Post Apocalyptic Fantasy - Without the Fantasy

[zanshin]

There was a pretty good YA trilogy by John Christopher that explored a post apocalyptic future (post nuclear) a couple of hundred years after the ruin.

Sword of the Spirits - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It had a medieval society , with mutants (polymufs) as an untouchable caste. Mutations were 'realistic' rather than Strontium Dog style.

Aftermath had a version of that kind of setting as one of it's options.

 

[Gringnr]

There is an element of this in Empire of the Petal Throne, which takes place years after a cataclysm plunged a previously starfaring race into a more primitive existence. Alien artifacts play a large part, iirc, and the gods and magic may be extra-dimensional beings and misunderstood sciences. Don't quote me on that, but I think that's how it went. BigJackBrass could tell y'all way better than I could.

 

[BigJackBrass]

There is an element of this in Empire of the Petal Throne

The main problem with Tékumel when considering this sort of setting is that the games generally take place tens of thousands of years after the fall of technological society, which means that any context for it is long gone. The technology is from so far in the past that it might as well be magic.

The technology itself is from far in our future when humanity has encountered other starfaring races and is capable of installing gravitic engines inside a planet and extensively terraforming it. The technology is so far beyond us that it might as well be magic.

The result is a setting that works wonderfully in itself, but it's entirely divorced from a recognisable post-apocalypse world.

 

[Gringnr]

The main problem with Tékumel when considering this sort of setting is that the games generally take place tens of thousands of years after the fall of technological society, which means that any context for it is long gone. The technology is from so far in the past that it might as well be magic.

The technology itself is from a far future when humanity has encountered other starfaring races and is capable of installing gravitic engines inside a planet and extensively terraforming it. The technology is so far beyond us that it might as well be magic.

The result is a setting that works wonderfully in itself, but it's entirely divorced from a recognisable post-apocalypse world.

Males sense, thank you for providing that clarification.

 

[Lofgeornost]

Also, at least in the earlier iterations of Tekumel, it's fairly clear that being placed in a pocket universe has changed the nature of reality around the planet, so that magic now works, when it did not before.

 

[Bilharzia]

James Maliszewski on Tekumel, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, and "secret science fiction"

 

[E-Rocker]

As to the question, Horse Clans maybe? There was telepathy but beyond that I don't recall any "wizards". GURPS did a Horseclans book, probably insanely expensive today, but it is out there.

The GURPS Horseclans book is available in .pdf for eight bucks, in case anyone's interested.

 

[Lofgeornost]

Isn't Hawkmoon this, at least kind of? It's pseudo-medieval and post-apocalyptic, but I don't recall if there is magic beyond 'weird science.'

 

[TristramEvans]

Isn't Hawkmoon this, at least kind of? It's pseudo-medieval and post-apocalyptic, but I don't recall if there is magic beyond 'weird science.'

Haven't heard of Hawkmoon before - what system did it use?

 

[Lofgeornost]

Haven't heard of Hawkmoon before - what system did it use?

It's a BRP game. There was a stand-alone one put out by Chaosium in the 1980s and then a version for Mongoose Runequest in the 2000s, though I can't recall if it was MRQ I or II.

 

[Voros]

Isn't Hawkmoon this, at least kind of? It's pseudo-medieval and post-apocalyptic, but I don't recall if there is magic beyond 'weird science.'

Joanna Russ' excellent The Adventures of Alyx also appear at first to be S&S adventure fantasy but are revealed to be actually sf in the later stories.

 

[Acmegamer]

I'll second/third that the GURPS Horseclans supplement is a good one. Also the Robert Adams books have been released as PDF's in recent years which the supplement is based on I noted.

I really wish Chaosium would do an update on BRP that cleans up the layout and edits it up a bit. It needs some work, speaking of the Dorian Hawkmoon Rpg. BRP would be awesome to use for a pseudo-medieval post apocalyptic based rpg.

S.M. Stirlings "Dies the Fire" books or "Island in the Sea of Time" books could be used as a campaign foundation using BRP, GURPS, Savage Worlds etc for a pseudo-medieval post apocalyptic based rpg campaign.

 

[E-Rocker]

It doesn't fit the no-magic post-apocalypse, but this thread has reminded me of a book I read and enjoyed in elementary school, that had something to do with Merlin coming back after a nuclear war, iirc.

ETA: based on a quick bit of googling just now, I believe it was Tomorrow's Magic by Pamela F. Service.

 

[Gringnr]

Has anyone here seen or played this? I've been looking for something that feels like 1e Gamma World, but isn't class/level based. I'm thinking this might be it.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[E-Rocker]

Never heard of it before, but now I'm intrigued.

 

[Dan Davenport]

Check out the forthcoming Pirates of a Shattered World. It takes place after two apocalypses -- a (kind of) zombie uprising and a subsequent (related) alien invasion. As with Numenera, there is "magic", but it's based on science (theoretically, anyway).

http://www.thepolyhedralknights.com/pirates-of-a-shattered-world.html

 

[Franko77]

Paul O Williams's Pelbar series (starting with The Breaking of Northwall from 1981) might be another good literary touchstone. Fantasy-esque North America 1000 years after the apocalypse. Not a great series of novels, but entertaining.