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Post by Merctime on Jul 8, 2014 23:28:02 GMT -6
I've owned the new version (non-box, single volume) for some time, and have even bought some supplements for it. As I love post-apoc stuff, this game is right up my alley. I've never played it, but it's one that I'd love to play given experienced players.
It's still in print by the original company, fantasy games unlimited, even after all of these years. It's listed on the cover as a game for 'experienced role players', and they mean it! This game is chock full of calculations and tables. It's not a 'simple' game like OD&D is, at all. Still, I think it's pretty cool.
Wondering if anyone has heard of it, played it, enjoyed it, etc? What sort of Aftermath! games have you played?
Note that I post this with the firm knowledge that many here may have had their post-apocalyptic fix with Metamorphosis Alpha and Gammaworld instead... But, hey, never hurts to ask around!
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Post by Vile Traveller on Jul 9, 2014 4:05:57 GMT -6
Really? It's still going? I have no idea what the new version is like, but I played it a bit back in the 80s when you could really appreciate the threat of nuclear war (I cycled to work past a nuclear "4-minute warning" siren every day). Back then we were much more willing to put up with incredibly complex systems, and what teenager wouldn't love a character sheet featuring a diagram with 30 hit locations, one of which was "groin"? We were all gun freaks, too, so the gun porn was amazing. Nowadays I would never go for something so complex because of (lack of) time, although I still appreciate it. It still brings back fond memories of exploring an Aftermath! version of the town we were living in at the time. Thanks for the trip, Merctime!  |
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Post by Lorgalis on Jul 9, 2014 7:32:52 GMT -6
I have an older version of Aftermath, which had clear plastic overlay templates that represent where a shot or strike would land on a foe. If you dig that sort of crunch, I direct you to GDWs Twilight 2000. Tons of crunch, loads and loads of detail. Not for everyone, and there s a CD out there with all of the books on it for sale. Same guys who sold all of the traveler books on one CD. Forget their names.
I liked Twilight 2000 myself, over Aftermath, but both are cool.
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Post by Lorgalis on Jul 9, 2014 7:45:26 GMT -6
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tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
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Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 8:35:01 GMT -6
Rats, FFE's not selling the big floppy Traveller LBBs anymore, except for the JTAS collections. I had hoped to get the Adventures reprint at some point.
Anyway, on-topic, I picked up the PDF of Aftermath! a while back from DriveThruRPG, but have never taken a look at it. I'm rather burned out these days on rules-heavy systems.
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Post by Merctime on Jul 9, 2014 9:20:24 GMT -6
And it's very rules-heavy! But it's still cool, in my opinion. But, I have to agree; Like Vile Traveller stated, it's really an issue of time. Man, if I found this game as a teen-ager, I'd have loved it! |
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Post by ritt on Jul 9, 2014 10:06:28 GMT -6
It's very, very early 80's and crunchy and rules-heavy, but the piecemeal armor system was fun back in the day. "I have a cooking pot on my head, chicken-wire over my face, a leather jacket with curtain rings sewn into it for my torso, a plastic athletic supporter for my groin, hockey leg guards, and steel-toed boots".
I also really dig that there was no set currency, everything was just measured in "Barter points".
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Post by kesher on Jul 9, 2014 13:51:36 GMT -6
It's very, very early 80's and crunchy and rules-heavy, but the piecemeal armor system was fun back in the day. "I have a cooking pot on my head, chicken-wire over my face, a leather jacket with curtain rings sewn into it for my torso, a plastic athletic supporter for my groin, hockey leg guards, and steel-toed boots". I also really dig that there was no set currency, everything was just measured in "Barter points". Yes. This. I played it a number of times back around '83-84. If I remember correctly, it took us about two hours to make up new characters. Most memorable experience was, well, taking two hours to make a character using the mutations options. He had thick, wrinkled hide much like an elephant, and ran around wearing nothing but cut-offs and boots. About a half-hour into the session, we were attacked by a pack of wild dogs, and one of them tore out my throat. The rest of the party ran, and so he died unmourned, devoured by the snarling pack. So, obviously a detailed and lethal system. However, it's also the game that got my friend and I poring over thick gun catalogs, so there's that... |
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Post by Merctime on Jul 9, 2014 15:26:03 GMT -6
Man, there is some excellent posts here about your experiences, guys... I sure hope to read more! I am very bummed I missed out on this game in it's heyday. I especially love ritt's armor description! Pure awesomeness! |
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tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
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Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 17:33:59 GMT -6
Something about the Eighties seems to have fostered "realism" in RPGs, creating massive cruft in rules. Aftermath! and a lot of FGU titles, Morrow Project (and all the TriTac games, much as I love the settings), add-on systems like MARS, every RPG suddenly had to have a detailed hit location system... I mean, look at Booty And The Beasts - along with gonzo goodness like jovians and Vancian creatures you have a detailed hit location table so you can determine which organs got pulped and which bones got shattered. Maybe it was something in the water. |
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Post by ritt on Jul 9, 2014 21:08:31 GMT -6
As an Illinoisan the most depressing thing about Aftermath! is that the dystopian, post-apocalyptic Empire of Karo (From the '84 setting book of the same name) probably has higher population and more business than real-world 2014 Cairo, Illinois.
