Lords Of The Last Days: 21 Encounters In A Serpent-Ridden Apocalyptic Pass

Here's another encounter table based on the lyrics to a song. All credit for the idea goes to Joseph Manola and his excellent Against The Wicked City blog. This one is a bit more focused than my last one, but it's based on a song by the same band, The Sword. Unlike the pretty disjointed encounters I made from Ebethron, I used this song, Lords, to make a more coherent setting. It has an adventure hook, rising tension, and a mechanic to make the journey into chaos a gradual change over time.

Click here to listen to the song.

THE HOOK

If you want to skip all the backstory (little though it is) below you easily can. The important thing is this: An ancient evil has been accidentally released in a mountain pass. Are you a bad enough dude to head up through the rapidly deteriorating highlands and return the stolen golden seal before it's too late?

EXCESSIVE BACKSTORY

Seven centuries ago, Mereshehad, high priest and worldly avatar of the Seven Serpents, was defeated and sealed in a tomb in the largest pass over the Barrier Peaks of the east. Seven seals were placed upon its door, and the door itself was guarded by seven stone balbals, golems imbued with the spirits of warriors who fell in the battle against him.

Seven days ago, a wizard's apprentice from Brimistead, bored while his master Grybia was in a weeks-long trance to commune with elder gods, used a spell of invisibility to steal the largest seal, one made of molten gold. Six hours later the others had all failed, releasing the malevolent ghost of Mereshehad – driven mad by centuries of isolation – upon the unsuspecting inhabitants of the pass. Its foul magic is as horrible is it is powerful.

Seven minutes ago, Grybia awoke, slew his apprentice immediately, and hurried to the tavern in which the PCs are currently staying. The elder gods with which he spoke recommended the party's services, and so he has charged them with heading up into the slowly unraveling pass. He promises a freshly made golden seal (worth 1,000 coins) to each PC if they merely put this one back where it belongs. But a week is a long time. The pass is already in open war, one which it is losing; getting there will be anything but easy.

You'll want to click this one to embiggen it.

HOW TO PLAY

As the party heads up the pass, roll a D6 and count that many entries down this list below, skipping any entries already seen. How long it takes them is up to you, but Grybia stresses to the party that it's only a matter of time before the avatar can fully free itself from the mound. They should have two or three days in systems where healing happens overnight before Mereshehad is free, and should be easily able to climb the pass within that time.

1 The lords of the passes are arming their vassals. A crowd of peasant men are gathered near a crossroads, being armed and armoured with spears and shields by their aging lord and his two knights. There are about 20 in total. They may try to strongarm the PCs into joining them, or offer to aid their passage north – the peasants will break quickly when fighting anything supernatural and one of the knights will flee at the first sign of trouble, but the lord and other knight will fight to the bitter end.

2 You'll find no shelter that way. Several peasant families walk slowly down the road, heading the way the PCs came. Some of them are visibly sobbing, a few injured, and they carry all that they own with them or on their few mules. They will try to convince the party to turn back, claiming that serpentine monsters attacked their village, but that it was the soldiers who defended them who turned suddenly and madly back to burn the settlement to the ground.

3 The conscripts they've taken have never returned. A handful of armed soldiers, five or ten in total, hold a few women at the centre of a village. They are trying to force the village, which has hidden most of its men, to give up its conscripts. It already gave up half of its male population a week ago, none of whom have returned. The soldiers are unwilling to search door to door with their numbers and want the PCs to either search for them or convince the men out of hiding. If the soldiers aren't stopped or aided, they will kill one, then two of the women in a few minutes before the men give themselves up.

4 And our hopes fade with each passing day. At the centre of a village, several tables covered in food and what few fineries the peasants possess have been set up. The whole settlement is revelling over the feast, which contains most of their food. They cheerfully invite the PCs to join, explaining that, with no hope for the future, they are trying to make the best of the present. Convincing them to hope, even with the evidence of the golden seal, will be very difficult – but if they don't stop the feast they won't have enough food come winter.

5 The gates of the keeps are all closing. A small but clearly formidable keep is surrounded by a camp of tents, filled with deserted soldiers and displaced peasants. The lord inside is letting in visibly competent soldiers, beautiful women, and wealthy survivors, claiming the keep was sanctified against evil magic like Mereshehad's. A few soldiers will attempt to rob or extort the PCs to buy access. The keep's wards won't hold out even the weakest demon, and it will be the site of a massacre if the seal is not replaced.

6 And broken men wander the road. Stumbling down the road towards the PCs are a few soldiers led by a knight. They are armoured and hold their weapons drawn, but seem dazed, confused, and completely oblivious to the world around them. One falls, stabs his blade deep in his arm, then stands up and pulls it out before continuing as if nothing happened. Only if directly approached and jostled will they awake from the stupor, their last memories being of an attack in the night by a man with three snakes instead of a head.

