Good systems for post-apocalyptic?

[caden_varn]

As per the title really - thinking about doing a post-apocalyptic game - any particularly good game systems for this people can recommend?

The world pre-apocalypse would be fairly similar tech-wise to current day, maybe a little higher, but no spaceflight etc.
Would also want a fairly deadly system - no taking machine gun fire to the chest with barely a scratch...

[Totally Guy]

I've been reading a game called Apocalypse World by Vincent Baker. I'm pretty psyched about running it after our Burning Wheel game is done.

It's set about 50 years after the apocalypse. Current tech. There is something called a Psychic Maelstrom that is left for the GM and Players to interpret but seems to be some kind of remnant of the apocalypse.

[hamlet]

Gamma World (the original) fits pretty well, though it assumes a significantly higher tech wold. Still no space flight and all.

Alternity would do very well with this, but you would essentially have to craft much of the setting by hand. Lots of work.

D20Apocalypse is, I believe, not too bad, and it has a few pre-set settings that would fit the bill.

[The Rose Dragon]

This really belongs in the main forum, rather than the subforum.

However, I will aid you, with All Flesh Must Be Eaten! It is designed to work with zombie-infested settings, but you can remove them and have a fully functional game. Not to mention that you can use One of the Living (the post-apoc book) as a basic survival guide. Alternately, you can get GURPS. I'm sure one of the books is about post-apocalyptic scenarios.

[caden_varn]

Hmm, yes you are right, this should be in the main forum. Didn't think that through properly, sorry

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Happy to create my own setting, fairly much wanted to anyway...

[valadil]

Deadlands: Hell on Earth. I haven't actually played it, but I'm a big fan of the original Deadlands and expect it to translate to post-apocalyptic pretty well.

[Elvenoutrider]

As someone who has used d20 apocalypse I dont reccomend it, the lack of a random finds table means that making an apocalypse campaign using it requires even more extensive planning, also I find that the d20 system just doesnt translate to modern weapons that well.

While you really run into the first problem with gurps and afmbe as well, the systems really do work better and I have run succesful one shots and adventures with them so those are the ones I reccomend.

I have heard good things about gamma world and deadlands though I have no experience with them

[Tyndmyr]

As per the title really - thinking about doing a post-apocalyptic game - any particularly good game systems for this people can recommend?

The world pre-apocalypse would be fairly similar tech-wise to current day, maybe a little higher, but no spaceflight etc.
Would also want a fairly deadly system - no taking machine gun fire to the chest with barely a scratch...

Right now...D20(I'd start with modern and branch out from there). Believe me, any heavy caliber crit is going to be a bad day, and machine gun fire is pretty effective.

I do have a system that would fit this like a glove, but I'm still working it, so it's not ready for playtest just yet. When it is, it'll be linked to from the forum, of course.

[druid91]

Gone with the blastwave RPG
Rules given below.

Spoiler

Show

attributes
all characters have three skills: Violence, survival and hardware. Each of these skills has four specialties. Skills are bought by assigning the values 5, 3 and 1 to each skill. The higher the score, the better.

specialties
a character is given 3 specialties and 3 ineptitudes to place under his skills. Specialties give a +2 to a certain skill, while ineptitudes give a -2 to a certain skill. You can’t give a certain skill multiple specialties or ineptitudes, and you must place all 3 specialties and ineptitudes.

edge
all characters start with a score of 5 in the edge attribute, which is detailed below (see edge).

equipment
in addition to a uniform, helmet, and gas mask, a character starts play with items handed to him by the gm.

universal stats
these statistics are universal to all characters, and cannot be upgraded or modified in any way.

speed
all characters move at the speed of plot. This means, they can get as far as the gm thinks is appropriate. Consider the capabilities of an armored, hungry human for averages. If necessary, speed of plot can be assumed to be about 2 meters per second when walking, or 10 meters per second when running.

wound levels
all characters have ten wound levels. A character suffers a penalty to all dice rolls equal to half the number of wound levels he suffers from. When the character has taken a number of wounds greater than his wound levels, he's dead. At least beyond help or just a hindrance to the squad. Free ammo and spare parts, people!


