Hecatoncheires
un jour je serai de retour près de toi
Original poster
DONATING MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
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ROLE
The first thing you pick for your mutant is his role. The role determines who you are and what you do in the Ark, your position in the new world. There are eight roles to choose from: Enforcer, Gearhead, Stalker, Fixer, Dog Handler, Chronicler, Boss, and Slave.
EXAMPLE: The player Joanna is creating a PC, and she decides that she wants to play a Stalker. She takes a character sheet and writes down her chosen role.
ATTRIBUTES
Your four attributes determines what basic strengths and weaknesses you are born with. They are measured on a scale from 1 to 5 for PCs and other regular mutants. A higher score is better. Your attributes are used when you perform important actions. The attribute scores are decreased when you suffer different types of trauma. If an attribute reaches zero you are broken.
Starting scores: When you create your PC, you should distribute a total of 14 points across the four attribute scores. Each attribute must have a starting value from 2 to 4 – except one. The attribute listed as your "key attribute" by your role description may have a starting score of 5.
Extra Mutation: If you choose to start the game with an extra mutation, one of your attribute scores must be decreased one step.
STRENGTH
Raw physical power and endurance. Strength is decreased by damage, and recovered by grub.
AGILITY
Your overall body control and motor skills. Agility is decreased by fatigue, and recovered by water.
WITS
Intelligence, alertness and sharpness of mind. Wits is decreased by confusion, and recovered by sleep.
EMPATHY
Your charisma and ability to read and affect others. Empathy is decreased by doubt and recovered by sympathy.
EXAMPLE: Joanna gives Krin Strength 3, Agility 5, Wits 4 and Empathy 2. She is allowed to set Agility to 5 because Agility is the Stalker's key attribute.
SKILLS
Your skills are trained abilities and learning, things you have picked up along the way in the harsh post-apocalyptic world. In this game there are twelve basic skills that all mutants can use. In addition, every role has a unique, thirteenth skill – a specialist skill.
Skills are measured by skill level, from 0 to 5. You can use a basic skill even if you don't have a skill level. To use a specialist skill, you need at least skill level 1.
When creating your character, you get to distribute 10 points across your skills. The maximum starting level for any skill is 3, and you must have at least level 1 in your specialist skill – apart from that, you choose your skills freely.
EXAMPLE: Krin buys skill level 3 in Shoot, level 2 in Sneak and Find the Path, and level 1 in Move, Know the Zone, and Heal.
TALENTS
Talents are tricks, moves and minor abilities that give you a small edge. They are more specialised than skills and give you a way to fine-tune your character.
You can pick one talent when creating your character – but your choices are limited. Your role description indicates which talents you can choose from. You can learn more talents during the course of the game, at which point you will have many more talents to choose from.
EXAMPLE: Playing a Stalker, Joanna gets to choose one from the talents Monster Hunter, Rot Finder and Scavenger for Krin. She picks Scavenger.
MUTATIONS
Your mutations are superhuman abilities. Where the mutations come from, no one among the People knows. The problem is that they are both unpredictable and dangerous – even to yourselves. Besides, they can't always be activated on command. Sometimes the power is there, ready to unleash, sometimes it's not.
The Mutation Draw: You don't get to choose your mutation - instead you are dealt a random Mutation Card. Learn to make the most of the mutation you've got, even if you would have preferred another. Mutations are random. Deal with it.
Two Mutations: Once you have drawn your first mutation, you can, if you want to, draw a second mutation and start the game with two. The price you pay is that you must decrease one of your attribute scores by one step – your mind or body is more mutated than most, but also more degenerated.
If you choose to have two mutations, you may end up starting the game with the score of 1 in an attribute – however, this is hardly advisable.
EXAMPLE: Joanna rolls a mutation for Krin and gets Rot-Eater – very useful in the Zone.
RELATIONSHIPS AND DREAMS
Without friends to back you up you won't survive for long in the Ark – and even shorter in the Zone. But you have to know who you can trust. Turning your back to the wrong mutant can kill you faster than the Rot.
Relationships are not the only things connecting you to the world. You also have a personal dream of a better future. Your relationships and dreams affect how you earn Experience Points (XP). These choices are also important to the GM, who will use them to create story elements for the game.
Relationships to PCs: When creating your PC you must describe your relationship to all of the other PCs. You only need to write one sentence per PC. Your role description gives you premade options to pick from. If you prefer, you can ignore these options and create your own relationships.
When you have noted your relationships to the other PCs you must choose which one of them you feel closest to. That PC is your buddy. Make note of your choice.
Relationships to NPCs: Next, choose two NPCs that you have a strong relationship to in some way. You must choose one NPC whom you hate and another whom you want to keep safe.
Your Big Dream: Finally, choose what your big dream is, what you want more than anything in the world. As in the case of relationships, your role description provides you with premade options to choose from. Use them if you want to.
