Practical Eschatology: RPG Saturday: Aftermath!

Saturday, April 25, 2026

RPG Saturday: Aftermath!

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned one of the early table-top role playing games that my friends I played when I was a kid was a post-apocalypse RPG called Gamma World. It was fun, but had a rather fantastic setting far in the future with characters and monsters having physical mutations and mental or psychic powers that essentially replaces magic in a traditional fantasy system. But my friends and I were interested in something more realistic and more relatable. Thus I eventually picked up a game entitled Aftermath! published by Fantasy Games Unlimited. (Also available for sale as a PDF download here). Even after I got rid of most of my RPGs after I got married, this is one that I held on to. Fortunately, this game is still being published, albeit as a single book and not a boxed set.

[Note: if you prefer a video to my lengthy written review, I've included a couple videos below that also review or discuss the game].

   When I bought it, the box set of the game came with three rule books: (i) "Basic Rules" covering character creation, combat and damage, time and movement, barriers, acid and fire, etc.; (ii) "Survivors of the Aftermath" covering character skills, firearms, explosives, gear and equipment, vehicles, bartering, and survival; and (iii) "The World of the Aftermath" which covers ideas for an Aftermath! campaign including different types of disasters, creating ruined cities and living communities, searching and foraging, hazards of the environment, animals, technology, tactical battles and large scale conflict, and, in a nod to common books and movies about a post-apocalypse world, limited rules on mutations. In addition to the rule books, the game came with a fold out quick reference/game master screen with commonly used tables, a character sheet on card stock suitable for copying, a very short introductory adventure titled "Survive!" and a small cardstock sheet with printed squares of people, tables, and so on, to use used as markers on a board or battle mat.

   The game was authored in the 1980's, and reflects the fears of nuclear war from that time. Although the game contains rules and ideas for alternative settings and disasters, it was written with the assumption of a large scale nuclear war destroying world civilization sometime in the 1990's, and the story for the players (the "campaign") beginning approximately 20 years later: enough time for larger settlements and communities to have sprung up, but short enough that the war would still be fresh in people's memories and, more importantly for purposes of the game, there would be plenty of opportunities to scavenge equipment and materials from the ruins. Nevertheless, the rules also provided ideas for what they termed the "200 years after" campaign where the destruction from the war was much greater and it has started to shift from history to legend. Alternatively, it would be easy to change the game setting to something immediately following an apocalyptic event--or even starting slightly before an apocalypse such as in the novel Lucifer's Hammer.

   All role-playing games are a "model" of the real world to a greater or lessor extent. What set Aftermath! apart from other role-playing games was its attempt to be as realistic and accurate as possible within the confines of a role-playing game. In that regard, it attempts to accurately model the accuracy and lethality of firearms, the impact of disease and starvation, character development, and even the technology. On the latter point, there are certain concessions in order to make the game more interesting. First, because the "apocalypse" was to take place a decade or more in the future from the time the game was made, the authors made certain assumptions or predictions as to what technology would be like, including a few that they freely admit were to make the game more dramatic: they postulated advances in robotics and computers that, for the most part, still lie in the realm of science fiction; they postulated the development of preservation techniques that would allow food and equipment to be still salvageable 20 years later; they include some miracle medicines; and they postulated dramatic increases in the availability and use of solar power to, in effect, make electricity "salvageable".

   For those interested in "space opera" or "fantasy" elements, they provided pointers for disasters that might encompass those elements--an alien invasion, high tech elements, or a disaster caused by magic and fantasy monsters returning--and they try to include rules to cover some of the popular post-apocalypse books and movies extant at the time. Moreover, there are rules for mutations, and science fiction devices like laser weapons, science fiction type armor, and robots, if you want a more futuristic setting.

   There are also rules on diseases and poisons (addressing even different vectors for diseases), the strength of barriers (even recognizing the difference between cover and concealment), extremely detailed rules on firearms (including step-by-step on how to load a black powder muzzle loading arm), explosives and fragmentation, vehicles and accidents, food and water, and electricity and technology. (While I haven't read it, there apparently was a supplement to update the technology which was published in 2008).

