But not anymore.
The usual name given to Those Who Came
Before has become a cliché in post-apocalyptic gaming. Calling them The
Ancients started (I think) with Gamma World. It’s a good title, one that’s very
evocative. It hints of immeasurable age, the forgotten past, of arcane wisdom.
But I feel it’s a term that has been truly overused.
In much the same way that I’ve coined the
term “Apocalygeddon” as the event that ended the world, I use “The Prepocs” (pronounced
PREE-pocks) in my home games to refer to the pre-apocalyptic society. But it’s
not quite as evocative, and -- as a made-up term -- it reads badly when written
out. So I’ve brainstormed some new names for this pre-Mutant Future people and have them listed in the poll below. Which
strikes a chord with you? The top vote-getter becomes the new identifier for “Those
Who Came Before” on both this blog and in future supplements.