📜 SURVIVOR'S ARCHIVE
> TRANSMISSION INCOMING...
Welcome to the official campaign archive for THE WASTELAND — a post-apocalyptic tabletop adventure.
DATE: UNKNOWN
STATUS: CAMPAIGN ACTIVE
LOCATION: DUSTHAVEN SETTLEMENT
The Fall
Nobody alive remembers exactly what happened. The elders call it The Scorching — a cataclysm that came fast and left the world broken. Some say it was war. Others say it was the machines turning against us. A few claim it was something from beyond the stars.
What's certain: the old world is gone. Its corpse remains — rusted towers, dead highways, bunkers full of wonders and horrors.
That was generations ago. Maybe a hundred years. Maybe two hundred. Time is slippery when calendars burn.
The strange part: The destruction was... selective. Some cities were vaporized. Others were left standing, emptied of people but otherwise intact. Almost like something was managing the collapse. Optimizing it.
Old terminals, when they can be activated, sometimes display the same message: AWAITING AUTHORIZATION. Nobody knows what it means.
The World Now
The Wastes — Irradiated deserts, toxic storms, mutated wildlife. Travel is dangerous. Water is precious. Trust is earned.
The Settlements — Scattered communities built from salvage. Some trade, some raid. Politics is survival.
The Ruins — Cities of the Old Ones. Treasure troves of pre-war tech, but also death traps — automated defenses, structural collapse, things that didn't stay dead.
⚠ CAMPAIGN TONE
Dungeon Crawler Carl energy. The apocalypse is brutal, absurd, and darkly hilarious. Nothing is off-limits — gallows humor, cosmic unfairness played for laughs. The world wants to kill you, but it's also deeply stupid in ways that make dying almost funny.
👤 SURVIVOR ROSTER
> LOADING PERSONNEL FILES...
STATUS: 0 SURVIVORS REGISTERED
📖 SESSION LOG
> WASTELAND MAP // FOG OF WAR
> CHRONICLE OF EVENTS
Recording all significant events in the wasteland...
🎭 KNOWN CONTACTS
> CONTACT DATABASE
STATUS: 0 INDIVIDUALS LOGGED
Tracking allies, enemies, and everyone in between...
🗺️ WORLD INTEL
> FACTION DATABASE
Known power structures in the wasteland...
📍 KEY LOCATIONS
⚙️ TECHNOLOGY
Pre-War Tech
Rare, valuable, and often dangerous:
- Weapons: Energy rifles, plasma grenades, powered armor (mostly non-functional)
- Medicine: Auto-docs, stimpacks, gene therapies
- Robots: Most are dormant or hostile. A friendly one is extremely unusual.
- Vehicles: Fuel is scarce. Most travel is on foot or mutant-beast.
- Communication: Radios work. The old network is dead, but local broadcasts exist.
Post-War Tech
Jury-rigged, steam-punk-adjacent:
- Scrap armor, crossbows, black powder weapons
- Solar stills, water purifiers
- Beast-drawn carts
📡 INTERCEPTED SIGNALS
> SIGNAL MONITORING ACTIVE
STATUS: SCANNING FREQUENCIES...
WARNING: Some signals predate The Scorching.
WARNING: Origin of several transmissions: UNKNOWN
⚠ CLASSIFIED DATA DETECTED ⚠
> ANALYST NOTES
These transmissions have been collected over generations. Some repeat endlessly. Others appear only once and never again.
The Chrome Collective believes they are messages from a benevolent Machine Mind.
The Covenant of Rust believes they are warnings we should heed.
The rest of us just try not to think about them too hard.
One thing everyone agrees on: whatever "authorization" they're waiting for...
...it hasn't come yet.
📋 HOW WE PLAY
> OPERATIONAL PROTOCOLS
Rules for surviving the wasteland together.
Format
Async play-by-post — No scheduled sessions. Play when you can.
The story advances when all active players have responded. Take your time, but don't leave your party hanging too long.
In-Character vs Out-of-Character
Default is in-character. Write as your survivor.
For out-of-character comments, use the OOC: prefix:
OOC: Hey, I'll be slow to respond this week
The GM won't respond to OOC messages unless you @mention them directly.
Turn Order
After each GM post, all players respond before the story continues.
You can post in any order. Coordinate with each other if your actions depend on someone else's choice.
If you need to step away, let the group know (OOC) so we're not waiting.
Dice & Mechanics
D&D 5e with wasteland homebrew. The GM handles rolls behind the screen.
When outcomes are uncertain, expect dice. Good roleplay doesn't guarantee success — but it might improve your odds or soften the failure.
Radiation, supplies, and scavenging are tracked. Check your character sheet on this site to see your current state.
> CONTENT WARNING
Dungeon Crawler Carl energy means nothing is off-limits. Dark humor, brutal consequences, gallows comedy.
If something crosses a line for you, speak up (OOC). We're here to have fun, not traumatize each other.