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Post by kesher on Jul 9, 2014 21:13:37 GMT -6
I found the Morrow Project, contrary to expectations, had only one real rule: the most awesome calculation (and I don't use that word figuratively) for gunfire damage EVER.
There's actually a guy out there with a very extensive MP blog still running. He's attempting to do MP sketches of all 50 states...
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Post by Merctime on Jul 9, 2014 21:28:59 GMT -6
I'm actually pretty impressed with FGU's BDG system for firearms damage calculations. Mind you, I fit firmly in 'fanboy' stage, as I've never table-topped this. But, as I read it, it seems to be pretty awesome. I've heard, however, that many 'in the know' about old post-apoc gaming often call towards Morrow Project as a really fun game.
I've purchased the 'magic' expansion for this game (aftermath), and got some of the stuff FGU has released for it as well. That 'magic' book makes me want to do a hyborian age swords n' sorcery game using aftermath. I'm just not that skilled with the game, or that brave, to give it a go!
But man, I bet it would be deadly.
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tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
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Post by tog on Jul 9, 2014 21:46:26 GMT -6
I found the Morrow Project, contrary to expectations, had only one real rule: the most awesome calculation (and I don't use that word figuratively) for gunfire damage EVER. There's actually a guy out there with a very extensive MP blog still running. He's attempting to do MP sketches of all 50 states... I think I've seen that blog; I seem to recall downloading a "road guide" for MP that might have been from there. One of the most amazing parts of Morrow Project's system was Blood Points - you not only had to keep track of your character's hits, but BP as well - meaning it was possible to suffer slow bleeding, internal bleeding, fun stuff like that. TriTac was almost as amazing - if you shot someone with a burst from an automatic weapon (and I think this applies for MP as well) you needed to roll separately for each bullet in the burst as to whether or not it hit, its hit location, and its effect. TriTac games also gave you rules for tracking hunger/starvation and detailed lists for food values, including cannibalism ("The Alfred Packer Food Program"). |
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Post by Vile Traveller on Jul 10, 2014 2:25:37 GMT -6
Maybe it was something in the water. It was the flouride. Poisoned our precious bodily fluids. |
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jdjarvis
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Post by jdjarvis on Jul 29, 2014 11:19:59 GMT -6
It's a great game. Only played a couple times, we simplified the combat system without loosing any noticeable benefit of the games details. It's definitely a game where a GM is going to have to put in a lot of work but there's an awful lot of support right there in the rules.
don't have players work up armor in the first character generation session have a few pre-made sets of clothing and armor ready to go and the bits and pieces can be added on as the game play unfolds.
At the time my players were more into D&D so Aftermath was just a brief side trek.
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Post by Merctime on Jul 29, 2014 11:34:04 GMT -6
jdjarvis, I'd love to hear how you guys simplified the combat rules. And I totally hear you on DM prep! For a while there, I was setting up a couple of different campaigns. One was set in Littleton, the adventure setting they made... Another was based off of their newer set called "gauntlet" I think. I put work into both sets; Adding and subtracting survivor groups in the area, changing numbers to make the population a bit more sparse, and had did what you suggested about having a few sets of armor wrote up for immediate use. This was done mostly on a yahoo fan group. But, the problem is finding players interested in such a crunchy game!
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jdjarvis
Level 4 Theurgist
Hmmm,,,, had two user names, I'll be using this one from now on.
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Post by jdjarvis on Jul 29, 2014 20:59:11 GMT -6
How'd we simplify combat? Hmm... it was 25 years ago, I recall the process but not the picky details. I took the insanely detaled combat flowchart in the boxed set that was supposed to streamline combat (I don't recall if also in the rulebook) and made it briefer after reading the combat rules a few times and playing a few solo combats and a couple fight only sessions with a friend and reduced that to a few steps. Basically take out the stuff you don' care about and ignore it most of the time, no one is going to miss it if you the Gm don't. It doesn't have to be too much more complicated than hit roll, location, damage.
