While a civilization could end in any time period, I believe it is most relatable and immersive when done in the present day or a near-future setting, like Cy_borg.
Cy's default setting is already flavored as a setting inside a societal collapse, making it a great set of rules to build your post-apocalyptic campaign around. In this article, I have outlined ten scenarios to help inspire a new world for your next campaign should you want to step away from Cy, but before we get there, there is one other question that needs to be answered.
How far after the apocalypse do you want your setting to be? Answering that will help clarify your new campaign. Maybe your game will start with a cataclysmic event that has rapidly changed the landscape for the characters, or my personal favorite, the event happened generations ago, and now all that remains of advanced civilization are echoes of the past.
So what should the event be? Here are d10 scenarios for an apocalypse to inspire your next game.
1. Economic Collapse
I am starting with a systematic collapse of the economy because this is probably the most tightly tied to cyberpunk settings out of the box. Corporate entities control everything, and profits are put above everything else. But what if, instead, we drew inspiration from something like the 2008 financial crisis, except it was free to run its course without governmental intervention? If money lost all value, what would people do, and how would they navigate that world?
Inspiration: Bladerunner, The Big Short, Too Big to Fail
2. A Rapture
While this scenario could be religious in nature, I tend to find it the most compelling when it is something a little more science fiction driven. One great example of this is the TV show The Leftovers, where people don’t know why the rapture event happened, and groups struggle to make sense of it. You quickly begin to see how this could lead to compelling factions with different rationalizations of “the event.”
Inspiration: The Leftovers, Knowing
3. Alien Invasion
Alien invasion is a tricky premise as an intelligent species from outer space asks a lot from the worldbuilder in terms of game design. I think one of the more interesting and maybe even scary ways to design a campaign around aliens is a more primal species. The aliens somehow managed to be introduced to the planet and take over more like an invasive species, recklessly feeding on the people who live there and without hope of finding a peaceful resolution.
Inspiration: The Cloverfield Movies, A Quiet Place, Falling Skies, Starship Troopers
4. Natural Disasters
Asteroids, tectonic disruption, and rising sea levels are all options for a landscape that has removed most of the population from the planet. My personal favorite approach to natural disasters is a few months to a couple of years after the disaster when people begin to come together and build small settlements to survive the landscape around them. Focus can be placed on obtaining the resources for the settlement to produce its own food or the technology to find other like-minded settlements.
Inspiration: The Day After Tommorrow, 2012
5. Global Pandemic
In 2024, we’ve all experienced what this sort of setting could be like, so I think to avoid potential trauma, maybe this is best played far into the future after the fall. But the really cool thing about a pandemic is that it can add a lot of tension and drama to a campaign since the “enemy” is usually invisible, silent, and could be anywhere. I would also loop zombies into this category because it functions in the same capacity, where an infection spreads from person to person, turning them into a threat.
Inspiration: Contagion, Station 11, The Walking Dead, Dawn of the Dead
6. Global Thermonuclear War
Did someone say mutations and hazardous wasteland? To me, the defining characteristic of a setting “after the bombs fell” is its effect on the landscape. How have the animals and plants adapted, and are they edible now? Where can the characters find a clean source of water?
Inspiration: Fallout (Games & Show), The Day After
7. Expended Natural Resources
What happens when the things we need for daily survival become scarce, when the air we breathe is running out, or when access to fuel is highly limited? Wasteland Degenerates, which is compatible with Cy_borg and recently launched and looks fantastic, could also be a great resource set in a world like this.
Inspiration: The Road Warrior, Tank Girl, Waterworld, Total Recall
8. An AI Uprising
Everything in Cy is connected to the net. What happens when an AI determines that its biggest threat is the people that inhabit the planet? Do the people fight back by shutting down all the power, or do they attempt to head back in time and stop the machines from rising against them?
Inspiration: Terminator, The Matrix
9. Electro Magnetic Pulse
Society has evolved to the point where our survival depends on the technology we have developed; if it all ceased immediately, it would plunge society into chaos. A setting where all technology suddenly stopped working would be very fun to play from the incident on, surviving the chaos the characters find themselves thrust into.
Inspiration: Revolution, Jericho
10. Rapid Evolution
When an individual has more power than an army, power dynamics are going to shift. The Xmen are the classic example of this, but recently, some fun ideas for “evolved” individuals have made their way into the zeitgeist, namely Sweet Tooth and The Boys. I personally love the idea introduced in Sweet Tooth, where evolved individuals might have a direct negative effect on those who haven’t evolved.
Inspiration: Sweet Tooth, X-Men, The Boys