violence
violence is used to cause damage, and little else. The skill represents the ability to destroy, maim, mutilate, ruin, break and annihilate things in any number of inhumane, basic, and down-to earth ways.

heavy weapons
the use of big weapons such as machine guns or rocket launchers. Weapons that might not always be available, but you sure as hell want the biggest bang for your buck once you've got some.

melee combat
the noble art of clubbering someone to death with the butt-end of your rifle, kicking his brains out, and otherwise making people's lives miserable while not able to do so from a safe distance.

small arms
how to shoot people. Preferably in the head or in any other way that results in them dying. Or perhaps not, if you are really bored, have no morals, and nothing better to do than watch someone die.

throwing
how to hurt people by hurling stuff at them, be it stones, rocks, rubble, debris, chunks of concrete or anything else at hand. Perhaps a knife, or even a grenade. Just remember to pull the pin. Or not.


survival
this is the art of staying alive, and – possibly – keeping others alive without the use of violence. While it might sound boring, it will let you make it through the day, laughing at your clumsy companions as they fall over and break their legs.

first aid
in addition to patching yourself up, you can counteract poisoning, disease, radiation and all sorts of stuff. You can do this to your squad mates too, making everyone else want to keep you alive.

perception
the art of not walking onto a land mine, a live bomb, an unstable tenth-story floor, a killing zone, toxic waste, or anything else. Also helps you find things such as dinner and enemy snipers.

stealth
how to stay hidden, how to hide stuff, and how to sneak up on someone so you can stab them to death without anyone noticing. Very useful for moving around without getting shot at, or running away.

tactics
careful study of the composition of terrain and military assets which lets you know your chances of survival and/or killing the enemy. People with high tactics scores often suffer from depression.


hardware
the use of any and all sorts of technical gadgets not associated with violence or stealth, hardware is nifty for big explosions and fast, furious fun (often ending in more big explosions) and for fixing stuff so you can have more fun with it.

artillery
how to shell the living **** out of anyone you don't like, assuming you have the right weapon on hand. Also can be used when spotting for artillery, assuming you are lucky enough to have 1) a radio and 2) allies nearby. Use artillery to shoot mortars, cannons and any other kind of indirect, explosive fire.

demolitions
the power to make and plant chemical compounds that tear apart buildings, people, and tanks alike. Also handy to avoid blowing yourself up when planting a bomb, a land mine or a claymore.

driving
making the tracked, wheeled, flying, sailing things move about without causing damage to you and your friends. Used to operate any and all kinds of vehicles, regardless of type.

repair
the repair skill is used to fix anything, be it ruptured gas masks, jammed guns, flat tires or flashlights with dead batteries. It can also be used to jury-rig stuff so that it works when it shouldn't. Handy!


edge
edge is a special attribute, available in equal amounts to all players. A player's edge starts at 5, and can be increased through providing entertainment value to the game. Humor provided in-game by the character should be rewarded more than out of game humor provided by the player. Note that edge is tied to the player, not his character, and follows the player to his next character should the first one die. Edge can be used in a variety of ways:

extra action
one point of edge can be spent to take an extra action in a combat turn. This can be done only once per turn, and the action is taken on the character's turn. A player does not have to declare in advance that he is spending edge this way.

increase chance of success
one point of edge can be spent to double a character's bonus to any roll. If the character suffers a penalty to that particular roll, edge can be spent to halve the penalty. Only one point of edge may be spent this way per dice roll.

weird stuff
whenever something comes up that isn't really covered in the rules, but a player wants to take a shot at it, he can use his edge attribute to try it. To do so, he rolls a dice against a tn as usual (see rolling dice, below), adding his edge score as a bonus to the dice roll. This does not spend edge in any way, but edge may be used to modify the dice roll.
Note that some stuff may be declared impossible by the gm.


rolling dice
whenever someone attempts to do something which is covered in the skills, the character rolls a dice and adds the bonus of his skill to the dice roll. If he scores higher than a target number (tn) set by the gm, he succeeds at his task. If he rolls lower, he fails. If he rolls lower by a particularly large amount, something goes wrong. The lower the number, the worse the result. Tns should be determined by considering the chance the character has of completing it.

