There are six basic attributes that will be used to do everything in game. This comes from an era of the late 90's early 2000's when simple systems evolved into games like FUDGE, Fate, Apocalypse World, and so on.

Athletics: covers physical tasks that rely on strength, coordination, endurance, etc.
Combativeness: covers actual fighting in all forms.
Eloquence: covers social interactions in all forms.
Ingenuity: covers tasks relying on knowledge, hand-eye coordination, creativity, etc.
Perception: covers understanding situations, intentions, clues, etc.
Serendipity: cover the use of luck, good fortune, happenstance, etc.

Each attribute has a rating from 1 to 10, the rating offers a modifier used in the die roll mechanic used in the game.

The minimum for each attribute is 1, the max is 10. A character starts with 33 points to distribute among these attributes. Each attribute carries the following modifier.

1    -2
2-3  -1
4-5   0
6-7  +1
8-9  +2
10   +3

Attributes can be increased over time through game play. Characters will earn experience points, a attribute can be risen for an number of XP equal to the new attribute. So, to raise a 4 to a 5 would cost 5 XP.

For each attribute with a positive (+) modifier the character will have an area of expertise as defined by the player. These a simple, using a couple of words to describe. Here are a few examples:

Athleticism: field and track star, mountain climber, competitive diver, equestrian champ, free runner, and so on.

Combativeness: martial artist (Historical European or Asian, up to you), collegiate wrestler, golden gloves, 3 gun shooter, IPSC pistol champ, SWAT sniper, seasoned hunter, sporting clays shotgunner, fencer, street fighter, and so on.

Eloquence: business person, negotiator, fast talker, matchstick man, seductive, interrogator, charismatic speaker, singer, actor, and so on.

Ingenuity: Surgeon, mechanical engineer, fabricator, gardener, wilderness survival, primitive living, mechanic, and so on.

Perception: keen eyesight, good hearing, empathic, notices details, insightful, observant, reads people, reads situations, and so on.

Serendipity: bold, tough, brash, hard headed, strong willed, gambler, good with animals, heroic, and so on.



These aspects of an attribute should work with the character's backstory.

For backstory please keep in mind a few things:

Age: please keep all character between 18 and 50 and have them be age appropriate to their background.

Family: Does the character have family? Did they survive the apocalypse? Does the character know of their where-abouts?

Profession: what did the character do for a living prior to the apocalypse? CEO of their won corporation, lift truck driver in a factory, beat cop, young aspiring copywriter? Not looking for a group of former military, private military contractors, SWAT cops, or CAI operatives, thanks.

Survival: How have they survived to this point? How has it affected them?



The basic die rolling mechanic in the game is as follows:

describe the action being taken, use the modifier of the appropriate attribute, roll 3d4 and add the modifier to the result.

so, if I had a Combativeness of 6 (+1) and wanted to shoot a bow at a zombie's skull I would roll 3d4+1 for and outcome of 4 to 13.

This is how it works out;
 on a total of 6 or less, the action fails and the GM assigns a bad outcome
 on a total of 7 to 9, the action is partially successful, some good for some bad
 on a total of 10 to 12, the action is successful as stated
 on a total of 13 plus the action is so successful their is some extra benefit

Now, when you make a roll and the action falls under the expertise you have you can re-roll a failed roll, once. So, in the above example if I was a competitive archer then I could re-roll a missed shot with a bow. Now, as a GM you can expect me to throw in a few caveats like, well you're using a cheap reflex bow made of fiber impregnated plastic from Walmart and not a custom target bow so no re-roll or since you are using a fully decked out target bow with custom arrows I would allow a re-roll to every shot taken. You get the idea.



Equipment:
Write up what you feel like is appropriate for you character to survive, thrive, and carry on in  the post apocalypse. I will let you know if anything poses a problem and we will work it out.



Any questions just hit me up.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:11, Sat 18 Jan 2020.