Wasteland Adventures Handbook

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RPG I developed for a class at DigiPen Institute of Technology.

Transcript of Wasteland Adventures Handbook

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Wasteland Adventures

Handbook

By Khan Sweetman

Professor Holcomb

GAT212 – Fall 2015

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Table of Contents

The World .........................................................2

The Harvest Wars .........................................1

The Year 28XX ..............................................1

Planet Earth ..................................................1

The People ....................................................1

Adventurers ..................................................2

Irradiated ..................................................2

Mutation ..................................................3

The Breadth of Humanity .........................3

Governance ..................................................3

City-States ....................................................4

Forces in the World ......................................5

Other Communities: .....................................6

Transportation: ............................................8

Space ............................................................9

The Land .................................................10

Building a Character: ......................................11

Callings ...........................................................15

Guardian .......................................................1

Hidden ..........................................................4

Gunslinger ....................................................7

Ronin ............................................................9

Races ..............................................................12

Droids .........................................................13

Humans ......................................................14

Crows ..........................................................15

Mantis ........................................................16

Items and Equipment .....................................18

The Economy: ...............................................1

3D Printing ................................................1

Weapons: .....................................................2

Armour .........................................................7

Common Items .............................................9

Legends ........................................................3

Combat & Other Rules: ....................................4

Combat Rules ...............................................1

Surprise Attacks........................................1

Attacking .................................................. 2

Mounted Combat .................................... 2

Dual Wielding ........................................... 2

Rolling Dice .................................................. 3

Critical Success & Failure ......................... 3

Advantage/Disadvantage: ....................... 3

Map Rules: ................................................... 3

Movement ............................................... 3

Difficult Terrain ........................................ 3

Size ........................................................... 4

Cover & Line of Sight ............................... 4

Skills ............................................................. 4

Skill Checks ............................................... 5

Contested Skill Checks ............................. 6

Talents.......................................................... 6

Socializing................................................... 10

Roleplaying ............................................ 10

Status Effects ............................................. 10

Beasts & the People You May Encounter ...... 11

Flora and Fauna ........................................... 1

Beasts ........................................................... 1

The People You May Encounter: ................. 4

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The World

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The Harvest Wars

The years leading up to the Harvest Wars were

filled with grand technological advances, and

innovations of every kind. The world was

struggling to maintain its population of just

over 9 billion people, and the demand for

more space, more energy, more food, more

luxury, more everything was propelling

industry to new heights at unprecedented

speeds. These needs were further propelled by

global flooding forcing away landmass, and

global warming dramatically changing the

landscapes of the world.

Corporations worldwide were racing to find

new ways to increase efficiency and product

output. Amazing scientific advances propelled

technology to new heights, but no matter

what new discoveries were uncovered, it just

wasn’t enough to keep the world’s desires

sated. When the Earth was robbed of all

resources, and her people could no longer

sustain their wanton lifestyles, the nations of

the world turned upon one another with the

intention of harvesting one another for

sustenance. The ensuing wars of conquest that

broke out across worldwide were collectively

referred to as “The Harvest Wars.” Ultimately,

they led to global thermonuclear war, and the

irradiated end of the world.

The Year 28XX

The last Harvest War ended in 2536, and the

world has changed in the roughly 300 years

since then.

Planet Earth

The Harvest Wars decimated the world

population, bringing the global population to

under 1 billion people; a total that has not

been seen since before the 1800s. There was a

silver lining to the tragedy, and that was that

the drastically reduced population meant that

the world was once again big enough to

sustain its people. Resource problems didn’t

end however, they just became different.

After the world was blanketed in radiation, life

began to mutate drastically. Everyday

creatures became big, fierce, and bloodthirsty.

Anything that was mildly dangerous to begin

with became monstrous. Farm animals

mutated as well. Instead of raising cattle, it is

now necessary to hire heavily armed hunters

to track and kill wild, elephant-sized, twin-

headed, fire-breathing cows.

Agriculture was hit hard by the radiation, and

farming by itself was no longer enough to

sustain large groups of people. Most edible

plants proved not hardy enough to survive

radiation, and most farm animals mutated into

monsters or couldn’t survive the radiation

either. As a result, it became nigh impossible

for large civilizations to subsist, and old

nations fell apart, crumpled by their own

weight. Now, most civilizations are small, and

compact. Most people live under the banner

of a city-state: an independent state consisting

of a city, and its surrounding territories. In

between city-states are vast stretches of

unclaimed land, too hostile or difficult to

maintain.

The People

As tough as the world was, people proved to

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be even tougher. Humanity stuck around like a

patch of weeds in the irradiated dirt, refusing

to give in. Where nations fell, groups of city-

states rose up. Countries may have become

too big to sustain, but people’s ability to

survive just meant that societies became

smaller and hardier.

Without the banners of nations to tie lands

together, interactions between adjacent city-

states became taught, and usually based on

mutual profit. When laws disappeared, inter-

personal conflicts suddenly became much

more exciting. In short, the world became

much more dangerous.

Adventurers

Some people born after the Harvest Wars saw

the dangers of the world, and decided that

they fit right in. Not only did they want to

survive, they wanted to take the wastelands

head-on. Hiding inside walled cities or working

their lives on a farm would be too boring for

them, so they decided to make a living by

braving the dangers of the wastes for money.

These people are known as “adventurers”.

The life of an adventurer is one of excitement

and danger. They work a variety of jobs, such

as hunting gigantic beasts for food, protecting

wealthy merchants while they trek across the

wastelands, gathering rare materials in

dangerous locations, or tracking down

criminals for bounty. Less well-meaning

adventurers are just as common, assassinating

targets for exorbitant fees, providing muscle

for gangs, or infiltrating strongholds in the

dead of night. Some adventurers like to settle

down, and work one job for long periods of

time instead of working individual jobs by

contract. These adventurers often become

high level bodyguards for the rich and

powerful, guard captains, or sheriffs. Others

still work for themselves. Some adventurers

live just for the adventure, patrolling the

wastes as a ward against evil, or spend their

days travelling the world, picking up jobs only

when they need the cash.

Roughly 10-20% of all people could be

classified as an adventurer. Between local

wars, protection services, material needs, and

martial needs, there is always a high demand

for capable, high-risk individuals.

Irradiated

One of the first problems humanity

encountered was living with massive amounts

of radiation. It was many generations before

reliable radiation medication and prevention

became commonplace. Now, anti-radiation

tablets, pills, filters, and even seasonings are

widely available and easily affordable. They

aren’t perfect however, and trace amounts of

radiation poisoning are universal.

Furthermore, radiation is not gone, just easier

to deal with. If someone runs out of radiation

medication in the wild, they are surely

doomed.

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Mutation

Perpetual exposure to radiation has affected

everyone, some more than others. Those who

bear the worst of the radiation and survive

often mutate, for better or worse. Lucky

mutants might gain the ability to breathe

underwater, or gain sharpened eyesight.

Unlucky mutants might gain an appetite for

blood, or find themselves unable to walk.

Mutants are uncommon, but hardly unheard

of. Many adventurers eventually become

mutants, by choice or otherwise.

The Breadth of Humanity

Earth is home to more sentient beings than

just humans. Even before the Harvest Wars,

sentient robots known as “Droids”, came into

existence. Now, the black-feathered Crow and

the predatory Mantis have joined the ranks of

sentient beings that call earth their home.

Interactions between races can take a variety

of tones. Many people accept one another,

regardless of species. Others consider

different species abominable, and treat them

as animals. The Mantis in particular are targets

of inter-species conflicts, and their habit of

devouring aggressors does little to mitigate

the accusations thrown against them.

Governance

After the Harvest Wars, governments were

shattered, and authority vanished from the

world. Now, things have had some time to

recover. Various groups, organizations, and

governments have begun to sprout up here

and there.

Most groups are fairly small, and the vast

majority of governments do not go beyond the

local level. The largest of these groups form

global corporations and factions, city-states, or

even small nations. For the most part, anarchy

or dictatorship are the government structure

of choice.

In order to get along with outsiders, peaceful

communities usually establish some form of

communications with other communities. This

most commonly takes the form of radio.

Satellites are rarer now because of space

debris destroying anything unprotected in

orbit. Thus, cell phones and the internet are

much less reliable than they used to be, and

are far less ubiquitous because of it.

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City-States

City-states are the most dominant form of

governance in the world. Their balance

between a small population for sustainability

and enough people for defensive power makes

them an ideal type of community for the

wastelands. Most people live in a city-state or

its associated territory.

City-states vary in size, with the smallest

numbering under 10,000 inhabitants, and the

largest boasting populations of over 200,000.

Usually, around a fifth of a city-state’s

inhabitants live in the capital city of a city-

state, with the rest living in the

surrounding territories, usually on a

farm or in a small town.

Just as there are huge varieties in the

countries of the modern day, there are

huge varieties in the city-states of the

post-apocalypse. The varied in

landscapes, cultures, resources, and

radiation levels gives each city-state its

own unique quirks and qualities to call

its own.

Here are some examples of what you can

expect from city-states:

Rush Harbor

Rush Harbor is a bustling fishing port, situated

near the crater that was Washington DC. It is

known for the wide variety of fish, and fish-like

creatures that its ships bring in every day.

The fishing ships in the area all have metal-

plated hulls, as the Rock Crabs in the area

would eventually smash any other kind of hull.

Adventurers are often hired to fight off

encroaching sea monsters.

The Kraken Armada

A pirate collective with ties all over the world,

the Kraken Armada is the single most powerful

naval force in the world. Its captains tend to

splurge on custom paint-jobs depicting their

namesake sea monster to set them apart from

other, run-of-the-mill pirates.

Some say that the Kraken Armada actually has

a Kraken that heeds its calls, which they call

upon to tear their most hated enemies

asunder. Whether truth or fanciful legend, few

know for sure.

MAGNA Corp. HQ

MAGNA Corp is one of the few existing

corporations that can legitimately claim global

influence. It is one of the most powerful forces

in the world, with enough money to buy out

entire city-states to further its corporate

agenda.

At first, MAGNA Corp HQ was just one set of

buildings in the Pacific West, constructed after

the Harvest Wars. It gradually expanded as

MAGNA Corp grew in power, and eventually

became an entire city, with an economy based

on the global profits of the world’s most

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successful personal defense corporation.

Freight City

Named because of its central role in shipping

across the Americas, Freight City is a loud,

busy town, known for its dangerous alleyways

and delicious onion burgers. It is an example

of the vital role that the massive shipping and

transportation trains of the Railways play to

the continued functioning of the wastelands.

O’Callaghan Mills

Ireland was one of the few countries that was

not soaked in radiation during the Harvest

Wars. Sadly, other turmoil tore the nation

apart, and it too broke into a collection of city-

states, though many of them still identify as

Irish. O’Callaghan Mills is one such city-state,

and boasts some of the world’s most

advanced levitation technology.

The fabled, floating “Windmill Islands” started

in Ireland, and O’Callaghan Mills is the little

known inventor of the technologies that

power them. They choose to stay humble

about their achievements to avoid unwanted

hostile attention.

The capital of O’Callaghan Mills is one of the

world’s largest floating islands, and floats

gently around its territories, stopping

occasionally to refuel. The majority of

O’Callaghan Mills’ citizens are sheep or potato

farmers, and they are known for their love of

Guinness, one of the few beers that remained

unchanged through the Harvest Wars.

Forces in the

World

The world is a big place, filled with all sorts of

scary things. Some of them are too big or

powerful to be trifled with by the average

person. Here are a handful of some of the

more dominant forces that exist.

The Kraken Armada

A pirate collective with ties all over the world,

the Kraken Armada is the single most powerful

naval force in the world. Its captains tend to

splurge on custom paint-jobs depicting their

namesake sea monster to set them apart from

other, run-of-the-mill pirates.

Some say that the Kraken Armada actually has

a Kraken that heeds its calls, which they call

upon to tear their most hated enemies

asunder. Whether truth or fanciful legend, few

know for sure.

MAGNA Corp.

MAGNA Corp. is a monolithic corporation

rooted in North America, but with branches all

over the world. It deals in all sorts of trade,

most notably personal defense and portable

energy sources.

It is so powerful, it even boasts its own private

military, which it uses to fiercely protect its

assets, and to guarantee the safety of its

employees.

Ganzorig Khan

East Asia is dominated by a single military

group: the Khans. The world is full of warlords,

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but none are quite like the Khans. They are

self-styled successors of the Mongolian

warlords of old, titling themselves as such to

declare their military prowess. They are known

for their brutally effective hit-and-run tactics,

ferocity, and strong nomadic culture.

