mechanics Scavenging: The World Beyond

[Essence]

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A big part of the game is leaving the haven to go on runs into the broken world. The reasons for doing this are many and varied – a need to find food, weapons, medical supplies, or spare parts; a search for a new and better haven; a mission to attack another group; a quest to bring new NPC survivors to your haven; perhaps even a scientific expedition to seek a cure for the walker virus.

An area map with a grid overlay will be provided to you. Each square representing a 10×10-kilometer sector. The GM will have their separate version of the area map, where they can mark out locations, events, and factions as yet unknown to you. At the start of a campaign, there will also be sectors that contain points of interest that are known to you. It could be a hospital, a military base, or a camp site where refugees were hiding right after the outbreak. The GM will mark these locations on your map.

While on foot, you can cover one sector per day. With a vehicle, you can travel faster as indicated depending on the type of vehicle you find. You cannot travel diagonally through sectors. NPC's may also decide to go on their own independent scavenging runs depending on how your group is run; unless the PC's accompany them, their fate is left to the GM.

ENTERING A NEW SECTOR
When you move into a new sector, a PC can make a Scout roll – provided that person travels at the head of the main group or observes the sector from some vantage point. A successful Scout roll lets you spot dangers in the sector before they find you, and it helps you find ways around roadblocks.

Failing the Scout roll means that people or undead in the sector will spot you first. If you travel by vehicle, you also must travel one fewer sector that day, as something is blocking your route.

If you know a sector well – maybe because you just traveled through it or because your haven has a trade route that runs through it – you don’t need to make a Scout roll when you enter. Sectors will not stay safe and well-known forever though. Sooner or later, a swarm will move in, or a group of NPCs might show up to scavenge in the area. The GM decides when this happens.

SECTOR FEATURES: When you go into a sector, the GM will tell you what it looks like and describe key features. These could be dangers, but also potentially beneficial attributes, such as NPC survivors who might want to join your group. Sometimes, there is nothing of importance in the sector.

RATIONS
In your haven, its Capacity decides if you have enough food and water for everyone. Outside the haven, you must carry what you need. Each person in the group consumes one ration each day, or they starve. NPCs who don’t get enough rations will gain a temporary Issue. The GM can use that Issue to create further Challenges for the PCs.

RATIONS FROM THE HAVEN: When you go on a run, each PC and NPC can bring a number of rations equal to the haven’s Capacity value multiplied by two. More than that cannot be taken from the haven’s food storage without depleting it. If you abandon the haven for good, and have the necessary time to pack up everything, you all get the normal number of rations from the haven, plus a number of rations to share equal to the Capacity value multiplied by ten. This depletes the haven and reduces its Capacity to zero.

HUNTING ON THE ROAD: If the GM finds it plausible that there is wild game or fish along the way, you may spend a day to hunt for food. Make a Survival roll. Each Success gives you a die roll of rations. If you fail, you find nothing. You can still move one sector that day.

SCAVENGING
In some sectors, like a part of a city or town, it is possible to scavenge for food. Roll Survival. A successful roll nets you a good haul with each extra success adding one ration. You can only scavenge once per day. Several people may scavenge at the same time. But if there are many of you, the GM may decide that if any of you fail the roll, you have been loud enough to increase the Threat Level one step. If there are living enemies close by, a failed roll also means you have alerted them. You can scavenge while moving on foot. If you travel with a vehicle, scavenging will halve the distance you cover that day, rounding down to the fullest sector.

When you want to figure out where you can find a certain item – spare parts to a hydraulic pump, for example – you make a Survival roll. If you succeed, the GM will point to a sector on the area map and tell you what can be found there. This represents using your knowledge from pre-apocalyptic times to make an educated guess. If you fail the roll, the GM will still tell you where the item can be found. But something about the place or what you are looking for is problematic. Perhaps a group of NPCs is hiding there, or has already taken what you need. Now, you must track the opposing group to their haven to get it. The problem is not something the GM will tell you about – you must find out in game by going to the location. If you roll a walker and mess up, you might lead the group into a death trap.

