Barf Forth Apocalyptica
barf forth apocalyptica => Apocalypse World => Topic started by: Jeff Russell on June 22, 2010, 06:33:47 AM
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I thought of a story that is *exactly* an Apocalypse World story and thought it would be good to expand on the media influences given in the rules for anybody looking for some more post-apocalyptic flavor.
The Night of the Long Knives by Fritz Leiber
This is so totally an AW story, I can't believe I didn't realize it until now. It's about sex and murder and finding something small but worthwhile in the bleak and blasted future. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes AW.
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I just downloaded this for free on Stanza (http://www.lexcycle.com/). I'm going to start reading it today.
Thanks.
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There's lots and lots of serious apocalyptic sf that I haven't read. Lucifer's Hammer, for instance. Luke Crane and I compared bibliographies (he's been working on a more immediately postapocalyptic, more serious survival-oriented game) and he was a little bit disgusted at the lightweightness of mine. He's doing serious research, and I'm watching Domino.
Good topic! I've stickied it.
-Vincent
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Oh, and I do want to give an actual recommendation from my own mediography, since I specifically don't do it in the book.
If you're able to deal with the intensity of some of the movie's situations, watch Blindness. It's harrowing and utterly on-topic.
-Vincent
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Just to stick my own in here.
The Dawn of the Dead remake (you can watch the original if you like, but it's very 80s). Nothing says apocalypse to me like the opening credits of global catastrophe interspersed with bloody screaming faces while Johnny Cash plays The Man Comes Around. Though I think there's material to be mined from the survivors making a mall into a fortress.
Watch out for Stake Land, too. It's not out yet but it's on the way, and it's a post-apocalyptic road survival movie set in a world of Salem's Lot-esque vampires. I am very excited.
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I can't think of the name right now, but there's a really good Philip K. Dick story where people are struggling to live (after a nuclear war? I think so) and there are these huge automated factories that just keep pumping out supplies, but the people have lost the ability to tell them what to do or access the factories, so they're getting tons of stuff they don't really need, stuff intended for a rich, industrialized country. Might be a cool schtick to throw into AW.
Also, Philip K. Dick is great for mutants and psychics.
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So, I'm curious: 3:16 was listed as an influence, but its influence isn't immediately obvious. What parts of Apocalypse World would you say came from it? (Obviously, this question is mostly directed at Vincent, but if anyone else has insight or a theory I'm all ears.)
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I can't think of the name right now, but there's a really good Philip K. Dick story where people are struggling to live (after a nuclear war? I think so) and there are these huge automated factories that just keep pumping out supplies, but the people have lost the ability to tell them what to do or access the factories, so they're getting tons of stuff they don't really need, stuff intended for a rich, industrialized country. Might be a cool schtick to throw into AW.
The title is "Autofac", I think.
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The title is "Autofac", I think.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's right, thanks! It's one of his earlier works, if I remember right, but good stuff.
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We saw The Book of Eli (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037705/) the other night.
It's pretty much a Gunlugger (Denzel Washington) vs a Hardholder (Gary Oldman).
Eli definitely has NOT TO BE FUCKED WITH.
Reminded me of The Proposition in a lot of ways.
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Tank Girl is pretty goofy, but entertaining enough (I haven't read the comic, but I love the artist). Plus, it's got a battlebabe and savvyhead as the main characters, and a villainous hardholder, so it can't be too bad for AW :)
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The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover[\b] inspired my Maestro D'-turned-Hardholder character Rose. I haven't seen the movie in several years (looking for a reasonably priced uncut and unrated DVD and it's not on Netflix), but the setting, the violence, and of course, the final scene have stuck with me. And Helen Mirren is hot. And Jean-Paul Gaultier designed the costumes.
I am fascinated with cannibalism's place in a post apocalyptic world. That's another thread I think.
I apologize for poor grammar and spelling. I'm in a car, using my iPhone.
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I just noticed nobody's mentioned FreakAngels (http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23) yet. So allow me! I consider this more or less a must-read webcomic for Apocalypse World, it hits a lot of the same notes as the game, scarcity and suck, weirdness, the lot.
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For me I think of the film Hardware (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099740/) (with Lemmy from Motorhead). (Man, was that really from 1990...!)
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Hardware had a great soundtrack too I recall. I'm going to find it again and use it. It even includes the Story Games/Apocalypse World/Vincent anthem of advanced fuckery: "This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_What_You_Want..._This_Is_What_You_Get)."
I read The World Without Us (http://www.worldwithoutus.com/index2.html) a couple years back and AW GMs may find it useful.
My first thought when I saw Apocalypse World was, "Yea! Vincent made Wasteland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasteland_%28comic%29), the RPG."
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Hmmm... Looks like I can't edit my post above, but the song is actually called The Order Of Death which contains the refrain "This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get."
I hate not being able to edit. It's basically the reason I've only lurked at The Forge the last seven or so years.
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On the topic of music, I actually just last night cobbled together an AW soundtrack with oddments from my music library. Here's what I put in, with thoughts on why:
- Metallica - Lots of the songs have lyrics that just seem fitting like 'Leper Messiah' and 'Fuel' but I actually preferred some of their slower, twangier stuff like 'Loverman' and 'Low Man's Lyric'
- Balkan Beat Box - this is a funky, but great band that blends a lot of Mediterranean and Eastern European musical influences. I picked it in part because the Middle Eastern vibe for a lot of the songs works for me (Apocalypse World in my brain looks a lot like Iraq) but also because it sounds like a soundtrack for quirky stuff going on
- Ennio Morricone - the composer who did most of the spaghetti western soundtracks. I picked out especially his suspenseful and mournful stuff like 'Man with a Harmonica', 'The Showdown' and 'The Vice of Killing'
- The Transplants - again, with titles like 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Doomsday' and 'American Guns' a lot of the lyrics just seemed right. This is the going aggro music for sure
- Some Johnny Cash - not a lot, but Rusty Cage is perfect, 'I See a Darkness' and the 'Mercy Seat' add a little bit of creepfulness, and 'Personal Jesus' could be a Hocus' theme song
- Akira Soundtrack - if the Transplants are the going aggro music, this is the opening your brain music
- Aesop Rock - besides being really good, their stuff has a nice slightly creepy/weird but hard vibe. "The Harbor is Yours" reminds me of Poison'd
- Bon Jovi - okay, I couldn't resist "Wanted: Dead or Alive" or "Blaze of Glory", but they up the cheez level significantly
- Beck - one or two songs
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Johnny Cash: Throw "When the Man Comes Around" in there, too. And, personally, I'd include "God's Gonna Cut You Down", too. Cause, y'know. Crosshairs.
