GURPS After The End #11: “Cannonball! Run!”

We got to install microwave ovens, custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators, we got to move these color TVs

– Dire Straits, “Money For Nothing”

Eastbound and down. Reunions, introductions, and story time. What is a “president”, anyway? Who owns who, and why? A rescue. Into the deadly miasma. No reservations. The grand tour. What do you do with all this water? Stealing toys from the attic and major appliances. Dropping names. One houseplant gives the cold shoulder, while another acts suspicious. General Jeremiah Coot and the surgeon general. Exfiltration. Midnight attacks. Evacuation.

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Additional Notes on GURPS After The End #10: “Junk Storms”

The first in-game day of session #10, the weather was cloudy enough that Vine had to eat food, rather than just soaking up whatever passes for sunshine in the wastelands. I remarked that the clouds were showing lots of dark lines moving through them. This prompted questions and Naturalist rolls.

GURPS After The End #10: “Deadly Races”

Suddenly ahead of me, across the mountainside

A gleaming alloy air-car shoots towards me, two lanes wide…

– Rush, “Red Barchetta”

New growth. How to arrange for an ox-setter. Driver’s ed in the wasteland. Mysterious utterances of some oracle. Good old-fashioned spikey-haired cannibal raiders. A wild ride, sudden violence, then lunch. Dinner with goat-people who think the van is baaaad. A journey into “dangr”. Lucky that plants don’t breathe. Daring rescues by bicycle – whee! So, what’s a “President”?

GURPS After The End #9: “Unchivalrous Conduct”

The carnage races on well into the night
As the sun creeps up we see the morning light
On the battlefield the tragedy of dawn
Through the crimson tide we still carry on

– Omen, “Battle Cry”

Unexpected, unpleasant visitors. Roadside conversations and startling insults. Dire directions. The charge of the death machine, and the carnage that followed. The sentry bot fulfills its primary function, to its great satisfaction. Negotiations through a locked door. If one ally won’t, sometimes a new ally will. Dealing with the devil. A solo raid and a feast. Repairs.

GURPS After The End #8: “Access”

With parts made in Japan

I am the modern man

– Styx, “Mr Roboto”

The battle for the van. Hostile rocks and hoop snakes. A welfare check and a dinner invitation, a rare hot bath and an unscheduled checkup. Hackles raised. Conversations with a crazy Coot. The benign countenance of the colonel. The biggest map anyone has ever seen. Unidentified flying objects, both ancient and fresh. Online.

GURPS After The End #7: “Mercy Killing”

With a rope around his neck they left him hanging
High on that old hanging tree
On her knees his wife was screaming
Lord have mercy, lord have mercy

– Thin Lizzy, “Freedom Song”

In which our protagonists join the resistance and learn more than they wanted to about the invaders. Traveling in disguise. A side trip in the name of mercy. The roads of the Ancients, above and below the earth. A botany lesson from a fan. Gathering herbs. Dinner with a friendly hermit, vibrating cactus, and helpful visions. Conversations with living metal. A pearl beyond price.

Wastelanders Reckon Time By The Loglow

We skipped the regularly scheduled game this month, due to a random smattering of real-world demands and responsibilities. Rather than the usual synopsis, I thought I would share some thoughts about timekeeping in my world, After The End.

GURPS After The End #6: “The Top of the Tower”

Invisible airwaves crackle with life

Bright antenna bristle with the energy

– Rush, “The Spirit of Radio”

An example of why the post-apocalyptic exterminator is to be pitied. Red Sticks Of Fun. The battle of the garden shed. With the shortage of chew toys, sometimes a dog just must make do. Horrible burns. A new pet. Vine does what they say can’t be done… twice. Conversations with Ray-Joe. “Watch out for that last rung.” A return to the valley and a parting of the ways.

GURPS After The End #5: “Independence Day”

So when you’re waiting for the next attack
You’d better stand, there’s no turning back

– Iron Maiden, “The Trooper”

Stragglers’ return. Even in the wasteland, taxes. Getting to know Deep Water. Ships and boats and tall metal trees. A demonstration of different approaches to diplomacy, some more effective than others. The perils of traveling cross-country. The foot of the tower.

Thrown Debris and the Wastelander Vine

One of the protagonists in our ongoing After The End game is Vine, a sentient plant scavenger who carries no weapons, preferring to live off the land. When combat occurs, they cast around for random debris to throw. So far, I’ve been more-or-less faking it, calling for a Scrounging roll and going with my gut. It’s time to put down some official numbers.