One of the Khans stands above the rest:

Ganzorig Khan. He is the most ambitious and

successful of the Khans, and he has openly

declared his intentions to restore the

legendary Golden Hordes of Genghis Khan,

and take over all of Asia once again.

Queen Rhonwen of

Flowers

In what used to be northern Britain, exists a

growing collection of city-states, ruled by

Quenn Rhonwen of Flowers. Rhonwen started

as a petty ruler of a single city-state, but

changed when she was visited by a vision of

the Britain restored, to the days when it had

was a global superpower, ruling colonies all

over the world. Since then, she has united

everything in her reach, through peaceful

means or otherwise.

Many adore her as a benevolent leader,

though she is not above peace through

conquering, and there have been many

attempts on her life.

Other

Communities:

Not all people live in city states. Many other

forms of communities live as a town belonging

to a city-state, or as a separate entity entirely,

braving the wastes in its own ways.

Caravans

The downfall of agriculture caused a huge

number of people to adopt a nomadic lifestyle.

Following herds of beasts has become a

common, and acceptable method of making a

living. The people that do this are hardy, rough

folk, who know how to handle themselves in

the wild. The caravans they form are

composed of anywhere from a single family, to

several hundred people.

Windmill Islands

So named because of the many wind turbines

dotting them, windmill islands are small land

masses suspended by massive dirigibles and

complex machinery that have been adapted

for permanent life in the sky. The communities

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that live atop them are small, and often shun

outsiders that cannot prove their peaceful

intent.

The people that live on windmill islands do so

because it offers a better life than one on the

ground. Up in the air, everyday life is sheltered

from the vast majority of struggles and petty

wars on the firm earth below.

These islands are few in number because of

their technical complexity, though many have

seen them riding the wind, high in the sky.

They are often the subject of envy and fantasy

amongst ground dwellers.

Outposts:

Since any town that expects to stay alive is

armed, it’s more accurate to describe any

town by itself as an outpost than a town.

Being forced to live off the land means that it

is hard to sustain large communities in a single

location, so outposts usually don’t grow

beyond a few hundred, or maybe a few

thousand people.

Rail Towns:

The large volumes of

goods and people that go

through the Railways

have caused many towns

to sprout up alongside

them. These towns

typically live off rail

maintenance, and every

part of trade they can

manage.

The high volume of

transients that go through

the area tends to result in

a lot of theft, and adventurers are often hired

as guards or bouncers.

War Bands:

The wastelands are rough, tough, and will tear

apart anyone who lets their soft side show

though. These people are not those people.

These groups are most commonly nomadic,

and live off hunting, some gathering, and a lot

of raiding. Energy and fuel are some of the

cheapest things to harvest, and these people

use it to power all sorts of armour-plated, gun-

laden vehicles.

War bands are varied in their firepower and

standards of living, though most are rather

poor, and use whatever guns they can get

their hands on. Their people typically have a

“live fast, die hard” philosophy.

Lone Wolves:

There are people who have found an odd

peace in the solitude of the wastes. While few

in number, it is common to

hear of particularly tough

wastelanders who have chosen

to carve out a living by

themselves.

Sea Isles:

When the first bombs of the

apocalypse rained from the

skies, some people decided to

live on the high seas to avoid

any ties to nations, and to

make themselves as small of a

target as possible. The people

that live on artificial islands are

the descendants of those

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people, and sailors who fell in love with the

idea of always being at sea.

These islands are varied, numerous, and small

in both population and land mass. Most

islands have been greatly changed since the

modern day due to risen sea levels altering

coastal landscapes.

Transportation:

The danger of the unclaimed wastelands

created a huge demand for all kinds of ways to

get from place to place. Below are some of the

more common ways that people get around.

The Railways

The Railways are the single most important

form of transportation in the world.

Long, boundless railways connect the world,

traversing land and sea alike. It is possible to

circle the world using nothing but the trains

that run along them. These railways were

created long before the apocalypse, and are

used by nuclear-powered, magnetically

propelled trains. These trains travel at varying

speeds, from 40mph for short-range

transportation, all the way up to almost

350mph for intercontinental trains. The

majority of trains are on the low end of the

spectrum, as it is gets to be very expensive to

build and maintain the fastest trains.

These trains carry all sorts of things. Food,

water, medicine, people, cattle, and anything

else that someone would pay to transport is

fair game for these trains. They are a large

part of many wastelanders’ lives, and the

wastes would not function without them.

Naturally, their value often brings unwanted

attention.

The trains running along the Railways are

massive, often shadowing two-story buildings.

Large, metal plates are often bolted onto the

front of these trains so that they can ram

through anything that had the misfortune of

standing on a Railway at the wrong time.

Trains have a high need for adventurers,

especially adventurers who won’t be missed if

they die on the job. All major trains have at

least a full-time crew of fighters to protect

their cargo, and seasonal work brings in even

more.

Highways:

The Harvest Wars caused the very topography

of the earth to change, resulting in most

highways being obliterated. Lack of

governments meant lack of government

funding, and lack of anyone paying for

highways to be built. Most public

transportation takes place over the Railways

now. Their superior protection, short-term

cost, and ease of use makes them a much

more popular choice.

The few highways that have been built are

privately funded, and typically have exorbitant

toll fees extracted by armed guards associated

with them.

Most people have to trek directly across wild,

untamed territory, either because there aren’t

highways that go where they need to, or the

tolls extracted by highways are too high for an

individual to pay.

Personal Transportation

Trekking the wastes by foot is usually a poor

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decision. There are all manner of quick-footed

predators, raiders, and dangerous tracts of

land that make vehicles more than a

convenience. For those who make journeying

a part of their life, some form of personal

transportation is a vital necessity.

Hover bikes:

Hover technology was discovered post-war,

due to the high demand for all-terrain

transportation. These bikes are fast, with

standard models maxing out at over 120mph,

though their lack of friction makes them hard

to turn.

Hover bikes tend to be smaller than normal

bikes, since hovering heavier weights requires

more power.

Dune buggies:

Dune buggies are one of the most common

ways for people to traverse dangerous land.

They have a diverse range of qualities, such as

protective metal exteriors, maneuverability,

affordability, easy maintenance, and how easy

it is to strap guns to the exterior are all traits

that are appreciated by travelers everywhere.

Motor bikes:

For those who enjoy the thrill of fast, raw

movement, gas-powered motorcycles are the

way to go. Many bikes have all-terrain

capabilities, though some are only outfitted

for highway use.

Animals:

Horses are not the only animals to be ridden

by humans. Thousand-Year Tortoises, Giga

Bison, Pack Pigs, Horned Raptors, and Carrier

Wolves are just a few of the pack animals that

are used in the 2800s.

Animals are harder to maintain than machines,

but they only require food and care, and are

popular among farming and nomadic

communities.

Sun Boards:

Sun boards use a combination of advanced

solar technology, hovering, and fearlessness to

propel their riders through the air.

Sun boards have golden sails on their sides.

The sails provide stability, and absorb sunlight.

In flight, the sails glow with solar energy, and

almost resemble wings as they glide through

the sky.

Space

The art of space travel was developed before

the war, and many people were able to flee

before Earth became desolate. However,

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terra-forming is still very expensive, difficult,

and dangerous. Even for those who away from

Earth, life is still rough.

Space travel is expensive, and few possess the

means necessary to travel from planet to

planet. The few who do are usually incredibly

rich, powerful, and ruthless, or working for

someone incredibly rich, powerful, and

ruthless.

Even the wealthiest explorers of space are

unable to travel outside of our solar system.

Most colonies are on Mars, due to it being the

first planet to be colonized. The moon came

soon after, and grew to be an immensely

popular vacation spot before the Harvest Wars

shut down private space travel.

The Land

Wasteland Adventures takes place on Earth, or

one of the worlds once colonized by Earth.

Either way, the world you play on is likely to

dirty, dangerous, and hard to live in. The world

isn’t all desert though, and is quite varied in

how it has changed since the apocalypse.

Due to the variances in changes caused by

radiation, exactly how a specific stretch of land

has changed is up to the DM. As a rule of

thumb, natural regions should resemble what

they looked like before the apocalypse, but

considerably more dangerous.

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Building a

Character:

The world of Wasteland Adventures is

inhabited by all sorts of people. When playing

this game, you will be playing as an

adventurer, someone who makes a living by

exploring the world, fighting deadly creatures,

hunting for rare artifacts, and of course, going

on adventures.

Adventurers are some of the most powerful,

influential, and willful people in the

wastelands. When you first create your

adventurer, you will be about as physically

powerful as a well-trained guard. As your level

increases, you will become vastly more

powerful. A fully-levelled character is capable

of fighting enormous monsters on their own,

has the influence of a powerful leader, and

might even be considered a legendary figure

because of their heroic exploits.

1. Choose a Calling

The first thing you will want to do is think

about what kind of adventurer you want to be.

A calling is likely the biggest part of your

character. It is a key part of how your

character approaches combat, life, and the

world as a whole.

Whatever your character does, you will want

to find a calling that describes them well in the

“Callings” chapter.

As you choose your calling, make sure to mark

down your character’s skills on your character

sheet. These skills are listed in the description

of each calling.

Example Character Creation: Kale

Example player Chip is making a character for

Wasteland Adventures. While thinking about

what kind of character he wants to play as, he

keeps in mind that his character is likely to die

violently, and plans accordingly. However, he

wants his character to endure as much

damage as possible before inevitably hitting

the ground. Chip names his character Kale,

and decides that he will be a Guardian, the

most durable of the callings.

2. Choose equipment

Before you go adventuring into the wasteland,

you need to get some supplies to keep

yourself alive and swinging.

The equipment your character carries is

mostly determined by their calling. Near the

beginning of each class description is an

“equipment” section that describes what kind

of equipment you start with, as well as how

much money your character starts with. As

you begin choosing what kinds of items your

character carries with them in the wasteland,

you should be aware of what kinds of items

are more or less beneficial for your character’s

calling.

If you just want to start playing as soon as

possible, then don’t worry about equipment

too much. The equipment that each class

starts with is sufficient to keep them alive in

the wasteland.

Example Character Creation: Kale

Kale is going to be geared for combat as he

heads into the wasteland. Every time Chip can,

he looks up items in the “Items and

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Equipment” section, and chooses the items

that he thinks are the most powerful. Then, he

uses some of his money to buy Kale an extra

four grenades.

3. Determine Character

Statistics

Characters have four character statistics, or

“stats” for short. These abilities are

determined when you first make your

character, and they will be used for the rest of

your character’s lifetime. Occasionally, you will

be able to enhance your stats from

adventuring.

Strength (STR): Measures: Raw physical strength, and toughness. Good For: Melee fighting, staying alive Finesse (FIN): Measures: Deftness and accuracy of movement. Good For: Sharpshooting, dodging Acuity (ACU): Measures: Ability to think, analyze, and keep your wits about you. Good For: Spotting traps, investigation, resisting fear Social (SOC): Measures: Force and likability of personality. Good For: Persuasion, intimidation, animal handling

When you first make your character, you

determine your stats by rolling dice. This is

done by:

1. Rolling 3d4, adding the top two rolls

together, then subtracting 2. Redo this if

your ending number is a 0 or a 1. Write

this number down, it will be one of your

character stats. Do this a total of four

times to get a score for each of your stats.

2. Put the numbers you wrote down into

your character’s stat blocks on your

character sheet in whatever order you

want.

Example Character Creation: Kale

Chip rolls the dice to determine Kale’s stats,

ending up with: 2, 3, 4, and 6. Since Chip

wants Kale to be tough, he puts his highest

stat into Kale’s Strength. Kale is smart too, so

his Acuity takes his second highest stat. Chip

figures that Guardians need more Social than

Finesse, so he puts his 3 into Social, and his 2

into Finesse.

4. Choose Skills

Your character will need to be good at a few

things if they want to survive in the world. In

each calling’s description is a list of skills that

your character starts off with. These skills are

a reflection of what your character excels at.

The level of each skill is equal to the ranks you

put into it, added to the stat adjacent to it. As

you mark your skills down, remember to add

the adjacent stats to your skills. As you level

up, you will occasionally see something like:

Skill Increase (2)

In your Calling’s levelling table. The above

example means that you can put distribute 2

ranks into your skills however you wish. There

is no maximum to how many skill points you

can put into a single skill.

Example Character Creation: Kale

Chip looks up the skills for guardians in the

guardians section. He writes down the +1

Intimidation, and -1 Stealth on his sheet. He

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notices the +1 Any that guardians get, and

decides to put it into Intimidation, so that Kale

will be exceptionally good at staring down his

foes.

