BY ALAN BAHR

Written by Alan Bahr

Editor: Alana Joli Abbott
Interior Art: Nicolás Giacondino
Cover art: Tan Ho Sim
Book Design & Layout: Robert Denton III
TinyD6 Line Manager: Alan Bahr
Publishing: Alan Bahr
TinyD6 is based on the game Tiny Dungeon by Brandon McFadden
& Smoking Salamander Games

Micro-setting authors: John Kennedy, Darren Pearce, Scott

Smith, Wendelyn Reischl, Paul Weimer, Jean-Baptiste Perrin,
Steve Radabaugh, Shawn Carmen, Mari Murdock, Dianna Gunn,
Steve Diamond, Elizabeth Chaipraditkul, Marie Brennan, Angus
Abranson, Jaym Gates, Tobie Abad
Published by Gallant Knight Games, 2018

Tiny Wastelands and TinyD6 are trademarks of Gallant

Knight Games. © 2018 by Gallant Knight Games. All rights
reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of
the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes
of reviews, and for the blank character sheets, which may be
reproduced for personal use only.

Gallant Knight Games, Ogden UT 84404

Dedication: To all those who must face down mental illness,

trauma & disability or physical disease on a regular basis. We
all have our own Wasteland, some more barren than others.
May you never be alone, and may those who’ve gone before ride
eternal in Valhalla, shiny and chrome.

1
Table of Contents
Introduction.............................................................4
How to Play...............................................................6
Tests...............................................................................6
Obstacles........................................................................7
Save Tests.......................................................................8
Combat...........................................................................9
Optional Rule: Zones...................................................13
Hit Points.....................................................................15
Sleeping.......................................................................15
Death............................................................................16
Hiding & Sneaking.......................................................17
Optional Rules: Experience & Character Growth......18
The Rules Don’t Cover That!.......................................19

Making a Survivor..................................................20
Archetype List.............................................................22
Trait List......................................................................30
Mutation Trait List......................................................36
Psionic Disciplines.......................................................37
Weapons......................................................................40
Items and Equipment..................................................41
Optional Rule: Item Tracking......................................42

2
The Game Master...................................................43
Running Adventures...................................................43
Enemies Chart.............................................................47
Enemies.......................................................................48
Scavenging Items........................................................50
Vehicles........................................................................58
Enclaves.......................................................................64
Optional Rules.............................................................77

Micro-Settings........................................................80
The Wild by Tobie Abad..............................................80
Death Will Be Here Soon by Alana Joli Abbott..........88
Floodland by Angus Abranson...................................94
Phantasmagoria by David Annandale .......................99
In The Ravenous Green by Marie Brennan.............105
The Red Fever by Shawn Carmen.............................111
The Metal Wastes by Elizabeth Chaipraditkul.........116
Salvage by Steve Diamond........................................121
California—Smoke & Gold by Jaym Gates................128
The Second Dark Age by Dianna Gunn....................134
Of Crowns and Scales by John D. Kennedy..............139
The Plunge by Mari Murdock...................................146
Broken Star by Darren W. Pearce.............................152
Killing Rats… or not. by Jean-Baptiste Perrin..........158
Post-Human Terminus! by Steve Radabugh............164
Deepwater Titan by Wendelyn A Reischl.................169
The Drift by Ryan Schoon.........................................175
Children of the Forest by Scott Smith.......................181
High Plains Drift by Paul Weimer............................185

3
 INTRODUCTION

Basic Rules

Tiny Wastelands is a minimalistic table-top roleplaying

game that delivers a satisfying gaming experience
without books upon books of rules and options. You
will not find classes, levels, or experience points
in Tiny Wastelands—instead, you create organic
characters that grow through roleplaying. While
Tiny Wastelands does assume its players are familiar
with table-top roleplaying, newcomers and veterans
alike should be able to easily understand the basic
mechanics of the game.

4
Getting Started

Basic Rules
You will need at least two players: one to act as the
Game Master, and one to act as a Survivor. It is highly
recommended to have at least three players acting as
Survivors in a game. Each player will also need three
six-sided dice, or d6, called a Dice Pool. You can make
due with 1d6 by rolling it multiple times, but it’s easier
to have three to roll at once when needed. Besides, d6
dice are easy to come by.
You should also have some paper and a pencil to
write down your Survivor’s information and notes. A
plain index card generally has enough space on it to
be an adequate Survivor Sheet, which simply lists all
of your Survivor’s information, gear, and notes.
Game Masters will usually require more paper to
keep their thoughts and plans in order, as well as
information on Non-Player Characters, or NPCs, the
Survivors will encounter.
Finally, Tiny Wastelands
is truly a pen and paper
game in the classic
sense; however, maps
and miniatures do
assist in visualizing
where things are
so that everyone is
on the same page.
While maps and
miniatures aren’t
required, they do
have their place at
the table.

5
 HOW TO PLAY

Basic Rules
Before you create your Survivors, it’s time to get down
to the nitty-gritty of playing the game. Understanding
the basics will help make the character creation process
more enjoyable.
Roleplaying games are about storytelling, and Tiny
Wastelands is no different. Most of the game is played
simply by describing your Survivor’s actions to the
Game Master. When describing these actions, relay
what you want to do or what you’re attempting to try.
It is the Game Master’s job to react to these actions
and describe the outcome. Simple actions are typically
resolved with just the Game Master’s consent.

Tests
The core mechanic that runs Tiny Wastelands is called
a Test, which is a roll of 2d6 from your Dice Pool. For
complex actions, the Game Master will usually require
you to make a Test to determine if you succeed at what
you’re doing. Tests are successful if you roll a 5 or a
6 on any of the dice rolled in your Dice Pool, unless
otherwise noted by the Game Master.
The Game Master, and certain Traits selected
at Survivor Creation, can grant you Advantage in
situations. This will allow you to roll 3d6 from your
Dice Pool instead of 2d6 for that particular Test,
increasing the odds of success!
Other situations, at the Game Master’s discretion, may
put you at a Disadvantage. When at a Disadvantage,
you will only be able to roll 1d6 to resolve your Test.

6
It is important to note

Basic Rules
that if the situation,
trait, or Game Master
(or any source) imposes
Disadvantage in a
situation, even if you
would normally have
Advantage due to a
particular Trait, you still
roll 1d6 for that Test.
Special (super science
or psionic) items that
grant Advantage are
the only things which
supersede this—if a
super-special item
grants you Advantage,
you will always have Advantage for that situation.
Why? Because it’s super-special. That’s why.
The long and short of it: Disadvantage overrides
Advantage.That means if you have Disadvantage on a
roll, and Advantage on the same roll, you only roll 1d6.

Obstacles It might appear (especially

when you get to the
section with enemies), that
Obstacles are challenges Advantage can take you
that usually require a Test to up to 4d6. That is not the
overcome. Obstacles may case. All rolls in TinyD6 are
include attempting to made with 1d6, 2d6 or 3d6.
barter with a shopkeeper, If you have 3d6 on a roll, it’s
pick a lock, search a likely Advantage is already
room for a hidden item, calculated in for you, and you
or resolve a conflict can’t increase it.
with words rather than
weapons. The Game Master may determine your

7
roleplaying is sufficient in overcoming the Obstacle

Basic Rules
and grant you an immediate success without having
to Test; however, in most situations, a Test will be
necessary to determine the outcome.

Save Tests
Obstacles may arise that require you to make what’s
called a Save Test to prevent something from happening
to you. For example, you need to successfully leap out
of the way as a trap springs, or you’re climbing a rope
when it snaps and you could potentially fall. Save
Tests are also used to stabilize yourself if you begin
a turn at 0 Hit Points. Save Tests are just like regular
Tests, and unless
otherwise noted by
the rules or the Game
Master, you roll 2d6
to resolve your Test.
A 5 or 6 on any of the
rolled dice represent
a successful Save.
Some Save Tests
can be a life or death
scenario—these are
called Save or Die
Tests. Should you
fail the Save Test,
your character is
killed. Period. There
is no preventing it.
Game Masters are
advised to keep these
situations few and
far between.

8
Combat

Basic Rules
The Game Master will usually announce when Combat
is about to begin by requesting an Initiative Test.
Survivors will roll a standard 2d6 Test and add up the
total of their rolls. Likewise, the Game Master will roll
Initiative for any enemy combatants the Survivors will
be facing. The highest roller will have the first turn
in the Initiative Order, followed by the next highest,
and so on. If there is a tie between a Survivor and an
enemy, the Survivor always goes first. If there is a tie
between two or more Survivors, the tying Survivors
reroll for that position until the tie is broken.
Combat is strictly turn-based to keep things running
smoothly. A round of combat begins at the top of the
Initiative Order and ends at the bottom. The next
round of combat then begins, starting again at the
top of the Initiative Order. This continues until the
Survivors have defeated their enemies, completed
some objective determined by the Game Master, or
until the Survivors have been killed or routed. While
it can take some time to get through an entire round
of combat, in-game, a full round of combat is equal to
roughly five or six seconds.
During your turn in the Initiative Order, you have two
Actions. You can choose to move, attack, and generally
not be useless with these Actions. If you move, that is
one Action. If you attack, that is one Action. You can use
both Actions to move, or use both Actions to Attack if you
wish. Other Actions include sheathing or unsheathing a
weapon, grabbing an item, and giving an item to an ally.
Movement is defined by announcing your intentions
to move from one location to another; the Game
Master determines whether you can cover enough
ground to get there with that Action. This is where

9
miniatures and maps come in handy, as they will assist

Basic Rules
in determining distance. It is also assumed that each
Survivor can move just as far as any other Survivor
with a single Action, unless the Game Master says
otherwise. A good rule of thumb is to assume your
character can move approximately 25 feet in-game
with a single Action, so long as there isn’t anything
hindering their movement. If you are using a combat
grid, 25 feet is 5 squares.
Attacking is the most important aspect of Combat. First
and foremost, if you are attacking an enemy, you must
be within range of your enemy to do so. Your club may
be long, but it isn’t going to hit that mutated crocodile
that’s 25 feet away from you. Getting within range will
require you to move if you are using a melee weapon.
Once you’re in range, you can attack! Attacking is
just another type of Test, and the Obstacle is your
enemy. Usually, you’re going to be using the weapon
you have Mastered to attack. Any weapon type you
have Mastered allows you to roll an Attack Test with
Advantage, or 3d6. If you are simply Proficient with the
weapon you’re wielding, your Attack Test is a standard
2d6 Test. You have Disadvantage for Attack Tests while
wielding weapons you are not Proficient with—this
includes unarmed combat and improvised weapons.
On a successful Attack Test, you deal 1 of point
damage to your enemy, regardless of your weapon,
unless your Game Master says otherwise. Game
Masters are encouraged to reward roleplaying at all
times, so a particularly detailed description of an
attack may score more than 1 point of damage to your
enemy, if the Game Master so decides.
Two special Actions you can perform in Combat are
Focus and Evade.

10
 When you choose to Focus, the next time you attack,

Basic Rules
your Test is successful on a roll of 4, 5, or 6, increasing
your chances of hitting the enemy. Your Focus Action
remains in effect until you choose to attack or until the
end of combat, so the Action can carry over to other
turns. There is no benefit to stacking Focus Actions.
When you choose to Evade, until the start of your
next turn, you can Test 1d6 when you are successfully
hit by an enemy. If your Test is successful, you evade
the attack and do not take damage.
There are two more special Actions, Suppressing
Fire and Cover.
Suppressing Fire lets you make an attack at
Disadvantage every time an enemy enters the area
you’re suppressing.
When you take Cover, all enemy attacks from one
direction gain Disadvantage.
To recap combat actions, you can:
• Evade
• Focus
• Test for an ability
• Attack
• Move
• Suppressing Fire
• Cover
There are three categories of weapons in Tiny
Wastelands—Light Melee, Heavy Melee, and Ranged.
You can attack while unarmed, or even with improvised
weapons such as a barstool or a rock, but these are not
classified as weapons.
Light Melee Weapons have the benefit of only
requiring one hand to wield. This frees you up to
do other things with your other hand, such as grab

11
a piece of scattered gear. You must be adjacent to an

Basic Rules
enemy, or within 5 feet, to attack with a Light Melee
Weapon. (If you are using the optional Zones rules on
the following page, Light Melee Weapons strike from
the Close range.)
Examples of Light Melee Weapons include combat
knives, short swords, hammers, and baseball bats.
If it’s a weapon you can swing with one hand, it’s
probably a Light Melee Weapon.
Heavy Melee Weapons require you to wield them with
both hands due to them being cumbersome or just so…
heavy. The benefit is that you can attack your enemies
with these weapons from 10 feet away, as they have
a longer reach than Light Melee Weapons. (If you are
using the optional Zones rules on the following page,
Heavy Weapons strike from the Near range.)
Examples of Heavy Melee Weapons include chainsaws,
pipes, rebar clubs, war hammers, polearms, spears, and
two-handed flails.
Ranged Weapons require one hand to hold, but
two to operate. Ranged Weapons treat all targets on
the field as being within range for attack, unless the
Game Master declares they are being protected by
some form of cover. The downside to this is that they
require one Action to load, and one Action to fire. In
Tiny Wastelands, unless otherwise noted by the Game
Master, it’s assumed you’re always carrying enough
ammunition for your Ranged Weapon for the sake of
simplicity. And we love simplicity.
(If you are using the optional Zones rules on the following
page, Ranged Weapons strike from the Far range.)
Examples of ranged weapons are slings, bows, and
crossbows, or, where Survivors have maintained
access to higher tech weapons, guns.

12
Optional

Basic Rules
Rule: Zones
In combat, characters
occupy one of three
zones. Zones represent
areas close to the fight.
There are three zones
during combat: Close,
Near, and Far. In each
zone you can attack
with different weapons:
In the Close Zone, you
can attack with:
• Light Melee • Heavy Melee
In the Near Zone, you can attack with:
• Heavy Melee • Ranged
In the Far Zone, you can attack with:
• Ranged
If you’re using psionics or Xenotech, they can be used
from any range.
Note: The included Zone sheet also includes Evade and
Focus sections, so you can mark which characters have
Evaded or Focused each round, and which have not.

CLOSE
• Light Melee
• Heavy Melee
• Evade
• Focus

NEAR
• Heavy Melee
• Ranged

FAR • Ranged

13
 When combat begins,

Basic Rules
enemies are all in the
Close Zone. Enemies
can use any attack from
their Zone (ranged,
special, melee), with no
penalties. The Zones
should viewed from the
Survivors’ perspective.
“I’m staying back at a
Ranged Distance” or “I’m
closing to Close Range”
is the way to view it.
Enemies don’t move
between Zones, instead
staying “stationary” as
the Survivors move around them.
Think of it as the enemies are the eye of the storm in
combat, and everything swirls around them. Obviously,
this is an extreme abstraction, and the GM should
remember that enemies actually move, and describe it
as such. Zones are meant to abstract relative distance
and provide a quick play aid.
It takes a Move Action for a Survivor to move between
zones. There’s no limit. A Survivor can spend a Move
Action and move from Far to Close, or from Close to Near.
When other abilities or powers (such as creatures,
or prestige traits) refer to distances, the Close Zone is
within 5 feet of the target, and the Near Zone is within
10 feet of the target.
Therefore, if a creature can attack everyone with
10 feet, they can attack everyone in Close and Near
zones. Knocking something back 10 feet would move
them from Close to Near, or from Near to Ranged.
In the end, Zones are an abstraction designed to help
make combat a little easier to engage in.

14
Hit Points

Basic Rules
Now that you know your way around the basics of
Combat, it’s time to discuss Hit Points. Hit Points are
determined by your selected Archetype, and they
reflect the punishment your body can take before you
lose consciousness. In Combat, every successful hit
deals 1 point of damage unless otherwise noted by the
Game Master. Your choice of weaponry does not alter
this. Other game systems generally have you roll for
the damage you deal or have different weapons deal
different amounts of damage. Tiny Wastelands does
away with this, because a well-placed shiv can be just as
deadly as getting hacked
by a sheet-metal sword.
Ultimately, the final blow
is the one that counts.

Sleeping
You need at least 6 in-game
hours of uninterrupted
sleep every day to regain
your strength. If you
manage to obtain 6 hours
of uninterrupted sleep,
you will fully restore any
lost Hit Points to your
maximum. You otherwise
regain 1 Hit Point for
every hour of sleep.
When asleep, Survivors
are unconscious. If something is going on around them,
they are less likely to be aware of it, and have Disadvantage
when making a Test to see if something wakes them up.

15
Death

Basic Rules
The dying process begins when you’ve taken enough
damage to reduce your Hit Points to 0. Hit Points cannot
be reduced below 0. At this point, you’re knocked
unconscious, and without further assistance, you could
succumb to your wounds
and die.
If you are at 0 Hit Points
at the start of your turn
in Combat, you can
only make a Save Test
to stabilize yourself.
A successful Save Test
brings your Hit Points up
to 1 and ends your turn.
If you fail this Save Test,
you get one last chance at
surviving on your own—
at the start of your next
turn, make one last Save
Test, at Disadvantage. If
you fail this final Save
Test, your Survivor dies.
While you are
unconscious, any ally can attempt to stabilize you
by making a Save Test as an Action on their turn,
providing they are adjacent (or Close) to you. On a
success, you are restored to 1 Hit Point and your next
turn will start as a normal turn. Additionally, any
items or abilities that could potentially heal you while
you are unconscious—such as the Healer Trait or
healing or medical kits—can be used by allies to bring
you back from the brink.

16
 Should you die, don’t worry too much. There are

Basic Rules
usually ways for the dead to be brought back to
life, and hopefully one of your companions will be
willing to drag your useless corpse to an obscure
medical facility or source of magic where you can be
resurrected. Of course, this probably won’t be cheap.

Hiding & Sneaking

Attempting to hide or sneak around is performed
simply by making a standard Test with 2d6. If the Test
is successful, you are hidden, or your actions went
unnoticed.
Note that you can’t simply hide in plain sight, so you
need some sort of cover or concealment to hide. It is
up to the Game Master to determine if you are in a
situation where you could potentially hide.

17
 Allies and enemies alike can also make a standard 2d6

Basic Rules
Test to locate someone—or something—that is hidden.
Hiding during Combat uses an Action, as does
searching during Combat. These Tests can only be
done during your Turn while in Combat.

Optional Rules: Experience

& Character Growth
Gaining experience is one of the most exciting and fun
parts of a roleplaying game. Much like everything in
Tiny Wastelands, the rules for growth and leveling are
fairly simple and straightforward.
To that end, we’ve presented two systems that the
GM can choose to use if they wish.

The Minimalist Advancement

To advance your characters with the minimalist
advancement track, simply gain 1 new trait every
3 sessions. A character can never have more than 7
traits. If you would gain a trait past 7, you may instead
swap out a non-Archetype trait for a new trait.

Experience Points
At the end of every session, the GM will award experience.
You may buy upgrades with the following costs.
• 6 Experience = a permanent increase to your HP
of 1.
• 8 Experience = a new Proficient or Mastered
Weapon.
• 10 Experience = a new Trait.

18
 For the GM: Players should receive 1-3 experience per

Basic Rules
session, awarded to “the group as a whole,” meaning
everyone in the group gets the same amount of
experience for their individual character. Experience
is generally awarded as follows:
• 1 for the group as a whole for good roleplay.
• 1 for the group as a whole for defeating enemies
(not per enemy, just if they defeated any enemies).
• 1 for the group as a whole for advancing the plot
and their goals.
• 1 for the group as a whole if players contributed to
the out of game enjoyment of the session (snacks,
music, carpooling, hosting at their home).

The Rules Don’t Cover That!

Tiny Wastelands is a minimalist rule set and it
provides only a framework for gameplay. There are a
lot of scenarios that could happen in a game that these
rules don’t cover—but neither do the epic tomes that
other game systems use.
If a situation arises where a Survivor is asking for
a ruling that these rules don’t provide an answer to,
it is up to the Game Master to provide a ruling. This
is known as Game Master Fiat. Ultimately the Game
Master has final say on how the game is played and
how the rules are enforced. The key is simply to be
consistent.
We’ve included lots of optional rules you can use to
simulate the various pieces you might (or might not)
like from other RPGs, but in the end, it’s your job to
make Tiny Wastelands your own. Use whatever pieces
you like and discard the ones you don’t!

19
MAKING A SURVIVOR
Creating your Survivor is a quick process. You don’t
necessarily need to follow this specific order, but

Survivor Creation
it serves as common flow for the process (there are
more details after the checklist).
• Select an Archetype
• Select 3 Traits
• Select Weapon Proficiency and Mastery
• Assign Gear and Credits
• Assign Drive
First, select a archetype from the Archetype List. This
will give you an Archetype trait and your Hit Points.
Then select 3 unique Traits from the Trait List. Instead
of predefined character classes like other RPGs, Tiny
Wastelands (like other TinyD6 games) uses Traits to
express what your Survivor excels at doing. You can use
one of your 3 choices to select 1 Mutation Trait instead.
Next, you’re going to pick a weapon group you are
Proficient with. There are three groups of weapons;
Light Melee, Heavy Melee, and Ranged, which are
discussed in more detail in the Combat section and in
the Weapons section.
From your chosen weapon group, select one specific
type of weapon that you have Mastered. For example,
you can select Light Melee Weapons as your Proficient
group, and from that, you can select daggers as your
Mastered weapon. Your Survivor will start with one
weapon of your choice, ideally the weapon he or she has
Mastered. Don’t be afraid to be creative—you may have
chosen to be Mastered with daggers, but there are many
different types of daggers you could arm your Survivor

20
with, such as dirks, electrified daggers, or plasma cutters.
It is assumed that your Survivor is already wearing
the standard armor or clothing of their choosing—
be it leathers, an armored suit, a mechanic’s overalls
and harness, or just a toga from a trashed city. Armor
serves no mechanical function in the game. You may
eventually come across high-tech armor and other

Survivor Creation
things that grant special benefits during your travels,
but for now, just note what you’re wearing.
You also start with 10 clix and a Survivor’s Kit, the
content of which is described in the Survivor’s Kit section.
Finally, name your Survivor and give him or her a
little bit of a backstory. This should include a description
of your job (called a Profession), along with anything
else that makes your Survivor unique or interesting.
Whatever it is, you have picked up some skills and
knowledge from this craft and
gain Advantage in situations Game Masters: Professions that
you can put it to use. affect combat directly should
always be vetoed because they
Finally, Survivors all have tend to be unbalancing.
a driving principle called a Survivors’ Professions are
Drive that you will want to usually positions in a posse or
write down. jobs in town, but ultimately their
This Drive is a simple professions should be a useful
(or entertaining) match for the
statement used as a guiding
missions the Survivors will
force for your Survivor. Your
face. Now, that’s not to say a
Drive may be, “I’ll always soldier is not a valid Profession.
find a diplomatic solution,” Simply don’t allow Advantage
“Clix can buy happiness,” on attack rolls. They can gain
or “I let my blaster do the Advantage on rolls to notice
talking.” This Drive is not traps, plan ambushes, identify
etched in stone and can be weapons or vehicles, or even
changed or added to with military tactics enemies use.
the approval of your Game Just not attacks.
Master.

21
Game Masters: While this is going on, you should be thinking
about what type of scenario you will be placing the Survivors in.
The choices players make while creating their Survivors should give
you lots of ideas about what missions and challenges would work
well, particularly their Drives and their Traits.
It is the Game Master’s job to create a convincing setting and story
for the Survivors, which includes missions to undertake, locations
to visit, enemies to fight, and NPCs to interact with. Is this going
to be a one-off adventure? Or are you planning to create an entire

Survivor Creation
world or universe for your Survivors to discover over the course of
many game sessions?
You can put as much or as little effort into this as you like, but keep in
mind it’s your job to keep everyone on track and entertained. One-
off adventures can be planned with a few minutes of preparation;
however, if it is your goal to have a larger campaign in mind, this is
going to take some work on your part to plan. Take some time to
look through the For The Game Master section.

ARCHETYPE LIST
Normals
Normals are your run of the mill, average humans. They
tend to be farmers, scavengers, or living in settlements,
trying to repair civilization and get on with their lives as
best they can.
Normals are humans, so anything today is certainly
there. And probably a little weirder.

Normals Attributes
• 6 Hit Points
• Humans select an
additional Trait from the
Trait List.

22
Mutant
Warped by whatever caused
the apocalypse, Mutants
are distorted versions of
humankind and tend to live
in their own little enclaves,
Mutant Attributes
• 8 Hit Points
• Mutants start with
the Archetype trait
Mutation
Mutation: You

Survivor Creation
as they’re not frequently can select up to
welcome everywhere. 3 Mutation Traits
Mutantkind ranges all over (instead of one).
the board, from brutes to
skinny four-armed weirdos who worship cactuses.
Mutants almost always look like humans taken to the
extreme. They’re either too big and muscle bound, too
skinny and pale, or anything in between. It’s always just
weird to see a
mutie.

23
Scavenger
Scavengers are those who
wander the waste with the
express intent of finding
lost bits of stuff and putting
it to use. Scavengers are
Scavenger Attributes
• 7 Hit Points
• Scavengers start with
the Digger Archetype
trait.

Survivor Creation
hardy folk who are used Digger: You gain
to the harsh life in the Advantage on
wastes, but they’re usually Scavenge Tests.
welcome in settlements
due to the supplies they often have.
Scavengers tend to not stand out too much and wear
clothing that allows them to quickly hide or worm
their way through ruins, relics, and pointy warrens
and tunnels.

24
Survivor Attributes Survivor
• 6 Hit Points You survive. That’s it. You’re
• Survivors start with the one who gets back up
the Archetype trait every time you’re knocked
Always Prepared down. You don’t know when
to quit, and you just keep

Survivor Creation
Always Prepared: going.
You know how to
Survivors tend to look like
survive. You gain
Normals, but with a lot more
Advantage on Tests
scars and a grim haunted
to find shelter or
look in their eyes, due to all
aid (not supplies or
the horrors they’ve seen out
scavenging though).
there in the wastes.

25
Wanderer Attributes Wanderer
• 6 Hit Points Wanderers are those who
• Wanderers start with move from place to place
the Archetype trait throughout the wastelands,
Unattached just picking up the pieces
as they go. They don’t get
Unattached:

Survivor Creation
attached, they don’t get
Anytime anyone tries nothing. Just moving from
to persuade you, one place to another.
intimidate you, or
threaten you, they Wanderers tend to look a
have Disadvantage. lot like Scavengers, but even
more ragged.

26
Crazy
Crazies are the nut jobs who love what happened. Driven
mad by... something, Crazies just go, and go, and go,
whipping around from
one thing to the next, Crazy Attributes
usually in a whirlwind • 6 Hit Points

of violence and blood. • Crazies start with the
Crazies look like...
anything. They tend
to pierce themselves,
tattoo up, and engage
in all manner of dress
that stands out. You’ll
know a Crazy when
you see one.
Survivor Creation
Insane Archetype trait.
Insane: You’re insane.
Whenever you would take
a risk that would make
anyone else pause, you
gain Advantage on the
Test.

27
Fixer
Fixers are the ones trying to
put the pieces back together.
They take the stuff the
Scavengers bring in and try
to use it to better the lives of
those around them... or gain
power.
Fixers look like Normals
but usually covered a bit
more in grease and iron
filings.
Fixer Attributes
• 6 Hit Points
• Fixers start with the
Mechanic Archetype
trait.
Survivor Creation
Mechanic: Once per
day, you can test with
Disadvantage to add
one Usage Rating to a
scavenged item. (See
Scavenging Items)
28
Tyrant Attributes Tyrants
• 6 Hit Points Tyrants are the ones who
• Tyrants start with take over settlements and
the Commanding enclaves, forcing their will
Archetype trait on the people. Warlords and
generals, the Tyrants are stuck

Survivor Creation
Commanding: When in perpetual war: against the
you’re attacked, you world, against others, and
can impose your against themselves.
will on your foe. Roll
Tyrants tend to dress
1d6. If successful the
better, tougher, or fancier
attack misses. You
than everyone else. Status
cannot use this ability
has rewards, and you have
if you Evade.
to look the part.

29
Trait List
Acrobat: It’s up there? No problem! You gain Advantage
when Testing to do acrobatic tricks such as tumbling,
long-distance jumps, climbing, and maintaining
balance.

