Saturday, March 8, 2014

Sea City 2000 and Aquatic Cities For Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns


Back when I was a kid there were all these weird educational books that classic 1970's science fiction illustrations in them trying to depict the future. Back in the 1960's and into the Seventies there was this push for underwater cities and oceanic farms. Many of these relics from the retro future seemed worlds away. The Future Cities : Homes and Living Into The 21st Century was always a good time from the school library and I remember the floating city pyramid megadungeon from the book.
Aquatic Cities  appeared over and over again in old school post apocalyptic rpg's such as a Gamma World and more recently in the follow up fan module Rapture From The Deep.

Other Old School Influence television Mr. Allen's Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. 




I've used these under water tidal power stations over and over again in many Gamma World and recently in Mutant Future. 


This book was from the 1979 The Usborne Book of The Future. This book tried to give a glimpse into our possible future. The book is available for free download from the Internet Archive and the illustrations are still great for illustrating some of the  old school 'Gamma Technology'. 

Download It Right Over HERE 

The 1970's seventies under water city is a staple with DM's when setting up location and here are few reasons why - 
  • They make excellent former corporate headquarters usually controlled by a deranged A.I. with android troops. 
  • They make excellent treasure rooms especially the mineral collections and gold deep sea collecting operations. Insert giant tape wyrms. 
  • Deep sea going nuclear holocaust survivors with mecha or giant robots.  
For a more modern take on this theme there's 1989 Leviathan, a great low budget film that has a mutant future friendly shapeshifting life form. 

Possible Random Deep Sea Encounters 

  1. 1d8 Deep Ones hunting troop after human sacrifices & dinner victims 
  2. A group of 1d8 mutant Gillmen hunters going after salvage HP 2 AC 8 Armed with Spears 
  3. 1d6 Giant  Sea Spiders AC 7 HD 4 Damage 1d4 plus  save vs poison if bit 
  4. 1d6 Mutant Sea Farmers with harvest plants,herbs, and food crops
  5. 1d4 Giant Mutant Sea Slugs (metal eaters & flesh eaters)
  6. 1d6 Giant Tape Worms AC 6 HP 5 Dam 1d4 plus infection 
  7. 1d8 Aquatic probots from a nearby deep sea community looking for raiding potential targets 
  8. 1d4 mutant Carpoids after anything they can steal. 
  9. Underwater cloakers tribesmen working for the local cult of Cthulhu. Looking for sacrifices 
  10. 1d8 Giant Mutant Crabs looking for a meal 
There is a 30% chance of any of these encounters having potential for relics or artifacts. Please roll on the right matrices for artifacts. 

2 comments:

  1. I remember those books from the 70s and early 80s, they were pretty cool even if the future looks nothing like what they showed.

    Thanks for the pointer to the archive.org PDF of this one. I've been thinking about a gonzo post-apocalyptic game lately, this is good food for thought.

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  2. They were very cool gregarious monk, they've now become a retro future now. And I've got more gonzo post-apocalyptic coming up tomorrow my friend. I have a feeling they'll be of great use to you my friend.
    Thanks for the comment and more coming up!
    Cheers

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