Creating your own post-apocalyptic world

DiddlePants

First time out of the vault
I find it enjoyable to come on to this site and read people’s creative ideas and fan theories/head canons. To those of you who enjoy Fallout’s lore and writing fan fiction, why not just create your own post apocalyptic world? I regularly write and brainstorm different ideas for a potential post apocalyptic game, movie, cartoon, PnP, etc. and I find it quite enjoyable. Do any of you guys do anything like that here? And if so, would you care to maybe share some of your ideas?
 
Well I've written a lot on here about Fallout settings but personally I feel if I'm doing post-apoc I might as well just do Fallout because I love the setting enough that any post apocalyptic stuff I'll do will be derivative of Fallout anyway.

I have my own sci-fi space opera setting in the can for my next tabletop campaign which has some apocalyptic planets, though
 
I have a lot of ideas in my head that I've brainstormed but since I know that it wont amount to anything I don't care to invest time into it.
 
I feel the exact same way about that whole “derivative of Fallout” feeling. I absolutely adore post apocalyptic settings, but it feels to me sometimes that some of my ideas are pretty much just rip-offs of Fallout. I’ve tried to make my apocalypse less nuclear and more sci-fi based, and I’ve sprouted some bursts of creativity here and there. That being said, is there even a point in trying to have a post apocalyptic setting? Seems to me that Fallout (as a series) has pretty much drained the well of potential ideas. I’m probably just being a uncreative writer, but I’m not sure what else there is to explore about the post-apocalyptic genre that Fallout hasn’t already done.
 
The good thing about a post-apocalyptic setting is that it has reduced world order to nation states if even that. So you can have a wild west where any faction, culture, religion and ideology can grow crazy. You can't have something like Caesar's Legion in a 40's noire setting or a futuristic Mass Effect-esque setting.

Fallout because of its mixture of alternative history, futurism and post-apocalyptica is in a unique position that appealed to us in the first place. If we're inspired by Fallout to do something it is inevitably going to end up being a derivative of Fallout.

There is plenty to explore, the problem is that I don't want to explore post-apocalyptic setting #424, I want to explore Fallout. I've created a setting in my head that is my own and isn't just Schmallout but it is pretty much hitting the same beat.
 
I have written a few post-apoc worlds, one is after a alternate ww2 and ww3, spreading into the future and other worlds.

Other than near casual violence, monsters, and themes of rebuilding, I don't think they share much with Fallout.

But I am interested in like, all the ethics, ideologies, responses to crises, social organization, and of course, conflict between them that arise to deal and handle with the world they're stuck in.
 
Fallout scratches a very particular itch for me. The combination of post-apocalypse, weird sci-fi, retro-futurism, alternate history, and the occasional body horror is quite unique, so if I have an idea that I feel fits into the world of fallout, I’d rather put it in my fallout fanfic than create a rip-off fictional universe to put it in. That being said I enjoy worldbuilding and I’ve come up with a couple post-apocalyptic universes that, as you may expect, are quite derivative of fallout’s themes and setting.

One idea I had was for a world where World War I really was the “war to end all wars”, a never ending world war that lasted from 1914-1945 and ended with the collapse of modern civilization. I haven’t thought this one through a whole lot, but I imagine it taking place in fragmented United States a la Crimson Skies, where much of the world has been poisoned by decades of unrestricted chemical warfare.

The other idea I have is slightly more fleshed out. Though I came up with this idea many many years ago, the recent release of Cyberpunk 2077 makes it seem like kind of a rip-off (though I suppose the Cyberpunk universe has been around since before I was born). It takes place in a world battered by resource wars, environmental destruction and limited nuclear exchange (sound familiar?). The setting would be focused on an isolated city in the middle of a desert, one of the few “safe havens” from the outside post-apocalyptic world. With the collapse of federal and state governments, the city is officially controlled by an uneasy truce between the draconian police department and a greedy mega-corporation. However, most of the city is really controlled by various criminal elements.

This setting is heavily inspired by movies of the 70s-80s ranging from more mundane films like Dirty Harry, Death Wish and Taxi Driver, to science fiction films like Robocop, Soylent Green, Escape from New York and Blade Runner. Mob movies such as Goodfellas, Casino, Donnie Brasco, Scarface, Carlito’s Way and The Depahted also influence the setting. This essentially combines two of my favorite genres: crime and dystopia.
 
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I really enjoyed reading your guy’s ideas, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who spends his time in his own little post-apocalyptic world. It’s just a small hobby for me and helps pass the time when I’m at work.

I like the idea of a “sci-fi apocalypse”, kind of like the cut ending to Old War Blues but on a massive, apocalyptic scale. It’s alien and “silly” nature would fit well for the setting of a cartoon I think.
 
