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game_concepts [2018/10/01 10:24] kyle [Radiation] |
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- | This page is a general idea dump that gives more in-depth explanations of specific parts of the game in no particular order. Mostly a reference for myself, to be turned into something more substantial later on sometime. | ||
- | ====== Abilities ====== | ||
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- | Basic paradigm: You have few limits to the number of abilities you can learn, but you can only access a limited number at a time. | ||
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- | You start a brand-new character with four trees that have three abilities in each plus one blank tree, but can learn new abilities in those trees or gain access to new trees to replace their blank ones through play. The maximum number of different ability trees a character has access to is equal to their level, and every time an adventurer levels up they gain a new blank tree. | ||
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- | While you can learn any amount of abilities, you can only equip a number of abilities at a time equal to your level. Pick abilities at the beginning of each new session. You can change your chosen loadout any time by spending a point of Supply, or for free when you're in a friendly establishment that has an armory. | ||
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- | ====== Supply ====== | ||
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- | Supply is an important concept in Annulus. Why do people use crossbows after the apocalypse when guns are available instead? Among other reasons, because ammunition is much easier to get and often reuseable. An adventurer' | ||
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- | Enemies and NPCs have Supply too, but only 3 instead of 10. Players cannot loot Supply off defeated foes under normal circumstances. | ||
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- | ===== Spending It ===== | ||
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- | * When supply is used up, you give one of your blue chips to the GM. If you have no supply chips left, you cannot use any abilities that could potentially consume them. | ||
- | * Players can give a supply chip to an adjacent creature with an action. Share all you like. | ||
- | * Supply is replenished at the beginning of each new session. Sometimes you can find small caches of supply during an adventure as a reward (see Rewards for more info on Supply caches). | ||
- | * You can feed yourself for a day outside of civilization by spending one Supply. | ||
- | * You can change your entire loadout of equipped abilities for different ones by spending a point of Supply. This can be done instantaneously at any time. | ||
- | * Some attacks will consume supply if the Trigger Die shows a low enough number. Different types of weapon consume supply at different rates- bows very rarely consume any Supply, but grenades and flamethrowers eat through it rapidly. | ||
- | * Many other abilities and effects can randomly consume supply as well via use of a trigger die. | ||
- | * You can use Supply to bargain with other creatures in the game world or as payment for goods/ | ||
- | * You can pay a lump sum of Supply to learn a new ability, but only when you have an appropriate keystone. | ||
- | * You can spend 5 Supply to buy a point of Capital. Capital can be used to establish or improve various establishments in the game world. | ||
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- | ====== Condition Recovery ====== | ||
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- | A " | ||
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- | If you really need to get rid of a condition, you can also chose to dedicate your entire turn to getting rid of it. By spending both actions doing nothing except focusing on recovery, you may make a bonus recovery attempt against every condition you're currently suffering from. This is in addition to the normal free attempts you get at the end of each turn. | ||
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- | ====== Character Death ====== | ||
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- | Different games cater to different tastes, and one of the things that affects a game the most is the possibility (or not) of the random, cruel and permanent death of its heroes. Some players love the heightened tension that this brings, while others hate the potentially choppy and depressing narratives that such games create. In Annulus, your group has a choice from between two options: | ||
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- | === 1. Gritty === | ||
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- | Adventurers are just like anything else in the game world- if they run out of Vitality, they' | ||
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- | Combat in Annulus is fast and deadly. If you play by these rules, be careful never to allow yourself to be surrounded and always keep an escape route in mind. Try to avoid combat if possible, or at least tip the odds as far in your favor as you can before jumping into the fray. Numbers matter more than level: a large horde of low-level enemies can be just as if not more deadly than a few high-level ones, so if you find yourself outnumbered it might be best to run away before you get cut down where you stand. | ||