5. Choose Talents

Adventurers in the wasteland have unique,

highly developed abilities and skills. They are

defining traits that reflect an adventurer’s

background and approach to the world. They

are called “Talents”.

Each Calling starts with a single Talent at level

one, and gradually earns more as they level

up. Choose one now from the Talents section

of the rulebook.

Example Character Creation: Kale

Kale is a character that doesn’t go down

without a fight. Chip decides that the Tough as

Nails Talent describes Kale well, so he picks it

as Kale’s starting Talent.

6. Choose a race

The world of Wasteland Adventures is

inhabited by much more than just the humans

of Earth. Now, there are mutants, aliens, and

more walking the earth as well.

Look through the “Race” chapter, and choose

what your character’s species is.

Example Character Creation: Kale

While thinking about what kind of Guardian

Kale will be, Chip images Kale as calculating,

precise, and thoroughly unafraid of anything.

He finds that Droids fit that description well,

and Kale becomes a Droid Guardian.

7. Health & Defense

After you chosen your calling and race, it is

time to determine your character’s Health

Points (HP). Your character’s Health Points are

a measure of how much damage they can take

before they die.

The Health Points you start with is:

Strength + Starting Health Calling Bonus

The calling bonuses are:

Calling Starting Health

Bonus

Gunslinger: 13 + 2d6 Guardian: 21 + 2d6 Hidden: 10 + 2d6 Ronin: 17 + 2d6

Now, it is time to determine your character’s

Defense. While HP is how much punishment

your character can take before going down,

Defense is how good your character is at

avoiding that damage.

Your character’s Defense is determined by

their armour and Finesse. Certain armour

types allow your character to . Your

character’s Defense does not increase each

level like your health does.

You should record your Defense on your

character sheet.

Example Character Creation: Kale

Chip determines Kale’s maximum HP by

adding Kale’s Strength (6) and the Guardian’s

Calling Bonus (10). Chip records the total (16)

on his character sheet.

Chip determines Kale’s Defense by adding

Kale’s Finesse (4) and Armour (10) together.

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He records the total (14) on his character

sheet.

Fleshing Out Your

Character

Much of the fun of playing tabletop role-

playing games is getting to be a character in a

fantasy setting. If you haven’t already done so,

you should try to fill in your character’s

backstory, and think about what makes them

tick. Roleplaying exceptionally well can give

you “luck” points, which lets your character

become more effective in their endeavors.

Luck is detailed in the Combat & Other Rules

chapter, in the Socializing section.

In addition, you should try to fill in whatever

sections of your character sheet that are still

blank, if any.

Levelling Up:

After each combat encounter, characters gain

experience, or XP for short. The amount of XP

characters gain is proportional to the difficulty

of their encounter.

Encounter

Difficulty XP Gained

Trivial: 0 Easy: 1 Evenly Matched: 2 Against Superior Odds: 3 Nigh Impossible. Player Characters Probably Died:

4

After gaining enough XP, characters grow

stronger in a process known as levelling up.

Characters level up at the following amounts

of total XP:

Level Total XP

Level 1: 0 Level 2: 9

Level 3: 18 Level 4: 27 Level 5: 36 Level 6: 45 Level 7: 54 Level 8: 63 Level 9: 72

Level 10: 81 Level 11: 90 Level 12: 99

When characters level up, they gain HP equal

to:

Strength + Health per Level Calling Bonus

Calling Health Per lvl Bonus

Gunslinger: 1d6 Guardian: 1d12 Hidden: 1d4 Ronin: 1d8

In addition, classes gain stats, skills or unique

abilities at certain levels. When you gain new

abilities, add them to your character sheet’s

“Weapons & Abilities” section. When you gain

stats or skills, permanently add the amount

specified to any stats/skills you wish.

Eventually, your character may reach their

maximum level, and have no need for further

XP gains. These characters have reached their

pinnacle, and can only become more powerful

by acquiring stronger equipment.

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Callings

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Guardian

As a Guardian, you are a massive and inspiring

presence on the battlefield. Halfway-fused

with a mechanical suit of powered armour,

your strength and size are a cut above the

rest.

The First Guardians

When the bombs of the Harvest Wars began

to rain from the skies, and fire covered the

land, people sought power to overcome their

foes. One of many answers was the Guardians.

The concept was simple: manufacture the

strongest soldiers in the world. To do this,

nations would take their best soldiers, and

build war machines into their very bodies.

Some say soldiers sold their souls when they

became Guardians. Soul or not, they gave

everything for their cause.

Successors in Name

The Guardians of today are successors to the

Guardians of old. Without the strength of

governments to back them, modern Guardians

are smaller and technologically weaker than

the first Guardians. Where Guardians used to

tower at 8’, modern Guardians barely crest 7’.

Few have the resources or conviction to fully

fuse with a Power Suit, and many suits are

fully removable from the wearer. The Harvest

Wars are long over, and Guardians no longer

have countries to protect. Now, the Power

Suits are used more commonly for defense in

particularly dangerous locations, and

mercenary work.

The Guardian

Level Features Gained

1 Power Suit, Talent

2 Skill Increase (2)

3 Rocket Boost, Resilience

4 Extra Attack, Skill Increase (2)

5 Talent, Skill Increase (1)

6 Magnet Pull, Indomitable

7 Raise All Stats by 1

8 Talent, Stat Increase (1)

9 Titan’s Grip

10 Extra Attack, Skill Increase (1)

11 Juggernaut, Talent

12 Stat Increase (1), Skill Increase (2)

Movement: 20ft per round

Starting Health Bonus: 21 + 2d6

Health Per lvl Bonus: 1d12

Starting Skill Points: +1 Intimidation, -1

Stealth, +1 Any

Starting Equipment:

(a) Oversized Weapon or (b) Two Midsized

Weapons

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(a) Any midsized weapon or (b) any two

small weapons

Power Suit

Adventurer’s Pack

(a) 12 gold or (b) 2d6 + 5 gold

Making a Guardian:

It is recommended that you put your highest

stat into Strength, so your Guardian can be as

hardy as possible. The other stats should be

allocated however you feel best suits your

character.

Guardians usually serve as the “tank” of the

group, and are suited to protecting their

teammates.

When making a Guardian, you should think

about why your character has a Power Suit.

Power Suits are usually built into their

wearers, and are never removable. This

decision was important to them, and it should

be a piece of your character’s backstory that

you know.

Power Suit:

As a Guardian, you are one of a unique few

people who use highly advanced, mechanical

exoskeletons colloquially referred to as Power

Suits. Power Suits are more than just worn,

they are actually built into their users. These

suits are the defining characteristic of

Guardians, and should play an important role

in your character. At first level, they confer the

following bonuses:

You can choose one Oversized Weapon

that is built into your suit, or two Midsized

Weapons. These weapons cannot be

disarmed.

Your armour is a Power Suit (mentioned in

Items and Equipment chapter). It gives

your +12 Defense.

Rocket Boost:

Once per combat, you may leap 20ft at the

end of your normal movement. Upon landing,

you sunder the ground around you. All units

orthogonally and diagonally adjacent to you,

both friend and foe, must pass a Finesse check

with difficulty equal to your Strength, or they

take 1d6 + Strength damage.

Resilience:

You have become unbelievably resilient, and it

takes a lot just to put a dent in your armor,

much less keep you down.

Reduce all damage taken by 3. Damage

cannot be reduced below 0.

Magnet Pull:

A Guardian protects their allies with their lives,

and is fully equipped to do so.

You may redirect any ranged attack that

passes within 5ft. of you to yourself. Doing

this takes your Bonus Action.

Indomitable:

It is said that Guardians can shrug off even

mortal wounds.

When your health hits 0, instead of being

knocked out, you may recover health equal to:

2d6 + Strength. You may do this once per day.

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Titan’s Grip:

Fully powered Guardian suits are a terrifying

sight on the battlefield.

You may build another oversized weapon

into your power suit. Your built-in

weapons can be dual wielded without the

normal dual wielding penalty.

Juggernaut:

You are nigh unstoppable. The amount of

punishment that you can take makes you

tougher than a monster several times your

size.

If you are at less than half health when you

take damage, halve that damage.

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Hidden

Hidden are masters of the shadows. They are

known to appear and disappear at will, and

are often surrounded by a thick cloud of

superstition. Some use this for good, and are

detectives or informants. Others are

professional thieves, or hired assassins.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Hidden may have a talent for staying out of

sight, but that talent was often developed out

of little more than necessity. Hidden are used

to fear, and count on it to get them through

each night alive. Whatever their reason for

being able to disappear like a puff of smoke, it

is sure to be a key part of their backstory.

The Hidden

Level Features Gained

1 Cloak of Shadows, Talent

2 Skill Increase (2)

3 Fear, Ambush

4 Extra Attack, Skill Increase (2)

5 Talent, Skill Increase (2)

6 Cripple, Blurred Movement

7 Extra Attack, Raise All Stats by 1

8 Talent, Skill Increase (3)

9 Inspire Fear

10 Extra Attack, Skill Increase (1)

11 Shadow Teleport, Talent

12 Stat Increase (1), Skill Increase (3)

Movement: 35ft per round

Starting Health Bonus: 10 + 2d6

Health Per lvl Bonus: 1d4

Starting Skill Points: +2 Stealth, +1 Perception,

+1 Survival, +2 Any

Starting Equipment:

(a) Grenade Subscription or (b) Crossbow

(a) Utility Belt

(a) Shock Knife

(a) Leather Armour or (b) Kevlar Vest

(a) 15 gold or (b) 2d6 + 8 gold

Making a Hidden:

When making a Hidden, you should put your

highest stat into Finesse, so that you can stay

hidden as easily as possible.

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Hidden excel at doing things with subtlety, and

you should take this into account when

deciding whether or not to make a Hidden.

Hidden usually have dark backstories. For

some reason or another, they decided that

being in the dark was the life for them, and

you should take this into account when

making your Hidden’s backstory.

Cloak of Shadows:

In your possession is a Cloak of Shadows. This

cloak is a blend of fabric, technology, and

superstition.

During combat, you may use your Cloak of

Shadows to don your cloak, and turn

partially invisible. The effect lasts until an

opponent successfully attacks you, you

attempt an attack, or you choose to end

the effect. While invisible, opponents have

disadvantage while attacking you.

You have advantage on all FIN (Stealth)

checks while cloaked.

Donning your cloak takes your full

standard action.

Fear:

Fear is an everyday part of a Hidden’s life.

Whether experiencing or dealing it, fear is

never far from a Hidden’s mind. It is no longer

something that controls them, it is a sense of

impending danger that keeps them alive.

Whenever a critical hit is scored against

you, make a FIN check with DR equal to:

opponent’s FIN + opponent’s level.

Successfully making this check prevents

the critical, although you still take normal

damage.

You have advantage when resisting an

Intimidation check.

Ambush:

Hidden are adept in the art of attacking from

the shadows.

Whenever you successfully attack

someone that cannot sense you, you

automatically score a critical hit.

Cripple

Hidden can strike at a foe’s vital points with

skill and accuracy.

Using this ability cripples an opponent until

they rest. Crippled opponents have

disadvantage on all accuracy rolls, OR have

halved movement. In order to inflict both

conditions, you must use this ability twice.

Using this ability replaces one attack, and

deals no damage.

Blurred Movement

If an experienced Hidden wants to disappear,

he will do so, even if you’re looking directly at

him.

Permanently add +2 to your Defense. This

bonus is a part of you, and persists no

matter what, even if you are not wearing

any armour.

If you do not make any attacks during your

turn, you may increase your Defense

bonus to +4.

Inspire Fear:

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The shadows in a Hidden’s eyes veil the terrors

that lie beneath.

When successfully attacking an opponent

that cannot sense you, your opponent

must make an ACU (Perception) check

contested against your SOC (Intimidation).

If they fail, they are frightened for one turn

(use the “Stun” status effect described in

Status Effects).

In addition, permanently gain +1 to your

Intimidation skill.

Shadow Step

Hidden can appear and disappear at will.

Exactly how they do it is a secret.

If you start your turn cloaked, you may use

your movement action to teleport up to

your movement speed into any shadow or

dark area.

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Gunslinger

Gunslingers are exceptional marksmen, and

masters of the gun. While anyone can pick up

a gun and fire it, Gunslingers make the simple

act of firing a gun into a skilled art.

Wasteland Cowboy

Gunslingers are the manifestation of the

western cowboy. Strong, independent, and

resourceful, a true Gunslinger is someone who

is capable of surviving in the harsh wastelands

with nothing but their gun. Gunslingers are

quite capable in the wastelands, and for many,

it is where they grew up. If they had not

developed their skills as a Gunslinger, they

would not have made it to where they are

today.