Probably more of a FONV quest mod idea.
Well I have had a story in my mind for some time involving Diana from the Nursery and young tribal whom has a mother-child relationship with her. Backstory would be somthing like. The Nursery was attacked by a great force and the young tribal escaped the the attack on the Nursery. Carrying along with him a small piece of tech that has Diana's entire person downloaded onto it from the Central Computer Intelligence of the Nursery. Ultimately at this state Diana is nothing but a voice at this point. She's completely blind but aware. Only being able communicate sort of like a sentient walkie talkie. The tribal is physically fit or "the perfect warrior". But due to his isolated life at the Nursery he's like a fish out of water in the more civilized parts of Post-War America. He's bascially like a child in an adults body. Completely oblivious to social norms and etcetera. (Think of a slightly more civilised Follows-Chalk.) The young tribal is on a quest to search for the needed components to fix piece of tech that Diana's stuck in. So she can reconnect to the Central Computer Intelligence. The tribal keeps talking to Diana, about how he's looking forward to find his "siblings" again whom he belives has survived the attack just like he did. Diana, can't bear to tell him the truth about how before she was downloaded onto the small device that she saw how her "children" each got mowed down one by one through the Nurserys survelliance.

If I'd just mastered the art of modding .. Anyway this is all just a rough draft.
 
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Well I've written a lot on here about Fallout settings but personally I feel if I'm doing post-apoc I might as well just do Fallout because I love the setting enough that any post apocalyptic stuff I'll do will be derivative of Fallout anyway.

I have my own sci-fi space opera setting in the can for my next tabletop campaign which has some apocalyptic planets, though

Rather the same as with me as I really like the Fallout setting, at least Fallout 1, 2, and NV, and one of my biggest wishes in life is to make at least one Fallout game.
After that I am fine with leaving Fallout alone.


That being said, is there even a point in trying to have a post apocalyptic setting? Seems to me that Fallout (as a series) has pretty much drained the well of potential ideas. I’m probably just being a uncreative writer, but I’m not sure what else there is to explore about the post-apocalyptic genre that Fallout hasn’t already done.

Kinda. But I still believe there is at least one more story to tell with Fallout before the series should be 'closed'.

But I have often been thinking of stuff involving space settings and space opera.
Sort of The Outer Worlds, but with a lot of the character being a bit better written and incompetent evil stereotypes.

I really would like to do something inspired by Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures and the people, factions, places, and ideas mentioned in these books.
I would strip all the obvious Star Wars references out of it, and replace these with something new.
But essential element would be.

-A sector under corporate control, mostly out of jurisdiction of a larger government and allowed to run the star systems in the sector as they see fit.
-A sector that was once under the control of a powerful empire that has fallen centuries ago but is still remembered by the occupants of the sector.
This sector is pretty much a backwater to the large government after they deal with the empire that once existed here. Only a handful of planets are really of interest, having maintained a relative advanced level of civilization and tech, but many of the other worlds have fallen into decline, or are already on their way back to barbarism.
-A handful of alien species, including at least one advanced one. This alien species is in conflict with the corporations from the sector they control, but the aliens recognize that not all humans are employees of the corporations, or agreeing with the corporations. Neutral sided humans are allowed to land on their worlds to trade and do business.
They also have diplomatic relations with the larger government.
-Mostly neutral and self interest factions and groups, but there is at least one group of idealistic good guys (they are perhaps not powerful, but these people are genuinely trying to do the right thing and have the respect and support of many).
-The player is not out on a quest to save the universe, the human species, or the large government. The last is quite capable of dealing with its own problems, including any major threat to them or the human species.
Likewise, the corporations though greedy and focused on profit, are not out to overtake the large government and start an era of corporate controlled human civilization.
It doesn't mean the player can not decide to aid groups of people or safe planets, or do something to make the lives of others better. But it is not easy being a hero and making all ends meet and even make a lot of money on top of it.


Or alternatively, something inspired by Larry Niven's Known space. The human species is just a single species in a pool of several, and they are neither more advance or less advanced than most of these.
- There is no unified human government throughout human space, but the various human worlds work together to some degree of another, mostly because some worlds depend on the support of others. (not everyone colony can afford its own interstellar or interplanetary ships)
- There is no major threat to all humans or all known species in explored space, but there are definitely dangerous species, with some of them do having the ambition of military expansion.
Humans however are not that much better.
Still it is an era of relative piece. Any conflict is mostly single planet based or at best a single system.


In a sense I have gotten the chance to work on a new post apocalyptic universe that has some similarities with the Fallout setting, but is very different in many other parts.
The Ashes universe is its own beast, though taking inspiration from a lot of 80s PA movies as well as elements from other genres such as horror.

I like to believe that after the main games are done one day that there would still be room for more material as there is room for a lot of individual stories and adventures.
I have an idea for something very ambitious but there is little point to talk about it until Episode 3 is done.
 
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