Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Commentary On The New International Godzilla Trailer And Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns




 The newest trailer for Godzilla is out for the 2014 version is out and once again there are echoes of the 1954 movie running through it. One of the reasons is that we are reminded of when Gozilla was a fully realized force of nature. An atomic horror rampaging through the world bringing horror and devastation wherever it went.  This thing was a walking post apocalyptic wasteland on two legs and it had its own mutant ecosystem living within it. There were the trilobites living upon the original Godzilla and the whole idea was fully realized in the original Rodan movie. The original Rodan from 1956 had some interesting ideas and are my eyes fooling me or are we seeing a glimpse of a new Rodan in the newest Godzilla trailer toward the end?  


Every time lately I see this new Godzilla trailer,I find myself looking into possibly planning a Mutant Future or old school post apocalyptic campaign where the monsters are the cause of a brand new dark age. 
Mutant Future has had since its release a weird over lap with cheesy Saturday matinee sci fi movies from the Nineteen Fifties  through Seventies not helped at all by the likes of suppliments like the Free Devastation Drive in family of free material available right over HERE ( available right under the free download section)

Add to this fact that these monster unleash not only swaths of destruction but incredible energies of a dark sinister and mutating nature and you've got the makings for a dark and somewhat weird campaign of post apocalyptic madness.
Recently The Realms of Crawling Chaos book came out for Mutant Future. The book has the definitive Lovecraftian dark fantasy element to it going on which can easily be added to Mutant Future. 


But what happens to the Earth after these engines of giant destruction lay waste to it? Mutants, horrors from beyond the stars, and worse are unleashed. But surely there can not be any old school classes that can help?
What if the arrival of giant monsters is also the alignment of the stars and the return of magic. Perhaps druids, elementalists,sorcerers, and  the rise of magic allows the Earth to use power of magic to help heal and terraform itself through the devastation. Add in the technological acceleration of giant monsters vs weird Pacific Rim style artifact technology and suddenly the relic technology found among the ruins isn't so weird. I know its not realistic but well you get the idea.
One thing that has always bothered me when I look at post apocalyptic gaming is the OD&D style cross overs. There has to be more to it then simply gonzo old school goodness. Add in the ecosystem changing gambit of the 
Kaiju. Suddenly there's a whole other dimension of strangeness to the post apocalyptic trope. 
 Have a few 
Kaiju walk through a major city and suddenly those ruins, weird energy, mutated animals, and post apocalyptic set dressings are right there. 




Recently I was reading One Year In The Savage Afterworld by Tim Sniderman for ideas and much of the material from his collection of adventure seeds and post apocalyptic data really seem to echo some of the vibes that I'm getting off of the new Godzilla trailer. Available right over -HERE Inside this crumbling tome is a collection of unique micro-adventures through a post-apocalyptic world! One Year In The Savage AfterWorld presents 52 "dangerous encounters" that originally appeared at The Savage AfterWorld!
I really think that the micro adventure formula is the way to introduce this style of old school post apocalyptic madness without committing to a full scale campaign! 
 Add in a few mythos inspired dooms day cults from Call of Cthulhu along with a list of half a dozen Giant Monster movies dating back to the fifties and your just about ready to go. 

You can find that list of giant monster movies right over HERE
More Godzilla inspire post apocalyptic stuff coming up! 

6 comments:

  1. http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/d100-kaiju-monster-apocalypses.html my kaiju post - id like to do a dungeon in one but kaiju usable any setting...

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  2. both books very good - i have enjoyed your page lots keep it up

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  3. Very much looking forward to the new Godzilla film.

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  4. I've tucked that one into 'Favorites' and thanks for that one! The table is going to come in handy as a random encounters table for this upcoming game!

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  5. Thanks Konsumterra! I've got something different for tomorrow involving the giant monsters! The new Godzilla trailer has really jump started my imagination for Giant Post Apocalyptic monster action!

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  6. Thanks Trey and I'm so looking forward to this one! I've got something planned for this one my friend! More coming up soon!

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