7 The farmers have fled to the forest. A farming village lies completely abandoned save for a young girl wandering through it in tears. The populace fled for the nearby forest almost on a whim, leaving her behind in the confusion. She is too afraid to head there on her own and the villagers are too afraid to return to the village to retrieve her. If the PCs bring her to the villagers they will be ambushed by D4+1 wolves with the heads of snakes (still count as normal wolves though), but will be rewarded with trinkets worth 100 coins.

8 Burning their fields as they go. Several men and women march through fields of wheat, holding torches and setting the plants on fire. One man catches on fire as the party watches or approaches, neither stopping nor screaming until he is fully engulfed and falls down dead. If the PCs near them or watch for more than half a minute or so, they will see them and attack, attempting to set them on fire instead (their torches only deal D4 damage but set the target on fire on a roll of 4).

From the Hindustan Times

9 The dukes of the marches have ordered their archers. A large group of soldiers, about 30 to 40 in total, mostly archers, are camped on the shores of a small creek. Only about a third of them have been possessed, but crucially so has their leading lord. He is feigning caution and cowardice in order to wait for the possessed to outnumber the unpossessed, before turning on them. If somehow convinced to travel with the PCs, the corrupted soldiers will wait until a fight before turning on their former comrades.

10 To shoot all outlanders on sight. A village lies in mostly smoking ruins, but as the PCs approach they can hear cries for help. Four hunters, the only survivors of the chaos that destroyed their home, are trying to lure them near before shooting bows from the windows of the town's meeting hall. They are not possessed, but believe it to be the end of days, and it will be hard for the PCs to convince them they aren't demons in disguise.

11 Turn back your horses before it's too late. Five well-armed men, skilled wandering mercenaries from northern lands, ride horses down the path towards the PCs. They fought against the serpents and possessed soldiers of Mereshehad valiantly but lost. Now they're living to fight another day. They are talkative and friendly, particularly eager to talk of the man they fought who had three serpents instead of a head, but if they learn or suspect the party is wealthy (IE they see or are told of the golden seal) they will risk an attempt at robbing or extorting all but the most obviously dangerous parties.

12 There'll be no safe crossing this night. A wide river crossing has several beached rowboats on the PCs side, and a visible horde of refugees on the other. No boat will cross the water for fear of a giant amphibious serpent within the river, which must be slain or otherwise distracted in order to make passage safe. One brave man will attempt to swim as the PCs arrive, cheered on by the watching crowds on both sides before being devoured halfway across. The serpent is strong but not that strong, but it must be lured onto land to be fought in any plausible manner.

13 Hear the horns, pounding hooves. The PCs have just enough time to a see a host of 100 to 200 soldiers and a dozen or so knights in front of them before a horn sounds and an equally large army charges down a ridge towards them. The battle will turn in favour of the side opposite the PCs unless they intervene. However, the nearer army is in fact the possessed one, a fact only revealed by their silence, occasional hastily-made serpentine heraldry, and violence towards the party if their unpossessed nature is revealed. The battle is close enough that whichever side wins will only have about 50 survivors.

14 Visions of cities aflame. The smoke can be seen before the glow, and the glow before the city itself – really a town, a thousand people at the most – engulfed in a raging fire. Some people are fleeing through the southern gate, but many more are trying to put out the fire. They would be able were it not for the to mobs of possessed townsfolk, fifty strong each, march from place to place lighting everything on fire. A trained force or larger mob of locals could easily defeat them. A wealthy merchant fleeing the city promises the five golden rings he wears (worth 200c each) if the PCs organizes a defeat of the mobs. Of course, they could always just chop his hand off and leave.

From The Banner Saga

15 Wailing cries, dawn of doom. A village lies in ruins, many houses smashed or collapsed, bodies of soldiers and peasants alike strewn about its limits. A huge serpent's corpse lies at the heart. A wailing woman kneels over the body of her fallen husband, a peasant conscript who died in the process of striking the deathblow against the serpent. The crowd gathered around them is being ranted at by an old man who claims the only rational response is submission to the "serpent gods". He will try to involve the PCs in the discussion and attempt to stir up violence against them if they reveal their quest.

16 Die by the sword or in chains. A group of captured peasants and defeated conscript soldiers is led up the path the same way the PCs are headed, guarded by a half dozen possessed soldiers and a priest in green robes, bearing a staff with a poorly carved snake's head at the tip. The possessed men will threaten to kill the captives if they notice the PCs before they attack, as will the priest threaten to turn the blood of the PCs to poison. These are both bluffs (the priest is quite harmless). If freed, the soldiers, three or four in number, will gladly (if poorly) aid the PCs in their quest.