EXAMPLE: Krin is part of a group that includes the Gearhead Naphta, the Fixer Denrik and the Enforcer Hugust.
Joanna chooses relationships to them from the premade alternatives. Naphta has roamed the Zone with Krin, and survived. Krin thinks Denrik is an arrogant fool. If he messes with her, he's going to get what he deserves. Krin respects Hugust and thinks he might understand her, but she is afraid to let him get too close.
Next, Joanna chooses Krin's relationships to NPCs, and her big dream. Joanna decides that Krin hates the Stalker Yassan - because he has ventured deeper into the Zone than she has. Krin wants to keep the Slave Eriel safe - because she doesn't deserve a life in chains. Krin dreams of walking deeper into the Zone and finding Eden.
YOUR GEAR
The People are hungry and the struggle for grub and clean water is hard. To keep others away from your grub and water you need weapons – preferably guns. And guns need bullets from the Old Age. There is no money in the Ark, all business is done through barter, but bullets are often used as an unofficial currency.
In the Ark, there are no shops. But you can trade with other mutants, and there are fixers and bosses who can get you almost anything – for something valuable, or some service, in return. It's all about how much you need it, and what you're willing to pay – or do – to get it. The supply of grub and other things is also affected by the development of the Ark itself.
Starting Gear: Your role description tells you what weapons you can choose from when starting the game, and how much grub, water and bullets you have at the outset. Note that the Gearhead also gets to draw a random Artefact Card right at the start. If you want to, you can use your bullets to buy extra gear from the start.
Grub & Water: You must consume one ration of grub and one ration of water per day, or you'll suffer.
Encumbrance: There's a limit to how much gear you can carry - and you don't want to make yourself a target for robbers anyway. You can carry a number of regular items equal to double your Strength score. Use your base Strength for this, not the temporarily decreased value you get when you are hurt.
Keep track of your stuff. You must list everything you are carrying on the character sheet. If an item is not on your sheet, you've forgotten it or lost it somehow. You've only got yourself to blame.
Heavy & Light Items: Heavy or otherwise cumbersome items are harder to carry. An item designated as heavy counts as two regular items, and takes up two rows on your character sheet. Some objects may need as many as three or even more rows on your sheet. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there are items that are light – they count as half of a regular item, and you can list two of them on the same row on your sheet.
Grub, Water & Booze: Four rations of grub or water count as one regular item. That means you can list four rations on one row on your character sheet, or two rations plus one light item. Booze is normally kept in a bottle that counts as one regular item. One such bottle contains ten doses of the strong stuff.
Tiny Items & Bullets: Things even smaller than light items are called tiny. They are so small and light that they don't encumber you at all. The rule of thumb is: if the item can be hidden in a closed fist, it's tiny. Tiny things must be noted on your character sheet even if they don't encumber you.
Bullets: Individual bullets count as tiny items. However, more than 10 bullets count as a light item, more than 20 as a basic item and more than 40 as a heavy item.
Over-Encumbrance: You can temporarily carry more than your normal limit (Strength × 2 items). The drawback is that you have to make a roll for the skill Endure when you want to walk a significant distance, for example crossing into a new sector when in the Zone. The same rule applies if you drag some other heavy object, like a broken mutant who needs care in the Ark. If you fail your skill roll you have to drop what you are carrying, or stay where you are.
Vehicles & Carts: In the Zone, you can make use of rafts, carts, vehicles and the like to load heavy stuff onto. That way, you won't be over-encumbered by it. It's up to the GM's judgment how much can be loaded onto the cart or raft.
EXAMPLE: Krin starts the game with 4 bullets, 2 rations of grub and 4 rations of water. She also chooses a scrap rifle. Krin has Strength 2, and thus she can carry one more regular item without being over-encumbered.
YOUR DEN
When you sleep you are a potential victim, incapable of protecting yourself and your gear. Choose where you sleep, and who you sleep next to, carefully. Note the location of your den on your character sheet. Here you can also keep any gear, grub, water and bullets that you can't bring with you. You have to keep a record of everything you have in your den.
Your den should be located in the Ark or just outside of it. You can share a den with other PCs or NPCs – if you trust them. It's a good idea to hold off choosing your den until after you have decided what the Ark looks like and who resides in it.
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NAME:
ROLE:
ATTRIBUTES
Strength:
Agility:
Wits:
Empathy:
SKILLS
Endure (Strength):
Force (Strength):
Fight (Strength):
Sneak (Agility):
Move (Agility):
Shoot (Agility):
Scout (Wits):
Comprehend (Wits):
Know the Zone (Wits):
Sense Emotion (Empathy):
Manipulate (Empathy):
Heal (Empathy):
TALENTS
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MUTATIONS
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INVENTORY
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IMPORTANT STATS
Mutation Points:
Rot Points:
Experience Points:
Last edited:
NAME: Mason