dice type
any type of dice can be used to play, depending on the playing group's desire for randomness. The more sides the dice have, the higher the randomness. Also, tns should be higher in games using dice with many sides than in games with fewer-sided dice. Unless the gm wants things to be really hard – or easy – of course

distractions
distractions are anything annoying, uncomfortable or even funny happening to divide the character's attention. Examples include airstrikes, earthquakes, getting shot at, or being in a moving vehicle. Depending on the intensity of the distraction, shooters suffer somewhere between a -1 and -5 penalty. This penalty applies to all skill rolls, not only

rule of one
whenever a character's dice turns up a “1”, something funny, but annoying, happens. Guns jam, cover falls away, recoil smacks the character in the face. While not tied to any game mechanics, these glitches cause other characters to laugh, and may require the character who glitched to take some kind of unwanted action. The character who glitched may come up with something funny himself, and if the gm likes it, it happens and the player will be rewarded with edge. If the gm comes up with something funnier, that happens instead.


combat rules
whenever one or more characters attempt to murder any others, and the other side is aware of their attempts, these rules are used. If the other side is unaware, they're static targets, and probably just going to die.

initiative
when combat starts, all characters immediately declare their actions. Along with their actions, they provide me with an appropriate skill roll for that action, and an initiative roll. This initiative roll will determine when they take their actions. When attacked, the gm rolls your character's defense rolls to determine whether your characters have been hit or not (attack and defense rules detailed below). Players must declare on their action whether they want to use edge to dodge attacks that turn or not. Edge spent in this way will be applied on all defense-related survival/melee combat rolls until the player's next turn.

So, to boil down the new combat sequence:

1. Gm declares the beginning of a combat
2. Players declare actions
3. Players roll dice to determine how well they perform their actions
4. Players roll initiative to determine when their individual actions take place
5. Players declare whether or not to use edge for any defense rolls that turn.
6. Gm performs steps 2 to 5 for any enemies and allies (npcs)
7. Gm determines changes to the battlescape based on player and npcs actions, their success or failure, and circumstantial stuff.
8. Repeat steps 2 to 7 until combat ends.

combat turns
a combat turn is somewhere between two and five seconds long. During this time, each character gets to do one thing. Things include shooting a gun, stabbing someone, throwing a grenade, or running for cover. Characters can spend one point of edge to do two things in one turn, but no more than one point may be spent this way each turn.

melee attacks
to attack someone in melee, a character rolls the melee combat skill. If he is aware of the attack, the defender rolls his melee combat skill to avoid getting punched, kicked, clubbed, stabbed, etc. The attacker must beat the defender's roll in order to hit him. If he hits, he deals damage.

ranged attacks
when shooting at someone or something, a character rolls a dice, adding his skill with the weapon type being used as a bonus. If he attempts to hit a target that cannot dodge, the gm sets a flat tn that he must beat. If the target is aware of the shooter, he may attempt to doge by rolling survival against a tn equal to the attacker's roll. The target may also chose to forfeit his next action to roll violence + survival to avoid getting shot. If he scores higher than the attacker, the shot misses. If he scores lower, the shot hits.

A couple of things can make shooting a little more difficult.

Range: Ranges are divided into point-blank, close, medium, and long. Point-blank shots are so close and easy the characters gains a +2 bonus to his attack rolls. All point-blank shots, regardless of gun type, are within 5 meters or so. Close shots are within the weapon's close range, and suffer no modifiers. Medium shots are further out, and suffer a -2 penalty. Long shots suffer a -5 penalty.
Cover: Cover is anything that makes a shot harder. Smoke, darkness, rubble, or screens of terrified civilians acting as human walls all count as cover. Depending on the density of the cover, it can cause a -1 to -5 penalty on any attacks.

wounding
when a character has hit, he rolls a dice, adding his weapon's damage score to the damage. He also adds half the amount by which the attack roll beat the defense roll to damage. The victim then takes this amount of damage, and suffers penalties depending on his wound.