17 Men kneel in temples of madness. A church has had the statues flanking either side of its door defaced, and serpentine heraldry hung above its door. A man at the entrance invites the PCs in to "seek salvation", where a priest in poorly-dyed green robes preaches about submission to a crowd of dozens. If the PCs enter, five possessed soldiers will follow after them, selecting a young woman from the audience to be dragged out and "converted" by Mereshehad. Half the audience will cheer, the other weep, while the woman struggles against the soldiers, who quickly overpower her. Intervening will draw the ire of the half that cheered, and the support of the half that wept.

18 False prophets spread discord and fear. An old woman in dark, ragged robes leads a procession of dozens of peasants and deserters, praying for salvation from the gods. Every few hours a pack of wolf-sized serpents kills one and spares the others, a fact the woman uses to both claim that their deaths are inevitable and that prayer is all that is saving them for the time being. In fact, the procession is left alive only because their despair pleases Mereshehad, and killing the serpents (who will come in just a few minutes by their reckoning) will cause a group of about seven soldiers guiding the snakes to attack.

19 Darkness descends once again. The sky reddens and darkens as if it were sunset or dawn, though the sun still hangs in the sky, now as black as night. There is a rustling from nearby bushes and trees, until a tide of snakes swarms forward like a tidal wave. They will not bite or harm anyone, but may cause horses, followers, and anxious PCs to panic, and will sweep away anyone who cannot find something to hold onto or otherwise be held down with, dashing them against boulders and trees or drowning them beneath the wave.

20 They say the lords of the last days rule here. Four possessed knights march in front of a man with three serpents instead of a head: the earthly avatar of Mereshehad. He can control one character per round (no save, or he can attempt to control someone else if a save is passed; though he cannot make anyone kill themselves), and his knights are fanatically loyal. He will taunt the PCs, and if made aware of the golden seal will use his mind control to have it thrown to a knight before attempting to flee with it. If killed, his spirit will rise from his body, cursing the PCs and insisting that he cannot be killed before dissipating with a mocking laugh.

Zohak by Norot

21+ Here it is, the tomb itself. Were it not for the stone entrance, slightly ajar and decorated with six seals, and the seven stone balbals in front, it would be nearly impossible to tell the mound apart from any other hill. The balbals fight as strong warriors or knights with incredibly tough armour, but cannot see past invisibility and cannot stop more than a dozen people at most if charged en masse. Fixing the seal is as simple as pushing the door shut (which even a weak person could do) and placing the golden seal over the crack. It will glow with a golden light, cause the runes written in each of the other seals to glow as well, and then destroy all traces of Mereshehad's presence outside the tomb. His serpents and avatar will fall dead and melt into black goo, his possessed followers will awaken from their trance, and if the sky has reddened and darkened it will return to its normal appearance. Replacing the seal may also cause the balbals to recognize the PCs as allies and halt their attack; it's up to the GM to decide.

AFTER THE ADVENTURE

Upon a successful return, Grybia will reward the party with the golden seals as promised (wizards work quickly and mysteriously), and even offer to teach any wizards in the party a spell or two in return for a month of aiding him as an apprentice, until he can find another permanent replacement. He could be a great source of future adventures if the party is willing to continue working with him.

If the party fails by fleeing, Grybia will send eldritch beings (such as Hounds of Tindalos, like blink dogs that can only teleport by appearing out of sharp angles) after the PCs as retribution or even pursue them himself. Whether they flee or are all killed, Mereshehad's foulness will spread unchecked for days until his kingdom's expansion slows to a halt, creating a decidedly evil nation ruled by a powerful sorceror right in the path of many important trade routes. Not the end of the world, but certainly a meaningful change.

Abandoned Vaults of the Fallout Survivors: A Procedural Post-Apocalyptic Fallout Shelter Generator

Work progresses on my gonzo post-apocalyptic setting. I'm tentatively calling it the "Weirdocalypse" but the stuff I promised to write in my last post isn't finished yet. (I did write a Friendly Demon class because I like the idea of a revelatory apocalypse (see the section on "unnamed post apocalyptic project"), and because I like Hellboy/BPRD, especially the stuff where (SPOILERS!) the apocalypse comes but humanity fights back.)

This started as a simple list of abandoned fallout shelter - "vault" - traits inspired by this "random observatory" post over on Hexplorations. Then I started putting in some rules for layout generation inspired by the sadly now-removed random dungeon generator from Melancholies and Mirth (his tiny dungeon generators are still up, however). Then I wrote a table of encounters, so of course I had to write some other tables for certain types of vault inhabitants, and... well, now it's much larger than it started.

