For character ideas, discussion, and cooperative background creation.

Hey, everyone. Thanks for having me and thanks for the game, GM.

My concept is of a young woman - probably around 20 years old; old enough to know how to survive but young enough to hold onto a modicum of naivette about the world. I want her to be from Bakersfield (since that is my hometown LOL) and I would not be opposed to starting the game there as well since it is so familiar to me. But of course, that is not set in stone if people have objections.

My PC is going to be attractive, but very tom-boyish. She will be small and most likely not very strong, but dextrous as hell and have a presence to her that she has yet to master. I am thinking high dex and power, medium intelligence and constitution, low strength and something else.

For Skills, I am not sure yet, but I am thinking she will be good in the wild. Good with dealing with natural hazards, animals, tracking, surviving. Things like that. She will probably have something of a green thumb as well. These were things passed down by her father and mother - both of Apache decent from Mexico several generations removed.

I have just opened the basic RPG book that was mentioned for us to download. So, right now I am not sure how to go about taking skills as they pertain to the book.

But so far, that is my broad concept.

For skills, let's do this with a healthy dose of freeform.  Pick some things you'd like her to be good at to fulfill her total concept, and we'll make the points work.  Also pick whatever freebie common sense skills related to her concept. If she's an outdoors type of character, she'll be at least decent at hiding and sneaking in the wilderness, wilderness survival skills, wilderness 'lore', tracking, first aid related to outdoor dangers, hunting, things like that. If you want her to be a great archer, then that goes under her 'good at' skills.  Let me know if you need any questions.  Create a list and then we'll discuss it.  For example, I don't think being a salvage expert would be a part of her outdoors concept, and she wouldn't have any particular skill at it unless you wanted to make it one of her 'good at' or 'decent at' skills.  Again, we can just discuss things until she's ready for play.

Feel free to personalize and don't feel like you have to make her as competitive as possible.  Yes, we're using some rules but the goal is for the characters to have an exciting involving story instead of getting screwed over by a bad dice roll.  She might really know how to survive in the wilderness but be the noisiest person in the underbrush.

OK, cool. I like that better.

Good at: Basically what you said. Wilderness survival, tracking, silent movement. Things in this category, she can be free form written as pretty damn good. Combat wise - archery. I want her to excel at ranged archery. Katniss Everdeen up in this bitch. Freebie common sense in this category might be animal handling - knowing that the rad-bear probably shouldn't be pet and what its lair looks like.

At first, I was thinking ranged firearms - which makes sense due to high Dex - but when you mentioned Archery that made so much more sense.

Decent at: Social interaction. She can shit talk and haggle, usually work a situation to her advantage because of a quick wit, but she isn't going to be getting into lengthy ontological debates with anyone any time soon. Certain firearms, say rifles (hunting and guard duty can't ALWAYS necessitate a bow and arrow). This kind of fits the freebie common sense: I can work a rifle well enough because that is easy, but pistols are another story altogether.

Meh at: She never had too much of a passion for things automotive or mechanical. This is where she is something of an odd ball in this new world. In a junkyard for example, she might spot some smashed fruits in a barrel fermenting and use the alcohol for medicinal purposes, but completely miss the cherry-condition Carburetor sitting just beside it.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:32, Wed 20 May 2015.

Sounds great.  So far we have the...

Good/Excels:

Archery (good at skill number 1).  This also includes the making and repair of bows, arrows and other archery gear.


Silent Movement (good at skill number 2).  Includes expert sneaking in all environments and indoors, since you want it to be one of the skills she excels at.  Her dad jokes with her that she's a mutant because she was born with feet as quiet as a cat's.

Wilderness Skills (good at skill number 3).  Includes Wilderness Lore, the understanding and observation of her natural world.  This includes weather guesstimating, orienteering, tracking, hunting (includes stalking/hiding, field butchering and cooking) and pretty much everything low-tech camping.  Includes Animal Lore.  Includes moving and climbing in natural environments.  Includes very basic First Aid, like what to do in case of a sprained ankle, a snakebite, cuts and gashes, and other wilderness emergencies.  This list is not all inclusive.  If you think of something during play that seems reasonable, like figuring out where to set up camp to avoid a flash flood, just ask.


Decent:

She's a decent shot with semi-auto rifles and shotguns.  She knows how to keep them clean and perform basic maintenance, but not how to repair them or fabricate parts.  She is unskilled with other types of firearms, and she doesn't know how to hand load ammunition or other things like that.

Subsistence Agriculture.  I'm suggesting this skill because you mentioned how she would be much more attuned to fermenting berries that assessing salvage.  I like long term games, and it would be completely within the scope of this game for a skill like this to bear fruit over time, hardy har.

Social Interaction, just as you described.  She can fit in with a group like anyone else and she can generally move without trouble among townies, homesteaders and other people inclined toward the golden rule.  She knows enough about people to catch dangerous social vibes.


Meh:

Anything mechanical, electronic or otherwise technological.  I'm sure she can tell the difference between new and beat-up items and other obvious things.  There are no doubt things she can use, but anything outside her experience she would have to be shown how to to use, like a DVD player, a different kind of light switch than what she's used to, etc.  She won't have an intuitive knowledge of how to operate things that older people seem to take for granted.



Some questions:

Can she read?  Does she know any basic math?

Does she speak Spanish as well as English or even some Apache?

Are there any other daily life type skills you think she would have?

You still have a space left for a Decent skill, since I added Subsistence Agriculture (which you don't have to keep if it's not a good fit).

Loving the concept so far. For an added visual, she looks like Yolandi Visser from the band Die Antwoord if she wasn't white. Basically, same hairstyle and bleach blonde, and same features, but dark skinned - probably some facial tattoos as well.

She knows how to read. She isn't total tribal dummy, being from a decently "civilized" locale. If it is OK, I would like her to be able to speak both English and Spanish fluently as well as one other regional language (most likely something that has become popular in the surrounding areas rather than her ancestral language). However, if that IS a native dialect, I will go with Apache.

Another Decent Skill: Hmm, I need to put more thought into it. Right now, Subsistence agriculture sounds good, because the opportunities there are endless and it is a serious skill that people need to know. I can already envision coming upon withering communities who don't know why their crops won't grow and my PC becoming the saint of that town for telling them that the fields need Brawndo because It's got Electrolytes.

Daily Life Skills: Personal Hygiene which falls into her survival, wilderness background. Knowing what plants to chew to help clean your teeth. What can cover your natural scent. What can stave off infection or simply just keep oneself clean.

Again, going back to animals, training dogs maybe? I read an anthropological artical that postulated human agricultural evolution shared a symbiotic relationship with the domestication of dogs to guard crops (as well as protect herds of livestock). Perhaps she knows how to train dogs? Or simply caring for livestock.


Again, I am drawing a blank. I am trying to think of what I do in my day to day that makes me live. It isn't helping.