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- | === 2. Heroic === | ||
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- | Adventurers are important to the plot, allowing them to cheat death on a regular basis. An adventurer that runs out of Vitality doesn' | ||
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- | Even in a game using the Heroic character death rules, they are completely optional. When an adventurer dies, their player can choose to have them truly die for real if desired (such as in the case of a dramatic and heroic sacrifice). | ||
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- | Heroic rules protect adventurers from death, not from failure. If the party is wiped out in a climactic battle while trying to prevent a Bad Thing (a demon lord from being summoned, a corrupt CEO from buying up all the shares in their company, an ice cream vendor from selling all the lemon pops, or whatever) then it can be safely assumed that the Bad Thing happens. When the party wakes up, they will have to live with the consequences of their failure. | ||
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- | ====== Encounters ====== | ||
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- | The GM periodically performs a random encounter check by rolling a trigger die (or better yet, getting a player to do it). On a 1-4, an encounter occurs. When the die result is 4, the players notice the random encounter but are as of yet unnoticed themselves. On a result of 1, the reverse is true (and the players will likely be ambushed, depending on the temperament of the encountered creatures). On a 2 or 3, the players and the encounter notice each other at approximately the same time. | ||
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- | How often is " | ||
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- | * When entering a new room in a high-danger area (such as a dungeon). | ||
- | * When spending a lot of time in one dungeon room (such as when performing an operation). | ||
- | * When somebody uses a loud ability (such as a firearm). | ||
- | * Once or twice per day when traveling overland. | ||
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- | The GM will have a list of random encounters to draw from specific to the area you are in. | ||
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- | ====== Size and Weight ====== | ||
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- | Weight is not tracked for equipment such as weapons, Supply, and so forth- it's assumed that every adventurer can carry their basic tools and necessities by default without any further worry. Weight is only tracked when a creature starts carrying other creatures around. | ||
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- | Every creature (and a number of non-creature devices such as artillery and boats) has a size category- a deliberately non-exact measure of its approximate mass/ | ||
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- | * **Space** is a simple measure of how much room a creature needs to move around on the battlefield. The human norm is 1 space. Larger creatures occupy a space and all other spaces within a given distance from it- size category 6 creatures, for instance, have a rating of " | ||
- | * **Bulk** is an inexact representation of both mass and volume to represent how difficult the creature is to carry. Humans and other size category 5 creatures have a bulk of 1. Bulk increases rapidly with size, and decreases similarly rapidly. | ||
- | * **Encumbrance** is the uppermost amount of bulk that a creature can carry as a light load. If a creature carries any more Bulk than the listed limit, they are encumbered (they take an impairment to all movement and suffer +2 damage from all incoming attacks). A creature can haul Bulk up to their own body's worth as a heavy load with encumbrance, | ||
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- | ^Size ^Spaces ^Bulk ^Encumbrance ^ | ||
- | |1 |1/200 |1/500 |1/2k | | ||
- | |2 |1/50 |1/100 |1/500 | | ||
- | |3 |1/10 |1/20 |1/100 | | ||
- | |4 |1/2 |1/5 |1/20 | | ||
- | |5 |1 |1 |1/5 | | ||
- | |6 |+1 |5 |1 | | ||
- | |7 |+2 |20 |5 | | ||
- | |8 |+5 |100 |20 | | ||
- | |9 |+10 |500 |100 | | ||
- | |10 |+20 |2k |500 | | ||
- | |11 |+50 |10k |2k | | ||
- | |12 |+100 |50k |10k | | ||
- | |13 |+200 |200k |50k | | ||
- | |14 |+500 |1m |200k | | ||
- | |15 |+1k |5m |1m | | ||
- | |etc |etc |etc |etc | | ||
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- | ====== Friendships ====== | ||
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- | Any time a player has a significantly positive interaction with any NPC, they can optionally roll to befriend that NPC. This requires a result of 9+ on a trigger die. If successful, the NPC and the player' | ||
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- | NPCs with good relations will happily aid their friends, or take significant risks on their behalf if they are bonded. This system is mostly a neutral support to role-playing but has a few mechanical effects as well. | ||
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- | ====== Movement Impairment ====== | ||
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- | Certain effects might give an " | ||
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- | ^Impairments ^Cost/Space ^ | ||
