GURPS Tempest, a Post-Apocalyptic Science-Fantasy Worldbuilding Project ~inspired~ by Palladium Rifts* - Part Two
*Disclaimer: And I emphasize the point "Inspired" as I don't want to get sued. This is an independent rpg worldbuilding project that isn't intended to be a direct 1-to-1 adaptation of Palladium's Rifts setting.
So, going with After the End guidelines, I was thinking of going with Nuclear War being the primary cause of the Apocalypse, with "Aliens" (represented by the Banestorms and Hellstorms) being the secondary main cause. Other causes would be more like symptoms than causes.
For Length of Time, I was thinking 4-5 generations after the Apocalypse, so no ordinary human survivors of the end remain to remember the old world (although some undead or highly-augmented cyborgs might endure). Many ruins of the old world are starting to fall apart (if they weren't destroyed by the apocalypse) and a lot of old-world history is getting mixed up with fictional stories, meaning Anthropology rolls are needed to tell truth from fiction (such as recognizing that Josiah Bartlett was not a real U.S. president.)
The General Tech Level of the world is mixed, so we'll break it down into four broad categories.
-Transportation: Most transportation in the Post-Storm World is TL 8 (Digital Age, 1980+) at best, with most functioning vehicles being TL7 or 6. Horseriding (and other mounts) and carriages are very common. Only the more powerful nations can reliably build and maintain aircraft and large navies.
-Weapons and Armour: Most communities across the Post-Storm World are stuck at TL8, with a few higher-tech enclaves having access to TL9 advanced weapons and armor. I'm planning on having one of the major villain factions have access to early TL10 weapons technology. Communities with lower tech weapons would supplement those with supernatural powers or weapons enhanced through other means (mostly using GURPS Meta-Tech rules. Examples being arrow-heads made from paranatural energized crystals that grow in high-mana zones (or something to that effect) that grant an Armor Divisor (2) to attacks made with them.
-Power: A few TL9 Fusion reactors survive, and those became the core of a few tech-based communities. Most tech-capable societies rely on everything from windmills to solar cells to hydroelectric dams to biofuel generators and a few fission-based nuclear power plants.
-Biotechnology/Medicine: Most communities have at least TL7 levels of medical knowledge, although some of the less tech-based communities are lower, relying on magical healing and more exotic forms of medicine. The main exception to this are cybernetic implants, which can be considered to be TL9 where available. A few ultra-tech enclaves have access to up to TL10 medical knowledge, with full cloning, mind uploads, bioroids, and uplifted animals being available. This is just a broad overview, I plan on going more into detail for different factions once I get into that aspect of worldbuilding. Such as one nation that relies heavily on bio-tech, including bio-gadgets instead of conventional ultra-tech.
