Roleplaying in the aftermath of civilization
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Roleplaying in the aftermath of civilization |
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...Don't know exactly how or when it happened. Must've been before great-granddad's day. They say it was sumthin' called "Commies" or "Ter'rists". Whatever they were, they had to be pretty powerful to destroy the Ancients. You remember those giant metal skeletons in the ruins? The Ancients lived in those, high above the ground. They could build machines to fly through the air, swim under the sea, or even think like a human. They could change a person's DNA, or speak on one side of the Earth and be heard on the other. They also had terrible weapons that destroyed whole cities and created the wastelands. When the radiation came, and the sickness, nearly everythin' died. Even the sun was blacked out for an entire generation. Afterwards, it was anarchy and civil war. Desperate, dying people ravaged the land to steal what they could from others, or scrounge what little remained from their once-great civilization. But the Cataclysm also changed people in their DNA - turned them and their children into muties. Even those plants and animals that survived mutated into what you see today. It wasn't until long after the devastation that folks started trying to rebuild a new civilization. That's our dream: to remake the glory of the Ancients, without making their mistakes...
The world of the Aftermath is set several generations after a great catastrophe; probably nuclear war, but possibly an asteroid strike, worldwide computer crash, runaway global warming, or something else instead. It is a world seen in movies like The Road Warrior, Mad Max, Tank Girl, The Postman, Waterworld, and Planet of the Apes; in books like Canticle for Liebowitz, Damnation Alley, and the Horseclans series; and in computer games like Fallout, or the Gamma World RPG.
The exact circumstances of the cataclysm are left deliberately vague. Not only does that avoid a long, boring back story that becomes outdated when real-world current events change, but it also gives the game master more freedom when designing and executing adventures. Another benefit is that it allows the GM to slowly reveal clues as to the past and the fate of the Ancients through adventuring, giving the players a goal to work toward: figuring out what happened, and possibly preventing the same fate from befalling the emerging civilization.
Aftermath assumes that the cataclysm happened long enough ago that no one still alive (by natural means) remembers what it was like before. It would have to be far enough in the past to allow significant mutation to occur, and also for most high tech consumables to be used up, forcing the survivors to establish a new social order. On the other hand, Armageddon must be recent enough for some artifacts of the Ancients to survive.
GMs may prefer to set their adventures within a generation or two of the Cataclysm, instead. In this case, survivors will be much more heavily dependent on the remnants of the old society for their survival, and there will be greater unrest. Technology will be more available, and feral or tribal lifestyles probably won't have developed yet. There won't be much time for many extreme mutations to arise, either, but since the game deals with mutation in a very cinematic fashion anyway, that could be hand-waved if desired.
The initial blast of the nukes release approximately 3/4 of its energy in the form of photons (electromagnetic radiation like light and radio waves). This will vaporize people in the immediate area, and give those further away severe burns, as well as burning buildings and starting forest fires. Anyone looking directly at the explosion will suffer major eye damage. Associated with this is the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) which fries unshielded electronic equipment, power lines, etc. Depending on the altitude and yield, this can affect equipment over 1000km distant. All radiation effects fall off with the square of the distance away from the blast.
Closely thereafter comes the blast front: a wave of tremendous pressure (similar to being hundreds of meters underwater) preceded by a supersonic shock wave that knocks down all but the sturdiest structures within several kilometers. This is followed by a reverse pressure wave as the air is sucked up into the signature mushroom-shaped cloud, which can reach 40km high and 100km across for a 1 megaton bomb exploded near ground level. The blast pressure also blows many tons of debris into the air, which can block out the sun and lower temperatures. This is called nuclear winter. As many of these particles are radioactive, they are also hazardous when they drop back to earth as fallout. See the radiation section of the Hazards chapter for more information on the game mechanic effects of radiation.