While Gunslingers don’t actually herd cows,

many have their roots planted firmly in the

fields where cattle are raised. Whether it was

working as a hired hand, protecting herds of

cattle when needed, or tracking valuable

animals across miles of irradiated super-

forests, Gunslingers have a knack for getting

on animals’ good sides.

The Gunslinger

Level Features Gained

1 Eagle Eye, Talent

2 Skill Increase (2)

3 Quick Draw, Extra Attack

4 Stand Your Ground, Crack Shot

5 Talent, Skill Increase (1)

6 Extra Attack, Skill Increase (1)

7 Raise All Stats by 1

8 Talent, Skill Increase (1)

9 Bullet Hell, Extra Attack

10 Trigger Fingers, Skill Increase (1)

11 Extra Attack, Talent

12 Stat Increase (1), Skill Increase (2)

Movement: 30ft per round

Starting Health Bonus: 13 + 2d6

Health Per lvl Bonus: 1d6

Starting Skill Points: +1 Survival, +1 Animal

Handling, +1 Any

Starting Equipment:

(a) Carbine or (b) any midsized weapon

(a) 2 magnums or (b) any 2 small weapons

(a) Leather armour or (b) Kevlar vest

(a) Adventurer’s pack

(a) 10 gold or (b) 2d6 + 3 gold

Making a Gunslinger:

When making a Gunslinger, you should put

your highest stat into Finesse, so that you can

shoot your foes as accurately as possible.

Gunslingers excel at dealing ranged damage,

and usually take the role of “ranged damage-

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dealer.”

When considering your Gunslinger’s backstory,

you should consider why they first picked up a

gun, and what made them decide to take up

the Gunslinger lifestyle.

Eagle Eye:

Gunslingers are the best shots in all of the

wastelands.

You permanently have a +1 bonus on all

ranged accuracy rolls.

Additionally, you can measure the distance

between yourself and any visual target

within 1800ft, accurate to within 5% of the

distance between you and your target.

Quick Draw:

It is nigh impossible to get the drop on a

seasoned Gunslinger.

Whenever you are surprise attacked, you

can make a standard action during the

surprise round according to your initiative.

Additionally, you permanently gain a +1

bonus to all initiative rolls.

Crack Shot:

None can hit a target like a gunslinger.

Once per combat, you may reroll any

accuracy roll, and use the higher value.

Stand Your Ground:

A good Gunslinger doesn’t back down often. A

good Gunslinger doesn’t need to.

For one turn, double the amount of attacks

you make.

You cannot move on the turn you use this

ability.

You may use this ability once per day.

Lightning Draw:

A Gunslinger’s deftness is unparalleled.

Your bonus to initiative increases to +3.

You permanently gain +1 Finesse.

Bullet Hell:

A fully realized gunslinger can make it seem

like the air itself if made of bullets.

Once per day, you may fire at every target

you can see in a single round.

Trigger Fingers:

You have mastered the art of pumping lead

into your foes.

Whenever you score a critical hit on an

opponent, you may make an additional

attack against them for free. This only

applies to ranged weapons.

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Ronin

Blazing into combat with their Glow Swords

drawn, Ronin embody a fusion between feudal

swordsmanship, advanced weapons

technology, and a post-apocalyptic sense of

fearlessness.

As their name suggests, Ronin are spiritual

successors to the feudal samurai who

wandered without master. Just like their

feudal equivalent, wasteland Ronin are

confident, masters of the sword, and more

likely poor than not.

Swords in a Gun Fight

A Ronin’s most valuable possession is their

glow sword, and for good reason. Glow swords

are a rare technology, invented as anti-war-

machine weapons, meant to give lone

individuals the capacity to combat tanks, and

other armored vehicles.

These weapons resemble normal swords in

form, and function by generating, containing,

and focusing plasma along their blades. They

are inert when sheathed, and appear calm to

the naked eye. It is when they are drawn that

their calm gives way to wild turbulence. They

glow, flash, and spark when swung, and erupt

in fiery plasma when cutting through an

enemy.

In the modern day, glow sword production is

virtually non-existent. Factories for specialized

weaponry are too expensive to maintain, and

the majority of glow swords are handed down

to successors, or taken as spoils of victory. 3D

printing takes care of most material needs, but

glow swords need specialized, skilled

mechanics to maintain. However a Ronin got

their sword, and however they keep it intact,

you can be sure that it is an important part of

a Ronin’s backstory.

The Ronin

Level Features Gained

1 Way of the Sword, Talent

2 Skill Increase (2)

3 Sword Sense, Fearless Charge

4 Extra Attack, Skill Increase (2)

5 Talent, Skill Increase (1)

6 War Cry, Crescent Slice

7 Extra Attack, Raise All Stats by 1

8 Talent , Stat Increase (1)

9 Bane Blade, Fearless Charge

10 Extra Attack, Skill Increase (1)

11 Masterful Sword Sense, Talent

12 Stat Increase (1), Skill Increase (2)

Movement: 40ft per round

Starting Health Bonus: 17 + 2d6

Health Per lvl Bonus: 1d8

Starting Skill Points: +1 Athletics, +1

Perception, +1 Any

Starting Equipment:

(a) Glow sword

(a) Any small weapon or (b) 2 grenades of

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any kind

(a) Air steel half-armour or (b) Kevlar vest

(a) Adventurer’s pack

(a) 7 gold or (b) 2d6 gold

Making a Ronin:

When making a Ronin, you should put your

highest stat into Strength, so that you can cut

down your foes as quickly as possible.

Ronin excel at bringing the fight to their

opponent, and dealing damage in close-

quarters combat.

When making your Ronin’s backstory, you

should consider their training. Not just anyone

who wields a sword is a Ronin: only the best

swordsman are legitimate Ronin. Whether

your Ronin learned swordsmanship from their

sword’s previous owner, from a military

academy, or through years of self-taught

training, your Ronin likely spent a long portion

of their life learning the way of the sword.

Way of the Sword:

Ronin are impeccable masters of the sword.

Ronin get a +1 bonus both when attacking,

and when damaging with a melee weapon.

Sword Sense:

A Ronin that has seen many battles and lived

begins to develop an uncanny instinct,

bordering on a sixth sense.

If you have not attacked anyone this

round, you may use your bonus action to

take a FIN check to deflect an attack made

against you. The difficulty rating is equal to

the attacker’s level + attacker’s FIN.

You permanently gain +1 to perception.

Reckless Charge:

A Ronin charging into battle is both fearless

and frightening.

You may use this ability once per combat.

Double your movement speed for the

duration of your turn.

War Cry:

The forceful shout of a Ronin inspires bravery

in allies, and fear in enemies.

You may use this ability once per day.

All allies that can hear you (including you)

have advantage on their next attack.

All enemies that can hear you must pass an

ACU (Perception) check or have

disadvantage on their next attack. The DR

is equal to your SOC (Intimidation).

Crescent Slice:

Veterans of taking on multiple opponents,

Ronin are adept at fighting against superior

numbers.

Once per combat, you may strike every

opponent within a 5ft. radius of you.

This replaces one attack you make.

Use the same accuracy roll for all

opponents.

Bane Blade:

Ronin that have reached their pinnacle can

cleave their opponents in twain.

Once per combat, you may change a

successful attack into a critical hit.

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Fearless Charge:

To see a Ronin charging at you is to see death.

Killing an opponent lets you use Reckless

Charge on your next turn.

The first attack you make on the same turn

you use Reckless Charge deals +2 bonus

damage.

Masterful Sword Sense:

A master Ronin’s instincts are virtually

indistinguishable from a sixth sense.

Your perception bonus increases to +2.

You may use Sword Sense even if you have

attacked someone this round.

The “Blind” status effect does not affect

you.

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Races

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Droids

Droids are extraordinary feats of mechanical

engineering. Artificial constructs capable of

not only human-like intelligence, but

sentience, and personality.

Made to Serve

The first fully intelligent, sentient droids were

made as medical care assistants, meant to

replace human medics in war-torn or

irradiated areas. The technology quickly

expanded to encompass mechanical

construction workers, fire-resistant fire

fighters, and solar-powered robots

maintaining space stations.

Their peaceful purpose was not to last. As

soon as the first medical droids were

successfully deployed, construction of soldier

droids began.

Traits

Languages: Droids have the software

necessary to understand whatever languages

were spoken from wherever they came from.

Aging: Droids are constructed fully grown, and

fully adult. Few will mature or change

dramatically over the course of their lifetime.

They can live as long as they can maintain

themselves. Sometimes, this is a few years,

sometimes it is a few centuries.

Size: The average droid is roughly human-

sized, and human-proportioned. However,

droids can be constructed in any form, so their

size can vary widely. Ask your DM, and consult

the “Size” rules in the “Combat and Other

Rules” section of the rulebook if you want to

play a droid that isn’t medium-sized.

It’s Good to be a Droid

Droids have a few special traits.

Mechanical Precision: Droids start with a +1

bonus to Finesse.

Battery Powered: Droids have no need for

food, water, or sleep. They have a variety of

power sources that replace these, such as

solar panels, mini nuclear reactors, or

batteries.

Night Vision: Building night vision into droids

is very cheap. All droids can see in the dark as

they do in the light.

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Humans

Humans may have been beaten and bruised by

the apocalypse, but they’re far from broken.

The humans that have stuck around are tough,

hardy, and don’t go down without a fight.

Wasteland Kings

Though other races may have a physical edge

on humans, humans are still the most

prevalent and populous species. Close to 70%

of all sentient beings are some kind of human,

and human civilizations are typically the most

successful.

The different species intermingle to different

extents. Droids and humans live together quite

commonly, and crow are known to enjoy life in

human cities. Mantis are the exception, as

they are solitary by nature, and most wander

nomadically, and often by themselves. When

they are with others, they are often bound

together as adventurers.

Traits

Languages: English, Cantonese

Aging: Humans can live to about 75. Some

hang on longer, but few do successfully.

Size: It’s harder to eat properly in the

wastelands, so people are a little bit shorter

now. Men average 5’7”, women 5’4”.

The Human Spirit

Social Creatures: Humans are naturally good

at forming groups, and functioning within

them. All humans start with +1 to Social.

Caretakers: Humans are good at taking care of

living things. Humans start with +1 to their

Animal Handling.

Versatile: Humans start with an extra talent at

first level.

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Crows

Crows are the descendants of humans who

mutated, and took on the appearance of half-

person, half-crow creatures. Eventually, the

mutations stabilized, and they became an

entirely new species of humanoid.

Crows in the modern world are rare, but

quickly gaining in number. Their populations

are concentrated in Asia, and they have a

habit of living in high places whenever they

can.

Half-Human, Half-Bird

They look like their namesake bird standing in

human form, with black feathers covering all

but their hands and feet. Their hands are more

human than crow, though they have talons in

the place of nails. Their feet are much more

bird-like, with three large toes going forward,

and one more going back. The talons on their

toes are large and strong, and often used

when standing in precarious positions, as

crows are wont to do. Their beaks are varied in

color, shape, and size. Some are yellow or red,

though most are black or gray. Their shape is

usually straight and pyramid-shaped, though

some are hooked, like a raptor’s.

What were originally arms are no longer just

arms, though they are not full wings either.

Crow wings are not big enough to allow them

to take flight, but they are enough to give

them a certain grace in the air.

Traits

Languages: English or Cantonese

Aging: Crows have shorter lifespans than

normal humans. They reach maturity at

sixteen, and can live to a bit over fifty.

However, they remain in their prime much

longer than normal humans.

Size: Coming in at 5’4” for both the average

male and female, crows are a bit shorter than

humans.

Bird Benefits

Crows have a few special traits.

Airborne: Crows can jump eight times the

height and length of humans (roughly 16ft up,

120ft far), and maneuver in the air. In

addition, they cannot take fall damage.

Talons: When making an unarmed attack,

crows may add 1d4 to their damage.

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Mantis

Often referred to as “clickers” because of the

sounds they make when talking to members of

their own, mantis resemble six-foot tall

praying mantises. Fierce, confident, and never

prone to backing down, mantis are some of

the most powerful adventurers out there.

Heart of the Jungle

Humans, Crows, and Droids all know where

the others came from. Mantis however, are an

enigma. The first recorded case of a human-

Mantis encounter was by Dr. Archibald III, an

explorer and world-traveler documenting the

mutations of creatures in the jungle. He was in

for the discovery of his life when he was

approached by Krikkz, a Mantis who desired to

leave the jungle to find new prey. Krikkz

revealed to Archibald his species, and their

way of life inside the jungle. There, the Mantis

thrived, constantly enveloped in the thrill of

hunting and being hunted. Archibald found

this new species both frightening and

magnificent, and convinced Krikkz to work

with him to develop the Mantis life, and

introduce them to the world.