- | |0 |1 | | ||
- | |1 |2 | | ||
- | |2 |5 | | ||
- | |3 |10 | | ||
- | |4 |20 | | ||
- | |5 |50 | | ||
- | |etc |etc | | ||
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- | Multiple impairments from different sources stack with each other. If you have enough impairments that the cost of entering a space is higher than your movement speed, you can spend multiple actions storing up movement speed until you have enough. | ||
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- | ====== SPACE ====== | ||
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- | When you're in zero-gravity, | ||
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- | Momentum is not lost in space. After pushing off, you continue traveling the same direction at the same speed as before at the beginning of each new round after regaining Flow but before taking actions. This additional movement costs no actions and happens whether you want it to or not. You cannot stop or change directions except by running into another solid object. | ||
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- | If you gain more velocity while moving in space, it is added to the velocity you already had. For example, if you were traveling 1 meter/round straight forward and then something happened to make you move 1 meter/round to the right, your new velocity moves you one meter forward AND one meter to the right every round. Adding velocity in the exact opposite direction that you are already traveling simply cancels out- 1 meter/round forward and 1 meter/round backwards means you don't move at all. | ||
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- | While nothing has any weight in zero-gravity, | ||
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- | Every time you throw an object or use an attack ability, you are propelled 1 meter per round in the opposite direction. When using attacks, if the trigger die is 1-4 you also spin out of control and gain a failure chance of 6 with all further attacks until you get the chance to stabilize yourself against something solid. Stabilizing yourself takes an action. Beam attacks are an exception to this; using one does not propel you backwards and has no chance to cause you to spin out of control. | ||
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- | Vacuum is an airless environment, | ||
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- | Living long-term in zero gravity has bad effects on creatures meant for an environment with gravity in it- bones become fragile, muscle mass decreases, and various other problems can arise such as balance disorders. After every day of life in continuous zero gravity, a creature must roll a trigger die. If the result is a 1, their maximum Vitality is immediately reduced by 1 point. This can reduce a creature' | ||
- | ====== Journeying ====== | ||
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- | Regular movement is measured in meters per action. Journeying is movement measured in regions (10 km hexes) per day and is used when traveling from point A to point B in the game world. A creature' | ||
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- | Journeying through wilderness gives an impairment to journey speed. Particularly rugged wilderness (such as thick jungles) confer two impairments instead. Journeying has no impairments through civilized regions or those with roads/ | ||
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- | Travelers in a hurry can choose to perform a forced march once per day. A forced march allows a second move during the same day. This second move has an impairment (stacking with any impairments from terrain). Performing a forced march inflicts 1 point of Vitality damage to all the marchers and inflicts a Fatigue condition on them that cannot be recovered from normally. Taking a day to do nothing but rest removes the Fatigue condition from forced marches. Multiple forced marches on successive days will inflict stacking Vitality damage but not increase the effect of the Fatigue condition. Travelers cannot choose to force march more than once per day. | ||
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- | ====== Vehicles ====== | ||
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- | Some ability trees (Boat, Wheels, Aircraft, Spacecraft? | ||
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- | **Vehicle Basics:** Vehicles are kind of like creatures but also kind of not. Your vehicle is considered to be the same level you are for purposes of how much Flow/ | ||
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- | **Vehicle Size:** Your vehicle can be any size you want, within reason and the constraints of technology that exist in your campaign world. Note that your vehicle will need to be at least the same size as you are in order to carry you at all, and bigger if you want it to carry your friends and/or junk. Your vehicle' | ||
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- | **Vehicle Movement:** When you're in your vehicle, you can spend an action to move it (along with everything it's carrying, including you.) Vehicles are fast and can go 10 meters per movement action instead of the normal 5 meters. Moving a vehicle is not like moving yourself; any abilities you may have equipped that enhance your own movement (such as Mobility or Slippery) do not apply to your vehicle. Vehicles cannot sprint. If preferred, you can designate somebody else on the vehicle to act as its pilot instead of yourself, in which case they spend their actions to move it and you can do whatever you want with yours. | ||