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I'm running AW tomorrow night and this guy is my go-to for strange, creepy background music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE37ihb8ot8
Tim Hecker. Described by internet as "structured ambient”, “tectonic color plates” and “cathedral electronic music”, however for the most part, have focused on exploring the intersections of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to song craft which is both physical and emotive.
It's really neat. I'll let you know how it plays.
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Lord of the Flies has lots of potential as ApW source material. So does The Grapes of Wrath.
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There's an excellent amount of fuckery and interesting characterization in The Walking Dead series of comics. I'd recommend it as a resource to be certain, even if you don't use zombies in your AW game it's fantastic for seeing how people react to being in close quarters and constantly stressed out of their heads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead
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There's an excellent amount of fuckery and interesting characterization in The Walking Dead series of comics. I'd recommend it as a resource to be certain, even if you don't use zombies in your AW game it's fantastic for seeing how people react to being in close quarters and constantly stressed out of their heads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead
Oh shit! Good call! I heard AMC's making a series
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Yep.
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http://tokyogenso.deviantart.com/gallery/
Some really cool green post-apocalypse images of an artist's idea of Tokyo.
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About music, Job Karma is listed as a source of inspiration in the book, but maybe adding it here wouldn't be a bad idea. Ambient/industrial, mostly, and lots of nice visualisations (esp. if one looks inspirations to that whole daydreaming apocalypse thing).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFVjnK6QIP4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1yve3Xl1fw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKtcrZ6SaLA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkUV1VFrRsI&feature=related
I've been reading Brian Aldiss "Non stop" recently, and it's a ready-made AW setting (same in case of Glukhovsky's "Metro 2033" - meaning the book, haven't played the video game).
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Tokyo Gore Police
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HBO's Carnivàle
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I can't stop thinking of The Proposition when I read AW.
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We saw The Book of Eli (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037705/) the other night.
It's pretty much a Gunlugger (Denzel Washington) vs a Hardholder (Gary Oldman).
Eli definitely has NOT TO BE FUCKED WITH.
Reminded me of The Proposition in a lot of ways.
My thought was that Denzel plays a Battlebabe. Intense, stylish, ice cold.
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I do some flickr trolling for cool portraits to use in games. I found this guy's gallery - some of these folks are definitely getting into my next AW game.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoneth/
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I do some flickr trolling for cool portraits to use in games. I found this guy's gallery - some of these folks are definitely getting into my next AW game.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoneth/
This is a terrific find! This will come in quite handy when I finally get a chance to MC Apocalypse World.
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I was thinking of:
--Roger Zelazny's Damnation Alley (Chopper saves a city by going cross-country with plague vaccine through the wasteland, remains a dick)
--Samuel Delaney's Dahlgren: sorta post-apocalyptic, but a mismatched group lives by its own rules in a midwestern city that is always on fire, everybody has funky names and the culture is plastic and malleable; at one point a second moon shows up in the sky and they name it after the biggest guy in town and have a party.
--Harlan Ellison's A Boy and His Dog, so much so that I've been toying with a homebrewed playset, the K9. A boy loves his dog.
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Ooh, that is a cool idea.
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I just watched the original Children of the Corn last night. Man!
When the Scythelugger turns on the Hocus, all I could think was "there are no status quo's in corn world!"
Also, how Sarah uses Visions of Death is the coolest, ever.
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If you're able to deal with the intensity of some of the movie's situations, watch Blindness. It's harrowing and utterly on-topic.
-Vincent
Wow. I watched this last night and it was seriously bleak and downright gut-wrenching at moments.
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I watched Blindness and loved it so much I went on to read the book. Both were incredible. I need to pick up some of Saramago's other works.
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David Brin's The Postman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman). Can't speak to the movie, but the book is right-on. Scarcity, fragments of lost civilisation, warlords, a weird AI turned Oracle, a small town just trying to get by, having to make choices that you wish you didn't have to make.
Paul O. William's Pelbar cycle (seven novels, starts with The Breaking of Northwall) is great for a post-apocalyptic world of scarcity. Though it's set a thousand years after a nuclear apocalypse, there are lots of little details of life that are perfect for AW. The entire society who were infertile—and so stole children from others—because they scavenged lead pipes to make their super-awesome cookware is the sort of thing I'd use in a game of AW.
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This might seem like ass-backwards obvious but ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse
seriously. I can't believe I've never looked at it before.
"An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception"
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What about AW-appropriate hip-hop? Do you have any? I've been thinking about it but haven't had any good finds yet. I'll keep listening through my stuff.
I MEAN, except for cLOUDDEAD. I have the album "ten" and while I have no clue what it's about, or even what they're saying most of the time, it's weird and chopped-up and I think is good mood music for AW.
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I've watched the Bad Romance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I) video extensively, lately. It gives me inspiration for Apocalypse World.
One thing I love about Apocalypse World is how self-respect, humanity and the value for human life cannot be taken for granted, and I see the same thing in the freaky-decadent images of Bad Romance, particulary in the end when Lady Gaga seem to degenerate into desperation: "I don't wanna be friends!" she wants the hurt and the misery that comes with love. This hunger, this loss of integrity is what comes to the people of earth who've lost society. They've lost their norms, their safety and what it means to be human. They're lost themselves.
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What about AW-appropriate hip-hop? Do you have any? I've been thinking about it but haven't had any good finds yet. I'll keep listening through my stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjlbCM-2t4c
I haven't listened to the rest of the album but if I remember right it has a post-apocalyptic theme.
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What about AW-appropriate hip-hop? Do you have any? I've been thinking about it but haven't had any good finds yet. I'll keep listening through my stuff.
I MEAN, except for cLOUDDEAD. I have the album "ten" and while I have no clue what it's about, or even what they're saying most of the time, it's weird and chopped-up and I think is good mood music for AW.
dude - the self titled album is even better for that. plus just about anything Odd Nosdam ever made. sound collage and weird. especially his later, dronier stuff.
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What about AW-appropriate hip-hop? Do you have any? I've been thinking about it but haven't had any good finds yet. I'll keep listening through my stuff.