So this post is split in two parts. One will generate the outline of a vault with just five rolls of a D6. After that, however, there's a section which you can use to generate the layout and contents of the vault ahead of time. You can safely ignore the second part, but it won't make much sense unless you read the first part - so don't skip ahead.

Generating Your Vault

Roll a D6 for each category. The categories include location, design goals, what caused it to collapse, who lives in it now, and what treasure the vault is rumoured to hold. If a rolled result displeases you, or if you have a good idea for any of them, write your own and use it instead. This is meant to inspire, not constrain.

From Fallout

Where is it located?

Reaching a vault is as much an adventure as entering it. It can be difficult to find, difficult to enter, or naturally dangerous to approach – or any combination of the three. Even when not dangerous, making the approach noteworthy is worth at least a little description.

1 At the bottom of a small cave system. Signs and metal scaffolding clearly show which way to go, but there may or may not be divergent tunnels along the way. There may be an ecosystem living in the caves, possibly containing dangerous creatures.

2 In the ruins of a small and long since abandoned town. Most of the buildings have been picked clean of valuables, but who knows what you might encounter while searching for the vault's entrance building.

3 Inside a military base or similarly defensible position. Built on top of a hill, or in a vast plain, or anywhere else that makes it hard to approach unseen. Depending on the nature of the vault this could be a fence and ditch or a full-blown modern fortress.

4 In the mountains or hills, with a long hike required to reach it. The road used to build and reach it may have collapsed or been covered in a landslide in the centuries since the vault was built, further complicating reaching the vault.

5 On the outskirts of a nuked city, still glowing from the radiation. This far out means you'll only need to endure Medium radiation, but with the number of buildings in the area it may take hours (and therefore Saves vs Radiation) to find the entrance to the vault.

6 Beneath an island at the centre of a sizable lake. The bridge has long since collapsed from disrepair, and a lack of fish or major rivers connecting to it means no one has built a boat here. You could swim, but you can't see what's under the murky waters.

Who built the vault, and for what purpose?

The purpose of a vault says a lot about the layout, but it also helps paint a picture of the vault's interior. A military bunker implies weapons, blast doors, and spartan efficiency; a scientific bunker implies research, high-tech gear, and derelict machinery; a civilian bunker implies recreational areas, comfortable hallways, and large population numbers.

1 A single private investor, who built an extensive vault instead of a small one either to hold many people they wanted to protect or just them and a few others in considerable luxury. Luxurious either way, as someone rich enough to "throw away" money on a vault had the capital to make it meet their every standard.

2 Multiple private investors who pooled their money. Typically members of the same community, either literally (as in they were neighbours) or notionally (an extended family, a religious endeavour, an online crowdfunding group). Relatively spartan but efficient, as the investors wanted the best bang for their buck.

3 A government, for government workers. Usually military or scientific in nature, but some were built to save leaders and their families. An odd mix of high-quality necessities and low-quality furnishings, as governments can afford expensive gear but cut costs wherever possible in order to stay within their budgets.

4 A government, for civilians. Designed to house families ostensibly for moral reasons, but usually so that the government would have loyal citizens by the time they were ready to leave the vaults. Balanced between efficiency and quality, and designed to hold as many people as possible (often even more than those who entered the vault).

5 A corporation who sold entry to civilians. Either built for luxury in every respect, or as cheaply as possible to maximize profits, and only very rarely somewhere inbetween. In either case these vaults are prone to malfunction, as many were built by corporations who didn't fully believe they would ever actually be used.

6 A government or corporation for a purpose other than surviving a nuclear winter. It could be a military bunker, or isolated research facility, or secure bank vault. Limited ability to endure long term sealing let those inside survive the fallout, at the cost of leaving much of the facility derelict and abandoned.

Why did it fail?

There are plenty of vaults out there which worked. Some were designed to last just the first few weeks of the fallout, releasing their inhabitants to a harsh but survivable world. Others were built to last centuries, and did, releasing eighth or ninth generation inhabitants to more stable surface conditions. These vaults are long terms vaults which failed.

1 The builder(s) intended the vault to be a social experiment. One or more aspects of the vault were designed to be contrary to normal expectations in order to study the effects of the change. Most vaults survive these experiments. This one didn't.

2 Faulty air filtration or recycling systems led to asphyxiation, either over the course of months or a few short hours. By the time the PCs enter the vault it has rebalanced to breathable levels, but the vault is full of dead bodies with no signs of a struggle.

3 Internal conflict led to mass casualties. The survivors were either too few in number to recover from the population loss, or the fight exhausted critical supplies. The vault is littered with signs of conflict – barricaded rooms, spent ammunition, dead bodies.

4 A robot uprising of servant robots or, more likely, combat robots that were meant to be kept in storage, which were reprogrammed or suffered an error that led to total organic extermination. Depending on who's in the vault now, these robots may still be present, either active or lying dormant.