Edit: Here are some tentative characteristic rolls. I wasn't sure how you wanted to handle this, so I figured I would roll some and simply place them where they are most appropriate for my PC. Let me know if you would rather we do it some other way.

5x 3d6 rolls: 15, 12, 12, 10 & 7.
2x 2d6+6 tolls: 18 & 13.

Based on this, I would put the highest in Dex, Power, Appearance, Constitution and finally Strength in that order. Although, that 7 is pretty fucking abysmal. Are you down to re-roll lowest or is it not too big of a deal?

For the 2d6 rolls: 18 in Intelligence (which is just stupid good, but I attribute it more to how the book describes it as capacity for knowledge and reasoning power as opposed to book smarts in her case) and 13 in Size.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:19, Wed 20 May 2015.

Well, we don't have to do everything right now.

As for Animal Training, I'd like that to be one of her Decent skills since that's pretty specialized, and I'd like you to choose the type of animal, like Dogs or Horses.  What I'd like to avoid is something generic like Animal Friend or something like that, since animals mostly regard human beings as dangerous or two-legged Happy Meals.  The natural world is quite a bit more hostile than it used to be.  If you decide that she has an animal companion, I'm thinking it would be about as capable as Mad Max's dog, ie useful but not stealing the show.  Let's steer clear of trained ferrets stealing everything.

As for daily life skills, I'm sure you'll have some ideas later on.

So, I think that having her speak both English and Spanish would be completely reasonable, and Apache too if you like.

So far no one else has applied, and I notice that the dates of other GM Wanted threads aren't updating either.  If no other folks apply in a couple of days, I'll put up a Players Wanted ad in the hopes they'll see it, or even gain some new interest.

Identity:

Name: Yollie Guevara
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Handedness: Right Dominant
Height: Short
Weight: Lithe
Age: 20

Description: Yollie stands about 5'5" tall and is thin enough to suit her small frame. She is not what would be considered "unhealthy" although her mother sure seems to think so. She has deep green eyes and well-tanned, smooth skin. Her hair, however, through no explanation or family trait is a platinum-blonde. She keeps her bangs cut tight in a straight line across her forehead, allowing the longer length in the back to be put up in a wild fashion with metal pins.

She dresses practically, favoring mobility and speed over anything bulky or made to impress. She often wears fatigue pants that had been hand-me-downs, many times stiched over and repaired as well as a wool-cloak with a hood when she is out and about.

Distinctive Features: Yollie has small and sharp features. She has a vitality and wit about her that exudes a sense of power that belies her small stature. She has a solid stripe of red tattooed across her cheeks that crosses over the bridge of her nose, giving her a somewhat "wild" look that most would not expect.

Profession: Hunter (I think this is the most fitting).

Copying this over to the right thread:

Thanks. I have not looked at the rules yet. I'm sure that will shake some ideas lose for characters. It seems most interesting if we played road warriors of some kind. One thought I had was a guy with a rolling brothel - a big bus with 6 or so berths for ... Activities. There's also a driver and a couple of guards.

Being lawmen of some kind might also be interesting.

Another concept I've done in a gamma world game is a dude who finds an old Starbucks and starts up a rolling coffee cart. This could be a straight up merchant concept or to go a little out there make him a religious missionary who worships the Mermaid. The coffee becomes a religious ceremony and the philosophy is based on the customer service precepts laid out in the employee handbook.

Everyone, I've decided to move character creation much closer to the Quickstart rules, supplemented by GM freebie skill points to make sure that your character concepts are filled out.  I know this is a sudden change, but I'm doing it for the sake of consistency before we get too deep into character creation.  Go by the rules in the quickstart guide and then address any deficiencies with me in PMs.

Bear in mind that only characters 35 and older will have anything resembling a modern education, or intuitive familiarity with technology!  Many young people in the setting have never learned to read or do much math, and they live in a world where there isn't much electricity.  They won't be familiar with operating electronic devices.

Ok, house rule:  There is now a skill called Technology Use, blatantly cribbed from the Aftermath! RPG.  This describes your character's familiarity with technology, like knowing what play and pause symbols mean, how to put batteries in, things like that.

@ Pearl: you've already developed your character pretty thoroughly, so we'll work on it so you don't get gimped.

So would creating a youngish mechanic be out of the question? Or could he have picked up the skill from folk who still remember how those things work?

A youngish mechanic is a perfectly valid idea.  Just make sure the how and why of his background is compatible with the setting.  For example, learning from an experienced older mechanic since he was 10 years old would give him a high level of competence but only on vehicles and devices similar to what he has had the opportunity to work with.  This is acceptable.  An unacceptable example would be a character from a high tech enclave which has the equivalent of a prewar trade school with training on diagnostic machines and other uncommon gear because no enclave exists like that in my setting.

I know that you would have no way to know that, and working out things like this is the purpose of our character creation discussions.

If I give away too much about the setting then there's nothing to discover.  I realize that I'm putting restrictions on all of your characters without making them clear on advance which is something no one appreciates, but please bear with me, ask questions and let's refine our ideas until things all work together while staying true to your central concepts.

Something I'm preventing by doing it this way is getting mutually incompatible characters that I have to struggle to integrate into a setting not designed for them.  The setting is like my character that I also want to stay true to.  If someone makes a techno ninja and I allow it in the game, that means that kind of training and technology is a part of the setting along with the infrastructure to support it, and something like that can distort the setting pretty badly.

Back to your mechanic idea, post your short concept along with your desired good at skills decent at skills and meh skills and then we can discuss setting resources that can support it.  This will connect your character to factions and locations in the setting, or even collaborate on new ones like pearls town of East Highland Hills

Alright so we have a hunter girl and a young mechanic. Might be interesting to go with an older guy. Maybe he's a former cop or something. Maybe he avoided doing the right thing and people died so now he's atoning by driving up and down I-5 in his police cruiser (or motorcycle) doing good.

How long ago was the war?

The end of the war was twenty years ago.

Ucat, I can go ahead and keep all of my rolls then? You said strength 7 was fitting, and I tend to agree to a point, so I won't ask for a re-roll of the lowest skill unless you are willing to give it.

I will look over everything with a thoroughness and to not cluster-fuck this wall, I will send a tentative PC sheet to you in private messages.


If it is OK with everyone else, I would mostly like to make PC sheets private - or at least keep them between us and the GM - in this sense no one knows what the others are capable of and we can find all of that out through narrative dialogue IC. Does that sound like something you would be interested in?

I'm ok with sheets being private, but I think we should make sure our concepts work together. In fact, I'm not a fan of the "meet cute" in RPGs. It is always highly awkward. I find it is better to work out how we know each other in advance. We don't have to be best friends or soul mates, but we should at least know each other.

Your idea is for the mechanic, right?