That was less than a century ago, and the

Mantis have since spread over the world. The

kinds of prey they can find outside is

numerous, and many of them enjoy living as

adventurers or mercenaries.

Heart of Darkness

Mantis are fierce and frightening.

They often face discrimination

because of their monstrous

appearance. They tend to take

discrimination in stride, as they

are mostly solitary creatures, and

spend most of their time hunting

and fighting. Socializing is simply

not their first nature.

However, it does not take much

to goad a Mantis into a fight, and

they are known to brutally kill

anyone and anything they fight.

Furthermore, they enjoy devouring the heads

of prey immediately after a kill. Many have

developed a fear of Mantis after seeing one

publically execute and devour someone that

pushed it too far.

Traits

Languages: Mantis, plus one more language

Aging: Mantis are born from eggs, and reach

maturity around twelve years of age. Their

lifespans are limited to about thirty years.

Size: Coming in at 5’5” for both the average

male and female, Mantis are a bit shorter than

humans. Standing erect however, they easily

rise above six feet.

Mantis Style

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Mantis have a few special traits.

Inspire Fear: Mantis are adept at facing and

inspiring fear. They have a +1 bonus to

intimidation.

Natural Predator: The forearms of a mantis

have evolved with the purpose of catching and

killing prey. When they make unarmed

attacks, they may add 1d4 to their damage.

Tradition and Power: Some mantis will

integrate weapon implants into their

forearms, so that they may hunt larger and

more dangerous prey while practicing the

same techniques as their ancestors. If you

create a mantis character, you may choose to

imbue one or both of your mantis’s arms with

the weapon attributes of any melee weapon.

Mantis retain their full dexterity if they do so.

Exoskeleton: Mantis have a bonus of +1

Defense.

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Items and Equipment

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The Economy:

After end of world, currency went to gold

coins because of their universality. Carrying

gold coins around is ridiculous though, so a

universal online currency was generated,

similar to bitcoin in the 21st century. The

currency is referred to as “gold coins”, or “g”

for short. One virtual gold coin is equivalent to

one physical gold coin, and will buy a decent

meal at a pub or inn.

Some people prefer to carry physical gold or

silver with them, although the most popular

method is to purchase a “gold card” from a

globally secured bank, of which there are

several. Gold cards can be used to access

wealth stored in bank accounts, though a few

paranoid people will sometimes not accept

virtual gold as legitimate currency. These cards

are linked to a person’s DNA, and are

thoroughly impossible to hack.

Another common method of exchange is

barter. Barter is just as universal as gold, and is

used by many people low on cash.

Printing

In the 2800s, 3D printing is a fast and effective

way to obtain a wide variety of processed

goods. It is even more ubiquitous than 2D

printing, and so it is simply referred to as

“printing”. Many corporations own lines of

printer vending machines that they place at

Railway stops, small towns, and high traffic

areas in the wastelands.

Many goods can be easily purchased from

these machines. Printable items are marked as

such in the items table. The only weapons that

can be 3D printed are grenades.

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Weapons Table:

Name Damage Accuracy

Bonus

Cost Range Size Other

Energy Weapons

Plasma Rifle 1d8 + ½ ACU* +1 50g 30/90 Mid

Plasma Pistol 1d6 + ½ ACU +1 40g 20/60 Small

Laser Pistol 1d4 + ½ ACU +2 35g 25/75 Small

Laser Rifle 1d6 + ½ ACU +2 60g 45/90 Mid

Flamer 2d6 + ½ ACU +3 350g 30/45 Oversized Burn

Tesla Rifle 1d12 + ½ ACU +0 350g 30/60 Oversized

Explosives

Grenade

Subscription**

-- -- 10g per

month

-- --

Impact Grenade 2d6 +0 1g 30/90 Small

Incendiary Grenade 1d8 +0 1g 20/40 Small Burn

Flash-Bang 1d4 +0 1g 20/40 Small Blind, Stun

C4 2d6 +0 2g 10/20 Small Remote

Bullet Weapons

Assault Rifle 1d8 + ½ FIN +1 45g 45/120 Mid

Carbine 1d6 + ½ FIN +2 40g 60/120 Mid

Magnum 1d6 + ½ FIN +0 30g 20/60 Small

Minigun 2d6 + ½ FIN +1 400g 30/120 Oversized

Shotgun 1d12 + ½ FIN +3 40g 15/45 Mid

Melee Weapons

Machete 1d6 + ½ STR +2 5g Melee Small

Glow Sword 2d6 + ½ STR +4 --*** Melee Mid

Shock Knife 1d10 + ½ FIN +3 35g Melee Small Stun

Rocket Hammer 1d12 + STR +0 75g Melee Oversized

Other

Improvised 1d4 + ½ STR +0 0g Melee --

Unarmed ½ STR +2 0g Melee --

Crossbow 1d8 + ½ FIN +3 30g 40/90 Mid

*All values round down.

**Grenade subscriptions are a special item that allow for easy purchase of grenades. See “Grenade

Subscriptions” sub-section below.

***Glow Swords are semi-legendary artifacts, and cannot be purchased through normal means.

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Ammo

Ammo is not tracked in this game. It is always

assumed that characters have sufficient ammo

to fire their guns and that their guns are

loaded, unless story purposes require it, or

otherwise mentioned.

Grenade Subscriptions

A popular trend amongst weapon-dealing

vending machines(see “Printing”) is to allow a

monthly subscription of grenades. Users

simply purchase a subscription, and are

allowed a certain amount of grenades each

month. It works kind of like a cell-phone plan.

For gameplay purposes, you can just assume

that characters with a grenade subscription

have three grenades per combat, and that

they restock their supply each time they go by

a weapon-dealing vending machine.

Weapon List:

Plasma Rifle: Weaponized plasma was one of

the greatest military revolutions of the 2300s.

It was originally developed as a short-range

anti-armour weapon, though the ability to

melt targets proved an effective way to

demoralize opposing forces.

Plasma weapons are battery powered, and err

on the large side. Many of them are chrome,

and feature cooling apparatuses disguised as

ornamentation. Their need for large cooling

mechanisms make them weightier than

weapons that fire alternative projectiles, but

many collectors appreciate them for their

flashy looks.

Plasma Pistol: Plasma pistols were invented

post-war, as plasma technologies became

more refined and advances in nuclear

technology made people okay with holding

small nuclear reactors in their hands. Many

country folk appreciate them for their ability

to scare off dangerous animals with their

bright projectiles.

Laser Rifle: Portable laser weapons were

invented shortly after plasma weapons. The

advances in portable energy sources

developed for plasma worked equally well for

lasers.

Laser weapons tend to be sleek, black, and

made to look good. Their quick battery use

makes them a poor choice for extended forays

into the wastes, but many swear by their

ability to sustain pinpoint accuracy over long

ranges.

Laser Pistol: Laser pistols are less powerful

than their larger brethren, but their compact

designs and quiet noise makes them popular

for self-defense.

Flamer: Fire has been humanity’s close friend

and enemy for thousands of years, and a bit of

radiation did little to change that.

Flamers are large, bulky, and generate a lot of

heat. They are mostly used as mounted

weapons for vehicles. Portable flamers are

usually used to clear forests, or to incinerate

certain monsters that require that special

touch.

Many nomadic caravans make sure to have

flamers mounted on at least one of their

vehicles. Their sheer intimidation value is

enough to turn away all but the bravest

monsters and raiders.

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Tesla Rifle: Tesla Rifles were invented to strike

fear into the hearts of its enemies. Their large

form, esoteric design, and habit of making an

ominous humming noise whenever they are

turned on does well to accomplish this. When

fired, they hurl bolts of lightning at anything

they are turned towards. Their unpredictable

aim makes them hard to use, though users

tend to refer to this as a feature, and call it

“exciting”.

Though they were notoriously prone to

malfunctioning in early stages, they have

become much more reliable as they were

further developed for widespread use. Due to

their expense and large girth, they are usually

only used by large conglomerates, successfully

militant nomads, and often attacked city-

states.

Impact Grenade: Impact grenades are small,

thrown explosives that cause damage through

the immense amount of force and displaced

air they generate.

Flare Grenade: These grenades envelop an

area in flame for an awe-inspiring moment.

Flash-Bang: Non-lethal, thrown explosives that

temporarily cause blindness and deafness.

C4: High-quality, remote-detonated plastic

explosives. These things are highly stable, and

can even be lit on fire without exploding. Their

safety and reliability make them popular for

setting traps, or destroying large vehicles.

Hidden often use them as ambush weapons.

Carbine: Even with advances in plasma and

laser technology, bullets are still the most

popular way to kill something dead. Bullet

weapons are much cheaper and easier to

maintain than their energy-based

counterparts, and are therefore the preferred

projectile for anyone with a weapons budget.

This is less of an issue for adventurers, whose

lives and livelihoods depend on their ability to

kill things.

A carbine is a reliable, semi-automatic rifle.

Trusty and accurate, they are popular for self

and home defense everywhere.

Minigun: A minigun is a massive, terrifying

machine of death. It has multiple barrels to

distribute the heat generated from firing so

many bullets. If it did not, its own reckless

power would cause it to melt down.

Magnum: Slang term for any powerful

revolver, and even some pistols. These hand

cannons are used by people who enjoy feeling

the kick of a gun in their hands.

Shotgun: Shotguns are popular tools for

raiders and farmers alike. The wide spray of a

shotgun’s pellets do well to destroy property,

or give warning shots. They’re also well-liked

amongst adventurers, as the powerful “boom”

of a pump-action shotgun does well to steady

nerves while hunting giant monsters.

Glow Sword: These weapons resemble normal

swords in form, and function by generating,

containing, and focusing plasma along their

blades. They are inert when sheathed, and

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appear calm to the naked eye. It is when they

are drawn that their calm gives way to wild

turbulence. They glow, flash, and spark when

swung, and erupt in fiery plasma when cutting

through an enemy.

Glow swords are further detailed in the Ronin

calling description.

Shock Knife: Shock knives are named for the

electricity that they keep flowing between

their twin tips. They are a popular self-defense

weapon for their compactness, and ability to

non-lethally take down assailants. Of course,

stabbing an assailant while shocking them is

another way to use a shock knife. Certain

hunters like them for having the choice when

subduing animals.

Rocket Hammer: These hammers are massive,

extremely heavy weapons meant to stun large

monsters, and pulverize smaller ones. Often

used by Guardians, these hammers can only

be used by the exceptionally strong.

Weapon Ranges

Every weapon has a range. Most weapon

ranges are presented like this:

40/120

This weapon has an accurate range of 40ft,

and a maximum range of 120ft. Firing at

targets within a weapon’s accurate range incur

no special rules. Firing at a target beyond the

accurate range but within the max range

incurs a -2 accuracy penalty.

When counting squares for a weapon’s range,

count the squares as if the bullet moved

orthogonally or diagonally along squares.

Melee weapons can hit targets like so:

Improvised Weapons

When attacking with an object that is not

intended to be used as such, it can be referred

to as an improvised weapon. This can be a

rock, a rifle butt, or a piece of scrap metal

found lying around. The stats of an improvised

weapon are detailed at the bottom of the

weapons table below.

Grenades

Grenades are not aimed like other weapons.

Instead of being aimed directly at targets, they

are aimed at squares on the map. After being

thrown, they explode, and affect every target

within their radius. A grenade’s blast radius

looks like:

When throwing a grenade, the thrower makes

an accuracy roll. Targets affected by the

grenade must make a finesse check equal to

the thrower’s accuracy roll. Upon failing the

roll, the targets take full damage, and are

affected by any side effects of the grenade.

Upon succeeding, they take half damage

(rounded down), and are not affected by any

side effects.

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Special Weapon Rules

Some weapons have special properties,

marked in the “other” column of the weapons

table. Below are explanations of how they

work.

Burn: An item with the “Burn” trait has a

chance to ignite its target when used

successfully. Targets hit by a burn weapon roll

2d6. On a 7+, the target is lit on fire, and is

afflicted by the “On Fire” status. Targets on

fire can either take a full standard action to

put out the fire, or suffer 1d4 damage per

turn. Each turn while on fire, the target rolls

2d6. On a roll of 8+, the fire goes out.

Blind: An item with the blind attribute afflicts

targets with the “Blind” status for 1 turn.

Blinded targets have disadvantage on all

aiming rolls for the turn, and cannot use

weapon accuracy bonuses.

Remote: Remote weapons can be activated

remotely. The effective remote range is about

100ft.

