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1''After the Bomb'' is a RolePlayingGame by Creator/PalladiumBooks set in the [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] future of Earth that started out as a supplement published by Palladium Press in 1986 for ''TabletopGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesAndOtherStrangeness''. A second edition was published in 2001 as a stand-alone product and, like the first edition, is considered part of the Palladium Books [[TheMultiverse Megaverse]] that includes ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}''. Both editions of the game were written by Erick Wujcik, with the second edition having Kevin Siembieda credited with "additional text and ideas."
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3The main storyline is centered on the Eastern United States now mostly inhabited by [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism mutant animals]] and a few human survivors of a worldwide nuclear war that killed nearly 99% of humanity. Though the second edition of After the Bomb has gone through a rules change and entirely updated the back-story, it remains compatible with the following previously released expansions:
4* Road Hogs (October 1986) – Expands the setting to cover the west coast of the United States.
5* Mutants Down Under (June 1988) – Expands the setting to cover Australia.
6* Mutants of the Yucatan (July 1990) – Expands the setting to cover Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.
7* Mutants in Avalon (January 1991) – Expands the setting to cover Great Britain.
8* Mutants in Orbit (March 1992) – A dual Rifts/After the Bomb title, it covers colonies in orbiting space stations, the moon and Mars.
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10!!!Tropes in this game:
11* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The setting takes place a few decades after the 21st century.
12* AchillesHeel: Players can take on various disadvantages (such as restrictive diets, colorblindness or detrimental personality quirks) to refund themselves some Bio-E points [[MinMaxing to spend on advantages, crippling themselves in one area to allow themselves to gain a boost in another.]]
13* AfterTheEnd: The setting is post-apocalyptic, as you might assume from the name.
14* AlternativeCalendar: Most dates are given as After the Crash.
15* AmbiguouslyHuman: As it shares the same Mutant Animal creation system as TMNT and Heroes Unlimited, It is possible to have mutant animals that look almost completely Human. Indeed, it's admitted that with the loss of technology and records, and between all the genetic engineering and mutations, it's entirely possible that not even many of the so-called "pureblooded" Humans are baseline ''H.sapiens'' anymore. 2e further blurs the line with rules for human mutants, many of whom have animalistic abilities or features.
16* ANaziByAnyOtherName: In true [[ObviouslyEvil Palladium fashion]] The Empire of Humanity are unapologetic fascists obsessed with ideas like "genetic purity" and "racial superiority" along with being the central antagonist faction of the base game that regularly target nonhumans with their military forces. Of course, this is part of the reason why its so fun and satisfying to fight them with mutated animal characters.
17* AnimalIsTheNewMan: With the total human population sinking into the lower millions various animal nations have risen up and taken over most of the known world. Human controlled territories still exist in a couple places, but they are generally few and far between.
18* AnimalSuperheroes: Depending on the rolls and point-buy, you can end up with such a character.
19* ApocalypseHow: The Crash is a Class 3a, while the current setting is mostly in Class 2.
20* ArtificialAnimalPeople:
21** All of the mutant animals evolved from regular animals as a result of either radiation (1st edition) or exposure to rampant gene-altering mutagenic viruses (2nd edition).
22** "Chimera" is a catch-all term used to encompass both divergent species of animal-people that have clearly mutated away from their baseline stat, and the evolved descendants of Pre-Crash transgenic experiments. The 2nd edition corebook mentions two examples of the former; undescribed "dragons" in Asia, and the Ganeshi; Indian elephants with a ThirdEye and PsychicPowers who are building an empire in the Indian subcontinent. It also provides lore and full player mechanics for four examples of the latter; Spider-Goats (goats with spider genes so they can produce silk), Chameleon Mice (descendants of early skin gene-modding experiments on mice, super-stealthy due to semi-invisibility and chameleonic camouflage), Shifter Mice (who can transform into any creature whose blood they sample) and Porksville Flying Pigs (winged pigs descended from an attempt to create living mascots for Cincinnati, Ohio).
23** Nobody is quite sure how or where the Pleasure Bunnies came into being, but a popular theory, in-universe and out, is they were a Pre-Crash experiment in engineering a ServantRace of sex-slaves, since their combination of perfectly human appearance, emotion-manipulating {{pheromones}} and unnatural beauty seems really unlikely to just randomly evolve in mutated lab rabbits.