East Highland Hills (where Yollie is from) is out in the foothills of west-central California. It is based on the actual location called "Lost Hills." The place would have need of a good mechanic as it is littered with oil wells and rigs. There is a solid chance that they know one another - perhaps may not like one another or understand one another - but have run into one another if you want your mechanic to be from the area.

Circumstance can then put them on the same "team" for whatever Ucat has in store for us.

Edit: Sorry, I got you confused with our other PC idea. The older cop idea is awesome too. East Highland Hills has been the subject of many raids due to its economic/political significance. Your cop could be seeking to atone for his past by protecting the mostly good, hardworking people of the settlement.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:31, Thu 21 May 2015.

Yes, everyone keep your sheets private, and any background info the other characters wouldn't know.  I think everyone is mature enough to keep this collaboration discussion separate from Ic knowledge. We have a couple more interested players and once they get on board I'll close recruiting.

Regarding Power Points - I know we don't have any powers or fantastical abilities (that we know of) in your setting. I was wondering if you would still allow power points to be used as an exertion of will type thing, perhaps adding another 10% to a roll when we really want to succeed. Or auto successes/re-rolls. Something like how fate points are used in Warhammer 40k games..

Or does it really not matter all that much as the game won't be too dice heavy? Am I overthinking this?

Can you open up character sheets for us?

Tentative PC sheet sent to your inbox, boss. Still need to sort out skills and equipment, but I think Yollie is good to go after that.

At what point do aging effects kick in? I'm thinking my character will a grizzled old cop from before the war. That'd place him between 40 and 50 if the war was 20 years ago. I was leaning more towards 50. The aging rules are not in the quick start rules though.

How's this:

Higgins is a grizzled old cop from before the war. He drives his beat up police cruiser up and down I-5 looking to protect those who can't protect themselves. He doesn't ask for anything in return, though he's often given food, lodging, repairs, and bullets. He doesn't say much and has a look in his eye that he's on some mission of atonement for some past wrong doings. He doesn't have a death wish, but he operates without fear of self injury or reprisal. If the end should come, well, Higgins figures he's already dead. No one knows for sure if Higgins is his first name or his last name. That's just the name he gives when asked.

Awesome. How does he know Yollie?

Did he find aid and shelter there once and now treats it as something of a necessary stop to make sure all is well? If so, Yollie could have possibly treated an injured of his in the past - low on medical supples, she very well could have cooked something up from the a mixture of wild herbs and what she grows personally to tend to Higgins. Thus starting their relationship.

Being much younger and somewhat Naive, maybe he sees her as a daughter type figure? Someone to protect in a world he is fully aware of that she doesn't really understand.

I definitely think he would see Yollie as a special person to protect. I'm thinking whatever happened to Higgins that caused him to seek atonement had to do with kids, so he has a particular soft spot for protecting kids. Possibly, he ran away when some bad guys were doing something nasty to a girl.

I think he would have kept his distance from Yollie, trying to protect her from afar because he was ashamed. But if he got hurt and was unconscious, and Yollie healed him up, I could see him making that connection.

Perfect. That sounds like an awesome shared backstory to me. At least the start of one.

Can you describe Higgins?

Edit: Yollie looks something like this, minus the elf ears and a much darker skin shade - very tanned like a native American but with close to the same features as this picture. And imagine a face tattoo.

http://i.imgur.com/dAdMjmM.jpg?1
This message was last edited by the player at 02:04, Fri 22 May 2015.

In reply to pearldrum1 (msg # 25):

I'm working on the description. He's average height and lanky. Leathery skin all creased. Buzzed hair with stubble. All salt and pepper. Not sure on clothes. Thinking black swat fatigue pants and combat boots. Dingy tshirt. Dusty leather jacket? Mirror shades for sure.

Maybe something like this except more scraggly and dusty:

This message was last edited by the player at 02:15, Fri 22 May 2015.

Wow! You two have some awesome stuff going. I promise to won't be too long till I get more out there for my character. Tonight I'm cramming for an accounting final, but after that I'm free and clear.

Hell yeah. In it to win it, baby.

Excited to see what you come up with.

I am working on an ex biker turned wandering kung fu master. He is an older mentor type.

But looks like someone else is doing an older character, I don't really want to do two grumpy old men. So may look at something different.

Then there is always the, "how did a biker learn kung fu after the end of the world... and even then, how did he become a master?"

That seems like a character for teh Feng Shui game... and now I want to play Feng Shui 2.

If he was fifty he learned before the world ended, mastery comes through practice, but was not really about the skill level more about the mind set. The character is based on a real person I am friends with in real life not from your feng shui game. he spent a lot of time in prison and martial arts was what helped him survive mentally and spiritually.

But I came up with he concept yesterday when there were no old characters and it seemed like a balance, now it seems redundant.

Will probably drop it.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:43, Fri 22 May 2015.

Cool, dude. I was more asking for the PCs particular backstory, not to bust your chops. It's all good.

Feng Shui isn't my game. It is a game system that allows players to make fantastical, movie-based archetypes for characters. A biker who is a Kung Fu Master, master being the optimal word, seemed fit for that setting. Personally, I have yet to play the game but it sounds like a blast.

Cheers.

If you examine the history of many martial arts you will find they were developed by people in archaic times of great conflict when weapons were scarce or even banned such as Okinawa, China and the Philippines. With a tradition of study in small schools or even directly from a mentor, it seems to me martial arts would be a knowledge kept alive in a world such as this one, though as it was traditionally teachers would again become far more selective as to whom they took as students, with family schools and small societies becoming the norm.

I would imagine other specialties like mechanics, medicine and smithing would be the same.

I'll make a note to ask my MA adviser about that in my next email.

I still think you are missing my intended point, but it might not be worth clarifying. Either way, nice to have you.

Yollie and Higgins, please check to see if you can edit your character sheets!

I can edit my "character description" under the "character details" button.

Is that what you were going for?

You should be able to go into Character Details and then Edit Character Sheet.

Everyone, the character concepts are coming together nicely.  We're going to have a good group with strong motivations and plenty of adventure hooks.  We are currently at 5 players with 2 more in the approval discussion.

When I go to Yollie, I see this: "The GM has not given you edit permission for this character sheet."

I am going to say that is a big negative, boss man.

Give it a try now, Yollie.

Beauty. That did it.

Hi everyone. I'm working on a young driver with ties to Bakersfield. She'll be a second gen road warrior, road warrioring under mom's old road name (which brought nostalgia contacts and a little inherited goodwill in the beginning, but is becoming pretty burdensome, overall). Any thoughts on how we might know each other?

By the way everyone, Atomic Highway RPG is free on Drivethrurpg.com right now.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/pr...?term=atomic+highway

Hey. welcome to the pack. You could always be one of the few Road Warriors who comes to East Highland Hills to actually trade what you have scavenged instead of starting shit. In that way, the people there have grown a tentative trust in your PC and Yollie may constantly bug you for info about the outside world. I could see her always bugging Higgins about it but him never giving her anything.

