gone, but pests are plentiful. Grass is gone but weeds are everywhere. Foxes and seagulls and pigeons are okay, as are other animals that learned to survive in urban shadows, but pristine nature as such is only a memory. Swathes of green exist - but when looked from up close, it's just so very much sicklier and ecologically poorer.
Or do you let your nature flourish, even though it will take hundreds of thousands of years for it to recover diversity? Sort of like a mixture of Chernobyl and "the Last of Us"? All those empty cities reclaimed by the green, whole regions abandoned as humans flock to the cities?
Or do you go full Mad Max-mode here and there and use desert-like aesthetic to replace what was once a green planet?
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Post by lostmanabroad on Mar 20, 2020 8:14:03 GMT
In my campaign world I see the Earth as being a mix of futuristic, technologically advanced cities surrounded by vast slums like in Blade Runner and wasteland zones leftover from food wars.
20 years on however I would think of the Earth as largely recovered. Much of the Long John mined on Poseidon would have brought about a new level of wealth to the incorporate economies of Earth. The corporations, while greedy, are also run by people who do not want to live on a garbage dump so some of that wealth would have been poured back into the ecological restoration of Earth.
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Post by kasaidan on Apr 22, 2021 22:42:33 GMT
On the topic of the expanse, iam thinking about basing my next campaign on the Expanse Novels prequel "The Churn", having the character fight their way from the slums of earth to Poseidon in the first few sessions.
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Post by Pawel on Apr 23, 2021 6:44:57 GMT
On the topic of the expanse, iam thinking about basing my next campaign on the Expanse Novels prequel "The Churn", having the character fight their way from the slums of earth to Poseidon in the first few sessions. That sounds like a fantastic model for a World of Hurt campaign! Admittedly, I haven't got down to the Churn yet, so my knowledge of the Earth setting in Expanse is based solely on Bobbie's adventures in the TV series and the Nemesis Games tome. The one major difference I'd keep in mind is that the population of the World of Hurt in 2120 was just shy of 5 billion and the increase has been slow since then, whereas on Earth in Expanse there are 30 billion people (I'm gonna stop myself from any Marco Inaros-related spoilers here). |
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Post by neil on Apr 23, 2021 7:08:31 GMT
To be honest, it's not come up in my games.
The film Interstellar may be a source. I'd imagine large desert/dusbowl areas. If the Blight destroyed grass and cereals, think of how much of the centres of continents would be without plants: the maize and wheat monocultures of the US, steppes and prairies, all just fields of dust. Constant dust-storms, as sometimes happens in Beijing, turning the air brown and hiding the sun in daytime.
I don't know what's happened to sea levels, but there could be a lot of coastal flooding and drowned cities. Despite that, I'd still expect most people to still be living near the coasts.
Incorporate States exist because they're the most successful way to live: smaller communities, tightly coupled, relying on technology and control to be successful. (They've probably taken that approach to Poseidon as well. Yes, the Incorp cities may have thousands of people and have a large ecological impact, but it's probably still much less than the equivalent 2020-era settlement.)
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Post by Pawel on Apr 23, 2021 8:55:15 GMT
To be honest, it's not come up in my games. The film Interstellar may be a source. I'd imagine large desert/dusbowl areas. If the Blight destroyed grass and cereals, think of how much of the centres of continents would be without plants: the maize and wheat monocultures of the US, steppes and prairies, all just fields of dust. Constant dust-storms, as sometimes happens in Beijing, turning the air brown and hiding the sun in daytime. I don't know what's happened to sea levels, but there could be a lot of coastal flooding and drowned cities. Despite that, I'd still expect most people to still be living near the coasts. Incorporate States exist because they're the most successful way to live: smaller communities, tightly coupled, relying on technology and control to be successful. (They've probably taken that approach to Poseidon as well. Yes, the Incorp cities may have thousands of people and have a large ecological impact, but it's probably still much less than the equivalent 2020-era settlement.) Spot on WoH summary!! <3 |
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Post by Admin on Apr 23, 2021 16:35:58 GMT
I've always had a particular socio-ecological state in mind for World of Hurt. Nature is simultaneously fragile and resilient, and regardless of what we do to it, much will survive - much of it with the aggression of invasive species.