24* BaseOnWheels: The Empire of Humanity has one called the M.E.B. (Mobile Exploration Base) that serves as a fairly small version of this particular trope
25* BeastMan: Characters with "Partial Human Looks" tend to be this.
26* BigCreepyCrawlies: There are enough giant mutant insects in this game to make the Fallout series jealous. This includes:
27** [[GiantSpider Giant Spiders]]
28** [[MosquitoMiscreants Giant Mosquitos]]
29** [[SlayingMantis Giant Praying Mantises]]
30** [[WickedWasps Giant Wasps]]
31* BunniesForCuteness: Pleasure Bunnies are more like "Bunnies for Sexiness". The only mutant animal race to ''automatically'' have the Perfect Human Looks trait, they are universally gorgeous-looking, even with their [[AnimalEyes albino-pink eyes]], super-pale skin, white hair, and even when they do have [[LittleBitBeastly rabbit's ears and/or tails]], these traits are still considered to look "cute" instead of "freakish". They also have libido-manipulating {{pheromones}} and can even manipulate their subcutaneous fat and musculature to assume whatever physique a person would find most attractive without the need for specialized diet or exercise. The popular theory in-universe is they were an attempt to artificially evolve lab rabbits into an entire race of {{Sex Slave}}s.
32* ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts: ''Mutants In Orbit''. Earth had several populated satellites and even colonies on the Moon and Mars at the time of the Big Death. They survived, and are trying to cope with the fact the only really habitable planet in the Solar System has turned into a house of freaks. Mars was marginally terraformed, but thanks to a MadScientist, it's now overrun with mutant BeePeople.
33* {{Camp}}: Given randomization in the character creation rules, you can end up with some very interesting results. One reviewer notes, "The players in my group ended up a tiny psionic bat, a huge kung-fu kicking frog and a four-feet tall elephant powerhouse."
34* CarnivoreConfusion: Semi-{{Averted}} in the second edition rules as it's possible to take a disadvantage that limits your character to being exclusively a carnivore, herbivore, insectivore, or a ruminant. Handwaved in the original with modified meat-equivalent vegetables that carnivores could eat.
35* CreatorProvincialism: The main setting is the East Coast of America. Later supplements expand the game to other parts of world.
36* ClosedCircle: The oceans of post-Crash Earth are extremely dangerous, making cross Atlantic and cross Pacific travel effectively impossible.
37* DepopulationBomb: In the backstory, around 74% of all humans on Earth are killed off by a man-made super virus.
38* TheEmpire: It's even ''called'' “The Empire of Humanity”, which bear some similarities to the Coalition from TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}, with a militantly pro-human/anti-mutant stance, mutant dog soldier, and being one of the more technological advanced civilization still around. Unlike the Coalition, however, the Empire has been much less successful in their campaigns, up to being called the political “Sick Man” of post-Bomb North America in the second edition's fluff.
39** The nation of Jakarta from ''Mutants Down Under'' is this for the post-Crash South Pacific, with shades of DecadentCourt due to [[PresidentForLife President]] [[TheGeneralissimo Suharno-Sukarto]] and [[BigScrewedUpFamily his family's]] [[TheStarscream constant in-fighting]].
40* FantasticFlora: Thanks to the extensive gene modification experiments conducted by humans before everything went south there are now several new varieties of strange and wonderful plants that can be found growing out in the wilderness. Many are rare and almost all of them are highly valuable and greatly coveted by scavengers. These include:
41** FantasticFruitsAndVegetables: New species of edible plants packed with vitamins and minerals.
42** GrowsOnTrees: Plants that can grow meat and vines that can produce ''gasoline''.
43** HealingHerb: Tiny trees that can diagnose and treat common ailments via blood samples.
44* FantasticRacism: The Empire of Humanity and Jakarta have being militant anti-animal/anti-mutant human supremacists as their [[PlanetOfHats Hat]]. There are also groups who are anti-human and some Purebreeds are described as being biased against those who aren't members of their group.
45* FunnyAnimal: Most characters are either these or CivilizedAnimal.