Survivor Creation
Ambush Specialist: Keep your eyes on your six… You
gain Advantage on Tests to locate, disarm, and detect
ambushes and traps. You also gain Advantage on Save
Tests to avoid traps.
Armor Master: Your paltry weapons cannot pierce my
iron hide! You have mastered wearing armor like a
second skin. When wearing any form of armor, you
have an extra 3 Hit Points that must be lost before
you take physical damage. These hit points cannot
be healed and must be restored via repairing your
armor. It takes a full 8 hours to repair all 3 Hit Points.
Barfighter: Funny how you always fancy yourself
a drink, right on Unification day. You can select
Improvised Weapons as a Weapon Group. You do not
get to pick a Weapon to Master. Instead, when fighting
with any Improvised Weapons, you get one extra
action each turn.
Beastspeaker: What is it, boy?! Jimmy fell down a well?!
You are able to communicate with animals. This form
of communication is primitive and very simplistic.
Beserker: RAAAAAGH! You can attack with primal and
furious rage. When attacking with a Melee Weapon,
you can choose to make an attack with Disadvantage.
If you do and succeed, you deal 2 damage instead of 1.
Blacksmith: I can fix that! Once per day, you can make
a Test with Advantage. If successful, you can restore
1 Usage Rating point to any object. (See Scavenging
Items; pg. XX)

30
Brawler: Everybody
has a plan until they
get punched in the face.
If you are fighting
Unarmed, you Evade
with 2d6 (instead of
1d6.)

Survivor Creation
Charismatic: I can get
what I want without
even asking. You gain
Advantage when
attempting to convince
someone of something
or otherwise influence
them.
Cleave: I will bathe in
the blood of enemies!
If your attack drops
an enemy to 0 Hit Points, you may immediately make
an extra attack with Disadvantage.
Dark-fighter: Who needs eyes, when I have all the other
senses? You do not suffer Disadvantage for having
your sight impaired.
Defender: I’ve got your back. When an adjacent ally is
hit, before Evade Tests are made, you may choose to
have that attack hit you instead.
Diehard: I’m not going down that easy. When an attack
would reduce you to 0 Hit Points, it instead reduces
you to 1 Hit Points. You can do this once per day.
Drunken Master: *Urrp* While you are intoxicated, you
may Evade without spending an action. However, you
have Disadvantage on all rolls that require careful and
delicate manipulation, social grace, or might be severely
impacted by your intoxication (Game Master discretion).

31
 Dungeoneer: We go
left. I’ve seen a lot of
ruins in my time, and I
can tell by the way the
moss covers this wall.
You gain Advantage
when attempting to

Survivor Creation
find your way through
a ruin or cave system
and when attempting
to identify creatures
native to subterranean
ruins or caves.
Educated: I didn’t go
to academy for four
years for nothing.
You gain Advantage
when checking to see
if you know specific
information.
Eidetic Memory: You remember that guy in that city?
Who did that thing? I remember exactly what he said.
When Testing to recall information, you have seen or
heard previously—even in passing—you succeed on a
roll of 4, 5, or 6.
Fleet of Foot: Running away is always a valid option.
Your speed increases from 25 feet to 30 feet. You gain
Advantage on Tests when chasing or running.
Healer: I’ve seen worse, son. You’ll pull through. As an
Action, you can Test 2d6 to heal a creature other than
yourself. If the Test is successful, the target creature
is healed for 2 Hit Points. This Trait can also be used
to cure poison, disease, and other physical ailments
that are non-genetic or a result of science. You must
be next to the creature to heal it.

32
Insightful: Stop pulling my leg… You gain Advantage
when Testing to discern whether someone is telling
the truth or lying.
Lucky: Whew! That was close. You may reroll one Test
per session.
Marksman: The odds of hitting your target increase

Survivor Creation
dramatically when you aim at it. When using the Focus
Action, your next attack with a Ranged Weapon is
successful on a Test of 3, 4, 5, or 6.
Martial Artist: Be like water, flowing through cracks.
You can select Unarmed as a Weapon Group to be
proficient with. You must select a martial arts style as
your Mastered Weapon. If you have the Brawler Trait,
you can Focus as a free action, once per day.
MacGuyver: Engine oil has many uses. It’s also great on
salads. Provided the right pieces and you can whip up
one-use items to aid
your allies. This item
will grant Advantage
on one test. You may
never have more
than 1 item created at
a time. You also gain
Advantage when
identifying unknown
items.
Nimble Fingers: I
could have sworn
I left it right here!
You gain Advantage
when Testing to pick
locks, steal, or do
sleight-of-hand.

33
Opportunist: One man’s failure is another man’s opening
to stab the idiot who failed. If an enemy within range fails
to hit with an attack against you, you may immediately
make an attack with Disadvantage against that enemy.
Perceptive: What has been seen cannot be unseen.
You gain Advantage when Testing to gain information
about your surroundings or find things that may be

Survivor Creation
hidden. You gain this even while asleep.
Psionic: Also, I can kill you with my brain. You have
psionic talent because of your mutation, an ancestor who
had powerful talent, or a neural implant that amplifies
your latent abilities. Psionics is separated into multiple
disciplines. Pick one Discipline when you select this trait.
You gain that Discipline. When you gain a Discipline, you
gain all the powers located under it. However, each time
you use a Power, you must make a successful Test or the
Action is wasted. You may select this Trait multiple times
(each time giving you a new Discipline). See “Psionic
Disciplines.”
Quartermaster: I’m always prepared. When you roll
for Usage, you can choose to reroll once per day. You
must keep the second result.
Quick Shot: Pew, pew, pew! You are able to reload a
Ranged Weapon and fire it in one Action.
Resolute: I will not be a casualty of fear. You gain
Advantage on all Save Tests.
Shield Bearer: I’ve got you covered. While wielding
a shield, Test with 2d6 on Evade instead of 1d6. If
you choose this Trait, your Survivor gains a shield at
Survivor creation.
Sneaky: Hey, did you hear something? You gain
Advantage when Testing to hide or sneak around
without others noticing you.

34
Strong: Stand back,
I’ll kick it in! You
gain Advantage
when Testing to
do something with
brute force.
Survivalist: These

Survivor Creation
berries are safe to
eat…I think. You
gain Advantage
when Testing to
forage for food,
find water, seek
shelter, or create
shelter in the wild.
Tough: I have not
journeyed all this
way because I am
made of sugar
candy. You gain 2 additional Hit Points.
Tracker: These prints are fresh. He went that way. You
gain Advantage when Testing to track someone or an
animal in the wilderness. While outside, you can also
locate true north without Testing.
Trapmaster: It’s a trap! You gain Advantage when
Testing to create, locate, and disarm traps. You also
gain Advantage on Save Tests against traps.
Vigilant: Better to stay ready than to get ready. You
gain Advantage on Initiative Tests.

35
Mutation Trait List
Warped by whatever ravaged
Remember, you can
the world, something is odd
select 1 Mutation Trait as
or unusual about you at a
one of your Trait choices
genetic level. A character can
at Character Creation.

Survivor Creation
only have 1 Mutation Trait.
Freaky Quick Reflexes: You’re freaky fast. When you
fail an Evade Test, you may re-Test.
Genetic Memory: Got a memory screaming at me
right now. When Testing to see if you know something,
if you fail, you can re-Test with Disadvantage.
Environmental Camo: Surprise meatbag! All Tests to
locate you when you are hidden are at Disadvantage.
Bulging Muscles: Even your muscles have muscles.
When you are Testing to lift, carry, or budge something,
you gain Advantage. Your melee attacks do +1 damage.
Third Eye: If you’re
lucky it’s in your
forehead.... When
you fail a Perception
related Test, you can
choose to re-Test it
at Disadvantage.
Jumpin’ Jack: You
get around a lot
better than you
used to. You gain
Advantage on any
Test related to
jumping, running,
or moving around.

36
Bone Spines: Never “disarmed.” You can protrude Bone
Spines as a melee or ranged weapon from your body.
It takes an action to deploy it. You gain Advantage on
the first attack each combat with this weapon. Counts as
both Light Melee and Ranged. The Ranged version has
an Ammo of 2, but every day it automatically refills to 2.
Scales and Stuff: Best defense is one that ain’t known.

Survivor Creation
You gain +2 Hit Points. If you have the Diehard Trait,
you can use it one additional time per day.

PSIONIC DISCIPLINES
TELEKINESIS focuses on using the power of the mind
to move things, often at damaging or high speeds.
• Blast: Test to deal 1 damage at Range. This Test is
subject to all the rules of an attack.
• Hurl: As an action you may move any object
weighing as much as you without Testing. To hurl
it violently, you must make a successful Test. To
hurl any object heavier than you, you must make a
successful Test with Disadvantage.
• Shatter: Test with Disadvantage. If you are
successful, all enemies you can see take 1 damage.
• Shield: Test. If successful, you may Evade
until the start of your next turn. If you
choose to Test with Disadvantage and
are successful, you Evade with 2d6
on your next turn.

37
TELEPATHY uses the power of the mind to influence
emotions, feelings, and thoughts.
• Communicate: You may communicate via distances
to any being you are aware of. If the being is within
sight, this does not require a Test. If the being is not
within sight, you must make a successful Test. If they
are at a great distance, you must make a successful

Survivor Creation
Test with Disadvantage.
• Quell: Test to quell the negative emotions in a
target. If successful, you gain Advantage on your
next roll against that Target.
• Timeview: Test. If successful, gain one detail about the
history of an object or location you can touch or see.
• Unmake: You may Test with Disadvantage. If you
are successful, one enemy suffers Disadvantage on
all Tests until the start of your next turn.
BIOMANCY unlocks the innate powers of the physical form.
• Bio-Organic Shock: Test to deal 1 damage at Range.
This Test is subject to all the rules of an attack. If
you make this Test with Disadvantage, this Test
deals 2 damage.
• Enhance: Test. If successful you gain Advantage on
your next Test. By Testing with Disadvantage, you
can grant this to an Ally.
• Fast: Test. If successful, you gain two additional
Actions this turn. At the end of these two Actions,
you lose 2 Hit Points.
• Heal: Test. If successful, restore 2 HP to one target.
If you Test with Disadvantage and are successful,
you can restore 4 HP to one target.

38
CRYOMANCY uses the power of the mind to unlock
chilling powers.
• Chill: Make an Attack Test. If successful, the target
takes 1 damage, and Disadvantage on their next Test.
• Coldsnap: Make an Attack Test. If successful everything
within Close range (5 feet) suffers 1 damage.

Survivor Creation
• Freeze: Make a Test. You may cause one inanimate
object that is about half your size or smaller to
shatter and break.
• Glacial: Make a Test. You cause one target to lose
an Action on their next Turn.
PYROMANCY uses the power of the mind to unlock
raging infernos of power.
• Burn: Test to deal 1 damage at Range. This Test is
subject to all the rules of an attack.
• Ignite: Make a Test with Disadvantage. If successful,
you can cause any object roughly your size or
smaller to burst into flames. Anyone who touches
these flames suffers 2 damage for the round. To
put out the flames, they must successfully Test with
Disadvantage.
• Extinguish: Make a Test. You may cause any flame
or heat-based action to cool and cease.
• Combustion: Make a Test with Disadvantage.
Everything within arms’ reach (or one zone) of you
takes 3 Damage. You take 1 Damage.

39
Weapons
There are three weapon categories: Light Melee, Heavy
Melee, and Ranged. These categories include a variety
of individual weapons, and the listed weapons provided
can be supplemented with additional weapons with

Survivor Creation
approval from your Game Master.
Prices are suggestions and represent an average cost
for basic weaponry.

Weapon Cost Ammo Rating

Melee (Axe, baton, brass knuckles, 1-5 -
chainsaw, sword, hammer, knife, clix
barbed wire bat, teeth whip)
Light Ranged (Crossbow, semiauto 1-20 4
pistol, revolver, shuriken, throwing knives) clix
Heavy Ranged (Hunting rifle, frag 10-25 6
grenades, flamethrower, assault rifle, clix
longbow, missile launcher, railgun)

40
Items and Equipment
An assortment of additional items and equipment can
usually be purchased at local shops in towns. This list
is not an exhaustive list of every item you can procure
but is meant to act as a general guide. The list divides

Survivor Creation
items and equipment by rarity. Prices are suggestions
and represent an average cost.

Items and Equipment Cost

Common 1-5
Backpack, barrel, belt pouch, clothing, coat, crowbar, flask, clix
fishing rod, flare, flashlight, grappling hook, lantern, lighter,
musical instrument, paper (10 sheets), pen, rope (50 feet),
sewing kit, shovel, sleeping bag, wristwatch
Uncommon 5-10
Chemistry set, lockpicks, machine parts, first aid kit, simple clix
pre-fall tech, pager, power tools, paper, two-way radio, tent
Rare 10-25
Disguise kit, forged travel papers, military grade comms kit, clix
complex pre-fall, medical scanner, micro-satellite, vehicle
parts, tablet computer, vial of poison

The Survivor’s Kit A note on equipment. While

As a Survivor, you start
with a basic kit of items
from the Items and
Equipment list to help get
you going. The Survivor’s
Kit includes the following
items: ragged sleeping bag,
lighter, belt pouch, cracked
electric lantern with 72
hours of charge, 50 feet
of strong cord, 7 days of
rations, and a poncho.
equipment has no mechanical
benefit, the GM can and
should often ask characters
if they have equipment that
would help. If the answer is
no, the GM can have them
Test at Disadvantage for
related items. An engineer
without his tools has a
harder time than one that
remembers. Equipment
should be treated in service
of the story and a good time.

41
Optional Rule:
Item Tracking
Each character sheet will have 6 inventory spaces (each

Survivor Creation
with 3 “slots”) for players to write down their items. You
should name the sort of container that each inventory
space represents (such as sack, backpack, chest, etc).
Certain types of items take up different amounts of
spaces. We don’t present a huge specific list, but you
should use the following rules of thumb when making
decisions. Your Game Master will clarify anything that
comes up.
• Items that take up 1 slot: Dagger, torch, rations.
• Items that take up 2 slots: machete, bow, hatchet,
rope, extra clothes.
• Items that take up 3 slots: katana and bigger, skis,
tent, your Survivor’s Kit.
As you acquire items, draw them in the appropriate
number of slots. Once your slots are full, you can no
longer carry items.
This system is inspired by
The goal of this system
computer-based roleplaying
isn’t to track nitty gritty games like Diablo, the old
details, but to force Black Isle D&D games, or
players to consider what old MMOs, where different
they carry and where. It items occupy different
removes the nebulous amounts of space in
concept of “Oh I have that your inventory. However,
here!” and instead puts it’s probably the least
some thought into carry minimalist optional rule in
capacity and location, the game. That makes it...
without bogging down complicated enough that
we don’t want to make it an
into excessive details.
auto-include mechanically.

42
The Game Master
The following sections are to assist the Game Master
in running games. The Game Master should study it
before character creation.

The Game Master

Running Adventures
This is undoubtedly the hardest part of being the Game
Master, but luckily, you have options. Tiny Wastelands
is a post-apocalyptic survival game system—meaning if
you know genre stories, you’re already halfway there.
A lot of the time, you can write a brief story and the
Survivors will quickly get you on the way. Now, this
may require you to make some changes to the rules to
ensure everything fits, but it’s the quickest way to get
things started. There is an unending list of supplemental
gaming material out there for premade characters, plot
hooks, missions, and campaign settings.
43
 But before we get too deep, ask yourself this question:
is this going to be a one-off mission that just lasts for
one game session, or do you have a larger campaign in
mind? If you are planning a one-off session, then things
aren’t going to be too difficult, even if you plan to create
the adventure yourself. One-off missions generally do
not require a significant amount of world-building—
meaning you do not need to spend time creating the rich
history that larger campaigns require. One-off missions
present your players with a single main objective or
quest to complete in the game session.
Here’s an example of a session that could be a one-
off, or be present in a larger campaign. Perhaps you
plan to have your players’ Survivors approached by an
individual who wants them to retrieve a relic from an
abandoned Ghost Town. Your job is to create a motive for

The Game Master

this individual. Who is this person? Why do they want
the relic? Let’s assume it’s for some nefarious purpose.
You should engage your players in a bit of roleplaying
where you are playing the role of this prospective client
trying to hire the Survivors. Obviously if this person is
a bad guy, he or she isn’t going to reveal that initially.
Your goal is make sure the Survivors take the job on;
otherwise you don’t have much of a game session.
Now, what Survivor doesn’t want clix? Your nefarious
villain has convinced the Survivors to take on the job of
finding this relic for a large reward. Now your job is
to plot the course of the Survivors to the abandoned
town. Perhaps on the way, they are attacked by outlaws,
or they are presented with a side-quest. Maybe things
go smoothly, and they end up at the town with few to
no issues. It’s really up to you and how much time you
wish to spend. Keep in mind, one-off sessions may last
as little as a couple hours, or as long as an all-day event.

44
 So next your Survivors find the town! You will want
to have planned out some details about this place
beforehand. Why is it a ghost town? How many buildings
are in the town? Are there traps or puzzles that need
to be solved? Are there enemies lying in wait? You
should plan these obstacles in a way that ensures that
each member of the party has a chance to contribute
meaningfully, even modifying your plans if necessary.
Whatever you plan, the Survivors need to make their
way through to their final destination and retrieve the
relic. This is a good spot to point something out about
players: they will rarely do what you expect them to do.
Having found the relic, the Survivors may decide they
don’t want to return the relic to their client and would
rather keep it for themselves. Hopefully they won’t, and
they’ll bring the relic to their seedy client. But you can’t

The Game Master

expect them to do what you want! That can’t be stressed
enough. If the Survivors aren’t acting according to your
plan, it’s your job to go with the flow and see where they
take you. Try not to railroad players into making their
Survivors do things they don’t want to do. They are just
as much the storyteller as you are, and the story is all
about them.
Assuming they’re true to their word, the Survivors
return to their client with the relic in hand, and now you
can decide whether or not this individual is an enemy.
Once given the relic, perhaps the villain reveals him or
herself to be a slave trader, and the relic is a powerful
tool that can psionically subdue Normals, or the villain
wants the relic because it’s a doomsday device that can
hold an entire settlement hostage.
Now the final battle can begin!
Your other option is building a campaign setting. This
basically strings a bunch of adventures together into
an overarching plotline, where there is a main goal to

45
achieve, but smaller challenges must be overcome first
across multiple sessions. Campaigns will require more
thought be put into the world the Survivors occupy; this
means you will have to create numerous locations such
as settlements and towns, name them, and create the
history of the world itself.
This is a big challenge, and we recommend working
at it slowly. If your aim is to create a campaign, it’s
best to create a general history, and then describe the
first settlement the Survivors find themselves in. From
there, it’s a matter of building upon what you’ve already
established, and this really lessens the burden of trying
to write a vivid, living world before your game even gets
started. It sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but creating
an enjoyable campaign setting of your own is one of the
most rewarding things a Game Master can do.

The Game Master

Just remember, whether you are running a one-off
session or a campaign, be flexible, but be consistent.
Let your players work with you to tell the story,
but never forget their actions. If they deviate in an
unexpected way, go with it. But if they do something
that wouldn’t make sense within the game’s world,
such as killing someone they were meant to protect, or
even accidentally destroying an item they were meant
to retrieve, the Survivors should potentially face in-
game consequences for those actions.

46
Enemies Chart
Threat HP Description
Fodder 1 Fodder enemies are people or animals
that have virtually no combat ability. They
can be used to throw additional enemies
into combat for a more epic feel.
Low 2 Low threat enemies may represent wild
animals or average criminals.
Medium 3-5 Medium threat enemies can begin to
be dangerous in small groups, and
can represent skilled combatants or
predatory creatures.

The Game Master

High 6-8 High threat enemies are just as
dangerous as a skilled Survivor. They are
often leaders of Low threat or Fodder
threat enemies. Since they’re usually
leaders, they often have unique abilities
that bolster their minions.
Heroic 9-14 Heroic threat enemies are easily more
skilled than your average Survivor.
Provide two or three unique abilities for
Heroic enemies, and several Fodder
enemies to protect them.
Solo 15+ Solo threats are enemies that require
an entire party to engage with them.
This is the realm of giant monsters,
city-leveling war machines, and reality-
warping entities. These creatures often
have a wide variety of abilities to defend
themselves from attackers.

47
Enemies
The enemy chart is to assist the Game Master in crafting
challenging fights. As a Game Master, you want to be
sure your Survivors feel threatened. The goal isn’t
necessarily to kill your Survivors, but the danger of
death should always be present and possible. Survivors
should never feel as though they are above running to
save their hides if need be.
Enemies can serve many roles. The most basic role of
enemies is to justify calling in Survivors to complete a
mission that would otherwise be easy for ordinary people
(such as fighting through some dangerous wildlife to flip
a switch and reboot a failed power system). You can also
use enemies to make a

The Game Master

seemingly mundane
and simple task
become extremely
complicated. Enemies
may actively try to
prevent the Survivors
from completing their
mission. It may be
possible to negotiate
with some enemies,
although they will
certainly have wants
and goals of their
own. A mission’s
sole goal may be to
find and defeat an
enemy or group of
enemies.

48
 Enemies can also have unique abilities, either
selected from the Traits List just like a Survivor, or
unique abilities the Game Master feels appropriate.
You should choose abilities that would be appropriate
for the type of enemy, such as basic combat training for
a guard, or multiple weapon attacks per round from
a war machine. When the Survivors are in a harsh
environment, native lifeforms may have abilities that
make them well-adapted to that environment.
Enemies can have specific weaknesses for Survivors to
exploit. This weakness may be something that disables
one of the enemy’s abilities, instantly defeats that
enemy, or forces the enemy to flee from the Survivors.
An entire mission may revolve around the Survivors
finding a weakness that allows them to deal with an
enemy or species of enemies. A dangerous mutated

The Game Master

monster might be vulnerable to freezing temperatures,
or it may be possible to shut down a combat robot’s
shields by transmitting the right deactivation codes.
Sometimes this may be a social task, such as finding
evidence to blackmail someone, or obtaining research
from someone who has been studying the enemy’s
biology. A particular Scavenged item may be the key
to finding an enemy’s weakness, or it may need to be
reverse-engineered and mass-produced to deal with the
entire species. When designing a weakness, make sure
that the Survivors have ample opportunity to learn of its
existence before they try to fight the enemy.
Dread and tension can serve a large role in introducing
more powerful enemies. Once Survivors have rolled
initiative, a lot of the tension goes away because now they
can just shoot it. If Survivors keep hearing the monster,
or seeing blurry video recordings of it, or finding its
victims, or learning about its bizarre biology, or hearing
tales and rumors from NPCs, then when they finally

49
meet it they will understand that it’s not just another
encounter, but a dangerous adversary. If you are running
a campaign, you may want to spend multiple sessions
seeding rumors about a Solo-level enemy and giving the
Survivors opportunities to learn its weaknesses.
Game Masters should try to vary enemy types to
keep things interesting (unless the entire mission has
a reason for similar enemies, like stopping an army of
killer robots or mindlessly violent plague victims).

Scavenging Items
When Survivors are out in the wastes, they’re going
to be looking for supplies to aid them in their quest to
rebuild civilization. Below are a collection of tables to

The Game Master

help you generate some random items quickly. These
are not comprehensive, and the Game Master should
freely substitute any items that are essential to the
plot or that don’t fit.
Items you find on the Scavenging Tables have a
Usage Rating.
Every time you use an item, roll a d6. If the result on
the dice is equal or higher than the Usage Rating of the
Item, decrease the Usage Rating by 1. When a Usage
Rating is 0, the item is ruined forever.
When Scavenging Items, you first roll on the following
table to determine the usage & quality of the item.

D6 roll Quality
1-2 Usage Rating: 1
3-4 Usage Rating: 3
5-6 Usage Rating: 5

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 To generate a random item, select a table from the
options below. Then, roll a d6 to determine what column
to use, then another d6 to determine the item. Most
items have a quantity in front of them, represented by
a dice code. Use the following guide:
To generate a 1d2, roll a single d6.
• A 1, 2, or 3 counts as a 1.
• A 4, 5, or 6 counts as a 2.
To generate a 1d3, roll a single d6.
• A 1 or 2 counts as a 1.
• A 3 or 4 counts as a 2.
• A 5 or 6 counts as a 3.

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Table 1.1 - Pre-Fall Clothing
1 - Shoes 2 - Legs 3 - Tops
1: 1d3 athletic shoes 1: 1d3 pairs of jeans 1: 1d3 t-shirts
2: 1d3 high heels 2: 1d2 shorts 2: 1d2 button downs
3: 1d2 hiking boots 3: 1d2 cargo pants 3: 1d2 sweatshirts
4: 1d2 cowboy boots 4: 1d3 mini-skirts 4: 1d6 tank tops
5: 1d3 loafers 5: 1d6 sweatpants 5: 1d3 athletic shirts
6: 1d6 slippers 6: 1d2 army fatigue 6: 1d3 flannel shirts
pants
4 - Underwear+ 5 - Head 6 - Fancy
1: 1d2 wrist watches 1: 1d2 baseball caps 1: Ballgown
2: 1d3 boxers 2: 1d3 beanies 2: Tuxedo

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3: 1d3 briefs 3: 1d2 cowboy hats 3: Leather Jacket
4: 1d2 bras 4: 1d3 headbands 4: Prescription Glasses
5: 1d3 undershirts 5: 1d3 sunglasses 5: Blazer
6: 1d6 socks 6: 1d6 earrings 6: Summer Dress
Note: Items on the clothing table have no Usage rating. They can
be used indefinitely or until narratively appropriate.