5 An earthquake or close range nuclear detonation caused critical damage to the vault, which finished off those who weren't killed by the initial disaster. The vault is either full of cave ins, if an earthquake, or surrounded by Medium radiation, if a nuke.

6 What started as a small fire quickly spiraled out of control when fire suppression systems failed, and the survivors couldn't pull back from the disaster. Most of the vault is coated in soot, and where the fire spread is full or ash and melted plastic.

Who occupies it now?

Each of these vaults follows the same chronology – built, inhabited, fell apart, looted of the most obvious and near-surface supplies, then settled. If it's settled by good people the party won't have much danger in dealing with them, but although these groups are all inherently combative, most can be reasoned and bargained with.

1 Raiders who use it as a stronghold and staging ground for attacking local settlements and trade routes. Many such groups will have only a small, secure presence inside the vault (their leaders and valuables), with a larger settlement built outside the vault's entrance. Whether they'll let the underlings in during a siege is always unsure.

2 Intelligent mutants long since cast out from "normal" society. Tend towards negative mutations rather than positive ones. As capable of reasoning as anyone else, but decades of isolation have led to a vast regression in terms of technology. They will initially fear and/or hate anyone who isn't a mutant, and are likely to kill trespassers for their goods.

3 Techno-cultists, a cargo cult which doesn't understand the tech it worships. They are not immediately hostile but will refuse access to the vault and demand tithes of high tech gear. They experiment on bought slaves or, when not able to buy them, use their advanced weaponry to raid nearby settlements for test subjects.

4 Mutated animals, either an underworld ecosystem or a single hive or series of nests of one particular species. The creatures may not necessarily be territorial, but if not, are aggressive nonetheless due to being predators in the first place. There may well be just a single powerful creature – a rad-dragon sleeping in its lair.

5 Robots programmed to kill intruders or simply anything that breathes. Range from deadly combat androids to servant androids with makeshift weapons or nothing but their mechanical strength. Won't kill robot PCs or PCs with lots of cybernetic implants, but will attempt to subdue and reprogram such characters to their cause.

6 A single powerful psychic, or wizard if your game includes magic, or superhuman mutant if your game lacks psychics, along with a few lackeys and other hangers-on. They need not be explicitly evil but their powers make them arrogant and prideful, and not likely to let the party explore the deeper parts of the vault without demanding payment.

What horrors lie within its deepest recesses?

These are the "boss monsters", but more accurately are here to mix up what threats the PCs face and give them something to deal with if they manage to talk or sneak their way past the vault's inhabitants.

1 A Rat King – a couple hundred rats fused together in a horrible, writhing mass of fur and flesh and teeth. Every successful attack against them knocks rats off, who continue to attack anything organic in smaller but still dangerous swarms. They can be reasoned with, and are intelligent, but have all the desires of a rat, and care only about food.

Like the Rat-King from Hilda, but deadly as well as creepy.

2 A Combat Warform robot, a giant metal man. Its military armour grants it great armour but its high-tech servos keep it moving faster than any man, while each powerful arm ends in a weapon. One is a laser with great range and the ability to ignore armour, while the other fires rockets of either anti-armour or anti-infantry design.

3 A Radiation Elemental, made of pure energy and living only to irradiate the unirradiated. It projects radiation around itself, and fires beams of intense heat at anything in its way. Anything radiation can penetrate it can penetrate, allowing it to phase through walls to ambush prey or flee from threatening foes.

4 A Hydraic Flailsnail, a giant snail with a several heads which end in sharp, mace-like protrusions which it flails at anything living over a certain size in order to kill and devour them. Slicing and cutting does no damage as it regrows its head with alarming speed, and while it can be outrun it moves at a surprising pace.

5 A hive of Fungal Shamblers, once humans, now zombie slaves to the cold and alien intelligence of a fungus. Their spores deal 1 damage per round spent breathing them and any intact human corpse exposed to them slowly turns into another Shambler. When such infestations break free, they can destroy entire nations before being put down.

6 A tribe of CHUDs (cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers) come up from a cave the vault opens into. They hunger for anything, but especially the flesh of thinking creatures, which they consider a delicacy. They are surprisingly intelligent themselves, prone to bargaining and infighting, crucial means of overcoming their large numbers.

What treasure is it said to hold?

These are all treasures, but the part in bold is what local Wastelanders say is in the vault, and the rest of the description is what actually is. My idea is that no player will be disappointed with what they find, but that each description could mean many things. Is a fire-lance a nuclear missile or a laser rifle? There's only one way to find out.