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- | **Vehicle Crew:** Vehicles need to be crewed. An uncrewed vehicle cannot move and all combat scores are 0 for defensive purposes. The vehicle' | ||
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- | **Limited Turns:** While faster than creatures, vehicles are frequently also less agile and can take a bit of time to bring around to a new heading. Vehicles are limited to one direction change of no more than 1 hex's diversion (60 degrees) from their previous course per action spent moving. | ||
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- | **Vehicle Dangers:** When an attack targeted at your vehicle has a trigger die result of 7+, the attack also strikes any single pilot or passenger riding in the vehicle of your choice. If it was an Area attack, it strikes three creatures of your choice (but no more than once each). | ||
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- | **Vehicle Collisions: | ||
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- | **Vehicle Destruction: | ||
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- | **Too Big To Carry:** If you go somewhere your vehicle can't, you can't bring it with you. It stays wherever you left it until you come back for it. You don't have to keep your vehicle-granting abilities equipped when you're not using it. | ||
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- | **Insurance: | ||
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- | ====== Inventory ====== | ||
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- | Every creature has a limited number of inventory slots that can be used to carry useful things. Adventurers have six; NPCs generally have two or none. | ||
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- | Inventory slots are not used to carry things represented by your abilities; abilities are a combination of equipment, training, and biology that may or may not have weight at all. You're assumed to be carrying everything you need to use your abilities at all times without it taking up any inventory slots. | ||
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- | Here's a few common items that might occupy inventory: | ||
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- | * **Stock.** Stock is used to carry Supply. Each Stock in your inventory can hold up to 5 Supply in it, and Stock gets removed when the last Supply in it is spent. Adventurers get one new Stock with a full 5 Supply in it for free at the beginning of each new session to represent their side hustles, wages, or resupply runs between adventures. You don't need to worry about Stock when spending Supply in an establishment or base, but you need it in order to take any Supply out into the field with you. | ||
- | * **Keystone.** Keystones are items that allow you to learn a new ability from a particular tree. Every keystone is tied to a single tree. You can use keystones any time you have a few minutes, but using keystones also carries a Supply cost that increases with more abilities known in the keystone' | ||
- | * **Treasure.** Treasures are things that are both valuable and portable. Their only purpose is to be sold in an establishment for a variable amount of Supply. Roll a trigger die when selling treasures: 1-3 means 1 Supply, 4-6 means 2, 7-9 means 3, and 10+ means 4. You can also just roll a four-sided die if you have one handy, the odds are the same. | ||
- | * **Luxuries.** Luxuries are more pleasant or interesting than they are inherently valuable, such as fine food, body paints, or incense. A luxury counts as 3 Supply for purposes of carousing in an establishment to gain extra XP, or can be sold for 1 Supply instead. | ||
- | * **Capital.** Capital is raw materials, expertise or vouchers that can be used in any establishment to further develop it. Different upgrade tiers to an establishment cost different amounts of Capital, but spent Capital remains stored between sessions. Capital can also be sold off for 1 Supply if preferred. | ||
- | * **Rations.** Rations are big bundles of food. If you have a ration in your inventory, you can feed yourself for a day outside of civilization. Roll a trigger die when you do; if the result is a 1-3 you must either spend a point of Supply or erase the Rations from your inventory after using it. You can feed others with your Rations as well, but you have to roll for depletion once per such creature fed. | ||
- | * **Utility.** Inventory slots can also be used to carry any useful item (such as light sources or ropes), trinket or macguffin you happen to pick up that isn't directly related to any of your abilities. | ||
- | * **Other.** Some abilities provide unusual things that can be put into inventory slots- for example, Debtor from the Merchant tree allows you to fill inventory slots with " | ||
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- | Everything in your inventory can be carried over from session to session indefinitely. Everything that isn't in your inventory is assumed to be lost, consumed or wasted between sessions. | ||
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- | ===== I Loot The Body ===== | ||
