Warhawk
Post-Apocalyptic Pilot
Hello everyone. I understand that this section isn't designed for advertisements of any kind, but it was the only place that seemed to fit the bill. Hence if it's deleted, no harm, no foul, but at least hear me out.
Quite a while ago I was inspired to develop a forum-based nation-building RPG that matched concrete, balanced mechanics with an open-ended player roleplay environment for diplomacy. As the idea developed, few settings sprung to mind that were both rich in potential but a "fresh slate" for the creation of a community narrative. That gradually led to a post-apocalyptic environment, and a 1970's Cold-War-Gone-Hot environment dubbed a rather generic "Post-Apocalyptia." But any old environment didn't seem compelling enough for a start-up, so I compromised by tweaking the mechanics for an existing canon: Fallout.
Fallout: Post-Apocalyptia was the result. It's a forum-based, community-driven game that allows individual players to shape an alternate Fallout universe as the founders and leaders of post-war gangs, tribes and nations. Beginning in 2083, this Fallout world had less nuclear destruction, fewer maliciously-run Vaults, and ultimately more survivors, despite having the same charred wasteland and F.E.V. to deal with. The game is structured to run indefinitely, with provisions for new players at any time, so long as there remain provinces on the map, which will eventually account for the entire continental United States.
Half of the game centers on the use of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that calculates the results of economic, scientific, and military decisions. This prevents ambiguous circumstances in which moderators must judge the relative merits of any assemblage of soldiers and equipment at any given time, providing a concrete, no-nonsense foundation for gameplay. Multiple traits and statistics, including a nation-wide "S.P.E.C.I.A.L." modify the outcomes of otherwise straightforward calculations, such that no two nations will turn out exactly the same, nor can they gain immediate and unbalanced advantages over fellow players.
The other half centers on player-to-player relationships, which is where the RPG side shines: Players, responsible for representing any number of politicians, soldiers, and civilians have free reign to negotiate with each other as they see fit. Every minor agreement plays into the larger picture, such that the most diplomatically active and responsible nations can tip the balance above and beyond the hard-coded mechanics. With fully functional frontlines and expeditionary forces, alliance wars on a province-by-province map, and economic/scientific exchanges become very real incentives for working towards cooperation with your neighbors... even if temporarily.
An important thing to note is that there are no prizes for second place: Post-Apocalyptia is not in the business of covering up for the strategic errors of its players, and so being completely wiped out of the game is always possible. On the other hand, there are mechanics in place that make the "farming" of small nations virtually worthless to other players (unless they flat out want to see you gone). While new nations can be created from the depths of the wastelands or on the ashes of failed, post-war nations, these will inevitably have to deal with a growing balance of power (or terror) resulting from the oldest nations around. Those larger nations have many incentives to support your fledgling state in a never-ending somewhat-cold war of post-apocalyptic proportions.
There is no definitive strategy, because the interactions between players makes it impossible: A nation starting as the most warlike, barbaric tribe in the history of Fallout will no doubt have considerably tough warriors, but will either have to contend with staunchly allied neighbors, or their own economic deficiencies in the long run. All the same, the options are manifold: Multiple races and government types exist, and new ones can be added as time goes by, all on a sprawling, steadily-expanding map that could, for all intents and purposes, encompass the globe.
This is a fresh Fallout world, waiting for its Masters, its Dick Richardsons, and its Vault Dwellers. Few if any of these original characters and organizations will exist, primarily because the actions of players will invalidate them, but it is always possible to make analogues of your own, and occasionally you may get a chance to actually run the originals as you desire: Vault City is first come, first served, but what if there were 'two' Vault Cities? That's entirely up to you.