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Table 1.2 - Sporting Goods
1 - Baseball 2 - Tennis 3 - Football
1: 1d3 catcher’s face 1: 1d3 tennis rackets 1: 1d3 football pads
masks
2: 1d3 baseball bats 2: 1d2 shorts 2: 1d2 football helmets
3: 1d2 baseball gloves 3: 1d2 athletic shirts 3: 1d2 football cleats
4: 1d2 baseball caps 4: 1d3 tennis nets 4: 1d6 footballs
5: 1d3 cleats 5: 1d6 tennis balls 5: 1d3 jerseys
6: 1d6 baseballs 6: 1d2 wristbands 6: 1d3 mouth guards

4 - Water Sports 5 - Martial Arts 6 - Fancy

1: 1d2 speedos 1: 1d2 practice swords 1: Bow & 2d6 arrows
2: 1d3 swim trunks 2: 1d3 boxing gloves 2: Cricket bat
3: 1d3 goggles 3: 1d2 wrist wraps 3: Volleyball net
4: 1d2 water polo ball 4: 1d3 mouth guards 4: Wrist wraps

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5: 1d3 wetsuits 5: 1d3 fencing epee 5: Rock-climbing gear
6: 1d6 snorkeling gear 6: 1d6 punching bags 6: Fishing Pole

Table 1.3 - Supermarket

1 - Cans of Veggies 2 - Preserved Fruits 3 - Dry Goods
1: 1d3 corn 1: 1d3 canned pears 1: Bag of sugar
2: 1d3 green beans 2: 1d2 canned apples 2: Bag of flour
3: 1d2 beets 3: 1d2 bags dried bananas 3: Bag of wheat

4: 1d2 olves 4: 1d3 canned peaches 4: Bag of rolled oats

5: 1d3 lima beans 5: 1d6 canned tomatoes 5: Bag of dried beans
6: 1d6 empty cans 6: 1d2 bags dried apples 6: Bag of mixed grains
4 - Drinks 5 - Desserts 6 - Random
1: 1d2 beers 1: 1d3 snack cakes 1: Bag of seeds
2: 1d6 soda cans 2: 1d3 sealed chocolates 2: First Aid Kit
3: 1d6 bottled water 3: 1d2 cake mixes 3: Powdered Milk
4: 1d2 bottles of whisky 4: 1d3 puddings 4: 1d2 cocoa packets
5: 1d2 bottles of vodka 5: 1d2 frosting containers 5: Old news magazines
6: 1d2 bottles of gin 6: 1d3 frozen ice creams 6: Pack of Gum

53
Table 1.4 - Library
1 - Classics 2 - Reference 3 - Fiction
1: Wurthering Heights 1: 1d3 encyclopedias 1: Science Fiction
2: Paradise Lost 2: 1d2 dictionaries 2: Epic Fantasy
3: 1984 3: 1d2 translation 3: Bodice-ripping
guides romance
4: The Call of the Wild 4: 1d3 shredded 4: Military Thriller
local atlas
5: Zen & the Art of 5: 1d6 thesauri 5: Short Story
Motorcylce Maintenance Anthology
6: Frankenstein 6: 1d2 instruction 6: Urban Fantasy
manuals
4 - Non-Fiction 5 - Media 6 - Random
1: Autobiography of 1: 1d3 microfiche 1: Dante’s Inferno

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last US president
2: Car manufacturer 2: 1d6 VHS 2: Dummy’s Guide
reference guide to Thermonuclear
Dynamics
3: Reference to 3: 1d2 DVDs 3: Paranormal
Proto-Culture Investigations
Handbook
4: Collection 4: 1 Blu-ray 4: Biography on
of National Nikola Tesla
Geoprahics
5: Newspaper 5: 1d3 CDs 5: Jazz Music book
archives
6: Biography of 6: 1d6 books on tape 6: Mystery Novel
religious leader

54
Table 1.5 - Mechanic Shop
1 - Tools 2 - Spare Parts 3 - Tools
1: Hammer 1: 1d6 philips screws 1: Power drill
2: Flathead screwdriver 2: 1d6 flathead screws 2: Hacksaw
3: Phillips-head screwdriver 3: 1d6 nails 3: Hatchet
4: Mallet 4: 1d6 braces 4: Fire axe
5: Leveling ruler 5: 1d6 lug nuts 5: Power saw
6: Tape measure 6: 1d6 washers 6: Flashlight
4 - Spare Parts 5 - Tools 6 - Random
1: 1d3 batteries 1: Power washer 1: Portable generator
2: 1d3 2x4s 2: Power sander 2: Table saw

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3: 1d3 bottles of glue 3: Blow torch 3: Welding mask
4: 1d2 whetstones 4: Propane tank 4: Rubber strips
5: 1d2 extension cords 5: Woodburning kit 5: 1d3 tires
6: 1d3 hinges 6: Sandpaper 6: Motorcycle

55
Table 1.6 - Army Base
1 - Weapons 2 - Gear 3 - Equipment
1: 1d6 clips of ammo 1: 1d2 backpacks 1: Gun cleaning kit
2: Semi-auto pistol 2: 1d3 water bottles 2: 1d3 holsters
3: Automatic rifle 3: 1d6 socks 3: 1d2 bedrolls
4: Combat shotgun 4: 1d3 dog tags 4: 1d3 blankets
5: 1d3 knives 5: 1d2 flashlights 5: 1d3 tactical webbing
6: Bayonet 6: 1d3 fatigues 6: 1d2 helmets
4 - Learning 5 - Weird Shit 6 - Random
1: Book on tactics 1: Broken wired helmet 1: 1d3 tires
with 3D visor
2: Book on weapon 2: Book on para- 2: 1d3 security
maintenance espionage badges
3: Book on computer 3: Scribbled notes on 3: 1d3 video tapes

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security ESP
4: Book on physical 4: A collection of 4: 1d3 gnawed on
training heavily redacted files skeletal remains
5: Book on 5: A Walther PPK with “For 5: 1d3 50mm shells
psychological warfare James” engraved on it
6: Book on chemical 6: A collection of teeth 6: 1d3 C4 bundles
warfare turned into radios

56
Table 1.7- The Wastes
1 2 3
1: Broken laptop 1: Cracked 1: Two way radio set

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smartphone
2: Sword 2: Revolver 2: Crossbow
3: Collection of 3: Faded paintings 3: Old novels
vinyls
4: Spare tires 4: Spark plugs 4: Engine belts
5: Computer repair 5: Engineering 5: Farming
manual textbook Techniques Book
6: Roll on Table 1.1 6: Roll on Table 1.2 6: Roll on Table 1.3
4 5 6
1: USB thumbdrive 1: Mechanical 1: Computer monitor
keyboard
2: Rifle 2: Club 2: Gasoline Powered
Fire Sword
3: Shakespeare 3: Mythology 3: Religious texts
plays references
4: Headlight bulbs 4: Steering wheel 4: Engine blocks
5: Architecture 5: Dice 5: Roleplaying
Guide games
6: Roll on Table 1.4 6: Roll on Table 1.5 6: Roll on Table 1.6

57
Vehicles
No game like Tiny Wastelands would be fully complete
without rules for creating the mighty steeds of your
Road Warriors: your vehicles!
Vehicles function much like characters, having a
Chassis that acts like an archetype, and Upgrades that act
like traits. When a character is in a Vehicle, the character
gains the benefits of all their Traits, and can apply them
to the Vehicle. A Driving Test is any test made due to the
movement of a vehicle and would require the Driver to
make a test to successfully overcome any issues.
The most common Driving Test is Rough Terrain, which
imposes Disadvantage on any Driving Tests while in it!

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Note: The tests you gain from Evade are NOT driving tests.
Every turn while a character is driving a vehicle, they
may take any normal action. When a Driver attacks,
they use a handheld weapon out a window, but not a
vehicle mounted weapon. When Drivers take the Evade
action, the benefits apply to everyone in the Vehicle.
Attacks can be made against vehicles, or against
passengers (the attacker gets to choose). Some
upgrades will deal damage to anyone in a vehicle and
the vehicle itself. Those upgrades will specify that.
All vehicles have an attack called Ram. This is a
melee attack that the Driver can make.
• When Ramming, the Driver will make a Driving
Test. If successful, you ram into the other Vehicle,
dealing 1d3 damage to both yourself and the
target. (Roll separately for each vehicle’s damage).
You cannot Evade a Ram.
Passengers can spend their Actions using any vehicle
Upgrade they wish.

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Creating a
Vehicle
• Select Chassis
• Select 3 Upgrades
• Play!

Chassis List
Motorcycle
Little, fast, easier to
maintain, but offer low
amounts of protection.
• 4 Hit Points
• Capacity:

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Driver +1
• Motorcycles get the Evasive Upgrade.
• Evasive: Whenever you are attacked, you may roll
a d6. On a success, the attack misses. This does not
stack with Evade.
Sedan
A basic four to six-cylinder car, a sedan has more
protection than a motorcycle, but not much. They are
however, very versatile and take upgrades very well.
• 6 Hit Points
• Capacity: Driver + 4
• Sedans gain 1 extra Upgrade from the Upgrade list.
Muscle Car
Muscle cars are bigger, meaner, faster, and tougher 8
cylinder to 12 cylinder cars.
• 8 Hit Points
• Capacity: Driver + 3
• Muscle Cars start with the Detroit Steel Upgrade
• Detroit Steel: You take no damage from Rams you
initiate.

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 Truck
Pickups, jeeps, or other vehicles with four-wheel drive,
Trucks are great at handling rough and difficult terrain.
• 8 Hit Points
• Capacity: Driver + 5 (can carry an additional 4
more if you put them in the bed of the truck.)
• Trucks gain the 4-Wheel Drive trait.
• 4-Wheel Drive: You ignore Disadvantage on
Driving Tests from Rough Terrain
BFV
A BFV, or “big freaking vehicle,” is anything larger
than a truck. Semis, school buses, and more all fall into
this category.
• 14 Hit Points
• Capacity: Driver and up to a dozen or so more!

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• BFVs gain no extra traits.

60
Upgrade List
Ballista: A giant crossbow mounted on the car. A weapon
that deals 3 damage to its target.
Catapult: A catapult mounted on the vehicle. A weapon
that deals 1 damage to the enemy driver, all passengers,
and the Vehicle on a successful hit.
Crossbow: A single target small crossbow. Basic attack
as a Ranged Weapon.
Emergency Parachute: A parachute that deploys from
the car to rapidly slow it down. An Emergency Parachute
grants Advantage on Driving Tests to avoid obstacles.
After using the Emergency Parachute, it must be cut from
the Vehicle, or ALL driving tests will gain Disadvantage
until it’s packed up or removed.

The Game Master

Flamethrower: A weapon that sprays a massive gout
of flame. Deals 1 damage and the enemy Vehicle and
all occupants must make a Save. On a failed save, they
take damage at the start of their next turn and must
Save again.
Grenade Launcher: A grenade launcher mounted to
the vehicle. Deals 4 damage to the enemy Vehicle and
1 damage to any occupants.
Heavy Armor: Thick metal plating, designed to protect
the occupants. Reduce all damage dealt to the Vehicle
and its occupants by 3 (to a minimum of 1).
Light Armor: Light metal plating, providing armor and
cover to all occupants of the vehicle. Reduce all damage
dealt to the vehicle and occupants by 1 (to a minimum
of 1).
Machine Gun: A mounted machine gun. Make 3 attacks
with Disadvantage on each Action when using this
Upgrade.

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Medium Armor: Plates of metal that protect the
vehicle and its occupants. Reduce damage dealt to the
vehicle and its occupants by 2 (to a minimum of 1).
Off-Road Capable: Improved and upgraded handling
makes it easier to drive on bad terrain. You ignore
Disadvantage from Rough Terrain while making
Driving Tests.
Oil Slick Spray: Oil that sprays from the back of your
car: Any Vehicle following you suffers Disadvantage
on their next turn.
Prisoner Box: The back of the Vehicle is set up with glass,
wire, and bars. Anyone held in the Prisoner Box in the
Vehicle cannot physically interact with the driver and
suffers Disadvantage on any attempts to escape the vehicle.
Ram Plate: A massive plate is bolted to the front of your

The Game Master

vehicle to increase its impact. Your rams deal 1d6 damage.
Retrofitted Chassis: Your chassis has been upgraded
with metal and scrap to make it stronger. Your vehicle
gains +2 Hit Points.
Rocket Launcher: A launcher tube is attached to your
vehicle, allowing you to fire missiles and rockets at
others. You may make an Attack that deals 2d3 damage.
Rotary Autocannon: A massive rotating machine, bolted
to your ride. Make six Attacks with Disadvantage on each
Action. This weapon can only be used once per turn.
Shredder: You can eject spikes that shred the tires of
those following you. Any Vehicle following you takes
1 damage and has Disadvantage until they stop to
repair their tires.
SMG: A small machine gun attached to your vehicle.
Make two Attacks with Disadvantage on each Action.
For each attack that hits, you may make an additional
Attack with Disadvantage.

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Smoke Dispenser: Your vehicle can spray smoke, making
escape easier. You can use this system to grant Advantage
on rolls to lose someone following you.
Wheel Blades: You may make normal melee attacks
with your vehicle that are not ram.

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ENCLAVES
An Enclave is the home base or settlement of your
Survivors. It’s a sanctuary that’s under siege by the
brutal and violent world. Your Survivors will work
together to increase the strength and security of
your Enclave by undertaking dangerous Wasteland
missions, gathering needed supplies.
Enclaves are represented by Traits, much like Survivors.
However, where Survivor Traits represent their innate
qualities, Enclave Attributes represent important
measures of the health and success of your Enclave.
These Traits are meant to be a bit nebulous and
unspecific in order avoid getting bogged down in

The Game Master

details and slowing game play.
Population is a measure of the total population of
your Enclave. Higher population means more children
and more adults who can work or defend the Enclave
from raids. To get a rough estimate of your total adult
population, simply multiply your population attribute
by ten. If your population ever reaches 0, your
settlement is barren, and you must find and found a
new one (or join another existing one.)
Defense represents the ability of an Enclave to
defend itself, both in the quality of its structural
defense and the prowess of the guards and warriors.
Storage represents the reserves an Enclave can keep
between Reapings, and how much they can safely and
securely protect and store. You can retain a number of
Resource Dice equal to your storage between Reaping.
Fuel represents the ever-valuable gasoline reserves
you need to make your vehicles run. Every time a
vehicle leaves the Enclave, this number is reduced. If
it’s ever 0, no vehicles can leave the Enclave.

64
 Food is the ability of the Enclave to feed its population.
Every Reaping, you will reduce your Food attribute
and lose any population you can’t feed.
Insanity tells you how much the waste has affected
your Enclave. Higher Insanity leads to individuals
going mad, murder overtaking good folk, and
cannibalism running rampant, among other things.
When you first build your Enclave, you start with the
following Enclave attributes:
• 3 Population
• 1 Defense

The Game Master

• 2 Storage
• 10 Fuel
• 2 Food
• 1 Insanity
• No special
or unique
buildings.
Every Enclave
is assumed
to have basic
fortifications,
fuel dump,
storage,
and living
quarters.
These modifiers
will change during
and throughout
play.

65
 Managing the
Enclave
At the start of every
session, one Survivor
will draw a card from
the Enclave Event deck.
This event will either be
beneficial or negative.
Resolve its effects
as appropriate, and
then, the Survivors
will need to make a
plan to either deal
with the effects of

The Game Master

the event, or simply
ignore them and
pursue other goals
and missions.
Throughout the session, Survivors will attempt to
convert resources they find from the Scavenge deck
(or items they find) into Resource Dice in order to help
manage and protect their Enclave.
Any item a Survivor finds can be converted into
Resource Dice. For each Usage remaining on the item,
make a Test with Disadvantage. If successful, add one
Resource Dice to the Resource Pool.
Example: Alan found an old radio with 3 Usage. He
wants to contribute it to the Enclave resources. Due to
its Usage of 3, Alan makes 3 Tests with Disadvantage.
For each successful Test, he adds one RD to the pool.
Resource Dice can be expended or spent to improve
your Enclave Attributes, build new buildings, or aid
Survivors on challenging rolls.

66
 At the end of every session, there is a unique phase called
the Reaping Phase. The Reaping comes and the Enclave
will need to weather it. The Reaping can take many forms,
but most commonly appears as the migratory patterns
of the insane wasteland nomads who raid settlements
for goods. Depending where the Enclave is, this Reaping
can take different forms. Reapings often follow month-
long progressions, hitting settlements repeatedly, but the
raiders often vanish if they face too stiff of resistance.
When you are ready to begin the Reaping, the GM
will inform you the Reaping Phase is beginning, and
then you will follow these steps.
NOTE: Once a Resource Dice is expended, it’s spent
and gone from the game. If you reach a step and
you’re out of Resource Dice, and the step requires you

The Game Master

to expend a Resource Dice, you automatically count
as rolling a six on that particular item (this does not
apply to Build steps).
• Tally All Resource Dice (RD).
• Survivors may spend RD to build new structures in
the settlement. These structures will often improve
Enclave Attributes, or grant Survivors special
resources.
• To build, expend a number of RD equal to the
cost of the building. Nominate one player to
make a Test. If they’re successful, the building
is constructed and can be used immediately,
applying any modifications it might make to the
Traits of the Enclave.
• If they fail, half dice are expended and lost
(round down).
• If the Survivor rolling the Build test has
already made a Build test this Reaping Phase
(regardless of success or not), they must Test
with Disadvantage.

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• Survivors may also spend RD to modify vehicles
they own. To modify, expend 2 RD. Nominate one
player to make a Test. If they’re successful, the
modification is completed and applied immediately.
If they fail, those dice are expended and lost.
• If successful, select one Vehicle Modification and
add it to any Vehicle.
• If the Survivor rolling the Modify test has
already made a Modify test this Reaping Phase
(regardless of success or not), they must test
with Disadvantage.
• Weather the Reaping!
• Expend 1 RD and roll it. If the result is equal to
or less than your Enclave’s Defense attribute,
you weather the raid. If not, lose 1 Fuel or Food,

The Game Master

and gain 1 Insanity.
• Roll to see if your Population increases.
• Expend 1 RD and roll it. If the result is equal to
or less than your Enclave’s Population attribute,
increase your Population attribute by one.
Otherwise, nothing happens.
• Feed the Population.
• Reduce your Food by your Population attribute.
If this number is now in the negatives, reduce
your Population by that amount, and then set
your Food attribute to zero. If you cannot feed
your Population, they will starve.
Example: If you have 7 Food, and 10 population,
you will then be at -3 Food. Reduce your population
to 7 (10-3) and set your Food to zero.
• Check for Insanity
• Expend 1 RD and roll it. If the result is equal to
or less than your Enclave’s Insanity, reduce your

68
 Population by the rolled number, as madness,
cannibalism, infighting, and more take your people.
• Rebuild!
• You can spend remaining Resource Dice to
increase your Enclave Traits back to higher levels.
Spend up to 3 Resource Dice, and roll them as a
Test. If successful, increase that Trait by 1.
Example: After the Reaping, the Survivors of
Lucifer’s Bluff wish to rebuild. They want to
restore their fuel supplies. They spend 1, 2, or 3
Resource Dice from their remaining dice to roll a
Test. If successful, they increase their Fuel by 1!
• Upkeep!
• For each

The Game Master

building you
have, you
must now
expend 1 RD.
Any building
you cannot
spend 1 RD
to upkeep,
you cannot
use until you
spend 1 RD to
upkeep it.
• Clear Resource
Dice
• Remove any
Resource Dice
down to your
Storage Rating.
Those remaining dice can be stored from Reaping
to Reaping.

69
More Detailed Reaping?
If you want more detail around how the Reaping impacts your
Enclave, use the following system. An important note: this system
is much harsher on Enclaves than the previous one and will often
destroy or scatter early or young enclaves.
Weather the Reaping!
• The GM will determine the Strength of the Reaping. If the
Settlement successfully defended last Reaping phase, the
Strength of the Reaping is 1d6+6. If they failed, the Reaping
is 1d6.
• After the Strength is determined, subtract the defense
value of the Enclave from the Reaping Strength. If the
Reaping Strength is now 0, (or less) the settlement
weathers the Reaping successfully, with no ill effects.
• If the Reaping Strength is still positive, the Enclave must
lose a number of points from their Population, Storage,
Fuel or Food equal to the Reaping Strength. The players

The Game Master

assign these losses as they see fit. You cannot take
losses in a Stat that has a 0. If you can’t take any more
losses in your Traits, you must lose Resource Dice (on a
1 for 1 basis). If those losses will not satisfy your Reaping
Strength, the settlement is destroyed and overrun.

Building List
It’s important to note that you can only build each
building once! Buildings help modify your settlement
and provide a level of management you might find
enjoyable.
Armory
• RD Cost: 6
• Effect: +1 Defense. Additionally, during each
Enclave phase, during the build step, you may
expend a Resource Dice to temporarily up your
Defense by 1 for each RD you expend. This bonus
lasts until the end of this Reaping Phase.

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Barracks
• RD Cost: 4
• Effect: +1 Defense
Chopshop
• RD Cost: 4
• Effect: +1 Fuel. Once
per Reaping Phase,
you can reroll a
failed Modify Test
when attempting to
Modify a Vehicle.
Place of Worship
• RD Cost: 2
• Effect: Spend 1 to 3 RD
dice to make a Test.

The Game Master

If successful, reduce
your Insanity by 2.
Common Building
• RD Cost: 6
• Effect: +1 Defense, +1 Population, -1 Insanity.
Distillery
• RD Cost: 3
• Effect: Either +1 Fuel or -1 Insanity. Each Reaping
phase this bonus can be shifted.
Fallout Shelter
• RD Cost: 1
• Effect: -1 Insanity.
Fighting Pit
• RD Cost: 1
• Effect: Once per Reaping Phase, expend 1 RD and
roll it a Test. If successful, one Survivor gains the
Brawler Trait until the next Reaping Phase.
Food Silo
• RD Cost: 2
• Effect: +1 Storage.

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Fuel Depot
• RD Cost: 2
• Effect: +1
Fuel. At the
beginning
of every
Reaping, you
gain 1 Fuel.
Generator
• RD Cost: 1
• Effect: +1 Fuel
Greenhouse
• RD Cost: 3
• Effect: +1
Food. Once

The Game Master

per Reaping
Phase, you
can expend
1 RD and roll
it as a Test. If
successful, gain +2 Food.
Hospital
• RD Cost: 6
• Effect: +2 Population. Once per Reaping Phase, expend
1 RD and roll it as a Test. If successful, one Survivor
gains the Healer Trait until the next Reaping Phase.
Inn
• RD Cost: 2
• Effect: +1 Population
Large Mart
• RD Cost: 5
• Effect: Once per Reaping Phase, you can expend 1
RD to roll on any Scavenging Table twice.

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Market
• RD Cost: 3
• Effect: Once per Reaping Phase, you can expend 1 RD and
roll it as a Test. If successful, you gain 2 RD immediately.
Saloon
• RD Cost: 1
• Effect: -1 Insanity.
School
• RD Cost: 2
• Effect: Once per Reaping Phase, you can expend 1 RD
and roll it as a Test. If successful, one Survivor gains
the Educated Trait until the next Reaping Phase.
Sherriff
• RD Cost: 1
• Effect: -1 Insanity

The Game Master

Small Mart
• RD Cost: 3
• Effect: Once per Reaping Phase, you can expend 1
RD to roll on any Scavenging Table once.
Stables
• RD Cost: 2
• Effect: If this building is upkept, any survivor
has access to a Horse they can use. Horses do not
reduce Fuel when they leave an Enclave.
Watch Tower
• RD Cost: 1
• Effect: A watchtower provides +1 Defense, but costs
2 RD to Upkeep as they’re targeted first in raids.
Water Pump
• RD Cost: 2
• Effect: +1 Food
Windmill
• RD Cost: 2
• Effect: +1 Fuel, +1 Food, but a Windmill requires 2
RD to upkeep!

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Enemies
Enclave Guard
HP: 2 (Low)
Description: Brave survivors who guard and patrol
the domains of their enclaves.
Traits:
• Vigilant
Giant Snake
HP: 12 (Heroic)
Description: Massive constrictors who lurk in forests or
dark places underground, giant snakes are a feared foe
of all Adventurers. A giant snake attempts to wrap its
coils around its prey to suffocate it before devouring it.

The Game Master

Traits:
• Constrict (Melee Attack): Test 2d6 against an enemy
within 10 feet of you. On a successful hit, the enemy
must roll a Save Test to avoid being grappled. Each
round an enemy is grappled, it takes two damage.
On its turn, a grappled foe can make a Save Test (or
Evade Test) to escape.
Giant Spider
HP: 12 (Heroic)
Description: Found deep underground in earthen lairs,
giant spiders can grow to be 8 to 10 feet tall. They are
intelligent creatures capable of speech and are rarely
found without a clutch of eggs. If disturbed, the eggs
will hatch and release swarms of spiderlings.
Traits:
• Web Slinger (Ranged Attack): Test 2d6 against an
enemy. On a success, that enemy is hit by your web
and cannot move until it rolls a successful Save Test
to break free.

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 • Poisoned Bite (Melee Attack): Test 2d6 against an
enemy within 10 feet of you. On a successful hit,
the enemy must roll a Save Test to avoid being
poisoned. If the enemy fails, they are poisoned.
While poisoned, all Tests performed by the enemy
are at a Disadvantage. The poison effect lasts until
the enemy rolls a successful Save Test on their turn.
Night Reaver
HP: 4 (Medium)
Description: A wasteland madman of the night, Night
Reavers take those who remain outside Enclaves
unaware in the dark.
Traits:
• Sneaky
• Dark-Fighter

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• Tracker
Reaver
HP: 6
Description: Pure
rage, Reavers are
brutal murderers
of the wastes,
who take what
they want by
violence. They
leave only death
and destruction in
their wake.
Traits:
• Berserker
• Diehard

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Tulip, Attack
HP: 4 (Medium)
Description: This flower appears in all regards like a
tulip, but larger than normal. It is hardy and can grow
anywhere there is soil. It does not like non-plants, and
spews a cloud of poisonous spores to choke its target.
Traits:
• Spore Shot (Ranged Attack): Test 2d6 against an
enemy within 5 feet of you.
• Tough
Zombie
HP: 1 (Fodder)
Description: Zombies are mindless infectious creatures
of the wastes. Hordes of shambling undead, zombies

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are the animated and risen undead who attack in
mobs, trying to
tear down their
targets to devour
their flesh.
Traits:
• Diehard
• Infectious Bite:
Any Survivor
damaged by a
Zombie must
make a Save
Test. If they fail,
they become a
mindless Zombie
within 2d6 days.
• Optional Trait:
Fleet of Foot

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Optional Rules
Radiation Rules
Radiation is a constant threat in some versions of the
apocalypse, and these rules reflect that. It can be lethal,
deadly, and end your life unless you take proper care
to protect yourself.
As always, these rules are minimalist, and groups
should tweak them to fit their play style.
Every day a Survivor are in the Wastes without
proper protection (the Game Master’s discretion), they
must make a Save Test. On a failure, they gain one
point of Radiation. If they eat or drink radiated water

The Game Master

or food, they must make an additional Save Test.
Every 2 Radiation Points a Survivor has grants them
a random mutation (Game Master’s discretion.) If
they every have Radiation Points equal to double their
Maximum Health, the Survivor dies within 1d6 days.

Mutated Animal Player Characters

Mutated Animal Player Characters are made much
like normal player characters, but with different and
unique Archetypes. For a truly complex game, you can
allow players to pair Mutated Animal Heritages with
the existing archetypes. If you do, they should gain the
lower of the given Health options.
Mutated Animal Archetypes give powerful Heritage
Traits, but they also restrict some options (as you’d
expect from a mutated version of a mundane animal.)

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Aquatic Mutated Animals
Aquatic Mutated Animals can be found in and out of
water, descended from amphibians like frogs, toads,
or creatures like turtles and various fish (occasionally,
and horribly, even an octopus once!)
• 6 Hit Points
• Aquatic Mutated Animals start with the Aquatic
Heritage Trait.
• Aquatic: You gain Advantage on Tests to swim,
move or maneuver in water. In water, you may
Evade with 2d6, instead of 1d6 (this does not
stack with Shieldbearer.) Additionally, you can
hold your breath for up to 1 hour in water. You
may never take the Fleet of Foot Trait.
• If the Gamemaster is using the optional Radiation

The Game Master

Rules, for each hour (round up), you’re in
irradiated water, you must make a Save Test as
though you’d drank it.
Fast Mutated Animals
Fast Mutated Animals are descended from quick
creatures, like small dogs, small primates, snakes, or
birds of prey. They are often sneaky and evasive.
• 4 Hit Points
• Fast Mutated Animals start with the Quick
Heritage Trait.
• Quick: You gain an additional action each turn.
This action must be used to move or Evade. You
can not take the Tough or Diehard trait.

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Predatory Mutated
Animals
Predatory Mutated
Animals are
descended from
predators and
hunters, creatures
like wolves, lions,
tigers and large birds
of prey.
• 7 Hit Points
• Predatory
Mutated
Animals start
with the Claws

The Game Master

and Teeth
Heritage Trait.
• Claws & Teeth:
Your Unarmed Melee attacks do +1 damages (for
a total of 2.) You may not take the Shieldbearer
or Sneaky Trait.
Tough Mutated Animals
Tough Mutated Animals are descended from massive
creatures, thick-skinned animals such as elephants,
bears, warthogs, rhinos, tortoises and more.
• 10 Hit Points
• Tough Mutated Animals start with
the Heritage Trait: Behemoth.
• Behemoth: You can not take
the Acrobat or Sneaky Trait.

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Micro-Settings
The Wild
By Tobie Abad
“In Memory of Yoshi”
“An animal can’t think like we do, but then again, neither
can we!” ― Anthony T. Hincks

Introduction
Humanity is no more. Some unremembered event has
wiped out the once dominant human species, and the
wild has reconquered the world. Do you have what it
takes to find a mate, establish territory, and survive in
this bold new world? How many generations can you
reach?

