# Best Post-Apocalyptic TTRPGs Post-apocalyptic games take place after collapse, disaster, war, plague, or other world-ending change. The category fits when rebuilding, scavenging, memory, scarcity, or broken institutions shape the table's choices. ## Guide Post-apocalyptic games take place after collapse, disaster, war, plague, or other world-ending change. The category fits when rebuilding, scavenging, memory, scarcity, or broken institutions shape the table's choices. ## Games - [Apocalypse World](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/apocalypseworld) - Rank #6. Apocalypse World is the award-winning and critically acclaimed game that launched the Powered by the Apocalypse school of rpg design. - [Degenesis: Rebirth](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/degenesis-rebirth) - Rank #1009. Degenesis: Rebirth is a 'Primal Punk' post-apocalyptic RPG set 500 years after the Eschaton meteor fall. Using the KatharSys d6 pool system, it emphasizes survival, mutation, and the struggle between human cultures and the alien Primer. Classless and free-to-play, it features stunning art, 7 cultures, 13 cults, and deep worldbuilding across Europe and North Africa. - [A Quiet Year](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/aquietyear) - A Quiet Year is a thought-provoking tabletop RPG where players collaboratively create a post-apocalyptic community struggling to survive over the course of one quiet year. With its unique card-based mechanics and focus on community-building and decision-making, the game offers a reflective and immersive narrative experience unlike any other. - [After the Blast](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/after-the-blast) - After the Blast is a rules-lite post-apocalyptic survival RPG using 2d6 + stat resolution. Classless and quick to play, it emphasizes scavenging, radiation risk, and emergent storytelling over complex mechanics. Ideal for one-shots and wasteland hex-crawls. - [Barbarians of the Ruined Earth](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/barbarians-of-the-ruined-earth) - Barbarians of the Ruined Earth is a rules‑lite post‑apocalyptic sword‑and‑sorcery game built on The Black Hack. Class-based, low‑prep play emphasizes scavenging, exploration, and brutal, fast combat across a weird wasteland. Ideal for one‑shots or sandboxes where survival, resource management, and pulp action drive the night. - [Broken Shores](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/broken-shores) - Broken Shores is a rules-lite dark fantasy survival RPG using d100 resolution. Classless and exploration-driven, it emphasizes scavenging, crafting, and desperate survival in a drowned world. Ideal for solo or group play, hex-crawl exploration, and fans of brutal post-apocalyptic settings. - [Dead Reign](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/dead-reign) - Dead Reign is a post-apocalyptic horror RPG about surviving the zombie outbreak. Using a familiar d%/d20 Palladium chassis, it delivers fast, lethal fights, tense scavenging, and hard choices. Class-based, medium-prep, it focuses on teamwork, scarcity, and moral dilemmas. Ideal for campaign play and gritty one-shots. - [Dreams and Machines](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/dreams-and-machines) - Dreams and Machines is a hopeful science-fantasy RPG about surviving the ruins of machine rule while rebuilding communities and futures worth living in. - [Fallout](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/fallout) - Fallout is a post-apocalyptic tabletop RPG set in a world devastated by nuclear war, where players navigate a harsh, radioactive wasteland filled with mutated creatures, factions, and moral dilemmas. Key features include a unique S.P.E.C.I.A.L. character system, a focus on exploration, survival, and decision-making, and a richly detailed world filled with dark humor and moral ambiguity. Fallout stands out for its blend of retro-futuristic aesthetics, gritty storytelling, and emphasis on player choice and consequence in a world on the brink of collapse. - [Gamma World](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/gamma-world) - Gamma World is a classic science-fantasy RPG of mutant survivors, ancient tech, and gonzo post-apocalyptic exploration in a world where weirdness is the baseline. - [Legacy: Life Among the Ruins](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/legacy-life-among-the-ruins) - Legacy: Life Among the Ruins is a post-apocalyptic generational RPG about communities, bloodlines, and the long consequences of what survivors build after collapse. - [Long Haul 1983](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/longhaul1983) - Long Haul 1983 is a solo journaling RPG of survival on empty highways. Using cards, dice, and a microphone, you play a truck driver navigating a hollowed-out 1983 world, leaving voicemails for someone who never answers. Rules-lite and atmospheric, it delivers a haunting journey of resilience. - [Mutant Crawl