In terms of time commitment and player burden, it's a tradeoff between efficiency, fairness, and practicality. As mentioned, the game uses a spreadsheet. While this comes already filled out, with instructions for use, players must constantly update them on a dedicated forum post so that they can be compared with everyone else. Similarly, the mechanics demand that a schedule be followed: While general roleplaying and diplomacy can be done at any time, certain status posts and decisions such as declarations of war must be done on or by certain times of the week. It is a weekly cycle, each representing 3 in-game months, with Saturday serving as the moderators' breathing room for calculating results. Players are free to quit the game at any time, and will be automatically kicked for inactivity. While losing players is hardly a good thing, their provinces on the map are recycled for use by other nations, even brand new ones, meaning that the show can go on for everyone else.
Ideally you would try to follow community-wide events as regularly as possible, and any number of sidestories and ongoing narratives between friends, allies, and enemies can use your input. But ultimately you have three deadlines in regards to the concrete mechanics: When you must declare war, when you must post your economic/scientific decisions, and when you post your final decisions including attacks on enemy provinces. Once fluent with the system, it shouldn't take more than an hour to post your responses for each of those deadlines, giving you a bare-bones three-hour weekly commitment. Players not at war, and not concerned with war, would require even less time, although by then I would question your motivation in playing since there would be virtually no interaction with other players. The game is community-driven; without a community, it is a glorified string of calculations.
What does it look like so far?
This is a link to the forum I'm currently using. I apologize in advance for advertisements, since it is hosted for free by a third party, but it's nothing ad-block can't handle. The primary rules/guidebook in addition to the world map and individual forum section guidelines are already available. A download link for the spreadsheet is not yet available, but there are screenshots of the sheet in full detail in the guide post. I have yet to create my own nation, so there are no examples of new-nation posts and initial decision posts yet, but expect them within the week. Feel free to register and ask any in-depth questions you have there. Otherwise I'm more than welcome to answer other questions here in this topic if it is allowed to remain on this board. And even though the vast majority of work has already been done, there is always room for improvement, and certainly room for help, so pitch in if you'd like.
Fallout is the perfect setting for a game like this: The mystery and open-ended possibilities of this pseudo-scientific post-apocalyptic world is fertile ground for nation-building. With enough interest, and if the game design holds enough water, it could potentially write its own history, one rich enough to deserve the title.
Quite a while ago I was inspired to develop a forum-based nation-building RPG that matched concrete, balanced mechanics with an open-ended player roleplay environment for diplomacy. As the idea developed, few settings sprung to mind that were both rich in potential but a "fresh slate" for the creation of a community narrative. That gradually led to a post-apocalyptic environment, and a 1970's Cold-War-Gone-Hot environment dubbed a rather generic "Post-Apocalyptia." But any old environment didn't seem compelling enough for a start-up, so I compromised by tweaking the mechanics for an existing canon: Fallout.
Fallout: Post-Apocalyptia was the result. It's a forum-based, community-driven game that allows individual players to shape an alternate Fallout universe as the founders and leaders of post-war gangs, tribes and nations. Beginning in 2083, this Fallout world had less nuclear destruction, fewer maliciously-run Vaults, and ultimately more survivors, despite having the same charred wasteland and F.E.V. to deal with. The game is structured to run indefinitely, with provisions for new players at any time, so long as there remain provinces on the map, which will eventually account for the entire continental United States.
How does it work?
Half of the game centers on the use of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that calculates the results of economic, scientific, and military decisions. This prevents ambiguous circumstances in which moderators must judge the relative merits of any assemblage of soldiers and equipment at any given time, providing a concrete, no-nonsense foundation for gameplay. Multiple traits and statistics, including a nation-wide "S.P.E.C.I.A.L." modify the outcomes of otherwise straightforward calculations, such that no two nations will turn out exactly the same, nor can they gain immediate and unbalanced advantages over fellow players.
The other half centers on player-to-player relationships, which is where the RPG side shines: Players, responsible for representing any number of politicians, soldiers, and civilians have free reign to negotiate with each other as they see fit. Every minor agreement plays into the larger picture, such that the most diplomatically active and responsible nations can tip the balance above and beyond the hard-coded mechanics. With fully functional frontlines and expeditionary forces, alliance wars on a province-by-province map, and economic/scientific exchanges become very real incentives for working towards cooperation with your neighbors... even if temporarily.
