Hidden 9 yrs ago 9 yrs ago Post by Unfortunately
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The age of strife is returning.

Historically, it has always been that way. Thousands of years ago, as many as dozens of wars a day were fought across the globe in the name of conquest, riches, ideals and gods. Thousands, if not millions, suffer and die from their consequences in the span of a single year. Only as recently as the 1900's, the decade of the Great Wars, have they died out. While insurgencies and terror still haunt some parts of the world, the nations of the world have been peaceful, or so they claim.

That won't last long.


The year is 2060 CE.

Although much of the planet's resources have already been exhausted and nature has started to intensify its wrath after countless years of over-exploitation, technological advances have allowed humanity to adapt and continue thriving. This was not without consequences; in the years near the end of coal and oil and before the development of new generation techniques, nations struggled for control over the remaining black gold. Sociopolitical movements, global crises, economic issues, and hysteria regarding an impending apocalyptic war have brought down even the greater nations, but some have managed to survive, some have banded together to create bigger states, and some have resorted to occupy their lesser neighbors in the name of progress.

Difficult decisions are in their hands; choices that will decide their possibility of emerging as a significant global power and choices that will decide whether the war people long feared will come true.



Instability is set in a near-future world where the nations of mankind are struggling to hold together after a series of worldwide events destabilize civilization. Everyone plays as one of the states that compete for power and supremacy, while at the same time managing internal issues.

Technology can advance as time passes, and can even come to the point where FTL becomes possible if the RP lasts long enough, hopefully. Peaceful aliens may be met and consequently so will be the space menaces, but for the sake of simplicity the setting will mainly remain on Earth or on the Solar System. And of course, possibility does not spare said aliens being primitive or similarly modern instead of stereotypically overpowered as hell, so things can both be interesting and balanced with this. Let's be realistic too and avoid trying to terraform gas planets like Jupiter for God's sake, or even attain terraforming technology in just even 10 years and do it in just under a year. And yes, I've personally witnessed an RPer doing that once.

There is no set interval for a "year", it's probably up to my or the co-GMs' sake to advance it. Of course, I'll be asking if you want me to, but sometimes I'll do it on my own.

And of course, we have a map.

To avoid instant Russias, starting territorial limits will be based on a land area about the size of this circle. You can't fit a circle on most lands though, so this will be only a reference; the shape of your territory will be whatever you want.


Depending on how many are interested and how many are actually joining, there may (with less) or may not (with more) be NPC countries that won't compete much, but might be worth interacting with or may pose a threat.
(yeah because I totally didn't base this off Untold Empires)
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by KingTip
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I'm interested. Can I reserve? If so I reserve South Africa (Not the country, but the south part of Africa)
Hidden 9 yrs ago 9 yrs ago Post by Unfortunately
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Alrighty.

I'm reserving Northern Europe, by the way.

Unless someone dares to challenge me, in which I'll be happy to fite irl.
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Unfortunately
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Calling again. Anyone interested?
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Willy Vereb
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Basically this is like the post WW3 game except it also has some focus on space?
Count me interested.
Although I'd suggest a slightly further back date (so people can have more freedom from present day politics) and a few guidelines on tech level to avoid confusions.
Issues like eugenics and transhumanism could be also potential interesting topics here.
Lastly you mention the potential of FTL but what about people living in space or in colonies in other planets?
A Mars colony of sorts could be a fun addition, for example. Colonies have the obvious drawback of limited habitability and usually require trade with terrestrial countries to even feed their people but being in space is fun.
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Unfortunately
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-I suppose it's somewhere between semi-WW3, or pre-WW3. Previous nations have collapsed, but there is not yet too much hostile interaction between states to consider an ongoing world war.

-Pushing the date back is a possibility. I might retain the set date if something comes to mind, but for now I'll consider your idea.

-And yes, we'll have things like that. I'll elaborate further in the upcoming OOC thread.
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Willy Vereb
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@UnfortunatelyI specifically meant THE Post-WW3 game hosted here:
http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/84417-age-of-rebirth-2-post-ww3/ooc
http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/82603-age-of-rebirth-post-ww3/ooc

Might also help you to gather a few ideas.
The tech assumptions on the reboot were my contribution to the GM. If you want I can think of a similar list for your game.
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Unfortunately
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Well, close to that, yes. Not quite WW3 yet.
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Willy Vereb
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Well, close to that, yes. Not quite WW3 yet.
You worded this rather strangely.
WW3 in that RP happened during 2030-2040. Basically all the present day problems were exaggerated and peaked out in a series of wars which was together to be called WW3 there.