Chemical weapons may be choking, blister, or nerve agents. They are much easier to produce than nuclear or biological and have a shorter duration of effect before being washed away or dissipating in the air. If use is widespread enough, it can collect in drinking water and harm the environment. Chemicals can also cause mutation, especially if concentrated in an area for a long time.
Biological agents include naturally-occurring and man-made pathogens. They can cause great harm to living things, and continue to spread long after delivery, potentially causing worldwide epidemics. Weaponized germs are likely to be more resistant to treatment than most, and can mutate even further once released becoming an even greater threat than their designers conceived. Viruses can also be responsible for altering an organism's DNA.
Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons are collectively known as NBC, or as weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
An alternative (or perhaps a supplement) to global war as a cause for the end of the world might be mother nature fighting back. Giant asteroids, global warming, overpopulation & pollution, or even a shifting of the Earth's core are all possible doomsday scenarios.
Whatever the nature of the Cataclysm, extreme climate change will likely be the result. Debris from nuclear explosions, asteroid impacts, volcanic activity, or extreme smog would block out the sun's rays, greatly lowering the temperature. In this case, more of the Earth's water will be locked up in ice caps and glaciers, causing sea levels to drop. Conversely, a runaway greenhouse effect or a near collision that moves the Earth's orbit closer to the Sun would raise temperatures and sea levels. If the campaign is set in a coastal area, a contour map of the region showing elevation would be helpful to determine where the new shoreline will be.
Tsunamis ("tidal" waves) and earthquakes are also likely to accompany many kinds of global natural (or man-made) disasters. These will kill people and destroy infrastructure in the usual ways, also altering the landscape.
Just possibly, the apocalypse wasn't caused by human indiscretion or acts of nature, but by terrors from beyond the Earth. An invasion of highly advanced extraterrestrials could start a global war and cause widespread devastation. It could also make for some very peculiar encounters for the characters. Maybe what you thought was a strange mutant was really an alien life form, and the highly advanced technology you found wasn't created by human hands. Maybe the alien masters did manage to conquer a remote and less devastated corner of the world, where humans are raised as slaves or cattle, and wild rumors are born, eventually to reach a PC's ears.
The End didn't just happen in one short, dramatic event. It was followed (and probably also preceded) by riots, looting, and civil war lasting for years. This conflict and lawlessness, even more than the original disaster, led to the breakdown of civilization. Governments and social orders fracture, resources are used up or destroyed in the fighting, farming and manufacturing often become too risky in the absence of security. Without a reliable infrastructure for producing and distributing food, medicine, and other vital supplies, famine and disease decimated the population of those who manage to survive the violence.
Factions fought over scarce resources and the instruments of power. The strong used their power to take advantage of the weak. It is the time when the warlords arose. To a degree, this phase of civil unrest is still going on in many areas, particularly in a first generation after campaign.
Those most dependent on technology and the civil structure would be the worst off after the Cataclysm. Rural residents are more likely to have essential survival skills and be able to produce their own food. They are also farthest removed from the centers of power that would be the targets of military attack.
Due to their cohesion, organization, and heavy armament, units of the armed forces were among the groups best able to survive after the Cataclysm. All military personnel have at least a basic level of survival skill, and many units (like engineers) have other essential capabilities for rebuilding. Without the constraints of normal society or a civilian government, some military commanders became warlords, others protectors and rebuilders of civilization.
The wastes are harsh deserts, ravaged by radiation and the other horrors of the Cataclysm. Portions of wasteland are literally scorched earth, or even craters and plains of glass. Few organisms actually live there, but those that do are tough, radiation-resistant, and among the most radically mutated on the planet. Survival skills are necessary for limiting radiation damage and avoiding hazardous situations associated with it. Protective equipment (see armor) is very useful to reduce exposure.
The destroyed husks of the Ancients' civilization are filled with grim reminders of death and devastation, as well as the lost grandeur of a forgotten time. They can also be a treasure trove of lost technology and information for scavengers. What hasn't been picked over or destroyed is guarded by radiation, bio/chemical agents, buildings ready to collapse, mutants, and even those haywire defensive systems and robots that remain intact. As the primary targets of the Devastation, cities and military/research facilities were the hardest hit, and suffer the most after-effects.
