End Of Days

Basic Information

The End of Days refers to The End Of The World As We Know It, but with a decidedly religious context. In addition to the End Times foretold in the Abrahamic Religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, a great many other religions and mythologies also have End of the World scenarios.

See Also:
After The End
The Antichrist
The End Of The World As We Know It
Eschatology
Ragnarok
The Rapture

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia - that page has summaries of the End of the World scenarios for many religions and mythologies.

Game and Story Use

• Choosing a particularly religious theme for your big disaster tale will make it seem more epic, and probably less avoidable. It's not just a extinction-level cometary impact, it's the trumpet announcing the end of the world.
  • And if you mix in elements from every religious tradition you can get your hands on, then things get really bleak and final.
  • In addition to bumping up the difficulty, there's an extra level of cool factor in Ragnarok, Armageddon, and similar scenarios.
• Even if, from the omniscient viewpoint of being behind the GM's Screen, you know there's no religious truth to your scenario, there's still a very real possibility that some of the characters in the setting will assume there is. The reactions to an impending "biblical horror" are likely to be extreme.
  • The guy on the corner carrying a sign saying "the end of the world is nigh"
  • Widespread religious persecution, or societal retaliation on the group(s) believed to have caused this disaster
  • Last-minute repenting; the deathbed conversion-in-advance, "just to be safe"
  • Suicide pacts, apocalypse cults, etc
  • The labeling of every third politician as The Antichrist