Rubble and Ruin

[Trotsky]

Hi everyone, back in the day we played a fair bit of Aftermath! post apocalyptic RPG. Aftermath was porously complex and although I still have the game and my old campaign notes I am note sure I really want to dive back into that quagmire. So I see that Rubble & Ruin is available - has anyone played it? Suggestions and recommendations on its use?

[NickMiddleton]

I always meant to do something with it, but never got round to it, and it is a long time since i read it... but it is by Richard Le Duc, who was one of the monograph era  contributors I rated highly: he wrote some very good stuff for Magic World, only some of which (the Fishsinger's Daughter in the MW quickstart for example) saw the light of day alas, and I recall being rather impressed by R&R.

My recollection is that it is at the RQIII end of the "crunch" range of options in the BRP BGB (hit locations, fixed armour, cultures and skill categories etc) and its setting is within a generation of the apocalypse, so very much a "bleak devastated world" rather than a "several generations after the fall" feel. It also has a genius system for fatigue

It also has quite a lot of more "Gamma World" like tech than one might at first expect as well, so its worth reading the whole thing carefully and then exercising ones judgement as to the exact features to use.

Edited November 11, 2020 by NickMiddleton

[Trotsky]

Thanks Nick, I picked it up and have read through it. It is a little more ‘Gamma World’ than the setting I want to run – which will be a more ‘realistic’ 20 years after game. However, Richard (author) has done a lot of the heavy lifting for me and it was well worth the pdf cost. The couple of scenarios at the back read pretty well…

[Questbird]

I've played a few games of Rubble and Ruin and really enjoyed it. As far as I understand it it's meant to be closer to Mad Max than Gamma World. The apocalyptic war is still a live memory for most. There is some high tech stuff in it, things like BEPs (Biologically Engineered Persons -- accelerated growth clones trained to fight) and various horrific weapons. But mostly it's scrabbling for bullets, water and dog food in the Rubble.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Questbird

[Trotsky]

Thanks Questbird - I am going to port over some of my own Aftermath! campaign from back in the day - Rubble and Ruin is going to be a good fit...

[rleduc]

Wow! I just found this thread, and I'd like to thank everyone for the kind words!

 

I think the above comments perfectly capture what I was trying to do with R&R. It is far enough after "the fall" that everyone knows what's going on, but not so far that people have forgotten how the old stuff works. Trotsky articulated what I was hoping to do. When I wrote it, I expected most GMs would have their own end-of-the-world story in mind, and would simply grab the parts that they needed and throw away what didn't fit. (Even I don't use nan-psionics anymore--it was a holdover from my Aftermath days.) 

[Simlasa]

I've had Rubble and Ruin for a while but didn't do more than a quick flip through. Probably because it outwardly seemed aimed at a grittier 'mad max' type of PA setting than I was in the mood for at the time.
Gamma World was one of my longest and most successful campaigns back in the day, I felt a lot more comfortable with it than I ever did D&D fantasy... I could load it with all sorts of disparate influences from the Heavy Metal comics and kooky movies like Hell Comes To Frogtown. When Rifts came along it felt like THAT was the kitchen-sink setting I'd been aiming for... too bad about the system.
Now, playing just a bit of Fallout 4 (I'm always behind the trends), I'm back onto wanting to try a bit of gonzo post apocalyptic adventure... so it's nice to hear that Rubble and Ruin might fit with that motive after all. I need to give it a closer look.