healing
a character with the first aid skill can heal up wounds he – or anyone else, if he wants to – has taken. To do so, he rolls a dice and adds his first aid skill. For every multiplier of five the dice turn up, he heals one wound level. Any character can only benefit from first aid once per scene, so once one attempt has been made, he has to wait for the gm to let anyone work on him again. A player may spend edge to increase chance of success on any first aid roll made on him, even if he's not the one rolling the dice.

running out of ammo
occasionally, when the gm deems it appropriate or the character rolls a “1” on a shooting-related roll, that character runs out of ammo. Aside from tracking clips, there is no more advanced ammunition tracking system.


basic gear
all characters start with a uniform, a gas mask, and a helmet. The uniform and helmet protect the soldiers from the hostile environment and serve to identify friend and foe. The gas mask protects against the hostile environment and causes people a great deal of confusion and mix-ups.


heavy weapons
guns kill people by shooting metal pellets at them until they die. Because keeping track of ammo is boring and rules for fire modes complicated, this is not included. Characters occasionally run out of ammo when a dice roll associated with the gun turns up as a “1”, or when the gm says so. All these weapons are used with the heavy weapons skill specialty.

Light mg: Short 100 m; medium 250 m; long 500 m;
damage 6; -2 attack penalty if not set up properly. Firing modes: Auto
medium mg: Short 160 m; medium 400 m; long 800 m;
damage 7; -4 attack penalty if not set up properly. Firing modes: Auto
heavy mg: Short 200 m; medium 500 m; long 900 m;
damage 8; requires a team of 2 to operate and carry, no firing & moving. Firing modes: Auto
grenade launcher: Short 40 m; medium 100 m; long 200 m;
damage as grenade type. Firing modes: 1 shot
rocket launcher: Minimum 15 m; short 40 m; medium 100 m; long 200m;
damage: Variable (on situation & target). Firing modes: 1 shot
-at rockets: Vs. Infantry: Damage: 6 vs. Armor/buildings: High; small burst radius
-frag rockets: Vs. Infantry: Damage 8 vs. Armor/buildings: Low; large burst radius
flame thrower: Short 10 m; medium 25 m; long 50 m;
damage 5; target usually ignited, can ignore cover in most cases.

melee weapons
dangerous stuff used to kill people the good old way. Also known as emergency combat solutions for desperate soldiers with no real weapons. All these weapons are employed with the melee combat skill specialty.

Body (self): Damage 1
body (other): Damage 2
knife: Damage 3
close combat weapon: Damage 4
debris (anything else): Damage 1-5, depending on material and size


small arms
guns kill people by shooting metal pellets at them until they die. Because keeping track of ammo is boring and rules for fire modes complicated, this is not included. Characters occasionally run out of ammo when a dice roll associated with the gun turns up as a “1”, or when the gm says so. All these weapons are used with the small arms skill specialty.

Pistol: Short 10 m; medium 25 m; long 50 m; damage 4; firing modes: Semi
revolver: Short 12 m; medium 30 m; long 60 m; damage 5 ; firing modes: Semi
smg/carbine: Short 40 m; medium 100 m; long 200 m; damage 4; firing modes: Semi/auto
shotgun: Short 20 m; medium 50 m; long 100 m; firing modes: Semi
damage 6; -1 damage at medium range, -2 damage at long range
assault rifle: Short 60 m; medium 150 m; long 300 m; damage 5; firing modes: Semi/auto
battle rifle: Short 80 m; medium 200 m; long 400 m; firing modes: Semi
damage 5; -2 attack penalty if not stationary;
sniper rifle: Short 200 m; medium 500 m; long 1000 m; firing modes: Single
damage 6; -2 attack penalty if not set up properly; -4 penalty if not set up and moving.


throwing weapons
unlike other ranged weapons, thrown weapons are one-shot things, which don't run out of ammo only when you have a bad dice roll. Once used, thrown weapons must be retrieved before you can use them again. Often an impossible task, since they blow up. All these weapons use the throwing skill specialty.