Only one roll is allowed per item you search for. When the GM states where it can be found, that is its only location.

LOCATING NPCS AND SWARMS: If you want to find things that did not exist before the outbreak – such as an NPC haven or a swarm – you need to either talk to NPCs you encounter, or search sector by sector. It is not possible to make a Survival roll to find these things.

GEAR

GEAR BONUS
Most gear will give you a gear bonus. Provided that the GM agrees that the item is useful in the situation, you get to add a positive modifier to your skill roll when using it. When making a skill roll, you may only utilize the bonus from one piece of gear. The gear bonus for a few common items is listed in the table on the right.

ITEMS BREAK
With time, everything will break or wear out. This can happen either as a Challenge that the GM introduces, or as a result of messing up on a skill roll. Repairing old stuff and finding new resources to survive is a big part of the game. You will either build a thriving society or watch what you have crumble to dust. Repairing broken items is done as a project in your Haven.

QUALITY OF ITEMS
When the PCs find an item, the GM may roll on the table below to determine its quality. If an item’s quality is determined to be bad (which is quite often, due to the decaying of the world in general), it has the Issue bad quality. This means that it is likely to break which may lead to a Challenge for the PC.

AMMUNITION
The game does not have a granular system for tracking ammunition. If you have a gun, you probably have some ammo. But running out of ammo and going on runs to find more is an important part of the game’s world, so there are two thematically resonant ways that ammo scarcity can happen.

First, the GM could introduce it as a Challenge, for example by setting a scene where an NPC, who has counted the bullets in your storage, warns you that you are about to run out. Another way is as a result of messing up on a skill roll, for example when you roll for Ranged Combat.

 

Items Table

Item	Slots	Bonus
Medical gear (Advanced)	Varies	Medicine +2
Medical Gear (Basic)	1	Medicine +1
Binoculars	1/2	Scout +2
Book of maps	1/2	Scout +1
Bottle of liquor	1/2	Manipulate +2
Camera	1/2	--
Compass	--	Survival +2
Crowbar	1	Force +2
Field kitchen	1	--
Guitar	1	Leadership +1
Lockpicks	--	Stealth +2
Pack of gum/cigarettes	--	Manipulate +1
Ration of food	1/2	--
Rope (10 meters)	1	Mobility +2
Sleeping bag	1	Survival +1
Tent	2	Survival +2
Toolbox	1	Tech +2
Walkie-talkies	1/2	Leadership +1

Close Combat Weapons

Weapon	Damage	Bonus	Slots
Foot or fist	1	0	--
Improvised weapon	1	+1	1/2
Knuckle duster	1	+1	1/2
Rifle butt	1	+1	1
Knife	1	+2	1/2
Small axe	1	+2	1/2
Quarterstaff	1	+3	1
Crowbar	2	+1	1
Baseball bat	2	+1	1
Spear	2	+2	1
Sword	2	+2	1
Big axe	2	+2	1
Sledgehammer	3	0	2
Machete	2	+1	1

Ranged Weapons

Weapon	Damage	Bonus	Range	Slots
Throwing knife	1	+1	Short	1/2
Bow	1	+2	Long	1
Crossbow	2	+2	Short	1
Pistol or revolver	2	+2	Short	1
Pipe Gun	2	+1	Short	1
Shotgun	2	+3	Short	1
Rifle	2	+2	Long	1
Sniper rifle	2	+2	Extreme	2
Sub machine gun	2	+3	Short	1
Assault rifle	2	+3	Long	1
Heavy machine gun	3	+3	Extreme	3
Molotov cocktail	BP 6	+0	Short	1/2
Hand grenade	BP 8	+1	Short	1/2
Rocket launcher	BP 10	+2	Long	2
Tank cannon	BP 12	+3	Extreme	X

Edited April 27 by Essence (see edit history)