PAW

Welcome to Post-Apocalyptic Wisconsin, an RPG Campaign set in the State of Wisconsin in the 22nd Century after a geomagnetic reversal caused explosions (including those needed to operate the internal combustion engine and firearms) and electricity to cease to function (kind of like the [1]). This in turn led to mass famine, disease and depopulation as the human supply chains, especially for food, was destroyed. We pick up "a few generations in" to the cataclysm as our protagonists are in a struggle for survival.

Characters

|Vergen Vuls the Mad Dog

|Velis Vuls the Face

|Myoosa Vuls the Huntress

the Old Cultist |Unaz the Old Cultist

the Savage Dog |Tyan the Savage Dog

Sites/Locations

Family Homestead[2]

A 7' tall wooden stockade connects the three buildings, allowing access in the "courtyard" all-season from entrances to the North and South. All three buildings are part of the stockade. Both outbuildings are metal shell and so unheated (and unheat-able). The Northern building stores the winter firewood, hay and straw (to feed animals and as bedding) and other dry goods. Farm animals would use this building as a barn, but they have been taken when the Farmstead was raided. The Southern Building contains dried and salted foods, farming tools and miscellany. The home itself (Western Building) contains fresh food stores, all useable weapons, clothing and a wood-burning stove (for heating). There is a hand-pumped well in the courtyard that generates Class B Water. The home (Western Building) contains a 500 gallon oil drum from when the home had access to oil-heat. It has been converted and cleaned to be used for water storage. Outside the stockade to the South is a chicken coop that has been emptied by raiders, but is available for use.

Food

• 5 Class A Egg Rations (may be fertilized... 8 eggs per ration for 40 eggs)
• 30 Class A Bread Rations
• 30 Class A Herb Rations
• 90 Class B Herb Rations
• 120 Class B Potato Rations
• 30 Class B Onion Rations
• 150 Class B Corn Rations (also used for seed)
• 150 Class C Wheat Rations (also used for seed)
• 300 Class C Bread Rations (hardtack)
• 30 Class C Seed (Sunflower, Sesame) Rations (also used for seed)
• 60 Class C Smoked Chicken
• 30 Class C Berries (as preserves)
• 30 Class B Saturated Fats (Butter & Lard) - Can be used as soap on a 1 Ration to 100 Man-Days of Soap Ratio; required for bread

1,055 Rations total, ~3 man-years

Liquids

• Unlimited Class B Water from wellhead
• 500 gallons (125 man-Days) of Class B Water in Western Building Basement
• 5 Man-Days of Apple Cider
• 1 Man-Day of Wine

Firewood

• 25 Building-Days in Western Building Basement
• 150 Building-Days in Northern Building

Consumables

• 30 Man-Days of Tobacco

Animals

• None at present (raided)
• 1,360 Straw and Hay Rations (for animals only) - note these are only consumed in winter. In Northern Building.

Western Building

• Wood Burning Stove
• 500 gallon tank (currently holds water)
• Fridge converted to hold 40 gallons (10 Days) of apple cider
• Dishwasher converted to hold 20 gallons (5 Days) of Wine
• 2 sets of winter weather clothing (+2)
• 5 sets of warm clothing (+1)
• bedding and towels
• Kitchen knives
• Axe, hatchet and log splitter
• Hoes, Rakes, Shovels

Eastern Building

• Three 55 gallon drums
• Wheeled metal cart, hand- or animal-drawn
• 2 wheelbarrows
• 2 rusty but useable bicycles, tires have been filled by a foam and surfaces are patched heavily.

Crops

• 3,000 man-days of Wheat harvestable each October naturally re-seeding each year (reduces by 50% each year, must replant for more).
• 1,500 man-days of Corn harvestable each October naturally re-seeding each year (reduces by 50% each year, must replant for more).
• 500 man-days of Seed harvestable each October naturally re-seeding each year (reduces by 50% each year, must replant for more).
• 300 man-days of Berries harvestable each June-August naturally re-seeding each year (reduces by 50% each year, must replant for more).
• 1,000 man-days of Potato harvestable each October naturally re-seeding each year (reduces by 50% each year, must replant for more).
• 800 man-days of Squash/Yam/Pumpkin each November (reduces by 50% each year, must replant for more).
• 300 man-days of Onion harvestable each November (must replant 25% to re-harvest each year).
• 500 man-days of Leafy Foods (cabbage, lettuce, spinach) harvestable each May through October. Can be not-harvested to increase next year.
• 300 man-days of Herbs harvestable each May through October. Can be not-harvested to increase next year.
• 400 man-days of Grapes harvestable each September. Can be not-harvested to increase next year. Can be fermented to Wine at a 2 (input man-days grapes) to 1 (output man-days wine) ratio. Requires water.