I have no problem with WW3 or anything like that not happening in your setting (yet).
Although it's going to be impossible to see the collapse of present day nations without anything seriously drastic happening. So if you wish to free this game from any connection to modern politics it's the best if you add a near-apocalyptic WW3 in the background, IMO.

Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Unfortunately
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I suppose the definition of a WW3 here is the full-blown usage of nuclear weapons and other similar weapons of mass destruction that would turn this into a mutant-less Fallout NRP, so the drastic event would be conventional warfare with a scale large enough to have a significant impact on human civilization.

Alright. That's okay, I guess.
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Willy Vereb
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I suppose the definition of a WW3 here is the full-blown usage of nuclear weapons and other similar weapons of mass destruction that would turn this into a mutant-less Fallout NRP, so the drastic event would be conventional warfare with a scale large enough to have a significant impact on human civilization.

Alright. That's okay, I guess.
The effect of nukes are somewhat overblown. We never came close to possess enough nuclear weapons to literally wipe out ourselves. At worst it'd have some negative effect on the environment and detonation zones would be like Hiroshima but otherwise?
Wrecking the planet or its ecosystem? No. It would be nasty but the planet had much worse.
Killing all humans? Not even close even if you include radiation fallout.
Nukes are also fail-safe which means destroying a nuclear missile won't trigger the reaction so intercepting nukes is rather safe in general.
Interception would of course reduce successful nuclear strikes considerably.
Nukes are terribly powerful but I often feel people are blowing their threat out of proportion.

Okay, excuse me my rant. It just bothers me that everybody treats nuclear war as it would truly result in the end of the world. Nope, even Fallout-like dystopias are unlikely.

Back to the point, sorry I misread your OP and thought your game would feature space travel and such from the beginning.
If you want a setting where we struggle for the "black gold" then 2060 is about right.
and nah, ww3 is indeed not necessary here, then.
Albeit the closeness of the timeline means nations would be mostly similar to what we have now. If you want to avoid this you have only one method: Alternate Universe
So UK exists in our world? Not this one! Welcome with loud cheers the Gaelic Federation!
Do you wish for an Egyptian nation which still believes in the ancient pantheon? You got it!
Alternate timeline would allow people to diverge from present politics and history by creating their nation from almost a scratch!
Maybe this would be the best solution you can get.
On the other hand this pretty much means you can just tke my tech suggestions from the Age of Rebirth 2 game. That should work as a starter.
If you wish to make people struggle for oil more, you may wish to nerf on alternative energy sources. Fusion powerplants may solve much or dependency on fossils for electricity. And advanced power sources may dodge the issue with the shortage of oil. So perhaps you limit these?
If explanation is needed the date could be also moved to the 2030s. Some predictions say that this is the point where the extraction of oil would have questionable economic gain.
With closer date technology will be less advanced and people can dodge the oil crisis less.
It all depends on what kind of game you wish to make.
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Nerevarine
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Interested, throwing my hat in for an independent Catalonia
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Comrade Doge
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I'm going to be an independent Alaska, independent Yakutia, independent Siberia, or independent Kamchatka. Interested for this one.
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Unfortunately
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<Snipped quote by Unfortunately>The effect of nukes are somewhat overblown. We never came close to possess enough nuclear weapons to literally wipe out ourselves. At worst it'd have some negative effect on the environment and detonation zones would be like Hiroshima but otherwise?
Wrecking the planet or its ecosystem? No. It would be nasty but the planet had much worse.
Killing all humans? Not even close even if you include radiation fallout.
Nukes are also fail-safe which means destroying a nuclear missile won't trigger the reaction so intercepting nukes is rather safe in general.
Interception would of course reduce successful nuclear strikes considerably.
Nukes are terribly powerful but I often feel people are blowing their threat out of proportion.

Okay, excuse me my rant. It just bothers me that everybody treats nuclear war as it would truly result in the end of the world. Nope, even Fallout-like dystopias are unlikely.