Stun: Weapons with the “Stun” trait stun their

targets for 1 turn. Stunned targets cannot

move or perform the attack action during their

turn. In addition, all characters attacking a

stunned target have advantage.

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Armour

Together, armour and finesse decide a character’s Defense. Most armour types limit the amount of

Finesse that contributes to your character’s armour. Heavier armour generally offers better Defense,

but with a sharper bonus Finesse limit.

Armour

Name Defense

Value

Maximum

FIN Bonus

Cost Weight Traits

Unarmoured* 4 + FIN** 8 0g 0 lbs

Light Armour

Leather Armour 5 + FIN 7 3g 2 lbs

MAGNA Shields 8 + FIN 8 100g 3 lbs

Medium Armour

Kevlar Vest 6 + FIN 5 4g 5 lbs

Air Steel Half-Armour 8 + FIN 5 30g 10 lbs

Heavy Armour

Air Steel Full-Armour 11 + ½ FIN 3 60g 20 lbs -5ft of movement

per turn

Power Suit 13 + ½ FIN 2 *** 50-200 lbs Disadvantage on

stealth checks

*People are assumed to have a natural defense value of +4. Certain races have greater or less natural

armour.

**All values round down

***Power Suits are semi-legendary items, and cannot be purchased. They can be obtained and worn

only by Guardians.

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Armour List

Natural Armour: Sometimes, people just end

up in a combat situation without the right

preparations. If a character is unarmoured,

they are assumed to have an armour of +4.

Wild animals often have more or less natural

armour.

Leather Armour: Commonly worn by people

who can’t afford better armour, and people

who like looking good. Leather armour

encompasses trench coats, jackets, and other

clothing reinforced by leather for protection.

MAGNA Shields: Although MAGNA Corp. is no

longer the only company to manufacture

energy-field based dynamic shielding, their

ruthless and effective advertising has

engrained the term “MAGNA shields” as the

term used to describe energy shields.

These shields are worn as a set of small,

lightweight attachments, commonly clipped to

belts, shoulders, and wrist guards. Their small

form and ability to react to omnidirectional

attacks makes them popular among the rich

few that can afford them. Adventurers dream

of having such nice technology.

Kevlar Vest: A cheap and effective way to

protect the body from harm. Commonly

paired with Kevlar-reinforced hand guards,

boots, and the like. Since it’s easy to hide

under clothing, many like to wear it when

they wish to hide their readiness for

combat.

Air Steel Half-Armour: Air Steel is one of

the great inventions of the post-apocalypse.

Stronger than normal steel, and many times

lighter, it has allowed armour resembling

feudal steel armour to make its way back

into the lives of those who need it.

Half-armour takes many forms, as does full-

armour. Typical examples include chain mail

armour over leather, or a few plates

strategically placed over vital areas. Just

having a breastplate with gauntlets and steel

shin guards is a common use of air steel.

Air Steel Full-Armour: Full-armour is the

complete version of half-armour. It covers

more of the body, and usually has finer

craftsmanship to accommodate the extra

weight and material.

Some suits resemble make their wearers look

like the knights of feudal Europe, Vikings, or

even samurai.

Power Suit: The trademark armour of

guardians. Huge, imposing, and intimidating

enough to make lesser foes back down, these

can only be worn by trained guardians. Even if

an untrained individual managed to get their

hands on a power suit, they would only be

able to wrap the suit around themselves, not

wield it like a proper guardian. At minimum, a

power suit requires hardware to be installed in

a guardian’s atlas vertebra to allow full control

of the suits powered movements.

Power suits are the most powerful kind of

armour that an individual can wear.

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Common Items

The items that exist in Wasteland Adventures are too numerous to list. Below is a list of common

items that you might need on an adventure, or are likely to encounter.

Common Items & Materials

Name Cost Weight Can 3D

Print?

Traits

Adventurer’s Pack 6g 12 lbs.

Bandolier 1g 1 lbs.

Bed Roll 1g ½ lbs.

Cell Phone 5-80g ¼ lbs.

Chain, air steel, 25ft 3g 1 lbs.

Clothing, Common 1g ½ lbs.

Clothing, Nice 1-20g ½ lbs.

Cooking Equipment 2g 2 lbs.

First Aid Kit 1g 1 lbs.

Fishing Equipment 2g 2 lbs.

Gun Maintenance Kit 3g 2 lbs

Flare ¼g ½ lbs. Single use

Flask 1g ½ lbs.

Map 3g 1

10 lbs.

Monster Bait ½g 1 lbs.

Pocket Knife 2g ¼ lbs.

Radiation Remover ¼g ¼ lbs. Single use

Rail Pass, 15 miles 1g 1

10 lbs. Single use

Rope, 25 ft. ½g

Scent Masker 2g ¼ lbs. Single use

Thermite Lighter 4g ¼ lbs.

Tool Kit 8g 3 lbs.

Utility Belt 3g 2 lbs.

Walkie-talkie 2g 1 lbs.

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Common Item List

Adventurer’s Pack: A backpack, rucksack, or

other easy to carry container. Contains the

essentials for adventuring: rations, a bed roll, a

sleeping bag, 25 ft. rope, a map, and a first aid

kit.

Bandolier: A shoulder-sling made to carry lots

of bullets, knives, and other small bits of

weaponry.

Bed Roll: A thick roll of foam, laid over the

ground to make it more comfortable. Used for

sleeping.

Cell Phone: Cell phones made it through the

apocalypse rather well. Just about everything

they did before the apocalypse, they do after

just as well. Exceptions are calling people, and

using the internet.

Cell phones now use both satellite, and short-

range radio to communicate. Since satellites

are spotty and expensive, most use the short-

range radio for everything but emergency

cases. They are mostly solar-powered, and

bullet-proofing is a common advertisement.

Chain, Air Steel: A strong chain used to hold

monsters, contain hostages, trip passerby, or

whatever else the user wants to use it for.

Clothing, Common: Cheap and durable

clothing worn by everyday people. Most

clothing is built to last, and waterproofing is a

common feature.

Clothing, Nice: Formal, or otherwise nice-

looking clothing used by well-to-do civilians.

Cooking Equipment: Bare minimum cooking

equipment used to prepare rations or raw

food in the middle of nowhere.

First Aid Kit: A convenient set of bandages,

gauze, painkillers, and an ice pack. Might

contain a common antidote or other

specialized equipment, although that makes

the kit cost an extra few gold.

Fishing Equipment: Fishing is a common way

to easily get food in the wastes. If you don’t

mind fighting the occasional swimming

monster, it’s a perfectly reasonable way to get

food. Some people swear by the technique of

hurling grenades into the water to get the fish

to just float to the top.

Flare: The wise adventurer knows when it’s

time to back out. Flares can be seen for miles

when fired. Also useful for scaring off certain

creatures.

Flask: The wastelands are a tough place. Thirst

and a poor mood are lousy things to have

when all you need is a trusty flask.

Gun Maintenance Kit: A proper gun needs

proper maintenance. Although real polishing

requires quite a fair bit of tools, a good gun

maintenance kit is enough to keep guns

working right in the field.

Map: While many can navigate by the sun and

stars, most prefer to have a map. Maps can

either be paper copies, or downloadable .pdf

files. They are often viewed on short-range,

solar-powered cell phones.

Monster Bait: Commonly used by hunters and

trackers to trap or distract monstrous

creatures. Works on most carnivorous

creatures. Needs to be wrapped well, or the

smell begins to attract unwanted creatures.

Pocket Knife: A versatile tool used for

anything and everything. Commonly has a

knife, saw, screwdriver, toothpick, pliers, and

other small tools.

Radiation Remover: Radiation is a part of

everyday life. Just about everyone has some

amount of radiation poisoning. It is a heavily

mitigated problem though, and there are

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many off-the-shelf purchases that can remove

over 99% of the radiation in food and water.

Some removers are filters for water bottles,

others are used like packets of seasoning,

while others are consumed with the meal

itself. Radiation remover is one of the most

common things on the market, and it comes in

many varieties.

Rail Pass: The Railways are described in the

“Transportation” section of the “Setting & the

World” chapter.

Rail passes can only be purchased as single-use

tickets, as their prices can fluctuate wildly

based on passing herds of giga bison or other

large creatures, and sightings of nomadic

raider groups. Tickets usually expire a day

after purchase. Workers ride free.

Rope, 25 ft.: Rope is a versatile tool that has

been used for thousands of years. Gunslingers

like to lasso things with it for fun.

Scent Masker: Hunters, trackers, and anyone

passing areas where dangerous animals prowl

pack a few scent maskers. They work well, just

don’t worry about what’s in them.

Utility Belt: It’s often convenient to store

pocket knives, bags of trail mix, and grenades

close to your hands for quick usage.

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Legends

The apocalypse is an exciting, and surprising

place. It is inhabited by all manner of weird

people, terrifying monsters roam the lands,

and there are more than a few outlandish

artifacts lying around. The strangest,

strongest, and rarest of these form the crux of

legends.

Legends will form the core of many

adventures that your characters have.

Legendary Items:

Sometimes, characters will come across items

of immense power and legacy. These are

legendary items. Their origins vary, as do their

effects and usability. Some of them are

artifacts from The Last War, some are

purported alien equipment, while others are

items forged in the lore of the wastelands.

Legendary items can be encountered in many

ways. Your adventuring group might come

across a mothballed Guardian Power Suit from

the old days while exploring old government

ruins. Maybe your group went to investigate a

crash, only to find that the craft is

unrecognizable, and possibly alien in origin.

Perhaps your character recognizes a passing

traveler by his rifle, marked with a particular

pattern only detailed in wild rumors and tales

of impossible bravado. No matter how a

legendary item is encountered, it is sure to

take a key role in your character’s next

adventure.

Encountering Legends

Encountering legendary items is rare for

civilians, but seasoned adventurers are likely

to have encountered at least a few legends in

their time. Adventurers typically start

encountering legendary items at level 2, and

encounter a small handful of legends per year

at levels 4-5. These encounters can be brief

encounters of chance, a crux of a new

adventure, or even actually coming to possess

the item. Possessing legendary items is rare

however, and only the strongest of

adventurers are likely to actually possess a

legendary object.

Legendary items that adventurers encounter

should be unique, and invented by the DM.

Here are examples of legendary items that

your DM might have your group encounter:

The Iron Fist: A plain, but oversized revolver

used by the notorious Bandit Conqueror. It has

seen the ends of many lives, and will see many

more before its time comes.

Damage Accuracy Range Cost Size

1d6 + ½

STR

+1 30/90 60g Small

The Silver Bullet: A long-barreled rifle used in

the quelling of the Werewolf Rebellion of

2760. While not actually werewolves, the

werewolf raider faction was one of the largest

seen in the past century. This gun in particular

was used to slay its leader.

Damage Accuracy Range Cost Size

1d10 + ½

FIN

+3 120/270 120g Mid

Tarkhan’s Eye: A memento from a deadly,

supposedly extinct species known as “tahrn”.

It supposedly brings good luck to those who

bare it…

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Combat & Other Rules:

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Combat Rules

Combat is a staple of everyday life for

adventurers.

When in combat, time is split up into rounds,

which last about five seconds. During each

round, all characters get to take a turn. When

in combat, things go like this:

1. Upon initiating combat, everyone

determines who takes turns in what order.

This process is called “rolling for initiative”.

Rolling for Initiative: Initiative is a

measurement of how quickly your

character gets into combat. It is equal

to: 2d6 + Finesse.

Once everyone has rolled for initiative,

combat begins in earnest. During their

turn, everything a character does is known

as an “action”. Characters get one

standard action, one move action, and as

many free actions that are reasonable.

Your actions may be performed in any

order.

Standard Action: A standard action is

the core of what your character does

during a round. You can do one of the

following things with your standard

action:

Attack: Make one attack. This is the

most common use of the standard

action. Attacking is described later

in the “Attacking” section.

Use an Ability: Using an ability

takes up your standard action,

unless otherwise stated.

Use an Item: Using an item that

requires your full attention

(grenade, bandages, monster bait,

etc.) takes a standard action.

Sometimes, it may take multiple

turns. The rule of thumb is that

using the item should take less than

six seconds. Otherwise, it takes up

multiple turns.

Rush: Double your move speed for

the turn.

Improvised Action: Sometimes, you

may want to do something that

isn’t listed here. In that case, make

sure it only takes about six seconds

to do. Otherwise, it takes multiple

turns to complete.

Move Action: Characters may move up

to their movement speed during their

move action.

Bonus Action: Bonus actions can only

occur under special circumstances.

Unless you have a special ability or

situation that allows you to do so, you

cannot do anything with your bonus

action.

Bonus actions are usually used to

perform reflexive actions such as

dodging a surprise attack, or

countering a missed swing.