She is very curious about the world outside of East Highland Hills. She could trade you fresh fruit/veggies for information. Something like that. Through her you could know of Higgins... though you two may have a tentatively hostile relationship at first.

That would be really cool. I figure that Christmas (tentative driving name) loves both fresh fruit and flaunting her relative worldliness. I'm not going to be very good at living off the land. I may know Higgins' car from I-5, but it'd be kind of neat to know the guy who drives it via Yollie. What's the worst thing about East Highland?

Edit: I think in OOC threads I will post as Pearldrum and IC I will post under Yollie.


According to Yollie: How boring it is. Sure, she has seen her share of death, but she really has no experiential idea of how shitty things are outside of the walls (ie. outside of the town's furthest borders).

It is a township split in half by two factions that share a symbiotic relationship; the pumpers work the fuel rigs and are the offspring and remnants of the roughnecks who used to live and work in the region before the war and the tillers who work the land. Yollie is from the tillers side and is something of a wilderness "expert" thanks to her grandfather teaching her everything he could about the "old ways." Dude was an Apache.

Anyways, the pumpers and the tillers do all they can to complete the symbiosis and help one another out. It runs like a well oiled machine. The worst part by far would have to be the assholes from the outside who come and try to take what the people inside have worked so hard to maintain.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:14, Fri 22 May 2015.

Seems extra confusing.

Does anyone have a good text BRP character sheet?

I have every confidence that you will figure it out.

I had no doubt your response would be snarky.

Ok everyone, so far we have:

A stony-faced ex-cop prowling the Road, protecting those who can't protect themselves.

A young Native American huntress from a hard-bitten battle-hardened farming settlement and trading post a short distance west of Bakersfield and right on the vital junction between the Road and the only open route to Slowtown by the Sea.

A young road warrioress struggling to live up to her mother's name and at the same time free herself from its burden.

A young mechanic.

Max has a new concept, to be announced.

Character Name:
 Age:
 Sex:
 Height:        Weight:            Hair:             Eyes:
 Occupation:
 Gods / Religion :

 -----------------------------------------------

 Characteristics & Rolls
 STR     DEX      INT
 CON     APP      POW
 SIZ

 Idea
 Luck
 Effort
 Stamina
 Agility
 Charisma

 Damage Bonus:

 Hit Points
 Total:
 Current:

 Hit Location / Hit Point Value

 Location AP HP
 Head
 L Arm
 R Arm
 Chest
 Abd
 L Leg
 R Leg

 Power Points
 Total:
 Current:

 Fatigue
 Total:
 Current:

 Experience Bonus:

 Movement:

 ------------------------------------------------

 Skills
 [ ] Appraise (15%):
     Art (05%):
 [ ]
 [ ] Bargain (05%):
 [ ] Climb (40%):
 [ ] Command (05%):
     Craft (05%):
 [ ]
     Repair (15%):
 [ ]
 [ ] Dodge (DEX*2%):
 [ ] Etiquette (05%):
 [ ] Fast Talk (05%):
 [ ] Fine Manipulation (05%):
 [ ] First Aid (30%):
 [ ] Gaming (INT+POW):
 [ ] Hide (10%):
 [ ] Insight (05%):
 [ ] Jump (25%):
     Knowledge ( %):
 [ ] Own Region
     Other Language (0%)
 [ ]
     Own Language (INTx5%)
 [ ]
 [ ] Listen (25%):
 [ ] Literacy ( %)
 [ ] Martial Arts (01%):
 [ ] Medicine (05%):
 [ ] Navigate (10%):
     Perform (05%)
 [ ]
 [ ] Persuade (15%):
 [ ] Projection (DEXx02%):
     Repair (15%)
 [ ]
     Ride (05%):
 [ ]
 [ ] Sense (10%):
 [ ] Sleight of hand (05%):
 [ ] Spot (25%):
 [ ] Swim (25%):
     Status (15%):
 [ ]
 [ ] Stealth (10%):
 [ ] Throw (25%):
 [ ] Track (10%):

 Weapons
     melee           %     damage    hnd  rng     #att  hp
 [ ] Brawl (25%)     25%   1D3+db     1   close    1    n/a
 [ ] Grapple (25%)   25%   special    2   close    1    n/a
 [ ] ________       ____  ______    __  _____   ____  ____
 [ ] ________       ____  ______    __  _____   ____  ____
 [ ] ________       ____  ______    __  _____   ____  ____

 Armor

     type           AP        Skill Mod
 [ ] ________       ____       ______

 Magical Artifacts :

 Spells Known :

 Wealth :

 Equipment:

I am really excited to see Higgins do Higginsy things. I am picturing Mel Gibson as Riggs in Lethal Weapon.

And Mel Gibson as Max in Mad Max.

And Mel Gibson as William Wall - fuck it. Higgins is Mel Gibson.

I just saw Fury Road tonight.  Oh, the ideas...

I also saw it and thought it was great. I will not provide any spoilers. Grew up on Mad Max and thought it was right up there. Surprised it does not have more of a buzz.

I thought it was really good, and I liked how the characters changed.

Tomorrow I'll make sure everyone whose character has a name has an editable character sheet, getting some maps made, and detailing faction/location knowledge to the affected characters.

Alright, here we are.

Jack is about 22 years old and tends to keep to be on the quiet side. He had an unfortunate upbringing, but one that isn’t so uncommon for the new world. He was raised to be a mechanic but has a general skill in making old machinery work.

Jack is a big guy, hard work having filled out a once wiry frame. However he tends to have a small presence at odds with his size. He hunches over and doesn’t take up unnecessary space, keeping his lips closed more often than not.

Good at: Mechanics, mostly pertaining to cars. He’s spent his whole life doing this, so he hes got it down at this point. Besides cars, he is pretty good at basic handyman activities, but those just came from so much practice fixing things.

Decent at: I image him as a pretty good driver. Not amazing as some road warriors probably are, but still someone who has spent a lot of time behind a wheel. Mostly he is a brawler, good with his fists and used to using them. However he is unfamiliar with pretty much all weapons except perhaps a lug wrench :). He might be a bit better than decent at fighting, but I don’t want to give him too many good things.

Meh: Social. He isn’t without any social tact, he just doesn’t work that particular muscle very much.


Edit: I don't know if we are going to use rolling for the stats but here they are just in case. I moved 2 points from Dex to Int using the quick start rules just because I figure he isn't exactly graceful.

Str: 15
Con: 14
Siz: 13
Int: 16
Pow: 11
Dex: 11
App: 15

Edit#2: Picture of Jack's car http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi..._style_tow_truck.jpg

---

This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Sat 23 May 2015.

Nice. I have a lot of reasons to be tight with a mechanic. Here's what I have so far:

Identity

Christmas II is a lanky, whip-thin young latina who spends a lot of her time folded up behind the wheel of a really sick ride packed full of other roughnecks. Hailing from Bakersfield, she's the daughter of  a settled-down road warrior who got out unmaimed with an impressive (and likely inflated) road rep.