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- | Defeated enemies or random corpses can be looted by taking time to pat them down, with potential rewards determined by a trigger die result. A 1-6 yields nothing, a 7-11 yields a keystone corresponding to one of the ability trees the creature had equipped, and a 12 yields one treasure. | ||
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- | You can roll one loot check for every 5 levels possessed by the creature you're looting. This means that it isn't possible to loot anything from a creature of level 1-4, but you can roll to loot a level 10 creature twice, a level 15 creature 3 times, and so on. | ||
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- | ====== Mutation ====== | ||
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- | Every game needs a random chart full of gonzo-ass mutations. Mutations might arise from radiation, eating mystery meat, magical mishaps, or exposure to cosmic abominations. Chart entries are meant as general guidance for the GM, who can go into as much detail as they please in describing the new mutation' | ||
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- | Roll a trigger die when you mutate. You might or might not need to roll another one after for more information. | ||
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- | ^Roll ^Mutation ^ | ||
- | |1 |**Non-Viable.** Something' | ||
- | |2 |**Crippled.** The mutant' | ||
- | |3 |**Weakness.** The new mutation has drawbacks but also carries certain benefits. Roll again to gain a new weakness associated with a given ability tree. The mutant' | ||
- | |4 |**Coloration.** The mutant' | ||
- | |5 |**New Feature.** The mutant grows a new body feature they didn't have before. This is a purely cosmetic mutation with no effect on game mechanics. Roll again to see what grows in. If the mutant already had the part in question, they grow an extra one or lose what they had (GM's choice). \\ \\ **1.** Antennae (1-8 insectoid, 9-10 fleshy, 11-12 mechanical) \\ **2.** Beak (1-6 long and thin, 7-12 short and stubby) \\ **3.** Beard \\ **4.** Horns (1-3 goatlike, 4-6 bisonlike, 7-9 antlers, 10-12 single unicornlike)\\ **5.** Crest (1-4 fluffy, 5-8 leathery, 9-12 bony) \\ **6.** Hump (1-6 on back, 7-9 on stomach, 10-12 on random limb) \\ **7.** Fangs (1-6 generic, 7-9 sabre-tooth/ | ||
- | |6 |**Texture.** The mutant' | ||
- | |7 |**Altered Head.** One of the mutant' | ||
- | |8 |**Altered Limb.** One of the mutant' | ||
- | |9 |**Altered Size.** The mutant is partially or completely changed in size. This is a purely cosmetic mutation with no effect on game mechanics except for results that change the mutant' | ||
- | |10 |**Alteration.** The mutant' | ||
- | |11 |**Beneficial Mutation.** The mutation has some sort of beneficial effect for the mutant, enabling them to learn abilities of a specified sort with a -1 discount to Supply costs. Roll up a random ability tree from those available in your campaign world, then come up with some sort of obvious mutation that would help the mutant use that ability tree. For example, the Close Combat tree would be aided through growing sturdy claws and the Intimidation tree might be greatly aided through glowing eyes or an extendable neck frill. If you roll up a vehicular ability tree (Aircraft, Boat, Spaceship, Wheels, etc) then you can optionally reroll since those abilities don't really have much to do with the mutant' | ||
- | |12 |**Perfect Mutation.** As Beneficial Mutation (result of 11) but with the following additional benefits: \\ \\ - The mutant can choose which ability tree their mutation aids instead of selecting one randomly. \\ - The mutant can choose what their mutation looks like physically or even if it is visible at all. \\ - When learning new abilities from the chosen ability tree, the mutant can substitute one extra Supply instead of needing a matching keystone if desired. | | ||
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- | ====== Radiation ====== | ||
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- | Radiation is a more subtle environmental hazard than something like lava. It is invisible and intangible; being in an area of radiation can normally be inferred only from context (such as sparse, dying or mutated vegetation). | ||
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- | Spending more than one day in an irradiated area without any protection from its effects inflicts the Fatigue condition, which cannot be recovered from until the irradiated area is left. Every day spent also requires a trigger die roll: | ||
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- | * 1-4. You lose one Vitality and soak up rads. For every time you get this result, you remain radioactive for one additional day after you leave the irradiated area (and thus cannot recover from the Fatigue condition it gives and must continue to make checks on this chart). Treat this result as a 5-8 if you roll it after having already left the irradiated area. | ||
- | * 5-8. You lose one Vitality as your body degrades. | ||
- | * 9-12. You gain a new random mutation. | ||
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- | Some areas might be extremely radioactive. Spending just a few minutes in such an area acts like spending a full day in a normal irradiated zone. A few areas such as close proximity to an actively melting-down reactor are so radioactive that every round counts as a full day of exposure. |