46* GameFavoredGender: Combined with "Game Favored Species" as well. Characters get bonuses based on animal type and sometimes gender which occasionally skews in favor of one sex or the other. Take Cattle for example, male Bulls get a bigger physical attribute and horn damage bonus than the Cows do, with the Cows only getting a plus one to their M.A. stat to compensate.
47* GameOfNerds: The skill description for "Baseball" reveals that not only is the game still popular, it's practically a religion.
48* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: Gene manipulation and experimentation is what led to most of the human population dying off and resulted in mutant animals taking over the world in their place. Unlike most examples of this trope Palladium decided to toss in some [[NukeEm actual nukes]] anyway to further kill off what was left of the human race after various nations with a nuclear arsenal mistook the disease as a targeted biological attack. When all the dust finally settled only about 5% of the humans were left alive and the mutant animals now controlled everything in the ruined earth they left in their wake.
49* GrimUpNorth: The northern arctic circle is described as a vast frozen wasteland filled with icy mountains and valleys, a place where chaotic magical forces manipulated by strange shamans are locked in a chaotic fight for supremacy. It's hard to know exactly what is true or just a rumor about this isolated place but most sources confirm that the ice shelves are actually expanding down towards the rest of the world and are forcing various barbarian tribes to move further south as well. Interestingly, the southern pole and Antarctica are implied to have been converted into a lush green grasslands somehow, leaving the frozen north as the only major tundra spot left on the entire planet.
50* HappinessInSlavery: There's a character trait available to formerly domesticated animals that causes them to feel this way towards humans or [[LittleBitBeastly human-looking mutants]].
51** This gets taken up to eleven with [[CanineCompanion domesticated dogs]], who can that take a disadvantage that makes them a fawning, [[UndyingLoyalty loyal]] [[NonHumanSidekick sidekick]] willing to die for their human “[[MyMasterRightOrWrong master]]”, no matter how they are [[ExtremeDoormat treated]]. The text also points out that a dog with this trait might also take [[PsychoSupporter actions against those they perceive as threats]]to their master or [[MurderTheHypotenuse rivals]].
52** Pleasure Bunnies can induce this by specifically tailoring their {{pheromones}} to a specific individual, which synchronizes their biochemistry to the point that the Bunnies effectively becomes living FantasticDrugs to their victims -- these individuals are at an ''extreme'' disadvantage to think anything negative about "their" Bunny and suffer considerable penalties to all skills unless the Bunny is pleasant. Pleasure Bunnies even "marry" by mutually addicting each other; the synchronization is so strong that if one of these "bonded" Bunnies dies, the other will die of withdrawal.
53* HorseOfADifferentColor: Giant bugs, insects and similar creatures regularly serve the role of livestock in this world, particularly as a common replacement for more high tech modes of transportation like cars and trucks. The cover of ''Mutants in Avalon'' even features a mutant bird man riding into battle on a huge armored snail!
54* InterspeciesFriendship: While most of the various animal nations and territories tend to heavily focus on one species or another many are reasonably open and welcoming to other types of animals and even humans on occasion. This trope is also practically unavoidable for the main player group given the sheer volume of animal races available in the game.
55* InterspeciesRomance: Mentioned in both editions, with some [[BestialityIsDepraved rather interesting]] [[HalfHumanHybrid points]] being brought up by the second.[[note]]It's all-but-explicitly stated that the human gene pool has been infiltrated by primates and swine engineered to ''look'' human, and that the vast majority of "pure" humans are actually hybrid mutants without even realizing it.[[/note]]
56* LanguageBarrier: Done in a fairly interesting way. While most mutant animals can normally understand each other just fine they can't communicate very well with more feral members of their own species without a special psychic ability. It's also possible for characters to acquire the ability to communicate with the various giant bugs infesting the land, but that power is a bit more limited.
57* LittleBitBeastly: Possible when combining "Full Human Looks" with various animal abilities such as claws or [[CuteLittleFangs fangs]], though not as pronounced as with most uses of this trope.
58* MadScientist: [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Professor]] [[FatBastard Sybeck]], Emperor Christian's second-in-command.
59* MassiveRaceSelection: Taking into account all sourcebooks there are well over a ''hundred'' different playable animal species available as player characters, all with some pretty unique stats and abilities. Character creation is definitely one area where this game really shines.
