Cool Cargo-Cult 21st-Century Shout Outs for a Post-Apocalypse Game?

RPGPundit · November 09, 2017, 09:36:46 PM

What sort of stuff could be put into a game set maybe a thousand years after an apocalypse, that would make reference to our own time but might be misinterpreted?

For example, I just came up with a plot where there's a secret society in my setting, who think that the lyrics to Bob Dylan's Mr.Tambourine Man are actually a kind of sacred text with hidden keys to reaching some kind of utopia.

Headless · November 10, 2017, 11:56:21 AM

Photo albums stop in 2006. Future inhabitants think their was a sudden rise in a clut with a strong prohibition in idols and images.

Ravenswing · November 10, 2017, 06:12:31 PM

Quote from: Headless;1007022Photo albums stop in 2006. Future inhabitants think their was a sudden rise in a clut with a strong prohibition in idols and images.

One does wonder what archeologists and historians of the future will think of such overnight changes in practice and culture. But we know how this works.

See, my first wife is an internationally recognized quilt historian, and I pushed her into doing that because she's a quilter, and we were both in the SCA together. A lot of SCAdians were quite down on her quilting and proclaimed it out-of-period, holding to the bizarre shibboleth that quilting was invented by 19th century American frontier housewives, and it drove her crazy.

jeff37923 · November 10, 2017, 09:32:25 PM

They believe that movies and TV are actual chronicles of real events.

RPGPundit · November 12, 2017, 03:50:05 AM

Quote from: jeff37923;1007110They believe that movies and TV are actual chronicles of real events.

I'm not sure a lot of movies or TV would be likely to survive, though if they did, they might, maybe have that impression.

I think more likely there would be a lot of books that would be seriously misinterpreted, though.

Reckall · November 12, 2017, 10:26:10 AM

I do not know if this qualifies, but the scene from "Reign of Fire" where they watch a stage play, and you realise that it is actually "The Empire Strikes Back" was quite funny. I guess that some people from pre-apocalyptic times knew the movies by heart and reconstructed them from memory in written form - turning them into plays. Given enough generations, the idea that a "religious representation" could actually come from a movie could be lost.

Doom · November 12, 2017, 02:24:41 PM

Quote from: jeff37923;1007110They believe that movies and TV are actual chronicles of real events.

Around here, The Dukes of Hazzard is already considered a "how to" guide for a political system, as well as a documentary.

Zirunel · November 12, 2017, 02:57:28 PM

How's this for meta?

In some parts of the world, an ancient collection of writings called "Dungeons and Dragons" is preserved, venerated, and elevated to a sacred text. It offers a perplexing theology and worldview, an unusual mythology, a moral code of conduct, and many, many, many holy laws and dispute resolution mechanisms for the faithful. Many of these laws require the ritual casting of oddly-shaped "bones."

Of course, different versions of the sacred text, and many apocrypha, have come down to us from antiquity. Sages ponder the texts, compose elegant exegeses, but naturally doctrinal disputes abound. Sectarian strife is rampant.

RPGPundit · November 14, 2017, 01:47:19 AM

Quote from: Zirunel;1007373How's this for meta?

In some parts of the world, an ancient collection of writings called "Dungeons and Dragons" is preserved, venerated, and elevated to a sacred text. It offers a perplexing theology and worldview, an unusual mythology, a moral code of conduct, and many, many, many holy laws and dispute resolution mechanisms for the faithful. Many of these laws require the ritual casting of oddly-shaped "bones."

Of course, different versions of the sacred text, and many apocrypha, have come down to us from antiquity. Sages ponder the texts, compose elegant exegeses, but naturally doctrinal disputes abound. Sectarian strife is rampant.

Yup, I could see that.

Headless · November 14, 2017, 08:23:58 AM

That would actully be awesome if you veiled it just enough so it wasn't a self indulgent meta circle jerk.

Cave Bear · November 14, 2017, 08:29:46 AM

Holiday decorations.

What will future people make of Halloween?

Thornhammer · November 14, 2017, 08:56:59 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1007307I think more likely there would be a lot of books that would be seriously misinterpreted, though.

"All this has happened before, and by the right of it, all of it will happen again."

NPC shaman wordyman holds up a tattered paperback copy of the novelization of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

RPGPundit · November 16, 2017, 05:02:42 AM

Quote from: Cave Bear;1007712Holiday decorations.

What will future people make of Halloween?

Good question. There's a chance they might mistake it as something much more serious than it was. Like, assuming that we really did believe in dark and evil spirits and dressed our children up as monsters to ward off that evil.

kosmos1214 · November 17, 2017, 06:09:08 PM

This is literally the premise of A ps2 rpg I had called MS saga A new dawn.
Basically after the end as people where figuring out the world before the apocalypse they found "records" describing the world before known as the "universal century" but there is disagreement abound with historians as "records" describing "another century" and "the other century" have also come to light.
Basically they think Mobil Suit manga are historical records.

Dumarest · November 19, 2017, 12:15:32 PM

Quote from: jeff37923;1007110They believe that movies and TV are actual chronicles of real events.

So...Galaxy Quest?