Post-Apocalyptic RPG Systems characteristics

 Post-Apocalyptic RPG Systems

There are over 1000 Post-Apocalyptic games out there, and comparing them can be difficult.  This document is an attempt at distilling the traits in PA gaming settings and systems that can be measured (to some extent) and compared.

Every attempt has been made to distill these differences into traits as opposed to dichotomies.

In the latter, dichotomies, differences are shown by comparing two poles to one another, such as Gritty vs. Gonzo, or Hard Science vs. Science Fantasy.  Dichotomy comparisons are popular and difficult to resist, but require at least two systems and two extreme poles.

Traits, on the other hand, can be measured independently, and allow for a system to be *both* Gritty and Gonzo.  

Notes on Notations

Terms in brackets [ASDF] refer to how the trait is quantified in the chart.

• [#] simple numerical entry/count of data (such as # of modules published)

• [LIST] a finite list of pre-populated options (usually names) with only one choice 

• [MULTILIST] a finite list of pre-populated options allowing multiple choices

• [SCALE] a numerical representation from 0-10 of “how much” of a given system trait is present in the game.  A “0” means there is no example of such a trait, and “10” means that the trait is a core concept/mechanic/theme to the game.  Definitions of the gradients (the 1-9 scores) would be necessary in most cases.  A score of 10 should be rare, if not singular, and reserved as a marker that the game is the epitome of such a trait.

• [subtype]  a potential [LIST] or [MULTILIST] but not articulated

In the cases of LIST and MULTILIST, listing the prepopulated values has been attempted in the following subtopic level in the outline.

Some terms and initialisms:

• BA - before apocalypse.  Also known as Ancient Times

• PA - post apocalypse.  Likely the current time.

• Ancients/Ancient Times - that which existed BA

• Old Ones - those who existed at the time of the Apocalypse, or within two generations or so of said moment

This outline will be ported to a spreadsheet with the following outline as the vertical axis, and the gaming systems as the horizontal axis.

1. Gaming system

1. Systems [LIST]

1. OSR

2. D20/3.0/3.5

3. 5e

4. v1

5. v2

6. agnostic

7. unique

8. Etc.

2. Year of Publication [YEAR]

3. Systems Publisher Supporting Documents [#]

1. Rules expansions

2. Modules

3. Errata

4. 3PP publications [#]

1. Official/endorsed

2. Open Licensed (version)

5. Overall crunch (numbers and dice rolling for tasks) [SCALE]

6. Overall story and role-playing [SCALE]

7. Experience level progression [LIST]

1. Level-based

2. Point-based

8. Combat resolution type [LIST]

1. Combat maneuvers

2. Offense vs. Defense, no rolls

3. Offense vs. Defense; rolls

4. THAC0

5. Wounds affected

6. etc.

2. Setting

1. Time

1. Future History Before Apocalypse (years into future BA) [YEAR]

2. Year of Apocalypse [YEAR]

3. Time after apocalypse [LIST]

1. Unknown

2. Immediate

3. Decades/Generations

4. Centuries

4. Time post apocalypse [YEAR]

5. Apocalypse source / type [MULTILIST]

1. AI/singularity 

2. alien invasion

3. astronomical

4. biogenetic

5. cultural decadence/breakdown of civic institutions

6. disease

7. magic

8. multiversal

9. nanites/grey goo

10. natural/climatic

11. nuclear (war)

12. war (non-nuclear)

13. unknown

14. zombie

15. other

2. Radiation resolution

1. Necrotic only

2. Mutates (new mutation)

3. Technology

1. Tech levels (including super-science, and near-magical) [LIST]

2. Tech levels (abundance P-A) [SCALE]

3. Scientific realism (Hard Science) [SCALE]

4. Natural resources abundance (vegetation/water/electricity/etc.) [SCALE]

5. Non-renewable resources abundance (coal/oil/etc) [SCALE]

6. Artifact analysis/charts [LIST]

1. Chutes-n-ladders [LIST]

2. Skill check (stepped)

3. Skill check (non-stepped)

4. Item maintenance

5. etc.

