The Apocalypse Machine, by Pelgrane Press

[Ronin Lore]

The Apocalypse Machine is the second book, (should have been the first,) of the Cthulhu Apocalypse of the Trail of Cthulhu game system, produced by Pelgrane Press. This seventy page PDF is an outline for a Game Master to design his own cataclysms. Though written with the Cthulhu Mythos in mind, the work is not limited to it. The work itself includes invasion by the Martians, (War of the Worlds,) and “The Children of the Damned” type scenarios. The author has covered most areas that relate to such a disaster, and it is general enough to be used in any game system. I especially like the “Dials.” They provide an outline that the plot can be built around, but I would like to suggest a few more dials.

Destruction Dial-this is a percentage ratting for how much physical culture has survived. A low setting means that the characters are facing scorched earth, with few resources available. A high setting means that the disaster was either a plague, or toxic gas, (i.e. the Martian’s toxic black smoke,) that did little damage to the physical culture. The characters would have to do minimal work to acquire what they needed.

Survival Dial-this is a percentage of the population who survived. The Cthulhu Apocalypse campaign states that 99.9% of the population perished in the disaster. This would be a low setting on the dial, (0.1 %.)

The two dials would regulate overall availability of equipment. Assume a destruction of 50%, with a survival ratting of 0.1%.

Consumable items could be calculated as follows. Canned food items are bulk items. Assume that before the disaster, the total stock of canned food (0% destruction,) would last the total population, (100% survival,) for about one year. Divide the canned food stock by the destruction ratting, (50 %,) then further divide by the survival ratting, (0.1 %,) and the result is the number of years the consumables will last, in the case of canned food, that figure is 500 years. No one is going to starve anytime soon, but they are going to get sick of canned beans. The characters would have little trouble finding common items, (warm clothing, hand tools, and over the counter medications,) but less common items would require an appropriate adjustment to difficulty number. These two settings could vary from scenario to scenario. Each location can be treated differently.

Epic Dial; This represents the period in human history that the campaign takes place. The lowest setting represents the Stone Age, while the highest setting is the Trans-Dimensional age. The middle setting keeps the game in Twentieth century age. Adjusting this dial to far will require the game master to have game systems for that age.