Darwin's World
Encyclopedia
Darwin's World, created by Dominic Covey, is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game
first published under the d20
Open Game License in 2001. Originally designed as a quick adaptation of the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons
rules, the game has since been greatly expanded and revised and now utilizes the d20 Modern
rules. Several Darwin's World books and supplements have seen print, though most support for the game is still only available in PDF format. In 2010, RPGObjects began producing game books using Pinnacle's Savage Worlds
system.
Darwin's World was nominated for an Ennie award (Best d20 Game) in 2002.
The online e-zine, Post Apocalyptic Dispatch, continues to provide short articles that support game play for both gamemasters and players alike.
, racism, and drug use give it a grittier quality than most post-apocalyptic RPGs, which often have a fantastic or "comic book" feel that requires a broader willingness to suspend disbelief.
. The default setting remains a wasteland created by global nuclear
/biological
/chemical warfare
, however (See Weapon of mass destruction). There is a strong focus on regions that once constituted the Midwest and Western United States
; numerous modules
published for the game are nominally set in "desert" or "wasteland" areas. More specific locations include the desert trade town of Tucumcari
, the sunken city of Bakersfield and its strange subterranean monsters, the overgrown ruins
of Los Angeles
, a San Francisco overrun by anti-technology zealots, and a decadent society thriving in the futuristic domed cities of the Midwest. One supplement went into great detail exploring the fate of the Pacific Northwest
.
s, and modules are available for Darwin's World.
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
first published under the d20
D20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
Open Game License in 2001. Originally designed as a quick adaptation of the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
rules, the game has since been greatly expanded and revised and now utilizes the d20 Modern
D20 Modern
d20 Modern is a roleplaying game designed by Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan. It was published by Wizards of the Coast in November 2002, and uses the d20 System...
rules. Several Darwin's World books and supplements have seen print, though most support for the game is still only available in PDF format. In 2010, RPGObjects began producing game books using Pinnacle's Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds is an award-winning, universal generic, role-playing game and miniatures wargame, written by Shane Lacy Hensley, and published by Great White Games doing business as Pinnacle Entertainment Group...
system.
Darwin's World was nominated for an Ennie award (Best d20 Game) in 2002.
The online e-zine, Post Apocalyptic Dispatch, continues to provide short articles that support game play for both gamemasters and players alike.
Mature Themes
Unlike many existing post-apocalyptic role-playing games, Darwin's World is often described as a darker and more "realistic" game system. In specific, its use of real-life deformities and genetic diseases to portray character defects, as well as issues like slaverySlavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, racism, and drug use give it a grittier quality than most post-apocalyptic RPGs, which often have a fantastic or "comic book" feel that requires a broader willingness to suspend disbelief.
Versions 2.0 and 2.5
While the original Darwin's World books clearly put forth a timeline and history, the second edition (and most recent edition, v2.5) has a broader focus intending to provide rules, suggestions, and guidelines for any kind of post-apocalyptic campaign settingCampaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
. The default setting remains a wasteland created by global nuclear
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
/biological
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
/chemical warfare
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
, however (See Weapon of mass destruction). There is a strong focus on regions that once constituted the Midwest and Western United States
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
; numerous modules
Adventure (role-playing games)
An adventure is either a published or otherwise written collection of plot, character, and location details used by a gamemaster to manage the plot or story in a role-playing game. Each adventure is based upon a particular gaming genre and is normally designed for use with a specific game or gaming...
published for the game are nominally set in "desert" or "wasteland" areas. More specific locations include the desert trade town of Tucumcari
Tucumcari, New Mexico
Tucumcari is a city in and the county seat of Quay County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 5,989 at the 2000 census. Tucumcari was founded in 1901, two years before Quay County was founded.-History:...
, the sunken city of Bakersfield and its strange subterranean monsters, the overgrown ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, a San Francisco overrun by anti-technology zealots, and a decadent society thriving in the futuristic domed cities of the Midwest. One supplement went into great detail exploring the fate of the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
.
Game Supplements
A wide range of supplements, sourcebookSourcebook
The term sourcebook is used to describe many different kinds of books such as collections of core articles , bibliographies, biographies, printed archival sources, directories and so on...
s, and modules are available for Darwin's World.
