It was vague for a reason:
Erick Wujcik wrote:Way, way back, when I was writing the first version of AtB, circa 1986, I was tempted to put in an actual date.
Then I remembered that when my buddy Rene Vega and I were working on his "Entropy" hard science RPG, circa 1978, we had made the mistake of having the 'first contact' between humans and aliens set in the far, far future date... of 1986.
Since then I've been smart enough to just sort of vaguely point into the future, and say, "it's up to the Game Master..."
Erick
Discussions about the time line get rehashed so much here that I wish we could have an archive section so we stop bringing up the same thing over and over again with each newcomer to the AtB forums.
Here was the
last discussion on the subject.
AtB and AtB2 both talk about the Crash (or the Death, as I prefer it to be called) happening a few years after the beginning of the 21st century (circa 2003?), and Mutants In Avalon even specifically states that the Mutants in Avalon scenario/campaign is occuring 150 years after the Crash. Also, you can't use the year 1999 as that is the date that the EHS Joesph McCarthy was built and I'd highly doubt that people are going to be too awfully concerned with building an eco friendly aircraft carrier during a war.
Also, Transdimensional TMNT states that "After the Bomb" as described in the original supplements occurs 2113 AD (page 77). 2113 being the state of affairs as depicted in the supplements, not the time of the cataclysm itself.
But there are discrepancies...the Emperor is 96 years old, and it does state that he was leading a renegade a militaty unit at the time of the apocalypse and "liberated" the nuclear reactor from a peaceful scientific community. If he was military, and he was the leader of a military unit prior to the Death, I would feel more comfortable putting him in his late twenties to early thirties; but it depends on what rank he was (I'd be conservative and use Captain). That gives an approximate current setting date of somewhere around 2063.
Wilbur is listed at being 136 years old, and again, he is from the time of the apocalypse. He's a 14th level post graduate Doctor, I'd say he was early 40's at the time of the Death. That gives an approximate current setting date of somewhere around 2099.
Weschek, leader of the Plains of the Free Cattle is 84 and his description also states that he was born before the cataclysm. He's a horse, so it really doesn't matter too much what age he was at the time of the Death since we don't have a background to go off of like Wilbur's education level.
Mutants of the Yucatan makes reference to an elderly Dr. Ralph Flemes whom teaches Yum Nacom Itzcoli (Paco) about a Quantum Device; as well as some other stuff. Anyways, we don't get an age on the good doctor but we could interpolate it if we really wanted too given that we know Paco is 40, and that Paco killed the doctor when he was 13.
Using Christian, Wilbur, and Weschek's ages make the 150 year mark and 2113 hard to swallow. But, there are references to all nonetheless. The arguement could be made that Transdimensional TMNT isn't an AtB supplement, and the 2113 is listed as a twist, so some rules lawyers may be able to get that tossed out. But, Mutants in Avalon specifically states that it's scenario is occuring 150 years after the Death occurs. So between Emperor Christian and Mutants in Avalon, we've lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 to 90 years.
I prefer the 2113 date myself.