   Just a couple examples on some of the details that were put into the game. In a section on animals, it includes a list of the "usefulness of animals" including a percentage of mass that is edible (e.g., 75% for a cockroach versus 33% for a human), the number of "man-days" of rations, and chance of contamination. I don't know how accurate the table is, but it shows that the authors put a lot of effort and thought into the details. It also has details on the effect of nuclear weapons (including health effects from certain levels of radiation exposure--200 REM, 500 REM, 750 REM, and 1000 REM) and chemical weapons. It has rules on hunting, gathering, bartering, and foraging and scavenging.

   Of course, some of the details could be dangerous to someone relying on them. For instance, the rules notes the following about ammonium nitrate explosives:

The fertlizer is sold in 25 kg sacks, which should be soaked in kerosene (kerosene is not the correct material) and allowed to dry. Use of a fulminating primer (see below) will set it off. Extreme heat will cause it to ignite and burn, but not explosively. It is otherwise completely stable.

A simple chemical treatment with a substance so common we are not really sure we should mention it will turn any ammoniated nitrate fertilizer into a very efficient explosive.

(Emphasis in original). A couple obvious problems, one not dangerous, but the other definitely so.

First, the authors do not mention that the fertilizer prills are larger and have thicker coatings which make it better for fertilizer but less effective for explosives. (Thus the reason why the British in Northern Ireland used the sound of coffee grinders to track down explosives labs). Of course, they can't be blamed for holding this detail back since the game was marketed to kids and we obviously don't want kids trying to mix up a recipe like this.

The second major problem is actually more dangerous--stating that kerosene won't work--because it can. The Atlas book on Explosives and Rock Blasting states:

In the early 1950s, it was discovered that No. 2 diesel fuel oil, when mixed with prills at the level of 5.5 - 6.0% by weight, produced a practical and inexpensive blasting agent. This optimum ratio provides the best explosive performance and fewest postblast toxic fumes. (It is important to stress that only No. 2 fuel oil should be used. No. 1 fuel oil, kerosene, and gasoline must not be used. These fuels will not improve performance. However, these fuels will increase the hazard of vapor explosion because of their volatility and low flash point. The use of crude or crankcase oil is also unacceptable These, too, may contain volatile impurities and may also include gritty particles that could increase sensitivity.)

(Emphasis in original). Why should this matter? Well, as noted, the game was marketed to teens, and I'm sure that there is some teen, somewhere, that may give it a go notwithstanding the instructions that kerosene is the wrong ingredient, and actually wind up with something more likely to spontaneously detonate than if they had used the right ingredients.

The first page of the two page flow chart on the combat rules.

The downside to all of the detail and attempt to be realistic is that the rules are complicated. For instance, the combat rules are so complicated that the authors included a two-page flowchart to help the game master and players. Frankly, this game really needs to have some aspects set into a spreadsheet or computer program. But as I was putting this review together, I discovered that some of this has been done for those interested. The publisher, FGU, offers a computerized character generator for $19.95; and this website appears to offer some automated tools as well.

There were also various adventures and settings written for the game. For instance, the two I purchased (the covers shown above) are set in Australia. The first is an adventure where the characters were volunteers for a cryogenic sleep experiment that wake up 20 years after a world war and an invasion of Australia. There are a lot of science fiction elements to this adventure, including armed robots.

The second book is a campaign setting rather than a particular adventure, detailing the Sydney, Australia, area with an explanation of different parts of the city and environs as well as fictional settlements and factions that have sprung up among the survivors. And for those who are fans of the move, Omega Man, the supplement includes the "vampires" from that movie.

There were other adventures and settings created, including one setting of the Chicago area.

The downside of this game is that it is often too complicated and, therefore, too slow. We often abandoned much of the combat rules. The authors of the game did so as well: they subsequently came out with a couple of games using the same basic system, but with simplified rules (Bushido an adventure game set in medieval Japan and Daredevils which was a 1930s pulp adventure game with an Indiana Jones vibe). But if you wanted something that could potentially model a post-apocalypse world, this would be one of the best for that purpose. Frankly, though, if I were to try and use this game again, I would use this rule set mostly as a reference and use a somewhat simpler character and combat rules like those from Merc, which I reviewed last week.

Here are a couple of video reviews of the game as well.