I MEAN, except for cLOUDDEAD. I have the album "ten" and while I have no clue what it's about, or even what they're saying most of the time, it's weird and chopped-up and I think is good mood music for AW.
Aesop Rock not only has some passingly apocalyptic stuff, they are really flipping good. "No City" is probably the best for AW that I've heard, "The Harbor is Yours" reminds me of Poison'd, and "None Shall Pass" is what I'd recommend for a first listen.
But all of their tracks are suitably creepy and/or violent, and the lyrics are just plain good.
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What about AW-appropriate hip-hop? Do you have any? I've been thinking about it but haven't had any good finds yet. I'll keep listening through my stuff.
I MEAN, except for cLOUDDEAD. I have the album "ten" and while I have no clue what it's about, or even what they're saying most of the time, it's weird and chopped-up and I think is good mood music for AW.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znQQ0uzwufg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znQQ0uzwufg)
Prophet of the Psychic Maelstrom
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I've watched the Bad Romance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I) video extensively, lately. It gives me inspiration for Apocalypse World.
The Alejandro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA) video has me convinced Lady Gaga is a Brainer with Unnatural Lust Transfixion and Preternatural At-Will Brain Attunement. It's the only explanation.
(Skim to 2:18 to see what I'm talking about. Although a handful of the other outfits she wears in the video aren't bad for apocalyptic wear in general. The gun-bra might be over the top, depending on your game.)
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Still waiting for my copy of AW, but I'm thinking about the first two Mad Max films (and less Costner's water remake of Mad Max 2: Waterworld).
Has someone mentioned The Road yet? Good film, great book.
Are any of these on or off the ball regards AW?
Per
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I just noticed nobody's mentioned FreakAngels (http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23) yet. So allow me! I consider this more or less a must-read webcomic for Apocalypse World, it hits a lot of the same notes as the game, scarcity and suck, weirdness, the lot.
FreakAngels (http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23) is a damn near perfect Apocalypse World, and applying the various character roles to the story's protagonists is a rather easy thing to do. I love how they keep Opening Their Brains; it's really inspiring for my upcoming game. The back story that develops as you get deeper into the comic is really creepy as well.
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Still waiting for my copy of AW, but I'm thinking about the first two Mad Max films (and less Costner's water remake of Mad Max 2: Waterworld).
Has someone mentioned The Road yet? Good film, great book.
Are any of these on or off the ball regards AW?
Per
I'd say yes, since the Road and Road Warrior are listed in the media influences in the book :) Sorry, I know you said you don't have yours yet, so not trying to be mean. Honestly, I think Bartertown from Bryond Thunderdome is an archetypal hardhold, and that the "Master of Ceremonies" at Thunderdome must have been an influence on the MC, so yeah, I definitely agree with you!
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Honestly, I think Bartertown from Bryond Thunderdome is an archetypal hardhold, and that the "Master of Ceremonies" at Thunderdome must have been an influence on the MC, so yeah, I definitely agree with you!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Ceremonies
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Ha, thanks! Got my PDF now, so I'll read that first, probably a good idea :)
Per
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Ceremonies
I hope you're being sarcastic, because otherwise you have a pretty dim opinion of my intelligence/knowledge :)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Ceremonies
I hope you're being sarcastic, because otherwise you have a pretty dim opinion of my intelligence/knowledge :)
Oh yeah!
^ Take that how you will. ;)
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I've watched the Bad Romance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I) video extensively, lately. It gives me inspiration for Apocalypse World.
The Alejandro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA) video has me convinced Lady Gaga is a Brainer with Unnatural Lust Transfixion and Preternatural At-Will Brain Attunement. It's the only explanation.
(Skim to 2:18 to see what I'm talking about. Although a handful of the other outfits she wears in the video aren't bad for apocalyptic wear in general. The gun-bra might be over the top, depending on your game.)
Yeah, and the AW cover looks like something out of her next video! :)
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I like finding inspiration in real-world examples, and my apocalypse-media diet consists largely of non-fiction. There are, of course, lots of modern-world ruins scattered around the world that can provide good AW scenery- Pripyat and Hashima Island being the most famous, and notable on account of the depth of the disaster or the sheer scale of stuff that was left behind.
But there's a little apocalyptica just about anywhere if you're willing to look for it. Urban explorers going to abandoned sites and ghost towns are turning up some great, frequently eerie material.
Check out http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthreads.asp?fid=1&catid=103 (http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthreads.asp?fid=1&catid=103) for some visions of what you can throw at your players.
For a "living apocalypse" you could turn to accounts of life in Kowloon Walled City which was, for all intents and purposes, an enormous holding, or maybe several sharing a very tight, almost vertical geography. Picture an urban "island" surrounded by foreign territory, a jumble of sunless narrow streets, run by informal associations and triads but largely anarchic, recycling and re-purposing and jury-rigging their living space with limited material, making it all up as they go along. Consider http://www.archidose.org/KWC/ (http://www.archidose.org/KWC/).
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"The End" by the Doors seems like it would be a very fitting song for this game.
I personally don't like the show the Colony on the Discovery channel, but it can give you some good ideas on hardholds and neat color for devices and tech. It bills itself as a reality show, but it's pretty fake for the most part. Still watching them puzzle out ways to take junk and make working lighting and things like that is pretty cool.
Similarly Survivorman is a good show to see what survival in extreme environments entails. It will you give you all sorts of ideas on what possible things people will resort to eating when food is a scarce commodity.
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=death-to-humansl (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=death-to-humansl)
Death To Humans: Visions of the Apocalypse in Movies and Literature
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The Great Bay: Chronicles of the Collapse by Dave Pendell. Most of it is *way* after, but the first chapter or so is all about what things look like while modern civilization is going under.
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@ Jere: 'The End' is a fantastic suggestion for mood-/theme-music/soundtrack for play. One of those things that's just f'ing obvious, but only once it's been pointed out.
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I know it's in the mediography in the book, but I'm reading it right now and I want to heartily second the recommendation of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. A tree hung with dead babies. How's that for apocalyptica. Gah. It's also I think by far the best-written, most lyrical novel I have ever read. That includes The Road.
