Rogue Directions

If we got a chance to 'reboot' Rogue and pull it into the 21st century, what would you want changed, what would you want to stay the same?

With new technologies like CRISPR, it's even more likely some idiot can accidentally create a world ending plague. It doesn't even have to be a foreign power, just some Post Humanist working in his basement, screwing things up and creating a viral plague that has all the signs of Rogue 417.

I would say that I'd include more recent technology in the game, and Prepper strongholds that can be looted for food and gear. Also, despite what movies show, people band together to survive and it's not Mad Max. So more pockets of survivors banding together to rebuild society. Also, many of the communication satellites would still be in orbit, so communication would still be possible across the world. Difficult, but doable. Solar power to recharge the batteries on that Tesla you're driving, and bob's your uncle. :-)

Yeah, more chances to keep things running with solar and wind energy and a fair number of electric vehicles to drive.  Not hard to imagine some small towns having a mostly working power grid, most of the time. 

Farming would be an issue, but how much food do you really need to grow given the population drop? 

Did you know that DNA sequencing is a hobby now?

https://projectearth.us/inside-the-garage-labs-of-diy-gene-hackers-whose-hobby-1796423884

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2017/08/25/yourself-dna-right-ahead/zHy8Tw3MPSDzFRAOow3ZLM/story.html

Tough. It is already a solid idea. Someone makes a plague to kill someone else. Iran wants to kill Israel. Syria wants revenge on NATO. Some super vegan wants to depopulate the Earth for reasons.

What I would include, and this takes a decent author. Is vignette style stories spread through. Like Max Brooks, Zombie Survival Guide, little survivor stories about an event they experienced.

What makes a zombie apocalypse be so effective is that people are too afraid to go to work. The electrical grid goes out without workers at the power plant, for example. The hospital has no doctors or nurses and staff from infection or they quit. The police don't come. The fire fighters only go to fires and nothing else. The grocery store has no food as the trucks are not being driven on the insane roads. Governments are paralyzed with people refusing orders or politicians in hiding at retreats. Communication, cooperation, and mutual aid disintegrated into free for all, smash and grab, survival.


Technology. It is getting difficult to find average people that know what a screwdriver is. People who have never used an oven or range top to make anything. The myth that we are going to go back to living like 1800s pioneers makes me laugh out loud. People modern 21st century people seldom have the slightest idea how to pickle, salt, or dehydrate food.

Firearms. Another area. Most people these days were not military or police. The odds of them having any knowledge of firearms apart from fantasy tv is small.

Fuel. It isn't covered in alot of games, but fuel has a shelf life and spoils. Diesel absorbs water and some algaes will contaminate it forcing it to break down.

So a scenario where a bunch of private school kids are searching for heart meds for the 60 year old groundskeeper of their academy -- because he is the real-world competent adult survivor whose knowledge is all that is keeping their bunch going?

That is a viable scenario. Age shift this to sophomore college students and make the 60 year old the Librarian, as another.

I was never a fan of the mind reading, telepathic animals.

I think I would introduxe different strains of the virus produxe the different reactions. One variant makes the person revert into a 3 year old, and another makes the berserk rager with the impossibly high adrenaline count. R417A, B,.

The massive fires that consume suburbia or small towns when there is no water pressure and no fire department has driven people into the cities and remaining hard structures.

I would try to encourage GMs to write scenarios where the plays have to create the means to support themselves. Solar power still requires special components not found in an ordinary home or on the shelf at Lowes/ Home Depot. Charge controllers, massive batteries, sine wave controllers. Even the fuse panel in a regular home isn't compatible. The have to find an electrician (or be one) to set it up. Do it wrong and you destroy components, start a house fire, or electrocute yourself. Make it missions to find seeds, find someone that has gardened, a carpenter to build a greenhouse, seek fertilizers or lime/soda. Whether it is a electrical car or fuel one those need maintenance and repairs seek out a mechanic to join your group. Sift through the wreckage of a smash auto parts store for the right brake pads without the inventory (it was digital). Make them sweat over ammunition, few owners have more than one box of ammunition for a firearm, even hunters. This means 20 or 50 for pistols, 20 for a rifle, and 25 for a shotgun.

Maybe a system of starting points for the player to begin with. 1000 points. Items have a value of 1-1000 points. The skills you choose for your character earn you more after a initial cost. Base skill 0, increments above the base skill get you buying points. Lets say 10% Handgun gives you the knowledge to handle a firearm safely. You're not a good shot, but you won't shoot yourself out of ignorance. You would be able to carry safely, load and unload the internal or detachable magazine, and do a basic cleaning. 25% skill and you have a 1 in 4 xhanxe of hitting a target though you are not skilled enough for a shot to wound. At 25% you wouldn't be a to say "I am for a leg". At 50% you would be able to hunt with your firearm, make xalled shoots, and any points used to buy skill above 50% gets you buy in points at a rate of 5% equals 1.

I am a fan of the 100% system. I find it is convenient to explain ability and easy to build modifiers for failure or success.