I have been kicking this idea around for awhile, and suppose that it's time to think about whether there is interest in the idea outside my own head.

So, this would be based on the setting from a novel series in which the world population is literally decimated ten years after the "flu" of Year Zero.  It's what I would consider a near-future world (I would guess maybe 150 years or so future, tech levels are not dramatically different than today's), with the following presumptions:

• climate change raised water levels, coastlines dramatically different
• very violent storms
• a few years before the events of Year Zero (the year of the first flu), infrastructure changed to put buildings underground
• rail lines on a spokes/hub model
• internet replaced by an ethernet (which allows, at a glance to see if other docks are on/off)
• biobots - 3d printed humans who are created as adults and made for particular purposes

Now, rather than follow the exact plot of the novels, what I'm thinking about is locating the story elsewhere--upstate NY, and rather than Year Ten (when the population has been quite literally decimated--US population estimated at 33 million), put it at Year Four (population would be running about 40% of today's numbers) when existing society has pretty much broken down and this would be the tale of how a community is then built by survivors.

System -- well, I don't know GURPS very well at all, so wouldn't use that, but would be open to having a co-GM who could be the "Rules GM" and handle crunchy bits while I'd handle plot.  Free-form is a possibility.  I've also considered swiping parts of CoC (strip out the magic and sanity, but leave the stats and skills in).  Storyline would be fairly sandbox, although setting and events beyond the community (weather, raiders, etc)

Definitely mature, possibly adult (personally, I find writing sex scenes rather boring, but that's my quirk), since it'd be a fairly gritty survival and, if a biobot was in play, included could be some serious reflection on what it means to be human.

I've been running GURPS for thirty years and have all the books necessary, I'd be happy being the rules GM, rmail me if you interested in going this direction.

If you can track down a copy, the Aftermath! game rules are very, very detailed (and extremely simulationist), and intended for exactly the sort of "after civilization falls" game, without advanced sci-fi tech, as you describe.

Into the Odd. Very rules light and opento all kinds of weirdness.

Look at mutant year zero if you want a good post apoc rules set it's very good

Have a look at the Basic RPG - https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying/

That is the basic system behind CoC and there is a free quick start set of rules on the Chaosium site.

Another option is Atomic Highway, which is designed around the "Mad Max" style milieu.

Thanks all for the suggestions.  I've been hunting about (drive through rpg is having a sale today, so I bought a few books I was on the fence about).  Aftermath! looks like a really good resource for running the world/environment (it was on sale for less than $10), but I think Basic RPG has the right levels of crunch (for me).

I think I'm tilting a little more toward mature rating (romance fine, but get a room and close the door).

So how much interest would there be in trying to build up as the world collapses (i.e. the "flu" keeps wiping out significant numbers of people?

Is the biobot angle of interest?  (I'd probably want no more than 1).

Tom Clancy's The Division (and it's sequel, which just launched an expansion) explores the aftermath of a deadly, engineered plague (that kills over 95% of the world population in a matter of a few weeks).

Both games have sold quite well, so it seems there's a fair amount of interest in the subject.  :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...7s_The_Division#Plot

  There's usually a good bit of player interest in any game that offers "kingdom building/maintenance" as a feature of game play.  Post-Apocalyptic games almost require this as a feature but it's rare to see it implemented.  I'd certainly be interested in playing in a game like that.

Post-apoc games of any kind are generally well received and popular, and something I'd generally jump on. Adding in elements of resource management is good - it creates the need to continue to go beyond the safety of the settlement. And it can follow most survival computer games for inspiration. Scavenger hunt for food / resources, hunt down and kill (or slow) a particular threat to the settlement before it gets there, trading run, rescue or aid another group of survivors, etc.

BioBots sounds like another twist to include, and there's lots to consider by including them. Were they designed to be sentient or have "intelligent programming" that mimics but isn't true sentience?? How were they seen pre-apoc - as individuals with rights or property and servants / slaves?? A mix?? Were biobots soldiers as well as servants, or were they labourers / farmers / technicians / etc?? Did they ever break their programming or have capacity to choose what they wanted to do, or are they imprisoned by their programming?? Do they have free will??

Post-apoc - Are they immune to the flu?? If so are they still seen as servants / machines to the survivors?? Are they despised for their immunity or even studied as a way to find a vaccine, whether one is possible or not?? Viewed as a threat and hunted?? Or viewed as a luxury or life saver, bring able to and willing to do work that humans can't / won't??

Finally, can they still be manufactured and/or repaired?? Or will part of their game be finding their own humanity and security, proving themselves as more than just a created servant (destroying stereotypes and prejudice) and finding a way to continue / propagate the species??

Having one gives you the opportunity of Commander Data from Star Trek style plots as they try to become more. But if you allow 2 or 3, you can really throw the themes of self determination and prejudice / fear at the party. A band of 6 traders turn up at a settlement, 1 is a bio it who is the tolerated. If there were 2 or 3, they become a threat or even a target...

Depending on how you want them handled, of course.

Some excellent questions on the biobots.

Prior to Year Zero, they were created and essentially slaves/property.  There are questions of their humanity (the truth is that they are fully human, but those who want to utilize them downplay that), and they are tattooed (usually on the throat, but some purchasers request a different location) to distinguish them from "normal humans".  Being created as adults and sent to work at an actual age of about 2 years old, there was some tendency toward mental instability, and many laws used to keep them subjugated.

When people began dying from the flu, some of those were the keepers, and biobots were free, but largely feared by the population who read lurid headlines about biobots on killing sprees (some biobots did kill their keepers or the lab personnel where they were made).

They are no longer made, as far as is known.

And on that note--this thread may be closed.

link to another game