Flare Fall - Plot Twister's Guide

Flare Fall is a TTRPG (Table-Top Role Playing Game) where the players incarnate survivors in a sci-fi post-apocalyptic version of Earth. Let's break down what that means:

Natural Apocalypse

Post-apo authors usually blame the apocalypse on whatever deeply ingrained fear they have at the time: for example, an invasion from a technologically superior alien civilization could represent the worry Americans had, in the 1960s, of losing their status as the leaders of the western world.

Some post-apo media created during the Cold War blamed the apocalypse on nuclear warfare instead. More modern takes blame climate change, rampant unchecked capitalism, or mis-aligned general artificial intelligence.

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Flare Fall doesn't blame its apocalypse on anything we as humans could possibly control. The fall was expected, and yet inevitable. But what we do have control over, is what comes next. How we decide this world should be rebuilt. Will you try to repair what's broken, or create something new? Your choices and agency are the paint that will bring this blank canvas to life.

Near, Hard Sci-Fi

Like a dream, or a nightmare, the purpose of science fiction is to put us in a situation that might happen so that when and if it does, we can be prepared for it. We'll have thought about the consequences of this new technology, and we'll, hopefully, be able to avoid its pitfalls.

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Near sci-fi means this game is set in a relatively near future, where humanity is still stuck on good ole planet Earth, just with a couple fancy new toys in our collective tool-belt.

It's a familiar world, where most of the things you care about in your daily life, are things that your character might also have cared about before the Flare: gossip, paying rent, what you're making for dinner, your kid's next birthday party. The concert you went to last week might have involved some holograms, sure. But until the Flare, this was essentially... Home.

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Hard sci-fi means that most of the concepts and technologies introduced in this game are the direct and indirect consequences of a single, carefully considered addition to our understanding of the laws of physics: heavy light. The world tries to be as internally consistent as possible, and it's not about to throw some curve-ball at you like "suddenly, aliens".

It's because the world reacts predictably to your actions and decisions, that you get to take action, and make decisions. Because, once again, your agency is what this game is about.