7. Vehicle (combat)

8. Power armor (combat)

4. Universe

1. Number of planetoids in milieu (including Luna) [#]

2. Extrasolar [# (including 0)]

3. Travel Tech [LIST] (related to tech level generally)

1. FTL

2. Slowship

3. Etc.

5. Character creation method [MULTILIST]

1. Randomized [SCALE]

2. Constructed [SCALE]

6. Sentient Types [MULTILIST]

1. AI/robots/androids [subtypes]

2. Alien [subtypes]

3. Animals [subtypes]

4. Mineral [subtypes]

5. Plants [subtypes]

6. Pure Strain Humans [subtypes]

7. Insectoid [subtypes]

8. Mutated Humans [subtypes]

9. Hybrids/Chimeras of any-of-the-above [subtypes]

3. Mutations 

1. (yes/no)

2. Randomized

3. Constructed

4. origin of such (frequently the same as P-A origin)

1. genengineered

2. nanites

3. radiation

4. Natural (viral/fungal)

5. Biomimetic (imitates natural traits with tech/cyborgian)

5. Type

1. mundane (traits found in nature)

2. psionic 

3. Super-science

4. Cross-species

6. Variety of Mutations

1. # per character at creation (“+” indicates mutates)

2. amount of possible mutations (split btw mental/physical?)

7. Mutation scores (type)

4. Game mechanics

1. Class/trade based

2. Skill advancement based

3. Skill check (non-stepped)

4. Skill check (stepped)

5. Sociological

1. Sociological stratification

2. Survivalist level

6. Community orientation/building (community stats towards top)

1. (Cryptic) Alliances and Cults

2. Community stats

3. Reputation scores vis-a-vis PCs

7. Monsters

1. Origin (see mutations/P-A causes) list

2. Mutations

Metaverse Roadmap Part II

Let's read further into each:

VR/Ni

Electronic virtual worlds (first text based, later graphical)
have existed since our first personal computers (e.g., MUD,
Adventureland, and CBBS 1978)...
They are digital versions of narratives set in
“other realities” since the beginning of civilization.

Shamans,mystics and poets were the original weavers of these 'other realities' and are Ni dominants.
Then there's an interesting paragraph later, distinguishing between two kinds of VR:

There is a useful distinction between VW-based multiplayer
games, such as Everquest or World of Warcraft, and VWbased
social environments, such as Second Life and Sony's
Home. Multiplayer games are goal-oriented, with social
interaction used as a tool for task completion; such worlds
are set in an internally-consistent fictional or fantasy-based
realm. In most, entertainment is a primary goal. In so-called
“serious games,” training and education are primary goals.

Goals and task completion are the bailiwick of Extraverted Judgment, and is the complimentary mental function to Ni. When Je is the lead function (E _ _ J in the MBTI code) goals are the primary, well, goal of the Type. When it's in the second (auxiliary) position (I _ _ J), tasks are more important.

Je has two flavors - Te and Fe. When they're referencing 'serious games', it seems they're describing Te as opposed to Fe. In the standard 16 Types, Ni (or Si) is paired with either Fe or Te to create four types - ENTJ, ENFJ, INTJ, INFJ.

Social VWs, by contrast, exhibit fewer overt goals and value
structures, and offer more open-ended user freedoms,
creation of objects, economic and social interaction, and
interpersonal networks. In a few social VWs, such as the
rapidly growing world of Second Life, the user retains
some ownership rights to the objects, land, and other
assets acquired in the world...In practice, the game vs. social world distinction is often
blurred, as goal-directed games always emerge inside
social VWs, and as social experiences broaden inside the
more popular game worlds.

Extraverted Feeling (which is Je) is one's sense of community, and social VWs are the places where 'how' to interact are created. Chat rooms and usenet forums immediately spawned 'shoulds' and social mores (all caps is shouting, Thou Shalt Not Troll, etc).

While inspiring, the
vision (John Perry Barlow, 1996) of an emerging
independent cyberspace, with its own political and
economic rules and jurisdictions, like any sovereign
nation, was not echoed by MVR participants, who talked
of increasing physical world regulation over virtual space
in the foreseeable future.

But to move beyond today’... systems for user identity, trust, and reputation will
be needed, to ensure player accountability to the unique
rules of each world.

On the social side, perhaps the most obvious persistent trend
will be identity experimentation, self-revelation and role play
in VWs, and the creative variation of social norms around
gender, ethnicity, social class, etiquette, and group values and
goals

All bailiwicks of Extraverted Feeling - societal rules.