8,500 Rations harvestable annually, ~23 Man-years

Pipeline Station[3]

This is an old natural gas line facility that was once used to harvest burnables but has since been abandoned as the pumps have gone dry. It may be useful to acquire scrap metal.

Smokey's House[4]

Smokey was the family's neighbor and friend. A single man in this world where women are less common than men (many are sadly lost through childbirth), he cultivated tobacco during its short growing season and traded it for other goods. He also collected deer apples in the forest to the west and pressed them for apple cider, fished (unsuccessfully, for the most part) the lake to the West, and harvested the natural corn and wheat in the area.

META-Campaign Setting

Assumptions about the setting

• Humans are basically evil. When the global economy collapses, many people are willing to kill others to obtain food and other valuables.
• Transport is reliant on horses and bicycles, while river transportation is just making a comeback at the beginning of the campaign. Transport on known arteries such as train tracks and interstates (which are fallen into terrible repair), are subject to heavy "taxation" by local gangs, while travel in poor-infrastructure areas means potentially not seeing a soul for a very long time. Because of this, trade is almost non-existent (except on very local levels).
• Many in farming communities survive by continuing to farm. Their farmsteads are frequently raided by city-dwellers. Cities have become heavily depopulated and every structure ransacked for non-perishable food items.
• A lot of day-to-day items such as clothing and furniture is simply harvested from abandoned buildings - from the society of the past. People are walking around wearing ratty Nike shirts and Levis Jeans manufactured over a century ago but that hadn't been worn due to the severe depopulation. Human capital works in farming, animal husbandry, martial training to protect what you've built, and scavenging "things".
• Steam still works, having ramifications I'm sure others can ponder better than I!
• Sooo ... a bit Steampunk. But with touches of "Western Steampunk" since it's the US and not-so-Victorian. But it's on the cusp of re-development and by no means universal.

Themes

• Exploration by the PCs to try and learn more about humanity's predicament. Presumably they will be the type of characters driven to learn more about their surroundings and how they can improve things.
• Humans will have [d]evolved into different groups and insular societies with strongly diverging opinions, fostered by varying opinions on the cataclysm and how to manage society. There will be communist collectives, religious cults, scientific sects, local dictators, etc.
• The PCs may feel obliged to find other humans that they can trust to help maintain their "safe area(s)" that cultivate crops and protect shelter and safe drinking water during their travels. Eventually they will take on henchmen-types and then become community leaders. Unless they simply decide to take the more dangerous route of traveling to regions unknown.
• Communication is relegated to the speed of travel.
• Humans are imperfect. Characters will have to deal with mental, as well as physical challenges in the harshness of this setting.
• Exploring real modern communities like Chicago, Rockford and East Troy post-cataclysm to solve mysteries, scavenge for non-perishable foods and valuables and trade for goods and news of the world.

Challenges to overcome

• Finding food, shelter and safe drinking water when away from "safe areas" (ie when exploring).
• Surviving contact with other bands of humans fighting for survival in an age where society has broken down.
• Learning how to defend and protect yourselves and others in an age where medieval warfare might be logical, but no one is equipped with the tools needed to do so.
• See others in Player's Options, below.

Mysteries to solve

• Is the cataclysm solvable by humans?
• What is the nature of the cataclysm, and which interpretation(s) do the PCs abide by?
• From when you and I were alive in the early 21st Century, what technological developments occurred prior to the collapse of the late 21st Century that might be discovered and aid or harm the PCs' chances for survival? Eg did man establish a community on Mars that was not affected by the cataclysm?
• Who are the local polities and what motivates them? Eg the communist collectives, religious cults, scientific sects, local dictators I mentioned earlier.
• What news of beyond the local area. Eg what happened to New York, Europe, Asia, etc.?
• What post-medieval technology is available without electricity or explosives to aid the PCs? Can Jake's mechanical engineering-mind cook something up for his character to metagame-exploit?
• Local exploration of dangers, "finds", etc.
• How long has it been since the cataclysm? What happened to [insert anyone] post-cataclysm? Eg the US government and its successors, the US military and its successors, corporate headquarters, college towns, etc.

Player's Options

Game Elements voted on by the Players, as they affect the world.

• Did geomagnetic reversal that stopped electronics and explosives - did it allow for magic? Note that Ringmail magic is low fantasy, like Tolkien, so it would be low-magic. -> Players answer NO.
• Between 2017 and the late 21st century, did GMOs cause medieval fantasy-like monsters (orcs, owlbears and such)? If so, does that imply transhumanism and furthermore that the PCs could "play with their DNA"? Or only transhumanism, none of the monsters? -> Players answer NO, but very limited transhumanism/zombies.
• If yes to both of the above, does that allow for zombies and other forms of undead? -> Players answer YES, in small quantities.
• A more troupe style play where each Player controls multiple Characters. As the campaign proceeds, mortality is allowable to individual characters since each Player has multiple backup Characters. New Characters are acquired as henchmen when exploring, etc., and the players discuss which they want to control once the Character is satisfactorily aligned with the PCs' goals. -> Players answer YES.

