With all the talk of Armeggedon here the last week, one thing I haven’t done is talk about the cause.  I mean, sure, the Dow tanked another 500 points yesterday and it’s a sign we’re all going to die.  But what about where it really matters…in your games?  So, I thought I’d whip this up just for you all…my top ten ways to bring about the apocalypse!

10.  Asteriod Strike

A classic, and one that scientists don’t say “if” when talking about it, but “when”.  There are plenty of planet killers out there with the potential to strike the earth.  Movies like Deep Impact and Armeggedon touch on what kind of effort is needed to prevent one of these from hitting the Earth.  For your game, why should they succeed?  After all…what good is a post apocalyptic game without an apocalypse?

9.  Super Volcano

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a super volcano under Yellowstone National Park that is due to go off at any point.  Experts believe that the last time one of these bad boys went off, the human population droped to just a few thousand survivors.  While there may be more this time, life will be difficult for those who make it…just difficult for your group to manage?  It’s definitely a possibility, now isn’t it?

8.  Foreign Invasion

Red Dawn was one of my favorite movies growing up.  Hell, it’s half the reason I own an AK-47. (and yes…I’ve held it up in one hand and yelled “Wolverines!!!!!!” before.  My wife thinks I’m insane BTW)  A foreign invasion may not cause a true apocalypse in and of itself, but the fighting that ensues sure as hell can.  Scarcity of resources is a given requirement, and pretty likely too.

7.  Climate Change/Ecological Disaster

Think The Day After Tomorrow or even Waterworld (if you can’t think Waterworld though, I completely understand).  For some reason, the world has changed due to climate.  I won’t get into the political arguments one way or the other either, we’re talking about a game and climate change can be a wonderful way to bring about the apocalypse.  Ecological disasters could be anything from the freezing hurricanes in The Day After Tomorrow or even a super hurricane that goes global.  Anything is possible.

6.  Peak Oil

In case you’re unfamiliar with the term Peak Oil, it’s the idea that we will eventually pump most of the oil out of the ground (the peak) and have a decline on how much we can retreive.  Again, this isn’t so much a case of if, but when since oil is a finite resource.  If alternative fuels aren’t found quickly enough, or the conversion doesn’t happen quickly enough, then you can have some serious problems.  For example, one of the biggest customers of the petroleum industry is farmers.  Not just fuel for farm equipment either, but pesticides and such as well, all come from petroleum.  Lack of food will definitely be apocalyptic!

5.  Civil War

For some reason, there is a massive civil war.  Perhaps the scenario that The Mad Brewer laid out in his comments yesterday come to pass and the people rise up.  The fighting that ensues will be ugly…very ugly.  Especially if the military fragments and fights on both sides.  What’s left might not be that different than Somalia or Afghanistan before the US got involved.  Lots of innocents could be killed in the crossfire, including those who are needed to produce food and other resources necessary.  It could get ugly in a lot of ways

4.  EMP

A blast of EMP (electromagnetic pulse) renders everything electrical useless in an instant.  People are now forced back to life in the 1800’s.  The only problem?  Most people don’t know how to live in the 1800’s!  Panic, food riots, looting, martial law, anything is possible.  A very cool story about it can be found here (warning…this has some politics that I am not necessarily endorsing.  I just feel it’s a good story about an EMP attack).

3.  Economic Collapse

For more details, you can see CNN ;)

OK…seriously, economies can and do collapse, and that nation can get very, very interesting.  Reports I’ve read from Argentina after it’s economic collapse involve a skyrocketing of kidnapping rates, increases in police corruption, the “black” market having a building open as plain as day, and gun battles just heading to work in the morning.  Should something like that happen here, things could get very, very interesting in very, very bad ways.

2.  Plague

The old stand-by, and it’s an old stand-by for a reason.  Plagues are scary, and they happen whenever you least expect them.  The Black Death killed millions.  The Spanish Flu killed millions as well.  Plague is a popular bringer of death in fiction as well, from Earth Abides to I Am Legend to the TV Show Jeremiah.  It can kill millions, but some people are usually immune to whatever disease is floating, around, which is how you have your PCs.

1.  The Domino Effect

My personal #1 favorite isn’t just one cause for the apocalypse, but a cascade of events bringing it about.  For example, terrorists attack Wall Street.  The economy can’t handle it, so the economy collapses.  The federal government steps in and declares martial law, so people go into rebellion.  In an effort to stop the enemy, and EMP is used.  This can incorporate almost any elements you want and have a logical progression.

So, there you have it…my personal favorites.  Many of these can be used as causes for a dystopia as well.  Just have fun with it.  Remember, if you can’t have fun with the apocalypse, what can you have fun with?