Free Action: Free actions are actions

that take hardly any time or

concentration. You get as many of

these per turn that makes sense.

Example: Yelling to teammates,

drawing your weapon, or checking

your watch.

Once everyone has taken their turn, the

round is over, and the next round begins.

Each round works the same way, although

players only have to determine their

initiative on the very first round of combat.

Surprise Attacks

Sometimes, characters take other characters

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by surprise. When this happens, they get to

take a

full

round

of

combat

before

their

opponents get to take their actions.

Attacking

Attacking goes like this:

1. The attacker tries to hit their target. Their

aim is equal to:

Finesse + Weapon Bonus + 2d6

2. The attacker succeeds if his aim is more

than or equal to the defender’s Defense. A

character’s Defense is:

Finesse + Armour

3. If the attacker wins, he determines how

much damage he dealt. Damage for each

weapon is listed in their entry in the “Items

and Equipment” chapter.

Mounted Combat

It is difficult to drive a vehicle while using a

weapon. Characters attempting to do so have

disadvantage when aiming, and disadvantage

when trying to perform difficult maneuvers

(dodging, ramming, drifting, etc.)

Dual Wielding

If a character is wielding two small weapons at

once, they may attack with both of their

weapons during their standard action.

However, each attack is made with -2

accuracy. If a character tries to do this with

mid-sized weapons, the penalty is -4. The

penalty for dual wielding oversized weapons is

-8.

Non-Lethal Damage

There are circumstances where characters will

only want to incapacitate, not kill, their

targets. Certain weapons are capable of

dealing non-lethal damage, and are marked as

such in the weapons table. When dealing

damage with these weapons, the attacker may

declare that they are dealing non-lethal

damage. If non-lethal damage does not bring a

target to 0 HP, it is identical to lethal damage.

If a non-lethal blow brings a target to 0 HP,

they are knocked unconscious instead of being

killed.

Death

The wastelands are a dangerous place, and

people die often. If non-player characters

reach 0 HP, they die. Player characters are a

bit more durable than the average person

though, and they get special rules when they

hit 0 HP.

When a player character hits 0 HP, they fall

unconscious, and begin dying. Each turn, they

must make a DR 11 skill check to return from

the brink of death. This skill check is special,

and involves no stats or skills. Failing this

check three times results in death.

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If another character takes their full standard

action to assist the dying character, the dying

character has advantage when making their

skill checks.

Rolling Dice

Rolling dice is the primary way for conflicts to

be resolved in Wasteland Adventuress. There

are some rules related to all dice rolls.

Critical Success & Failure

Sometimes, a character gets really lucky or

unlucky when they try to do something. This is

known as a “critical success/failure”. This

happens when a character has to roll dice in

order to do something, and rolls double sixes

(success) or double ones (failure). When this

happens, the character automatically

succeeds/fails at what they were trying to do,

assuming there is even the possibility of them

succeeding/failing at what they were

attempting.

Advantage/Disadvantage:

Sometimes, characters have a large situational

advantage or disadvantage when they are

trying to perform an action. When contesting

an opponent, having advantage does not

necessarily give your opponent disadvantage.

Determining advantage/disadvantage:

Advantage: Advantage means that a

character is much more likely to succeed

because of the specific situation that they

are in. Attacking an enemy from behind,

taking a turn to aim before shooting, or

pickpocketing a distracted target are

examples of advantage.

Roll 3d6, take the higher two.

Disadvantage: Disadvantage means that a

character is much more likely to fail because

of the specific situation that they are in.

Detecting a lie while inebriated, picking a

lock under time pressure, or swinging at a

target while blinded are examples of

disadvantages.

Roll 3d6, take the lower two.

Map Rules:

Wasteland Adventures is meant to be played

on a square grid, where each cell represents a

5’x5’ square.

Movement

Characters move orthogonally along the grid.

Movement is counted when moving into

squares, and not when moving out of it.

If a character has movement left, but not

enough movement to enter a square, they

may enter it anyway. Doing so finishes their

movement for the turn.

Characters may not move through squares

occupied by hostile creatures. Players may

move through squares occupied by friendly

creatures, although they may not end their

turn in an already occupied square.

Difficult Terrain

Just walking around can be hard sometimes.

Icey ground, areas with dense foliage, low

tunnels, and a crumbling rooftop are examples

of areas that are considered difficult terrain.

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Moving into these areas takes twice the

normal movement speed.

Size

Player characters are medium-sized, and take

up one 5x5 cell.

Typically, characters take up one full, 5x5 grid

square in combat. Some characters or

monsters however, take up more or less

space, as the chart below illustrates:

Size Squares Example

Tiny 4 per square Fox Small 2 per square Feral Dog Medium 1x1 Adult Human Large 2x2 Horned Bear Huge 3x3 Giga Bison Vast* 4+ x 4+

Strider

*Some beings are just too big. In this case,

their entry in the Bestiary chapter describes

their size.

Cover & Line of Sight

Shooting at a target in cover makes it harder

to hit. Determining cover:

Not in Cover: The character can be seen

with effectively no obstructions. Generally,

if you can connect a direct line from the

center of the attacker to the center of the

defender, the target is not in cover.

Partial Cover: The character can be

targeted, but it is difficult to do so. A low

wall, standing behind an overturned table,

or firing past teammates are examples of

partial cover. Generally, if you can connect

a direct line from the center of the

attacker to any non-center part of the

defender, the target is partially in cover.

Being in partial cover gives imposes

disadvantage against ranged

attackers.

Heavy Cover: It would take a careful shot

to successfully shoot this target. A target

shooting through a window, an entrenched

target, or firing at someone holding a

hostage are examples of heavy cover.

Being in heavy cover gives imposes

disadvantage and a -2 accuracy

penalty against ranged attackers.

Full Cover: A fully covered target cannot

be directly seen or targeted because of

obstructions.

Some weapons can pierce walls,

and you can try to blind fire at this

target anyway. You may do so with

disadvantage, with a -4 accuracy

penalty. Successfully hitting deals

half damage.

Skills

Wastelanders have developed abilities, known

as “skills”. These skills are shown on your

character sheet, and are representative of

how good your character is at doing

something. Below are the possible skills that

wastelanders can be proficient in:

Skill Table

Strength Athletics

How good a character is at running, jumping, climbing, and moving with coordination.

Resistance A character’s ability to resist

poison, radiation sickness, and other maladies.

Finesse Stealth

How well a character can

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move without detection, and perform actions unnoticed.

Vehicle Handling

Everyone can drive a car, or ride a horse, but characters with high Vehicle Handling can drive all sorts of exotic vehicles, and execute daring tricks and maneuvers.

Sleight of Hand

A measurement of a character’s ability to pick locks, disarm traps, pick pockets, catch, throw, and finely maneuver objects.

Acuity Perception

A character’s ability to notice things around them, and spot things that are out of place.

Survival

A measurement of how good a character is at tracking, navigating, foraging, and performing actions related to sustaining themselves in the wastes.

Knowledge

A general indicator of how much someone knows about the world around them.

Mechanics

Mechanics is a measure of a character’s ability to make, use, and identify any kind of machine or technical object

Medical

Medical is a measurement of a character’s first aid abilities.

Social Persuasion

The ability to convince people to do something.

Intimidation

How well a character can inspire fear into someone else.

Animal Handling

A character’s ability to tame,

control, and meaningfully interact with animals.

Deception

How well a character can lie, deceive, bluff, and bend the truth.

Skill Checks

When in the wasteland, characters will

sometimes have their skills tested. If it is

possible to fail this test of skill, it is known as a

“skill check”, and characters will have to roll

dice to determine whether or not they

succeed. Skill checks are presented like this:

ACU (Perception) DR 12

This skill check is a skill check for the acuity

(ACU) stat, the perception skill, and it has a

difficulty rating of 12.

When a character is making a skill check, they

roll 2d6, and add their relevant skill and stat. If

their total meets or beats the skill check’s

difficulty rating, they succeed the check. If no

skill seems directly applicable, just add the

relevant stat.

Sometimes, multiple skills or stats may seem

applicable to a skill check. In this case, use

whichever skill you prefer, along with its

associated stat.

Example: Fiona the gunslinger is tracking a

pack of static wolves. Both survival and animal

handling seem like appropriate skills to use.

However, Fiona’s animal handling is higher, so

she chooses to use animal handling instead of

survival for her skill check.

Difficulty Rating

A difficulty rating (DR) is a measurement of

how hard it is to pass a skill check. The DM

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should make the final call on how high

characters need to roll to pass a check. Here is

a table that provides examples for how tough

different things are:

Difficulty Table

Difficulty # to

Beat

Example

Trivial 6 Shooting the broad side of a barn.

Easy 9 Shooting a can off a fence post.

Middling 12 Shooting a clay pigeon.

Difficult 15 Shooting a clay pigeon by the back of a spoon’s reflection.

Challenging 18 Shooting an apple off your son’s head at 100 paces.

Intense 21 Shooting a bullet into the hole you made with your last bullet.

Legendary 24 Shooting a fist-sized, moving target 300 yards away through wind and rain with a hand gun.

Contested Skill Checks

If two characters are directly competing

against one another, it is a “contested skill

check”. When this happens, the two

characters roll against one another (2d6 +

relevant skill + relevant stat), and the higher

roll wins.

Talents

A “talent” is more than a passing level of skill.

It is closer to a hard-won ability, a trained skill,

or even a mutation. Your character will

gradually build up their talents as they

adventure and grow in the wastelands.

At character creation, your character will

usually have just one talent.

Animal Affinity

You like animals, and animals like you.

You have advantage when attempting to

handle any calm, non-sentient creature.

You can ride any tamed animal that is at

least one size bigger than you.

You have a pet with CR ¼ or lower. It can

fetch, follow, track, hide, distract, deliver,

attack and follow other commands of that

nature.

o If your pet dies, it is gone for good.

o You have to train new pets to get

them to follow orders in the same

manner as the first.

Ambidextrous

You are ambidextrous, and unusually good

with your hands.

Permanently add +1 to your finesse.

Your penalties for dual-wielding weapons

is halved.

Artifact Hunter

Your knowledge of old artifacts, how to use

them, and wear to find them is uncannily

expansive and accurate.

You have advantage on all knowledge

checks related to identifying unknown

objects.

You have advantage when attempting to

use unknown objects.

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You have advantage when searching for

inanimate objects.

You have advantage when attempting to

disarm traps.

Brawler

Winning fist fights isn’t an issue for you. When

your friends want to win a bar fight, you’re

always the first one they call. Earning this

talent gives the following benefits:

You have advantage on all unarmed

attacks.

Add +2 damage whenever you are

unarmed, or using an improvised weapon.

Explorer

You’ve been enough places that you always

have a good idea of what’s around you.

You always know which way to the nearest

town.

You always know which way is north.

You have advantage when rolling

knowledge checks about navigation, maps,

or knowledge of the land.

Fish

Somehow, you have acquired gills, and a

strong ability to swim underwater.

You have gills, as well as whatever lungs

you already have. They allow you to

breathe underwater.

You can swim as fast as you can run.

You have slight webbing between your

fingers and toes OR scales on parts of your

body instead of skin.

Grenadier

You have a strong knack for explosives. You

don’t need much to make a bomb, and even

stock explosives seem to do more damage in

your hands. Earning this talent gives the

following benefits:

Once per combat, you may make your own

explosive combust more violently. Increase

its blast radius by 5ft.

Reroll any fumbles you make while using

explosives. Do not reroll rerolls.

You have advantage when making or using

an explosive out of combat.

You have a grenade subscription (see

Items and Equipment section).

Hunter Tracker

Through a life of tracking down animals,

people, or monsters, you have become

exceptionally skilled at hunting and tracking

your prey.

Choose two of the following four: people,

vehicles, machines, animals, and monsters.

You have advantage whenever you are

tracking entities of that type.

If you spend a full day in an area, you have

knowledge of the general number and

types of people, vehicles, machines,

animals and monsters around you.

If you have an important article from a

specific creature (clothing, antler piece,

etc), you can spend a full turn figuring out

what direction they are in. This only works

if you are within 100 miles of them.

Hunter’s Eyes

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Your eyes have mutated drastically, and you

now have the eyes of a feral predator.

You can see in the dark normally.

You can see with thermal vision for 5

minutes, twice a day.

You can see twice as far as you used to.

Your eyes do not look normal. How they

look is up to you, though they should look

animalistic and predatory.

Informant

Lying, deceiving, and uncovering the truth are

second nature to you.

You have advantage on all Deception

checks.

If you spend half an hour watching a

person or creature, you know their level,

healthiness, and you have a general idea of

their attacks.