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You know, I was just thinking about 'lyrical' and 'good' writing and how much I love Cormac McCarthy after reading your post, Hans, and that made me think of one of my other favorite authors: Michael Chabon. All of his stuff is flipping great, but I'd say the book probably the most applicable to AW is "Gentlemen of the Road" which reads kind of like Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser but without the sorcery. Seriously though, you have a couple of rough guys who wander into a teeteringly stable city state in a vast nomad/bandit haunted wasteland and seriously screw up the fragile status quo. That's the only story I can recommend for AW specifically, but all of his other stuff will make you a better person, which *might* make you better at AW too.
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You know, I was just thinking about 'lyrical' and 'good' writing and how much I love Cormac McCarthy after reading your post, Hans, and that made me think of one of my other favorite authors: Michael Chabon. All of his stuff is flipping great, but I'd say the book probably the most applicable to AW is "Gentlemen of the Road" which reads kind of like Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser but without the sorcery. Seriously though, you have a couple of rough guys who wander into a teeteringly stable city state in a vast nomad/bandit haunted wasteland and seriously screw up the fragile status quo. That's the only story I can recommend for AW specifically, but all of his other stuff will make you a better person, which *might* make you better at AW too.
Michael Chabon is great. I read both Summerland (I would love a Summerland rpg, btw) & Kavalier and Clay like 6 years ago and now I'm wondering why I haven't read more, as both of those were absolutely superb. I think I'm afraid his other stuff can't match those two.
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What about AW-appropriate hip-hop? Do you have any? I've been thinking about it but haven't had any good finds yet. I'll keep listening through my stuff.
I MEAN, except for cLOUDDEAD. I have the album "ten" and while I have no clue what it's about, or even what they're saying most of the time, it's weird and chopped-up and I think is good mood music for AW.
Resident Anti-Hero will give you a AW-Hip Hop Fix. Best of all you can download their albums for free! Try their latest 2 or 3 albums to get your AW Fix.
http://www.residentantihero.com/
*edited: added link*
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I just found the Post-Nuke Comic (http://www.postnukecomic.com/comic_page.php?issue=1&page=0) web comic yesterday, and read through the first 9 issues right away. The main protagonist could fit the A Boy and His Dog (http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=389.0) character, but maybe a Hocus with very few followers would do as well. He's this guy with definite weird abilities for sure.
The comic is written and drawn by the same person. The art's not fantastic, but better than I could manage, the text contains unfortunate mistakes (misspellings and such), but the story is very interesting to me.
The Apocalypse World in the Post-Nuke Comic (http://www.postnukecomic.com/comic_page.php?issue=1&page=0) is a frozen wasteland, with snowmobiles and walking dead mutants. Great stuff. :)
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Tom Waits reads Bukowski's The Laughing Heart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va1t6a0zCkQ
your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.
@Charles Bukowski
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Raymond Thorp's Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson is stuffed with wildness, community, gangs, murderers, barterers, and people driven mad in different terrible ways. It is pieced together from primary and secondary sources but reads like fiction. Liver-eating Johnson was a piece of work. I guess he'd be a Gunlugger with some Operator moves.
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Few minutes of really apocalyptic video of abandoned coal mining towns in the Appalachians.
http://vimeo.com/3624989
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Neat blog post about the book Noise by Darin Bradley:
http://www.omnivoracious.com/2010/08/guest-blog-first-time-novelist-darin-bradley-on-noise-the-apocalypse-and-you.html
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The Four Cocktail Rings of the Apocalypse:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_justified_sinner/3993649386/
these babies deserve a game of their own.
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I am also a fan of the 'nonfiction' sources for Apocalyptica.
Definitely check out The World Without Us:http://www.worldwithoutus.com/index2.html (http://www.worldwithoutus.com/index2.html) for how the planet, and particularly our urban-industrial centers would respond to suddenly not having us around to maintain them. It's a really fascinating book and a keystone for thinking about this stuff.
One of the things that makes it interesting is that he goes over several places in the world where 'mini-apocalypses' have already happened, forcing people to abandon population centers in a hurry. The aforementioned Appalachia gets some play, and you see a bit of it in the video posted earlier, but the craziest thing there is Centralia, Pennsylvania: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania), a town completely abandoned due to a mine fire that has been burning underneath since 1962(!!!).
They also talk about Cyprus, where the Civil War demilitarized zone necessitated abandoning a fully-functional modern resort community: http://listverse.com/2008/03/10/top-10-interesting-abandoned-places/ (http://listverse.com/2008/03/10/top-10-interesting-abandoned-places/) (Actually, that last link has a wealth of amazing Apocalyptica... check out that mind-blowing abandoned 'pod village' in Taiwan, and of course, Chernobyl.
Someone mentioned comics, and there's a wealth of good stuff out right now: Wasteland, Y the Last Man, DMZ (particularly well-suited for the vibe of AW), Zero Killer, and classic stuff like Kamandi and Killraven if you want to go really gonzo.
For my money, the most interesting right now are 'Resurrection', an AW set after the invading aliens who destroyed civilization mysteriously up and left, and 'Irredeemable' and 'Incorruptible', which as superhero comics are light on the AW-type stuff, but present a pretty compelling vision of what a world where Superman decided to just be a total dick would look like.
-Jim C.
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Definitely second checking out The World Without Us. A tasty read and it gave me a bunch of ideas for AW.
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I don't know how this slipped my mind before, but Deus Irae, a flawed but fascinating post-apocalyptic novel by Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny.
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I'm really enjoying Don Winslow's The Death and Life of Bobby Z, which has a great line that could be straight from the AW MC's Guide:
"But this is just too fucking confusing for Tim to deal with at the moment... so even as he and the woman and the kid go inside to make some sandwiches, he doesn't get that the world is fucking him in fresh and interesting ways."
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Um, this maybe a bit to 'fantasy', but I really liked the imagery of Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks.
The world, now ravaged by nuclear war and plague, lies in ruins. Demons and their once-men underlings scour the continents, enslaving and experimenting upon what healthy young remain. Mutations from the fallout and poisons have produced offshoots from humanity—Moles (those adapted to living underground), Spiders (named for their agile, long limbs), and the scaly, brutish Lizards. Zombie-like creatures called Croaks roam free as well, searching for bodies to devour. Most humans are walled up in stadiums and arenas in large cities, fortified compounds filled with thousands of frightened refugees. A few, mostly children, live as tribes hidden in buildings on the streets.
AW all the way (minus the demons)
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G'day Again,
Is anyone as excited as me about this game?! Both as a inspirational artefact for AW and a game in its own right. Freaking Awesome!
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/73369/51st-state
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Static by Godspeed You Black Emperor.