1 A fire-lance, one of the weapons the Old Ones used during the End of Days. Not a nuclear weapon but rather an advanced form of energy weapon, combining the best elements of plasma and laser weaponry. Its stats are: D6+1 or D8 damage, Far range, two hands, ignores physical armour but is 100% blocked by energy armour. It comes with 100 shots or runs out of ammo when you critically fail or succeed an attack roll twice in a row (either or). You can burn a shot/make an attack roll that autohits to melt nearby metals.

2 Bombs which erase whatever they hit from existence. A bandolier of six light grenades (which all fit in one inventory slot). When thrown, any free-willed creature (humans and the most intelligent robots and animals) caught within their purple explosion is displaced from reality for a minute, returning to the same location if safe, or the closest safe location to it if unsafe, as if no time had passed for them.

3 Potions which make you "better." Four tonic injectors with the words harder, better, faster, and stronger on the front of each of them. Harder raises your Constitution by 1, Better your max HP by 1, Faster your Dexterity by 1, and Stronger your Strength by 1.

4 A glowing dagger which kills anything it strikes. A dagger: D6 damage, Melee range, one hand, concealable and throwable, which is made of radioactive crystals. It is harmless to hold but once it deals damage to a target they keel over vomiting and die within rounds. Large creatures get a Save vs Radiation to resist or are simply immune if too large, and anyone immune to radiation is immune as well. If the attacker rolls a critical success or critical failure on an attack roll with it, the dagger shatters into a thousand pieces.

5 A metal statue which a man can enter and move around. A suit of power armour which requires one power cell per twelve hours of use. It counts as plate armour but does not interfere with movement, only occupies one inventory slot, does interfere with climbing, swimming, and stealth, reduces incoming radiation by one step, filters toxic air into breathable air, and gives the wearer Advantage on all Strength and Melee Attack tests.

6 An iron mask of an ancient warlord, imbued with magic power. Whether it's magical or not, this metal helmet with a mask attached is impressive. Whoever wears it deals +1 damage with all weapons and has +1 on reaction rolls with anyone who respects military leaders. Simply wearing it is enough to make people believe you're at least an officer, in whatever sort of army still wears helmets like it.

Modern replica of a 13th-century Kipchak helmet with war-mask.

Generating The Contents

This is all shaky at best and as of yet untested, but it'll give you a halfway decent dungeon that at least partially makes sense. As above, if you have a better idea, include it - it's not "fudging", it's being a smart GM. For one, you're extremely likely to repeat encounters here if you stock all but the smallest vaults, and many of them are fairly unique. For two, I haven't included loot tables or trap tables (but I do have some things you should look at for inspiration below).

Keep in mind why the vault was built and why it fell while you do this. The best dungeons tell a story, however light, and vaults are no different. Another important thing to consider is the general state of disrepair. Are the lights still on, and if not, are they out completely or just in certain parts of the vault? Are the doors jammed, or easily opened? Is it overgrown everywhere, or only in a few isolated pockets?

Layout Generation

The upper layer of the vault contains 2D6+3 "rooms", which are large networks of literal rooms held together by a shared purpose and connected to each other by chokepoint hallways. The ones here are all residential in nature, bedrooms and mess halls and kitchens and the simple service jobs needed to keep vaulters from going nuts. Organize the Residential portion of the vault in a:

1 Square

2 Long Rectangle

3 Full Circle

4 Hollow Circle

5 Cross

6 Triangle

Then pick a random room to be the entrance to the vault. It could be accessed by an elevator (all of which have stairs in case the elevator breaks), if somewhere towards the centre of the vault, or by a tunnel, if connecting to one of the vault's edges.

Each offshoot has D3+1 rooms and D3-1 one room offshoots of its own. These separate from the vault and sprawl outwards in a random direction:

1 North

2 East

3 South

4 West

5 Down

6 Down

Offshoots which go down are only one floor beneath the vault's main floor, rather than moving multiple floors down. They can go in any direction, it doesn't really matter.

Every vault has an Agricultural offshoot, which is where the vault's air and water are recycled and where the hydroponics bays are located. Military vaults have a Bunker offshoot with some weapons left over. Scientific vaults have a Research offshoot containing high-tech gear and failed experiments. Luxury vaults have a Recreational offshoot containing gardens, clubs, and swimming pools.

If the vault was destroyed by an earthquake 1-in-3 rooms are partially caved in. If the vault was destroyed by a nuke 1-in-3 rooms are filled with High radiation. If the vault was destroyed by a fire D6+1 rooms are nothing but ash and melted plastic. If the vault was destroyed by infighting, D3+1 rooms have been barricaded from the inside.

Raiders, Mutant Humans, and Techno-Cultists all occupy D3+1 rooms somewhere in the vault. A Psychic/Wizard/Superhuman occupies a single room. Robots and Mutant Animals don't have a set location and instead simply modify the results on the vault stocking table, but you might want to consider putting a central hive or AI supercomputer in a random room.