Mass extinction following the cataclysm left room for the survivors to evolve and fill vacant ecological niches. Radiation and engineered organisms sped up the process. Roaches and other hardy pests will certainly survive and thrive. In the spirit of the genre, giant insects & rats, 6-legged horses, carnivorous flowers, and ferocious bunnies could all be part of the wildlife. Without large numbers of technologically advanced humans to cull their numbers, mutant plants and animals soon turn what was once farmland and suburbs into hazardous wilderness.
Aftermath doesn't use the abstract wealth system from d20 Modern. While it works ideally for the modern world where people have paychecks, credit cards, utility bills, mortgages, and the like, it's not so relevant for an anarchic world where people are lucky to scrape by with a few rags. Instead, each item has a trade value (i.e. its average price if money was still any good), which is used for buying initial equipment, and for barter. Even if something is affordable, that doesn't mean it's available. Items are rated by their availability; the higher the availability rating, the harder they are to find.
Paper money and similar media of exchange are completely worthless. No banking system exists to extend credit, although medieval-style money lenders or loan sharks may do so to a limited extent within large settlements. Trade is accomplished primarily through bartering one item of value for another. It often takes several transactions to make this work. This depends greatly on a person's ability to haggle, and on finding someone who wants what you have, and has what you want. Use the barter skill to estimate the value of goods, find buyers or sellers, and negotiate a favorable trade.
There are some things with nearly universal value. Even if someone doesn't need it, she knows she can exchange it easily to someone who does. Precious metals, like copper, gold, & silver (and perhaps tungsten or gallium arsenate for high-tech repairs) are ideal, likewise gems. They have the advantage of being easily portable and hard to counterfeit, but are too rare for day-to-day transactions. Potable water is scarce around the wasteland, and absolutely vital to everyone, but any viable community should have a water source of some kind. Food can also work, but it varies in quality and desirability, and doesn't keep as well. Alcohol meets the criteria for a medium of exchange, its main disadvantage being bulk. Power cells have many uses and are quite valuable. The main problem is that they're scarce, so people tend to horde them. Common types of ammo, bolts of cloth, knives, etc. also work well. Local currency might be stamped coins, glass beads, or bottle caps, but they're unlikely to be accepted in other settlements.
Keep in mind that value depends on supply and demand. In an oil-producing town in an irradiated desert, for example, 10 liters of gasoline might be worth 1 liter of water.
For the sake of simplicity, we can assume that characters keep the portion of their wealth not tied up in equipment as commodities or trade goods. These generic commodities work basically like money, so you don't have to decide on what piece of gear to trade for every transaction. Generic commodities weigh 1 lb. per $10 trade value.
For the most part, the post-apocalypse world is at a level of technology similar to late medieval to renaissance era. Higher technology is known, even if only through the Ancients' books and databases, but the social structures are not in place to enable things like large-scale or precision manufacturing. Even with the know-how, things like cell phones and gas stoves are useless without a network of working cellular towers, or gas lines, respectively. All that being the case, high-tech knowledge fell into general disuse, except for those things directly relevant to survival. In some ways the aftermath is worse off than the 1500's since trade and communications have broken down, and many older skills like metalsmithing had to be re-learned almost from scratch. Also, the aftermath period lacks the social stability of the renaissance.
There are, however, remnants of advanced technology that survived the Cataclysm. These are analogous in many ways to magic items in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. As one can imagine, time and circumstance have not been kind to most artifacts from pre-Cataclysmic times.
Medical science is actually well above medieval standards. Knowledge of what causes disease, and how to treat ailments has survived mostly intact, due to books and constant practice. In remote areas, though, things may have become more primitive. What's missing are the high-tech drug labs and modern hospital equipment that made 21st century physicians so effective (and expensive).
