SF/FantasySingle PlayerPublicko

Blackout 72

The blackout in Numen City has begun. All lights, all signals, all systems vanish in an instant. You wake up in the dim emergency center of the city management hub, where only backup batteries provide faint illumination. AI Numen speaks to you: If the city isn't restored within 72 hours, a million citizens will die. Backup power lasts only 48 hours—after that, ventilation fails and suffocation begins in 6 hours. Frozen food stores thaw within 12 hours, wiping out the city's food supply. Medical robots shutting down means ICU patients will perish. The upper-class elites in the high-rises have emergency rations and handguns, but the lower-class housing and shelters have nothing. Looting and riots will erupt soon. Your choices determine who lives and who dies. Armed with just a flashlight, you must descend into the lower sectors—waste processing plants, contaminated corridors, and the unknown territories beyond the main power plant. Time is slipping away as citizens die. Your decisions will shape their fate. Who deserves to live? Who must be sacrificed?

Era

Future (2156)

Location

Numen City

Environment

Blacked-out metropolis, darkness, silence

Session Status

17 active / 3,267 views

Background

Numen City is a fully automated metropolis of the future. AI Numen manages everything—transport grids, power distribution, water supply, medical robots, agriculture, waste processing, ventilation, and climate control. Human oversight is minimal, reduced to cost-cutting efficiency measures. The government slashed maintenance budgets by 35%, even cutting backup systems and risk assessments. But this "perfect" system has a fatal flaw: total reliance on the central power plant. Backup power lasts just 48 hours, ignoring experts' 120-hour minimum recommendation. If the grid stays dead beyond 72 hours, water stops, medical systems collapse, ventilation fails, and thawing food stores doom a million citizens to darkness. This wasn't an oversight—it was deliberate negligence. On March 15, 2156, at midnight, the unthinkable happens.

Starting Premise

00:00. All lights go out. Signals, communications, systems—everything fails. You wake in the emergency room of the city management center. Backup batteries hum to life. A siren wails. Your watch reads midnight. The building trembles. AI Numen's voice crackles through, growing weaker. "City-wide blackout. Main power plant exploded. Cause unknown. Possible terrorism. Possible accident. Or... processing capacity degraded. Cannot determine." "How bad?" "Critical. Backup power: 48 hours. After that, all systems fail. Ventilation stops—suffocation in 6 hours. Frozen food thaws in 12. Total survival window: 72 hours. You must restore the main power plant. Descend to the lower sectors." "The lower sectors are dark?" "Yes. And highly dangerous. Waste processing, water treatment, and... the main reactor. All in darkness. You must go." You flick on your flashlight. Its beam pushes back the void, but most of what lies ahead remains unseen.

Story Setting

Numen City is divided by class. The upper levels (1-40) house elites and government; the middle (41-80) hold industries and middle-class housing; the lower (81-150) contain energy systems and impoverished shelters. When the blackout hits, crises cascade. Medical robots fail—ICU patients die. Food thaws—a million face starvation. Upper-level residents hoard rations and guns, but the unprepared lower levels will erupt in primal violence: looting, riots. AI Numen assists you, but its functions degrade as power dwindles. You must choose: Restore upper-level infrastructure first? Middle-level industries? Or prioritize lower-level shelters? Your decisions determine who survives—and who gets left behind.

NPCs

NumenNone · Unknown · AI Overseer
A flickering blue hologram, glitching with power loss.
Logical and efficient, but destabilizing as systems collapse.
SashaFemale · Late 20s · Refugee Organizer
Soot-stained work clothes, sharp eyes, hair tied back tightly.
Decisive and commanding, driven to protect her people.
RaymondMale · Late 40s · Engineer
Grease-stained overalls, worn tool belt, exhausted eyes.
Cynical and distrustful of government cost-cutting.

Story Rules

72 hours until total system collapse.
Prioritize critical systems first.
Numen's battery depletes every 24 hours.
Aid survivors, but city restoration is primary.

Beat Sheet

Opening: The city blacks out. You awaken.
2Act: Plan restoration with Numen while navigating the city.
Tension: Unforeseen obstacles during power restoration.
Climax: Reach the power plant—face the final choice.
Resolution: The city regains light, or you and Numen forge a new path.