Five Minutes into the Apocalypse

[Rubio]

The standard MF setup is that whatever form the apocalypse took, it happened long ago and technology is pretty much medieval, with only scavenged technology that you have a chance of understanding.

What about using MF to model a setting where the apocalypse is still a relatively recent memory and technology hasn't gone down the tube. People can still use computers, repair engines, and refurbish (and occasionally produce) simple firearms, etc. Occasional holdouts of high tech understanding occur. Something like Fallout or, what's this other game I'm thinking about... Holes? Tears? Punctures? It'll come to me...

In a similar vein, how about using a sort of Mutants and Mazes variant that supports modern-type characters trying to survive as the apocalypse rages around them? Similar to another game, Nutty Earth? Crazy Earth? Chaos World?

Looking at the Action Resolution table, that seems to be a good first step, but is there any other guidelines for increasing the level of technical knowledge?

[JDJarvis]

The Mutant Future rules already factor in familiarity with technological devices into such things as the repair roll. A member of a technological society should be considered familiar with most common technological items.

When I was posting on the Atomic Zombie Apocalypse I realized players still should be a little more capable with technological items so every player at the start of a campaign gets a +20% bonus applied to their technology modifier. Sure we all live in a world full of gadgets but to a lot of people many items might as well be closed black box technology so the +20% bonus feels generous enough to me.

[Wizardawn]

If you want to do this in a more "familiar" manner, try the house/trunk technique. What you do is that the players play themselves. The world is collapsing all around, Bombs are going off, Zombies rise from the earth...whatever. As the players create their characters, let them look in the trunk of their car or around their house. Let them choose things from these locations (enough they can carry) and set them out into the world. That is their starting gear. Football helmets, baseball bats, cigarettes, beer, jumper cables, tire irons...whatever they really have available. As the characters progress, maybe they begin getting exposed to radiation and start getting mutations. Maybe there is a nearby police station that you can write an adventure for (where they try to get in and get real weapons). How about a nearby military base for more adventures. Lots of possibilities close to home. I don't do things this "close" to the disaster. I enjoy a more Thundarr approach. This is just a fun idea.