Low-tech weapons, like un-powered melee weapons, bows, and slings, are the most common sort of offensive implements encountered in the Aftermath. They are easy to make, reliable, and don't require expensive or hard-to-find ammunition. Guns left over from the Ancients would have had to withstand the rigors of nuclear war and the ravages of time. Their exacting tolerances make them hard to repair, also. Handmade guns are generally similar to those of the 18th and early 19th century, but some skilled gunsmiths can make or repair more modern types as well. Improvised weaponry is also widely used.
Reloaded ammo normally uses hand-cast bullets and home-made powder, using locally-available materials. Ammunition from before the Devastation, unless very carefully preserved, is of suspect quality at best. Power cells for energy weapons and railguns are harder to find, although some large towns with a knowledgeable electrician may be able to recharge them.
By convention, the Aftermath is full of people wearing tattered clothes and patched-together pieces of leather and/or metal. The technology to make kevlar or duraplast is forgotten, but the ability to craft platemail and similar medieval forms of armor isn't quite common. Furthermore, those anachronistic metal suits, for all their weight, don't protect very well against the guns and remaining high-tech weaponry still out there. Armor fashioned from scrap is cheap and popular, but high-tech armor up to and including powered battlesuits can sometimes be found.
A particularly important type of garment is nuclear/biological/chemical (NBC) protective gear. If you're lucky, this is a refurbished gas mask and rubber suit. Otherwise, it's cloth treated with oil or pitch. These will keep contaminated particles off your skin and out of your lungs. In highly radioactive areas, metal shielding is recommended, at least for the torso, head, & groin. Lead works best, but steel or others are better than nothing.
Motor vehicles aren't too common, due to their high maintenance, and to the breakdown of the roads and fuel distribution system. Many vehicles are jury-rigged compilations of scavenged parts. Electronic fuel injection and similar computer-controlled accessories were mostly fried from the EMP, and are harder to repair anyway. Some mechanics have modified their cars, bikes, or trucks to use alternate fuels like alcohol, which can be distilled almost any kind of plant. Any driver would be wise to carry extra tanks, regardless of the fuel. Towns with their own oil well could support motor vehicles, and even supply their own electrical generators.
Much less common are light aircraft, either refurbished or built from scrap. They face many of the same obstacles as cars and motorcycles. Those not so lucky to own a motor vehicle ride the wastelands on horses or their mutated descendants, possibly even on giant pack-roaches or riding-lizards.
electronics fared worse than most items during the Cataclysm, due to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and their general fragility. The capacity to make or repair microchips is completely lost, but older designs, using vacuum tubes or scrounged transistors, could conceivably be fixed. Regular electrical devices, like generators, motors, lights, heaters, and the like may still be made where that knowledge was retained.
Even with a dearth of electronic gadgets and the demise of the power distribution grid, folks in the aftermath still need electricity. They get it from generators, scavenged batteries, windmills/waterwheels, etc. Some equipment also runs on direct mechanical power transmission using drive shafts, gears, ropes, pulleys, springs, and so on.
Characters need to be a part of something, or at least have someone to fight. Post-apocalyptic society, like all societies before it, has its good, its bad, and its ugly. Here is a quick guide to who's who in the aftermath, how they're organized, and what they believe in. These listings can be used with the d20 Modern allegiance system, or simply for background flavor.
Some characters have no allegiances at all. These are the mysterious strangers, wandering lunatics, and self-sufficient bounty hunters or freelancers. Popular in books and movies, the loner is often problematic for group roleplaying. Strangers are also usually not welcome in settlements, and may face a social stigma. Even bad-ass loners may be perceived as vulnerable, since they have no one else to watch out for them or avenge their death. To be accepted (or even let in) it would help if they have useful skills, like technical expertise, entertainment, or goods to trade.
