Ruins Of Atlanta

Ruins of Atlanta adds setting information to the Kalos Universe, focusing in detail on the people who have chosen to live in the aftermath of the Fall of Paragon, when that hero single-handedly destroyed the city of Atlanta.

The ruins of Atlanta offer an unusual opportunity to combine superhero roleplay with the post-apocalypse genre. Many of the tropes of the post-apocalypse genre are present here: lawless gangs of scavengers, young idealists trying to build a better world, jaded cynics who will do anything to survive, power-hungry warlords, religious fanatics, high-tech enclaves, and even the occasional mutant.

Welcome to the ruins.

Ruins Of Atlanta by Jason Tondro
Ruins Of Atlanta by Jason Tondro

Status update: art for Ruins Of Atlanta

We have good news, and we have bad news: which would you like first? Bad news? We may as well get it over with, then. Due to events beyond our control, both personal and professional, among the Kalos Comics staff, Bulletproof Blues Second Edition is about two months behind where we’d hoped to be by the beginning of August. We want to assure you that this is a delay, not a derailment — the book will be released, just later than we had hoped. We are disappointed, and we know you are, too. Thanks for sticking with us.

Now for the good news! We have the completed manuscripts for Ruins Of Atlanta (by Jason Tondro) and Extraterrestrial Villainy (by Steve Long), and we have started working on the layout for Ruins Of Atlanta. These supplements are great fun, and we know you’ll enjoy them. In fact, we were so pleased with Ruins Of Atlanta that we felt it deserved artwork to go with Jason’s delightful text, even though art for the sourcebooks was not part of the Kickstarter. We scoured the world for an artist whose style would match the setting given form by Jason Tondro, and we found one in James Shields, a freelance character artist who loves superheroes, sci-fi, and roleplaying games. We commissioned ten pieces of original art from James for Ruins Of Atlanta. Like all of the art in Bulletproof Blues Second Edition, the finished pieces will be released under a Creative Common Attribution-ShareAlike license, meaning that you will be able to use them in your own projects!

Here are four examples of works in progress from James Shields. What do you think?

Ruins of Atlanta

We have finished the editing for Ruins Of Atlanta, by Jason Tondro, and are beginning the layout. This is a fantastic sourcebook, and we couldn’t be happier. Here’s a small sample to whet your appetite.

Ruins Of Atlanta by Jason Tondro
Ruins Of Atlanta by Jason Tondro

The Secret Of The CDC

When Paragon attacked the city of Atlanta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were his first target. Although the state and federal government, as well as a few other organizations and individuals, have figured this out, it’s not entirely clear why the CDC earned this distinction. Moreover, because Paragon’s attack on Atlanta was the beginning of the nihilistic rampage that ended in his death, it’s possible that the CDC was somehow connected to Paragon’s fall in the first place.

Bulletproof Blues does not offer an official explanation for Paragon’s fall and his decision to target the CDC in Atlanta. Instead, we offer a half dozen potential reasons. As a GM, you can decide which, if any, of these is accurate, and you can use it to inform other aspects of the Kalos Comics setting. Investigating this secret might be a major plotline for players to pursue, or it might be irrelevant to current events, as you choose.

Existential Dread: Paragon learned that he, and possibly many other posthumans, are actually artificial beings grown in tanks housed deep in the CDC. His memories, and the memories of other posthumans who believe they have had normal lives, were constructed by powerful AI and then implanted into the clones. The realization that everything he thought he knew about himself was a lie drove Paragon into a fury, and once he began to massacre people he denied any remorse by insisting, “I’m not a real person, so how can I feel guilty?”

Ex-Terminated: Paragon had a vision of the future in which he saw a psychic alien life form arise out of the CDC and quickly absorb the minds of all it encountered. Atlanta’s million residents were consumed in minutes, and most of the rest of the world followed within days. Convinced that this future was inevitable and that 95% of humanity was certain to die, he went to drastic steps in an effort to destroy the creature and save what remained. Apparently, he was misled and that future wasn’t certain after all, because no trace of the psychic alien has (yet) been found.

“I Couldn’t Save Her!”: While investigating the breakout of a rare virus in central Africa, Paragon’s girlfriend, an investigative journalist, contracted the fever and died in the arms of CDC doctors. Paragon arrived moments later, but it was too late, and he snapped. The CDC was just the first victim of his uncontrollable grief and self-loathing.

Jailbreak Gone Bad: Paragon fell under the mental domination of Professor Petrie, a parasitic worm imbued with vast intelligence and psychic powers, but little common sense or experience in the world. Petrie summoned Paragon from across the country and commanded him to “use your powers to destroy this facility! Destroy! Destroy!” Which Paragon promptly did, obliterating the CDC where Petrie was housed, the rest of Atlanta, and (presumably) Petrie himself. With the mental command still bouncing around his head and no way to turn it off, Paragon continued his rampage until the Justifiers were forced to kill him.

The Last Straw: For decades Paragon had come to hold humanity in contempt, resenting both the pressure of being a hero and the constant criticism that comes with it. In an effort to bribe one of these critics, a scientist, into silence, he gave the man a sample of Isopteran technology. But with this, the scientist accidentally released the Burroughs Plague, a macabre linguistic virus which killed hundreds. CDC researchers called Paragon in to ask him some questions which he interpreted as accusations. He finally snapped, murdering all of them, ruining the city, and beginning his destructive rampage.

The Posthuman Plague: Paragon discovered that the federal government had developed a potential counter-measure to posthumanity, a deadly plague that can be carried and transmitted by, but which has no effect upon, ordinary people. This virus was stored at the CDC against the inevitable day that Paragon, or others like him, turned against mundane authority and decided to rule the world.