60* MixAndMatchCritters:
61** Spider Goats, based on RealLife transgenic goats [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioSteel]], along with other Chimera animals.
62** [[CueTheFlyingPigs Literal Flying Pigs]]... from Cincinnati, apparently.
63** Averted in the first edition, which points out that while InterspeciesRomance happens, offspring are only possible between animals of similar species (such as dogs and wolves). It's also [[BestialityIsDepraved emphasized]] that humans cannot interbreed with other animals, thereby preventing HalfHumanHybrid. [[spoiler: Second Edition does away with this last part, at least as far as mutant pigs and primates are concerned...]]
64* NaturalWeapon: Given that most of the various groups in this series are mutated animals it can be assumed that most player characters and [=NPCs=] alike will have at least one or two. [[AbsurdlySharpClaws Sharp claws]] and [[HornAttack horns]] are both pretty common, though more rare and obscure species may have similarly exotic abilities and powers at their disposal as well.
65* NobleDemon: General Mike Ulster is given a CharacterAlignment of Scrupulous, as opposed to the Diabolic Emperor Christain and the Miscreant Professor Sybek. He's pro-human, but not anti-mutant, and regrets every man lost under his command.
66* NonMammalMammaries: Shows up in the artwork, up to and including what look like ''nipples'' on a (presumably) male bird.
67* NukeEM: What kills off the remainder of humanity after the virus.
68* {{Pheromones}}: The signature power of the Pleasure Bunnies is their ability to exude pheromones that can induce specific emotional reactions in those who inhale them -- specifically, "excitement" pheromones that induce sexual arousal, "attraction" pheromones that make the target subliminally attracted to the Bunny, and "binding" pheromones that can slowly but literally addict a being to the Bunny's presence.
69* PointBuySystem: Part of the character creation involves using Biological Engery (BIO-E) Points to purchase features for your character, such as claws, flight, more humanoid features, and even psychic powers.
70* PoisonousPerson: A few player species can have abilities that let them use various poison attacks on their foes. For example, a snake character can get a venomous bite attack and a platypus character has the option of using poisonous spurs on their feet.
71* ProudPeacock: Peacocks were added as a playable animal race in ''Mutants in Avalon'' and are known to be physically beautiful and having an air of "insufferable arrogance" according to their species profile. Mechanics wise they get a very large boost to both their P.B. and M.A. stats, making them great for charisma builds.
72* PsychicPowers: Not quite as many as certain other Palladium games like TabletopGame/{{Rifts}} or TabletopGame/HeroesUnlimited but there a few special psionic abilities that mutant animals can get access to.
73* PuttingOnTheReich: The Empire of Humanity, to the point that it can come across as a poor man's version of the Coalition from TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}. (Though, amusingly, ''After The Bomb'' predates ''Rifts'' by 4 1/2 years.)
74* {{Retcon}}: The second edition backstory elaborates on the original by having the nuclear war that destroyed the world set off due to a [[DeadlyPrank high-school prank gone wrong]].
75* RobotMaid: Humans had several variants of small household robots designed to perform simple tasks such as lawn care or pool cleaning. They can occasionally be found when out searching and ones that are still operational serve as valuable loot items.
76* SapientEatSapient: The world has quite literally become much more "dog eat dog" since the fall of humanity. Exactly how willing any given animal is to consume another for food usually comes down to their alignment. Most good characters will refuse to eat any sentient creatures under any circumstances, selfish characters may eat others on a whim and evil characters generally don't care and may even enjoy hunting prey that can think and fight back.
77* SecretPolice: The Empire of Humanity has a variant of this made up of animals that primarily serve as spies and keep an eye out for signs of rebellion or revolts among the slaves.
78* ServantRace: It's never explicitly confirmed that the Pleasure Bunnies were a Pre-Crash experiment to bio-engineer a race of {{Sex Slave}}s, but it's a very popular theory, in-universe and out. Whilst there are lots of weird creatures in the world Post-Crash, everybody feels it's a bit ''too'' unlikely that a race descended from lab rabbits could just randomly evolve a racial appearance as super-gorgeous humans, libido-manipulating {{pheromones}}, hyper-intuitive awareness of body language, and the ability to manipulate their physique to develop the most attractive figure for their current lover without actually needing to gain weight.