Meatverse Roadmap IV - some conclusions

While there's a lot more to be read on the website, the summary document is encouraging, if not uncanny, in that it addresses many Jungian concepts of Perception, with a few nods to Judgment.

What's discouraging, however, is the complete lack of peer-to-peer technology solutions presented. All of the solutions shown are server based, particularly the virtual worlds section. As someone who has worked in the past with a p2p VR communications platform, I'm actually befuddled by it. But p2p is scary for companies - there's not a clear business model for typical web services in a p2p model.

It's a goal-oriented document - so the full spectrum of these concepts isn't presented, except in terms of steps towards that end goal. Presence doesn't always need to be an avatar (a pixel on a blank background will do). GPS services don't need to be exacting (zip code works quite well on a personals site, thank you). Lifelogging doesn't have to be every niggling detail of life (hell, I'd just like an intelligent history/bookmarking app right now). Far too often computer technology is modernist - forgetting the past for the sake of the now or future. The beauty of the 'old' internet was its efficiency with little resources. Projects such as OpenCroquet are rethinking what can be done based on modern technology and have presented very robust collaboration environments. But they won't work on an old 486 with a dial up connection - and that's a major problem. The point to 'rethinking' something is to go back to the minimalist and making sure the minimums are covered, and THEN going forward. We're presuming we'll have the current resources to maintain these high bandwidth, high CPU, high graphics environments in perfectly synchronous real time. The point of the ARPAnet was creating a system that would work in the case of Armageddon - I won't give a damn about your fancyschmancy avatar when there's a plague loose in Cleveland and heading my way.

Metaverse Roadmap Part III

Mirror Worlds (External/Simulation) (Se)

Unlike virtual worlds, which involve alternate realities
that may be similar to Earth’s or wildly different,
mirror worlds model the world around us. The best known
example of a mirror world (MW) is presently
Google Earth...
Initially, MW maps were based on cartographic
surveys, with informational overlays. Later maps were
updated with satellite and aircraft imagery, and now
some (Google Earth, military systems) are being
augmented by ground-based imagery...
Some futurists have proclaimed that virtual worlds, the
Internet, global outsourcing and telepresence are
heralding the “end of geography.”...
Gelernter is optimistic that our coming
data-rich geographic simulations can give us not only tree-level
insight but also forest-level “topsight” into complex
global systems, many of which are presently obscure.

True Telepresence is the epitome of the Se metaphor. A Wikipedia definition is

Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance that they were present, or to have an effect, at a location other than their true location.

Telepresence requires that the senses of the user, or users, are provided with such stimuli as to give the feeling of being in that other location. Additionally, the user(s) may be given the ability to affect the remote location. In this case, the user's position, movements, actions, voice, etc. may be sensed, transmitted and duplicated in the remote location to bring about this effect. Therefore information may be travelling in both directions between the user and the remote location.

Here, remote control of the environment is included in the definition, and so would include Extraverted Thinking (the executive), but if we only include haptic feedback methods, we're staying within the realm of Se. With additional information collected via Ne and Si methods described elsewhere, we're capable of creating a sense of 'hyper-reality' with technology - more real than real. We can't fly on our own in real life, but Google Earth allows me to zoom and pan anywhere I want. We don't have Superman's microscopic vision, but molecular modeling can illustrate chemical reactions for instruction.

Se is a Pe function, and is Typically paired with an Introverted Judgment function - either Ti or Fi. When paired with Ti (as in ISTP or ESTP), the result is a mechanistic point of view. Mirror Worlds that attempt to recreate the Real Universe in function (solids are impermeable, gravity works, measurements and location are replicated exactly, even sounds are realistic) fulfill these Type-views. When paired with Fi (as in ISFP or ESFP), the result is an aesthetic point of view (patterns and textures, music and voices, fashions and architectural details replicated, people, plants and animals exist in the environment, things are entertaining). Ji (Fi, Ti) functions are analytical, not causal - one can analyze an individual M&M until the cows come home, and one can attempt to recreate the world to the most minute details until we've essentially duplicated the world in a box. Ultimately, these are all superficial (but necessary)

Most video games, despite taking place in Ni Virtual Worlds, seem closer to Se worlds, as they are superficial and usually limited to imitating real-world physics (or some internally defined set of rules). David Brin calls this 'creating the furniture first'. Personally, as someone who rarely pays attention to my environment, I've been disenchanted by the emphasis on recreating reality in virtual worlds - but I love Google Earth, because it's relevant to the function. I doubt I'd enjoy a virtual concert with my favorite musical artists, because the 3D world is distracting to the principal aesthetic (audio) and fails to approach replication of the rest of my senses (touch and visual). I don't *need* a 3D world to enjoy a live concert when my radio will do just fine. And gawd forbid I be required to 'walk' to another location in a virtual world - I'm using computer technology to escape the limitations of the real world. Until they find a way to recreate odors, there's no point in me slowing down to smell the roses.