It is the Hocus's anthem.
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http://www.my-funspace.com/scary-masks/ - FACELESS
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The 1962 short film La jetee by Chris Marker. In tunnels beneath the ruins of Paris, brainers perform a series of time-travel experiments and, monitoring the dreams of their prisoners, send one man back in... time? his memory? the psychic maelstrom, perhaps?
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Jetee - mind the spoilers.)
It was remade in 1995 by Terry Gilliam: 12 Monkeys. I haven't seen this version though.
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Here's some brand new slightly-goofy apocalyptica.
Extra geek cred points if you can ID the justifiably well-known comic book author (and frequent apocalyptician) who guest stars.
http://www.mtv.com/videos/my-chemical-romance/582953/na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na.jhtml (http://www.mtv.com/videos/my-chemical-romance/582953/na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na.jhtml)
-Jim C.
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Just perusing hippy / alternate stuff, and had a lightbulb moment.
Alternate festivals as inspiration for colour, costume, landscape and tribe. The Burning man site has pictures galore!
http://galleries.burningman.com/browse?mediatype=photo
I've done my wallet print trick and added a whole swath of potential NPC pics this way. Fantastic visual resource.
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Ninja Apocalypse through the maelstrom...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuEWB5ixd4&feature=channel
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Jeff Russell mentioned the Akira soundtrack a few pages ago. I just watched the anime for the first time and loved the visions of Neo-Tokyo. It was a kind of liminal space, in the throes of apocalypse, or on the brink of it. I like the idea of playing Apocalypse World in a setting where nobody's really sure if we're in the post-apocalypse yet. The Golden Age is gone, and we're waiting with bated breath for the day when nobody remembers it anymore. Kind of got me wondering whether an apocalypse depends on who you ask.
Anyway, Akira is a great movie, lots of psychic mindfuckery and chopper gangs. Kind of makes me want to hash out a playbook that uses psychokinetic powers. Or come up with a Driver/Chopper move to deal with mounted combat of the type we see at the start of the movie.
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Huh. Its funny the movies you remember as a young adult being fricken awesome, then you don't watch them for a couple of decades and suddenly the best RPG since the redbox makes you watch them all over again.
Im talking about Salute of the Jugger, filmed in the desolate backyard of my arid country, the setting revolves around a post apocalyptic future in which 'wars waged in the wake of mankind's success in the 20th century have left the world barren and the past forgotten. In this time, most live from hand to mouth in enclaves known as "market-towns" or "dog-towns", scrounging out a bare subsistence harvesting hardy crops, raising dogs as food, and trading in whatever remnant trinkets from the past still survive.'
The game is a brutal sport played to entertain and gain notoriety. Players are part gladiator, part athlete and always hungry for more. Perhaps a playbook lurks in there somewhere?
Wiki gives all the details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blood_of_Heroes
I'm gonna start on the playbook today.
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I'd like to suggest Luc Besson's "Le Dernier Combat" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085426/)
From the IMDB blurb:
"In the post-apocalyptic future, only a few humans are left. No one is able to speak; the film contains no dialogue, and characters communicate non-verbally."
It's rather intense... and excellent...
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Modern Day Post-Apocalyptic in the U.S.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/26/detroit-decline_n_813696.html#218521
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I haven't yet finished it, but I've been listening to the Audiobook of the The Passage, by Justin Cronin. So far I'm finding it very good, though bleak. Several really good ideas for AW. It covers an Apocalypse in the early part and post in most of the rest of the book.
But here, the ephemera from the book seems like just the thing to use in a game. Though the tone of this apocalypse is a bit different than AW.
Check out this map and the "one law" document that follows it, from Google Books
http://books.google.com/books?id=2hLRAkzKHjIC&lpg=PA264&ots=yrzBtbUX4H&dq=the%20one%20law%20the%20passage&pg=PA261#v=onepage&q&f=false
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We just started a new game set in the cold frozen land of (undetermined). We have a strange mix of PC's: a Angel (me), a four armed Skinner (Meg), and a newly awakened Quarantine (Elizabeth). I'm really excited to see how this will go.
I just watched Atanarjuat The Fast Runner (http://www.isuma.tv/ (http://www.isuma.tv/)) with the dynamics of living in a vast cold area with little livable space, and few people. The slow burn to explosion of the conflicts is interesting, as is the very ritualized group conflict resolution (taking turns punching each other in the head, which I guess could prevent or stave off outright murder). The film is part of a trilogy, and was the first Feature length film spoken entirely in an Inuit language
You can watch the movie online I think, or download it for a suggested donation of $10. Isuma TV is an awesome project founded by the director and producer of The Fast Runner. I'm not in any way affiliated with them, but I got really excited about the things I watched here, donated, and downloaded, and want to share their awesomeness.
From the website: IsumaTV is an internet video portal for indigenous filmmakers, with unique indigenous-language content available 24/7. Our goal is to help films and filmmakers reach a wider audience; help audiences see themselves in their own languages; help communities connect around common concerns; and help worldwide viewers see indigenous reality from its own point of view.
IsumaTV a FREE service to filmmakers and viewers: a serious, professional, high-quality space to post your films on the internet, in a respectful user-friendly context.
IsumaTV is an open call for existing films and new concepts of internet TV, we invite filmmakers, partners and financial contributors to join this collective effort to preserve and enhance global indigenous filmmaking.
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I was really surprised not to see Deadwood on the list. The characters are straight playbooks and I can see the moves happening on the screen, not just the basic ones, but even the character ones.
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Jeff Russell mentioned the Akira soundtrack a few pages ago. I just watched the anime for the first time and loved the visions of Neo-Tokyo. It was a kind of liminal space, in the throes of apocalypse, or on the brink of it. I like the idea of playing Apocalypse World in a setting where nobody's really sure if we're in the post-apocalypse yet. The Golden Age is gone, and we're waiting with bated breath for the day when nobody remembers it anymore. Kind of got me wondering whether an apocalypse depends on who you ask.
If you like the movie, you really owe it to yourself to track down the manga. The movie only summarizes roughly the first two volumes and the end of the 6th and final one. If you think there's already a lot of psychic mindfuckery, you should see the post-pseudo-nuclear-blast wastelands of the second half, taking place in a cut-off, lawless zone right in the middle of the city, patrolled by ai-controlled army robots, supplies occasionally dropped from helicopters, the surrounding world trying their best to figure out what is actually going on in there.