Terminology

• Raiders - Individuals who generally live in urban areas who, especially during the harvest, "raid" rural areas for food. They are often well-equipped with weapons and weapon-like tools scavenged from the urban centers. "Rurals" must defend themselves, pay off the raiding parties, or flee their homesteads until the Raiders have taken what they wish and leave. Raiders are usually looking for food of all types.
• Scavengers - Individuals traveling through the underpopulated urban centers looking for the manufactured goods of the pre-cataclysm era including warm clothing, medicines, manufactured tools and other goods.

META-Rules

We are using the Ringmail rules as written for the most part, although a lot of the weapons and armor will be nigh-impossible to find. Although perhaps someone can find them... Magic is excluded in its entirety. Email the Narrator if you need a rulebook or have any rules questions.

Meta-rules; Campaign Style

I expect 1 posting per day per Player once the campaign really started. Holidays and Holiday Weekends are allowable for non-participation. If you think you cannot post for more than 48 consecutive hours please post that before it happens and announce whom you would like to puppet your Characters while you are gone - whether the Narrator or another Player. Other than that I expect no puppeting of others' characters nor NPC. We will be doing a troupe style where each Player will be controlling multiple Characters. This will help with Ringmail's high-possibility of death, so if a Player loses a Character they aren't "out". You will have opportunities to invite NPCs to join your "collective" or whatever the Characters decide on calling themselves, to deal with attrition.

Morale Rules - Ringmail Add-on

As this is a Post-Apocalyptic setting, I’d like to provide a bit more emphasis on how life’s necessities such as food, water, warmth (in Wisconsin), shelter – and just as importantly morale are essential for survival. In my opinion in a survival setting one’s mental state is just as important if not more important than their physical state when under these extreme environments. So I’d like to add a little plug-in to the Ringmail rules to address this.

To address this, I’d like to provide morale penalties and bonuses for food, water (or other drinkables; tea, juice, milk, etc.), warmth, shelter, clothing, other consumables and entertainment. These bonuses will affect individuals on skill checks, in combat, and over the long-term affect whether individuals are willing to join your farmstead, work with you, and stay there or leave for better pastures. With sufficient long-term bonuses (and minimal penalties), your farmstead can grow to a true center of culture and mutual defense. With sufficient penalties, your name PCs will struggle for survival (because they are short on food and firewood – who wouldn’t struggle under those circumstances).

The bonuses and penalties will not rely simply upon the existence of, but also the quality and quantity of items. This means we need to both qualify and quantify these items. One ration is enough for one person for one day. It will require time to farm and harvest crops, and then to process A Rations into B or C Rations as desired. Since it’s nearly impossible for A Rations to last the entire winter (see below), it will be necessary to store some as B or C Rations throughout the year.

If merely to stave off starvation, eating other people will allow sustenance but causes a -2 morale penalty if known to the consumers.

Food

Quality

• A+ Rations – Quality non-perishable food from “before the cataclysm” such as Twinkies. Quality to eat,

but no one can make this stuff anymore. Requires no preparation. Lasts indefinitely. Rare.

• A Rations – Fresh, best quality of food. Requires on-site preparation, has minimal shelf-life (one month).
• B Rations – High quality preserved food. May be frozen, or dried. Requires preparation from A Ration

to make it a B Ration. Lasts 6 months.

• C Rations – Low quality preserved food. May be smoked or salted. Requires preparation from A Ration

to make it a C Ration. Lasts indefinitely.

Variety

Characters with less than 10 different types of food options get a -1 to morale. If they have 10 types they get no penalty and for every 10 different types of food someone has access to greater than 10, they get a +1 morale bonus. Types include pork v. beef v. fish v. pumpkin v. apples v. potatoes v. onions. Similar stuff like pumpkins with yams, onions with shallots, etc. will be in one category.

Morale Modifiers

Individuals on A Rations get +1, C Rations -1, B Rations no modifier to morale. Individuals on no rations are at -3 to Morale (they are starving).

Consumption

Foodstuffs will be consumed 1 per type until gone from largest to smallest quantity. Eg if you have 4 Wheat, 2 Corn and 1 Potato rations, they will be consumed Wheat, Corn, Potato, Wheat, Corn, Wheat, Wheat. All Rations are 1 pound per.

