Setting and Genre: In the year 2132, the world of Ashfall is a post-apocalyptic survival RPG blending gritty realism with cyberpunk elements in its pockets of civilization, juxtaposed against desolate, alien landscapes in the ruined regions. The tone is dark and desperate, emphasizing scavenging, faction rivalries, and moral gray areas amid mutant horrors and resource wars. Players are survivors navigating a fractured society where technology is both salvation and curse.
The Continent: The former United States serves as the primary continent, now a splintered landmass. The western half is the most devastated, transformed into a mix of hellish wastelands and alien Greybloom jungles, while the east coast hosts the largest, most organized governments and factions, showcasing lingering cyberpunk influences like augmented guards and holographic markets. These cybernetically enhanced guards possess implanted technology for superior vision, strength, or reflexes. Holographic markets are vibrant projections of advertisements, news feeds, and interactive market stalls that illuminate the streets and public spaces, often maintained by advanced AI or automated systems.
The Ashfall Event: Sixty years ago, in 2072, the Yellowstone caldera erupted in a supervolcanic catastrophe dubbed "The Fall" or "Ashfall." This catastrophic event was triggered by an accident at the Crystal City's cutting-edge nuclear/geothermal power plant, built to harness energy from newly discovered "Crystal Shards." The accident, rather than safely tapping into the caldera's energy, destabilized it, unleashing massive ash clouds that blotted the sun and triggered a 10-year global volcanic winter. The resulting environmental devastation poisoned soils, caused widespread extinctions of pre-Fall flora and fauna, and exposed vast quantities of Crystal Shards from deep within the Earth. These radioactive minerals became both the catalyst for accelerating mutations in surviving life and the world's most revolutionary energy source.
Geography and Environment: Ashfall's geography is diverse and hazardous:
Western Wastelands: Endless dunes of volcanic ash and lava flows surround the Caldera, with ruined cities like former Denver buried under grey fallout; dust storms (DC 15 Con save or blinded/exhausted) and seismic activity dominate.
Crystal City Ruins: The epicenter of The Fall, once a thriving cyberpunk metropolis near the Yellowstone caldera. Sixty years later, it is a multi-layered ruin. Lower levels are Ash-Choked Ruins, buried beneath meters of volcanic ash and rock, retaining valuable pre-Fall tech but dangerously radioactive. Mid-levels are enveloped by the Greybloom Canopy, where mutated flora consumes structures. Upper levels form Skeletal Towers, less buried but unstable and ravaged by wind. The city remains a prime exploration zone, holding answers to pre-Fall questions, vital tech, and dangerous remnants of its automated past. Remnants of self-healing polymers and advanced alloys may still be found, offering deeper insight into pre-fall building technologies.
Greybloom Jungles: Former deserts like the Southwest have "bloomed" with megaflora—towering, bioluminescent plants subsisting on nutrient-rich volcanic soil from ash clouds, creating vibrant but deadly ecosystems with carnivorous vines and toxic spores.
Irradiated Zones: Lakes and forests near the Caldera teem with Greybloom, where radiation sickness (DC 15 Con save or exhaustion) limits exploration, but Crystal Shards abound in these alien biomes.
Eastern Enclaves: The east coast, less affected, features cyberpunk megacities like rebuilt New York with neon-lit streets and corporate towers, surrounded by irradiated outskirts.
Ruined Bunkers and Outposts: Pre-Fall underground facilities dot the land, filled with tech loot but guarded by mutants or traps (DC 15 Dex save or damage from collapses); nomadic markets move between them.
Greybloom: Greybloom is the term for the mutated flora and fauna that arose after Ashfall. Beautiful yet deadly, it represents alien life adapted to the ash-laden environment. Flora includes mega-plants with glowing petals and venomous thorns, thriving on volcanic soil and forming dense, territorial jungles. Fauna has evolved into monstrous versions of pre-Fall animals—e.g., deer with crystalline antlers or wolves with bioluminescent fur—or completely alien creatures like flying predators with acid spit. Greybloom ecosystems are aggressive, protecting crystal shards embedded in the soil. Humans exposed to Greybloom mutate: some gain enhanced traits like night vision or tough skin, thriving in the wilds, while others transform into monstrous horrors, shunned or hunted. These mutations have largely stabilized over the 60 years, though new, unpredictable variations can still emerge. Increasing the mutation rate in a setting accelerates evolution, leading to more cancers, miscarriages, stillbirths, and potentially beneficial 'birth defects.'
Crystal Shards: These radioactive minerals, unearthed by the eruption, are the source of Greybloom mutations and a powerful energy resource. Plentiful in the Yellowstone Caldera and surrounding regions, Crystal Shards power lights, weapons, vehicles, and cities with efficiency far surpassing pre-Fall technology. Their potential has spurred a "crystal rush" similar to gold fever, drawing adventurers, mercenaries, and factions to risk the dangers for wealth. Crystals are standardized as 1-ounce units for trade and ammo, but non-uniform shards can be ground to fit. Nations and factions covet them, funding expeditions that create boom towns around the region.
Global Impact and Society:
The Ashfall event's effects were felt worldwide, but nations far from Yellowstone, such as in Asia or Europe, were less impacted and maintained advanced cyberpunk societies with towering megacities, neon-lit streets, and corporate overlords blending high-tech prosthetics, AI assistants, and pre-Fall innovation.
The United States splintered into smaller faction-run governments after The Fall, with the largest and most sophisticated on the east coast, where cities like New York rebuilt into fortified enclaves with cyberpunk influences (e.g., augmented guards, holographic markets).
The Western US is a chaotic frontier: hellish wastelands of ash and lava in the Caldera, alien Greybloom jungles in former deserts, and everything in between—irradiated lakes, mutated forests, and ruined cities overrun by territorial mutants.
Humanity persists through adaptation: some live in outposts like Rusthaven (trading hubs with black markets), nomadic caravans, or faction strongholds. The generations born after The Fall have grown up in this new reality, accepting the dangers and the benefits of mutation as part of their world.
Technology was advanced pre-Fall (cyberpunk-level in cities, with energy weapons and vehicles), and Crystal Shards have sparked a new boom. Thriving nations covet crystals, sending military, mercenaries, and adventurers to the Caldera for collection, creating tension and "crystal fever" boom towns around the region. The interconnected systems like smart traffic lights and environmental sensors may still operate in specific pockets of the city, allowing for enhanced navigation.
Factions and nations fund operations to steal, kill, conquer, buy, or trade for crystals: some trade peacefully, bringing wealth to the region; others deploy bandits, nomads, or paramilitary to seize control. This has led to wars, alliances, and black markets in crystal-rich zones.