Sunday, March 20, 2022

Origin of A.C.: AFTER COLLAPSE®

 The Origin of A.C.: AFTER COLLAPSE® is our most recent publication. In it, you will find a roadmap for the construction of your own post-apocalyptic tabletop role-playing game.  It also includes a series of topical essays that explain how we built this game.  We'd like to think of it as the official history for this product.

Cover image for The Origin of A.C. AFTER COLLAPSE®

In these page, we'll explain some of our methods and some of our madness.  We won't give away all our secrets, though we will be honest about some of the things that went wrong.

As long-time lovers of all things post-apocalyptic, we were surprised that it really did take 36 years to pull off this project.  It's not completely finished, even now.  We have run into some roadblocks.  However, we are confident that there is enough in print right now for you to enjoy the concept.

Please feel free to look us up at https://acaftercollapse.com/.

Sunday, June 21, 2020

Post-Apocalyptic Alaska

Post-apocalyptic Alaska is one of our favorite themes!  Bibix is a gripping novel by Justin Oldham, set in the aftermath of an alien invasion that has devastated all of humanity.  There might still be hope for the future if the heroes don't kill each other first!




f you would like to imagine how Alaska could be devastated by apocalyptic forces, we recommend Crisis at the Kodiak Starport.  If you'd like to try your hand at role playing in Alaska after "the end," we recommended that you have a look at A.C.: After Collapse.  In the next year or so, we hope to bring you more Post-Apocalyptic Alaska!

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Simulating the A.I. Menace

A.C.: After Collapse is a tabletop role playing game (TTRPG) featuring post-apocalyptic themes.  Artificial intelligence (AI) is presented as one of many threats to future human civilization because it has the potential to "go rogue" and become our worst nightmare.  As we developed this game, years before we wrote our first novel based upon that big backstory, we had to decide how we would model or simulate artificial intelligence.



We began that process with a single underlying premise.  Because we humans are the creators of AI, they the machine intelligence should have something in common with us.  After some experiments, we determined that AI should have its own described attributes and game mechanics that are like (i.e., similar to) those used by humanoid Characters and NPCs during game play.  For the most part, this "architecture" follows a straight-forward blueprint.

We can save the discussion of physicality for another blog post.  The most important element by far is the mental capacity of AI.  How smart is it, really?  How much does it really know--or care--about
"right" and "wrong," as we think of the terms.  Search the internet and you will find a lot of debate about the future potential of these things.  All we've tried to do in A.C.: After Collapse is to give you the tools to make your own game-specific determinations.

Flesh-and-blood Characters and NPCs have and benefit from the meta attribute of Reason (REA).  REA is a composite score that has many uses during routine game play.  Based on their age, humanoid Characters roll a number of d6 to determine what their Creativity attribute is (#d6 = CRE).  They also do the same thing to determine what their Empathy score is (#d6 = EMP).  Creativity for humans plus empathy for humans divided by two yields their Reason score (CRE + EMP = REA).

Depending on a wide variety of factors, machine intellect can be governed by age--if that's how you prefer to think of it.  Otherwise, it or they can be nothing more than the end result of the programming they were given when they were built.  For the purpose of game design and the mechanics of play, we have assigned AIs their own Program Reason scores.  As assigned by the referee, AI Characters and NPCs can roll or be assigned a number of d6 to determine what their Program Creativity attribute is (#d6 = CRE-p).  They also do the same thing to determine what their Program Empathy score is (#d6 = EMP-p).  Creativity for humans plus empathy for humans divided by two yields their Program Reason score (CREA/2 =REA-p).

At its most basic, any artificial intelligence is going to be a collection or a community of programs.  Call them apps or software, that collection of electronic instructions will come in many forms.  Some of it would be capable of learning, accruing life experience, etc.  Referees decide when and where the post-Collapse heroes and heroines encounter "lesser" forms of AI, such as home electronics that might have an opinion, even though it would for the most part be incapable of acting on it.

