For pretty much anyone who grew up during the Cold War, the idea that the world could be wiped out on any given afternoon was not such a foreign one. Two superpowers – each armed to the teeth with enough nukes to turn the planet into a smoldering pile of radioactive slag – kept the world teetering on the edge of destruction. With this dark cloud hanging over society’s head, it’s no wonder post-apocalyptic imagery became so prevalent in popular culture at the time. From novels like On The Beach in the late 50s to movies like Mad Max in the late 70s and 80s, different views of the world after the bomb could be found everywhere.

Growing up as I did in the 80s, the immediate threat of sudden annihilation felt more distant than it did for those in the times of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but it was there nonetheless. For me, seeing these tales of the post-apocalypse always held a strange fascination; what would things really be like? Would society fall apart completely? Would the survivors come together to rebuild a newer, better world? Would giant mutant spiders rise up and destroy us all? Part of it was fatalistic curiosity, but another part of it was the hope that maybe the end of the world would turn out to be an adventure after all. 

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I have always had a soft-spot for post-apocalyptic fiction.  From movies to comics to games, if something is set after the end of the world, I’m usually willing to give it a shot.  Sometimes this turns out for the best, such as when I find something I enjoy like Jericho. Sometimes it doesn’t go well at all and I end up spending $9 to watch something like I Am Legend.

I trace most of this strange love of mine back to a little game called “Wasteland.”  Released back in 1988, Wasteland was an RPG in the mold of Bard’s Tale, but set in an America destroyed by nuclear war.  As a team of Desert Rangers (the law and order of the wastes), you wander the shattered lands of Nevada solving problems, saving lives, and kicking ass. I played the hell out of Wasteland, trying to make my way through it with various teams and skill sets, seeing what worked out the best. And, for years, Wasteland stood alone in terms of RPGs sharing the post-apocalyptic setting.  There were rumors of sequels (and one sort-of sequel called Fountain of Dreams, but we won’t talk about that…), but for the most part Wasteland was a lone oddity in a world of swords and sorcery.  That is, it was alone until the mid 90′s, when Black Isle Studios released what most called a “spiritual successor” to Wasteland.  That game, of course, was Fallout.

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