Looking to breathe some life into your post-apocalyptic world and make it a little bit different than your typical end of the world scenario? Well, look no further. This series will do just that.
Magic.
It’s a force that we really don’t have a direct corollary for in our modern world. Technology gets close sometimes, but playing a wizard in a high fantasy setting is still very different from playing a scientist or inventor in a modern or science fiction game. Magic is capable of calling upon great power in order to do amazing and sometimes impossible things. But it’s also very volatile and dangerous if used irresponsibly or by those who don’t know how to handle the power.
What happens when someone misuses the power and sets off a magical armageddon, either accidentally or on purpose?
In many ways, this type of disaster can be the fantasy equivalent of a post-nuclear world. Or it can take the form of any other kind of disaster depending on the type of magic misused. Maybe it was purely destructive magic that leveled much of the world. Maybe it was necromancy that brought forth great armies of undead. Maybe instead of anything overtly destructive the unleashed energies instead changed some of the fundamental laws of the world. Maybe it poisoned the world’s water supply. Maybe it erected deadly magical barriers around the land that cannot be seen. Maybe it caused several different planes of reality to merge together throwing more than on reality in chaos. Maybe it wreaked havoc on the timeline and the history is no longer what people know it to be. Maybe it’s actually a deities disfavor and the magical destruction comes from them instead of the caster itself. There are as many ways that this can be handled as you can think of disasters.
Regardless of what actually happened to the world, I think the more interesting story in a setting like this is how the rest of the world handles magic use now. In a high fantasy setting where magic is common, how does this impact the world of the arcane (or divine) magic use? Is it outlawed? Does it get regulated? Or do the governments that survive simply look the other way when a mage comes into town? The people of the world have a concrete source of their problem – someone who was misusing magical energies. They can take out their frustrations on those who might misuse the power in the future.
Which side do the PCs fall on in this kind of setting? Are they members of an inquisition that hunts down rogue magic users? Or are they sympathetic to the cause of magic users? Or maybe they’re rogue magic users themselves trying to keep their heads low and continue to make their way in the world, doing what they can to try to right the disaster that one of their own caused.
Or maybe the disaster caused magic to bleed from the world. Wizards lost their powers. Clerics and priests lost connection to their gods. Magical artifacts slowly reverted to basic weapons or useless trinkets. Do people want to see a destructive force returned to the world? Even if it could help or might even be necessary to restore the world?
There is lots that can be done with this kind of game as well. Suddenly the PCs must find new ways to handle problems that would normally be solved with magic. Combat becomes more dangerous when the cleric is incapable of healing wounds and any healing potions have turned to non-magical, foul tasting liquid. Are they going to go dungeon delving in order to try to find out what happened? How are they going to fix the problem if they don’t have access to magical powers? Are there still small wellsprings of concentrated power? Did the power simply vanish or did it wind up entering another plane of existence or reality? These are all questions that will come up and need to be addressed and explored through the game.
Whatever road you choose, the important question to ask for this kind of disaster is how long it has been since the initial disaster. Is the disaster still fresh in peoples’ mind? Or has it been several generations? In the former case, while the public may know that the disaster wasn’t the fault of any magic using PCs, anger still burns brightly against the power that caused the disaster and any such PCs will most likely find public opinion turn against them. If the latter, people might just distrust and hate magic, or anything resembling it on principle. They were raised on the stories of what their ancestors had and what the powers of magic stripped away from them. The resentment is likely to be burned into the culture at this point, though there will always be outliers who believe it may hold the secret to restoring things back to the way they were.
Finally, you need to ask yourself who it was that was the cause of this armageddon. Was it accidental? Or was it a deliberate attempt to change or otherwise end the world? Are they still alive or were they consumed in the disaster? Were they simply a young apprentice who didn’t know what they were unleashing or were they power mad sorcerer-kings? These are details that may not be as readily important, but it does a lot to flavor the world before the disaster. If those responsible for the disaster were men and women in positions of authority, you’re probably going to find extreme changes in the governance of the land. If it was student wizards, schools and academies of arcane power are probably going to be the first thing to feel the backlash. And if it was rogue wizards? Well, an inquisition is always fun. (Editor’s Note: Also, no one will expect it)
Obviously this kind of apocalypse scenario works only where magic is a thing. Fantasy is going to be your staple. However, if you don’t mind reskinning things with a psionic flare, this kind of story can span countless worlds and galaxies in a science fiction setting. Or maybe the disaster happened millennia ago and the PCs are able to find a way to bring magic back into the world, side by side with advanced technology… Play with the ideas and see where you wind up.
Ben Erickson
