Pick your Apocalypse

[StainlessSteelCynic]

.

That's the game I'm running for my group.

For the sake of clarity, I'm going to refer to the UFO games by the title they were published under here in Australia (and some other parts of the world apparently). Here they were released as "X-COM" so for example, UFO: Enemy Unknown was titled X-COM: Enemy Unknown.
The reason I bring that up is because there was a British TV series from the early 1970s titled "UFO". Filmed in the early 70s, it's supposed to take place in the "future" 1980s however there's a lot of 1960s/1970s fashion used throughout and because it's an old series, nobody should expect amazing special effects!

I watched this show as a kid/teen when I was just starting to understand that I liked science-fiction a hell fo a lot. This show basically foreshadowed X-COM and is probably part of the reason I loved the early X-COM games (I wasn't so fussed on the later games).
Rather than try to explain the UFO series, I'd recommend a quick read through the wiki page for it: -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_(TV_series)

But this fanpage is far more interesting in my opinion and would be better for a more indepth reading!

https://ufoseries.com/

This page from the fansite about a proposed 1990s revival of the series might be helpful in creating personnel & organizations as well as providing some "what if" type questions for your game: -

https://ufoseries.com/revival/proposal-text.html

This fan wiki for the show is also worth reading through: -

http://ufoseries.wikia.com/wiki/Gerry_Anderson%27s_U.F.O._Wiki

The show had plenty of interesting vehicles such as SkyDiver. It is of my favourite sci-fi vehicles and consists of a submersible aircraft mounted to a submarine.
From the fan wiki: http://ufoseries.wikia.com/wiki/SkyDiver



I own the series on DVD because I'm such a fanboy for it but it's also available for watching via the Internet Archive. It's worth reading through the main page at the Archive because it sums up the series better than the wikipedia page.

https://archive.org/details/UFO.complete

While the X-COM games give plenty of information for running a game, the UFO TV series is just as good for inspiration. There's no claim that the developer of the X-COM game was inspired by the UFO series, they share a similar premise but that doesn't mean he ever saw the TV show or was even aware of it. But regardless of that, because of those similarities, the TV series does provide a lot of material for inspiration that can be used to compliment anything developed from the X-COM games.

[The Zappster]

Who can forget commander Striker, king of 70s cool. One of my favorite episodes is the one where ground forces move in on a downed UFO.
My game is based on the computer game, elite multi national special forces jumping off the back of a skyranger into a hail of plasma fire.

[Draq]

For the sake of clarity, I'm going to refer to the UFO games by the title they were published under here in Australia (and some other parts of the world apparently). Here they were released as "X-COM" so for example, UFO: Enemy Unknown was titled X-COM: Enemy Unknown.
The reason I bring that up is because there was a British TV series from the early 1970s titled "UFO". Filmed in the early 70s, it's supposed to take place in the "future" 1980s however there's a lot of 1960s/1970s fashion used throughout and because it's an old series, nobody should expect amazing special effects!

I watched this show as a kid/teen when I was just starting to understand that I liked science-fiction a hell fo a lot. This show basically foreshadowed X-COM and is probably part of the reason I loved the early X-COM games (I wasn't so fussed on the later games).
Rather than try to explain the UFO series, I'd recommend a quick read through the wiki page for it: -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_(TV_series)

But this fanpage is far more interesting in my opinion and would be better for a more indepth reading!

https://ufoseries.com/

This page from the fansite about a proposed 1990s revival of the series might be helpful in creating personnel & organizations as well as providing some "what if" type questions for your game: -

https://ufoseries.com/revival/proposal-text.html

This fan wiki for the show is also worth reading through: -

http://ufoseries.wikia.com/wiki/Gerry_Anderson%27s_U.F.O._Wiki

The show had plenty of interesting vehicles such as SkyDiver. It is of my favourite sci-fi vehicles and consists of a submersible aircraft mounted to a submarine.
From the fan wiki: http://ufoseries.wikia.com/wiki/SkyDiver



I own the series on DVD because I'm such a fanboy for it but it's also available for watching via the Internet Archive. It's worth reading through the main page at the Archive because it sums up the series better than the wikipedia page.

https://archive.org/details/UFO.complete

While the X-COM games give plenty of information for running a game, the UFO TV series is just as good for inspiration. There's no claim that the developer of the X-COM game was inspired by the UFO series, they share a similar premise but that doesn't mean he ever saw the TV show or was even aware of it. But regardless of that, because of those similarities, the TV series does provide a lot of material for inspiration that can be used to compliment anything developed from the X-COM games.

If you love the original xcom games, may I suggest xenonauts it's essentially xcom in all it's glory, but a little updated, plus some balancing and fixes. It basically is xcom, just without using and copywritten material. All the game mechanics,
and fear you love, but new again. https://www.google.com/urlsa=t&sourc...IPYUq8QQPWjx3t

[StainlessSteelCynic]

@ The Zappster. Ah I see I'm preaching to the converted then hehe. Loved the show then, still love it now even with the daggy 60s fashions and the purple wigs but yes Straker was cool, just like his car!


@ Draq. Yep, I bought Xenonaughts some years back and while I enjoyed it in the early stages, I got disenfranchised with the later stages when it pushed you to progress your tech levels so that you could compete with the increasingly harder enemy threat.
It wasn't the same as the older games (and yes I am very guilty of succumbing to nostalgia for those earlier games) where you could ignore the harder incursions for a little while to build up your resources.
My favourite will probably always be X-COM: Apocalypse

[Draq]

@ The Zappster. Ah I see I'm preaching to the converted then hehe. Loved the show then, still love it now even with the daggy 60s fashions and the purple wigs but yes Straker was cool, just like his car!