79* SexyCatPerson: Whenever any sort of feline appears in the artwork there is a good chance that they're either this or a more cartoonishly drawn male.
80* SexSlave: The bio on Pleasure Bunnies stops just short of outright calling them this but the text makes it abundantly clear what primarily uses the humans had in mind for them.
81* ShoutOut: The "Full" Looks description of a Mutant Wolverine sounds a lot like like... Well, ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}''.
82* SingleSpeciesNations: While there are a few "melting pot" countries like Cardania with a diverse population of species living in harmony most territories in the known world are controlled by singular types of animals. (Usually with the name of the place providing a clue as to who owns it, but not always.) The Plains of the Free Cattle are mostly made up of grazing mammals such as buffalo or deer, New Kennel is almost entirely humanity loyalist canines, Bird Island is an entire island full of birds and so on.
83* SyntheticPlague: As gene modification science became commonplace more and more humans began experimenting with creating "prankster diseases" from the comfort of their own homes. Since medical science had also advanced so greatly their arrogance made them believe they could handle anything... until one junior mad scientist accidentally created something so potent it wiped out three quarters of humanity before they got it under control. This alone wouldn't have been enough on its own to kick humanity off the top of the food chain but when several countries mistook the plague for a biological assault... [[NukeEm well, let's just say]] [[AnimalIsTheNewMan things ended poorly for them.]]
84* ThereIsNoCure: The SyntheticPlague which led to the apocalypse in the game's backstory. By the time it was created, advancements in genetics and medical technology had gotten to such a point that viral disease was no longer seen as a major problem in any form, but the disease was designed with a copy of the human genome which ensured any cure that targeted the disease would also target the host.
85* TooDumbToLive: The genetic hackers prior to the Big Death created “prankster diseases”, potentially lethal viruses, as an extreme sport. Somewhat justified, in that humanity had developed cures for all existing diseases and could handle the average "prankster disease" within minutes. Unfortunately, some prankster (whose name would be cursed were it known) managed to create something so virulent that not even ''that'' level of medical science could handle it.
86* TrickArrow: Various types of special arrows are available to purchase in most locations, including classic [[ArrowsOnFire incendiary arrows]], [[ArmorPiercingAttack armor-piercing arrows]] and [[StuffBlowingUp explosive arrows]].
87* UncannyValley: Some of the more humanoid mutant variations can invoke this. Special mention goes to the artwork of a human man deformed to look like a tiny little beady-eyed alien creature with long fingers.
88* UnskilledButStrong: Several animal species such as Bears and Elephants skew heavily towards this. They have little to no starting Bio-E points but have such high physical attributes and bonuses that they more than make up for it in sheer raw power and size advantage.
89* UpliftedAnimal: Most of the characters are this.
90* WeakButSkilled: In contrast to the above there are also many species that skew towards this instead. Frogs and Bats for example, are generally physically weak but have access to a '''much''' higher starting Bio-E score than most other animals do, which makes it easier for them to purchase special abilities and powers without needing to take on disadvantages.
91* WeaponizedCar: ''Road Hogs'' adds in some modified weapons options for vehicles such as mounted turrets or oil slicks and includes rules for vehicular combat.
92* WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture: The Empire of Humanity uses an advanced credit system for exchanging goods and services due to them being one of the most technologically advanced factions in the game. [[SubvertedTrope Almost everyone else uses simple paper "Bucks" as their currency of choice instead, however.]]
93* WingedHumanoid: A lot of flying species such as birds can end up looking like this depending on how the character is built. In fact, about half of the various avians that show up in the artwork are depicted this way.
94* YouAreWhatYouHate:
95** Emperor Daniel Christian, leader of the anti-mutant Empire of Humanity, is secretly a mutant as well.
96** Between mutation and interbreeding, it's an open question whether ''any'' of the current generation's "humans" are actually human. Even in the Empire of Humanity, many of their human aristocracy are either mutated, or are secretly mutant animals passing as human.
97* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Various primitive balloon style airships have become the primary form of long distance travel in Australia as described in the ''Mutants Down Under'' sourcebook.

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