These are the people who want to rebuild a new civilization from the ashes of the old. Whether trying to re-establish the old order or start afresh, they have their work cut out for them. There is a harsh environment to deal with, and the difficulty of getting people to live together and agree. Rebuilders are likely to have resources, like food or fuel, that make them targets for the gangs and warlords. They could be simple farmers, artisans, and merchants, or may have dreams of recreating the splendor of the Ancients. Communities may range in size from a single farm of new pioneers, to a good-sized town and a center of commerce.
The greater part of a civilized settlement's population and efforts are geared toward basic survival. They are too busy farming or hunting and gathering to have much time for building factories or conducting scientific research. The constant threat from rivals, bandits, and a harsh environment are disruptive toward social stability. Defense and public order are essential, and usually consist of a part-time militia of most able-bodied adults. If they're lucky, they may also have a cadre of professional soldiers and/or lawmen to lead and train them. Depending on the local culture, education may or may not be a priority. Communication with other groups of people, as well as trade, is limited by the destruction of roads, telephone networks, and the rest.
Of course, rebuilder communities also have their share of corrupt politicians, dishonest merchants, bigots, criminals, etc., just like in most societies. Most communities distrust (or worse) outsiders, often with good reason. A community with a purpose, containing people the PCs know and care about, is probably the best way to motivate players beyond simple killing of bad guys and getting cool new weapons.
Some communities were so cut off by the Cataclysm and subsequent events that they lost all but the most tenuous vestiges of civilization. Reverting to stone age, or perhaps bronze age hunter/gatherer societies, these primitives usually attach mythic significance to technological artifacts, considering them magic or the work of gods. Traditional skills are likely to flourish, though. Adept at surviving in their environment, they are unlikely to know of much beyond their immediate area. The tribe will sometimes share a distinctive mutation, due to their small gene pool. A campaign could have the player characters may start out as members of the same tribe, forced to defend it against raiders or seek out something required for its survival.
A few communities survived the apocalypse in the safety of a fallout shelter or underground military base, or just some remote and lucky enclave. They may even be the successors to what remains of the legitimate authorities from before the Cataclysm, like the government, military, or post office. They would retain a higher level of technology than the outside world, which gives them a great advantage as well as makes them a target if their location is known.
While they tend to be very conservative, time for them has not been standing still. A closed society living in a confined space, not knowing what terrible things are happening in the outside world, is bound to develop some odd customs after multiple generations. Although the technical skills needed to keep the community going would be kept up, other modern skills and ideas are likely to atrophy. Scientific and technical knowledge may have formalized into a technology cult. It is even possible that the computer brain that runs their enclave has become demented over the years, and has some very strange notions of how to "protect" the citizens under its care. Most vaults probably have a library of some sort, where forgotten lore of the lost civilization may be accessed.
Preservationists of remnant civilizations will react to the outside world in various ways. They may be so used to their sheltered life that they fear going outside at all. Only a disaster, like banishment or having to replace a broken water purifier, would get someone to leave. Such a community will have little or no notion of norms for outside behavior, and probably fosters false ideas about outside society. Other communities may send out occasional patrols to barter for needed goods and gather information, but keep the vault's existence secret for security. Strangers are almost certainly not welcome, and may be suspected of being spies or thieves.
Bandits, Raiders, Thugs, or whatever else they're called are a staple of aftermath life and a constant scourge to decent folk and PCs. With the breakdown of law enforcement and civil society, gangs quickly emerged for self-protection and to prey on the weak. They may be a small group of friends or a veritable army. A gang may control a neighborhood, act as enforcers for a stronger power, or roam the wastelands on horseback or patched together motor vehicles looking for fuel, food, and plunder. Although dangerous, some gangs may be hired as a mercenary army. Cruelty is second nature, matched only by a penchant for punk hairdos and outrageous costumes of spiked leather and mismatched armor.