The idea of an apocalypse world within a relatively normal one is perhaps even better realized there, where they essentially live the life of scarcity and conflict so often associated with apocalyptic fiction while surrounded by a modern nation, with all the infrastructure, politics and abundance associated with such.
The second part also very heavily shifts the focus from Kaneda (who disappears) to Tetsuo (who builds a cult and gets into the habit of killing every woman he sleeps with, leaving their world with a severe shortage of females - and that's just the beginning)
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Mad Max LARP Goodness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjt7BJoi6Qg&feature=fvsr
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I was really surprised not to see Deadwood on the list. The characters are straight playbooks and I can see the moves happening on the screen, not just the basic ones, but even the character ones.
I could not agree with you more.
Angel, Chopper, Gunlugger, Hardholder, Operators, Skinner ect ...
Deadwood is the hold. Lots of external and interior threats.
Just dead on. Plus the gritty sex and violence. Dead on.
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After the Plague by T. C. Boyle
The book is a collection of short stories. The title story is about this guy and these two women he meets after a plague wipes out just about everyone else. I won't spoil anything, but this is a really really good story by someone who usually doesn't write sci-fi.
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I was really surprised not to see Deadwood on the list. The characters are straight playbooks and I can see the moves happening on the screen, not just the basic ones, but even the character ones.
One of my personal favorites. Besides most apocalyptic takes on a frontier feel. Nthe marriage of apocalype and western is easy :)
Someone mentioned 12 Monkeys, one of my very favorite films.
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http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/elephants-foot.html
Apocalypse World-y enough for ya?
"Indeed, semiotician Thomas Sebeok once proposed the creation of an "atomic priesthood" whose responsibility, for thousands of years to come, would be to pass on information about sites of nuclear waste storage and contamination using a combination of myths, folklore, and annual rituals. "
The two big things I look for when I start to create threats and fronts for a game (if its set in an identified real world spot are nuclear power plants and federal prisons.
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"The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi is a book set in an unusual sort of apocalypse - the fall has essentially been caused by a proliferation of genetically modified animals (like the Cheshires, chamelionic cats which have replaced all domestic felines) and plagues. In addition, energy is so scarce that stored kinetic energy in the form of 'kink-springs' is the only really common form, and coal vehicles are heavily regulated, as is the burning of methane.
The constant scarcity of Apocalypse World is incredibly evident, as is the moral greyness of the characters.
A completely different book to inspire: 'Hell's Angels' by Hunter S. Thompson will give you a real insight into what it would be like to be The Chopper. Also, about three pages in ther is a paragreaph that is nothing but the names of various bikers Hunter met, any one of which would fit perfectly into AW
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I must be old if no one else remembers World Gone Wild. Honestly I haven't seen it in years but it had Adam Ant as the satanic Hocus antagonist preaching out of the back of a C-130 to his flock and a city that's classic urban blight with water riots to boot. The protagonists may not fit as perfectly: there's the crazy old hippy hardholder (definitely small H), the gentleman cannibal Skinner (or possibly just sneaky rogue, AW seems short on that count), the all-American boy hero (gunlugger maybe) and the sweet and innocent Touchstone. Overall, very 80's B-movie but a lot of fun if you can find a copy.
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The Decemberists just released an apocalycious video of This Is Why We Fight (off The King Is Dead): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLSOzcEQjiE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLSOzcEQjiE)
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10 Great Manga Apocalypses (http://io9.com/#!5799683/the-earth-dies-reading-manga-10-great-manga-apocalypses)
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Has "The Salute of the Jugger" already been mentioned?
That movie does barf forth quite some Apocalyptica in my opinion.
This is the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6qckMHp7wU
It's good enough that a playbook for the Jugger would deserve being created I think.
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There couldn't be a Jugger playbook because there's different type of Juggers. Now, an AW hack with different Jugger playbooks would be nice.
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True enough, but is it that important to mark the difference in a game of AW that doesn't necessarily center on juggers? It might be a playbook that makes you choose an initial move which sets what type of jugger you are. And of course a VERY necessary move is your squad. Sorta like the Chopper's gang.
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Russian Floating Power Station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_floating_nuclear_power_station)
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(http://i53.tinypic.com/illnpi.jpg)
Slime City Massacre (2010), directed by Greg Lamberson, is an indie post-apocalyptic horror flick with awesome, foul-mouthed protagonists taking on sleazy landlords, gruesome cultists and slime demons.
I cannot recommend it enough.
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I've been watching "Sons of Anarchy" for inspiration for choppers. It has some great stories about loyalty and power politics in a supposedly sleepy Northern California town (it even mentions Oakland or Fremont, near where I live!).
Also, while attempting to make a AW hack to play a "Farscape" game, I noticed that the game could practically be played as-is. Maybe slight bonus moves for playbooks to represent aliens, but the show has fundamental scarcities, issues of loyalty, and even fetish wear!
Edit: Oops! Vincent already mentioned "Sons of Anarchy" in the book! Beer plus posting equals no fact-checking.
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I'd have to recommend Lustmord (http://youtu.be/V3g5bSm8c7k (http://youtu.be/V3g5bSm8c7k)) for music, he's just so bleak, and hits something instinctual in me. Right in the back of the insect brain. There's a degree of supernatural implied in the music, but I think it sets the right kind of tone for an AW game.
Also, Google for Nigeria Hyena Men. Something worth a playbook, I think. Unless there's already an advancement move that turns an existing playbook into Guy With A Scary Fucking Pet That Will Rip Off Your Face. In fact, seems like animal handlers would work well in AW.
Don't know that it's been mentioned yet, but Jack Vance's Dying Earth novels, and the subsequent Songs of the Dying Earth strike me as a great source of character for AW, and definitely sets the tone for how people treat one another at the end of time. Certainly not a direct inspiration due to its being essentially sword and sorcery (besides, Robin D. Laws already did it so well), but the interpersonal relationships on Old Earth just sing Apocalypse World to me. Seriously fucked up people doing batshit crazy and sometimes truly horrific things in order to get what's coming to them.
Have to second The Road, especially McCarthy's world building. The Man and The Boy don't entirely fit into playbooks, but just about everyone they encounter does-- up to and including the Old Man hocus-without-a-cult.
