"What an immensely clever plan it had been! To destroy every human being on the earth above the age of six - and then to leave as quickly as they had come, allowing our civilization to continue on a primitive level, knowing that Earth's back had been broken, that her survivors would revert back to savagery as they grew into adulthood."

The above excerpt was taken from William F. Nolan's "The Small World of Lewis Stillman".

Here's a unique concept for an RPG - a world where adults are the prey and children the predators.

Would *you* have any interest in playing in such a setting if it was handled in such a manner?

I ask because I'm working on incorporating some ideas along these lines into setting books for Formless. I'm looking to do some setting material that doesn't qualify as 'the same old stuff'.

The problem is, I don't want to put hundreds of man hours into something if there's a signifigant chance that my group and I will be the only ones playing it.

Is there *any* kind of an audience for more offbeat settings like this?

James Hargrove

Offbeat is "Monkees: the RPG."

This is kinda twisted.

That said, check out Lord of the Flies (which you have probably read) and JG Ballard's Running Wild (which you might not have read).

>This is kinda twisted.<

Okay, so it is... but I still think it would make a great post-apoc setting (and so would Matheson's "I am Legend" for that matter).

>That said, check out Lord of the Flies (which you have probably read) and JG Ballard's Running Wild (which you might not have read).<

Read em' both, but thanks for the suggestions... might be time to read em' again. If you're into that kind of thing (the twisted), I think that there's probably a setting (or at least a horribly weird adventure) hiding in "The Power of The Mandarin" by Gahan Wilson.

Fiction comes alive!

James Hargrove

PS - With some of the stuff that I've read, Gahan Wilson's implications become at once intriguing and horrifying.

Well, I'm always up for something twisted! lol

One sticking point (to my mind, anyway): you mentioned that children would be the predators. In the excerpt that you quoted, it made aliens to be the predators, adults the prey, and children merely safe. If children ARE to be the predators instead of the aliens, what reasons do they have to be so, and why are adults unable to fight back? (I can understand that if your kid was trying to kill you, you'd rather find a way to stop him without killing him, but if EVERY kid was doing so, then adults would surely react accordingly...or, at the very least, the single adults would!) Just curious about this point.

Anyway, please do create the game - I'd be interested in seeing it!

Daniel

>One sticking point (to my mind, anyway): you mentioned that children would be the predators.<

Yep.

> In the excerpt that you quoted, it made aliens to be the predators, adults the prey, and children merely safe.<

Well, yes and no. The aliens start the problem by killing all human beings over the age of six. Then the aliens go away.

> If children ARE to be the predators instead of the aliens, what reasons do they have to be so, and why are adults unable to fight back?<

Billions of children (age 6) and a scant few adults left on Earth. As the excerpt implies... devolution, baby! Not being educated or fully emotionally developed, children regress into savagery.. first mentally and later physically.

They *literally* become predators.

>Anyway, please do create the game - I'd be interested in seeing it!<

Well, it will be a setting for my Formless rules, actually (see the Library). Thank you for the encouragement, though.

James Hargrove

Rings a vague Tribe8 bell. Also, original Star Trek did an episode in which all the adults went mad, periodically, and only children were sane (on one of their back-lot, rehashed Western town "planets"). The kids called adults "grups", a corruption of "grown ups".

I suspect the appeal of playing kids in such a setting would be limited. But it might be a pretty fair way to "reset" the world.

>I suspect the appeal of playing kids in such a setting would be limited.<

Well, my idea was actually to establish player characters as the adults.

Incidentally, the main difference between the Star Trek episode and Nolan's tale, is that the children in Nolan's tale can't even speak anymore - regressed completely to an animalistic nature.

James Hargrove

PS - I think you're right about a reset. Can you imagine dropping something like this at the end of Dark Conspiracy or Conspiracy X campaign? It would make a good future possibility for either world, I think.

Here's what JMS (Joe Michael Straczynski, the Babylon 5 guy) had to say about his new project for . . . Showtime?

"Right around now in our timeline, a virus wipes out everyone on the planet over the age of puberty (figure around 12-13).

It is now about 15 years later. Those who were once children have now grown up and are in their late 20s on down. For 15 years, they have been living on the
scraps of the old world; now they must either continue the downward slide, or begin to rebuild the world, taking responsibility for themselves and the world and each other.

It is, oddly enough, a post-apocalyptic series about *beginnings* rather than endings, about hope rather then despair. It is about the new world rising out of the ashes of the old world, what shape that world will take, and who will get to decide that shape.

More than that would be to give too much away."

Not exactly what your talking about, but close enough that I thought it worth mentioning.

Gordon C. Landis

PS - Official press release at http://www.mgm.com/cgi-bin/c2k/corp_news_releases.html&single_press=1&id=304 - apparently, this is based on a European graphic novel series.

[ This Message was edited by: Gordon C. Landis on 2001-08-02 16:47 ]

Love the idea..

I know you are talking about the aliens killing off the humans thingy.. but the first thing that came to mind when I read your post was Stephen Kings "Children Of The Corn"

If for some ungodly reason any of you haven't read (or.. ugh.. watched) it.. here's the (very) basic premise.

A bunch of kids worship an evil deity, they live off in a cornfield. They kill adults, and each other (upon reaching the age 18.)

anyway... I like your idea...
maybe add in something from King,
like.. aliens come, kill off the adults and leave.. then the kids (through whatever miracle) survive and ACTUALLY make the world a liveable place. (I know, it's a stretch) henceforth, it is decided that the problem with the world is/was adults. Therefore at a certain age (say 12?) they start offing "those who would grow". Could be a very immense world with large territories and different groups. (ala Palladium's rifts) All the kids would be the main body, then you have "Rebel teens" and the "mythical island of the adults"
To add spice, give a good reason why the young kids are the power.
There's a book (thief's guild?) I read that had a story about a trained assassin.. well.. long story short, a bunch of little kids jump him out of the blue and whoop his arse for killing one of thier dads (or brothers or something).
Strength in numbers could be the simple answer to "Why are the kids in power?"
Anyhoo.. I'll see what else I can think on.

T

Also see: Logan's Run.

Not the same, I know, but still similar.

On 2001-08-20 03:47, Thededine wrote:
Also see: Logan's Run.

Not the same, I know, but still similar.