Augmented Reality (External/Augmentation) - Ne

Augmented reality depends on the further development
of intelligent materials and the "smart environment"—
networked computational intelligence embedded in
physical objects and spaces. As described in Adam
Greenfield's Everyware, this vision of the so-called
"Internet of things" moves well beyond today’s
primitive classes of RFID (radio frequency
identification) tags. Concepts such as the "spimes"
described by Bruce Sterling (individually-identified
objects that can be tracked through both time and space
over their lifetime) or Julian Bleecker's "blogjects"
(objects that keep a running public record of their
condition and use) offer examples of the ways in which
materials, goods and the physical environment play a
part in the augmented reality world...

Another important aspect of the AR scenario is the
interface, the ways and choices users have to access
virtual information overlaid on the physical world...
As virtual data proliferate, information overload will be a
common problem. This will empower
user annotation and the expression of individual opinion:
the Participatory Web... Smart tag-based networks will
allow individuals to advise friends...In the longer-term future,
different people may have very different experiences of the same physical location.

The important difference between Introverted and Extraverted iNtution is that Ne requires an object from which to launch new ideas and to create 'what isn't there' - Ne ideas can be very creative, but it almost always stems from an 'object'. To some degree, Ni can be mythologized to be the only function that is 'truly original'. Metadata (tags, spimes, blogjects, etc) is the perfect example of Ne functionality. Metadata attempts to put a piece of data in a larger context, or pattern. The last line quoted is a very good example of Ne - there are an infinite number of new combinations from a limited number of objects, all created from relevant information about the object or location.

Lifelogging (Intimate/Augmentation) - Si

A perfect memory isn't necessarily an ideal, at least by
current social standards. Human relationships are aided by
the consensual misremembering of slights, allowing the
sting of insults and personal offenses to fade over time.
With easy access to records of past wrongs, “I forgot,”
will be much less frequent, and some will find it
impossible to "let bygones be bygones." On the positive
side, new social accuracy will provide opportunities for
individuals to more frequently admit their mistakes, and
after some ego adjustment, help them be more tolerant and
open to a change of mind and behavior. We see such
learning on some (not all) blogs today, which are accurate
text-based lifelogs of past arguments in social space.

Si memory is *subjective* memory, and is anything *but* photographic (but try to tell that to an Si dominant ;-)). It's the most visceral of the four kinds of Perception. Despite this, Lifelogging is subjective in terms of the perspective of "I" remember. Lifelogging technologies, as is warned, break the necessary barrier of forgetful memories, but as a recent case study has shown, these technologies actually help "objective" memory in the long run, and may help build tolerance as we stop self-selectively forgetting things. Lifelogging technologies aren't capable of recording the feeling of 'butterflies in the stomach,' but they can help us recall the exacting details of the moments that caused those butterflies to launch into dance, and the more details we can record, the easier those moments are to recall viscerally. There's a two sided coin to Si memory - unJudged, these replicated memories can result in phobias or untold stresses; ironically, when paired with other techniques, they can be the tools to rid ourselves of overreactions. It's hard to learn from one's mistakes if one cannot remember them. It's equally hard to learn from one's mistakes if one unnecessarily dwells on them too, and is the nature of chronic depression.

Unlike virtual worlds, lifelogging
won’t allow you to walk in another person's shoes, but it
does allow you to look at the world through another
person's eyes. Or multiple people's eyes: memories tagged
for a particular time and place can call up similar
recordings from others at the scene, giving an
individual access to multiple perspectives on an event.

Here we diverge a little from Si into Fi. Introverted Feeling is the function that deals with empathy - being able to walk in another's shoes, or view through another's eyes. It's a Judgment function really, not a Perception one. Why they say you can't walk in another's shoes is beyond me - that's exactly what Lifelogging enables, down to the exact footstep if your Nike is hooked up to your iPod.