How would you Handle DMing a Post Apocalyptic Fantasy Campaign?

[NihilsticBanana]

I've had it in my mind that I want to run a Post Apocalyptic campaign in pathfinder with my normal group but I'm a little lost in where to start. I mean sure I can come up with an idea and way the world ended. Maybe Demons invaded, a Massive Magical mishap that blew up half the world, a classic zombie plague... I got all that. I'm just curious what rules or elements others would put into their game to make it feel really Post-Apocalypticy. How would you run something like this? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[SheepishEidolon]

Wrath of the Righteous has a nice alternate ending in book 6, with the Worldwound expanding and waves after waves of demons rushing through:

Brevoy is overrun, Hold of Belkzen is crushed after some initial resistance, Irrisen is overconfident that they can easily end the threat, Kyonin elves retreat to other planets once Treerazer is on the loose, Mendev is overrun but a few pockets of resistance, Numeria desparately tries to use unknown technology resulting in radioactive fallout all over the continent, the Mammoth Lords seek an alliance with the Winter Witches, the River Kingdoms are lost and Ustalav is crushed by demons and werewolves despite the fight of vampires aside of humans. Yet not all hope is lost, since Andoran, Cheliax and Taldor put aside their differences, and Lastwall, Molthune and Nirmathas join another alliance.

If you put the PCs into demon-infested land, they can experience a post apocalyptic setting in full glory. And it doesn't have to be against demons all the time: Orcs, undead, mutants, infested fey and plants as well as werewolves all make great enemies with story ties (see previous paragraph). Finally, the land itself might change due to the influence of the Abyss.

There might be a few helpful NPCs hiding out there, but they will be endangered as much as the PCs. As in Walking Dead, some other survivors might be out for their own advantage, with little qualms about morale. Food and water might be scarce, safe rest should be precious, and don't even dream about a magic shop nearby. They better keep moving, because any permanent settlement will attract demons' attention.

Yes, I get the temptation to run such a thing... ;)

[yukongil]

there was a post apocalyptic supplement for D20 Modern that had a lot of fun rules for such after-the-end-o'-the-world adventures. You could also crib from Deadlands Wasted West if need be

I think you tend to need environmental rules, scrounging and survival rules for post-apoc, since surviving against the elements with the collapse of society and all its comforts is a pretty major theme. In that same vein, you need to determine why magic doesn't solve almost all of these issues pretty handily. I mean if you have a zombie apocalypse, why aren't clerics clearing streets by the cart-load with Channel Energy, consecrate, hallow, disruption, etc... How does a plague survive to wipe out people if again, it's just a low-level spell away from solving it? If it's a natural disaster and resources are scarce, again magically created structures, food and supplies should tidy that up real quick. All of that needs to be accounted for and countered if an apocalypse is actually going to get off the ground and be somewhat believable. It could be as simple as divine magics are extraordinarily rare or far weaker, but what is important is that you have an answer to the question ready.

[Scott Wilhelm]

I guess the first thing you need to do is answer some questions:

What was the world like before it ended? What is the world like at the start of play?

How long had it been since the apocalypse?

I mean, when you get right down to it, any dark age culture that looks back to a greater time could be called post-apocalyptic. The early Iron Age Mediterranean could be called Post Apocalyptic if you look at a time close enough to the Bronze Age Collapse, and the same could be said about the time immediately following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire.

If you are talking about an advanced civilization like mine, only just collapsed, you aren't really talking about a Pathfinder Campaign at all, but more like Gamma World. If you are talking about Gamma World, but a VERY long time after the Apocalypse, then that's sort of a Sword of Sharnarra world, and the players guessing that they are not playing in a regular Pathfinder-like world becomes one of the puzzles for them to solve.

[avr]

Any setting which could be called 'Points of Light' is likely to be post an apocalypse, and that was actually the default in at least one edition of D&D.

To be properly post-apocalyptic IMO you need anything from before the apocalypse being 'better' than what can be produced now. Conventional magic item crafting feats are right out, as is MagicMart. PF still pretty much requires magic bonuses so use the automatic bonus progression optional rule.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Dark Sun.
'nuff said.

But when you get right down to it, most of the big settings are post apocalyptic.
Forgotten Realms - Karsus' Folly
Dragonlance - Cataclysm
Greyhawk - Invoked Devastation/Rain of Colorless Fire
Mystara - Great Rain of Fire
Even Golarion is post-apocalyptic.

Dark Sun is the most obvious of the lot.
Art by Brom, barren wastelands, evil warlords ruling over slave empires, no great battles between good and evil, just shades of s*%%ty.

I did fiddle around with an idea of a world that was the site of a Blood War skirmish. The fiends fought each other and the world was just collateral damage. When the battle moved on there wasn't much left of the world. A bunch of straggler fiends, in their hundreds, perhaps thousands, but nothing like the millions that fought what amounted to a footnote in planar history.
The luckiest parts of the world pulled themselves together and a strict theocracy formed with a focus on fiendslaying. I think some of my inspiration was to take something I deplore (theocracies) and see if I could make a good reason for it to exist and be better than the alternative. It never got beyond a couple of pages, gathering dust in some file somewhere on my hard drive.

On a related note I had a paladin have to face a coming apocalypse in two different eras and not do anything. Protecting preferred timelines is a b#+$*.