THE ANIMALS
Every player is an animal. Choose from the following
archetypes:
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Herbivores
As plant-eaters, herbivores are less capable of fighting
but tend to be agile or stealthy.
Herbivores, Fighters
Examples include: Goats, Ostriches, Pandas, Sheep
• 8 Hit Points
• Archetype Traits: Lucky, Resolute
• Choose a third Trait as appropriate (Examples:
Berserker, Dark-fighter, etc)

80
Herbivores, Runners
Examples include: Deer,
Gazelles, Rabbits, Zebras
• 6 Hit Points
• Archetype Traits:
Acrobat, Fleet of Foot
• Choose a third Trait
as appropriate
(Examples:
Opportunist,
Perceptive, Sneaky)

Carnivores
These hunters have no
qualms about killing to
survive. Meat provides them with strength and power,
but also makes them crave food sooner.
Carnivores, Hunters
Examples include: Cats, Crocodiles, Dogs, Eagles,
Lions, Tigers, Wolves
• 6 Hit Points
• Archetype Traits: Brawler, Commanding (Tyrant
Archetype Trait)
• Choose a third Trait as appropriate (Examples:
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Diehard, Tough, Tracker)

Carnivores, Scavengers
Examples include: Bears, Rats, Hyenas
• 8 Hit Points
• Archetype Traits: Survivalist, Trapmaster
• Choose a third Trait as appropriate (Examples:
Berserker, Sneaky, Strong)

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 Surviving the Wild
is the name of the
game. When playing
the Wild, players
can be animals of
the same kind or
can be different
animals in their own
battle for survival
of the fittest. Each
game session, each
player must have
at least one scene
where they search
for sustenance,
one scene where
their territory is
challenged, one
scene where they
explore and expand
their territory, or
one scene where they may find a potential mate or hints
of one of their own kind as a recent kill. Unlike most
RPGs, however, this is a game of survival and a battle
against time. Eventually, death comes calling, and one’s
journey against the Wild shall come to an end.
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BORROWED TIME
Each animal has a Lifespan. Lifespan starts at zero.
This is an abstraction of the animal aging after a
year of survival. At the end of a year (which can be
after as many sessions as the GM prefers), the players
roll a Save of Die Test to see if they have survived
the harsh life. This roll has modifiers depending on
Territory and can be less harsh with Young. If the roll
is survived, the animal’s Lifespan goes up by one. This

82
allows the player to also increase their Hit Points by
one. Every five allows a new Trait. An animal can only
start Breeding once their Lifespan is five or higher.
Eventually, old age catches up with the animals. For
every year beyond a Lifespan of 15, the animal begins
to lose a Hit Point permanently. When age reduces
their Hit Points to zero, the end comes.

TERRITORY
Every animal struggles to survive in this post-apocalyptic
world. Only by establishing territory and furthering
one’s line can one survive this forsaken world. On a
paper, create a 5x5 grid to represent the city. Each player
chooses a starting location in the game. The edges of
the grid represent barren wastelands. Exploring any
adjacent grid represents a few hours to a few days of
travel. Roll two dice to determine the Descriptor and
another two dice to determine the kind of location. The
difference of the two numbers determines the number
of animals in that zone.

DESCRIPTOR
1 2 3 4 5 6
Rules 2 Tests to Mutant Breed Carnivore Herbivore 1 Test
traverse Territories Advantage Disadvantage, Disadvantage, to travel
out of Herbivore Carnivore into
Advantage in Advantage in
finding food hunting food

1 Flooded Grotesque Splendid Bloody Dangerous Desolate

2 Decaying Radioactive Majestic Shadowy Mysterious Wild

3 Strange Toxic Silent Stinky Cold Ancient

4 Rusty Archaic Solemn Slick Damp Sunken

5 Slimy Blighted Grand Melancholic Burning Charred

6 Buried Contaminated Vast Crumbling Smoldering Sad

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 LOCATIONS
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Residence Apartment Hospital Motel Gas Station Mall

2 Park University Sewer Pool Lighthouse Beach

3 Forest Laboratory Library Gym Fire station Bank

4 Grocery Museum Restaurant Bar Chapel Zoo

5 Diner Playground Observatory Butcher Baker Prison

6 Tunnel Parking Lot Highway Roof deck Dancehall School

Each location can possibly serve as a Territory

Border. To turn a location into a Border, the player
characters must clear it of any threats. With one safe
Border and a mate, an animal can start Breeding.
During Borrowed Time checks at the end of each
Year, the animal has Advantage if it has more Territory
Borders than its Lifespan. Note, however, that players
who are playing different kinds of animals will require
their own Territory Borders. So playing the same kind
of animal can be advantageous. However, Borrowed
Time Tests are individually resolved. Luck can only
go so far.

BREEDING
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Once an animal is at least five Lifespan, and has found

a willing mate, the animal can attempt to have Young.
One Breed Test can be performed each odd Lifespan
Year. Certain locations are more suitable for Breeding.
Successful rolls mean Young are born. Each 5 equals
one Young and each 6 equals two. Young are extremely
important and particularly useful. Individually keep
track of each Young’s Lifespan. Their Lifespan starts
at zero. You can name them if you want.

84
YOUNG IN COMBAT
When forced to fight, Young grant the player Advantage
in combat. However, if any combat-related roll with
the Young present is failed (whether in combat,
during Tests) one of the Young is killed, unless the
player character opts to take 1 Hit Point of damage to
represent protecting the Young.

YOUNG TO ADULTHOOD
Once any Young reaches a Lifespan of five, they are
fully an adult. The player can now play the adult Young
as their character and retire their original animal. Or
they can keep playing it and bid the new adult goodbye
as it runs off to a new city to start its own life.

EARLY DEATH
If the player character dies, the player can continue
the story with the oldest Young still alive, so long as
that Young has not run off to start their own life.

THREATS AND MUTANTS

While the world can be dangerous with other predators
hunting for food or with herbivores claiming territory
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and attacking one’s young, nothing is as terrible as the

mutants that stalk the lands. Simply choose the desired
animal threat and use the Enemies Chart from the
main rules to appropriately define the threat, using
Traits when appropriate to represent their abilities.
For Mutant Threats, the primary animal chosen
serves as its main template. Then roll two dice to
generate the Mutant Traits. A Mutant can have 1 to 3
Mutant Traits.

85

D6 Roll Odd
1 Spider Legs
(Retest any failed Evade
Tests)
2 Hand Feet
(Advantage on movement
Tests)
3 Acid Spit
(Attack at range, up to 4
Ammo)
4 Exaggerated Muscle
Structure
(+1 damage)
5 Serrated Fangs
(When a Young is killed, may
immediately make an extra
attack with Disadvantage)
6 Hive Mind
(When attacked, summons
1d6 more of their kind to join
in the battle. Summons none
on a “6”)
Mutant Generator
Even
Extra Eyes
(Re-Test any failed
Perception Tests)
Bone Plates
(Gain +2 Hit Points as
Armor)
Multiple Feelers
(Advantage on Initiative)
Fungal Maw
(Can mimic any beast
and fool others with a
successful Test)
Prehensile Barbed Tongue
(Animals that have been
struck must Save Test or
take 3 damage as the Mutant
sucks life out of them)
Engorged Limb
(On a successful Test,
all adjacent enemies are
knocked back 15 feet)

FEASTING TO SURVIVE
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Lost Hit Points do not automatically come back. Instead,

animals recover lost Hit Points by eating. Carnivores
cannot eat to recover during battle. Herbivores need
to find suitable plant life to eat. Both are resolved as a
Test at Disadvantage.
Some Locations favor Herbivores while others
favor Carnivores. Success in this Feasting Test means
the immediate recovery of 2 Hit Points. Each rolled
6 adds two more to the recovered Hit Points. Failing

86
the Feasting Test
means the animal
was interrupted by
another predator
or found a spoiled
food source.
When with Young,
however, all feeding
is at Disadvantage,
to reflect some of
the food being given
to the Young.

NOTABLE
BEASTS
YOSHI, the
Banana God
HP: 14 Young: 7
Carnivore Hunter, Lifespan: 11
Traits:
• Graceful Dodge (May re-Test a failed Evade)
• Pack Tactics (Make 3 Unarmed Melee Attacks with
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Disadvantage against the same target)

A Majestic Grocery serves as this Yorkshire Shitzu’s
territory. Old and wise, Yoshi warns trespassers that
violence will not be tolerated in his abode. His brood
of seven Young watch over the place and alert him
to any intruders. Yoshi is kind to Herbivores and
only trusts Carnivores if they succeed on a Test with
Disadvantage. Yoshi desperately needs someone to
find his missing mate.

87
Death Will Be Here Soon
By Alana Joli Abbott
Issa walked the empty streets of the village. Everyone
was inside. They had known, before she ever entered
the outskirts, that Death was on its way.
She heard the groan of a mother bearing down, then
an infant’s first wail. Life continued on here, despite
everything. Despite the dying crops at the outskirts.
Despite the trade route that had been shut for more
than a month by the ‘saurs eating any caravans that
came their way. It wasn’t safe outside the village. It
wasn’t safe outside at all.
But then, Issa wasn’t all that interested in being safe.
From the shadows between the house where the
newborn showed the health of her lungs and its
neighbor, a child watched her. He had followed her for
two blocks, his curiosity outweighing his fear, and the
words of his elders. She turned to him now and waited.
As he left the shadows to face her, she realized he was
older than she’d thought. Underfed and slim to the point
of looking like he was still a child, the youth had a bit of
hair on his chin, and eyes too old for his face. But they
had not lost all their wonder, or their hope.
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“Did you clear the road then?” he asked, without

wavering once.
Issa nodded. “We’ve moved the nests, so those we
didn’t slay will begin their lives elsewhere.”
He bowed his head. “Thank you,” he said, and even
though she could feel the curiosity burning him, the
hope thrumming, she knew he was truly grateful on
behalf of the town he wanted to leave.

88
 She snapped out her hand and grabbed his, the sensor
in her wrist band serving its one function, scanning
his biology, finding out if he would be able to survive
beyond the safety of this village or if he’d fall sick to the
first illness. A chime. Resilient immune system. Genetic
markers indicated the proper mutations to survive the
storms and the wilds.
“There has been a birth here today,” she said
mysteriously, amplifying her voice so that the people in
the other houses, who were undoubtedly listening and
watching her as she passed them by, could hear. “It is
only fitting to keep that balance.”
A man ran out into the street, more than a block away,
wailing in grief. A woman came out of the same house
and grabbed his arm.
“Benjamin!” called the man.
The youth looked down the street toward the couple,
then up at Issa.
“I am ready,” he said.
And Issa led him away.

The Setting
Once, generations ago, there was an apocalypse. It left
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the World that Was ravaged, a wild wasteland: some

parts desert, some parts overgrown, alien-like jungle,
all of which will kill most people. Some of the richest
nations and corporations saw the end coming and built
cities underground, or developed shields to cover their
cities to retain their levels of technology, self-sufficient
and sustainable. But not all those havens survived
what came—whatever it was found ways to crush and
destroy, to send humanity scattering just to survive. One
of the largest cities to retain its knowledge of the past, its
self-sufficiency, and its technology is the city of Haven.

89
 What remains of human civilization is separated
by the wastes. Settlements remain in the least-
changed environments from the World that Was,
where farmland still yields crops and the air is still
easy to breathe. Travel between settlements, whether
high-tech cities or low-tech villages, is scarce and
dangerous. Most settlements have learned to depend
on themselves, because help rarely comes from
outside, and when it comes, there’s usually a cost.
The lower tech societies have reduced the outside
world to something like fairytales. When they talk
about the Big Bad Wolf, it’s the wind storms that sweep
through the flatland deserts, destroying everything
in their path. They talk about how the Jungle will get
you, as though the jungle itself is sentient rather than
home to thousands of dangers. They talk about Haven
as though it is an afterlife paradise, unreachable in
this world. And they talk about Death.

Death
There are people in the world whose biochemistry has
adapted, for reasons unknown to the reduced level of
science, to survive better in the new outside world.
When the mutated biology is paired with curiosity,
a desire to know what’s going on beyond their own,
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small, covered world, the result is people who are

more likely to survive the world beyond their borders.
These survivors are the PCs of the setting.
But these mutated survivors can’t do it alone—no
one survives alone. The wanderers—called Death by
the normal folk, regardless of Death’s age, gender,
or quantity (it’s both singular and plural)—solve
problems. They usually have access to higher level
tech that they’ve salvaged. They often have an almost
supernatural ability to heal.

90
 They also occasionally take away those who are like
them. In the eyes of the villagers, Death takes people
sometimes. And in the eyes of the villagers, those who
are taken are dead. They’ve also become Death.
While Death aren’t exactly organized—there’s no
hierarchy among them, and they don’t have a strict
code to follow, or leaders—there is a group of scientists
in the city of Haven that offers supplies to any Death
who come into their covered sanctuary. What tech
supplies Death have is provided from Haven, then
passed around when Death encounter each other on
the road. One of the most common of these is a wrist
scanner that allows them to determine whether a
person they meet is a suitable candidate to join them
beyond the safe walls of their own world.

The Dangers
There are four primary dangers in the wastes:
• The climate. Storms in the wastes are stronger
than they ever were in the World that Was. While
villagers believe that such storms are sentient and
give them the names and personalities of gods,
there’s no scientific basis for this. Death are not any
better prepared to survive most storms; rather, they
have been taught by other survivors how to find or
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create shelters in places where safety is unavailable.

• The creatures. In the wake of the disaster that
destroyed the World that Was, the fittest that
survived became meaner and nastier versions
of their previous selves. The Scientists of Haven
maintain that the ancient dinosaurs evolved
into birds; the birds have since evolved back
to something much more closely related to the
ancients. These ‘saurs have varying degrees of
intellect, but all are dangerous, even to Death.

91
 • The germs and biohazards. For most humans, the
wastes have far too many mutated diseases and
toxins that thrive on the changed environment
for traveling to be worth the risk. Death, however,
have a higher tolerance for these hazards—in
varying degrees.
• The Others. There are other intelligent species in
the wastes. Some are other mutated humans who
don’t have the same benevolent problem-solving
streak as Death. Others are... indescribable. Alien.
It’s safe to assume that anyone you meet in the
wastes is a danger, even if they come in peace.
If they can survive out here, they may not want
anyone else to join them.

New Traits
Healing factor: You can spend two actions to heal 1 point
of damage.
Non-toxic: You are extraordinarily resistant to toxins,
poisons, and other biological hazards, brushing off 1
point of damage from any of these circumstances.

Hooks
• You’ve received a message from Dr. Ndongo, one of
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the scientists at Haven. There are rumors that a group

of Death have decided to take over a small town on
the edges of the desert, forcing the population into a
feudal form of servitude. Dr. Ndongo would like you
to put an end to the Death who have ambitions of
ruling. In this scenario, the PCs are asked to travel
to a village to investigate whether or not the local
population has been subjugated by others like
them. There is a group of Death, in fact, who have
taken over the town, but it’s more complicated

92
 than the scientists realized: the villagers had been
affected by a plague, and the Death are trying to
cure it. The villagers view the Death as heroes—
as angels, as guardian spirits, as gods, depending
on who the PCs talk to. The Death are planning to
stay on as rulers of the town, but as its protectors,
and the PCs must decide whether to take the side
of the scientists of Haven, who would view such a
government as a threat, or to side with the other
Death and support them in building their town.
Even after the PCs begin to take sides, however,
there may be additional motives at play...
• The Jungle will get you. Narrzen, the head of a tribe
surviving along the edges of the Jungle, has asked
the Death to investigate the disappearance of three
of the village’s youth to the dangers of the Jungle.
In this scenario, the PCs head into the jungle to
try to find three young people, dealing with the
natural snares, creatures, and ‘saurs that are the
jungle’s major dangers. But when they discover the
missing villagers, they realize that these three are
mutated survivors, like them, and they believe that
the Jungle—a god to them—has called them. When
the PCs are led to an artifact of Other origin, they
need to decide whether to dismantle it to protect
the village, or to help the young people pursue
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their own visions.

Inspirations: This setting was inspired by Andre
Norton’s Outside, Robert J. Duperre’s Soultaker, the
Xen’drik setting from the Eberron role playing game
setting, and the Common Shiner song “How’s the
Weather at the End of Time?”

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Floodland
By Angus Abranson
“It’s not as if we hadn’t been warned this would happen.
It’s not even as if it hadn’t happened before. Sure,
‘recorded history’ might not cover it, but if you look back
to ancient and religious texts you can find the stories.
The Christians had Noah; Islam had Nuh; the Hindus,
Buddhists, and others all talk about it. Going back further
to The Epic of Gilgamesh, written sometime between
2000 and 1500 BC by the old reckoning of dates, you had
the tale of Utnapishtim and his family, who are saved
after the angry gods send floods to punish humanity.
Yeah, The Great Flood. Ignored by many as a myth even
though the story appeared time and time again in ancient
texts and most religions. Little did we know the truth of
the matter. Hindsight is such a magnificent thing…” From
The Journals of The Last Men by John Jefferies, 46 AF.
If only the storms had lasted 40 days and 40 nights. If
only the floods that came lasted the scant few months
they did in old stories. The truth—well our truth—was
much worse.
A lot of our history, both before the flood and since,
has been lost. Oral tradition for recording events, our
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pasts, stories of the Gods and other stories, has replaced

the old forms of writing for the most part. Paper
mainly came from trees, and in a world where there is
hardly any land, trees are in very short supply. Many
of the old stories about the world before the flood seem
unbelievable. But most of us have seen the remnants of
buildings that once formed massive cities, the markets
are full of scavenged items brought and sold, and of
course the places we live wouldn’t exist if some of the
stories of those who lived before the flood weren’t true.

94
 Many of us live in one of the Flotillas that scatter the
ocean. Some remain in a pretty fixed location; others
roam the seas, scavenging for both food and artifacts
that can then be used to trade for the parts (or food)
required to keep the Flotillas operational.
Flotillas are made up of bound ships under the same
flag. I’ve seen Flotillas consist of anywhere from half a
dozen small ships all the way up to the massive New Rome
Theocracy under the flag of Pope Alexander X, which
must have at least 200 vessels permanently moored
together around the central Cathedral of St. Peter II.
Many of the smaller Flotillas band together under liege
of a powerful Flag Master. Flag Masters can go by many
names—Baron, Duke, Prince, King, Judge, President,
Grand Founder, General, et al—but they all are basically
the same thing. Someone who commands respect and
tribute, usually in return for protection. You are protected
under their flag and any treaties they have made, but in
return you are in their debt and cannot refuse their call
to arms or any requests they make of you.
Conflict between different flags is all too common, as
resources are scarce. Many Flotillas are so called ‘Cannibal
Flotillas’ that raid those flying different Flags and scavenge
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them, not only for any food, livestock, and trinkets but for
the very wood and metal that they reside on. Rival flotillas
are overcome and then dismantled for parts, often used to
repair or enhance their captors’ ships, whilst the residents
of the captured Flotilla can suffer a multitude of fates
depending on the Flag of their captors. Some merge the
captured into their own numbers, albeit at the lowest of
ranks, to replace their lost. Others take them as slaves to be
used or sold, and others—living up to the true meaning of
their name—for food.

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 Not everyone who lives on the seas, or the little land
that remains, or even in the decaying shells of lost
cities, pledge allegiance to a Flag. The Flagless are often
outsiders, loners, or small family groups/communes,
who either reside in areas near more understanding
Flagmasters, keep themselves well hidden, or are
continually moving and fighting to maintain their
independence and freedom.
“There were those from the Old World who saw the
signs that so many ignored. They were called fools,
ridiculed and outcast from their brothers and sisters.
Undeterred by the constant mocking, a few of these
visionaries banded together to try and save as much of
the Old World as possible, as Noah, Utnapishtim, and
others of even more ancient tales did before. They built
sky ships to protect themselves far above the coming
waters, beyond our skies. You can sometimes still see
their glittering patterns if the night sky is clear enough
from clouds, or the dark patterns on the Moon that are
in fact buildings that house great relics and creatures
that escaped the Flood. Not all fled from Earth though;
some stayed and built Atlantis.” From The Journals of
The Last Men by John Jefferies, 46 AF.
Atlantis? It’s a legend, nothing more. Ignore anyone
who tries to tell you otherwise. Tales told to the young
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to make them dream of a salvation and another way

of life. Some life though—a nightmare more like!
Trapped beneath the seas? Who’d want that over
being able to live under the open sky with the vast
horizon stretching away at every turn?
Atlantis is said to be a vast city built on the ocean
floor with a magical sphere surrounding it, keeping
the waters at bay. Wizards have created an artificial
Sun that heats and lights the city, allowing vast
farmland to grow, providing food to the Atlanteans

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and their animals. Yeah, I said it: “their animals.”
This underwater paradise is home to not only Man,
but Beasts that no one else has seen since the lands
were dry and water only covered part of the planet.
They have so many Beasts that they are actually used
for meat, they are so plentiful! The city is home to
fabulous artifacts from the Old World, riches beyond
our wildest imagination!
Of course, it’s all nonsense though. Atlantis doesn’t
exist. Tales for children and dreamers.

Atlantis & The Ghost Zones

Whether Atlantis exists in your game is entirely up to you. Maybe
it is a legend, maybe it’s somewhere real. Atlantis’s actual location
is unknown—there is a lot of ocean out there, and much of it is too
dangerous, either through storms or lack of resources, to keep you
alive. Most Flotillas stay near Old World Hunting Grounds so they
can scavenge, near the few spots of land that have been cultivated
for crops, or near other Flotillas for raiding. Few venture out too far.
If Atlantis does exist it is almost certainly located in one of the
Ghost Zones. Ghost Zones are places greatly feared by anyone
with sense. Many are almost permanently shrouded in thick mist
that makes it impossible to see almost beyond your own arm, let
alone what you are sailing into. There are a number of known Ghost
Zones, some out in the deep oceans, others covering areas once
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inhabited by the Old Ground Dwellers, such as the area known as

Chicago, which was once a thriving city of millions! It is possible
that the Atlanteans use one (or more) of these Ghost Zones to mask
their presence. After all, if Atlantis was known to really exist, every
Flagmaster would call upon his or her Flags and sail en masse to
take this Paradise!
Some Atlanteans are rumored to deal with Ocean Dwellers. Usually
masquerading as Scavengers or Tradespeople, they set up stalls at
one of the Floating Markets to sell their wares and gather information
and news. Their wares are generally little trinkets, seeds, trained
birds or dogs, or other interesting or useful items.

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Sky Ships and Moon Bases
Two other options you could use in your games are the Sky Ships
and/or Moon Bases that John Jefferies wrote about in his The
Journals of The Last Men that many in Floodland revere. Although
the residents of the Floodlands have no chance of being able to
ascend to the skies and beyond, it doesn’t mean that you couldn’t
create a party that actually resides in either one of the vessels in near
orbit or a lunar colony. Characters from “beyond the sky” would
face a multitude of problems if they visited the Floodlands, not least
how they would actually be able to return to their homes again,
as launchpads and shuttle runways are non-existent since they’ve
either been completely destroyed and submerged or reclaimed by
nature to make them inoperable.
Another scenario idea would be for the PCs to see “something fall
from the sky into the sea” and go hunting for this fallen star. They
could find either debris or a capsule. Maybe the capsules crew are
still there… either alive or dead… or maybe it’s been vacated. Was
the shuttle crewed by scientists coming back to Earth to run tests,
or was it stolen by a traitor? Or, worse, has a Lunar serial killer who
was close to being caught commandeered a capsule to escape
down to the planet below to evade justice and continue their spree?
Maybe they brought with them equipment unseen, or long lost,
since the Flood.

There are plenty of adventuring possibilities within

the Floodlands, regardless of whether you wish to
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include Atlantis, the Sky Ships or Moon Bases, or just

want to run a game of survival among the Flotillas.
May you stay afloat and have plenty of fresh water for
your travels.

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Phantasmagoria
By David Annandale

Before:
The Final War was more devastating than anyone
could have imagined. Indeed, it was a failure of the
imagination that led to all-encompassing catastrophe.
No one believed the great powers would go to war.
And when they did, no one believed the war would go
nuclear. But it did, and the worst devastation happened
early, while many of the great cities were still standing.
Whether through accident, perverse decision, or the
whim of implacable fate, a bunker-buster nuke struck
the Large Hadron Collider at the moment when the most
radical experiment of all was bearing fruit. Just before
the bomb hit, new particles were created—particles
whose properties were impossible and irrational
from any scientific perspective. They seemed to be the
foundational particles of nightmares. And then the
blast came, tearing open the veil between existence
and phantasm. The ensuing cataclysm engulfed the
world, and left reality itself mortally injured.

Now:
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The Earth still has a material existence, but it is

also caught in a realm where the laws of physics
and rationality are suspended and broken. The
few survivors of the apocalypse now face a surreal
landscape where, quite literally, anything can
happen. The planet itself is no longer a globe. The
entire northern third of the planet is gone. Not just
devastated: gone, as if the Earth were an opened soft-
boiled egg. Should any brave (or foolhardy) explorers
travel far enough to the north, they would ultimately

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cross a towering mountain chain, the peaks jagged as
the fangs of an immense maw, and find themselves
quite literally at the ends of the Earth, looking down
into a hellish, unimaginably vast bowl that extends
down through the mantle to the exposed core of
the planet. And yet, even this is not necessarily the
end point of exploration. Given the fractured, ever-
changing and flowing nature of the new reality, the
truly determined might well decide to descend into
that bowl and discover what waits and hungers inside
the wounded Earth.
Elsewhere, life is hardly less bizarre or dangerous.
No one has seen the sun since the cataclysm. For all
anyone knows, the Earth may no longer be in the solar
system, though illumination comes from somewhere.
The sky is perpetually overcast, the clouds a roil of
colors. Sometimes they calm enough to permit the light
of dirty twilight. At other times, they bring a fearsome
night to the land. It is as likely to rain blood or fire as it
is water, and sometimes the clouds reach down to the
land. What may look at first like a tornado, however,
is actually a monstrous, clawed tentacle. It will scour
the land for miles, leaving deep trenches, until it has
snatched up its terrified prey.
The climate is as changeable as the light. There are
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no temperate or tropical zones any longer. The same

region can experience blistering heat and then plunge
into ice age conditions within minutes. Farming in such
conditions is impossible, and no one would dare make the
attempt anyway, because all crops are now carnivorous.
Existence for survivors, then, is precarious. Food is
limited to what can be hunted or scavenged. Either
option is dangerous, for the entire world has become
a vicious predatory chain. Everything that lives is a
hunter, and everything lives. Even the rivers might

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rise up, become solid beings, and claim their prey
before sinking back into their banks. Trees will reach
down with branches or vines. The ground shifts
unpredictably, solid and safe in some areas, sprouting
devouring mouths in others.
Monsters stalk the wastelands. Some are recognizable
mutations. They might once have been dogs or cattle
or crows, but they have been transformed by the
slaughtered reality into beings of nightmare. There are
other creatures, too, far worse. They might be small, the
size of insects, yet plotting with superhuman intelligence.
Others bestride mountains. Still others are mountains.
This is in every sense the landscape of nightmare.
One might think that to find oneself here, one
would pray for death. Those who would surrender
have done so. Many more will die. And yet, in spite
of the everything, there are enclaves of survivors,
settlements that retain some traces of civilization as
their citizens do everything in their power to keep
going in the new surreality.
Scavenging is one of primary ways of getting what one
needs. Over 99% of humanity was wiped out in the first
instants of the cataclysm, and there are, for those who
dare risk it, treasure troves of canned goods, weapons,
and other supplies to be found. As dangerous as the
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countrysides are, though, the cities can be even worse,

for there is just as much lethal life here. The monuments
of human ingenuity and ambition have become the
most fearsome of creatures and sights. The top halves
of some skyscrapers float high above the ruined streets,
their bottom halves long gone. Some are now twisted,
distorted shapes, ones that the curious should approach
at their own risk, for there is no telling which of these
structures might suddenly lash out, concrete and brick
as flexible as flesh, and as hungry. The greatest of these

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structures have become the greatest monsters, the
new gods of this world. The Empire State Building, for
example, opens red eyes to look upon the its misshapen
kingdom of Manhattan. An entire third of its height
becomes an open maw, and a searchlight on its mooring
mast sweeps the ground before it, sucking up whatever
it illuminates with the force of a tractor beam, hurling
unfortunate prey into the maw.
There are as many monsters and threats in this world
as there are nightmares that have beset the human
imagination. It requires all the imaginative power,
then, of the survivors to stay alive in the present, and
hope for a future. They may not thrive, but they may
go on. And some are more ambitious than others.
Some feel they can do more than make peace with
this world. They can become part of it, and become
lords of their fellows, because reality continues to
bleed, there are points where the injury to the real is
apparent, and humans can mutate too…

Sample Adventure Hooks:

1. The players arrive at a settlement that offers the
promise of safety. However, it is ruled by a tyrant. He has
found a reality wound in a cave underneath the settlement
and has subjected himself to it, acquiring superhuman
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powers and mutating horribly in the process. How will

the players stop him? Will they also choose to mutate, and
take the risk of losing their humanity?
2. Two settlements are competing for resources in
the same region of the city. Will the players seek to
forge an alliance with the other group, or engage in
a war of conquest or annihilation? Working together
might lead to the discovery of new, larger caches of
supplies. And how does the city react to the decision
made? The actions of the unpredictable, predatory

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 Micro-Settings

streets and buildings may well help shape events. The

supplies themselves may be a form of bait.
3. The shell of a skyscraper would make a much
more secure refuge than the ramshackle cover the
party currently uses. But in order to make such a
fortress a reality, the characters will have to get inside
the building, confront the horrors therein, and find
some way to kill the huge monster.