Back to the point, sorry I misread your OP and thought your game would feature space travel and such from the beginning.
If you want a setting where we struggle for the "black gold" then 2060 is about right.
and nah, ww3 is indeed not necessary here, then.
Albeit the closeness of the timeline means nations would be mostly similar to what we have now. If you want to avoid this you have only one method: Alternate Universe
So UK exists in our world? Not this one! Welcome with loud cheers the Gaelic Federation!
Do you wish for an Egyptian nation which still believes in the ancient pantheon? You got it!
Alternate timeline would allow people to diverge from present politics and history by creating their nation from almost a scratch!
Maybe this would be the best solution you can get.
On the other hand this pretty much means you can just tke my tech suggestions from the Age of Rebirth 2 game. That should work as a starter.
If you wish to make people struggle for oil more, you may wish to nerf on alternative energy sources. Fusion powerplants may solve much or dependency on fossils for electricity. And advanced power sources may dodge the issue with the shortage of oil. So perhaps you limit these?
If explanation is needed the date could be also moved to the 2030s. Some predictions say that this is the point where the extraction of oil would have questionable economic gain.
With closer date technology will be less advanced and people can dodge the oil crisis less.
It all depends on what kind of game you wish to make.

Looks like you're underestimating nukes a bit.
Yes, many would still survive, yes the Earth won't remain uninhabitable forever, but no, environmental effects would still have a major impact on humanity and no, people will still have a hard time after such a war.

Considering the setting where, global conventional warfare is adversely killing much of the population, the arms race has revived consequently, nuclear stockpiles are on the rise again (and I'm aware reaching Chicxulub-levels is still near-impossible), and much of the climate and environment is heavily wrecked by human exploitation, a nuclear war would be like both pouring lemon juice and rubbing salt on a wound at the same time. The conditions after, resulting from population and economic loss as well as hostilities between sociopolitical groups and environmental effects, would be a big struggle to recover from. Also, indeed there would be countermeasures, but then again there'll also be counter-countermeasures.

tl;dr It is true that it doesn't end the world as we know it, but it can still fragment human civilization to a big extent and reduce it down if it occurs at the current setting.
Excuse me as well for the rant.

Alright.

Oil would be nearly obsolete by the current setting, however, so people would likely fight for both supremacy and resources. But hey, if that's what people want, we'll set back the time to where fusion reactors aren't the norm yet.

And we're garnering more interest, so maybe it's time I've started writing an OOC.

Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Willy Vereb
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<Snipped quote by Willy Vereb>
Looks like you're underestimating nukes a bit.
Yes, many would still survive, yes the Earth won't remain uninhabitable forever, but no, environmental effects would still have a major impact on humanity and no, people will still have a hard time after such a war.

Considering the setting where, global conventional warfare is adversely killing much of the population, the arms race has revived consequently, nuclear stockpiles are on the rise again (and I'm aware reaching Chicxulub-levels is still near-impossible), and much of the climate and environment is heavily wrecked by human exploitation, a nuclear war would be like both pouring lemon juice and rubbing salt on a wound at the same time. The conditions after, resulting from population and economic loss as well as hostilities between sociopolitical groups and environmental effects, would be a big struggle to recover from. Also, indeed there would be countermeasures, but then again there'll also be counter-countermeasures.

tl;dr It is true that it doesn't end the world as we know it, but it can still fragment human civilization to a big extent and reduce it down if it occurs at the current setting.
Excuse me as well for the rant.
No problem albeit I disagree in some points. Sure, a nuclear war would easily lead to the collapse of even the largest nations, destroy the industrial, research or economic centers and overall it'd be a tragedy. But the civilization itself would remain still. Most people would be alive and well while living in smaller cities posessing nearly all the infrastructure of what large cities have so things won't change into Mad Max like techno barbarism or Fallout-like bleak wastelands.
The biggest issue would be the lack of leadership, be it in terms of politics, economy or anything. Countries would be spread to smaller nations and anarchic decades will be ahead.

