into the rust

The Rust Belt is a kind of apocalypse.

Midwestern America has entered a post industrial stage of economy, just like most of the US. For the previous steel and car manufacturers, this means a slow ruination of the whole economy, spurring mass exodus among the working class to the cities (though that doesn't always help).*

Much has been said about the use of apocalyptic fiction in a game world - arguably the kind of game practiced around here depends on it - so of course it was interesting to notice recently that one such apocalypse has been occurring for near forty years right on my doorstep in Ohio.

I want to game in this place: a Wild Midwest, full of the lost mines and scraps of a dead industry. Rusting fences and edifices in quiet woods. Sleepy farms covering wrecked engines. No one remembers what happened here.

Vaporware 2016: Into the Oddwest?

*In the interest of factual clarity, much of the Midwest is currently on an upswing economically, having switched to service and online industries. There are literally one thousand colleges here too so lots of bright young minds are at work solving problems etc