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 4. The party are at the ends of the earth and descend
inside the planet. New dangers await them there,
including the possibility of strange new (or ancient)
civilizations.
5. The hope of finding a better, safer place to live
drives the characters to a journey of exploration. Their
quest takes them through the nightmarish variety of
the world. Perhaps it is delusion they are following.
But perhaps their hope is justified.
6. The characters are mutating. They are stronger,
better able to hunt and defend themselves against
the world, but they are perceived as monstrous by
unaffected humans, who hunt them down on sight.
How will the characters deal with the threats? Will
they try to convince the non-mutated survivors that
they mean no harm? Or declare themselves new
overlords?
7. What lives in the sky? There are ways in which
the characters might get off the ground. They might
capture a winged monster, find technological
remnants that still work and that they can trust (to
a point), or perhaps they have acquired the power of
flight themselves. In the clouds, some of which are
solid enough to walk upon, is another phantasmagoric
world. Terrifying, yet enticing, discharges of energy
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link floating platforms, miles-long sky leviathans, and

the twisted fortresses of dark beings.
8. Geology itself stalks the characters. Mountain
chains are closing in on them. But it might be possible
to turn things around and have the world go to war
with itself. All the characters have to do is find a way
to trigger hostility between the sentient mountains,
and then escape the new cataclysm that ensues.

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In the Ravenous Green
By Marie Brennan
Possible Themes: Humanity vs. Nature, Fragile Little
Apes, Humanity’s Last Stand, Back to Primitivism
Inspired by: Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, Semiosis
by Sue Burke, Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Mononoke
Hime/Princess Mononoke, the Pelagirs of Mercedes’
Lackey’s Valdemar novels

The Concept:
The human species started out as a bunch of East
African apes in a world full of things with bigger teeth
and sharper claws. Over the course of millions of
years, we developed technology to make up for those
shortcomings, until we convinced ourselves that we
were the supreme beings on this planet, that we had
absolutely nothing to fear from the natural world.
To which Nature said: oh yeah?
Nobody remembers anymore what caused the shift.
Maybe we never knew. These days, the humans clinging
to survival in a world full of things with bigger tentacles,
sharper leaves, and explosive pollen have bigger concerns
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than remembering how the world fell apart. Like the

mutant jungle just beyond their city’s walls, barely held
at bay with axe and fire. In a good year, they make
progress against the Ravenous Green, pushing it back and
reclaiming some land for human use. In a bad year…
Well, there’s a reason we said it’s just beyond their
city’s walls.
“In the Ravenous Green” is a micro-setting for those
who like to tell stories about lethal mammals, birds,
reptiles, insects, fungus, flowers, vines, and trees, and
who probably think Australia is awesome.

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Setting fluff:
The stripes across Tishala’s arm were getting wider.
Her skin was bleaching pale and hardening into ridges
like bark—if that was even still her skin, and not some
parasite taking its place. She kept it hidden, not wanting
to argue with Chinh again. They both knew the stripes
would kill her eventually, but if he cut her arm off that
might kill her now. And it would definitely make her
useless to the expedition.
Tishala knew when she left the city that she might not
live to see it again. They all did. But she was determined
to go as far as she could, because the rest of the team—
what survived of it—needed her.
Up ahead, movement. Tishala pulled her sleeve back
down and nocked an arrow to her bow, grateful that
the bark stripes hadn’t yet weakened her arm. Then a
checkered bit of cloth danced above the brush up ahead,
and she relaxed. They couldn’t use whistled signals, not
here; they’d found out the hard way that some of the
local insects were learning and imitating the sounds,
luring their people into the path of a swarm. The cloth
was an improvised solution, letting them know Jasweer
had returned from her scouting loop.
And she’d found something.
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Sweat had carved runnels through the camouflaging

paint on Jasweer’s dark face, and she looked sick. “We
made it,” she said. “But they didn’t.”
Tishala sagged. It wasn’t a surprise. Their western
outpost had gone silent two months before, and out
in the Ravenous Green, there was always one obvious
answer as to why. But they’d hoped.
Hoped it might be possible to push back. Hoped they
could expand beyond the city, reclaim a little of the
world for humanity. Instead, this: four hundred souls,

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lost to the jungle.
“Any sign of survivors?” Chinh asked.
Jasweer swallowed hard. She was usually the steadiest
of them all, taking everything in stride, from eagles that
vomited spiders to animated mud. Whatever she’d seen
in the outpost, though—it had rattled her. “You have to
see for yourself.”
They followed her, the six of them who had made it
this far. The stripes along Tishala’s arm itched, but she
bit down and gripped her bow harder. Not now. Not
yet. They need me still.
Two months. It shouldn’t have been enough time for
the outpost to fall to ruin, but this was the Ravenous
Green. It had its ways.
Mushrooms crawled up and over the broken shells
of the buildings, a forest of colorful blue caps in the
relentless green of the jungle. It would have been
beautiful, if Tishala hadn’t learned in childhood not to
trust beauty. Nobody in the group touched the fungus,
unsure of what it might do.
“Over there,” Jasweer whispered, as if the mushrooms
might hear her—which for all anybody knew, they
might. “Look.”
Black scars cut through the blue, where someone had
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used acid to carve a message into one of the outpost’s

fallen walls:
IT WAS THE DUST
Tishala’s mouth went dry. The dust. Dry winds had
blown through the city as they were leaving, carrying
a fine grit they thought must have come from some
distant fire. It had happened before, because the
Ravenous Green fought itself, too, with all the same
weapons it used against them.

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 But this was different.
“Not dust,” she whispered. “Spores.”
Chinh breathed a choked-off prayer. A few people
in the city still believed in gods—powers that could be
persuaded to help humanity out.
Tishala wasn’t one of them.
The only thing that could save humanity was other
human beings. And if they didn’t get back to the city
immediately, there might not be anything left to save.
“We have to go,” she said. “Now.”
Beneath her sleeve, the stripes itched as they
expanded.

Sample Adventure Hooks:

“In the Ravenous Green” is about a world full of life,
most of which might kill you. Whether it tells the story
of how humanity fights back and reclaims some land
for their own safe use or how humanity gets overrun by
mutant plants and animals that laugh at their defenses
is up to you…
1. Is anyone out there? The default description for “In
the Ravenous Green” treats the city as an isolated enclave
of survivors, possibly the last in the world. But if you like
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the idea of exploring a hostile landscape, this hook sends

you deep into the jungle in search of signs that you’re not
the only ones left.
Inch by inch, yard by yard, you and your fellow
Greenguard have won progress against the jungle. The
deer that shot the points of their antlers at you like
knives are gone. There’s farmland where there used
to be a field of acid-petaled flowers. Then, two months
ago, you found yourself on the bank of a river.

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 Rivers, they say, are life. And also death, because
practically everything here is lethal—the fish in the
water almost hypnotized your cousin into drowning
himself—but ancient civilizations sprang up along
rivers, a constant source of fresh water.
For you, it’s also a source of hope.
If anyone else is alive… they might be somewhere
along this river. The stories say there used to be other
cities. Maybe they aren’t all gone.
Of course, you have to survive long enough to find
them. And then long enough to get back and tell the
tale.
Good luck.
2. You’re the last thing standing between the human
species and obliteration. If what you like best in the
world is stories about fighting with your back to the wall,
this setup put the city on its heels, on the brink of losing
entirely. What better time for some heroes to shine?
At first it was slow—slow enough that people could
pretend it wasn’t happening. Then you started losing
whole swaths of land overnight. The outer walls fell to
a mass of vines that scream like human children when
they’re harmed. The farmlands vanished beneath clouds
of butterflies whose wings shed a powder that sends
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people into homicidal rages. You pulled back and back

and back, and now… there’s nowhere left to run. All you
have is the city. You lose this, you lose everything.
And something is building out there. Something
worse. Something you fear is more than just the natural
(or unnatural) hazards of the Ravenous Green.
This time it feels directed. Organized. Planned.
It’s time for humanity’s last stand.

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3. It’s time to take the fight to the enemy. For groups that
want to investigate what created the Ravenous Green,
this scenario gives you a chance to take the initiative
against the mutant jungle—and learn the secrets of its
true nature…
The answers are out there. Your records are
fragmentary, but you’re pretty sure that whatever
started this came from the mountaintop you can see
from the city walls.
And if you know what started it, then maybe you can
end it. Stop this war of attrition with the Ravenous
Green, and return the world to a state human beings
can live in.
It won’t be easy, though. First you have to make your
way through the jungle to that mountain bastion. Then
you have to find something useful, like a weapon. And
then you have to annihilate the jungle that has eaten
your world.
Or so you think. But there is information waiting,
high in the mountains, that may change your view of
the Ravenous Green forever.

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The Red Fever
By Shawn Carmen
“Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
released a statement addressing growing concerns over
the outbreaks of the illness being called the Red Fever.
Officials state that while the origin of this new pandemic
remains unknown, they are confident that a treatment
for those afflicted, as well as a vaccine for those yet
unaffected, will be available very shortly through local
health departments and specially designated hospitals.”
—Lies and damage control, spread while the world
was circling the drain…
There are lots of people who remember the world the
way it was before, but I’m not one of them. I was too
young. I have a few vague memories, snippets of color
and noise, but that’s it. Nothing really definitive. I’m
lucky that way. The ones who do remember, they have
it harder, I think. They couldn’t adjust as well to the
way the world is now. The world after the Red Fever.
Their memories make them weak. It isn’t their fault,
but they have to bear that burden. I’m free. I’m strong.
I’m a Blade.
From what my parents told me about the world
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before, it was luxury. People spent their whole lives

wrapped up in comfort and softness. The world didn’t
have any hard edges, and neither did they. I think that’s
why the Fever took so many of them. They couldn’t
fight, not even for their lives. People like that don’t live
very long in this world. Perhaps it makes me sound
evil, but I think that’s for the best. Weakness spreads
like a plague worse than any sickness. If you let it take
root, it will kill you and everyone you love, assuming
you allow yourself to love anyone. Some think that’s
just another weakness. I’m not so sure of that part.

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 Regardless, the Red Fever took luxury and comfort
away. So many people died that the things that
everyone took for granted stopped being made. Fuel.
Ammunition. Food. The idea that people didn’t know
how to grow or hunt their own food seems insane,
but apparently that was how it was then. People
just bought it. Weak. When the people who made
everything died, there was still plenty to be found, and
most people who survived the Fever kept on surviving
until supplies ran low. Then no one knew how to make
more fuel, or ammunition, and most importantly, a lot
of them didn’t know how to get food. But they knew
how to pick up a stone and smash the skull of someone
who had some left. Things got very bad. That part I
can remember just a little bit. I remember my father
struggling to feed me. He was weak, but he learned to
be strong. It saved his life and mine. It was during this
time that the Shogun first appeared.
No one knows his real name. No one knows who or
what he was before the Fever. All that matters is who he
was after. He was the strongest of all those who survived.
It wasn’t just that he was a fighter, although they say
that back then he was unstoppable in battle. It was his
will. He had a vision, and he would not be deterred. He
gathered up anyone that was willing to fight for him, to
fight to survive, and bound them together into his army.
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The strongest of his followers, he called his Sons. There

were ten of them at any given time, and you could only
become a Son if one of his existing Sons fell in battle,
or if you were able to challenge one and defeat them.
Lots of people challenged his Sons at first. Most ended
up crippled. After a while people stopped challenging
them. And no one who ever saw the Shogun fight even
considered challenging him.

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 In the nation that existed before the Fever, there was
a wide stretch of land between an ocean to the west
and a mountain range on the east. The Shogun decided
that this would be the place to build his new world.
After wandering and fighting for a long time, he and
the forces he had built up set up their headquarters
in a small, empty town near the center of the area
he wanted to control. He and his Sons divided up the
land into provinces, and each of his Sons was given a
province. They were given a portion of the Shogun’s
forces and sent to pacify their province. I was still very
young at the time, but the Shogun’s directives to his
Sons are well remembered today:
• All those who swear fealty must be protected.
• All those who refuse must be permitted to leave
the province.
• All those who raise arms against you must be
destroyed.
It was not an easy time. There were many who needed
to be convinced. They had forgotten what order was
like and had embraced the anarchy that dominated
the land. The strong took what they wanted, yes, but
the truly strong enforced order. There hadn’t been
anyone strong enough to do that for years, and no one
remembered the benefits it brought. Some joined right
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away. Some refused and had to be moved. Of those who

needed to be relocated, some fought. When possible,
those who fought were shown the error of their ways
and given another chance to join or leave. Those who
refused were wiped out utterly. There would be no
room for dissent beneath the Shogun’s banner.
It was during the pacification that the Shogun had
all firearms quietly taken away as well. They were
transported back to the Shogun’s headquarters and, if
the rumors are true, were melted down to make blades

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and tools. Guns allowed the weak to subvert the natural
order of things and slay the strong from afar. This was
not acceptable. The strong fought with steel in hand, or
bare fists, and slew their foes at arm’s length, looking
into their eyes.
It was the Shogun’s law. It was the natural way.
That was then.
Twenty years have passed. The provinces have
flourished. The Sons rule in peace. A few of the
originals remains. Others have passed their titles on to
their children, or been replaced by a challenge, as the
Shogun’s law permits. But all is not well. Six months
ago, the first rumors of the Red Fever’s return began
to circulate among the common people. Ten days ago,
news of the unthinkable arrived like a blade in the
heart: the Shogun is dead, taken by the Fever. For the
first time in two decades, anarchy rears its head. The
threat of chaos looms.
The Sons now must decide how to proceed. Some
of them have long-standing rivalries kept in check
only by the Shogun. Without him, will they take up
arms against one another? It is said that in the south,
Delgado and his Lost Angels have long been known to
covet the fertile fields of the neighboring Son, a woman
called simply the Lady of Sorrows. Her assassins are
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without compare, but Delgado’s Lost Angels are among

the most numerous of any Son’s forces. In the north,
MacGregor holds sway over the province with the most
lumber resources, but has long resisted calls from his
fellow Sons to increase production, citing a desire not
to overharvest his forests. The calls now grow more
insistent and demanding, with no less than three Sons
taking a decidedly antagonistic stance toward their
brother-in-arms over his continued reluctance.

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 We are the chosen warriors of the Sons. Most of us
are known as Blades, and the sword and the dagger
are our calling cards. Our fighting arts are beyond
compare, and with steel in our hand there is no foe we
cannot overcome. Those who truly master our art are
taken and trained further to become the Fists of the
Sons. Steel is their weapon, but when steel is not on
hand, they maim and kill with nothing more than their
bare hands. If a Blade is a storm that brings death, then
the Fist is the hurricane that brings devastation.
Even worse than the brewing conflict between the Sons
are rumors of an uprising from those who were long
ago displaced from their homes during the pacification,
and those who remained who are sympathetic to their
cause. While they have no chance against Blades or
Fists, there are whispers of a vast cache of weapons that
the Shogun is to have destroyed, but which were saved.
If this is true, if a hidden Tomb of the Gun does exist,
and it is found, then everything we have built can be
destroyed in very short order, and the Fever will finally
finish what it began twenty years ago.
The world will burn with chaos.
Only we stand against the anarchy of
yesterday.
Only we defend the order of
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tomorrow.

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The Metal Wastes
By Elizabeth Chaipraditkul
The war happened centuries ago—that’s what my data
bank tells me, but who knows if that is true? Try to
recharge for a few hours and hackers come by, upload
your creds, and corrupt your data files.
My RAM isn’t what it used to be, and I don’t want to
spend the time de-fragmenting. Gig told me before the
war, we were all more flesh than machine, that babies
were born and not created. I wonder what that was like?
Anyway, you just re-booted and probably don’t
remember much, so let me remind you of a few things.
It’s gonna be quick. We can’t spend much time here.

The Metal Wastes

The Metal Wastes is everything—it’s a grey humming
mess of wires, circuit boards, and metal scrap for as far as
the eye can see. The sky is a dark grey and the sun never
shines. Lightning clouds thunder overhead, snapping
downwards here and there, frying whatever they strike.
If you’re truly unlucky like us, you’ve got to live in the
Wastes themselves, scrounging around for whatever you
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can to survive. You find other folk who aren’t scrappers to

travel with. Don’t get too attached to them though—who
knows when your new friend is going to power down in
the middle of the Wastes? Not blaming you, but I’m just
saying… Charging ports in the Metal Wastes are few and
far between, and without a port you’re as good as dead.
Even if you do manage to find a charging port for the
night, it doesn’t mean you’re safe. Beasts wander the
Wastes, great hulking things made of corrupted files
and malice who will tear apart anything that moves.
If a beast attaches itself to you, it will drain every last

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energy cell you have until you’re finally shut down for
good—no reboots and no escaping to the web.

Safe Places
“Civilization” or what’s left of it lives in tunnels
underground. Each meager bit of civilization has
its own rules and customs. Everyone is terrified of
everyone else, and outsiders are most definitely not
welcome. I’d rather live in the Wastes—at least things
are clear here, brutal, but honest.
If you are allowed into a Safe Place, you’ll notice
there is a strict different between the haves and the
have-nots. The wealthier you are, the farther down
you live. You’ll notice the walls are cleaner, the lights
work, there’s a lack of oil spills on the floor, and there
are constant patrols of guards.
I’ve heard at the very bottom of each safe place
there are people who still have most of their flesh. It
isn’t even safe for them to come any higher, because
of something called Rad-E-Sun, a curse from the time
before. So instead they stay below ground and control
what we do up here. They watch us, the track us, and
they wait. For what? I’d rather not know.

Folk
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People are no longer what they once were. If you’re

lucky you have eyes that are flesh, that can see “people”
colors, or fingertips that can feel, or a heart that beats.
Then, you’re one of the people—you still have something
that says you’re human. If you’re unlucky you’re all
machine—you’re folk.
Years ago people downloaded themselves into machines,
or so the story goes. It seemed like the perfect solution—
no matter how their form was destroyed, they’d survive;

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they were immortal. But that just wasn’t the case. Cause
as every folk knows—get beat down bad enough and
your memory fragments. You wake up in alone, afraid,
and all you’ve got is oily flashes of past memories.
The people didn’t find immortality, they found a prison.
Society is divided folk and people, even though there
aren’t that many people left. People have to be careful,
because everyone wants what they have—flesh. If they
don’t guard what they have carefully, they could wake
to find their flesh stolen, to be grafted on someone else
just so that person can know what it’s like to feel.
Feeling is the biggest high you can get. Be careful: learn
to feel and get lost in it for hours, do something dangerous,
get your friends in trouble. No one wants to travel with
a feeling junkie—make sure you keep your files straight.
That isn’t to say us folk don’t have feelings, not at all.
But everyone’s itching to know what the Real is like.
What human is like. Because in the end, weren’t he
placed here to search for the Real?

Hackers
Hackers are folk who live in the Metal Wastes scrounging
for scrap and terrorizing any decent folk who cross
their path. These gangs carve up the Metal Wastes
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into territories named after each of their crews—the

Bolters, the Wire Strippers, the Hijackers. Each of them
looking to make easy cred as thieves or download a
folk’s memory banks to get high on the feelings.
The largest crew everyone fears are the Rippers. This
gang ignores borders and lives by one rule—destroy.
Led by She Made Flesh, they take no prisoners, refuse
to negotiate, and aren’t interested in bribes. Instead,
they look for people, tear them apart, and bring their
flesh to She Made Flesh to add to her perfection.

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 Code says she is a beauty to behold, her skin a
patchwork of every flesh color stored in memory
banks. Her mouth is filled with sharpened teeth and
a forked tongue of the last-living, long-dead mutated
beast. For every bit of flesh covering her body she has
a memory, a long-lost bit of knowledge from a person
who knew the Real. The memories not only make her
the most knowledgeable person in the Wasteland, but
the cruelest, with each memory attached to a voice
screaming inside her, demanding more power.
If She Made Flesh already has the piece her Rippers
bring her—the eye, the ear, the heart—she instead
gifts it to one of her crew, sealing their loyalty to her
and her twisted ways.

Spirits in the Web

Aside from the Metal Wastes there is the Web—
an invisible force everywhere and nowhere. By
concentrating, people and folk can link into the web and
browse through the torn-up history of the lost world.
Surfing the waves of the web takes a skilled rider, and
if you browse for too long, you’re likely to get lost.
Many folk enter the web looking for hints of a past
life, a way to connect the scattered memories they
have to a person from before the Metal Wastes. They
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comb through media profiles, read Tweets, scan

pictures trying to comprehend the color green or the
meaning of holiday. Most of these quests are folly, and
folk’s searches are led astray by spirits.
Spirits who live in the web are people, folk, and the like
who’ve been disconnected from their metal forms and are
forced to live in the web. Without a form and databanks
to keep the integrity of their files, they fragment and grow
dependent more and more on the web. Each piece of them
that breaks off grabs a pieces of the web and pulls it in,

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combing it with their psyche, trying to patch the damage.
The only way for spirits to escape the web is for
them to hijack the body of someone surfing. If the
spirit downloads over 75% of their files into the body
of the folk who’s surfing, they can wrestle control of
the body from the folk and force them into the Web.
Folk who know how to surf the Web put up at least one
Firewall before surfing in order to keep pesky spirits
out and know to surf through hidden windows to not
draw the ire of particularly powerful spirits.
If you really want to surf securely, you’ve got to find
a port. If you hook-up via a port, it’s near impossible
for spirits to steal your body. The only problem is all
known ports are in the Wastes and the Wastes are
controlled by the Hackers.

Sky Place
Some folk search the Web and even the Wastes for
any signs of the Sky Place. Files from all over the Web
reference the Sky Place. It is the place the people went
when they died—those who were lucky enough to
escape the Web and the curse of Rad-E-Sun.
Some folk think it is a place with an endless battle,
where the people train to one day come down to the
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Wastes, defeat the beasts of the Wastes, and reclaim the

land for folk and people alike. Others, believe the Sky
Place is run by a woman, benevolent and kind. When
you reach the Sky Place, if your files aren’t corrupted,
she’ll allow you in, give you a suit of flesh, and you’ll
finally be at peace. Whatever it is, the Sky Place is
glorious and every folk dreams of one day visiting it.
Well, that’s it. You’re all caught up. Do me a favor
and stop trying to recover your memory files. There’s
a storm rolling in, and we need to find shelter.

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Salvage
By Steve Diamond
Possible Themes: Post Apocalypse, Wild West, Aliens,
Mystery, Horror, Adventure
Inspired by: Mad Max, Cowboys & Aliens, Fallout,
Wasteland, District 9, Independence Day, V, The Dark
Tower, The Border by Robert McCammon
They came. They saw. They conquered.
We didn’t stand a chance.
One day we were celebrating SpaceX, the next, our
unintended invitation to anything out there was sent back
with an RSVP to take our whole planet. Aliens invaded,
and they didn’t come in peace. We called this first species
“Mantids,” because that’s exactly what they looked like.
They took over everything. They used humans as a testing
ground for their own biological weapons, and for advances
in mind-control. Why? Because we really weren’t alone in
the universe, and they had their own enemies.
Resistances rose and fell.
And then, one day, they were all gone. Mantids were
nowhere to be found. All their working ships were
gone, and somehow, no one saw them leave. All that
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was left was a world they stripped and ravaged.

Oh, and they left behind all their toys. No one really
knows what they all do. But we should probably figure
them out, because there is no way they are gone forever.
PC’s can tackle this setting in dozens of ways, and in a
variety of time-periods. Play during the initial invasion.
The occupation. As the resistance. The morning after
the Mantids abandon Earth for no knowable reason.
No matter when you play, or what you do, you’re going
to need to salvage their equipment, and what’s left of
the planet, just to survive.
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Setting Fluff:
“What do you think it does?”
The most common question of the decade. Moriarty
pulled himself out of the guts of the machine and wiped
his eyes. Some sort of fluid from inside the Mantid…
thing… had dripped all over his face.
“I don’t know,” Moriarty replied. “What do you think
it does, Pete?”
“Dunno. But it being hidden at the bottom of a
building means it must be good for something. Must be
important.”
“Must be valuable?”
“Exactly,” Pete said. “Maybe valuable enough to buy
our freedom.”
Moriarty shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe we end up
dead like every other salvager. People don’t make deals
with the Bosses. They own us, plain and simple.”
Pete didn’t say anything for a long moment. He pulled
off the knit cap his daughter made for him before she
died of strep-throat two years ago. When the Mantids
disappeared ten years earlier, everyone thought they
could rebuild. Instead, the strong grabbed power in the
vacuum. Gangs formed. Communities of gangs. And if
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you didn’t salvage the right stuff for them, you didn’t
get the basic necessities.
Like basic antibiotics.
“Maybe we don’t ‘make a deal.’” Pete rubbed his bald
head. “Maybe we force a deal.”
Moriarty went very still. “What do you mean, Pete?”
“I mean, I know some people that want a real
community. At any cost.”
“You want us to take our freedom by force?”

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 Pete pointed at the Mantid machine. A tall cone,
with a square hatch on the side that led to the internal
wiring. It was machine, but also organic, and somehow
still vaguely functional after ten years of neglect. “The
Bosses don’t know what this does. They don’t know
what any of it does. Not until—”
“We figure it out for them,” Moriarty interrupted.
“Yep.”
Moriarty looked at the machine, then Pete.
“Where do we start?”
***
The Mantids must have left for a reason.
Is there anything worse than not knowing? They came
own in their ships which constantly changed shape—
no one knows why—and began by nuking the capitol
of every state and country in the world.
That was day one.
Years of slavery were followed by years of being
test subjects. They sent our mothers, brothers, and
children back to us… but those loved-ones weren’t the
same anymore. In fact, they weren’t our loved-ones at
all. Their minds had been twisted, and they came back
preaching to us like the snake-charming pastors of old.
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“The Mantids are good.”

“The Mantids are our saviors and protectors.”
“Give yourselves over to your new rulers and be
rewarded.”
It didn’t take a genius to see it all a lie. It was brainwashing,
nice and simple. It was obvious to a conquered species
living in terror; the Mantids feared something else.
More years went by, and all of humanity was giving up.
What did we really have going for us? Suicide rates—

123
not that they were officially tracked or anything—
skyrocketed. Better dead than in this world.
And then one day, humanity woke up, and the Mantids
were gone.
We lived cowering in our hovels for weeks, waiting
for them to show back up, laughing and saying, “You
idiot humans! We totally got you! Now we are going to
eat your brains!”
They never came back.
Humanity should have banded together. Tried going
back to the way it was before. Instead, gangs rose up
in power. They now run the what is left of the known
world. And that’s just here. No one has managed to
communicate with anyone an ocean away. Maybe it’s
different elsewhere.
The Mantids left everything behind. Weapons. Ships.
Terraforming equipment. Their brainwashing tech.
Everything.
So we salvage it.
Maybe we can use the salvage to fix our broken world.
***

Sample Adventure Hooks:

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Each one of these hooks has the same goals: To make the
player characters central to the unfolding story, to create
a vehicle for interpersonal drama and mystery, and to
reinforce the themes of the setting. The secondary goal
is to challenge the players to make difficult choices in
an unforgiving wasteland. The best part of this setting
is its flexibility. The tech can be anything you want it to
be. You can set your adventures in any time during the
invasion, the occupation, or after the Mantids leave.
Or, make a tiny campaign out of it and do all three.

