: Re: Creating a unique spin on a nuclear apocalypse? Basically, my story follows a group of 6 people (and 1 mutant human) exploring a barren wasteland of what used to be the USA. The world they

@Merenda569

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One option would be to approach the results of the nuclear war from a totally different angle than previous stories have.
Perhaps instead of a world full of anarchy and weapons you end up with a kind of utopia. Since most people died of the nuclear fallout and winter rather than from the bomb blast itself, most of their stuff will be perfectly usable. After the population drops you suddenly have a lot of resources and technology that is now split between fewer people. Do you need a new car? Go take one from the side of the road, whoever owned it before is definitely dead. Want to live in a mansion? No problem, there are plenty to go around for the few people who are left alive.
No one would need to horde anything or be overly protective of their things the way we see in most post-apocalyptic settings because there would be no scarcity.
I would think that in that situation people would end up congregating around city centers and using the new abundance of resources to set up a communal social structure. They could use their various types of expertise to start getting things back up and running, at least enough to keep their community supplied while they try to work out how to start farming/ranching again.
Eventually the resources that were abundant would begin to run out, and certain things would become either unavailable or very expensive, such as gas which takes a significant infrastructure and specialized workforce to produce.
You could also explore how that society would grow over time. One option would be a kind of social stratification that would occur as people continue to trickle into the city. The people who got there first claimed the best houses/cars/etc. and people who got there later have to settle for the simpler things. This could turn the formerly communal society into a kind of caste system based on when you became a resident.

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