In Short
Post-Apocalyptic HERO is a toolkit intended for the HERO gaming system but definitely useful for anyone interested in running a post-apocalyptic game. In addition to the rules support you would expect from any HERO supplement, this book manages a dazzling amount of coverage of the genre and provides interested GMs with a variety of useful resources to help them develop their ideas. If you enjoy post-apocalyptic gaming or are looking for a resource that comprehensively covers the topic then Post-Apocalyptic HERO will work well for you.The Good: A good overview of post-apocalyptic media and gameplay. The book is certain to provide you with new campaign ideas and help you develop existing ones. Lots of good considerations for post-apocalyptic roleplaying, such as the durability of manufactured objects.
The Bad: The writing varies in quality but can be disappointing. Some sections of the book are pure filler and the author’s writing suggests an attempt to fill up space without content. The example settings aren’t exciting enough to warrant the amount of detail they’re given. The zombie coverage is a little too general to be useful.
The Physical Thing
This 216 page black and white softcover showcases average production values for its $34.95 price tag. The Bibliography is particularly helpful here, directing the reader to a variety of inspirational works. The Index is also nice, as is the presentation which is easy to read. The art is varied, but in general isn’t up to the standards of similarly priced products.Under the Cover
Let me begin by discussing some of the HERO system material. If you’re interested in using this product as a general toolkit then you may want to skip ahead to The Ideas below.The System
Post-Apocalyptic HERO provides a variety of useful resources to help speed up character creation and arm the GM with tools to make the game feel just right. Twelve pages of character packages cover a variety of traditional character concepts, including road warriors, scavengers, and technologists. Each of these is simple enough that it could be easily incorporated into any of the example settings, even those making use of magic and other campaign specific oddities.
Skills receive only slight changes, with an emphasis on the sorts of skills that would appear in a post-apocalyptic setting. In particular, I like the Foraging table that’s included with heavy negative modifiers for radiation zones. Food and water are frequently the most important items in post-apocalyptic games, and the mechanics do a good job of reflecting these.
Other new mechanics include a variety of post-apocalyptic weapons and such made from scavenged materials (stop sign shields, parking meter maces, etc.). Simple powers created for settings where mutants and magic are prevalent are also included in order to cut down on GM prep. Of potentially greatest use is the variety of NPCs included with each example setting. Mutants, zombies, road warriors, and others can easily be modified and dropped into a Post-Apocalyptic HERO campaign, and they serve as a good guide for what sorts of adversaries the setting tends to invite.
On the whole I find the mechanics to be well done. They’re nicely spread out through the book and hit the highpoints, focusing on the most important material to help make a post-apocalyptic game really work.
The Setting
While the mechanics are well done and nicely incorporated into the book, it’s the genre advice, support material, and example settings that make up the vast majority of this product. Let’s take a look at each of these in turn.
Genre advice may seem simple, but as the book rightly points out post-apocalyptic fiction is surprisingly varied with only the general destruction of the world at its core. Low post-apocalypse focuses on more realistic portrayals of the disaster but also strays into variations like “road wars.” High post-apocalypse may involve heavy elements of science fiction including bizarre mutations, technology as magic, and supernatural elements. Zombie apocalypse is largely treated as its own broad genre, which makes sense given the enormous amount of source material dealing specifically with a zombie apocalypse. Each of these receives a lot of attention throughout the book, with plenty of suggestions to help maintain a specific feel. For low post-apocalypse settings, for example, the decay rate of human made objects is included so GMs can realistically portray how and when things will begin to fail.
The book does a good job of providing supporting ideas for all types of play. How technology impacts civilization, different apocalypses and their potential results, the use of ruins, radiation, and salvage, and other on-point discussions really help the GM craft an engaging and believable setting. While there’s nothing novel here, what there is is very comprehensive. In this way the book serves as an excellent toolkit for setting generation, and as a reminder for what makes a game post-apocalyptic.
The settings, unfortunately, don’t measure up to the tools the book provides. Each one is a fairly classic scenario, such as zombies or revelations occurring, but they lack heart and only serve as a slightly fleshed out version of the ideas already presented. For a magical, futuristic post-apocalyptic setting most readers don’t need a world map and a couple of paragraphs on every state across the world. That might be interesting for a detailed campaign book, but for the purposes of this product it’s too much and too uninteresting. I also remain a little surprised that both the anti-Christ and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse all have stats so they can be fought and killed. Nevertheless, it’s more ideas and odds are you’re coming to this product because you want to play around with post-apocalyptic ideas.
The weak points of the product, other than the settings, are found where it attempts to do standard sections like “Villains and NPCs.” Instead of really engaging morality in a post-apocalyptic setting this section delivers general GMing advice followed by a few incredibly simplistic examples (mad scientist, evil biker). Similarly disappointing, the “Running the Game” section kicks off with three pages comparing plotted (scripted) vs. unplotted (sandbox) campaigns that would be of only minimal use in the HERO core book, let alone in a supplement. Some of these and other sections feel tacked on just for the word count and lack any useful material.
My Take
As a fan of everything post-apocalypse, I found a good deal of inspiration from this book. I admit to ‘geeking out’ a bit while reading the end of the world scenarios, and a lot of the book was both enjoyable and useful (since I ran Desolation shortly thereafter). Unfortunately, the book does vary substantially in content and most readers will only make use of a fraction of what is presented here. Still, I think even post-apocalyptic setting lovers will find something to take away from Post-Apocalyptic HERO if only because so much useful discussion is found in one place.Please help support RPGnet by purchasing the following (probably) related items through DriveThruRPG.