She bears an undeniable resemblance to Christmas the elder: leggy as hell, dusky skin, hard eyes on a soft face. Her patience is frail and neglected and although she's done a little surviving, she's yet to see enough to become fully jaded. End result is a cocky, impetuous sort of manner.

She wears the roadbeaten leather seen on most of her peers, beneath an old ass Vera Wang gown somebody split frontwise into a kind of longcoat that does nothing to protect anybody from desert, but jangles with souvenirs. She currently drives a compact muscle car, its guts exposed & chassis decked out in corrugated metal and dayglo calacas.

Skills

Good at: Driving (obvsly), Insight and Handguns. Christmas is comfortable relying on her wits and mobility for the most part, but when those fall short then it's generally bullets.

Decent at: Brawl, Haggle and Fast-Talk. Three of the most common activities when cooling her heels in settlements.

Bad at: Maintaining her ride, living off the land. Her car's given up the ghost a few times, and honestly, except for like one of them, it was pretty much down to knowing way less about engine repair than most road warriors would be comfortable admitting. Her grasp of sustainable living involves asking why everybody doesn't just drive around until they find what it is they need.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:14, Fri 22 May 2015.

Any suggestions on Higgins' car? I was thinking one of those armored police SUVs but they weren't around in 89. Not much of a car guy myself.

Also my character sheet is not editable. Need to check the user can edit box.

Why 1989? Did I miss that bit somewhere?

In reply to Bod Man (msg # 59):

Cop cars were often Crown Victoria's back in the 80's
That's a big long Ford with s big motor.
Spotlight mounted by the drivers side mirror, shotgun rack. Dispatch radio. Loudspeaker siren and lights on the roof.

I'm playing another old guy I think. We would recognize each other on the road.

In reply to maxmcgloin (msg # 61):

most road warriors agree that 1989 is the year the world stopped making new cars and also the same year that it blew itself up (presumably because there were no new cars to admire)

In reply to hollholl (msg # 63):

Per the GM, I think we bumped the setting up to 2020, twenty years after the war ended; so, with that being said, we can reason that you have access to anything up to and maybe (strong maybe) including 2000.

In reply to pearldrum1 (msg # 64):

On the other hand? According to the "Jericho" TV show, nuclear EMP would fry the electronic ignitions and such of the newer model cars.
Nothing made after the 80's was drivable...

Originally the war going to have happened in 1989, but I changed it with my fate powers and the war now happened in 2020.

Yeah, according to Jericho that is what happened. I am not sure if that is the case here. Limited nuclear strikes hit mainland USA. The Plague seems to be the main nail in the coffin for us, even though parts of the south and north got nuked.

I think the point is that you have some leeway with vehicle as long as you don't go crazy. Anything up to the mid 20-teens apparently.

Ucat, what is the current year when the game takes off?

I'm willing to suspend some disbelief. It seems as though we're pretty well anachronism proofed with a 2020 kaboom date anyway.

Realism:

A 1970s chevy blazer is a great choice. Very common and a workhorse with off road capability and decent carrying capacity.

In reply to maxmcgloin (msg # 69):

Agree with Max. ...Newer vehicles are much more difficult for old-style "shade tree mechanics" to work on, because of so many electronic devices that require fancy high cost computerized tools.
With no electricity to power those shop tools?
...the fancy new stuff will be dead junk.

I drive a 1989 Dodge.
I'm not a real mechanic, but I change my own oil, plugs, battery, tires and such basic stuff.
...grouchy old guy rant ended. 😬

Yeah, I'd definitely buy that the older, simpler machines would the most use post-apoc, being easier to maintain/jury rig. My personal preference is for the lo-fi analog aesthetic anyway, so I won't be pushing for a google car or whatever.

Ok everybody, house rules.

House rule:

When assigning your skill points, don't have a total value over 70.  Feel free to redistribute points if necessary.



A couple of players have asked about professions to divide their 300 skill points between.  I could identify professions, but I want to spend that time doing writeups in preparation for starting. So...

House rule: Pick 10 skills related to your character concept and those will be your Profession skills.  Again, don't have a total value over 70.


It's okay for different characters with the same general profession to have different skills.

If there are any issues with this, please feel free to discuss or pm me.

Sounds good.

As to the car discussion, definitely the older models are going to be time-tested and true. The only reason I was playing devil's advocate was to show that perhaps somewhere out there, a newer model survived. Maybe some psycho warlord living in an Oasis in Death Valley has a cherry Google-Car ;) and we need to steal it from him to draw him into a trap.

It wasn't to suggest that any player should have anything other than what fits their PC idea.

Either way, Yollie doesn't know jack shit about cars other than that they are loud, smell bad, and go really, really fast.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:56, Sat 23 May 2015.

Cars will be highly modified.  20 years of necessity will lead to a great many technical innovations and creative rigging.  Don't feel limited by what is happening now.  Think about being Max on Fury Road and you have a bunch of EMP shorted new cars, a fully equipped machine shop with a huge junkyard, a crew of blackthumb warboys and 2 weeks to make a post-nuclear muscle car battlewagon.  Go.

Just don't go overboard with the weapons.  Everything you put on had to be put on by somebody with resources and the will to do it.  Does your character know how to weld?  No?  Then someone welded that armor on his car.  Who did it and why?  What is that relationship?  These questions lead to adventure hooks.  Think about the difficulty in keeping things running in a post holocaust environment when tricking out your vehicles.  I will be keeping track and it will be an issue.

What is ok:

Welded armor
Pintle mounts and ring mounts
Boobytraps
Extra fuel tanks
Run flat tires
Flamethrowers
Weapons and gear which can be reasonably scavenged.


Not ok:

Anything you would need electronics to control
Complicated mechanical devices
Anything I arbitrarily deem silly or unrealistic


You're on the honor system not to go overboard, and I reserve the right to line item veto.

There will be tradeoffs.  Heavy armor means slower speed, harder braking and more maintenance.  Extra fuel tanks means fewer passenger seats and/or no trunk space.  The gunner operating your ring mount machinegun on the roof is standing on the passenger seat.  All that ammo has to go somewhere, and all your post nuclear camping gear is heavy.  Use common sense and a sense of realism.

On assigning skill points, is the 70 the cap of the skill at the start, or simply the most we can invest into a skill at the start.

Some skills have base values of, say, 10%. Does that mean for that skill I can invest a max of 70, bringing it to 80%, or can I only invest 60 for a grand total of 70%?

It's the cap at the start, so you will get the base points according the quickstart rules + the points you put in, maxing out at 70.  This will in effect make your 300 points go farther.

Example:

Crazy Eddie is an expert driver, so he gets 20% as the base skill, plus 50 of his 300 points for a total of 70% as his skill level.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:42, Sat 23 May 2015.

