Replacing New America for my Campaign

[Enfield]

So I have replaced New America for my campaign with a group I call The Reductionists. Essentially, they mirror a real life movement that believes in reducing the human population and returning humanity to pre-agricultural levels of population. I decided it was this group that funded scientists to create a virus that would begin destroying civilization, while they would then make the crisis worse by striking at industry, energy and fuel storage, crops and key leadership. They are essentially extremist radical environmentalists who do not value human life at all.

For this group, I have created a cell structure for some operaties mimicking the Morrow Project. Due to the party capturing such a group (scientists and medics and some guards in this case) the party have been tasked along with other groups with hunting down the bases and refuges of the Reductionists.

I think that they could easily be slipped into regular Twilight 2000 even without an Infection plague. They could be wreckers, terrorists, mutineers, and so on who simply don't want to see civilization recover effectively. They might be few in number or be a genuine big conspiracy.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Enfield

...who do not value human life at all.

Except for themselves right?
That seems to be the norm for groups and individuals like this.

[Enfield]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Except for themselves right?
That seems to be the norm for groups and individuals like this.

For themselves as a general group, sure. They believe they will live in a paleolithic paradise post civilization.

[unkated]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Except for themselves right?
That seems to be the norm for groups and individuals like this.

It's for the kids, man!

They need to do these terrible things now and remove the glut of humanity who only know how to live by sucking all the good out of Mother Earth in a wholy unsustainable way! You're killing the oceans, poisoning the air, depleting the soil so it cannot grow anything, destroying ecosystems that you do not bother to begin to understand, and have not paused to stop for the last 150 years!

For the kids to have a chance to grow up, the current crop of adults needs to go; the most efficient way is to smash the systems that are hurting the Earth
that these adults depend on.

How can you be against the kids? Now, stay still so I can get a good shot at you...

Uncle Ted

[Legbreaker]

Will somebody PLEASE think of the children!!!!

[rcaf_777]

Sound like the plot from Rainbow Six

[Enfield]

Originally Posted by rcaf_777

Sound like the plot from Rainbow Six

Very similar, yes, just very different circumstances, and a bigger conspiracy.

[swaghauler]

You can also have Sovereign Citizens running around. They are fairly common in Western PA and most of OH. There are several discussions about them here and on the internet in general. You can YouTube them and watch them getting tazed for "noncompliance."

I particularly like YouTuber Donut Operator's "Sovereign Citizen Bingo" video series. I DO NOT CONSENT... AHHHH!!! (once you watch a few videos, you'll understand this ).

[Enfield]

Originally Posted by swaghauler

You can also have Sovereign Citizens running around. They are fairly common in Western PA and most of OH. There are several discussions about them here and on the internet in general. You can YouTube them and watch them getting tazed for "noncompliance."

I particularly like YouTuber Donut Operator's "Sovereign Citizen Bingo" video series. I DO NOT CONSENT... AHHHH!!! (once you watch a few videos, you'll understand this ).

lol, I'm sure that would be a huge problem at first yes. Then later on such people may form militias and challenge anyone going by.

[ChalkLine]

What other wacko movements could turn up as settlements after TDM?

I had a scientologist commune as a settlement. Some of them were doing *nasty shit* which the players had to stop

[Enfield]

Originally Posted by ChalkLine

What other wacko movements could turn up as settlements after TDM?

I had a scientologist commune as a settlement. Some of them were doing *nasty shit* which the players had to stop

What nasty shit were the Scientologists doing?

Cults are a great idea, sure. I have this one group I put in Uniontown which believes that people are in the End Times in the time of tribulation, and that they are among the few who are to be spared, but they all have to be prepared for troubles and pray constantly.

[ChalkLine]

Originally Posted by Enfield

What nasty shit were the Scientologists doing?

Abductions, brain-washing and infiltration. Not all were happy about it but the final shootout was cult-level fanaticism

[Enfield]

Originally Posted by ChalkLine

Abductions, brain-washing and infiltration. Not all were happy about it but the final shootout was cult-level fanaticism

Interesting. Yeah I had been thinking of what kinds of groups had been surviving. I like to put some depth into the encounters, flesh them out, make them more than generic.

I borrowed the Uniontown folks from a novel called The Rift where a couple of fundamentalist churches who also have a gun club establish an encampment following a massive earthquake, and help others who come to join them. They have very strict standards though, and also impound goods and firearms for common use since as per the Book of Acts, the disciples of Christ held all things in common. This makes it difficult to leave once you have joined as they will only give you a day's food and water. They are also extremely reluctant to let any children leave. They are intolerant of homosexuality, atheism and certain religious sects. On the other hand htey can be very kind and generous with those who share their views.