How do you win?
An important thing to note is that there are no prizes for second place: Post-Apocalyptia is not in the business of covering up for the strategic errors of its players, and so being completely wiped out of the game is always possible. On the other hand, there are mechanics in place that make the "farming" of small nations virtually worthless to other players (unless they flat out want to see you gone). While new nations can be created from the depths of the wastelands or on the ashes of failed, post-war nations, these will inevitably have to deal with a growing balance of power (or terror) resulting from the oldest nations around. Those larger nations have many incentives to support your fledgling state in a never-ending somewhat-cold war of post-apocalyptic proportions.
There is no definitive strategy, because the interactions between players makes it impossible: A nation starting as the most warlike, barbaric tribe in the history of Fallout will no doubt have considerably tough warriors, but will either have to contend with staunchly allied neighbors, or their own economic deficiencies in the long run. All the same, the options are manifold: Multiple races and government types exist, and new ones can be added as time goes by, all on a sprawling, steadily-expanding map that could, for all intents and purposes, encompass the globe.
This is a fresh Fallout world, waiting for its Masters, its Dick Richardsons, and its Vault Dwellers. Few if any of these original characters and organizations will exist, primarily because the actions of players will invalidate them, but it is always possible to make analogues of your own, and occasionally you may get a chance to actually run the originals as you desire: Vault City is first come, first served, but what if there were 'two' Vault Cities? That's entirely up to you.
How much work is it?
In terms of time commitment and player burden, it's a tradeoff between efficiency, fairness, and practicality. As mentioned, the game uses a spreadsheet. While this comes already filled out, with instructions for use, players must constantly update them on a dedicated forum post so that they can be compared with everyone else. Similarly, the mechanics demand that a schedule be followed: While general roleplaying and diplomacy can be done at any time, certain status posts and decisions such as declarations of war must be done on or by certain times of the week. It is a weekly cycle, each representing 3 in-game months, with Saturday serving as the moderators' breathing room for calculating results. Players are free to quit the game at any time, and will be automatically kicked for inactivity. While losing players is hardly a good thing, their provinces on the map are recycled for use by other nations, even brand new ones, meaning that the show can go on for everyone else.
Ideally you would try to follow community-wide events as regularly as possible, and any number of sidestories and ongoing narratives between friends, allies, and enemies can use your input. But ultimately you have three deadlines in regards to the concrete mechanics: When you must declare war, when you must post your economic/scientific decisions, and when you post your final decisions including attacks on enemy provinces. Once fluent with the system, it shouldn't take more than an hour to post your responses for each of those deadlines, giving you a bare-bones three-hour weekly commitment. Players not at war, and not concerned with war, would require even less time, although by then I would question your motivation in playing since there would be virtually no interaction with other players. The game is community-driven; without a community, it is a glorified string of calculations.
What does it look like so far?
This is a link to the forum I'm currently using. I apologize in advance for advertisements, since it is hosted for free by a third party, but it's nothing ad-block can't handle. The primary rules/guidebook in addition to the world map and individual forum section guidelines are already available. A download link for the spreadsheet is not yet available, but there are screenshots of the sheet in full detail in the guide post. I have yet to create my own nation, so there are no examples of new-nation posts and initial decision posts yet, but expect them within the week. Feel free to register and ask any in-depth questions you have there. Otherwise I'm more than welcome to answer other questions here in this topic if it is allowed to remain on this board. And even though the vast majority of work has already been done, there is always room for improvement, and certainly room for help, so pitch in if you'd like.
Fallout is the perfect setting for a game like this: The mystery and open-ended possibilities of this pseudo-scientific post-apocalyptic world is fertile ground for nation-building. With enough interest, and if the game design holds enough water, it could potentially write its own history, one rich enough to deserve the title.
