The world of Grass & Rubble in broad strokes
In the beginning Grass & Rubble was named Automatic Wasteland and it came out of a ruleset playtest right at the height of 2020 covid. The concept changed over the years but the core persisted.
My goal isn't to create a original lore, my goal is to capture the tones from some of my favourite media and try to create a game that let's me explore it further. Let's get to the point.
Grass & Rubble is a lo-fi cosmic horror game about desperate fortune seekers undertaking illegal incursions into an Exclusion Zone full of rogue robots, corporate expedition teams, merciless raiders and incomprehensible anomalies.
The Flicker
Many scientists tried to claim fame by naming the global phenomenon that shook the world two decades ago like the general incoherence event, Einstein-Rosen irregularity or causality well. The name that stuck in popular culture was simply: the Flicker. A global event of unknown origin that distorted reality, caused mass technological blackouts, and led to the formation of permanently altered Exclusion Zones. Those regions experienced days of chaos with people vanishing (and sometimes reappearing), inexplicable diseases and strange appearances. Governments responded with strict containment measures and an the Institute for research and containment was established to regulate the Zones.
The Belt
The stripe of land along the 11th Exclusion Zones border that lies under special Administration is commonly referred to as the Belt. Once an industrial backbone of the country, it's now a scarred and largely abandonned region after the Flicker struck, industries collapsed and a short but intense civil war raged. For those who remain, poverty reigns, black markets flourish and deteriorating infrastructure is defining everyday life. The City is the only major hub of the region, kept alive by the presence of the Institute and Wolfram Dynamics. Only few other towns and villages try to resist their inevitable decline.
The 11th Exclusion Zone
A vast, enclosed area where the Flicker never fully disappeared. It spans a perfect circle with a 38km radius known as the Null perimeter. Inside reality can be unreliable with local anomalies, wandering entities and altered wildlife. It's said that understanding its secrets would lead to historical scientific breakthroughs and that it holds treasures and opportunities for unmeasurable riches. After an initial gold rush that didn't turn out to be fruitful, interest quieted down a lot. But in recent years the security technology corporation Wolfram Dynamics funded a new large scale research & development endeavor on the Belt.
The Vultures
Crews of fortune seekers and treasure hunters who undertake illegal incursions into the Exclusion Zone to fulfill risky jobs and scavenge valuable bait. Hunted by the Administrations border patrol, targeted by Wolfram Dynamics mercs, ambushed by lawless Raiders and depending on the Black Markets stringers, a Vultures only edge is sticking to their codex and staying one step ahead.
A lot is unfinished. Names like "The Institute" or "The Administration" are placeholders. I'll follow this up with posts about factions, get more into detail about the zone and try to outline how a campaign could play out. For now I hope that gives you an impression of the setting.