Lastly, find the two rooms furthest from the vault's entrance. One of these contains the horror rolled previously, the other contains the treasure rolled previously. If they aren't the same distance from the entrance, the horror is the in the room closer to the entrance.

Stocking Rooms

Once you've got the vault's layout down it's time to fill it out. The rooms full of the vault's inhabitants, and the room containing the horror, have already been cleared out. Rooms damaged by cave ins, radiation, or fire haven't, and neither has the containing the vault's legendary treasure, or rooms that have been barricaded.

You can do what I like to do, and stock the vault ahead of time, or you can roll a result on the table below each time the party enters a new room.

1 Loot

2 Loot + Trap

3 Loot + Monster

4 Monster

5 Trap

6 Inhabitants

It's at this point you should also consider which rooms are caved-in and irradiated. Just roll an extra D6 along your "stocking" D6 and collapse/irradiate the room if you roll a 1 or a 2.

I'm not going to tell you what traps or treasure or monsters to use but:

Keep in mind why a trap would be here. This is one of the reasons I like stocking ahead of time, since if a lot of traps are in one part of the map I can say "oh, there must have been someone setting up traps here". It also helps you figure out what traps to make. A vault with no inhabitants will tend towards natural hazards like leaking pipes, while one with raiders will have alarms, and one that fell to infighting will have proper deadly traps.

Treasure in a post-apocalyptic game shouldn't be based on money. A vault doesn't have much use for cash anyway since it's more of a communal effort. What they do have is a lot of Old World gear you can't find anywhere else.

Okay, I will tell you what monsters to use.

Populating Encounters

If you roll the inhabitants result the monsters there are agents of whichever faction is currently inhabiting the vault. Raiders plotting an overthrow, Techno-Cultists looking for new tech to worship, Mutants wandering because there's nothing better to do. If you rolled Mutant Animals or Robots, instead roll on the encounter table for them.

The monsters result prompts a roll on the monsters table unless you rolled Mutant Animals or Robots, in which case you roll on their encounter table instead. Monsters + loot depends on context but whenever possible make dealing with the monster a requirement before the party can get their hands on the loot.

If you roll the same result twice and it's one that's pretty unique, either take the next suitable result down or up the table, or change one key aspect, or just wing it and come up with a similar-but-different result instead.

GENERIC ENCOUNTERS

1 D6+1 Radheads, humans who have regressed to an animal-like state, hunter gatherers without quite as many tools. They are capable of limited reason, however.

2 D3 Giant Cockroaches, immune to radiation and prone to fleeing to and into the nearest irradiated region when threatened.

3 A Drillbot, which thinks organic creatures are what it has been set to mine. Its powerful drill ignores and destroys all but the strongest types of armour.

4 A Giant Amoeba, blind and driven by sound and scent. Upon death, it explodes with corrosive slime, dealing 1 damage a round until cleaned off.

5 An Ur-Gecko, the size of a truck and bioluminescent. Its tongue can be launched up to Close range away and pulls things back with suctioning strength.

Rain World lizards by RoffyTheDog

6 D3+1 Giant Rats, the size of large dogs, and a single Giant Giant Rat, the size of a car. They lurk in the shadows before attacking from surprise, but are easily scared off.

MUTANT ANIMAL TYPES

If you roll mutant animals, roll or pick from the list below:

1-2 Insect Hive: A bunch of insectoid species working together in a semi-eusocial community, even species that are not normally eusocial. They infight constantly, but are smart enough to prey on non-insects whenever and wherever possible.

3-4 Rat Kingdom: Lots and lots of rats, some semi-intelligent and humanoid in shape and size. Most of them are just normal rats, but the large ones are dangerous to humans, and the small ones form swarms that can strip a corpse clean in under a minute.

5-6 Radhead Horde: Many mutants are falsely accused of being subhuman. Radheads are the only ones who actually are. They possess a simple and animal intelligence, but are capable of using tools, simple speech, and bargaining. They're also immune to radiation.

INSECT HIVE ENCOUNTERS

1 A Swarm of Bloodflies, difficult to harm with single-target attacks (fires, explosions, shotguns, and lasers work well) and thirsting for blood. They autohit anything they engulf.

2 D3 Giant Cockroaches, immune to radiation and prone to fleeing to and into the nearest irradiated region when threatened.

3 A Giant Jumping Spider. Its webs block the way but it lurks a ways away from them, waiting for someone to near them before leaping and knocking them into the webbing.

4 D3+1 Giant Mantises, whose arms do not cut but instead grip, holding prey in place while they chew away on them, dealing damage each round until they break free.