Classics](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/mutant-crawl-classics) - Mutant Crawl Classics is a post-apocalyptic, OSR-inspired game of deadly expeditions into ancient ruins. Class-based and swingy, it uses d20-style saves and character funnels to forge resilient survivors. Low prep and exploration-driven, it emphasizes scavenging, resource management, and hard choices in a lethal wasteland. - [Mutant: Year Zero](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/mutantyearzero) - Mutant: Year Zero is a post-apocalyptic survival RPG using the Year Zero Engine. Players control mutated humans scavenging the deadly Zone while managing their home settlement, the Ark. Classless and resource-focused, it emphasizes exploration, mutation powers, and base development over combat optimization. - [Numenera](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/numenera) - Numenera is a science-fantasy RPG of discovery, strange civilizations, and impossible technologies so old and powerful they read as magic. - [Other Dust](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/other-dust) - Other Dust is a rules-lite post-apocalyptic RPG set on the Tomb World of Earth, centuries after civilization's collapse. Using familiar OSR mechanics compatible with Stars Without Number, it emphasizes sandbox exploration, enclave building, and survival in a world of mutants and ancient ruins. Class-based and GM-driven, it provides extensive tools for emergent wasteland campaigns. - [Outbreak: Undead (2nd Edition)](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/outbreak-undead-2e) - Outbreak: Undead (2e) is a survival-horror tabletop RPG focused on realism, resource scarcity, and tough choices. Classless and modular, it supports gritty campaigns about planning, panicking, and pushing through the worst days. Ideal for fans of grounded, rules-forward apocalypse play. - [Polaris RPG](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/polaris-rpg) - Polaris RPG is a post-apocalyptic underwater survival game where humanity fled to the seas after the surface became uninhabitable. Players navigate faction wars, scarce resources, and underwater horrors as genetically modified survivors. Crunchy yet approachable mechanics support deep sea exploration and community struggles in a hostile aquatic world. - [The Morrow Project](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/the-morrow-project) - The Morrow Project is a post-apocalyptic RPG about teams waking into a broken future with missions, military structure, and the burden of rebuilding after collapse. - [The Mutant Epoch](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/themutantepoch) - The Mutant Epoch is a rules-lite post-apocalyptic RPG using the Outland System. Players lead excavation teams into ruined cities and toxic wastelands, battling mutants and raiders while scavenging for ancient technology. Percentile-based mechanics, extensive random tables, and lavish illustrations support emergent sandbox survival. - [The Walking Dead Universe](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/thewalkingdeaduniverse) - The Walking Dead Universe immerses players in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a relentless zombie outbreak, where survival hinges on difficult choices and the dynamics of human relationships. Utilizing an innovative blend of narrative-driven mechanics and survival tactics, players create unique characters while navigating moral dilemmas and the ever-present threat of the undead. With a focus on collaboration, resource management, and character development, this game offers a distinctive experience that explores the fragility of civilization and the resilience of the human spirit. - [The Wildsea](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/wildsea) - The Wildsea is a narrative survival-fantasy RPG set on an endless treetop ocean. Using a fast d6 pool with twists, crews sail chainsaw-prowed ships, scavenge, and survive weird hazards. Classless and highly creative, it favors low-prep, fiction-first play with strong setting prompts. Ideal for exploration-forward campaigns. - [Twilight: 2000](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/twilight2000) - Twilight: 2000 is a retro-apocalyptic survival RPG using the Year Zero Engine. Classless and low-prep, it emphasizes resource management, base building, and hard choices in a World War III wasteland. Ideal for gritty sandbox campaigns and players who want survival to feel consequential. - [Twilight: 2000](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/twilight-2000) - Twilight: 2000 is a post-apocalyptic military survival RPG from Free League. The fourth edition uses the Year Zero Engine for hexcrawling, scarcity, base building, and tense combat in an alternate 2000 where the war never really ended. - [Vaults of Vaarn](https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/vaults-of-vaarn) - Vaults of Vaarn is an NSR science-fantasy RPG of crystalline deserts, ancient vaults, and strange civilizations surviving in the shadow of forgotten technologies.