The Polyester Road: Home Campaign Notes

The Apocalypse means something different to different people. But for those of us who soaked up a hearty dose of Cold War propaganda, Reaganomics and  70's and 80's pop culture, the Apocalypse is all about Adrienne Barbeau's cleavage, shoulder pads, bad dialogue, rubbery monsters and lots of hair gel. Which brings me to a nifty little game called "Mutant Truckers Of The Polyester Road," but as Polyester Road is way easier to say, I am going with it.
The Polyester Road campaign is a Beer and Pretzels RPG that uses the Target 10 game system. It is a post apocalypse game that is fully detailed in NOD # 12 (print or e-book). Though the official game uses its own setting, there is no reason why you cant use your favorite RPG system to emulate the setting. Mutant Future could easily be used for this setting, with only minimal changes.
The setting of The Polyester Road RPG melds Trucker and Biker culture with the post apocalypse comics, books and movies of the 60's, 70's and 80's. Ever game-world locale should look and feel like it could be shot (if a movie of TV series) on a back lot, in an abandoned factory, an off-shift reactor or along a lonely stretch of road. 
So get on your old hockey pads and glop on some hair gel. Its time to roll out!


THE SETTING (My Take Anyways)

Murica!

The Polyester Road takes place in an alternate timeline from our own, first diverging with the failed assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Instead of concentrating on the Space Race, technological advancements in robotics, super-soldier programs and PSI take place. A more heated Cold War ensues, culminating in a nuclear World War III in the fall of 1977. The Soviet Union nuked all of its primary and secondary targets in the U.S. (and vice-versa), obliterating civilization as we know it.
Now its the late 2070's, and the world has (mostly) gone back to a wild state, with most of North America being a primeval and often irradiated wilderness. Civilization is centered around isolated city-states and kingdoms scattered across the wilderness, each holding their own laws and customs. These towns and cities are at-best at a Renaissance technology (15th-16th century), interspersed with more advanced relic technology.
Across the remade landscape of post-nuke Murica stretches an important trade route called the Polyester Road. This road is central to cultural interaction through regions of the Murica connecting the East and West and North by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads, and urban dwellers from the great city of Kinston and its still-working plastic factories. 

Maintaining this route are Truckers, who drive ancient big-rigs and other vehicles along this and other routes, connecting the far-flung pockets of civilization. The road is lawless and often quite dangerous, and so tough, smart and brave men and women are needed. The vehicles are often so patched and modified through the efforts of post-nuke modern craftsmen that they are often a rolling mish-mash of patches, figurehead, armor plates and guns.

Character Sheet!

So in the days to come I will be posting some of my own thoughts and embellishments to the Polyester Road campaign setting. So stay tuned!