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 I. Invasion: You live your life day-by-day. Maybe you’re
an accountant. Or an actor. Or a teacher. Maybe even a
soldier. One day you wake up, and the world has changed.
Giant ships dive through the atmosphere, and before you
even have time to think, “Huh, those ships seem like they
are constantly shapeshifting,” they nuke everything.
How many movies has Hollywood put out showing
alien invasions? How many novels written? How many
fictitious New Yorks or DCs or LAs or Londons or Parises
have been blown up in those works?
It’s too bad no one—tin-foil hat wearers excluded—
took any of it seriously. It’s too bad the human masses
gobbled down popcorn rather than preparing for the
potential invasion. And now, here we are.
No grand speeches from the President or Prime Minister.
No giant robots to help us fight back.
The aliens aren’t here to communicate or advance
the human race into an era of interstellar travel.
They are here to take control. Of our resources. Our
planet. Our people.
If you lived in a major metropolitan area, it’ll be a
miracle to survive the first few hours of the invasion.
If you do survive, you better hide or get out of Dodge,
’cause the aliens are coming for you.
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Otherwise, be glad you weren’t living in a city. Get

your food. Get your guns and ammo. Maybe if you’re
lucky, you can salvage an existence out there.
II. Occupation: The invasion was bad. The occupation
is worse. The Mantids rounded up every human like
cattle, putting them in concentration camps the size of
cities. They watch you. They barely feed you. They begin
experimenting on you, because you are getting hints that
there is something even worse than Mantids out there in
the universe.

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 But there is still ray of hope. With how large the camps
are, it’s easy to get lost in the cracks. Remember those
weeds that used to drive you crazy? You know, the ones
in cracks of your driveway and sidewalk? Now you’re the
weed. What does it say about the state of things when
you look at that as a symbol of hope?
Days. Weeks. Months. Years.
The Mantid Occupation keeps going on, and somehow
it always gets worse. Just when it seemed like we’d
reached a new status quo with the new insectile
overlords, people start vanishing.
It’s hard to tell at first, the way things are. It’s just
a rumor here and there. And honestly, with people
choosing to end their own lives rather than live like
this, a missing person here-or-there doesn’t even make
the non-existent news.
But when the entire population of a block in a citywide
concentration camp vanishes? People take notice.
Some came back. Some didn’t.
Maybe those that didn’t come back were the lucky
ones, because those that did aren’t the same. The
Mantids messed with minds, bodies, and DNA. Some of
the survivors are just monsters now, and some seem
totally normal. Seem.
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Maybe it’s time to join the resistance people whisper

about.
III. Salvage: How many years—decades?—did you live
under the oppressive thumb of the Mantids? Every night
you looked at that sharp piece of glass a little longer.
That cliff seemed more and more inviting.
Then the Mantids vanished.
They didn’t just leave. You probably would have noticed
hundreds of shape-shifting Mantid spacecraft leaving

126
Earth behind in their dust. No, one morning you woke
up, got ready for another day fearing for your life, went
outside, and saw they were gone.
Naturally you went back inside and hid for a few weeks
along with the remnant of humanity. The Mantids were
coming back. Right?
But they didn’t. And they didn’t take everything with them.
In fact, the Mantids left most everything.
Gangs formed, and the oppressed became the
oppressors just like history always taught you.
Now, your life is all about salvage. Salvaging alien tech.
Food. Weapons. The past.
Maybe even a new, potential future.
Just remember, the Mantids are still out there, and so
are other alien species that may be even worse.
Hey, what’s that?
And that?
And THAT?
Expect to hear a lot of that with the Mantids gone, and
all their tech just sitting around.
The world—at least this small corner of it—is wrecked.
But at least you are free. More or less.
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You’re part of a gang, and your leader wants alien

tech. Doesn’t matter what it is, so you better deliver,
and you better deliver stuff that can make rival gangs
go boom. Otherwise they’ll do the same to you.
But what if you could leave? What if there are places
in the world undamaged by the alien invasion and
occupation? Or even just a little less damaged?
Take what you can use or make sense of, keep a
suspicious eye to the sky, and get out there.

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California—Smoke & Gold
By Jaym Gates
Possible Themes: Survival horror, sci-fi caper, smuggling
runs, adventure tales, mysteries.
Inspired by: The American Dust Bowl, Fire Chasers,
Leverage

Introduction
The heart of San Jose rose against the smoke-choked
sky, a perfect bubble of clear air and gleaming glass.
Towers of industry, lush parks, elaborate mansions,
and a buoyant sense of optimism marked this haven as
the home of those who have made it.
She watched from the tree line. No walls marked the
boundary. Can’t have anyone feeling like there’s an
us vs. them. No feeling of entrapment. She sometimes
wondered if it was to keep the likes of her out, or to
keep the monsters in.
A scrawny jackrabbit hopped toward the perimeter,
the line of crumbling brown and brilliant life, drawn
by the allure of the vivid green grass on the other side.
A spark, a puff, and the rabbit’s body vaporized. Just
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another bit of fertilizer.

Would that be such a bad way to go?
The wind shifted, and the choking stench of the Sierra
Vista Complex fire washed over her. Her scarred lungs
seized, and she doubled over, hacking. She was born
in that shining mecca, far down in the hierarchy, but
her adult life spent here in the wastelands ruined her
body and spirit.
She watched, and waited, noting guard rotations,
electrical boxes, and everything else one could know.

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 The cities might be beautiful, but they were not safe
for everyone, and she needed a new passage into the
heart of the giant.
*
He crouched inside the house, checking under the
master bed. Twin dots of angry gleam glowed in the
hellish orange light, and a soft hiss answered his
attention. The heat on his back grew; the fire must have
been moving up the hill by now. He shouldn’t have gone
back in, he knew that; getting out of here now would be
nearly impossible. Everyone else has already gone, but
she asked…
The eyes hissed and swiped at him, but he caught
some fur, and the fire was getting so close…
“Okay, Fluffy, let’s get out of here.”
*
They made it to La Diabla early in the evening. Twenty-
six of them, men and women and children exhausted
and filthy, the only survivors of Atascadero. A nothing
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fire, a careless cigarette by some rich asshole out in the

mountains for a weekend romp in the wilderness, but
it caught the mountain winds in the middle of the night
and turned, running thirty miles in three hours.
Most of them never woke up. Those stumbling into
this new town of the displaced and dispossessed were
the few awake, or out of town. Their singed cars and
cracked lips bore testament to their hellish flight, but
no one batted an eyelid.
This was, after all, California.

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The Concept
California’s always been a land bigger than you can
dream, a place where anything can, and will, happen.
These days, it’s the place where the haves live in state-of-
the-art sky-castles, and the have-nots eke out a minimal
living in smoke-choked deserts, outrunning the wildfires.
The ultra-rich live in havens, beautiful cities protected
from the outside world by the best tech money can create.
Everyone else survives as best they can in increasingly
rough circumstances. The fortunate live in satellite
communities, their houses as far apart as possible, their
most prized possessions locked in fire-proof safes.
The unfortunate… well, California is a big state, and
the fires spare very little. The transient, the homeless,
the lost, the rebels, they all have their own havens, and
their own goals, and their own ways to survive this
harsh, dry land.
When the United States disintegrated, California
separated into independent states and built its own
union, formed of the State of Jefferson in the east,
Nuevo California along the coast, and Sur-California
in the south.

The Three Sisters

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The three largest cities are San Diego-Tijuana, Los

Angeles, and San Francisco Metro. A number of other
cities also survive, but the Three Sisters hold priority
as the Capitals of the Coast. San Francisco Metro is the
queen of these, a sprawling conglomerate of nearly
a dozen towns and cities. Given their size, the Sisters
can’t be entirely warded, and some areas are safer
than others. Their police forces are large and heavily
militarized, and their governments are notoriously
corrupt.

130
 San Francisco Metro, in particular, is heavily
radicalized. Still a tech capital, SFM found its immigrant
populations driven out early on, replaced by swarms of
white supremacists and incels. San Francisco itself is
almost unrecognizable to the few old people who saw
it before the tech revolution.
Los Angeles is far more diverse, still driven by film
and fiction, a fractured reality set apart from everything
else. Cults, forgotten stars, and broken dreams are a
dime a dozen in Los Angeles.
San Diego-Tijuana is the largest, a twin city shared
between Mexico and Sur-California. Diverse and
thriving, San Diego-Tijuana is also the most open of the
cities. Small areas are insulated and fenced, but huge
slums of refugees and immigrants have collected here,
seeking entrance to Mexico.

Beyond the Sisters

The advancement of agricultural technology and water-
refinement has, however, turned California’s farms into
high-tech, high-yield manufactories. The farms are run
as enclaves, vast feudal systems worked by prisoners
who are leased to the agricultural corporations,
supplemented by heavily-exploited migrant labor. They
supply most of the continent with luxury and staple
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foods, from almonds to zucchini, turning huge profits.

Outside of the major cities and the farms, the world is
very different. While some areas of California are safe
enough—too dry to burn—most live in constant fear
of a single spark. Vast, fast-moving fires are the new
normal. Not even cities are safe.
In a way, this has driven incredible innovation,
developing fire-resistant technology, a more resilient
agricultural system, and alternative energy. Fire is
now banned in all forms, including cigarettes and

131
most firearms. The police are also certified firefighters,
and volunteer fire brigades train regularly in every
community. The world outside the havens is coping
as best it can, but fire is the least predictable natural
disaster.
Entire towns have been wiped out by the fires. The
population is terrified, and the slightest shift of wind or
whiff of smoke sends them into a panic. The economy is
still flourishing, buoyed by the incredible wealth of the
cities, but the open lands are in a state of flux. The region
is scarred by immense wastelands of burned earth and
dotted with temporary camps and refugee settlements.
Some travel in caravans, roaming endlessly ahead of
the fires in cars, vans, and animal-drawn wagons.
The experts say the fires will burn the land clean
soon, and that life will return to normal. The conspiracy
theorists say that the corporations don’t want the fires
to stop and are doing everything in their power to keep
them burning. The firefighters say the fires are getting
bigger, and the winds are getting rougher.
The caravans keep driving, and the refugees keep
fleeing, and the land keeps burning.

The Grit and Grime

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There are a few major classes in Nuevo California,

arranged in clear strata. At the top are the Tech Moguls.
A few titanic figures with unbelievable wealth and
power, the Tech Moguls are untouchable. Many have
cults devoted to them and are heavily involved in
politics. Following California tradition, most are also
involved in humanitarian efforts, working to help raise
the world up. Some, however, are less interested in good
works, and rumors of slavery, human experimentation,
and brutal exploitation abound.

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 The Agricultural Moguls are only a step behind the
Tech Moguls, but tend to be more traditional, less
interested in humanitarian efforts, and the slavery and
exploitation are no mere rumors.
Below them are the Elite, mostly male, wealthy,
entitled, and sheltered. They work in tech jobs, safe in
the cities, spoiled with everything they might wish, but
always afraid of losing what they have.
A huge middle class supports the cities, enclaves,
and agricultural administration. While no particular
feature unites them, they are the most “normal” of the
California residents and live in a precarious balance
between the brilliance of the enclaves and the smoke-
choked horror of the wilds. They have enough, but live
on the edge of losing it all, to fire, or a bad business
decision, or a greedy corporation.
In the wilds, robber barons and smugglers carve out
refuges for themselves, or live within enclaves, running
their complex operations through intermediaries.
Some of them rival the moguls for power and wealth,
but the majority have tenuous power and wealth.
Others, primarily the biker gangs, work together to
maintain comfort and safety for their members, but
usually work for or with interests within the city.
And, lastly, three groups cohabit the bottom rung.
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The refugees, the indentured, and the prisoner

classes struggle to survive. While the refugees
theoretically have the option to better their
circumstances, too often those who’ve lost
everything have nowhere to turn but to
the corporations, ending their freedom
and often any ties or connections to
the outside world.

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The Second Dark Age
By Dianna Gunn
They wanted to end the bloodshed. To stop soldiers,
our brothers and sisters, from dying. To end the war,
once and for all.
The M-735s, or Multicators as they came to be called,
were supposed to do all of that for us. And they did. They
destroyed the enemy and devoured their weapons.
At first we cheered, grateful to see the end of the war.
Our enemies’ surrender tasted sweet in our mouths.
We accepted their surrender, but the war didn’t end.
The Multicators no longer accepted authority. They
simply continued devouring the enemy’s resources,
their infrastructure, every scrap of metal and wire
they could find. They multiplied from millions to tens
of millions, conquering every inch of enemy land.
We tried to stop them. Our best scientists worked
round the clock, searching for a way to turn them off.
Our government sent aid, evacuating cities before the
Multicators arrived.
They created the self-replicating robots to end the
war. What they didn’t expect was that they would
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keep fighting, long after the war was over.

After they devoured the enemy, they turned to us.
Our ships, our weapons, our infrastructure. Tens of
millions grew to hundreds of millions.
With no hope of destroying the Multicators, the
world’s remaining governments came up with
another plan: to leave. They built a colony ship near
the Arctic Circle, far away from the Multicators’
wrath, and named it Hope. Three thousand humans,
the wealthiest and most brilliant, flew away to start
again, somewhere far away from their creation.

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 Abandoned, the rest of humanity went into hiding,
abandoning our metal tools and learning to live off
the land again.
Having devoured all the metal Earth had to offer, the
Multicators started a new project: a spaceship. They
launched themselves into space, leaving the remnants
of humanity with nothing.
And so we entered a new Dark Age. Disease and
storms ravaged what remained of the human
population. Billions died.
Fifty years later, humanity is still nothing like what it
was. We are struggling, dying. But there is hope now.
We have, after all, survived.
Perhaps someday we will be able to thrive again.
Technology in the Second Dark Age
Many people have access to small metal tools that
were overlooked by the Multicators in their final
stages of invasion. There is no consistent access to
electricity, though some experiments have produced
small amounts for short periods of time.

Government in the Second Dark Age

Without electricity, centralized government systems
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collapsed. Only the smallest, most remote governments

retained any form of control. In these places, the
communities at the edges of the world, life has remained
much the same.
In the rest of the world, new governments are emerging.
Networks of towns are banding together, working to
build new civilizations. These societies are crude and
often cruel, but they show humanity’s true resilience.
The most successful of these communities are the
ones belonging to cultures that maintained traditional
lifestyles with minimal dependence on technology.

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Religion in the Second Dark Age
Catastrophe tends to bring out the superstitious side of
people, and the Second Dark Age is no exception. Many
of the groups who were least affected by the Multicator
invasion were already deeply religious, such as the Amish.
Their survival, they said, was not merely a
coincidence. It was a sign from God that they had
been chosen to lead humanity into a new era, one of
religious enlightenment.
Refugees from the cities and towns destroyed by the
Multicators flocked to these communities, converting by
the hundreds. These societies struggled to accommodate
their rapidly growing populations at first, but eventually
they came to thrive in a way they hadn’t for centuries.
Now these religious organizations are the largest
communities in many parts of the world, exerting
varying levels of control over neighboring towns.
Other religious communities have completely cut off
their already limited communication with the outside
world. These groups believe that even thinking about how
to recreate a technological civilization is blasphemous.
Converts are required to destroy any possessions that could
not be created with the current level of technology before
they enter. Anyone found smuggling these possessions in
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is severely punished. Some of these communities will go

so far as to execute technology smugglers.

The Diggers
The Multicators devoured all of the metal aboveground
and the largest underground sources as well, but
there are still small underground deposits of metal
in remote locations around the world. The people
dedicated to finding, and trading, these bits of metal
are known as Diggers.

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 Diggers are both revered and feared in many
communities. They provide wealth, and a connection
to humanity’s great past, but they are often dangerous,
rugged types. Many towns discourage Diggers from
congregating in large groups.
Religious communities believe the Diggers are
blasphemers. Diggers caught trespassing on their
lands are severely punished.
Less adventurous Diggers make their money combing
beaches and riverbeds near towns, or digging up
ancient wiring.
The bravest Diggers travel far and wide, seeking
underground bunkers and vaults to raid. Most of
these Diggers live a purely nomadic lifestyle, and often
spend weeks on the road between dig sites.
Most Diggers travel in groups of two or three, to
simplify splitting the already sparse loot.

The Vaults
The wealthiest Diggers earned their fortunes exploring
and looting “Vaults.” Some of these are actual vaults,
but most are storm shelters or bunkers. These were
ignored by the Multicators because of their remote
location and difficulty of access, but in a world stripped
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bare their treasures are invaluable.

After fifty years, many of these storm shelters and
bunkers have been looted. Those with simple designs
have been outright dismantled, their materials
repurposed. Only a handful of Vaults remain, hidden
away in the furthest corners of the world.

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The Great Vault
Some believe that the world’s governments came up
with two plans: one for their own escape, and one to
restart civilization on Earth. This second plan is known
as the Great Vault. It is said to exist deep underground,
near the Arctic base where Hope was built.
Spanning several miles and containing blueprints
and prototypes for thousands of humanity’s greatest
inventions, the Great Vault is every Digger’s ultimate
dream. There is no physical proof of its existence, but
hundreds have gone north searching for it. Those
who have returned came back with more scars than
treasure, and many never made it back at all.
Still, many Diggers choose the Great Vault as their
final destination, heading north when they grow tired
of seeking ever-smaller tech deposits and struggling
to survive. Many consider it an honorable end, even if
they never find the treasure.

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Of Crowns and Scales
By John D. Kennedy
Micro-Setting Pitch: “Escape from Big Mountain”
Possible Themes: Survival, Mining, Forced Evolution,
Super Science
Inspired by: Journey to the Center of the Earth, Fallout
Shelters

The Arrival:
The chamber echoes with the sound of thunder as
explosive shrapnel detonates off the wall. Clouds of
dust billow out as the tapping sound of collapsing
debris slows to a stop. Several spotlights shine into
the room as a figure dressed in a thick leather and
chainmail suit steps into the room. The figure checks
a scanning device in their hands while several others
lurk at the edge of the room.
A heavily modulated voice comes from the leader.
“Air’s clean. Some radiation in here, but nothing Doc’s
meds can’t filter out. I say we found a jackpot.”
“Really? What are we going to find, another couple
of wrecked cars, maybe some elderly couple’s old
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camper? What are we gonna find here, Chief?”

The sound of disgust from Chief’s voicebox was
audible even without the speakers. Popping the clasp
on her helmet, she pulled off her breather and glared at
her crew behind her. “That camper kept us in batteries
for a month, Skolarski. And you should open your eyes.”
The dust slowly settled, and a soft glow emanated
from the cavern. A vast forest of mushrooms the size of
oak trees spanned the horizon. A waterfall of glowing
blue water trickled at the water’s edge, and red grass

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crunched underfoot as the Burrowers entered the
chamber. The sounds of wildlife slowly began to blot
out the sound of the group’s respirators.
Breathing deeply, Chief smiled as she slid the scanner
into her pocket. “Well, guys, looks like we hit the jackpot.”
A low growl emerged from the nearby undergrowth.
Several pairs of eyes glow in the dark, and before
anyone could react, the team of veteran scavengers
drew their weapons and fired.

Escape from Big Mountain

It was supposed to be a golden age.
Mankind had tamed electricity, nature, and even
the atom itself. But their greatest creation was on the
verge of being a reality when scientists across the globe
finally cracked the secret of manipulating matter. With
the flick of a switch, they could rearrange atoms and
convert elements into different compounds. Radioactive
wastelands could be converted to idyllic gardens free
of pollution. Crumbling buildings could be turned into
modern superstructures, and every day garbage could
be converted into food to feed the hungry.
But where come breakthroughs for peace, comes the
threat of war. The Instant Matter project was too tempting
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a technology for other nations to ignore. The nations of

the world argued over whether the technology should
be used and if so, then by who. The Haves and the Have
Nots debated, argued, and ultimately went to war. At
some point during this conflict the nations of the world
created a devastating nightmare of fallout from nuclear
devices and biological warfare. A scientist decided to use
Instant Matter to fix the impending cataclysm and save
mankind. What happened next will never be forgotten,
because its effects were felt worldwide.

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 The Instant Matter project began to convert oxygen
into different forms of rock. Soon towering mountain
ranges of granite and marble began to fill the air. Flat
plains gave way to enormous mountain ranges that
reached into the sky. Entire settlements were wiped out
as every speck of space was filled suddenly with rock.
Others quaked with fear as they found themselves
surrounded by an endless wall of rock that cut them
off from the outside world.
Settlements were forced to adapt to survive. Those
towns and cities who had access to Instant Matter
technology used it to create air and gigantic solar lamps
that lit the caverns they found themselves in. Scavenge
teams were sent out to find spare parts and food to
keep the settlements going. As these teams began to
explore the caverns around them, they discovered that
the terrain known as Big Mountain was more than just
caverns of rock and entombed cities. Attempts to reverse
the Instant Matter apocalypse ended in frustration as
no settlement possessed the power supply needed to
transform the mountain back into air on such a large
scale, and what power they did have was needed to keep
the settlements alive. In addition to the nightmare they
found themselves in, the survivors discovered the Instant
Matter project had other unforeseen consequences.
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The Burrowers
They are called Burrowers. The name is not just
because they explore beneath the earth and explore
the tunnels of Big Mountain but because of Edgar
Rice Burrough’s stories about Pellucidar, the land that
existed in the center of a hollow Earth. It was a world
of strange geography and animals, and the tunnels of
the Big Mountain are every bit as strange and exotic
as his stories.

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 Equal part explorers and scavengers, the Burrowers
are responsible for keeping the settlements running.
They take on the grim task of exploring the dark places of
Big Mountain. This is no easy task, as the dangers of the
world have only intensified. The mountain possesses
razor sharp tunnels, pockets of toxic gas, and the ever-
present threat of cave ins. To make matters worse, the
world itself was changed by Instant Matter. A new
ecosystem emerged within Big Mountain as wildlife
mutated to adapt within its walls. New species capable
of surviving in the dark roamed the tunnels and forests
of phosphorescent fungi blossomed. Animals such as
the Marble Cave Bear and the Iguanodon preyed upon
explorers, and Fungal Wood became a prized resource
to maintain settlements.
Though the settlements tried to stay united at first,
competition over resources soon split them apart. As a
settlement’s power needs grew, they attempted to extend
their influence across the region. Natural resources
such as fresh water springs and sources of uranium
became battlegrounds as competing settlements fought
to control them. In order to preserve themselves from
the dangers of the world around them and the threat
of their neighbors, each settlement began arming and
equipping their own militias to keep them safe.
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That is not to say that the settlements prefer to stay

isolated. Each settlement will trade precious batteries
with each other, and supplies such as pre-Mountain
antibiotics and technology are precious. Successful
Burrowers are able to determine the needs of nearby
settlements and memorize the best places to scavenge
for what they need. A clever Burrower can retire after
only a few years of successful scavenging. Unlucky
Burrowers often do not last long, as they either end up
in the gullet of a Tunnelworm or dead at the bottom of
a toxic mineshaft.

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Dangers in the Dark
Although mankind is still the most dangerous threat
in the Big Mountain, there are other dangers lurking
in the dark. The most dangerous threats are seemingly
out of this world, as they are threats that seem to have
emerged out of old stories from the 18th century.
These threats are the Morlocks and the Graves.
The Morlocks come straight out of a Jules Vernes
novel. Primitive creatures that have adapted to the
dark crevasses of the Big Mountain, the Morlocks
seem to live at one with the earth around them. Each
Morlock possesses the ability to navigate through
tunnels without the need for light, although whether
this is a form of sonar or ESP, no settlement researcher
has been able to uncover. Some Morlock communities
keep to themselves, and only raid other settlements
when forced. Other Morlock communities are feral
bands that roam the dark, leaving few survivors in
their wake as they seek an ever-increasing amount of
plunder and treasure.
Another threat are the Graves. Strange beings
infused with Instant Matter energies, the Graves are
little more than zombies constantly seeking to devour
organic matter into themselves to keep themselves
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alive. Their parasitic bite can convert humans into

Graves. Their bodies slowly begin to swirl with
entropic decay, and unwary Burrowers have broken
into new tunnels to discover settlements overrun with
figures who are little more than glowing blue bodies
with their skeletons visible from a distance.
The most prominent hope that keeps each settlement
running is the idea that someday the living Hell of
being trapped in Big Mountain will end. Referred to
as Escapism, some believe that one day a scientist will
discover how to reverse the Instant Matter process and

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return the world to normal. Others believe that the Big
Mountain ends at some point, and they can escape from
it to a world of blue skies and sunlight. No one knows
how large or how far the Big Mountain goes, but cults
dedicated to the belief that one day they will be able to
escape offer succor to those trapped in the dark.

Sample Adventure Hooks:

Each one of these hooks have the same goals: To make
the player characters central to the unfolding story, to
create a vehicle for interpersonal drama and mystery,
and to reinforce the themes of the setting, be they
adventure, horror, politics or some mix of the three.
The secondary goal is to challenge the players to make
difficult choices.
I. Redrock is one of the more successful settlements
in Big Mountain, but lately its Sun generator is
losing power. The city has attempted to repair their
generator, but something is diverting power from the
geothermal vent it uses for its power source. The city’s
militia thinks it’s the nearby Morlocks settlement, but
the Morlocks are also losing power from their Sun.
As both settlements get ready for war, the Burrowers
have to find a way to avert both war and the two Suns
dying out.
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“Here’s the deal, Burrowers. I represent the Mayor

of Redrock, and she’s hired me to find teams who can
solve the mystery of our dying sun. If we don’t find
where the power drain is coming from, Redrock and all
thirty thousand of its people will go cold. All we know
is the drain is occurring in the Chunnels, but that turf
belongs to the Morlocks. If they’re responsible for our
leech, then deal with it, but do not bring that trouble
back on us, alright?”

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 II. The sound of monstrous howling echoes through
the nearby settlement, though no one is sure where the
sound is coming from. As the Burrowers investigate
a nearby tunnel they discover a young Iguanodon
trapped at the bottom of a well of smooth basalt. The
creature is starving, and weak, but if fed will bond
with its rescuers. Settlements will pay a high price for
a young Iguanodon, but poachers will try to steal the
beast away to either sell it or kill it for meat.
“I heard it all through the night. The sound of an
Iguanodon. Young one, too. Now, I’m giving you
directions to where I think its hiding, but for one reason
only: so I can get a good night’s sleep! What you do
with it is your problem. Kill it, cook it, set it free; I don’t
care. Just watch out for its teeth and remember this: it’s
gonna get bigger.”
III. The settlements of Blackfalls, Ruby Canyon, and
New Lexington have been at war for over a year.
The tunnels around the settlements are mined and
guarded by sentries. Hundreds have died, and now a
local Graves chief known as Loa Shati has rallied an
army of the dead to her side. As the hordes of Graves
grows steadily, travelers between the settlements
start to go missing, and if the three settlements do not
stop fighting among themselves then the region will
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be overwhelmed.
“This is Beacon Forty Three. We’re trying to reach
anyone to get us help. I don’t care what the commanders
of the militias are up to, but we are dying down here!
There’s Graves roaming in record numbers, and they’re
destroying everything in their wake! And we can’t
escape because all the shafts are locked off by the war!
We need someone to come help us! Is anyone there?”

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The Plunge
By Mari Murdock

Observation Log
Kitt Peak National Observatory: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Employee Name: Daniel Ortega Fuentes
ID Number: 702-354c
Usual Shift: 1000-2200
1/14—Bright flash of light from the western horizon.
Lasted more than an hour and appeared like dawn
breaking from the wrong direction.
1/15—Reports from Central related issues involving
a large impact on moon’s surface. Still not clear of the
situation. No visual since 0837 yesterday. All normal
satellite orbits have been disrupted.
1/18—First visual of moon since reports of impact.
Several degrees out of its usual orbit, the moon has
split but is still intact. Meteors constant, day and night.
Nearby reports of impact.
1/23—International emergency has been declared by the
UN due to continued meteor impacts, destruction in major
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cities. The moon, no longer spherical, is disintegrating

and being pulled toward the Earth’s gravity, piecemeal.
Three main pieces remain, each dark and non-reflective,
as if scorched. Likely cooling core fragments. People from
the coast—Los Angeles, San Diego, Tijuana, Ensenada—
are fleeing inland, gathering here in the desert.
2/11—We are under attack. People are convinced
our facility has a bomb shelter, and we’ve been under
siege for two days, unable to go home. We don’t have
supplies or weapons here. Boss says to abandon the
observatory early tomorrow morning.