More organized than simple gangs, warlords have political control over a town or territory, and seek to expand that control by force. They may bee seen as evil counterparts to the rebuilders, and may often profess the same goals & values, but are more ruthless and iron-fisted. A warlord may engage in slave trading, impose crushing taxes, simply brutalize citizens for fun, and/or be aligned with a technology cult, Luddites, human purists, or mutant supremacists. They may hold a monopoly over a vital resource, like water, medicine, or oil, allowing them to keep a grip on power. They will certainly have a well-armed army of enforcers, and may be in conflict with other warlords in the area. PC's might have to work with a warlord, fight his minions, or try to overthrow him.
Some folks are less tolerant than others. That's the case with the Purebloods--humans who want to preserve the "purity" of the human race. They view mutants as abominations to be exterminated. Purebloods also take a dim view of "normals" who help or associate with mutants. They may be guided by pseudo-science, religion, or plain old fear of anything different or unknown. Racist groups and individuals like this are unfortunately fairly common in aftermath societies.
The equally dark counterpart to the human purist movement is that of the mutant supremacists. As well as resenting the normals' treatment of their kind, they see mutant powers as the next step up the evolutionary ladder. They believe that mutants are superior and more fit to survive, or perhaps the recipients of a divine gift. In some cases, they've instituted breeding programs to select the best mutant traits (and eliminate disadvantages). Others may take to using chemicals, radiation, or biological agents to induce mutations in the normals' population or select captives.
The dramatic events of the Cataclysm and its aftermath would undoubtedly have an effect on religion. Depending on their eschatological bent, they could see the Apocalypse as divine punishment for mankind's failings, a cleansing of the "impure" from the chosen land, or the beginning of the Second Coming. Various doomsday cults will arise and act in various ways. Free from civil restraints, some religions will seize upon the opportunity to eradicate the nonbelievers and heretics in their eyes.
Religious institutions are natural centers for ideological movements, and will often include pureblood, mutant supremacy, tech worship, or Luddite beliefs in their dogma. While independent churches will tend to go their own way, those with a well-defined hierarchy and rigid doctrine are most likely to maintain a semblance of their pre-apocalyptic theology and practices. The Catholic and Mormon churches are most likely to have this kind of cohesion.
When technology became rare, and science largely forgotten, some groups gained power by holding on to it as esoteric knowledge. They may be the descendants of ancient scientists and engineers, or they may have stumbled across a cache of high-tech goods in working order. In any case, they have turned the dynamic, open system of knowledge into a ritualized pseudo-religion. Only the initiated are allowed to learn the sacred technical skills needed to work the magical artifacts of the Ancients. Independent technicians and those expressing unorthodox scientific theories are suppressed by the cult's enforcers. Popular variants include nuke-worshipers, who venerate an atomic bomb, and devotees of the Great Computer, who maintain and carry out the orders of a deranged AI.
Technology cults may not always be bad. In many cases they are the only ones who kept beneficial technology alive to help the struggling community. However, they tend to obstruct new learning, and may have developed some peculiar ideas about their technological gods. The cult may have a military arm that equips the army of a warlord or rebuilder community, or may be aligned with human purists or mutant supremacists. There may even be a high-tech order of Knights Templar who roam the land to make it safe for humanity.
At the opposite end of the spectrum from the worshipers of technology are the luddites, or anti-technology fanatics. They see science and technology as the cause of the Cataclysm, and want to destroy it to prevent such a catastrophe from happening again. Some may see the Cataclysm itself as nature's or God's way of punishing the Ancients for their arrogance, and a blessing that brought mankind back to a simpler, more natural way of life. They oppose the tech cults, and anyone trying to gain scientific understanding or use ancient technology. They will actively destroy anything they think could unveil the forbidden knowledge of the Ancients. While not everyone may be this extreme, it echoes a popular sentiment in many aftermath communities.
While most of society was destroyed by the Cataclysm, some institutions had the cohesion and relevance to survive into the aftermath. The Boy & Girl Scouts developed into a paramilitary organization, using their outdoor skills to survive and to aid travelers in distress, in accordance with their oath. A remnant of the Post Office strives to keep civilization alive by delivering correspondence between settlements. The Masons maintain a network of lodges for mutual support and communication.