The party will be dealing with another group in the Kidnapped adventrue which is modified for my setting) when they reach Sandy Hook and Harper's Ferry, as they will encounter people who unwittingly support the Reductionists there.

I'd been trying to think how they soften people up, and it occurred to me that it would probably be through spreading paranoia about the US government, spreading tales of doom and encouraging people to fail or give up their endeavors. For example the following:

- The Infection is fungus/insect borne. There is no way to avoid it.
- FEMA is cooperating with a secret government program that accidentally unleashed the Infection. It was originally a government created bioweapon.

and other such stuff. Rather than having a blatant emissary present, there will instead be rumour spreaders who move around in disguise demoralizing people.

[kalos72]

I used New America as a front for a corporation that is based on the old Morrow Project. A corporation that finds its way into lines of research and investment designed to help the world after WWIII.

They work to preposition certain resources or tech that they think would be needed after the war.

They buy patents to certain discontinued or never approved weapon systems, certain vehicles, airplanes, etc. They have teams trained and ready to support nuclear power plants after the bombs drop...

Kinda cool in my eyes...

[Enfield]

Originally Posted by kalos72

I used New America as a front for a corporation that is based on the old Morrow Project. A corporation that finds its way into lines of research and investment designed to help the world after WWIII.

They work to preposition certain resources or tech that they think would be needed after the war.

They buy patents to certain discontinued or never approved weapon systems, certain vehicles, airplanes, etc. They have teams trained and ready to support nuclear power plants after the bombs drop...

Kinda cool in my eyes...

That's a neat idea. The Morrow Project, with all the caches, boltholes and bunkers of various kinds is great for that. It provides useful NPCs and ideas as well. I'm using some of that stuff for the Reductionists too.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

The VHEMT and the lunatics who put up the Georgia Guidestones could dovetail nicely into the Reductionists.

[WallShadow]

Originally Posted by Enfield

That's a neat idea. The Morrow Project, with all the caches, boltholes and bunkers of various kinds is great for that. It provides useful NPCs and ideas as well. I'm using some of that stuff for the Reductionists too.

I dunno. They would be seriously in the advantage when the ball drops. Instead of contentious racist nutjobs backstabbing each other to get higher up, you'd have a truly dedicated group of somewhat rational nutjobs that is truly focused on their mission and has lots of high tech toys to accomplish it.
Survivors will have plenty to struggle against, without having a "noble evil empire" trying to make the world better in their own design. Now that's scary. Give me racist redneck crackpot conspiracy theory followers to fight anyday.

[Enfield]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

I dunno. They would be seriously in the advantage when the ball drops. Instead of contentious racist nutjobs backstabbing each other to get higher up, you'd have a truly dedicated group of somewhat rational nutjobs that is truly focused on their mission and has lots of high tech toys to accomplish it.
Survivors will have plenty to struggle against, without having a "noble evil empire" trying to make the world better in their own design. Now that's scary. Give me racist redneck crackpot conspiracy theory followers to fight anyday.

Very dangerous indeed. But in a way my scenario requires it. You see, I have a hard time believing that an Infection outbreak, 28 Days Later/Crossed/Crazies style, could defeat human civilization so easily as movies depict. I tend to prefer the old George A. Romero stuff where it is really people defeating one another, but that the plague is a kind of environmental effect.

So the Reductionists make it more likely and they don't even have to physically present themselves to have a reverberating effect on the setting. They just have to foster the plague and then damage infrastructure and agricultre. It does however give the pcs a number of targets of different kinds to fight against from time to time, a set of bad guys not easiy defeated or brought down.

[Raellus]

The video game Farcry 5 features, as its antagonists, a doomsday cult called Project at Eden's Gate (locals call them Peggies) that takes over a county in rural Montana in the run up to the fulfillment of various prophesies in the Book of Revelations. The game came out shortly after the current POTUS took office, generating a fair bit of controversy. Some took the premise/antagonists as a jab at the fundamentalist Christian element in the Alt Right. Others felt that the developers missed an opportunity to say something really relevant (and far more controversial) about the current political climate in America.

Anyway, I can see a group that incorporates elements of millennialism (belief in the End Times/Armageddon and a group of "chosen" people who will be catalysts in bringing about the new age), survivalism/prepping (stockpiling food, fuel, weapons, ammo, etc. in preparation for the prophesied end times), and certain political views becoming a powerful regional force, if unified under a driven, charismatic leader.