[headquarters]

I `ll try my hand real quick and short:

1) terrorist attack on US soil using Nuclear weapon(s) that hit several ports /major metropolitan areas (cargo containers w nuclear devices) over a few days and also some disruption to leadership like Pres/Vice Pres knocked out and speaker unable to be found or some such leading to a situation close to the one when Reagan was shot ,only this time several people try to "shout eachother down" and arrests are made etc adding to the confusion

2) Massive chaos and panic as people flee .Many crucial posts are abandoned,countryside flooded with refugees - FEMA,national guard ,Federal agencies overloaded with emergency tasks like curbing the looting and crime ,helping everyone etc .the army is already overseas..

3) Retaliation - is promptly meted out towards those believed responsible in the form of localized nuclear strikes/conventional attacks and some not so localized.But as command is hazy different agencies/leaders attack different targets and sometimes indiscrimenately

4) Terrified leaders of other powers
( Russia,China,France,Britain,Germany ,Pakistan etc ) act with paranoia towards the "loose cannons" and try to secure some nuclear weapons facilities etc .Small nuclear exchanges take place to knock out some weapons facilities -and is responded to by some commanders from the USD as well as dictated by protocol meaning that the attacks have to be retaliated .Several of the major powers recieve crippeling hits that destroy central authority and most goverment functions

5) world economy comes to a thunderous stop,and world order is turned upside down as raw material producing countries "on the fringes"-including oil producers of course - now take a leading role.Countries that rely on foreign aid collapse .All those wars and conflicts that have been lying in wait because of the influence of the US airforce and the petromagnat syndicates (hehe) are now unrestrained and cry havoc -unleash the dogs of war all hell breaks loose in 397 locations pretty much at once.

6) fallout,famine,epidemics,violence and upheaval hit all societies except those that are removed from the modern world and still live like they did along time ago .death tolls are staggering -but it is the industrialized world that is hit the hardest.Developing countries /regions can to some extent carry on or cope .All the financial power in the "west" amounts to nothing now- but an economy based on agriculture and cottage industries will be able to hang in there - albeit more often than not repression and dictatorship take hold.

7) the nuclear exchange is limited as it is clear from early on that it has taken far less than anyone thought to topple the major powers -burning them to a radioactive ash doesnt seem necessary -so some cmndrs/leaders desist from firing or actively try to stop the shooting .meaning that there are local commanders with nuclear capacity out there in the various factions that will emerge -and that nuclear war will continue for the next few years as a part of smaller regional wars .

I dont see this taking place in more than 30-60 days ,and the PCs will get only scraps of information and confused messages .After the big breakdown news will be rumours and the pressing matters of getting food,safety and shelter will seem more important than current affairs.