“I think things would actually be a lot worse than people expect them to be. I’m more of the Threads kind of thinking, like, things are gonna be really bad, and hopefully it never happens!”
This is the common sentiment, but few consider that surviving a nuclear war or not isn’t actually up to us, ie the decision is out of our hands.
Many many people live far enough outside of nuclear targets (especially at today’s armament levels) that the choice available to them is actually one of “dying slowly and horribly from radiation poisoning, exposure, starvation, or disease” vs “surviving as relatively comfortably as one can be in the aftermath of a global nuclear war”. And the decision is made now with making fairly easy and simple levels of preparation, or not.
Just something I see a lot. “I wish” doesn’t actually go very far at affecting outcomes in reality, nor “I should have”.
Great interview! I look forward to Dr. Craig's future book (and will look for a copy of Hogg's British Nuclear Cultures). This post/interview maxes out quite a bit of my personal Venn diagram of nerdy interests (RPG history geek, fan of post-apocalyptic storytelling and casual a-bomb history nerd, UK resident)
and one of my game groups was enthusiastic about a campaign. I'm planning on using the old TSR Marvel Superheroes, so this would definitely be on the gonzo end of that spectrum.
This article brought to mind a game called "After the Holocaust: The Nuclear Devastation of America – Recovery and Reunification." published by SPI back in the late 70's. While not an RPG (it's a board game), it was definitely playing at the end of the world as the name suggests. It was actually quite good, and nowadays would be a grand strategy computer game in the vein of HOI 4, Terra Invicta, etc., but with a much greater emphasis on economics over military as a way to exert power. It has an extensive page on Board Game Geek at https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5475/after-the-holocaust-the-nuclear-devastation-of-ame
I'm also reminded of SPI's founder, Jim Dunnigan, responding to letters complaining that their NATO/Warsaw Pact games allowed for use of tactical nuclear weapons, but with great risk of escalation to strategic level and thus ending immediately. He suggested that those wishing to simulate this aspect of the conflict might take a lighter to the paper map on which the games were played.
It's spot on about Twilight 2000, in my experience, having just finished a game of it. We played with GURPS mechanics, but original setting material (GURPS hews very close to t2k in its realism sensibilities). We really leaned into improving Poland as a place in its portryal and i think our game really benefitted from that (that and focusing on making US national guard people with lives and backstories instead of just getting to what kind of cool gun you had).
Great article. Brought back many memories of RPGs in my youth, in particular The Price Of Freedom.
We all knew it was basically Red Dawn role playing. I didn't realise it was intended as a joke.
We certainly didn't play it like a joke. I had loads of fun coming up with scenarios involving waves of spetsnaz turning up at the last minute to give the players a proper fight!
“I think things would actually be a lot worse than people expect them to be. I’m more of the Threads kind of thinking, like, things are gonna be really bad, and hopefully it never happens!”
This is the common sentiment, but few consider that surviving a nuclear war or not isn’t actually up to us, ie the decision is out of our hands.
Many many people live far enough outside of nuclear targets (especially at today’s armament levels) that the choice available to them is actually one of “dying slowly and horribly from radiation poisoning, exposure, starvation, or disease” vs “surviving as relatively comfortably as one can be in the aftermath of a global nuclear war”. And the decision is made now with making fairly easy and simple levels of preparation, or not.
Just something I see a lot. “I wish” doesn’t actually go very far at affecting outcomes in reality, nor “I should have”.
Great interview! I look forward to Dr. Craig's future book (and will look for a copy of Hogg's British Nuclear Cultures). This post/interview maxes out quite a bit of my personal Venn diagram of nerdy interests (RPG history geek, fan of post-apocalyptic storytelling and casual a-bomb history nerd, UK resident)
I've been rewatching THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN for the first time since I was ten
https://tubitv.com/series/300018250/thundarr-the-barbarian
and one of my game groups was enthusiastic about a campaign. I'm planning on using the old TSR Marvel Superheroes, so this would definitely be on the gonzo end of that spectrum.
https://randallhayes.substack.com/p/redcaps-and-white-knights
The first part of the post is world-building notes; the rest is an unrelated story.
This article brought to mind a game called "After the Holocaust: The Nuclear Devastation of America – Recovery and Reunification." published by SPI back in the late 70's. While not an RPG (it's a board game), it was definitely playing at the end of the world as the name suggests. It was actually quite good, and nowadays would be a grand strategy computer game in the vein of HOI 4, Terra Invicta, etc., but with a much greater emphasis on economics over military as a way to exert power. It has an extensive page on Board Game Geek at https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5475/after-the-holocaust-the-nuclear-devastation-of-ame
The game is available for viewing here:
https://spigames.net/PDFv2/AftertheHolocaust.pdf
I'm also reminded of SPI's founder, Jim Dunnigan, responding to letters complaining that their NATO/Warsaw Pact games allowed for use of tactical nuclear weapons, but with great risk of escalation to strategic level and thus ending immediately. He suggested that those wishing to simulate this aspect of the conflict might take a lighter to the paper map on which the games were played.
It's spot on about Twilight 2000, in my experience, having just finished a game of it. We played with GURPS mechanics, but original setting material (GURPS hews very close to t2k in its realism sensibilities). We really leaned into improving Poland as a place in its portryal and i think our game really benefitted from that (that and focusing on making US national guard people with lives and backstories instead of just getting to what kind of cool gun you had).
Great article. Brought back many memories of RPGs in my youth, in particular The Price Of Freedom.
We all knew it was basically Red Dawn role playing. I didn't realise it was intended as a joke.
We certainly didn't play it like a joke. I had loads of fun coming up with scenarios involving waves of spetsnaz turning up at the last minute to give the players a proper fight!
Happy days!