For our purposes, the most advanced forms of AI are ideal for the post-apocalyptic game setting--becasue--they would have a greater sense of their own wonts and needs.  Such desires might not bear any resemblance to human wants, needs, or even greed.  This does make it easy enough for machines to stand in for "Good Guys" and their more nefarious "Bad Guys."  Anyone bold enough to explore uniquely AI agendas would be capable of doing so, if they dared.

All of this and much more is discussed in detail within the pages of the supplemental source book Gadgets, Devices, and Computers.  You can find this product online through Amazon and/or DriveThru RPG.


Thursday, October 10, 2019

Augmentations and Mutations for D.C.: During Collapse

A.C.: After Collapse is a flexible tabletop role playing game (RPG) in a post-apocalyptic setting, published by Shadow Fusion (February, 2019).  Augmentations and Mutations is intended to be a source book for D.C.: During Collapse, A.C.: After Collapse, and B.C.: Before Collapse products.



Augmentations and Mutations was designed to give referees and players alike a comprehensive look at the super science that transformed Humanity before the collapse.  The same technology that saved billions of lives was also used by dark forces to unleash Hell on Earth.  A genetically edited world is the justification for all post-Collapse mutations that are beginning to terrorize enclave residents when game play starts.

This product provides referees with everything they need to plan a post-Collapse game experience that features your own version of "mutants."  Players are also provided with tools that can be used to make a better future, if they're up to that challenge.  The same good intentions that devastated an unprepared world might be just what you need to save the day.


Anthology, During The Colapse

A.C.: After Collapse is a tabletop role playing game (RPG) in a post-apocalyptic setting.  Published by Shadow Fusion (February 11, 2019).  During the Collapse is a collection of insightful short stories that take the reader behind the scenes during the violent years of Collapse.



Many of these astonishing events are briefly addressed throughout the source books you're able to read in the B.C.: Before Collapse, D.C.: During Collapse, and A.C.: After Collapse products.  In this anthology, you will find out about: the heroes and villains who clashed in every corner of a shattering world.  You'll be go behind the scenes as nations falls and new empires begin to form in places where Man and Machine compete for scarce resources.

Was it all for nothing?  Or, can the post-Collapse survivors still find the keys to a better future in the ruins once inhabited by their ancestors?

Anthology, Before The Collapse

A.C.: After Collapse is a tabletop role playing game (RPG) in a post-apocalyptic setting, published by Shadow Fusion (circa February 11, 2019).  Before The Collapse is a collection of short stories intended to give the read an insider's look at the best science and the worst politics that set the stage for a bloody collapse.



Many of these inspiring and heartbreaking events are briefly addressed throughout the source books you're able to read in the B.C.: Before Collapse, D.C.: During Collapse, and A.C.: After Collapse products.  In this anthology, you will find out about: the origins of the mutagenic science and weaponry that changed our future.  You'll be introduced to them men and women who made it all possible, as well as those unsung heroes and heroine who tried to prevent the decline.

Was it all for nothing?  Or, can the post-Collapse survivors still find the keys to a better future in the ruins once inhabited by their ancestors?


Small Arms Volume Two for B.C.: Before Collapse

A.C.: After Collapse is a tabletop role playing game (RPG) in a post-apocalyptic setting, published by Shadow Fusion (February 11, 2019).  Small Arms Volume II is intended to be a source book for this game system.  Small Arms Vol. II defines and describes high-tech caseless ballistic ammunition and the types of firearms that use them.



Real World Fact: "Caseless" firearms ammunition is expected to replace metal cartridge ammunition by the mid to late 21st Century.  For more specific information about cartridge guns and ammo as they appear in A.C.: After Collapse, see the source book Small Arms Volume I  .

During development and testing, a decision was made to seperate metal cartridge firearms from the more advanced caseless variants.  We recognized that some referees would prefer to play scenarios and campaigns without these more advanced weapons (i.e., to play "retro").

Unlike metal cartridge firearms, caseless guns and the powerful ammo they use must be fabricated (i.e., reproduced by computer controlled fabrication systems).  That distinction may be important to referees who like to allow crafting with some limits.  When players are allowed to create Characters who have Basic/Advanced Skills that would allow them to design and "make" (i.e., fabricate) caseless firearms, they would be able to radically change the game environment they live in.