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 2/13—Jessica got pulled out the truck. Boss said to
leave her. We are headed to Picacho Peak. People have
long since ignored the roads, driving in the desert to
flee inland. The core is close enough to observe without
telescope and is certain to impact earth within weeks.
Our calculations land it in the Pacific in two days. All
my colleagues are predicting the end of life on earth.
8/22—It’s been months, and I don’t know how, but
we’re still here. The core did land in the Pacific, causing
enormous tidal waves, and from what we gathered
from other fleeing refugees, the ocean swallowed
up the entire west coast. We can only guess what
the rest of the world looks like. Tens of thousands of
fleeing citizens were drowned as the desert flooded.
Picacho Peak is now an island, and we are completely
surrounded by the new inland sea.
10/5—Abnormal weather cycles have killed nearly all
animals and plants, and people are starting to die or
exposure and starvation. There are about fifteen of us
left on Picacho Island, myself, a few of my Observatory
colleagues, and some strangers. We built a crude raft
out of floating debris. Tomorrow we will set out to
find... well, whatever the hell is left of the world.
10/11—We’ve bounced from island to island in the
Arizona Sea, salvaging whatever floats by. Compasses
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now point west. We want to go north to Utah since

there could still be dry land at the higher altitude.
We’ve already been targeted by scavengers twice, and
I don’t think we can survive another hit. It would be a
hell of a thing to have survived the apocalypse, only to
be eaten by pirates.
12/21—Utah is a warzone. All the survivors here
are killing each other over the food storage stockpiles
and guns, and large gangs have violently staked out
territories. Boss and Trisha died in an ambush last

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night, and Abhijit lost an eye. We are down to twelve.
Some of us want to try to hash it out here, but I’m still
wondering about what happened to the moon. Since
our compass still points west, I think that somehow
the core became polarized when it entered the
Earth’s electromagnetic field. If we follow the needle,
we should be able to find the core and maybe some
answers.
1/9—We’ve been adrift for weeks somewhere over
California. Pirate activity is the worst here, but we were
lucky enough to find some rifles and loads of ammo on
our way through Nevada. This morning, we saw a tall
black peak standing out of the ocean on the horizon.
Our compass points straight at it, no matter where we
drift. If it really is part of the core, then we are one step
close to finding out what happened. Hopefully, we can
get there without having our throats cut.
1/10—The core is made entirely of iron. The tallest
central piece spires up above the clouds with enough of
a coastal region to build a city on it. There’s wreckage
and sharks all around it, so we need to be careful of
approaching.
1/11—Last night, we saw light coming from Core
Island. We sailed closer until a tiny town came into
view on the northern shore. From what we could tell
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using binoculars, it seemed like a mining facility with

dozens of workers extracting the iron. Stephen said
he saw armed guards, making this some kind of weird
labor camp. But who is organized enough to have set
this type of operation so fast? Scared that they might
see us if we got any closer, we started turning back,
but there’s a fleet of pirates up ahead. God, what
should we do?

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What Are Our Options?
Most of the world is sea, the earth’s magnetic field has
shifted, and the night sky is now only lit with stars and our
new asteroid belt. With the world so changed, the only
thing you can depend upon is your ingenuity, because
your luck is about to run out. What can you do to survive
and discover the truth behind the end of the world?
Crafting: Wreckage and scavenging are your
supermarkets, and with the proper knowhow, you can
turn trash into treasure. Use your wits to craft tools
and/or weapons that can solve the problems that arise
in the new world landscape. With the right ones, you
might even be able to use the moon’s core and start a
new Iron Age for the Earth.
Diplomacy: Each survivor of the moon core’s impact
has found a way to eat and survive. Robbers, soldiers,
and families each have their own ways, so use your
wits to build relationships with them. Sometimes, all
it takes is sharing some of the fish you caught that day,
and other times, negotiation needs a harpoon through
the pirate captain’s eye.
Combat: If you’ve learned anything from the last
year, you know that fish gets old real fast, and anything
shiny and sharp is everyone’s new favorite toy. To avoid
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being someone’s lunch or losing all your supplies, arm

your team with anything and everything to stake out a
bit of land or ocean for yourselves.
Exploration: With only the tallest mountains of the
world left, every bit of land is disputed territory, forcing
you to rough it out on open sea. Build or salvage a ship
to upgrade your home, discover and colonize a lonely
mountain top, find what remnants of governmental
contingency plans float by, or find what creepy phenomena
the moonfall washed up from the depths of the ocean.

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Adventure Hooks:
Captured at the Camp
The mining camp on Core Island is owned and
operated by Admiral Bernard Walton, a former US
Navy officer that was docked in Hong Kong during the
collision. His fleet struck a deal with Chinese warlord
Zhang Yuxiang to rebuild some kind of civilization.
Walton and Yuxiang harvest the iron to be smelted
on the Chinese mainland and use slave labor brought
from refugee camps for the mining. The power Walton
holds comes from the weapons and technology of his
US destroyer, but his crew is outnumbered by the
workers in the camp by 100 to 1. It is likely your crew
was captured to bolster the mining ranks, but if you
could convince Walton of your usefulness, this may
give you an advantage and maybe the leisure and
resources to find out what happened to the moon. If
not, you may need to organize some type of revolt—a
state-of-the-art war ship in a waterworld dystopia
would definitely be a prize.

Prisoners of Pirates
The ocean is full of all kinds of pirates. Iolani Ryland
Kaimaika leads a fleet, looking to “recruit” sailors for
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her on-ocean empire in any way possible, hoping to

control the seas. Dock-boy Peters runs a tiny yet ruthless
sail-boat operation mostly interested in scavenging
what they can find to take back to their wives and
children, who are supposedly hidden somewhere in
Alaska. Captain Wolfram is most interested in a body
count, and his crew of cannibals are always hungry.
With this variety, what would each of these crews do
with a raft full of scientist-turned-sailors with a few
guns to their name? Maybe you can break through

150
their fleet to make it back to the mainland. Maybe
you can convince them to ignore you and attack Core
Island, dangling the lure of a US destroyer in their
faces. Maybe joining a band of self-interested robbers
is your only option.

Evading Both Enemies

The terrain of Core Island is unique and cavernous,
with no end to hiding places you and your friends
could take shelter in. Exploring the new landscape
could bring some surprise caches of shipwrecked
goods or tools to add to your arsenal, but there are
people on the island besides Admiral Walton and his
slavers. Connect with a tribe of iron-cave dwellers,
led by Gabe Neske and his crew of shipwrecked
commercial fishermen, to discover the secrets of the
moon’s demise. Neske claims that he discovered a UFO
in one of the deepest caves, and though you certainly
don’t believe him, you can’t help but wonder what the
strange lights are that keep glowing down in the distant
tunnels. Strange mineral deposits? Bioluminescent
fish? Something weirder from beneath the waves?

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Broken Star
By Darren W. Pearce
“Not even the gods above and below will knock us off
course. This ship is the finest we’ve ever built, and she’s
destined to take us to new worlds and beyond.”
—Captain Garron Relk of the TCV: Calico.
The Terran Colony Vessel Calico set off on a 300 year
voyage to a new star system, to find a new home for
the select few upon the ship. This was not a case of
overpopulation, or dwindling resources: this was a
single giant leap for Terran-kind across the stars.  
Little did they know that their voyage would end
in tragedy for both their ship and the planet they
crashed upon. As a disaster brought the ship out of
hyperspace early and in the wrong place, the vessel
landed on a medium tech world—some of the Calico’s
crew and passengers survived thanks to emergency
escape vehicles.  
However, the drive core detonated and caused a
chain reaction that triggered volatile upheavals for the
planet. Now the survivors of the ship and the people of
this world live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where
the Great Crater is the only sign a vessel from beyond
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the stars ever made landfall on their world.

This is the World of Broken Star.

Hostile Environment
The Calico’s drive core caused massive upheavals to the
world’s ecosystems, and the detonation interacted with
Karrabas V’s weather in a catastrophic way. In a matter
of a few short years, everything changed for this medium
tech world, and their way of life was over. Outside the
few remaining strongholds, the environment of this

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planet is hostile to anything but the life that has mutated
to survive in the wasteland known as the Burn.
Temperatures soar well above safe minimums; there
are vicious fire storms that strike up at a moment’s notice,
and catastrophic quakes that can unleash tides of quick-
flowing lava that slather across the landscape in seconds.

Life Finds a Way

There are not just environmental dangers on this
world, there’s also the threat of the creatures spawned
in the wake of the drive core’s volatile explosion.
Mutated monsters and worse roam the areas outside
the Burn and infest the once-thriving ruined cities
and towns that were the heart and soul of Karrabas V.
The drive core also had a marked effect on the people
caught in the blast. Those who survived found that
they changed: some gained horrific mutations, some
psychic powers, and others were granted destructive
abilities that warped them completely.
You can find any kind of animal here in a mutated
variant: big cats that breathe fire, lizards that fire
poison spines, or cows that vomit acid. The sky’s truly
the limit when it comes to “life” on the Broken Star.

The Good
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Thousands of years of evolution have spawned not only

monsters but the descendants of those who escaped
the Calico’s destruction, and those who survived the
massive disaster have somehow flourished against all
odds. There’s the saying, what doesn’t kill you, makes
you stronger. They have banded together behind
strong walls, stalwart defenses, and comradeship to
attempt to drive back the horrors that now walk just
outside. All are welcome as long as they pitch in, and
that includes mutants and other anomalies.

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Grayling Fort
A once thriving city now mostly ruined, Grayling was
reclaimed by the descendants of the Calico and turned
into a safe haven. Here the folk of Grayling can enjoy
relative safety, find work, and are supported by an active
mining community that manages to pull what resources
it can from the dark earth and stone around the area.
Grayling’s Rangers are a support force that actively seek
out the monsters in the dark and battle them to keep
surrounding settlements and locations safer.

Capitol
A huge sprawling city that winds through the biggest
mountain range on Karrabas V, Capitol is the result of
hundreds of years of people coming to find refuge and
safety, adding their homes and digging out new ones
into the rock itself. Capitol has rudimentary power
generation and boasts a massive selection of trade goods.
It’s on good terms with the surrounding settlements and
is home to a certain breed of lunatic scout known as Burn
Divers. These stalwart folk use specially constructed
enviro-suits to help them explore the Burn and unearth
the secrets of a previous civilization within.

Barter Bay
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The Calico’s core turned the waters around Barter

Bay a beautiful shade of toxic green and mutated the
fish there into monstrous titans that provide a staple
source of food for the region—as long as you can find
those souls brave (or mad) enough to take on these
giants of the water. The Barter Bay fishers are some of
the best in the region, and they manage to somehow
take down these leviathans and reap the rewards.
Barter Bay itself is a large c-shaped bay which hosts
the ramshackle fishing town of the same name.

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The Others
There are also numerous small towns, settlements,
and other tiny pockets of life scattered around the
areas outside the Burn. These range from simple trade
towns to collections of ruined homes that now house
the dregs of society, who can’t afford to live within
somewhere as grand as Capitol or Grayling.

The Bad
When you have those who band together for mutual
survival, you have those who do the same for profit
and misery. These people come from all walks of life,
including the self-same folks who might have been
exiled from the previous settlements due to unsavory
practices or a run-in with the local government/law.

Ripper’s Crew
Robbing from the rich to make yourself richer is a
motto that Ripper’s Crew understands. They operate
out of mobile-home style Junker vehicles and roam the
wastelands outside of the Burn, looking for whatever
they can steal. They don’t mind killing—some of them
quite enjoy it—and Ripper himself likes to leave his
victims with lasting reminders of their encounter
with his crew. He drives a big-rig he calls the Howler,
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and his crew often hits the less defended settlements

at the edges of civilization to make a meagre profit.

Smokestack Canyon
This is a hive of scum and villainy like no other: a
huge natural cleft in the landscape, chock-a-block
with huts, hovels, homes, and dwellings that house
the most despicable people who couldn’t find a place
in society at all. Here are the extreme mutants, the
murderers, the slavers, the vagabonds, and anyone

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who just plain hates being around people wanting
to do some good in the world. You can buy and sell
everything in Smokestack, and everyone has a price
here—even if they don’t know it yet.

Bertha’s Hotel
There’s one big boss that keeps every single petty
warlord, crime-lord, slaver, cut-throat, and wannabe
war chief in line out in the wasteland beyond
goody-two-shoes civilization, and that’s Bertha Relk,
descendant of the Calico’s original captain, a man who
actually survived the drive core blast and fathered an
impressive progeny who went off the rails somewhere
down the line. Bertha’s a no-nonsense kind of gal that
leaves a bunch of crucified victims to remind people of
who’s in charge. Work for her or die, that’s her motto.

Petty Warlords
There are a whole slew of other warlords, minor
wannabe bandits, and tiny crews of miscreants in the
wasteland. They infest every ruin and out of the way
place looking to make a quick kill and steal the stuff
that doesn’t belong to them.

The Ugly
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Mutants, the Changed, Radders, or whatever folks call

them, they have been altered in some way by the drive
core’s explosion. They band together in way-out places
to attempt to find some form of common goal with
each other. Survival, raiding, rebuilding civilization,
or saving the unfortunate—there’s one thing they all
share: they’re not Terran any longer.

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Saviour Joe
Saviour Joe was a person once, long ago. Now he’s an
ideal: that even mutants can be heroes. They are heroes
who are immune to the radiation, or the intense heat
of the Burn, those who can withstand horrific injury
and regrow limbs or lost organs. These folks go out
of their way to help those in need, often appearing
when least expected and melting away before they
can be discovered or receive thanks. There’s a bunch
of Saviour Joes in every community, usually hidden
far from the eyes of normal folk.

Changeville
To the amusement of the mutants who live here,
the adopted nickname for this place kind of stuck.
Changeville is a town that lies at the base of the crater
where the Calcio exploded and changed the world
for good. It’s a huge mutant town where normal
folk are welcome but mistrusted until they earn the
people’s good will. There’s a lot of trade that goes on in
Changeville, and a lot of work for those who are good
enough to do it.

The Badlands
A modest town on the edge of the Burn, the Badlands
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is the one last stop before you enter the hell that
follows. It’s full of treasure seekers, adventurers, wily
mutants and traders of all kinds. It’s also a maze of
market stalls and blind alleys, running through an old
shopping mall in a once thriving market town. You
can find anything for the right kind of price here, and
there are mutants who specialize in traversing the
Burn to bring back relics of an age almost forgotten.
They charge a hefty fee, but it’s worth it for some Old
World tech.

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Killing Rats… or not.
By Jean-Baptiste Perrin
Possible Themes: Underground Survival, Dystopian
Society, Mutant Sentient Animals.
Inspired by: Metro 2033, The Child of the Cavern,
Bunker Palace Hotel, A Boy and His Dog, THX1138, The
City of Ember.

The Concept
War is hell. Civil war is even worse. Slowly but surely,
Humanity evolved into one giant superstate, a massive
multicultural Republic. At one point, around the
25th century, it looked like it would finally discover
singularity, or even escape the gravity well for good
and reach for the stars. Technological advancement
created wonders, life had become easier than ever.
That’s when all hell broke loose. Old forces lurked
deep, and religious cults, radical social currents,
and nationalistic selfishness were never completely
forgotten. Families fought families, parents fought
their children, neighbors murdered neighbors.
While the relatively new Republic was large and all
encompassing, it was also weak as it didn’t create the
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sense of belonging that so many Humans aspire toward.

Eventually, radicalization brought mass terrorism, and
regional militias acquired larger and more powerful
weapons. This could not end well: there was not one
cataclysm to end it all, no. It was more like in the ancient
religious books. Death came accompanied by plague and
war, but unlike in the holy scriptures of lore, they were
not alone. Radiation from dirty bombs and mutations
from biological weapons started turning the survivors
into involuntary threats to their own friends and

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relatives. From grey goos to hordes of raving fanatics,
our world began to die faster. The few people who had
some sense left in them or simply the organization to
plan it started looking to the underground bellies of
Earth cities to find their salvation.
And salvation they found… to a point. The biggest cities
of Earth, the capitals and megalopolises—New York,
Paris, London, Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, Los Angeles, and
Beijing—had become intricate layers of interconnected
levels. There is only so much that you can build above
ground anyway, before structural resistance starts to
play with your building designs. And that limit was
reached a lot faster in the Pacific Rim of Fire, in the
Eastern Mediterranean, or in Central America, where
earthquakes could be so devastating. But underground,
the only limit was how fast one could extract carbon
dioxide with air vents and fans. So the cities became
a vast Swiss cheese of tunnels. On top were the street
levels, parking lots, and buildings. Just below ran street
tunnels, cellars, and more parking lots. Lower again
were massive and complex sewage systems, like so
many concrete and metal bowels, but also metros and
bullet train lines and vent shafts and service galleries
and conduits for the gas, water, electric lines and fiber
optics needed to organize all this. And in many places,
there were malls and “inverted sky-scrapers” built
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to house the billions of poor who couldn’t afford the

restricted space above ground, ancient vaults, medieval
cemeteries and even, as in Paris, century-old and
forgotten quarries or the odd World War Two bunker…
Speaking about bunkers, the remaining elites of the
Earth Republic (as it was then called), the members of
its plethoric Parliament, its high judges and Ministers
and the directors of the higher steps of its massive
bureaucracy, brought themselves and their families into
high end bunkers. In the beginning, they had planned to

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keep ruling the world from these, but they soon became
cut off, like most other communities, and devolved into
as many small states of their own. The “Bunker Palaces,”
as the survivors dubbed them, are well defended and
impressive but ultimately as useless as their inhabitants.
It didn’t happen in one day or even one decade. But
what’s known is that at the start of the 26th century,
the surface was deemed too lethal to support Human
life, and men and women had regressed into a semi
barbaric state, finding refuge lower and lower in the
depth of their dying civilization, scattered in hundreds
and thousands of troglodyte communities. Technology
hadn’t disappeared completely, of course, but trade
and food production had become increasingly
difficult, making people and underground factories
rethink their priorities to ensure survival.
But the disaster didn’t stop there. As decades passed,
communities nearer to the surface started reporting
increasing attacks by giant rats. No one knows where
they came from or how the relatively small rodents of
the past had become the nightmarish one-meter tall
predators of the 27th century. And not only were they
bigger and stronger than normal rats, but this new breed
was also smarter and well organized in packs. It soon
became clear, as one human subterranean community
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was wiped out after the other, that these giant rats had
become sentient. Humans call them “Ratling” or “Ratkin.”
Nowadays, around the year 2666, the underground
world is separated in four layers, more or less stable,
rarely changing. On the surface, nothing survives very
long, apart from some mutated insects and parasites.
It’s a mineral world, mostly, with short vegetation,
majestic debris, and the occasional rat pack patrol
with their makeshift gas masks, trying to avoid the
incredibly deadly remaining fauna. Lower is the rat

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domain, just under street level. They have developed
a click and whistle language, crude technology and
a nomadic society of shifting clans moving from one
main hub or market to another and occasionally
raiding human communities below them.
Deeper is the human domain. The Earth Republic
is no more, and instead, women and men have split
in thousands of communities, each rallied around a
set of simple ideas—a religion, a cult, a ritual, a social
construction, or simply a local identity or culture.
Some allied in wider political organizations, mostly
to fight the warring Ratling clans. Some communities
even trade with the more peaceful Ratkins. But the
dream of uniting humanity is now gone…
And even lower than the Human domain is what men
and rats alike call the “deep dark.” These ancient tunnels,
mineshafts, and wells are mostly too full of toxic gas to
allow mammals to enter them. Yet, things lurk down
there. Legends are whispered, in the flickering lights of
neon in dusty bars, of untold riches and lost tech, waiting
for the adventurer brave enough to go and claim them…
or die trying. To this day, no one has really managed to
come back to prove the stories true.

Setting Fluff
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Lana was tightening the knots on her little brother’s

gear. Thomas was reaching sixteen years old and, in
their community, this meant he would be sent below,
dangerously closed to the Deep Dark, for his initiation.
She was shuddering at the thought, remembering
all too well her own trip, two years earlier. Not that
years meant much to her people. There was no real
way to tell the passage of time, other than ancient
clocks, preciously kept by the elders. But tradition did
matter to her superstitious village, and so she had an

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old shaman bless her crude shotgun. When the time
would be right, she would give it to Thomas, so that
he wouldn’t rely on his slower crossbow down below.
“Klak whiiirrr, klock.” Lana and Thomas both spun
at the noise, reaching for their weapons. The silhouette
in the passage didn’t seem too concerned under its
hood and its grey fur. Lana relaxed a little, recognizing
the intruder: No-Dak, son of a Ratkin trader who had
contacted her community on occasions. Thomas was
still shaking a little, but he had the good sense not to
shoot his bolt. The Ratkin greeted them awkwardly.
“What you up to here?” Lana asked.
“Young Thomas-kin go under soon, no?” the mutant
asked, butchering the words. Thomas nodded. “Me
too,” said the Ratkin. “You big, me smart,” he added.
“We team.”
Lana nearly burst into laughter. Thomas was getting
angry: “You ain’t so smart, No-Dak. And I’ll have a gun.”
The Ratling whistled “O-Kaaay, Thomas-mankin.
Your choicccce. But I be there anyway.”
Thomas shrugged: “Just don’t get in the blast cone if
we meet giant lizards or some stuff, ok?”
No-Dak nodded, all clicking and humming again:
“Thissss fun, Thom-kin. I be around when you go.”
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“See ya,” said Lana. And the rat was gone, shifting
shadows in the darker tunnel…

Sample Adventure Hooks

1) You are traders or scouts, tasked with bringing
supplies from your small subterranean colony to
the underground city-state of Paris. Your boss, the
merchant-lord of Meaux, gave you two crates to bring
to his contact, a civil servant waiting for you at the

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back entrance of the Lutetia Bunker Palace. But what’s
in the crates? And who really wants them?
2) You are young Ratkin raiders, trained in stealth and
speed. The Shaman of the Burr-Bri clan has given you
one simple mission: intercepting a group of merchants
carrying crates to the big human city. You are not to
kill the traders, but you sure can hurt them if they
resist. Will you get the crates they are carrying? And
if yes, will curiosity win over?

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Post-Human Terminus!
By Steve Radabugh
You are Post-Human. That makes you dangerous
and marked for termination. The war that raged a
generation ago between the Post-Human Collective
and the nations of man ravaged the world.
The nanites that flow inside you, a relic of times gone,
are highly illegal, but are also the key to your survival.
Just don’t get caught by the inquisitors.
Inspired by: “Nexus Trilogy” by Ramez Naam,
Handmaid’s Tale, Jeremiah

The Concept
Long ago, when the world was a much better place,
people started using nano-technology to develop a
computer to brain interface. These nanites came in
vials of liquid that could be ingested. Once inside a
body, they would travel to the brain and start to make
connections with the neurons. People slowly learned
to use these direct brain interfaces for more complex
tasks. People interacted with their phones over a
Bluetooth connection without even taking their phone
out of their pocket; the screen was now in their mind’s
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eye. This brought about a new age of augmented

reality where information would just be overlaid on
top of what people were seeing.
Then, direct brain to brain communication became
possible. As more people linked their minds together, a
distributed hive mind emerged called the Intelligence.
From the beginning, parts of the human population
rejected the idea of using nanites. They rejected the idea
of using technology to change humans into something

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fundamentally different. They saw God’s creation as being
perfect the way God created it. When the Intelligence
emerged, these people formed the Resistance.
The war that followed wasn’t contained to one part
of the world; it was fought everywhere. The sides
were no longer divided by political borders, but by
beliefs between neighbors. Eventually, the Resistance
developed EMP weapons to neutralize the nanites
and remove people from the Intelligence. The world
was left in ruins. Very little technology survived.
Governments were shattered and broken. Humanity
was pushed back to tribalism.

The Imperium
Vowing to never let The Intelligence rise again, the
leaders of the Resistance founded The Imperium.
While there are many small factions that control
many parts of the wasteland that you call home, the
Imperium is by far the largest and most dominant.
Roughly 25% of settlements are directly Imperium
Outposts, and they have some sort of presence in
most of the remaining settlements. Avoiding them
completely will be nearly impossible.
To aid in detecting and eliminating illegal Post
Humans, The Imperium uses Inquisitors. Inquisitors
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are Post Humans that have software running in their

nanites that has stripped away their Humanity. The
programming prevents them from directly interfacing
with other Post Humans, stopping them from creating
another Intelligence. If they detect another Post
Human in range, they will use a series of viruses to
infect and incapacitate. Once incapacitated, they
determine if they should turn their target into another
Inquisitor, or simply eliminate them.

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Post Human Apocalypse
You play a group of secret Post Humans. Somehow
you have acquired nanites of old. You can use them to
mentally communicate with other Post Humans at close
range; however, the lack of any sort of infrastructure
makes the resurgence of The Intelligence impossible.
Your brain is a high-tech communications device that
is disconnected from the information superhighway.
Your nanites must now rely on local storage caches.
You can interface with any old computers that you can
find. You aren’t the only Post Humans around.
Other groups of Post Humans have been working
to create hidden storage caches where you can sync
what information you have with whatever has been
left behind.
Trait: Post Human: You have access to a computer
that is in your head. Use it to wirelessly communicate
with other Post Humans and computer systems within
range. You can also use it to store information.
In addition, you can install one “app.” Choose one of
the benefits below. This trait may be taken multiple
times for additional apps.
• Camera—You can record images and video from
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your eyes.
• Backdoor—Make a Test to break into another
Post Human’s brain and rummage through their
data within range (typically within sight, or at
Far Zone).
• Translate—You are able to speak and read in
any language.
• Doom—You can play Doom in your mind’s eye.
This offers no tactical benefit to your character,
but it’s pretty cool.

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 • Firewall—You gain Advantage on any Tests to
notice a digital attack against you.
• Map—You can access a map that is incredibly
well detailed at any time. It can even occasionally
tell you where you are on it.
Gear: Faraday Collar
Many Post Humans avoid detection by wearing a
Faraday Collar. It’s a small device that goes around the
neck that prevents any wireless communication with
the wearer. It’s discreet enough that it takes a Test
to notice it. It will keep out hackers and inquisitors;
however, it prevents the wearer from communicating
with any friendly Post Humans or other computer
systems. There is no off switch. It needs to be removed
to be disabled.
Enemy: Inquisitor
HP: 6 (High)
Description: A Post Human that has been infected
with viruses and their Humanity stripped away. They
are only controlled by the software now. They serve
the Imperium and hunt Post Humans.
Traits:
• Vigilant
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• Post Human
• Backdoor
• Firewall
• Virus Infected—Target makes a Save Test when
the Inquisitor attempts to infect them with a virus.
On a fail, the target takes 1 damage.

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Adventure Hooks:
I. Bridgette, another Post Human, was captured by
the Inquisitors. She is being transported back to the
capital of The Imperium to be transformed into another
Inquisitor. She is being escorted by an Inquisitor and
two other human soldiers. They are currently staying
in the town of Lone Tree, where they had a mishap
with their vehicle. They are holed up in an abandoned
hotel while they wait for pickup from the Imperium.
Lone Tree is one of the few towns that have no Imperium
presence outside of this traveling group. It is the perfect
opportunity. Maybe too good of an opportunity?
If the players can save Bridgette, not only will they
stop the creation of another Inquisitor, but they can
decode the viruses put into her by the Inquisitors.
This can allow them to create better protection against
Inquisitor viruses in the future.
II. While staying in a small encampment, the players
wake up one morning to find a chat message waiting
for them in their internal chat app from a username
TLoz719. There are no other Post Humans in the
encampment, and no one saw anyone come near the
encampment during the night. The only thing in the
message is some coordinates that are not too far away.
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If the players follow the coordinates, they’ll find several

other Post Humans who have all come to the same place.
None know what is going on, but they all received an
inexplicable chat message within the last couple of nights.
After waiting, eventually a drone flies overhead, and
everyone receives another message with new coordinates.
These lead to a hidden bunker full of old technology and
computer systems full of information. It is being kept up
by an elderly Post Human who is dying and wanted to
share his stash. How will the players and other collected
Post-Humans divide the wealth?