Genetic engineering and the events of the Cataclysm, followed by years of natural selection, have caused a large portion of the exposed human population to diverge significantly from the parent race. Mutant humans and animals are often deformed, but may possess evolutionary advantages and even psychic powers. This chapter explains what mutation is, and its effects on post-apocalyptic society, followed by a list of mutations, and templates for creating mutant characters.
Every cell in your body contains instructions for creating copies of itself embedded in its DNA. If the DNA is damaged (by radiation, chemicals, or viruses, for instance), the chemical structure of a gene on the DNA could change. When the cell reproduces, it makes copies of the altered DNA. Errors also occur sometimes when the cell splits, as proteins have to take apart millions of paired chemicals (the rungs on the DNA ladder), and use the two half-DNA molecules to recreate two complete DNA molecules, one for each cell. The two molecules should be identical, but copying errors could change one or both of them in random ways. When the cells divide again, they reproduce the altered gene instead of the original.
In most cases mutations will likely be inconsequential, or might cause cancers and similar health problems. In a cinematic campaign, however, it can cause extreme growth, extra limbs, human/animal hybrids, mental powers, and so forth.
A mutated cell affects only itself and its cellular offspring. The effects of which would be very localized, unless it affected the reproductive cells (egg or sperm), or a stem cell during the early stages of growth. So in real life (unlike most science fiction movies), contact with mutagens later in life will not change your whole body. Mutations will only manifest from generation to generation. This is a game, however, so we can take certain liberties in the spirit of the genre.
Most "normal" humans are uncomfortable with, if they don't actively dislike, their mutated kin. Anyone with an obvious or known mutant trait suffers a -2 to reaction rolls (or more from pureblood supremacists) in most human societies due to social stigma. Mutants often suffer discrimination or worse, and often form communities of their own, either in a section of a large population center, or in their own settlements. In these mutant towns and districts, the "normals" often suffer a stigma, but these communities are generally less common or powerful.. Mutations are also indicators of possible psychic powers, which makes people wary. Unless otherwise noted, each mutation gives a -1 penalty to disguise checks, cumulative with other mutations.
Mutants (including the majority who possess no special abilities) have a disfigured appearance which makes them unattractive, or at least gives them an unnatural feature. For example, mutations that enhance vision give the character eyes that are bulging and fish-like, or glow softly, or are located in the center of the forehead, Cyclops style. The Normal Appearance mutation mitigates these penalties, and allows the mutant to pass as a mainstream human.
Because they differ genetically from mainstream humans, attempts to heal mutants suffer a -1 penalty per mutation (either good or bad, regardless of it's point cost). Mutant DNA is also less likely to be recognized as human by ancient technology. Subtract the same penalty from DNA recognition checks.
Mental powers are a particularly useful form of mutation (again, not supported by modern science, but hey, this is a game). Psionics are little understood and often attributed to supernatural causes (divine or demonic favor, communion with the spirit world, etc.). They are sufficiently rare that most folks won't suspect it, although folklore sometimes credits all mutants with special mental/spiritual powers in much the same way gypsies were often regarded in the past. Even mutants without these powers can sometimes use the superstition to their advantage (and profit for mutant fortune-tellers), but it can also bring blame on innocent mutants thought to be using psychic abilities to cheat at cards, or those in the wrong place when someone gets sick (from the "evil eye"). Fortune-tellers may even fake a visible mutation to lend credibility to their work.
Equipment - Creatures & Hazards - Scraptown
External Links:
Post-Apocalyptic Media
- Post-Apocalypse Forge
- FAS: Weapons of Mass Destruction
- US Dept. of Homeland Security
- Survivalist Library
- Survivalist Info
Character Creation - Armor - Weapons - Sample Characters
Character Backgrounds - Character Classes - Mutations - Psionics - Skills & Feats - Armor - Weapons - Sample Characters
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Copntact Me Updated May 2004