As for radiation, yes, it's a problem. After settling their immediate concerns humanity would need to deal with the hidden threat of radiation poisoning. I can imagine weather reports telling people about "radioactive winds" and to stay indoors while using their air filters during these times. Although it's also quite likely I'd be exaggerating here. Fact is we already detonated thousands of nukes in the name of testing. Former residents of Hiroshima also returned to their city and while it isn't completely without dangers they didn't just die in doves. Unless you live close to a nuked city chances are high you may never need to worry about radiation in general. scientific studies following this WW3 scenario may show that radioactivity caused some animals to die out or at least become endangered but it'd be far less serious than bulldozing the rain forests, for example.
So yeah, life after a nuclear war would suck. It kills untold amount of people, cuts off the head of nations and adds radioactive winds as a potential new environmental hazard.
But so would suck a conventional WW3 without the nukes, provided nations go as far as they did during WW2.
Oh well, hopefully this discussion wouldn't have anything to do with the game. So again i was just ranting about this topic.

Alright.

Oil would be nearly obsolete by the current setting, however, so people would likely fight for both supremacy and resources. But hey, if that's what people want, we'll set back the time to where fusion reactors aren't the norm yet.

And we're garnering more interest, so maybe it's time I've started writing an OOC.
I am a little confused.
I suggested the above because your OP said nations fight for the black gold.
But if oil is increasingly less relevant in the setting then you can just ignore what I said.
If you adopt the "alternate universe" idea of mine then you can set any date you want for the game.
The only thing it would determine is perhaps the technology we get.
So because I am confused I ask a few questions:
1.) What are the state of the natural resources (fossil fuels, raw materials, etc)? Nearing depletion or still exploitable as nowadays?
2.) Was there an large scale war within the century or all fights were regional conflicts? (thinking of WW3 or anything close)
3.) Eugenics, human cloning and transhumanism. Did any of these became plausible and if yes what is the public opinion on them?
4.) Does this world have something like the UN, NATO and other large international groups? What are these?
5.) How much space travel developed in this game? Are people capable of "casual" interplanetary travel? Colonies on other planets? Exploitation of resources in space?

Depending on what are your thoughts on these it can determine the game's style.
For some reason my first impression was a future scenario with space extensive space travel and exploration. Dunno why I thought this, maybe the implication that we may develop FTL if the game advances that far.
My second impression was that a more contemporary setting where resources are depleting but the world has yet to adopt alternate methods.
But you seem to had a bit different thing in mind.
By answering my 5 questions it'd help me to gasp what's your game will be really about.
Thank you in advance!

Hidden 9 yrs ago 9 yrs ago Post by Unfortunately
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<Snipped quote by Unfortunately> No problem albeit I disagree in some points. Sure, a nuclear war would easily lead to the collapse of even the largest nations, destroy the industrial, research or economic centers and overall it'd be a tragedy. But the civilization itself would remain still. Most people would be alive and well while living in smaller cities posessing nearly all the infrastructure of what large cities have so things won't change into Mad Max like techno barbarism or Fallout-like bleak wastelands.
The biggest issue would be the lack of leadership, be it in terms of politics, economy or anything. Countries would be spread to smaller nations and anarchic decades will be ahead.

As for radiation, yes, it's a problem. After settling their immediate concerns humanity would need to deal with the hidden threat of radiation poisoning. I can imagine weather reports telling people about "radioactive winds" and to stay indoors while using their air filters during these times. Although it's also quite likely I'd be exaggerating here. Fact is we already detonated thousands of nukes in the name of testing. Former residents of Hiroshima also returned to their city and while it isn't completely without dangers they didn't just die in doves. Unless you live close to a nuked city chances are high you may never need to worry about radiation in general. scientific studies following this WW3 scenario may show that radioactivity caused some animals to die out or at least become endangered but it'd be far less serious than bulldozing the rain forests, for example.
So yeah, life after a nuclear war would suck. It kills untold amount of people, cuts off the head of nations and adds radioactive winds as a potential new environmental hazard.
But so would suck a conventional WW3 without the nukes, provided nations go as far as they did during WW2.
Oh well, hopefully this discussion wouldn't have anything to do with the game. So again i was just ranting about this topic.

