: 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

@Deb2945533

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Some things come to mind:
Why a nuclear holocaust?
Keep in mind humanity is fucked in this setting. This means no random deus-ex-machina, no hope, no ideals. Why wouldn't your characters just rape and burn everybody they find? Also, such a setting is pretty lame since every conflict almost automatically resolves around "where to find water, and after that where to find food". This sounds boring. There is nothing to do. I would not want to play this in a video game, neither in a PNP game, why is it good for a story?
Science fiction is fantasy!
Have a look at the Shadowrun universe, especially the parts about Washington D.C.
After a big [nuclear bomb / explosion? ] killed a dragon there, a rift opened and all sorts of spirits, specters and creeping horrors emerged from that. The whole city is a nuclear wasteland with toxic sewers and the like. But: life outside the zone goes on as usual ( a bit like in "stalker" ), which means there are companies and the like who have a reasonable interest in data / resources that are still somewhere in the ruins! Also, a normal life outside means there is a flow of technology coming into the zone, so you have certain options of building something up in your story ( a BBEG who collects gold=? a merenary who tracks and hunts down survivors for cash=? ). The fact that this is high-cyberpunk mixed with magic makes it unique in a way. I'm not saying "go for magic", but think about whether you would build the world less on reality and more on fantasy. Maybe you want to go for the classical "4 chosen souls" trope and have your characters fullfill their destiny.
[ classic doesn't mean i like it - there is no destiny imho lol ]
Maybe the story is on another planet where there are fast growing, intellectual plant-hybrids (like in the darkover stories, kind of), maybe a super-ai rebuilds a "society" in the means of replicating humans and simulating their behaviour by having them fight for tribal means or food.
Don't force yourself into this genre
You don't need to go for the classic "nuclear bomb" setting at all costs, do you? As meantioned in my first statement, this setting is hard and unforgiving, and it's easy to make it sound unreasonable or unlogical or simply to overdramatise the characters.
The "The Last of us" setting is meant to read like your classic zombie apocalypse, but with the twist that the civilisation itself seems to be intact, leading to technology and political setups in the world. A world of tribes is much more flexible than a world of scavenges. Remember: Atomic bombs cause EMP -> no electricity, never ever.
In fact, a modern age nuclear war is probably to be fought in space (in the stratosphere), because a nuke blown up in the stratosphere IS an EMP. Maybe go for this? The searching for the holy electricity, or rather technology, since after the blackout almost 70% of all knowledge was gone, and around 80 % of world's population died due to malnutrition. This would be kind of a Rimworld setup.

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