@ Draq. Yep, I bought Xenonaughts some years back and while I enjoyed it in the early stages, I got disenfranchised with the later stages when it pushed you to progress your tech levels so that you could compete with the increasingly harder enemy threat.
It wasn't the same as the older games (and yes I am very guilty of succumbing to nostalgia for those earlier games) where you could ignore the harder incursions for a little while to build up your resources.
My favourite will probably always be X-COM: Apocalypse

I totally understand. Xcom apocalypse had some interesting new features.

[lordroel]

i picked all because that would just be epic.

[pmulcahy11b]

i picked all because that would just be epic.

Life with you as a friend or SO must be fun!

[unkated]

As I like more natural (realistic settings), I picked three: Asteroid strikes, natural cataclysm and nuclear strike.

However, you can count that the three will occur more or less simultaneously. The supervolcano at Yellowstone unexpectedly blow up in an explosion equal to 2000+ time that of Mont St Helens. As two of the US missile base (if not three) are located nearby, the computers or men (communication cut) confuse that event for an attack and several missiles are launched toward Russia and China before this can be cancelled. Both countries also try to cancel their counter attack but they fail to do it before it's already too late and several missiles are launched toward US and Europe (A number of commanders, especially at sea, refuse to cancel the launching sequence and fire their missiles). This remain a limited exchange but a serious one nonetheless.

As a result, most capitals and several large cities in the northern emisphere are blown up, while 70% of the US are covered with ashes. Also when the erruption ends (4 or 5 weeks after it started), a nuclear winter is affecting the northern emisphere. The nuclear exchanges destroyed the various coordination agencies and casualties are high. They are especially dramatic in the US and in Canada. Nevertheless, the world slowly starts to organize and rerscue missions are taking place all over the northern emisphere, including Russian rescue team being deployed to the US. An emergency UN has been created at Geneva (Switzerland) and every country does its best to help. Rogue officers on all sides have been eliminated and surviving government officials are now collaborating to save what can be saved.

A few weeks later, earth is hit by multiple asteroids and this bring all these efforts to an end. Several hit the southern emsiphere, at least two hit the ground and several go deep in the oceans. As a result, a number of natural cataclysm are triggered (earthquakes, Tsunamis...). As the world was already hard hit, the situation goes out of control. Panic spread everywhere, entire countries (such as Japan and Taiwan are almost wiped out). Old vocanoes that were thought to be long extinct such as these in central France become active again, forests are burning worldwide, and the nuclear winter now expend to the entire world... Finally, diseases get into the picture while little can be done.

When everything is over, the casualties are well above 90% and the survivors are facing plausible extinction...

Hmmm. Small numbers of humans move into prepared underground shelters, and live for several generations using stored supplies and technology. Some eke out survival on the surface, without technological support.

Meanwhile, on the surface, several lifeforms that had not been active for millions of years return...

One tribe returns to the surface, based in a city of the old one, with ancient towers of glass, steel and stone standing forth in the sea, supported by Old Blood Mechanics who have both the ancient knowledge to return ancient machines on the surface or in storage (like a Cadillac) back in to working order, and a new approach of learning to live with the environment and its new creatures (like a dinosaur) to avoid the excesses of the old world.

Welcome to the Xenozoic Era!

What You say it's been done

Uncle Ted

[swaghauler]

Hmmm. Small numbers of humans move into prepared underground shelters, and live for several generations using stored supplies and technology. Some eke out survival on the surface, without technological support.

Meanwhile, on the surface, several lifeforms that had not been active for millions of years return...

One tribe returns to the surface, based in a city of the old one, with ancient towers of glass, steel and stone standing forth in the sea, supported by Old Blood Mechanics who have both the ancient knowledge to return ancient machines on the surface or in storage (like a Cadillac) back in to working order, and a new approach of learning to live with the environment and its new creatures (like a dinosaur) to avoid the excesses of the old world.

Welcome to the Xenozoic Era!

What You say it's been done

Uncle Ted

OH... for Christ's sakes! Now I have to mount my "ballista project" in the bed of a truck AND build an "anti-bite" cage out of 3/8" high-tensile Steel around it! This project is getting more expensive by the day!

[rcaf_777]

You could add any of the following to a Twilight adventure

Flu
Smallpox
Cholera
Dengue fever
Yellow fever
Hand, foot, and mouth disease
Mumps
Measles

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Hmmm. Small numbers of humans move into prepared underground shelters, and live for several generations using stored supplies and technology. Some eke out survival on the surface, without technological support.

Meanwhile, on the surface, several lifeforms that had not been active for millions of years return...

One tribe returns to the surface, based in a city of the old one, with ancient towers of glass, steel and stone standing forth in the sea, supported by Old Blood Mechanics who have both the ancient knowledge to return ancient machines on the surface or in storage (like a Cadillac) back in to working order, and a new approach of learning to live with the environment and its new creatures (like a dinosaur) to avoid the excesses of the old world.

Welcome to the Xenozoic Era!

What You say it's been done

Uncle Ted

Ah I loved that game, I just couldn't get anyone else interested in playing it. After buying Cadillacs & Dinosaurs I got hooked on Schultz as a comics artist and bought a compilation set of the Xenozoic Tales just to read the story behind the game.
Although I never did get to run a game of it, I did get to use some of the creatures for use in Dark Conspiracy - the benefit of all those GDW games using the same rules set.

[pmulcahy11b]

You could add any of the following to a Twilight adventure

Flu
Smallpox
Cholera
Dengue fever
Yellow fever
Hand, foot, and mouth disease
Mumps
Measles

And let's throw in the new mutated air-transmission form of herpes to boot!

[WallShadow]

And let's throw in the new mutated air-transmission form of herpes to boot!

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=-me2inj1nNw

SPACE HERPES!!!!