- Darwin's World 2: Survivor's Handbook. The current edition of the basic rules.
- Cave of Life. A low-level adventure detailing an abandoned missile silo.
- The Lost City/Return To The Lost City. A journey to a monster-infested city sunken beneath the earth.
- Death By Corium Light. High-level adventure detailing the corium mines of Little Vegas.
- The Foundationists. A sourcebook detailing the setting's premier technology-crazed faction.
- Metal Gods. Rules for robotRobotA robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
s and making androids and cyborgCyborgA cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
s as charactersPlayer characterA player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
. - The Lost Paradise. A regional sourcebook detailing the Pacific Northwest.
- Terrors of The Lost Paradise. A sourcebook presenting new monsters.
- Against The Wastelords. A low-level adventure involving a desperate race to find a nuclear missile.
- New World Order. A mid-level adventure that involves the characters in a war against a strange new enemy.
- The Last God. A high-level adventure pitting the characters against an animate and intelligent bioweapon that pre-dates the Fall.
- High Road To Hell. Gen ConGen ConGen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
2004 adventure. A mid-level adventure utilizing a time limit mechanic. - One Man's Garbage/Another Man's Treasure. Gen ConGen ConGen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
2005 adventure. A mid-level adventure in which characters struggle to find the legendary "Mount of Thorns". - Humanity In A Bottle. Boxed set sourcebook/module describing in detail a dystopian society long forgotten by the inhabitants of the world.
- The Broken and The Lost. A sourcebook presenting new rules for savageSavage- Places :Canada* Lower Savage Islands, Nunavut* Middle Savage Islands, NunavutSlovenia* Savage Lake, a karst lakeUnited States* Savage, Maryland* Savage, Minnesota...
characters, tribes, and societies. - The Ruin at The End of The World. A sourcebook/module detailing the ruins of Los Angeles; also the first Darwin's World supplement to make use of supernaturalSupernaturalThe supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
story elements. - Bad News In Bugtown. Gen ConGen ConGen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
2007 adventure. A low-level adventure set in the ruins of Amarillo. - Halidom. Boxed set module detailing an epic campaignCampaign (role-playing games)In role-playing games, a campaign is a continuing storyline or set of adventures, typically involving the same characters. The purpose of the continuing storyline is to introduce a further aspect into the game: that of development, improvement, and growth of the characters. In a campaign, a...
against a notorious raider army, the "Doomriders". - Secrets of The Mind Masters. A high-level adventure pitting the player characters against the super-psychics known as the "Savants".
Real-Life Inspiration
Numerous adventures written for Darwin's World either briefly feature, reference, or center around real-life places and events. These include:- The adventure, Cave of Life, describes an old and abandoned Titan missile silo, accurately detailed.
- In The Last God, the real-life town of Center, CO, is re-imagined as a covert biological weapons plant disguised as a small backwater town. The map of Center used in the adventure is precisely modeled on the actual town.
- The "Mount of Thorns" that is the object of the player character's quest in Another Man's Garbage is none other than the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
- The Ruin at The End of The World features numerous Los Angeles landmarks. The PasadenaPasadena, CaliforniaPasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
Arboretum is filled with giant mutant plants, the L.A. city library is inhabited by a mysterious vampireVampireVampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
, City Hall is a haunt for a gang of transgendered thugs, and the ruins of HollywoodHollywood, Los Angeles, CaliforniaHollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
are now home to a fledgling empire of half-man, half-beast creatures. - The monument at Mount RushmoreMount RushmoreMount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States...
plays a major role in the campaign adventure, "Halidom". - Certain details of the Philadelphia ExperimentPhiladelphia ExperimentThe Philadelphia Experiment is the name of an alleged naval military experiment said to have been carried out at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA sometime around October 28, 1943. It is alleged that the U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Eldridge was to be rendered...
are mentioned (and play an important role) in Secrets of The Mind Masters.
Related Works
- Darwin's World was originally based on a play-by-email ("PBEM") game titled Necropolis (on which much of the material in Ruin at The End of The World is based). A second pbem game (Shadow of The Savants) further fleshed out some of the background material for the game's Twisted Earth setting.
- Burning Lands is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel set some three centuries after World War IIIWorld War IIIWorld War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
, making use of the "Twisted Earth" setting.