Awesome. In that case, my skill list is sent to you via PM awaiting approval. I think I may be good to go.

Everyone should have a character under their character name, and it should be editable.  Let me know if there are any issues.

Thanks for adding me!!

Hi everyone
This message was last edited by the player at 06:39, Sat 23 May 2015.

Hi Hassan :)

The vehicle guidelines make tons of sense. I grabbed the free drivethrurpg supplement linked earlier, so I think I'll give that a look and see if anything inspires.

e: also I can't figure out how to change sheet/desc for Christmas. I don't think I've been in a game with multi characters for one user, so I'm probably being dense about it.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:53, Sat 23 May 2015.

No, give it a try now.  Go to Character Details, and there should be a dropdown menu where you can pick Christmas.

How common are vehicle mounted weapons? Toying with the notion of a motorcycle as my vehicle.

Done with the skills on my sheet I think. And I think Jack would drive a tow truck. Nothing all that fast, just something practical. And if anyone wants to tie Jack into their backstory as an explanation for an upgraded vehicle, just let me know.

Edit: I think his car would be something this. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi..._style_tow_truck.jpg

---

This message was last edited by the player at 16:39, Sat 23 May 2015.

Include the link in your character description!

@ Bod Man:  vehicle mounted weapons are common, but they are ring mounted and pintle mounted.

For visual reference,
Ring mount in a Humvee roof:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/w...9e/M2_-_24th_MEU.jpg

Pintle mount on a boat:  http://cranetechnologiesinc.co...4H60SmallPintle1.jpg


A pintle mount is just a post a with swivel that lets you turn, raise and lower the attached gun, and it could be easily fabricated by a character like Jack.  In Fury Road, the warboy behind the .50 cal machinegun standing on the back of the dune buggy escorting Furiosa who said "Why??" when they changed direction was using a pintle mount.  Yes, I saw Fury Road again last night >:D

A ring mount is a short pintle mount attached to a rotating ring assembly in the roof of the vehicle that the gunner turns with by leaning with his body weight.  It's pretty easy.  In a post nuclear setting, you can put a ring mount anywhere the gunner would have enough room underneath the mount to stand or crouch so he could shift his body around.  The roof is the obvious choice, but a custom built rig with a deep trunk might allow him to crouch in a ring mount.  The big advantage of a ring mount is that the gunner can keep most of his body under cover in the vehicle and he can his gun to bear in a wider arc using much less space to move his body around.  In a vehicle battle, the pintle mount gunner will be far less protected and the ring mount gunner will have a huge advantage.

EDIT:  What is not common are remotely operated weapons either electronic or mechanical, like most of the vehicle weapons in the Car Wars game or airplane mounted weapons in real life.  Example: on the M1A1 tank, the .50 cal machinegun could be fired from the inside by a mechanical solenoid connection when the vehicle was totally sealed.  These still exist on prewar military vehicles, but to have a custom built rig with this kind of gear would require an engineer and crew who knew exactly what they were doing.  That is a story in itself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:23, Sat 23 May 2015.

Brings up a question for me.

How real is the world? Are bullets scare or are people blasting away all the time. In Road Warrior, bullets are quite rare. Bows, crossbows and such were all you really saw much of in the second film.

Kind of important to understand the bullet economy of a world before making some choices for my character.

In reply to Hassan (msg # 86):

Possibly some ammo is still being made?
My guy will be doing that if he can get the ingredients.
(Save the brass, measure in some powder, cast a lead bullet, tap it in, pray it doesnt misfire!)

Of course pre-war ammo would be better quality, and arrows are easier to make.

The biggest hurdle with post apocalyptic bullet manufacture is the primers. Another is time and other material versus rate of fire and complexity of the firearm and its tolerance for lower quality ammo.

I can see a world, especially in the former US of A where guns are common but bullets hardly exist. Or where those who have recreated the means of production and monopolize it have great power.

I am not suggesting we are that strict or realistic, I am asking to get a sense of the world and scarcity.

Another possibility is black powder weaponry.

It's a good question though about bullets.

Conventional wisdom holds that there is no new production and that all ammo comes from scavenged military stocks left over from the War.  The year long battle against the Chinese invasion force in 2022-2023 saw a large movement of troops and supplies to the Central Valley and Orange County.  Now older people know that there was a great surge of police and civilian arming during the tensions leading up to the War and everybody was worried about crime, war, and civil disorder.  Then again, this is just 'conventional wisdom'.  Handloading is a thriving cottage industry as is trade in various forms supplies for it.  Ammunition quality is a big deal, and Old World ammo commands premium prices.

Scarcity isn't as bad as Mad Max 2, but everyone knows that when he shoots off a round, he just expended an irreplaceable relic of the Old World.  Imagine the Humongous having only 20 rounds for his revolver, but he knows he can probably trade for more though it will be expensive.  Forward thinking people realize that there will come a day when there are no more bullets, but the low population of the Central Valley and the immediate demands of survival push these concerns to backs of their minds.

Seems like in a world like that fully automatic weapons, especially belt fed firing larger caliber ones, would be used as single shot weapons. Marksmanship being prized over the ability to throw rounds down range.

Ok everybody, I want to aim to start by tomorrow evening.  Post your character sheets in your character sheet under Character Details, and I'll check them there.  Some players have questions I haven't gotten to yet, but I have read them.  We can continue to tweak and shift points even after we start.


Attack of the House Rules:

You can have Knowledge skills about places, which represent your character's familiarity with the land, people, and situation in an area.  Examples include Knowledge (Bakersfield), Knowledge (Northern Death Zone), Knowledge (Santa Cruz).  Please make sure you have a sensible in character reason for having esoteric knowledge, because these all create adventure hooks like ripples in a pond.

I will most likely be a driver,
Do we have any PCs that would be gunners?
Can we have NPC gunners?

Wondering how to design my truck... a pintel or ring mount might fit...

NPC gunners and crew are allowable, but I will run them for better or worse.  They will be people with good points and bad points.  Tell me what you would like and I'll work with you on it.

Jari might well be a gunner somewhere.

I agree with this completely.

If replacement bullets are being manufactured then firearms will still be relatively commonplace but firing bursts will be rare.

If there are vehicles with machine guns mounted on them then someone has got to be producing a lot of ammo to keep them supplied and it would be a major industry.

Has anyone played Twilight 2000?  A well set up campaign of T2k will lead to players starting to conserve ammo and not fire bursts as the terror of running out of bullets dawns on them.

This setting should be something similar along those lines I'd suggest.

Well with all the shooting you all got planned I am thinking someone needs to play a doctor.

I'm thinking I might go with something like this:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pini...9338b5a0a41cd158.jpg

In reply to Jari Helminen (msg # 95):

Cool Jari. My guy is an older experienced scavenger mechanic road warrior.
He does not look for fights when hes out hunting salvage. but bad guys
will probably cause problems while i'm removing tires and parts.