Liquids

Water quality will be similarly graded as A, B and C. Usually we will be dealing with a water source. A Water is clean and fresh like from a mountain stream or a Coca Cola bottling plant (ie Aquafina) and grants a +1 to morale. B Water is potable but probably has some brownish tinge to it – no morale modifier. C Water is susceptible to disease and common in urban areas, runoff, etc. and causes a -1 morale penalty. For variety, a +1 will be provided if individuals have access to one non-alcoholic liquid (such as tea, juice, etc.) and a further +1 if they have access to alcoholic liquid (wine, beer, spirits, etc.).

You need a half gallon per day when traveling (hopefully characters will have access to unlimited water at fixed sites), which is 4 pounds. Liquid types are consumed in the same manner as food but 2 times as much water as other liquids.

Firewood

Firewood combined with shelter will be essential for survival. Warm clothing helps too. Clothing will generally be a +1 to +3 to resist cold, with +3 an unusually warm combo (+2 will be more attainable). These are not morale bonuses. Instead, there will simply be a penalty of -1 or -2 if characters are too cold. In the coldest weather people probably won’t even go out, or only can for short periods of time (this is already built into the Ringmail rules, but I just wanted to add a reminder here of the reality).

I’ll be rolling for weather, but generally you’ll need to burn from December through March. We’ll have to rate the firewood by quantity. We’ll say a typical building is about 1,000 square feet (it’s actually more than that of course, but you can block off storage rooms that don’t need to be heated). We’ll quantify firewood by building-days just as food is person-days, so if you have 1 unit of firewood, it will keep a typical 1,000 square foot home warm for 1 day in the cold season. Note you’ll need bodies to cut firewood and maintain the fire but the advantage here is that you can do that all year round. I’m also assuming here that characters are willing to wear cold-weather gear inside their home and keep the house at a “balmy” 40 degrees Fahrenheit. If you decide to burn 2 days worth of firewood to keep the house warmer – at around 60 degrees – there will be a +1 morale bonus. If the house isn’t staying warm enough, -1 to morale and we’re rolling for frostbite, hypothermia – just don’t go there, will yah?

Consumables & Entertainment

Consumables include any drug – illegality not an issue here – recreational books (which you’ll find to be few and far between – many having been burned by this point in time), trinkets and anything else of interest. Characters will get a +1 morale bonus per 5 different recreational items available to them and another +1 if they use any one drug. Note that they may become addicted to the drugs and suffer penalties over time for that…

Intrapersonal

Ringmail also assigns a bonus or penalty of up to -6/+6 to interpersonal reactions based on a Character’s appearance and personality, although usually -2/+2 is more common. This will apply as well.

Morale Rolls Summary and Execution

At this point I’ve collected a maximum morale penalty of -7 and a maximum bonus of infinity, but more likely numbers will not exceed +7. This does not include the influence of personality (immediately above). If morale modifiers at set at 0, assume a bit of attrition. This is post-apocalyptic Wisconsin, so on average we will be losing people, not adding to population. You will actually need a +1 to morale to maintain your farmsteads’ numbers (on average). Otherwise you’ll see people leave for better pastures.

Whenever you have a friendly interaction with an NPC you may invite them to join your farmstead – often for in-character reasons. You will roll a morale check and upon success they will be willing to join you. Every month I will also have checks to see if anyone working with you leaves. They will get the modifier for everything in the place they are at, plus the interpersonal modifier for whichever PC is leading them. This sort of encourages you to have one or two charismatic personalities leading your group(s) and then you can min/max anyone else. I’d ask you restrain your interpersonal modifiers to +3 for one character, +2 for another, and -2 for the third, with an average of +1-ish so we can have a realistic portrayal. Do you really want to portray the building of a religious-like utopia in the post-apocalyptic survivalist world you asked for?

I’ll make the DC 8, although conditional modifiers will apply. As per all Ringmail rolls, it’s 3D20:

“Stay with you” roll

• 3 Successes – Everyone stays and at least 1 person who might be a nameless becomes named (from an NPC-ally to a playable PC).
• 2 Successes – Anyone with active conflict leaves if they can (ie not in winter if they don’t have a shelter to go to). No one else goes.
• 1 Success – Attrition; you will lose 5% of bodies. This may mean not losing anyone. If it’s winter they won’t leave until the spring (when it’s warm enough to travel). I’ll keep track of who’s leaving during the winter and it’ll get announced when they leave.
• 0 Successes – You will lose a considerable number of bodies – 20% or more. Up to 5% will leave immediately even if it’s in winter.

“Join you” roll

• 3 Successes – Willing to join and move in with you.
• 2 Successes – Willing to join conditionally (if I can bring my family, if I can have a certain degree of independence, etc.) – specifics depend on the NPC.
• 1 Success – Willing to “consider it” or join you for a short while if travelling in the same direction, etc. But nor permanently. Allows a reroll if you meet with them at a later time.
• 0 Successes – Not willing to join, -2 to future attempts to convince them to join you.