I posted this in a recent KS update and thought it might help:
There are many post-apocalyptic/dystopian/cyberpunk-themed RPGs, but there are few that are played in the midst of a hard sci-fi apocalypse, caused by relatively slow natural forces like climate change, desertification, ocean acidification and biodiversity loss. Most games are set well after the destruction and play like a Mad Max movie, while others focus on the aesthetics and morality of a Gibson novel or Bladerunner film. Our intention, instead, for World of Hurt is to present the physical and social landscapes of an Earth mid-tipping point that is struggling to arrest its fall before what's left of civilization goes full Road Warrior. The intent is to offer a novel experience in which characters can explore the ongoing collapse as it is happening and players can reflect on real-world social and ecological stewardship.
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Post by Pawel on Apr 23, 2021 16:51:28 GMT
I've always had a particular socio-ecological state in mind for World of Hurt. Nature is simultaneously fragile and resilient, and regardless of what we do to it, much will survive - much of it with the aggression of invasive species. I posted this in a recent KS update and thought it might help: There are many post-apocalyptic/dystopian/cyberpunk-themed RPGs, but there are few that are played in the midst of a hard sci-fi apocalypse, caused by relatively slow natural forces like climate change, desertification, ocean acidification and biodiversity loss. Most games are set well after the destruction and play like a Mad Max movie, while others focus on the aesthetics and morality of a Gibson novel or Bladerunner film. Our intention, instead, for World of Hurt is to present the physical and social landscapes of an Earth mid-tipping point that is struggling to arrest its fall before what's left of civilization goes full Road Warrior. The intent is to offer a novel experience in which characters can explore the ongoing collapse as it is happening and players can reflect on real-world social and ecological stewardship. Precious stuff. <3 I feel that this tipping point finds its way into characters' backstories much more often than in "regular" cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic settings. At least that's what I see/feel when I GM or write my stuff. In other settings the fate of the natural world is mostly just an aesthetic backdrop, something to highlight the dystopian downfall. In BP it's a loss that cannot yet be accepted as something that happened in the past. So it lives in the characters. It needs to be processed. A goal only a handful RPGs ever achieve!! |
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Post by neil on Apr 23, 2021 20:22:09 GMT
I've always had a particular socio-ecological state in mind for World of Hurt. Nature is simultaneously fragile and resilient, and regardless of what we do to it, much will survive - much of it with the aggression of invasive species. I posted this in a recent KS update and thought it might help: There are many post-apocalyptic/dystopian/cyberpunk-themed RPGs, but there are few that are played in the midst of a hard sci-fi apocalypse, caused by relatively slow natural forces like climate change, desertification, ocean acidification and biodiversity loss. Most games are set well after the destruction and play like a Mad Max movie, while others focus on the aesthetics and morality of a Gibson novel or Bladerunner film. Our intention, instead, for World of Hurt is to present the physical and social landscapes of an Earth mid-tipping point that is struggling to arrest its fall before what's left of civilization goes full Road Warrior. The intent is to offer a novel experience in which characters can explore the ongoing collapse as it is happening and players can reflect on real-world social and ecological stewardship. I like this framing. Putting the action at the crux point in the decline makes for good drama. There's something worth fighting for, rather than just accepting an inevitable collapse and everything that goes with it. |
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Post by doublea on Apr 27, 2021 22:09:37 GMT
I without shame admit my Earth in Blue Planet always looked like the setting of Johnny Mnemonic.  |
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Post by Pawel on Apr 27, 2021 22:13:13 GMT
I without shame admit my Earth in Blue Planet always looked like the setting of Johnny Mnemonic. Very fond of this oldie jewel. To this day one of the best depictions of Gibsonian cyberweb. And, most importantly, Jones the dolphin! |
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