Note: I recently watched Terminator 2 for the first time in a very long while, so this may be slightly infulenced by that.
Cataclysm is aptly named. There are so many apocalypses going on at once that it’s amazing the world hasn’t simply exploded as a way of excalating things. Things in the mines, fungal bloom, nuclear war, triffid invasion, not to mention the zombies. However, there is one doomsday scenario missing… Grey Goo/Robot War. There are robots in the game, but they seem to be pretty harmless unless you break into a police station/bank/pawn shop, at which point they arrest you/beat you to death. So, why not implement this angle of apocalypse? Here’s a few ideas to get it going.
Spawn
Fungus has fungal bloom, zombies have cities, extradimensional beings have portals, etc. So where should the robots spawn? I propose a nanobot infested zone. Why? Because it’s a bit more creative then “robot factory”, and it could have the fun idea of a zone constantly expanding as time goes on, if that’s possible to implement. It would be an endless brown landscape (Due to the fact that the nanobots have consumed all vegetation in their hunger for energy), magma fissures (Due to nanobots going deep into the Earth in order to eat energy), and collapsed houses and piles of skeletons (due to nanobots eating them, etc etc). This would be filled with swarms of nanobots and should be generally avoided until you’re ready to wage the war against the machines.
Types of Robots
Nanobot Swarm: This is a grey cloud, consisting of billions of nanobots. They are attempting to strip down all forms of matter into more energy. This can include walls, vegetation, other creatures (if in-monster fighting is implemented), and you. Especially you. How do you stop these horrible monsters if you can’t bash them into pieces or shoot them to death? Well, simply set a fire and they’ll be drawn to it by their thermal imaging mistaking it for a living being, then get burnt alive! However, don’t stick around the flames too long because that might draw the attention of the less prone to dying from being set alight robots.Don’t have a lighter? You best run, they’re not hard to avoid.
Hunter-Killer: This is a large, flying drone which is able to fire missiles at you. Beware! This is a boss-level enemy and you should probably run if you don’t have access to explosives or extremely powerful firearms. It’s strafe-runs of missiles should be able to be noted in the log, with a message such as “The Hunter-Killer whirrs and angles slightly forward” with perhaps a perception roll to detect that it may be going in for a strafing run.
Terminator: This robot initially appears to be human, at a distance. Up-close, you can take a perception roll to get a message “[NPC NAME] doesn’t seem quite right. S/he looks vaguely artificial and is mechanical in his/her movements.”. When you attempt to talk to it, it will attempt to kill you using any weapon it has at it’s disposal, even it’s own fists. It’s very strong, so beware!
Hi-Speed Pursuit Vehicle (HSPV): This is an automated police car that has been reprogrammed to chase you down… and run you down, if need be. It will attempt to crash into you, shoot you with it’s machine guns, and generally attempt to destroy you even if it means the death of itself. It is the size of a regular car with no windows or doors. Inside would most likely be electronic parts.
That’s my ideas for now. Feel free to critique and add onto it!