Knife: Short 6 m, medium 15 m; long 30 m; damage 3; no point-blank range
grenade: Short 10 m; medium 25 m; long 50 m; damage 7; damage not increased for accuracy, can target ground, not enemy, damage increased in tight conditions
napalm grenade: Short 10 m; medium 25 m; long 50 m; damage 2; damage not increased for accuracy, can target ground, not enemy, burns for five rounds unless choked.
Stun grenade: Short 10 m; medium 25 m; long 50 m; damage 0; usually does no actual damage, but disorients and distracts opponents and can give an advantage.

other weapons
there are many other weapons than the ones on this list, when appropriate they’ll be created and put into the game, and perhaps added to the list.

the green weaponry faq!

note that some weapons will have attributes not necessarily in these descriptions. You’ll know what those are when it matters.
Not a question, but something you all should know.

no rules for attacking an area with a machinegun/flamethrower/smg!? Blasphemy!!
no, it’s not. We’ll be using a wondrous thing called ‘common sense’ when something like this applies. That’s the beauty of a rules-light system.

other equipment
there is other stuff in the city, waiting to be used – and to malfunction spectacularly! There is no need to develop specific stats or rules for it. The gm will develop rules for these things as necessary. Just roll the dice and apply the correct modifiers when and how the gm tells you to.

[LibraryOgre]

Again, I will pimp OpenD6. It's a free system, with a good fan support, and with a lot of flexibility.

http://opend6.wikia.com/wiki/Open_D6_Resurrection_Wiki

[SurlySeraph]

Twilight 2013! Modern technology, plenty of verisimilitude. It's very rules-heavy, but beautiful.

If you want more rules-light, New World of Darkness could work pretty well; it has some good suggestions for post-apocalyptic campaigns in the Mirrors sourcebook.

[gomipile]

I've seen d20 Modern used for a post apocalyptic setting to good effect.

[Ravens_cry]

My first role playing experience with rules was Skies of Glass on the Fear the Boot forum. It didn't last long, but it was more flannel and shotguns rather than lasers and mutants.

[Autolykos]

I mastered a post-apocalyptic Campaign in GURPS and it worked out rather well. If you want to sink your money in books, you'd want High-Tech and perhaps Ultra-Tech. High-Tech 4e has some hints on how to replicate modern technology with low-tech or scavenged materials (how to distill usable fuel from crude oil, or what armor can be built quickly from scrap material for example).
You could also adapt Shadowrun for a post-apocalyptic setting. And then, there's also Fallout P&P and RIFTS (both have quite cool worlds, but rather klunky rules).

[Cousi]

I'm gonna add my name to the GURPS list. If you know the rules well enough you can easily adapt it to a post-apocalypse setting, and it's very easy to die in a GURPS campaign. Just ask any of the folks who've gamed with me.

[FelixG]

I had a good bit going with the Serenity CORTEX system for about 6 months.

My players normally only played d20 and started out as kick down the door rush in to try to kill things sort of players, after that game they learned that getting shot is a deadly prospect if you kick down the door.

[Tetsubo 57]

My 'go to' PA game is the 1992 edition of Gamma World. You can quite easily dial back the 'wacky' aspect if you wish. But it has the wild mutations, super-science and such if you want it. Heck, it's got playable plants species. It is just so darn fun.

There is a Pathfinder PA slated for release this year, Warlords of the Apocalypse. But that might suit your timing.

[FelixG]

My 'go to' PA game is the 1992 edition of Gamma World. You can quite easily dial back the 'wacky' aspect if you wish. But it has the wild mutations, super-science and such if you want it. Heck, it's got playable plants species. It is just so darn fun.

There is a Pathfinder PA slated for release this year, Warlords of the Apocalypse. But that might suit your timing.

Supposed to be out some time this month I think...Good find by the way!

[Yami]

First off, I second Gone with the Blastwave.

Secondly, if your looking for something more familiar, Darwin's World is a nice d20 setting that my group and I have had tons of fun with.

[kyoryu]

Alternately, you can get GURPS. I'm sure one of the books is about post-apocalyptic scenarios.

Fun fact: Fallout used GURPS as its system through the vast majority of development. SPECIAL was created and grafted onto the game in a relatively short period of time.

[FelixG]

If you want a Pen and Paper based on the Fallout game...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2563348/Fa...st-Nuclear-RPG