After The End
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For the end of the world was long ago,
When the ends of the world waxed free,
When Rome was sunk in a waste of slaves,
And the sun drowned in the sea.

When Caesar's sun fell out of the sky
And whoso hearkened right
Could only hear the plunging
Of the nations in the night.

(from) The Ballad of the White Horse G. K. Chesterton

Basic Information

After the End is a type of setting. It takes place in a world where a devastating event reduced most of civilization to rubble.

Most ATE settings are set twenty-minutes-into-the-future - or further, but it's worth remembering that the Dark Ages of Europe after the fall of Rome qualify as well, as do parts of Central Asia and the Middle East after the Mongols blew through. Many Fantasy settings include the "Fall of Rome" meme with a pre-existing civilisation that has now fallen1 and whose ruins provide the dungeons for PCs to crawl about in. Atlantis is also an End you might wish your setting to be after…

See Also:
Post Apocalyptic Decay for a timeline of how man's monuments and cities would collapse if some event removed their caretakers.

Sources

Bibliography

Game and Story Use

  • The scarcity of resources in such a setting will encourage player ingenuity to make do with what they have, while the lack of civilization can make them feel that they really can make a difference and rebuild the world through their own efforts.
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