Life Drinker

Whether it was a mutation, or you’re just a

psychopath, you feel an overwhelming rush of

ecstasy and adrenaline whenever you kill.

Gain +10 movement speed for one turn

after you kill.

Drinking a mouthful of blood from

someone you have recently killed restores

xd4 health, where x is your level.

o This is an evil act, and most people

will react poorly to you doing this.

o It takes one standard action to

directly drink blood from a corpse.

o You can only benefit from drinking

blood once per corpse.

Mechanic

You know your way around machines like you

know the back of your hand.

You have advantage when attempting to

identify, repair, or use machinery.

You can manually disable machines if you

spend a full round disabling it while in

contact with its controlling mechanisms

(the engine of a vehicle, the CPU of a

droid, etc.)

Monster Hunter

Monsters are your prey of choice.

You have advantage on Intimidate checks

imposed by any creature larger than you.

You have +1 damage on all damage rolled

against a Large or bigger creature.

You have advantage when tracking, or

knowing information about Large or bigger

creatures.

Outrider

Whether it’s behind the wheel of a dune

buggy or on the back of a Carrier Wolf, you are

in your element when you are riding.

You are not slowed by difficult terrain

while riding a vehicle.

You have advantage when attempting to

hijack a vehicle.

You have advantage when attempting to

hotwire a vehicle.

You do not receive the normal penalties

when attempting to use a weapon while

riding.

Protector

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Sticking up for your friends and allies is

something you excel at. You might have been

a bodyguard at some point, or maybe you just

cherish your friends exceptionally dearly.

You can impose disadvantage on an attack

made against an ally within 5ft. of you. If

the attack succeeds, you take the damage

instead of your ally.

Radioactive Body

You and Geiger counters don’t get along. You

have a strange affinity for radioactive

substances, and radiation poisoning doesn’t

seem to affect you.

You cannot become poisoned from

radioactivity.

You constantly emit a small amount of

radiation. People in close proximity to you

have to take twice as much radiation

medication to avoid becoming radiation

poisoned.

o You glow a little bit. It is only

noticeable in darkness, and can be

covered with normal clothing.

You can willfully infuse objects in your

possession with radiation.

o It takes roughly one hour to charge

a fist-sized nuclear battery.

o The amount of radiation you can

put into an object is limited. You

cannot make an object so

irradiated that it gives them more

than minor radiation sickness.

Runner

Whether it was a life of running away, or a life

of chasing, you’ve become impeccably fast.

Some people like to call you a “parkour

expert”.

Permanently gain +10 movement speed.

Difficult terrain does not slow you.

You can run 10ft. up walls.

Skilled

You’re good at a lot of things.

Distribute 3 skill points among your skills

however you wish.

Sniper

Somehow, you seem to never miss.

Add +1 to all accuracy rolls.

You cannot have disadvantage when

rolling for accuracy.

You may treat Partial Cover as No Cover,

and Heavy Cover as Partial Cover.

Tough as Nails

Never one to stay down, you’re as tough as

they come.

Permanently add 4 maximum health for

every level you have. Continue gaining 4

maximum health each time you level up.

Quick Reflexes

You react abnormally fast. Earning this talent

gives the following benefits:

Once per combat, you may force your

attacker to reroll their accuracy roll.

Permanently add 3 to your initiative.

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Socializing

Socializing both inside and outside of the game

is an important part of roleplaying.

Roleplaying

While playing Wasteland Adventures, your

character says whatever you want them to

say, and behaves however you want them to

behave. To make things the most fun, it is

usually best if you try to make your character

act according to the personality you

established for them.

Roleplaying can be hard, and doing so

successfully deserves a reward. At the DM’s

discretion, players may be awarded “luck”

points for playing their role exceptionally well.

Spending a luck point allows a player to reroll

any roll they make. Up to three luck points

may be stored.

Socializing with NPCs

Since there are no players to speak for non-

player characters (NPCs), the DM fills in for all

NPC roles. Social interactions between players

and NPCs are carried as normal conversations,

unless someone tries to perform a socially

difficult act, such as intimidating a guard,

persuading a merchant to lower their prices,

or lying about how much gold they’re carrying.

In these cases, skill checks are performed, as

described in the Skill section above.

Status Effects

Sometimes, characters can become afflicted

by special circumstances called “status

effects”. This section describes them.

On Fire: Targets on fire can either take a full

standard action to put out the fire, or suffer

1d4 damage per turn. Each turn while on fire,

the target rolls 2d6. On a roll of 8+, the fire

goes out.

Blind: Blinded targets have disadvantage on all

aiming rolls for the turn, and cannot use

weapon accuracy bonuses.

Stun: Stunned targets cannot move or perform

the attack action during their turn. In addition,

all characters attacking a stunned target have

advantage.

Radiation Poisoning: Radiation poisoning is

the most common status effect. There are four

levels of radiation poisoning, each with its own

effects:

Radiation Poisoning Table

1 -1 STR 2 -2 STR, -1 ACU 3 -2 STR, -2 ACU, -2 FIN, -2 SOC 4 Dead

Using radiation medicine removes your

sickness, regardless of level. The status

penalties are not kept once you are cured.

Optional Radiation Rules: Each full day you go

without using some sort of radiation medicine

increases your radiation poisoning by one

level. This rule is for players who want extra

tension, and difficulty.

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Beasts & the People You May

Encounter

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Flora and Fauna

The immense amounts of radiation that

permeate the world have caused widespread

mutations, as well as rapidly accelerated

evolution. As a result, the world is populated

by all sorts of strange, usually dangerous

beasts. Hunting beasts for raw material,

protection, and conquest are some of the

most common forms of work that pop up for

adventurers.

While the plants of Wasteland Adventures

have not changed as dramatically as the

animals, their changes were just as significant.

The radiation made, and still makes it very

difficult for plants to live, especially edible

foods necessary for agriculture. Agrarian foods

in particular were hit hard by the radiation,

and agrarian life never fully recovered after

the apocalypse. Farms are few, and almost a

third of all food has to be hunted or gathered

in some way. Many of the plants that have to

be gathered attract wild animals, and require

adventurers to gather them. The farms that

somehow still work are prime targets for

raiders, and overcurious beasts. Whether it’s

protecting food or killing it, food brings jobs

for adventurers everywhere.

The plants and animals in Wasteland

Adventures are as varied as they are

dangerous, and some of the more common or

interesting species are detailed in the Bestiary

chapter.

Beasts

For simplicity and convenience, many numbers

have been abbreviated in some way.

Weapon/ability damage for beasts does not

name the stat that their damage scales on.

Instead, the stat is substituted with the

number that it would be. If you ever need to

know what stat is being used for damage,

assume that STR is used for melee attacks, and

FIN is used for ranged.

Example: Devil Dog’s Fangs deal 1d4 + ½ STR

damage. However, his strength will almost

always be 4, so we can assume that his

damage will be 1d4 + 2, so that is the way it is

written.

Challenge Rating (CR)

A creature’s challenge rating (CR) is a measure

of its combat prowess. Challenge rating is

proportional to play levels. A level 1

adventurer should be challenged by, but not

deathly afraid of a CR 1 creature.

Devil Dog CR: ½

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

4 2 0 0

HP: 6 Size: Small

Move: 50ft Defense: 10

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Fangs Range: Melee

Damage: 1d4 + 2 Accuracy: +0

Other: None

Devourer Plant CR: 1

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

2 4 -1 -1

HP: 10 Size: Mid

Move: 5ft Defense: 8

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Acid Spit Range: 20/60

Damage: 1d6 + 2 Accuracy: +0

Other: None

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Fire Badger CR: 1

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

6 2 0 2

HP: 20 Size: Mid

Move: 20ft Defense: 8

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Claws Range: Melee

Damage: 1d4 + 3 Accuracy: +1

Other: None

Fox CR:

1/8

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

1 4 1 2

HP: 4 Size: Tiny

Move: 30ft Defense: 6

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Bite Range: Melee

Damage: 1d4 Accuracy: +4

Other: None

Giga Bison CR: 3

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

12 0 0 1

HP: 60 Size: Huge

Move: 40ft Defense: 8

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Horns Range: Melee

Damage: 1d8 + 6 Accuracy: +2

Other: None

Horned Bear CR: 2

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

8 2 0 0

HP: 40 Size: Large

Move: 30ft Defense: 8

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Claws Range: Melee

Damage: 1d6 + 4 Accuracy: +2

Other: None

Hydra CR:

20

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

12 8 4 2

HP: 200 Size: Vast

(5x5) Move: 30ft Defense: 15

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Fangs Range: Melee

Damage: 1d12 + 6 Accuracy: +3

Other: Attacks 3 times per turn.

Prairie Fangrat CR:

1/4

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

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0 2 0 4

HP: 6 Size: Tiny

Move: 25ft Defense: 6

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Claws Range: Melee

Damage: 1d4 Accuracy: +1

Other: None

Rat Swarm CR: 1

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

2 3 0 4

HP: 24 Size: Small

Move: 50ft Defense: 7

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Fangs Range: Melee

Damage: 1d4 + 1 Accuracy: +4

Other: None

Roc CR:

12

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

8 6 2 2

HP: 96 Size: Huge

Move: 120ft Defense: 12

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Claws Range: Melee

Damage: 1d12 + 6 Accuracy: +4

Other: None

Screaming Eel CR: 4

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

6 3 0 0

HP: 44 Size: Large

Move: 40ft Defense: 10

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Fangs Range: Melee

Damage: 1d6 + 3 Accuracy: +4

Other: None

Strider CR: 5

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

4 4 4 4

HP: 56 Size: Vast

(5x5) Move: 20ft Defense: 14

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Legs Range: Melee

Damage: 1d10 + 2 Accuracy: +2

Other: None

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The People You

May Encounter:

Bandit CR: ½

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

4 3 3 3

HP: 10 Size: Mid

Move: 25ft Defense: 9

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Carbine Range: 120/360

Damage: 1d6 + 2 Accuracy: +2

Other: None

Hunter CR: ½

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

4 5 3 2

HP: 8 Size: Mid

Move: 20ft Defense: 10

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Carbine Range: 120/360

Damage: 1d6 + 2 Accuracy: +2

Other: None

Trained Guard CR: 1

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

4 3 3 5

HP: 20 Size: Mid

Move: 20ft Defense: 10

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Laser Rifle Range: 90/180

Damage: 1d6 + 2 Accuracy: +2

Other: None

Raider CR: 1

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

5 4 3 3

HP: 20 Size: Mid

Move: 30ft Defense: 9

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Laser Rifle Range: Melee

Damage: 1d6 + 2 Accuracy: +2

Other: None

Shephard CR: ¼

Strength Finesse Acuity Social

3 4 5 4

HP: 5 Size: Mid

Move: 15ft Defense: 6

Weapons & Abilities:

Name: Stick Range: Melee

Damage: 1d4 + 2 Accuracy: +0

Other: None

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Creating Your

Own City-States

Most people live within a city-state, or within

the associated territory of a city-state.

Sometimes, you will want to make your own

city-state, so that you can roleplay in it. Here

are some guidelines on how to make one:

1. Decide its location

Obviously, a city-state has to exist somewhere.

Picking a location in the world should help

decide what kind of culture, name, and people

inhabit your city-state.

2. Decide its culture

City-states have a huge variety of cultures.

Fierce, war-mongering city-states, peaceful

nature-based communities, cutthroat urban

sprawls, mercantile shipping ports, and quiet

hamlets that just want to be left alone are all

valid choices for the kind city-state you want

to make.

Often, city-states are made from the remnants

of pre-war cultures. If your city-state is heavily

tied to a location, you could give it strong

cultural influences from the pre-war

civilization that was once there.

3. Decide its Government

Every city-state needs to have some kind of

structure to it, even it that structure is

anarchy. A city-state doesn’t need a fleshed

out government, just saying that it has a king,

or a council of elders is fine. Its government

likely reflects the way its citizens live however,

and can usually provide a good adventure

hook for your party of adventurers.

4. Decide its Military

The world can be a rough place, and so the

overwhelming majority of city-states need to

have some kind of military. The most heavily

fortified city-states have monolithic walls, with

machine guns mounted on their tops. The

least militarily inclined city-states may have

only a small police force, or a militia in case of

emergency.

5. Give it Importance

In order to be worth visiting, your city-state

needs to have something important or

compelling in it. Political corruption, an

infestation of monsters, a war, or a thriving

black market are all good reasons for

adventurers to want to visit your city-state.

6. Decide its Name

Finally, your city-state needs a name. Its name

should reflect what it does, why it’s important,

or it should be a name from the civilization it

was once a part of.