Having a Second gun handy will mean a lot.

I'll have a garage junkyard somewhere, maybe Bakersfield?
Maybe that town Yolie is from?
Does Jari have a home yet?

Higgins that's a cool bike. Looks off-road.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:35, Sun 24 May 2015.

Does Intelligence add   (Int x 10)  to skill points   in this game as it does in Call of Cthulhu ?

That would allow us to add to skills other than our 10 profession skills.

Yes it does, INT x 10.  Skills max out at a total of 70%.

Re-updated PC sheet. I think Yollie is 100% good to go.

All of these character ideas sound fantastic, by the way. I cannot wait to meet everyone IC.

I think I'm ready to go as well - suppose I need a final check on my character sheet.

My sheet's done too I think.

I'm all set as well.

Outstanding.  I'm pushing out info pushes, and they're taking longer than I expected.

Yollie, Jack, Christmas and Higgins, your character sheets are ok.  You're all a light on equipment, but feel free to refine your lists in the beginning stages of the game.

Edited my PC sheet to involve more gear suitable to Yollie's build. Please throw me any suggestions if you have any. She is well versed with rifle's and shotguns, but I don't think she would own any. Rather they would be a part of her family's treasured items or in the town armor ready for use when the township was under attack.

She has her long bow (named "kindness")  and a knife (used almost exclusively as a tool).

Also, I saw that the base for a bow was 5, so in order to maintain the skill cap of 70, I took 5 out of my bow skill and allocated those points into tracking, bumping it to 55.

In reply to Yollie Guevara (msg # 108):

Hi there Yollie.  My garage and junkyard need a home.
The "Wrecker" does not have the most pleasant personality or reputation.
He drives a huge scary-looking hesvily modified mutant diesel wrecker truck covered with armor and some weapons.
His junkyard is guarded by a pack of vicious dogs!
He can do vehicular repairs, welding, and gunsmithing, but is difficult to do any business with.
If you make enough noise at his junkyard gate he MIGHT come out to see what you want. Or not.
If someone comes inside uninvited... They are in a lot of danger.
If they get past the dogs, there are other hazards.

So East Highland hills is your town?
Is the Wrecker's junkyard around there somewhere?

Also the Wrecker has a partner / gunner who works with him.
That can be a PC or NPC. Are any PCs interested?
Jari seemed like he might be?
Jack do you have your own garage somewhere?

In reply to Lucas Mancuzo (msg # 109):

I suppose there could be a junkyard just outside of town. Ever since the Travel Stop went up, vehicle care and maintanance has been handled at the garage. However, that doesn't mean a separate location filled with the spare parts/odds and ends can't be located somewhere just out of town. You would still have the protection of the Alpha Company troops from Bakersfield who keep a tight watch on the Oilfields and protect the people of East Highland Hills in exchange for goods.

Yollie probably wouldn't hang around him or his place too much. Maybe say hi to the dogs and sneak them food. She doesn't do too well around mechanics/tech/vehicles and that type of thing.

In reply to Lucas Mancuzo (msg # 109):

I've actually been looking for a good place for Jack, so if your looking for an extra hand and someone who could man a gun I think he'd be up for it.

In reply to Jack (msg # 111):

Sounds good! I could use some young muscles around here.
So youse say youse a mechanic? Are you any good?
...Hey don let dem dogs know youse scared! Or dey bite ya ass off!

Ok everybody, we're moving forward but I'm lagging on the character info pushes.  They're about half done.

We're going to start in Travel Stop in East Highland Hills.  I still need to make the map for East Highland, but you can get a good idea from this google maps link:

https://www.google.com/maps/pl...3e2c3791c67c!6m1!1e1

It's a rather Bartertownish place where caravans, road warriors and other travelers meet to refuel, repair and rest before continuing on the Road or heading West on the Slow Ride.

To be even more specific, the Travel Stop is a place outside of East Highland Hills proper to ensure the safety of the settlement is never compromised by outsiders. It is something of a "safe zone" where any problems can be contained and handled and where trade with the outside world and lodging can be found and had.

In reply to Lucas Mancuzo (msg # 112):

I'm not one to brag. I keep the engines running. I keep the brakes solid. And if someone wants, I can make sure nothing short of a grenade will slow their ride down.

Dogs though... I'll take your advice on that one.

In reply to Jack (msg # 115):

The older man squinted and tugged at his beard as he seemed to be trying to look inside Jack's brain...
(Insight check)

"Okay we can try dis ting out.
If youse ...try to screw me? You could get dead... So don't!

"Has youse got yaz own tools? ...I got mine da way I likes em ...
... so stay outta my tools!"

The old guy gestured here and there with a shotgun as a pointer.
"Is dat your little red wrecker parked out dere?  ...dats cute.
Mines a little bigga....

If ya bring red in da yard here, I'll close da gate an make da dogs not eat youse.
HEY!...don't step on dat rug dere!
Dats a... well ...jus don't step on dat."

The wrecker grins, showing nasty brown stained teeth, and causing the scar on his right cheek to seem to wink obscenely:
"Dat could be hazardous to youse health."

I'm still adding tweaks to my character sheet and backstory,
adding more details to the truck and junkyard,
but its about 90% done.

Do I need to figure out what Lucas is bringing to TravelStop / Bartertown to trade?
I guess his place is near there, so its a short trip for him.

Maybe not specifically, but just a general idea would probably be good. The only "licensed" traders at the Travel Stop are East Highland Hills natives who trade mostly fresh fruits and veggies and maybe even limited livestock which would go for a hefty price.

They may require spare parts for any rare tractors they may have or land-tillers, etc. Probably car parts and what not as well. Maybe even solid pieces of "scrap" to beef up holes in perimeter walls or personal fences etc.

One thing I just thought of that might be cool and worth a lot would be rare seeds. For instance if you happened by some long abandoned gas station and found some seeds for a certain type of edible plant that the older people still dream of or that the younger generation may have only heard stories about. Side quest idea.

In reply to Yollie Guevara (msg # 118):

Cool ideas! Thanks Yollie.
I was figuring Lucas will have:  scrap metal, car parts, hand tools, Inflated tires
(as that would be a service he provides, he takes the tire and brings it back patched and inflated) and ...BOOKS!

I had not thought of seeds (strange since in rl I am a gardener) but that is an excellent idea.
Assuming some Npc asks, he will start looking on his travels, although Lucas is not a gardener type, so...?
If I have Jack or Jari along maybe they can help.

I would guess tobacco and other smokables are available?
(Mild California central can grow anything as far as I know?)

Can a no green thumb type grow ...Citrus or Avocado trees I wonder?

Pretty much anything. Cirtus and avocado definitely. Some nuts take a shitload of water so that is out. But other things that could be easily grown in a subsistence garden, or something amazing like a single Olive tree that a family covets would be an awesome trophy. We can grow anything mediterranian and that is basically what started civilization, sans China. Basically, you have a bunch of options.