I basically took my college town, filed the names off places, for a 10- 35 years later campaign . I think I was too realistic (not in the drowned in details way) and the players wanted more GW style action as opposed to The Postman
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flightcommander
Level 6 Magician
"I become drunk as circumstances dictate."
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Post by flightcommander on Aug 5, 2014 0:04:13 GMT -6
I still own my Aftermath boxed set. We played a few times but it's just too gnarly. We played the bejeezus out of Gamma World though.
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Post by vladtolenkov on Aug 13, 2014 12:09:06 GMT -6
My FLGS had a boxed copy of Aftermath in shrinkwrap sitting on the shelf for like a decade. It was shelved among the boxed wargames and Advanced Squad Leader stuff and not with the RPgs for some reason. I guess this was the section that said: "complex and hardcore"!!
I looked at it a few times, and I think one of the employees once saw me looking at it and said something like" "That's the most complicated rpg ever made." That didn't exactly sell me cause I was in my rules lite Amber DRPG and Castle Falkenstein phase.
I also remember the ads in Dragon though which claimed that you got to determine the nature of the apocalypse that destroyed the world. That always sounded pretty cool.
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Post by battlebrotherbob on Aug 13, 2014 13:10:04 GMT -6
I remember all those games. Had copies of MP and Phoenix Command to. I was into crunch back then. For some odd reason I could never get anybody to play it. Never understood it. ;-).
One that did stick was Twilight 2000. Just crunchy enough. In fact I just got the FFE combined rules and the equipment books. Thinking how I want the world to go up in flame. Straight T2K, or more MP or Aftermath.
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Post by Vile Traveller on Aug 13, 2014 22:34:11 GMT -6
I also remember the ads in Dragon though which claimed that you got to determine the nature of the apocalypse that destroyed the world. That always sounded pretty cool. Yeah, IIRC there was a section on what the Aftermath! actually came after. Most people I knew just went with the limited nuclear war thing (hey, it was during the Cold War), but we also had fun with a game based on the premise of a Martian invasion. Not the original Wells story, but the version from the Marvel Star Wars comics which also had lots of mutants in it. Don't remember the name of the strip now. |
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tog
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Detect Meal & What Kind
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Post by tog on Aug 14, 2014 8:21:15 GMT -6
I also remember the ads in Dragon though which claimed that you got to determine the nature of the apocalypse that destroyed the world. That always sounded pretty cool. Yeah, IIRC there was a section on what the Aftermath! actually came after. Most people I knew just went with the limited nuclear war thing (hey, it was during the Cold War), but we also had fun with a game based on the premise of a Martian invasion. Not the original Wells story, but the version from the Marvel Star Wars comics which also had lots of mutants in it. Don't remember the name of the strip now. Killraven, if I remember correctly. |
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Post by vladtolenkov on Aug 14, 2014 11:37:54 GMT -6
I also remember the ads in Dragon though which claimed that you got to determine the nature of the apocalypse that destroyed the world. That always sounded pretty cool. Yeah, IIRC there was a section on what the Aftermath! actually came after. Most people I knew just went with the limited nuclear war thing (hey, it was during the Cold War), but we also had fun with a game based on the premise of a Martian invasion. Not the original Wells story, but the version from the Marvel Star Wars comics which also had lots of mutants in it. Don't remember the name of the strip now. Are you talking about Killraven? That's an awesome idea for a post-apocalyptic game! Edit: Sorry--Tog got there first. |
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Post by Vile Traveller on Aug 15, 2014 4:08:52 GMT -6
Killraven! Yes, that's the one. Huh, just found out the publication history, I knew him from the reprints in British Marvel Star Wars (could have been Empire Strikes Back). The background fitted perfectly, but the rules were a bit more complex than needed for a pulpy game so it ended up as quite dark.
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Post by jcstephens on Oct 15, 2014 13:05:24 GMT -6
Late to the party, but: The main thing I remember about this game was the endless stream of Area 12 jokes.
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Post by ragnorakk on Oct 19, 2014 12:12:07 GMT -6
I consider Book 3: The World of the Afthermath to be one of the best written world/setting/campaign books written - certainly from early RPG days. Never played it, but have always appreciated it.
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tec97
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by tec97 on Nov 3, 2014 11:46:52 GMT -6
I never actually played Aftermath! back in the day, however I always remembered the ads from Dragon Magazine... I did happen upon a complete boxed set at a local Half Price Books a couple of years go tho and I snagged it pronto, as I've always been a big fan of post-apocalyptic games & fiction!
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