BASICS

1. Making checks: link to a message in this game
2. Stats: link to a message in this game
3. Traits: link to a message in this game
4. Combat: link to a message in this game
5. Setting: link to a message in this game

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:29, Wed 18 July 2018.

1. MAKING CHECKS

Make a check whenever you attempt an important action that involves a realistic chance of failure, such as telling an important lie to an NPC or searching for traps, or to prepare yourself for possible danger, such as making a WIT check to be actively watchful before entering a room.

To make a check, pick your most relevant stat and roll 1d20. If your resulting score is equal to or under your stat, your attempt succeeds. Otherwise, your attempt fails. For some checks, you could use one of several suitable stats. For example, for climbing a wall, you could choose STR or DEX.

In addition, modifiers (from traits, equipment, or the environment) can add bonuses or penalties to your stats when making checks. Bonuses add to the stat you've chosen for the check, making it easier for you to succeed, while penalties subtract from that stat, make it more likely that you will fail.

Unlike stats, modifiers are more specific and are not permanent. Traits are an individual's special skills, adding modifiers to specific checks they do (e.g. for disguise, surgery, or lockpicking). The GM may add environment modifiers based on physical conditions or social relationships (e.g. weather, PC's notoriety, size of a crowd). Equipment may add a modifier as long as a PC is using it (e.g. rope for climbing, compass for navigating, uniform for disguise).


More info on checks: link to a message in this game

This message was last edited by the GM at 17:58, Wed 18 July 2018.

2. STATS

Stats are permanent, and max out at 16. The higher the stat, the better.

• Bushcraft (BUS): stealth, navigation, wilderness survival
• Charm (CHA): sociability, lying, persuasion, memory for people/rumors/gossip
• Dexterity (DEX): ranged weapons, balance, speed, hand-eye coordination, driving, lockpicking
• Letters (LET): literacy, book learning, rote memorization
• Stamina (STA): health points, resisting disease/injury, persistence
• Strength (STR): melee weapons, grappling, lifting, breaking things, fisticuffs
• Wits (WIT): improvised weapons, perception, common sense, resisting persuasion, sensing deception

More info on stats: link to a message in this game

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:00, Wed 18 July 2018.

3. TRAITS

Traits are your personal special skills. If you have a trait, it can add bonuses or penalties to whichever stat you choose when making a check that relates to that trait. For example, if you have the "Locksmith" trait, meaning that you worked as a locksmith for several years, you can use that trait to give a bonus to your Dex stat when you make a lockpicking check.

Good traits add a bonus to your stat, making the check more likely to succeed. Bad traits add a penalty to your stat, making a check less likely to succeed. You can use a maximum of one good trait and one bad trait when making a check.


Trait points

Trait points (TPs) allow you to gain and improve good traits. You start character creation with 4 trait points. You can gain more TPs by taking on bad traits, or by gaining experience via IC gameplay.

You can gain good traits by spending TPs. You can spend TPs either to buy a good trait you don't have yet, OR to put more points into a good trait you already have. The more points put in a trait, the bigger its bonus or penalty.

You can take as many bad traits as you want. When you take a bad trait, you gain TPs. You can also gain TPs by putting more points into a bad trait you already have.


For a list of good traits: link to a message in this game
For a list of bad traits: link to a message in this game
More info on traits: link to a message in this game

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:28, Wed 18 July 2018.

4. COMBAT

Players can post in any order. During your turn in combat, you can either attack one target once and move once, or move twice. If your DEX is 1-9, you can move 30 ft each time you move once. If your DEX is 10-16, you receive a bonus enabling you to move further, from 40 to 70 ft each time you move once.

When you attack, first make an attack roll to see if you hit the target or not. Roll 1d20+5. If the result is equal to or over the target's STR or DEX score (whichever is higher), you succeed and hit the target. Otherwise, you can't hit the target this turn.

If your attack roll succeeds and you hit the target, make a damage roll. Melee damage rolls depend on your STR. Ranged damage rolls depend on your DEX. Any damage you deal to a target is instantly subtracted from their HP.

• STR/DEX 1-5: Roll 1d3
• STR/DEX 6-10: Roll 1d4+1
• STR/DEX 11-12: Roll 1d5+2
• STR/DEX 13-14: Roll 1d6+3
• STR/DEX 15-16: Roll 2d6+3

You can also interfere in combat on your turn in two ways.

• You can mess with one target. Messing adds a penalty to any attack roll the target makes on their next turn. Messing includes throwing sand in the enemy's eyes (DEX or WIT) or headbutting them (STR). To mess, make a check with the relevant stat. The size of the penalty is (20 – the target's STA score)
• Once per combat, you can persuade: make a CHA check against a target's WIT to attempt to pause, stop, or incite conflict

Some NPC enemies may have special abilities, such as being able to attack multiple PCs at the same time.

The GM will demonstrate the rest of the combat rules as we go along.


The above rules apply to armed combat. Unarmed combat and improvised weapons: link to a message in this game
More info on combat: link to a message in this game

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:09, Wed 18 July 2018.

5. SETTING

On a post-apocalyptic continent of constantly warring city-states, nimble airship pirates feed off a volatile and haphazard network of cross-border trading routes. The traders have no choice but to brave the sky raiders; none can afford the exposure to toxins, nuclear decay, and mutated monsters that plague any attempt at overland travel. Even high above the low-lying layer of thick toxic clouds, wearing gas masks is essential when exposed to the air outside to prevent sickness and, after a few hours' exposure, certain death.


Unsinkable II

We're airship pirates, unwelcome in most settlements for long. As the crew of a fast stealth ship, we offen sell our services as swashbuckling mercenary privateers to several of the many warring city-states.

• Omotola Bulawayo
  Our fearless Captain, a guarded ace pilot from the Bonelands

• Nick Flint
  Our scrappy scout, a charming miscreant from one of the Cog Cities

Races

Most people in the setting fall into two categories:

• humans (by far the most common); about 1 in 100 born with one or two mutations, usually minor
• humanoids called "strains" originally descended from mutated humans, but now different enough to be their own race

Rarely, we may encounter:

• cyborgs called "technohumans" or "technos"
• AI/robots called "mechs" or "servitors"
• extremely rare sentient creatures/humanoids resulting from scientific experiments, called "seams"

Regions

More info on regions: link to a message in this game

• The Wastes
  
  • Hopelessly polluted badlands overrun with warring Cog Cities, enormous, mobile industrial city-states with rigid caste systems
  • Dotted with rare oases that are protected from pollution and radiation; many are led by the Spring Federation, allied with the Aerie
• The Aerie
  
  • Network of gllittering, hi-tech mountain complexes, whose citizens, unaccustomed to hard labor, live in relative luxury
  • At war with the Undertrove over subterranean mining and groundwater resources; allied with the Spring Federation
• The Undertrove
  
  • Subterranean collective of reclusive cavern-dwellers known for pursuing balance with the natural world
  • At war with the Aerie over subterranean mining and groundwater resources
• The Bonelands
  
  • Arctic tundra over an icy sea, so beset with thunderstorms that the feral settlements living here cannot be reached by airship
  • Notorious for their hardened monster hunters and warriors, and for shunning reliance on technology

More info on setting: link to a message in this game

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:43, Wed 18 July 2018.