Yollie would be ultra-interested in Books. Anything and everything. She would pester you for books. Books. Books. Books. If you were routinely trading her books, chances are you would get some feedback from her regarding seeds. Books and food is something you could have a niche market with her in. Mechanical stuff, not at all. If you want, we could have a nice side-trade going where, every time you bring her a new book, she can sneak you whatever fresh fruits or veggies are in season. Much less a business but a budding friendship.

By the way, if I haven't mentioned it before, generate your starting ammo like this:

For rifles, pistols and shotguns, roll 1D100 for how much ammo your character starts with, then divide it up however you want among the different types of weapons your character has.

For heavy weapons firing bullet-type ammunition, like machineguns, roll 1D20 then divide the result between the different types.

For explosive type ammo like RPGs, man portable AT missiles, and 40mm grenades roll 1D6 and divide the result between the different types.

Examples:

Joe has a 9mm Glock and an 12 gauge shotgun.  He rolls 1D100 and gets 43, so he decides that he has 20 9mm rounds and 23 shotgun shells.

Joe's car has an M240 machinegun firing 7.62mm ammo mounted on the roof and an M249 SAW 5.56mm machinegun mounted in back seat firing over the trunk.  He rolls 1D20 and gets 14.  He decides he has 8 bullets left for his M240 and 6 bullets for his M249.

One does not fuck with Joe.

How do you want to handle arrows, boss? Same system or just assumed that Yollie probably has on hand a good amount for hunting? I don't mind letting the dice decide.

For arrows roll 2D20.

20:49, Today: Higgins rolled 99 using 1d100. bullets.

Well, I have bullets!

Hells to the yeah!

Outstanding, Higgins!

Yollie will be rockin' 14 arrows. Apparently she has been doing a lot of hunting as of late.

 Christmas rolled 2,2,1 using 1d100,1d20,1d6. :/

Apparently she's been out making the wasteland a little more wasted.

Turned on the TV and Road Warrior is on. :)

This is a good omen. It means it is time to get this show on the... Road.

People who haven't received your info pushes yet, do you mind starting?

At the very least, those of us with firm grounding already can start roleplaying and introducing PCs/PC relationships and the others can come in as they get their info?

Spitballing here.

Not knowing exactly what kind of information is in the push makes this hard to answer. But I think we could probably make due. Better to get the game started, imo

I wouldn't mind warming up/figuring out character relationships myself. (I have my info though)

Send me PMS about the threads you all would like ICly and I'll set them up when I get home.  We will start in East Highland Hills as a group so aim yourselves in that direction.

I'll be making some background changes, subtle but profound, and all background already established is unchanged and will stay valid.

I am fine not really knowing each other at the start. I am sure there will be some thing to bring us together.

Not sure what this means

In reply to Higgins (msg # 138):

For my guy: put up a thread  ... "The Wreckers Yard"  thats his salvage yard and garage.

Should we have a thread for the "Trading Post Area"  seperate from "East Highland Hills" in general?

Christmas? You would know a mechanic. Lucas is one and Jack (I think) decided to work with me.  So you probably know one or both of us.

Higgins you would know The Wrecker from passing by on the road at least. Not sure if we have spoken before...

@Lucas: It's pretty likely I know both of you, as bad as I am at looking after my car. I'm kind of curious to hear your take on young road people like myself also.

Higgins and Yollie should be starting within proximity of one another. I think we may have crossed paths once or twice before the start of the game, but this is when we really establish something of a bond.

The Travel Stop: making magic happen since 1986.

As an aside, the wife and I watched Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior last night. It was as amazing as I remember it. Ucat, what would be the skill required to be good with a boomerang? Because, I want that as my backup weapon now. ;)

It would be Missile Weapon, Boomerang.

There may be a point re-allocation in my immediate future. My books aren't near me, but how do skill points work when we level? Is it something multiplied by intelligence?

Characters don't level in this system, skills improve individually.

If you successfully make a skill roll during an adventure, that skill has a chance to improve.

Example:  During one adventure, the beginning and end of which are arbitrarily defined by Uncaring Fate, Yollie shoots 50 people with her bow, makes a Track roll during the hunt for a mountain lion, and makes her Sneak roll 5 times while scouting out a biker camp.  At the end of the adventure, she would have one opportunity to improve her Archery skill, her Sneak skill, and her Track skill.

You determine if you improve a skill by rolling your chance to make it.  If you make your roll, your character doesn't learn anything new, and your skill stays the same.  If you MISS your roll, that means your character has learned something new through experience, and you gain 1D3 more skill points in that skill.  I have to check the exact amount, and I'll update.

Stats don't go up in this game.  What you have is what you have.  This means that your character can become very skilled over time during play, but her body is still only human, just as it was when she first started play.  If anyone wants to shift stat points around, now if the time to do it.

That is awesome. I am really excited to try out this system. Learning through failure is probably one of the more realistic ways to handle a skills sytem.

In reply to Lucas Mancuzo (msg # 139):

Is it possible the wrecker is the designer of Higgins' recumbent motorcycle?

In reply to Higgins (msg # 146):

Hmm... Possible if the gm agrees? I would like that.
...Oh Lawman of many bullets.

So... I think I have met everyone now .. except Crow and Erwin?

Everyone, please post the details of your vehicle if you have one in your character sheet, and a short description of it in your character description.

Ammo for family shotgun/rifle: 67 total.

Let's say 30 are rifle and 37 are shotgun shells.

Erwin uses a steam wagon. Overall, very similar to the 1920's Stanley Steamer, although his is a triple expansion design.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F...eamcar-amoswolfe.jpg

In reply to Erwin Smythe (msg # 150):

That is cool Erwin! ..Way to be different man!

Uncaring?    Do CB radios function in Kali?
Since Cell towers are long extinct, I think CBs would come back in vogue. They might be rare though after the EMP fried a lot of electronics.

Likewise with Ham / shortwave radio. The airwaves would be a lot less crowded now, Ham should work well.
??
This message was last edited by the player at 02:29, Wed 03 June 2015.

In a word, yes.

While most electronics would have been damaged or destroyed by EMP, a lot of electronic equipment would have survived.  Getting it is much more difficult than getting mechanical-type gear, but it is there.

Thanks Lucas.

Erwin fixes radios and electrical stuff as a sideline, perhaps that is how our characters met?

In reply to Erwin Smythe (msg # 153):

That would be cool. Sadly Lucas does not have enough skill points to do every repair of everything!

So L probably trades you lots of looted radios for a few repaired ones?

Does Erwin have a Police Scanner type radio? That would be extremely useful for us.

That works. Well, that and booze and cigs. Trade goods.

Nope, sorry. Could probably arrange for one. Not many cops these days tho.

It would pick up the Alpha company radios though and whatever else. They search through all frequencies constantly.