Since zombies/un-zombs have already been broached, can't recommend The Walking Dead enough. Both the comic and the series are must-sees. Not only are they great fodder for the near-apocalypse past of AW, but the long-form decline Robert Kirkman intends for the books (and one would assume, what Frank Darabont plans for the series) is absolutely the Apocalypse World, walkers nonwithstanding.
Ed Brubaker's Criminal comics and Richard Stark/Donald E. Westlake's Parker novels are great sources for what desperate people do to one another, and the social dynamics that grow out of a fundamental lack of control.
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Just wanted to throw in a link to a newish video by one of my favorite bands.
Turisas, Stand Up and Fight!
http://youtu.be/7woW7DmnR0E
It that video doesn't make you want to hang out in the post- apocalypse, I don't know what would!
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this:
http://youtu.be/FWOsbGP5Ox4 (http://youtu.be/FWOsbGP5Ox4)
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Well many videogames are set in post-apocalyptic setting, Fallout (I am not a big fan) being the most obvious. The recently released Rage is totally about the Quarantine playbook, I was nearly wondering if they had read it. ;) Two other recent titles: S.t.a.l.k.e.r. & Metro 2033 (http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2011/01/what-a-beautiful-world-weve-destroyed.html).
A lest know freezing post-apocalypse movie I really like: Quintet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintet_(film)).
Oh and you must absolutely read the manga Dragon Head (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Head)! (seriously)
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this:
http://youtu.be/FWOsbGP5Ox4 (http://youtu.be/FWOsbGP5Ox4)
I always loved this song i can't believe thats the video, i almost shit. It makes me love the song 10x more thats so sick
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For anyone in NYC this coming weekend, an Apocalyptic Film Festival!
http://io9.com/5851554/come-to-the-doomsday-film-festival-a-movie-party-devoted-to-the-apocalypse
-JC
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A lest know freezing post-apocalypse movie I really like: Quintet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintet_(film)).
Wow, thank you so much for this recommendation! There is some fantastic apocalyptica barfed forth in this movie... now I'm kinda sad my "snowpocalypse" is currently all occurring deep underground.
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The ruins of Detroit... some powerfully apocalyptic images in this photo-set!
http://www.life.com/hdgallery/36682/detroit-still-life#index/0
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Some very impressive drawings filled with Apocolyptic ideas:
http://kait.carbonmade.com/projects/3060081
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Some very impressive drawings filled with Apocolyptic ideas:
http://kait.carbonmade.com/projects/3060081
Wow! Some of those are amazing!
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The graphic novel series Y: The Last Man.
Also, while not apocalyptic, I'll take any excuse to promote the HBO series the Wire as just a damn good example of everything, but especially Fronts. Every season is basically just adding a new Front to the mix, while continuing to follow the existing ones.
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The Levels by Sean Cregan may not be technically be apocalyptic, being set in a part of the more-or-less modern day US, but it is in an area abandoned by law enforcement and government, and inhabited by gangs, cults, and crazies.
Also, the constant out-of-their-depthness the characters face, the multiple Fronts, etc, is all very AW.
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"Waiting For the Miracle" and "The Future" by Leonard Cohen are pretty perfect apocalyptic songs.
There's always Black Sabbath. I just heard a Cake cover of War Pigs while listening to Pandora Radio, and I thought, oh hey, this is pretty good dark AW fodder.
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The video for "I Fink U Freeky" by Die Antwoord has some apocalyptic imagery. And it's all a bit weird as well.
But yeah, dancing to techno whilst covered in dust for teh win.
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"How It Ends" by Devotchka is a great AW song. It needs a more violent video, though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfi1UQ_PKQI
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Singer Song writer Richard Shindell's 'You Stay Here', very atmospheric and great great lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yji5dhjf2jI&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL4BAFFAFDFBB750F4
You stay here
And I'll go look for wood
Do not fear
I'll be back soon enough
Do not let the fire die
Neither let it burn too bright
You stay here
And I'll go look for bread
And if I can
Some sugar for the kids
Dry your eyes - I'll be alright
I know where they've laid the mines
You stay here
And I'll go look for coats
There may still be
Some out on the road
We'll wash them clean with melted snow
The kids don't ever have to know
You stay here
And I'll go look for guns
I think I know
Where they've hidden some
Cause if the Tiger comes one night
We won't go without a fight
You stay here
And I'll go look for God
Not so hard
Cause I know where he's not
I will bring him back with me
Make him listen - make him see
You stay here
And I'll go look for wood
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq9moPpTFZE
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq9moPpTFZE)
INXS were way ahead of their time...
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Those Poor Bastards do creepy apocalyptic music really well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhq55-zWXQA
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The current Humble eBook Bundle (http://www.humblebundle.com/) includes Pump Six and Other Stories by Mario Bacigalupi: great apocalyptica.
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Wow. These are awesome! I may just print some out on large sheets of paper as table mats like Sean Nittner did, or even as possible maps for the next game. I love them :)
http://thumbpress.com/industrial-scars-aerial-photography-of-the-places-polluted-by-modern-industry/ (http://thumbpress.com/industrial-scars-aerial-photography-of-the-places-polluted-by-modern-industry/)
(http://thumbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Industrial-Scars-Earth-Photography-ThumbPress-01-630x393.jpg)
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Not certain if this has already been mentioned:
http://www.oddballanimation.com/concept-ruin
Ruin, a short film about...well, someone speeding through a post-apocalyptic ruin on a motorcycle. To say more would spoil it.
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An addendum to the Akira OST recommendation: this Witch House tribute album (http://witch-house.bandcamp.com/album/-) might have some good shit. I'm at the end of track 2: Bosozoku Highway, and while the first track wasn't my cup of tea, I like this one. Just got to track 3: KNDA (jjuukkee mix). Sweet Kaneda remix. Just went dubstep. I'm not a big dubstep guy, but OK. Or is it brostep? I can never get these things straight.
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Just finished reading The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway and thought I'd mention it here. It's a bit wordy, but it definitely portrays a post-apocalypse which might offer some inspiration for MCs, especially in terms of potential psychic maelstrom-related effects.