<Snipped quote>I am a little confused.
I suggested the above because your OP said nations fight for the black gold.
But if oil is increasingly less relevant in the setting then you can just ignore what I said.
If you adopt the "alternate universe" idea of mine then you can set any date you want for the game.
The only thing it would determine is perhaps the technology we get.
So because I am confused I ask a few questions:
1.) What are the state of the natural resources (fossil fuels, raw materials, etc)? Nearing depletion or still exploitable as nowadays?
2.) Was there an large scale war within the century or all fights were regional conflicts? (thinking of WW3 or anything close)
3.) Eugenics, human cloning and transhumanism. Did any of these became plausible and if yes what is the public opinion on them?
4.) Does this world have something like the UN, NATO and other large international groups? What are these?
5.) How much space travel developed in this game? Are people capable of "casual" interplanetary travel? Colonies on other planets? Exploitation of resources in space?

Depending on what are your thoughts on these it can determine the game's style.
For some reason my first impression was a future scenario with space extensive space travel and exploration. Dunno why I thought this, maybe the implication that we may develop FTL if the game advances that far.
My second impression was that a more contemporary setting where resources are depleting but the world has yet to adopt alternate methods.
But you seem to had a bit different thing in mind.
By answering my 5 questions it'd help me to gasp what's your game will be really about.
Thank you in advance!

I see about the nuclear war, and while I still hold more to ask and rant, I won't continue further for the sake of my fingers and to go straight to your questions.

When I mean that nations fought for oil and coal, I spoke about it as one of the major contributors to the instigation of wars that collapse of modern-day nations before alternative and advanced energy sources were developed, not as a source of competition for the states being played. Sorry if it wasn't clear.

Now to your questions:
1.) A significant portion of fossil fuels have been depleted, although largely thanks to recycling scraps of metal and aluminum and the development of space mining, most raw materials are still in a state of abundance. The ones that do, however, weren't solved by the afforementioned methods have either become obsolete for those that have moved on from powering their cars from oil to running them with electricity from fusion, or are currently being fought over for those that didn't. I don't really know if such irreplaceable resources other than the black gold exist, though.

2.) Regional wars, mostly, although there was a few developing conflicts between major world powers near the end of their collapse.

3.) Transhumanism is already somewhat available through cybernetic modifications aimed to enhance human capabilities, but immortality is still unavailable. As for human cloning, it depends whether you're thinking about regular Dolly cloning or chamber tubes, but the former is readily available, while the latter is still in the process of making. It depends on a country's sense of ethics and policies, however, if their usage is widespread, restricted or prohibited. Same with eugenics.

4.) Much of these organizations have either disbanded or have become full fledged nations, if a roleplayer chooses to do so (U.N is of course an exception.). An international group may be created again if the players wish, through treaties.

5.) Space travel has become moderately advanced, with the Moon already hosting large colonies and even a few cities, Mars and a few gas giant moons hosting some colonies and asteroid mining prevalent. It may already be typical, but a trip from Earth to any other location in the solar system may still take weeks.
Hidden 9 yrs ago Post by Willy Vereb
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Yeah, with these assumptions I think you are better looking for the early 22th century as a start.
21 hundred whatever for the date.

So you have cloning blues (albeit since the setting is realistic it isn't super fast or even really economical for most things), cybernetics, tiny bit of post scracity thing with new energy sources and casual space travel.
Yes, weeks of time to reach Mars is like a pleasure ride compare to nowadays. I uppose this is plausible all thanks to fusion torch engines or perhaps the plasma impulse engines using fusion power. Either of these could be theoretically made orders of magnitudes more fuel efficient than pure chemical rockets and generally reusable which makes them all the greater for space travel.
I'll cook up what kind of techs you implied with these 5 answers in a few hours or so.
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With that I'll be preparing to make work on the OOC, as well as gladly ask you, Willy, to be a co-GM. Any thoughts?
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@UnfortunatelyI just got a better idea:
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist.php
Pick whichever engine designs you would like the most for this RP.
There's actually quite a difference between even two nuclear torch engine designs. Some may even feel insane yet strangely practical.
Orion drive which basically lets the ship ride on a series of nuclear explosions; for example.
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@UnfortunatelyI just got a better idea:
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist.php
Pick whichever engine designs you would like the most for this RP.
There's actually quite a difference between even two nuclear torch engine designs. Some may even feel insane yet strangely practical.
Orion drive which basically lets the ship ride on a series of nuclear explosions; for example.


Well dang if that isn't the most badass means of transportation.
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