Doomlands And Wasteland:1989 -- Gonzo Post-apoc Inspiration

Not only do I enjoy gaming in the post-apocalyptic vein, I enjoy similar entertainment. However, many post-apocalyptic movies and books are very, very dark and depressing. Give me a fun apocalypse! One that's unabashedly gonzo with mutants and fast cars and radioactive fallout and random mayhem and just a soupcon of humor! Presented here are two recent offerings of the gonzo post-apocalyptic genre I think may inspire you at the gaming table:

The Roku streaming device has their own channel, and they've recently been offering original programming. One of their new shows is "Doomlands", an animated show that can be best described as "Cheers in the Wastelands." Danny Doom and his crew drive their mobile bar "The Oasis" across a post-apocalyptic landscape trying to make a living while fighting off raiders, marauders, and mutants. You can watch it either on The Roku Channel on your streaming device or free in your web browser.

As we move from cartoons to comic books, I present to you "Wasteland:1989", one of my new favorites from the folks at Eibon Press. Eibon's usual offerings are gore-splattered comics based on cult horror and sci-fi films. One of their original titles from their "VHS Comics" line is Wasteland:1989", a tribute to the post-nuke wasteland movies of the 1980s. In the nightmare ruins of a future America, Janet of the Apocalypse is out there fighting for survival against the worst the radioactive world has to offer. But is it a dream...or is it real? There have been three nitro-fueled, blood-drenched issues thus far, and I HIGHLY recommend each one of them!

The Bunker Door Reopens: A Relaunch And A Reintroduction...

To those of you who are new to the bunker, welcome to The Savage AfterWorld. To those of you returning for the first time in years, welcome back.

By way of (re-)introduction, I'm Your Friendly Neighborhood Sniderman and host of this contaminated corner of the blogosphere. The Savage AfterWorld first opened back in June 2009 (13 years ago!) as a post-apocalyptic RPG-related blog focusing on Goblinoid Games' Mutant Future, which was the game that brought me back into the hobby after several decades of "grown-up stuff". After several years of producing material on this blog for that system - and a couple of supplements as well - I relaunched The Savage AfterWorld to cover a variety of my interests, like other RPGs (especially Pacesetter's Cryptworld!), boardgames, attending conventions, making new game pieces, etc. Although I enjoyed opening up TSAW to all of my other interests and writing about them, the lack of "theme" made the blog somewhat scattershot. Interest waned - both from me and this blog's readers - and TSAW languished. But it never truly ended, nor was it apparently forgotten...

While listening to a recent episode of Picks from the Print Mine, this blog was name-dropped as one of my contributions to post-apocalyptic RPG gaming. I was a bit taken aback as I really haven't breathed any radioactive life into the blog for close to 5 years. But I checked the stats and - sure enough - this blog and its content still gets a lot of hits. I mean, a LOT of hits. I can only assume that the desire for more mutated missives exists, ergo I've crawled back into the bunker and will start reaching out to the other survivors out there in the wastelands.

As some of you may know, I've taken a liking to Goodman Games' Mutant Crawl Classics RPG and produced a supplement or two for it. I've contributed to The Gongfarmer's Almanac over the years and have run dozens of MCC/DCC games online and at conventions. I've recently been working with Goodman Games as a freelance editor for some of their projects, and I've even written an adventure for their Mutant Crawl Classics line. (More on that in a future post.) So it stands to reason that the The Savage AfterWorld should be resurrected (or make that "mutated") to be true to its post-apocalyptic roots. So this blog will be refocused on post-apocalyptic RPGs (with occasional sojourns into non-Armageddon-related material and games I find, y'know, cool).

So hunker in your bunker, crack open an unlabelled can of foodstuffs, check the rad count outside, and settle back for more to come from The Savage AfterWorld!