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So, I was reaching some old episodes of Black Lagoon, and it occurred to me that Roanapur is about as close as you're likely to get to Apocalypse World in a story set in the modern world. The naming schemes are even similar. Character-wise: Revy is a straight up gunlugger (complete with Battle Hardened, Boodcrazed and Not To Be Fucked With); Dutch is an Operator; Benny is a (boat) Driver; Roberta is a Battlebabe; Balalaika is an ex Gunnluger who changed her playbook to Hardholder; Chan is a Battlebabe who took a gang and Leadership; Eda is the fan made Turncoat playbook. Rock is tough to pin down to an existing playbook; He's definitely a social character, but he's not really a Skinner -- his thing is talking people down, not turning people on. If I had to, I'd probably peg him as a custom playbook with a move letting him roll Sharp instead of Hot when he's being the voice of reason in an otherwise unstable situation.
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The Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright film "The World's End" features an apocalypse that could nicely set up a campaign. Can't say much more without spoilers...
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If you haven't seen Beasts of the Southern Wild, check it out.
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A couple of friends took a bunch of inspirational pictures for our postapocalyptic LARP. Look here. (http://usa.jollche.se/?page_id=210) Should you happen to be in southern Sweden between the 5th and 8th of September, feel free to join. ;)
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Brutal Legend is nothing but inspiration, from the constant feuding and the bastards running the show to the hostility of the ridiculously-dangerous terrain and wildlife.
The original soundtrack is also amazing, especially 'Ruins' and 'Pile of Skulls'.
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I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned "Riddley Walker" by Russell Hoban. Set in the ruins of England many generations after The Devastating Event, the entire book is written in a devolved form of English which has slipped from its geneological bearings. I am quite positive: if you love AW, you will love this book, and yet you've never seen anything like it. It will give you ideas. Just read it.
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Look up photos of Salton City in California. Created by accidental flooding in 1905, the Salton Sea became a minor-league tourist destination in the 30's, and in the 50's a small city for the leisure class was built there, flourishing for a couple decades. But the sinking water level and high salinity eventually caused the water to become toxic, killing off thousands of fish each year and making it unsafe for recreation. As the tourists fled, so did the locals. Today Salton City is a precise indicator of what 50 years in the desert looks like.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/saltonsea/
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/68925438
http://blog.roadtrippers.com/haunting-photos-californias-post-apocalyptic-salton-riviera/
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I heard "abandoned 50 years ago" and immediately had to go look:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27509955
The interviewed guy makes the point that it's looking into a "future with no humans" too (c:
more pictures here (and all across Google):
http://kingstonlounge.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/north-brother-island-riverside-hospital.html
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"Survivors" - a British soon-after-the-apocalypse series - is frikkin BRILLIANT and includes all sorts of AW-esque character classes, fronts and locations. It's on Netflix. Watch it!
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The original 1970's series is way superior to the remake. Although it looks dated its is really excellent. Its a bleak look at middle class England trying to survive a pandemic. The first few episodes deal wight he immediate impact of the pandemic. However at its heart is a critique of political systems including trade unionism, feudalism, and gaia theory/green living.
Written by the excellent Terry Nation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak1SrFGXgA4&list=PL60B5B3443161A19C
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Some nice shots here: http://www.boredpanda.com/chatillon-car-graveyard-abandoned-cars-cemetery-belgium/
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Mad Max - Fury Road (http://theactionelite.com/2014/07/first-trailer-for-mad-max-fury-road/)
So excited for this!
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I mentioned this in another thread, but when LISA (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=266349518) comes out, and even now with the vague hints to the plot, is great inspiration for a very bizarre and truly hellish postapocalyptic sausagefest. The latest trailer has even more tantalizingly excellent fuckery than I knew of from the first teaser demo and info on certain game mechanics and themes. My favorite bits that really show what this game is about are when/how the "big bad gang leader" rides on up, Brad's memories of his and Ricky's lives before all... THIS, paired with Brad's angry beatdown, (What the FUCK did you do, Ricky? Jesus...) and finally, Timmy Carrots and Percy Peas biting the big one. Death, even the deaths of your adversaries, hit hard. I think that battles always end with the same tune, "Gotta Die Sometime." Either you hear it at your victory(?) or the Game Over screen. You don't win because you're a "hero" or "special," and sometimes deaths don't mean all whole lot. One dies, the other continues fighting. It's kinda senseless, but sometimes you can't avoid it. Then the next bit of media on Greenlight is the goofy teaser from early on. "The end of humanity? ... The end of humanity." It's also interesting the see the spider mazes from the spiritual precursor (http://rpgmaker.net/games/4412/) make a return. Yes, that's Brad's face.
Man, I wish I'd had the money to support the Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/131274701/lisa-the-painful-rpg).
There are a lot of other things I want to mention here, but it's easier for me to do them one at a time. I think I've got about 3 more things to mention here, one for the '"different" apocalypse' thread, and another idea that would work best as a new thread.
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Underground town: http://www.neatorama.com/2014/07/06/Everyone-in-This-Bizarre-Australian-Town-Lives-Underground/#!bDet3c
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Wow ...Really?! No one has even heard of Deathlands by James Axler? It's great sexy violent pulp (105 books so I see now) and Hiero's Journey , as far as sound tracks ...well Golgotha Tenement Blue...and Anarchy Club- album -The Way and Its Power.
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The Mechanisms have an album, [High Noon Over Camelot][http://themechanisms.bandcamp.com/album/high-noon-over-camelot] set on a dying space station which feels very apocalypse world. You've got mutated bandits, gunfights for control of a town and relics of the old world which have driven the users mad. Oh, and its also a retelling of Arthurian legends, just to make it that much better.
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Is this still a thing? Because Hal Duncan's "The Book of all Hours" fits AW so perfectly. It's sexy psychic weird queer apocalypse, and I could not recommend it more highly.
Also, Jack is the most battlebabe-y guy I've seen so far.
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I know this post is super-dead, but my world is most inspired by Samuel Delaney's opus Dhalgren. This book, to me, most accurately depicts the (my) Psychic Maelstrom. Also, this book has the same 'mystery' around what ended the world/normalcy that I bring to my game. Also lots of good anti-normative performance with race, gender and sexuality. Read it!
https://www.amazon.com/Dhalgren-Samuel-R-Delany/dp/0375706682
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This was probably already posted, but the Five Finger Death Punch cover of House of the Rising Sun defined a large chunk of how I envisioned Apocalypse World.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXYIxJScSik
It's got the cars, the style, the attitude.
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Turbo Kid, available on Netflix, is a very tongue in cheek movie but it has some excellent imagery.
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The Apocamix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB2BNnwuYhk
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Apocalypse Threads
https://twitter.com/vandroidhelsing/status/960972259413213184