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Deepwater Titan
By Wendelyn A. Reischl
When the land is overrun with anarchy, you and
your band of Roughnecks aboard an offshore drilling
platform in the Gulf of Mexico have become a bastion
of sanity and a hub of commerce. There are alliances to
be made and gazz to trade. Heavy machinery, heat, and
hostility on the high seas.
Crescent City and its nucleus, the Deepwater Titan,
provide a stable base of operations from which to host
sorties, fight raiders, and also provides the opportunity
to play political games focused around long-term goals
and alliances. Players can take on the role of Roughneck
workers, members of the Cajun Navy, refugees from the
mainland, citizens of Crescent City, or part of the Krewe
that governs the community.
This setting does not directly address the cause and
after effects of the apocalypse. The focus of Deepwater
Titan is the community living on afterwards. As such,
it can be added into your existing setting or used as a
jumping off point for players to uncover what it means
to live on after the end of the modern world without the
chaos of a landlocked setting.
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Crescent City
Crescent City is an artificially created atoll in the Gulf of
Mexico. It is relatively well fortified with vessels moored
and lashed together forming several concentric crescents
around an inner lagoon and the drilling platform, the
Deepwater Titan. Because of the isolated nature of the
community, things are generally less chaotic offshore
than on land.

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 Crescent City is neutral ground. Any outsiders who
wish to trade, gossip, or seek refuge within the confines
of the city must leave their weapons with the Cajun
Navy before entering. While the high seas are lawless,
Crescent City has strict rules everyone must obey. Those
who enter must submit to the rule of the Krewe and
agree to abide by their decisions.
There are many kinds of vessels that compose the City
including barges, tugboats, houseboats, large sailboats,
pleasure craft, and even a lone coast guard cutter. You
never know what kind of vessel may arrive on any
given day and ask to join the dynamic assemblage that is
Crescent City. Additionally, some vessels choose to leave
Crescent City, though that is a less frequent occurrence.
A ship’s position relative to the lagoon often designates
its captain’s rank in the community, with those closer to
the center being more important and trusted.
Crescent City is populated by people from the Gulf
Coast of America, Mexico, and South America. While the
population and mix change from day to day, there are
presumed to be 250 to 350 people present at any given
time, many of whom are “Roughneck” oilfield workers
used to living their lives offshore. Given the number
of people and vessels that compose Crescent City, it is
always bustling with activity and information.
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Deepwater Titan
The Deepwater Titan drilling platform is a town in and
of itself. It is an imposing structure to approach, with
the deck rising over 100 feet off the surface and the top
of the derrick ending 300 feet above the water. In clear
weather the Deepwater Titan can been seen from miles
away day or night (when the lights are lit). The rig has its
own propulsion system with a top speed of four knots.

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 Built to be self-sufficient for moderate spans of time,
the Deepwater Titan can house a crew of nearly 150
with a galley, crew quarters, recreation rooms, and
exercise facilities. It also boasts work facilities including
a control room, drilling floor, derrick, crane, helicopter
pad, maintenance shop, equipment yard, storage tanks
for water and fuel, and diesel power generators.
Given the height advantage of the platform off the
water, anyone approaching from the surface or air is
easily detected. Subsurface threats remain a concern,
but the numerous rings of Crescent City make the
inner lagoon a relatively safe place. While Crescent
City may appear permanent, it has the ability to
unmoor and move when needed for safety or to go to
the next drilling location.

Rex and the Krewe

The Krewe is the inner circle of leaders who act as the
government for Crescent City. They hide their identity
from outsiders at official functions, wearing garish
masks and led by a person designated as “Rex” (the
King). Positions in the Krewe change as do its members.
The tone of the council can range widely based on the
membership and the reining Rex. The only mandates
that remain consistent are 1. Crescent City is neutral
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ground and 2. that Erl and Gazz keep flowing.

Often, the Krewe is called upon to mediate or resolve
disputes among various factions or individuals. Any
matters adjudicated by the Krewe are agreed to be final
and anyone heard flouting their authority will suffer
harsh consequences, up to marooning or death. The
Krewe will keep its authority intact at nearly any cost.

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Erl and Gazz
The life blood of the Gulf and the mechanized world,
formerly known as “oil and gas,” these hydrocarbons
keep the world of the post apocalypse running as
smoothly as possible. Having the Deepwater Titan
drilling platform at the core of Crescent City has
cemented its place as a trading hub in the Gulf.
Part of the role of the Deepwater Titan is to keep the
Erl and Gazz flowing. To do so, it must keep the rig in
working order and keep the bit turning to the right. This
is vital to the longevity of Crescent City and the wellbeing
of its people. Hence it is a bastion that attracts skilled
workers from engineers to tool pushers, geologists to
welders and many more.

The Cajun Navy

Composed of a loose organization of boat pilots and
private boat owners from all walks of life, the Cajun
Navy was formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
in 2005. These determined do-gooders are focused
on search and rescue operations and helping their
neighbors. Typically piloting shallow draft vessels that
can navigate flooded regions and swamps, their flotilla
consists of bass boats, tugboats, Jon boats, air boats,
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Higgins boats, and even a few cypress pirogues for when

stealth is required.
The Cajun Navy has a loose alliance with Crescent City
and uses it as their base of operations. In exchange they
patrol the perimeter around of the City and act as the de
facto police force. No outside crafts are allowed access
to the inner rings, especially near the drilling platform
and lagoon at the center. Visitors are met at their craft
with smaller vessels and shuttled through the maze of
concentric crescents by trusted citizens.

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Controlling the Waterways
While operating overland is slow and fraught, the
Gulf Coast offers abundant waterways to be used for
beneficial and unsavory purposes. Using Crescent City
as a home base, people venture back to land for many
reasons. There are remote camps, barrier islands, and
other bastions of humanity that are best reached by
water. Members of the Cajun Navy go on rescue missions,
supply runs, hunting trips, and other secret excursions
on a near daily basis.
An often-contentious topic brought before the Krewe
relates to the level of control the Cajun Navy exerts on
those inland reaching waterways. The Cajun Navy has a
sterling reputation related to search and rescue missions
and overall are considered to be there for the good of the
people. However, as a loose collective of people, there
are some out there more focused on their personal gain.
Several accusations of abuse of power related to “tolls”
have been brought before the Krewe. To date Rex has
dismissed those claims with little to no consequences to
the Cajun Navy.

Don’t Mess with Texas

The USS Texas (SSN-775) is a Virginia Class fast attack
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submarine present in the area. As a nuclear submarine,

this vessel can operate independently for extended
periods of time, only needing to return from its patrols for
resupply and maintenance. Having the Texas as an ally
would secure Crescent City as not only a defensible base,
but also give it offensive capabilities. However, having
the Texas as an opponent is potentially devastating as
the subsurface of Crescent City is relatively undefended.

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Threats
The Gulf presents numerous threats of man, beast, and
nature. Much of what is threatening Crescent City is
based on the kind of game the players want to play. In
a political game, warring factions will likely be more
prominently featured than monstrous creatures, but
the options are limitless.
Hurricanes are the most destructive and unpredictable
threat on the water. Picking up and moving the
Deepwater Titan is no small (nor fast) task. If a Hurricane
comes rolling in it can sink the boats and the rig itself,
hence knowing when to evacuate or batten down the
hatches is a priceless survival skill.
Crescent City is a bastion of civilization because of its
sense of community and high degree of infrastructure.
Destruction of the infrastructure by sabotage or
negligence could cause the entire community to
crumble. Additionally, civil unrest could divide
the citizens and lead to the physical disbanding of
the City. That causes its own problems, because a
minimum crew of some 100 people is needed to keep
the Deepwater Titan operational.
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The Drift
By Ryan Schoon
Hundreds of years ago, the Earth entered a critical
state. Years of environmental abuse and nuclear war
changed the environment forever, heralding a new
ice age. It took generations, but, eventually, most of
the world’s surface was covered in endless sheets
of ice, burying the cities of the old world, and their
technological advancements, with them.
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Those who survived had to adapt to a life on the ice.

Gone are creature comforts like “warmth” and a “full
belly”—humans have become scavengers forced to
make do with what they have. Those who are brave,
or stupid, enough to tunnel beneath the ice in search
of lost relics can make a comfortable living doing so.
However the lifespan of a “Tunneler” is short, as they
are forced to face the creatures living beneath the ice,
the dangers of inhospitable terrain and crumbling
ruins, and the warring factions that roam The Drift.

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The Life of a Tunneler
In “The Drift” your character is one of these Tunnelers,
part of a team of explorers willing to risk their lives
to tunnel beneath the ice in search of lost relics and
technology. These items can be traded back to the
surface for food, water, or even warmth.
Tunnelers face major dangers while exploring the
ruins. There are a few major tunnels that run beneath
the Drift, acting as “highways” of a sort for experienced
explorers. However, the entire tunnel network is
like an ever-shifting maze, as Tunneler teams carve
out new paths and entrances to the buried cities.
Memorizing these paths is key to survival.
Tunnelers also come face-to-face with the creatures that
make these tunnels their home. Living in the tunnels is far
more comfortable than living above the surface, where
you’re constantly barraged by harsh winds and elements,
and so large creatures wait below, ready to feed their
appetites. Some creatures even have tunneling abilities of
their own and will carve their own paths through the ice.
Rival Tunneler squads are another threat. There are no
real laws on the Drift, and once you’re outside the city of
Hearth, there is no real accountability either. Tunneler
squads resort to dirty tactics and violence to be the first
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to the relics. Some teams simply hover at major tunnel

entrances, hoping to ambush weak and weary teams
struggling to return their treasure to the surface.

Building a Squad
Every Tunneler belongs to a squad—it is suicide to
navigate the ice alone. The players at the table make up
one of these squads, creating a name for themselves, along
with a few NPCs to bolster the roster. Character death
can be a very real concern on the inhospitable ice, and

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so players can take over NPCs when they need to add a
replacement character into the game. Most Squads make
their home in Hearth, the only major city on the Drift.

Health & Healing

Health will not recover during normal means while
on the Drift. Tunnelers can still using healing items
(if they’ve managed to acquire any), but the cold is
too intense, even in the tunnels, to allow for natural
healing. If the Tunnelers manage to light a fire (which
is difficult to do, and dangerous in the tunnels), they
can rest by the fire to regain health. The main way
Tunnelers recuperate is by visiting the city of Hearth
and resting near their eternal flame.

Barter & Trade

There is no currency on the Drift. Everything is bought
and sold using a barter system. The rarer the good, the
more expensive it will sell at the markets in Hearth.
Keep in mind that electricity is a limited resource, and
relics that help generate electricity, or heat, will sell
for a prime price.

Fatigue & The Cold

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When a Tunneler has been away from warmth for too

long, the deep cold begins to set in. Tunnelers make
due with warm clothing and protective suits but,
without it, it’s difficult to survive the climate. For every
day spent in the extreme cold without protection or
warmth, the Tunneler suffers a -1 penalty to all dice
rolled. Once they find warmth, they must stay there
for a number of hours equal to their total penalty
before they feel like themselves again.

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The World of the Drift
Hearth
Hearth is the main hub of activity on the Drift. The
city is built upon the side of a mountain that once
stretched miles into the sky, but now just barely towers
above ice level. Hearth is considered the very edge of
the Drift. Those who have dared cross the mountain to
see what exists on the other side have never returned.
The richest live higher on the mountain, away from
the ice, while the poorest live on the ice itself, in
concentric half-rings stretching out from the central
market of Hearth.
Hearth also holds the Ever-Burning flame, a large
bonfire that exists at the center of the mountain’s small
valleys. The entrance to the Ever-Burning flame is
heavily guarded, and most of the resources generated
by Hearth are used to keep the fire going. The fire is
used mostly for medical purposes, to try and stabilize
those who are sick and too weak to survive in the
harsh temperatures.
When Tunnelers bring relics and goods back to
Hearth, they are allowed a few moments near the fire,
to help them recover from injuries sustained on the job.
It is one of the only ways to naturally recover health.
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Hearth is under the control of the Frost Flag

Regiment, a military organization that rose out of the
ashes of the old world. It is they who keep the peace
and enforce laws in Hearth, but outside of the city you
will find little protection.

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 Hearth is where most Tunnelers make their home,
returning to the city to sell their salvaged gear, rest, and
work on bettering their own lives. It is the dream of every
Tunneler to earn enough to build their home higher on
the mountain, away from the ice, and retire to a quiet
life. Very few Tunnelers ever reach this milestone.

The Settlements
While Hearth is the only major city on the Drift,
countless small settlements have sprung up as traders
and explorers gather and make permanent camps
upon the ice. These settlements come and go far too
quickly for another to take notice or bother mapping
them, as raiding parties or hazardous weather can
quickly remove all traces of their existence.

The Frost Flag Regiment

Currently under the leadership of General Aydyn
Graham, the Frost Flag Regiment does what it can
to protect the citizens of Hearth and restore some
semblance of order to the world. The Frost Flags, as they
are called, were originally formed from a united front of
the world’s armies. As humanity struggled to escape the
coming ice age, the survivors began to gather together in
one place, to make it easy to share what little resources
were left. When the governments of the world failed,
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the Frost Flags were there to maintain order, which they

do to this day. Most respect the Frost Flags, even when
members sometimes take what doesn’t belong to them
or take more than their fair share. Most look the other
way regarding these activities, as having the protection
of the Frost Flags is better than being alone, subject to
the predations of the gangs.

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The Shatterfist Gang
Somewhere out on the Drift lies the hideout of the
Shatterfist Gang, one of the more aggressive gangs that
prowls the Drift. No one knows where the gang makes
its home, but some believe they live beneath the ice in
the ruins of a forgotten city they have claimed for their
own. Life within the ice is not easy, which explains
why only the most hardened of warriors are recruited
in the Shatterfist Gang. Their tactics are desperate and
cruel—they set traps for Tunnelers, cause cave-ins,
and ambush traveling groups at rest. It is because of
the Shatterfist Gang that the Frost Flags have begun
accompanying merchants who make routes against
the Drift, visiting some of the small settlements that
exist. The Shatterfist Gang is led by the mysterious
“Prophet Codex,” who has never been seen.

Tunneler Squads
There are dozens of Tunneler Squads operating on
the Drift. Many of them call Hearth their home, and
so these squads interact with each other often. These
squads are guided by their own set of politics, with
uneasy alliances changing by the day. No squad will
want to publicly move against another and risk their
reputation. Instead, backstabbing and betrayals
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happen on the ice, far from the prying eyes of the Frost
Flags. Some Tunneler Squads form concrete alliances,
often merging together when their numbers get low.
Tensions are always high between these squads, as
they do share a sense of camaraderie while in Hearth….
but out on the ice its every squad for themselves.

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Children of the Forest
By Scott Smith
They call us freaks, monsters. They sit behind their
massive walls, in their mountains of steel and formed
rock, and sneer at us.
They’ve done what they needed to survive. We’ve
become what we needed to be to thrive in this new world.
We are the chosen, the Naturals, the Children of the Forest.
Humanity has long fought a war against the tiniest of
foes: plagues and pestilence are the most merciless of
killers. Only a tiny fraction of the human population
has survived bio-warfare gone wrong—those who had
the wealth and connections to buy a place in the Refuge
Cities, and those who endured the hellacious plagues
and emerged changed. Some might even say… evolved.
Now, we have mastered the magic art of gene editing
to make ourselves equal to the stone and metal that
the humans use against us.
They think they have won, staved off extinction, but
the war for this world has just begun.

The World:
The world is Earth, some three centuries in the future,
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two centuries after the insidious war that was the

downfall of humanity.
Humans retreated to their stone-and-glass strongholds
when the bioengineered plagues spread, and they have
stayed there. When they do come out, they wear masks
to protect them from the bioagents that have thrived in
this new world.
Nature has reclaimed the ground it once lost to
human industry, and then some. The world is covered
in dense, beautiful green forests. The lakes have never

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been so pure, and the rivers run strong, unabated. The
atmosphere is much more humid, and the world has
cooled; some say it is even the start of a new ice age.
The flora and fauna of the old world have rebounded
spectacularly. Wolves, bears, moose, elk, deer, lions,
tigers—all have reclaimed this world as their own
alongside their brethren, the Children of the Forest.

The Inhabitants:
Humans:
The humans that have survived do so in an increasingly
technology-dependent world. The world still teems
with pathogens that threaten to decimate what’s left
of the human population, or worse, turn them into
those dreadful beasts of the forests.
Their cities are marvels, enormous closed-system,
bio-glass domed fortresses that are the last bastions of
human life. Think a space station on a now-hostile earth.
But is a cure possible? A vaccine? Human scientists
work tirelessly toward a solution that will grant them
the ability to dominate this world once more.
Some of the tools that humans depend on in the
meantime:
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• Pathogenic filtering masks (expensive, only used

for critical tasks outside of their compounds.
• Hand-held rail guns (rare)
• Bows, arrows, spears, knives, crossbows (common)
• City-fortress equipment: These fail infrequently,
but when they do, it’s not pretty
• Air filters: These critical pieces of equipment
provide the enclosed cities with air free of the
biopathogens that still plague the human race.
• Hydro-units: These supply cities with clean
water pulled from the atmosphere.
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 • Electrified fences: These keep the beasts of the
forests at bay… for the most part. These fences
are typically placed around crop fields, which
the humans depend on for food.

The Children of the Forest:

The Children of the Forest are all humanoid beings, but
the plagues they endured changed them, mostly for
the better. The affected took on the properties of the
life forms around them, and thus started the biological
revolution. Over time, they have developed the magical
ability to change their forms to acquire the attributes of
other living creatures… at a cost.
Typically, each Child of the Forest can only handle two
or three animal attributes, though those attributes are as
varied as the life that inhabits the earth. choose wisely.
Some examples of abilities seen among the Children:
• Piercing Attack: typically associated with attributes
(teeth, claws, etc.) gained from wolves, bears, other
mammal predators
• Strength/Speed/Agility: attributes gained from a
variety of animals like moose, elephants, primates
• Flight: attributes gained from bats, birds
• Underwater: some Children have melded with
amphibians and even fish, and now rule the
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water. Careful where you swim.

• Exoskeleton: inherited from insects
• Venom: inherited from spiders, snakes

The War:
The humans who remain live exclusively in their
high-tech cities. They seek to expand their territory
and clear the forests to make room for more farming
to feed their kind.

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 The Children see humans as a plague, the reason that
the world suffered in the first place. They attack humans
whenever possible, and delight in sabotaging their cities.
Players may assume the role of either humans or
Children of the Forest

Story Ideas:
• Hunting Party: In order to feed their slowly
growing population, humans lead hunting parties
to acquire whatever meat they can. Often these
parties are large events, but every once in a while,
an enterprising group of humans decides to hunt
in small parties to increase their share of the
spoils. This is extremely dangerous, however, as
the Children of the Forest don’t appreciate it when
the bastard humans kill their furry friends, and
they are emboldened by small numbers.
Players can assume the role of either the humans
on the hunting party, or the Children of the Forest
who, in turn, hunt them.
• Attack on a City: Be part of a coordinated attack on
the humans. A band of Children may attack farmed
fields (just have to get through the electric fences), or
the city itself. Wise attackers go for the equipment
that keeps the humans alive inside their hives.
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Players can assume the role of either the humans

defending their cities and farms, or the Children
of the Forest who seek to eradicate them.
• Trophy Hunting: “Heroes” from both sides of the
war claim trophies in the form of the skull and
hide of their enemies
• Diplomacy: Players on either side of the war
may choose to seek a peaceful path: bargain for
resources, land… maybe even help one another
build a better future.

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High Plains Drift
By Paul Weimer
Possible Themes: Resource skirmish wars, survival,
legacies of the apocalypse coming to light, hard choices
in a hard world.
Inspired by: The endless vistas of North and South
Dakota, The Book of Eli, Badlands (1973 movie),
Apocalypse World, Car Wars, Other Dust, Mad Max
Fury Road, Dune, the Fallout series, Damnation Alley,
Into the Badlands.

The Concept:
Big Sky Country, the idea where the sky goes on forever
against an unpopulated flat land running to a forever
horizon, is the motto of Montana, but it could be better
applied to the Dakotas. The High Plains provides all
that big sky and more. Found on and in those endless
flat lands are farms and small towns, wide open spaces,
small manufacturing plants, and old Minuteman
missile silos. Prairie Dog towns, Badlands, Buffalo
herds and much more await, too.
What would all that look like after an
environmental Apocalypse that ended
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civilization and made existence

hardscrabble? How would people
survive in such a place?
What would their concerns,
reactions, conflicts, and
goals be? High Plains Drift
explores those questions.

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Setting Fluff:
The Great Slump was an economic, political,
environmental, and social disaster for the United States
and the rest of the world. Economic recession combined
with year after year of drought in the summer followed
by unpredictable and often brutal winters. This was
compounded by self-inflicted environmental damage
in the form of pollution, fracking, and strip mining
in a race for resources. All this caused matters to
spiral out of control. Glaciers melted, rivers became
unpredictable in their flow, ranging from nearly dry to
terrible flash floods within the same year. Dust Bowl
conditions, incredibly hot summers, and wild winter
storms continued on and on across the United States
and the world. Famine and disease spread to every
corner of the Earth. Systems started to break down.
Finally, the need for water and resources turned
brushfire and proxy wars into full on conflicts within
the United States and across the world. Troops of
California’s National Guard fought Arizona’s for
access to the water of the nearly bone-dry Colorado
River, and that single break with order led to dozens
such conflicts from Baja Mexico to Quebec, British
Columbia to Florida.
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The nuclear weapons thrown around by various

powers at the height of open warfare ended organized
nation states across much of the world, including the
United States and Canada. New small points of order
have tried to survive in a sea of anarchy and chaos.
But it is a challenge. Every year, the land gets a little
bit harsher, a little more difficult in which to survive.
The farmers of the High Plains survived by collecting
themselves together on farms walled off together as a
compound, or moving into close belts around small

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fortified towns. They have tried to survive where
they could find untainted water, growing crops that
they might eat. Meat is a real luxury, and the richer
communities have chickens, or a few pigs. If they are
truly rich, they might have a cow, for milk. Some of
these towns, long ago the home of small manufacturing
facilities, now use those old facilities to arm and
protect the towns wells, farmers, and people left to
defend and survive. These communities are small
pockets of often brutal order with wide open spaces
of chaos between.
Some, however, have turned into raiders and
scavengers, ravaging out from their bases to find the
resources for those small bands they protect to survive.
They pick the bones clean of the old world and those
communities who survive. If they cannot get access
to food and water, then perhaps they can find the
resources to take them from those who do. Lines are
blurry and uneven, and even successful communities
sometimes find themselves needing to make the choice
of taking needed resources from their neighbors so
that all of their people might survive a bad season, or
to get enough material to patch a hole in their defenses.
Some bands are full time wanderers on the High
Plains and do not have any fixed abode. They wander
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the High Plains, taking resources where and how they

can. These bands live on the knife edge of survival
and are always on the move. All settlements fear their
arrival, for they fight with fierce desperation. No one
goes out onto the High Plains alone and lives long.
That is the act of true desperation, or madness.
The old Minuteman missile silos, many of their
payloads gone, are a source for parts, ammunition,
equipment, and knowledge from old times when
the Internet shaped the world. Some of them are

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abandoned, others are dangerous bastions of radiation
from failed missiles. Others have descendants of the
workers and staff, still there, mutated, evolved, and
deadly dangerous. Tales of tunnels that run to all
the silos, underneath hundreds of miles of the dry
plains and creeping badlands, are surely rumors and
legends. Surely.
The oilfields in Western North Dakota provide the
only petroleum available to the communities of the
High Plains. Those communities charge high prices
for gasoline. But sparing crops to convert to ethanol
vehicle fuel instead is just as expensive, because it
may mean fewer mouths can be fed.
Some of the wildlife has survived into this new era,
as well. Prairie dogs, a threatened species before
The Great Slump, have mutated and exploded in
population. Prairie dogs the size of dogs may not
sound especially dangerous, but when they swarm in
groups of dozens, and have elongated fangs besides,
someone caught by them in the endless open gains a
new name and title: Food. The mutated descendants
of the buffalo who now wander the empty spaces are
dangerous, and no longer easily domesticated.

Who you are:

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You live in one of those small farming communities,

or a fortified town, or are part of a wandering band
of raiders in and on what was once the High Plains
of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North and South Dakota,
and parts of Wyoming and Nebraska.
The collapse of civilization and the continued wild
weather has cut off most regions from each other and
made basic survival from year to year difficult, even if
you keep your head down.

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 Farming on the scoured land is at a subsistence level
in the best of years, raiding your neighbors for food
and supplies is a near-necessity, and where your next
drink comes from is as important as your next meal.
And the killing heat of the summer, the howling winds
of spring and fall, and the perils of winter mean that
even going outside to the outhouse is something to be
done carefully.
There are rumors of things happening to your
east, beyond the Red River of the North (which is
now actually a brownish reddish color and smells of
something like vinegar and sweat). And rumors of
things happening beyond the Sand Hills of Nebraska
to the south. To the southwest, in the radioactive
ruins of Denver, something stirs. The west is warded
by the mountains of Wyoming and Montana to the
west. To the north, whatever is in Lake Winnipeg
beyond the ruins of the city itself is best left alone, as
are the badlands of Alberta to the Northwest. Your
world, as far as you are concerned, exists within those
boundaries.
But, hey, it’s home.

Adventure Hooks and Ideas: Micro-Settings

Nary a Drop to Drink

Your town’s water supply, the precious core of its
existence, has suddenly turned out to be tainted. Its
undrinkable, and without a source of water, the future
of your town is grim. Was it sabotage? Something left
over from the Great Slump that has poisoned your
water only now? Do you search out for a way to cure
the taint? Find the perpetrators and take revenge?
Take the water and resources of a rival town to keep
yours alive?

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Dread Power from the East
Rumors from the smaller holdings to the east of
you, near the Red River, say that outriders of some
place called “The Barony of Itasca” are pushing their
way west, demanding tribute, taking badly needed
supplies from your neighbors. How do you deal with a
burgeoning power that threatens your autonomy and
way of life?

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The Glow
To the north of your farming commune, the old
Missile Silo has been ignored for years, after having
been stripped for useful items long ago. But at night, a
greenish-yellow glow has been seen in the direction of
the old silo. Who or what lurks there, now, and what
threat do they pose to you? You might well think to
ignore it, but the glow, uninvestigated, could bring
unwelcome attention from farther away upon your
community in the bargain.

Unique Setting Rule:

War Vehicles on the High Plains
Farmers on the High Plains are long used to repairing
and upgrading their equipment. With farming becoming
ever less viable, the conversion of harvesters and other
farm tractors to weapons of war was a brilliant idea
that is now a feature across the High Plains. Glorious in
their traditional green and yellow paint, when a raiding
group has some of these 6 to 15 foot tall four wheeled
weapons in their van coming at you across that endless
horizon, you know that the attackers are serious. Hope
you have some yourself.
Retterath Class War Tractor
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• 3 Hit Points
• Capacity: Driver +2
• Attacks: Machine Guns (ranged)
• Retterath Class War Tractors get the Off-road
Upgrade:
• Off-road: The often crumbling roads of the High
Plains are not a barrier for a vehicle happier
churning across the countryside without one.
• Attacks: Machine Guns (ranged)

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Streier Class Small You’ll notice some of these
G&Y Mecha traits aren’t found in Tiny
Wastelands. High Plains
An advancement to the Drift is written to be cross
original War Tractor compatible with Tiny
design for those with Frontiers: Mecha & Monsters
the materials, turning and you can find the rules for
it from a war vehicle these Upgrades in that book!
into a full-on Mecha.
• 4 Hit Points
• Capacity: Driver
• Streirer Class Small G&Y Mecha has the Upgrades
Attacks: Machine Guns (ranged), Heavy Lifting, Self
Repair, & Off-road
• Attacks: Machine Guns (ranged)

Lindell Class Large G&Y Mecha

The richest, most powerful farms and holdings fuse
together several cobbled together vehicles into the
largest of mecha.
• 8 Hit Points
• Capacity: Driver +3
• The Lindell Class Large G&Y Mecha has the
Upgrades Attacks: Cannon (ranged) and Smash
(Melee), Heavy Lifting, Object Avoidance, Emergency
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Power, Retractable Armshield, & Off-road

• Attacks: Cannon (ranged) and Smash (Melee)

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 TinyD6 gets apocalyptic!
The versatile and minimalist TinyD6 ruleset hits the
road in this post-apocalyptic sourcebook. Containing
new rules for settlements, vehicles, and mutations,
Tiny Wastelands is your trusty companion in the
blasted landscapes of the near future.
Tiny Wastelands is a complete rulebook, but to fully
utilize the scope of the game, a deck of Enclave Cards
is required.