5 D6-1 (minimum 1) Spitting Ants, whose acidic spit deals damage from a distance and causes Saves vs Pain lest the target lose their next action to the pain.

6 A Giant Centipede, the size of a dog, scuttling on a thousand legs, and twisting constantly as it moves. Its bite deals no damage but prompts an instant Save vs Death, unless an antidote can be applied within a day.

RAT KINGDOM ENCOUNTERS

1 A Swarm of Rats difficult to harm with single-target attacks (fires, explosions, shotguns, and lasers work well). They are innumerable but not hard to drive off.

2 A single Giant Rat, mangy and disease-ridden, shunned by its peers. It is desperate for food but easy to kill, but every attack forces a Save vs Disease, as does touching it.

3 D3+1 Giant Rats, the size of large dogs, devouring the corpse of a Giant Giant Rat and blocking the path forward. They are defensive of their property.

4 D6+1 Ratlings, one of which is a Ratling Gunner, tall and strong and carrying a machinegun with him. They are looking for valuables, not food.

5 D3 Ratling Assassins, who throw smokebombs and rely on their ability to fight blindly to make up for their lack of armour and weak weapons. They prefer to extort than to fight.

6 D3+1 Giant Rats, the size of large dogs, and a single Giant Giant Rat, the size of a car. They lurk in the shadows before attacking from surprise, but are easily scared off.

RADHEAD HORDE ENCOUNTERS

1 D6+1 Radheads, without tools and with few clothes. These ones are hardly human, communicating with little more than grunts and motions.

2 D3+1 Radheads with grenades. They don't know how to use them properly, pulling the trigger then running at their targets and blowing up as much as those they attack.

3 D3+1 Radheads, hunting with bows. They ambush without a word but the second the fight turns against them they fall upon the mercy of their foes, playing up their pity.

4 A Glowhead, a Radhead so irradiated that they glow with radiation, with D3 Radhead followers with cleavers and axes. Every single attack a Glowhead makes prompts a Save vs Radiation. Most Radheads obey them with religious reverance.

5 A Glowhead with D6+4 Radhead worshippers, holding court at a chokepoint. They are not aggressive, but will demand tithes of food and tech before letting anyone pass.

6 An Intelligent Radhead, with a shotgun, light armour, and two grenades. His intelligence reasserted itself only recently and he is likely to do anything to leave the vault.

ROBOTIC ENCOUNTERS

1 D6 Widgets, floating orbs with two arms who attempt to drag everything living they find to disposal shafts, beating and/or killing creatures which put up a worthy struggle.

2 D3 Police Bots, bulky humanoids with strong armour and powerful arms which they use to beat you to death while chanting "stop resisting". Each can fire a single flashbang.

3 A Drillbot, which thinks organic creatures are what it has been set to mine. Its powerful drill ignores and destroys all but the strongest types of armour.

4 A Traipsing Mortar, which loudly announces where it's aiming its rockets a round before it fires, but can take a beating and deals a ton of damage if and when it hits.

5 A Shieldbot, whose light laser deals minimal damage. It was built to defend, not kill, with strong armour, high HP, and a shield that blocks the first attack against it each round.

6 A Killbot, heavily armoured and with a machinegun at the end of one arm, dealing D6+4 damage but requiring a cooldown between each round of firing. The other is used to crush.

UR-025 from Blackstone Fortress

Where To Go From Here

These vaults are dungeons. Sure, they have some high-concept things that define them as vaults and not tombs or temples or other such ruins, but they're just another kind of dungeon, at the end of the day. Listing all the places you can get good advice on dungeon design would require multiple posts. Besides, if you google it or search some blogs you follow, you'll find better advice than I can give. Just something to keep in mind.

Post-apocalyptic treasure is its own beast. It's not like conventional settings where the treasure comes from literal looted treasure (most fantasy settings) or from payment for jobs well done (most sci-fi settings). Unlawful Games has a good list, if it is a little dud-heavy for my tastes. If you don't mind shelling out some cash or acquiring PDFs through illicit means, the already excellent Umerican Survival Guide has a few great scavenging tables in it, each for a different type of scavenged item.

I'm working on writing a post-apocalyptic OSR ruleset which lets you pick and choose what elements you want to include (realistic mutants or wacky ones? psychics or no psychics? supernatural elements or none at all?), but I'll recommend Ruinations until I can pimp my own stuff. (Actually I'll still recommend it then because it's cool and and you should read it.)

I'm yet to find a good guide for traps (and I've looked around at least a little bit) but this post by Goblinpunch does a great job analyzing the purpose of a trap and a few types of traps, while managing to be enjoyable to read and not the soulless roboticism most RPG design writing tends to become.

Lastly, play the Fallout games. Fallout: New Vegas in particular is one of those games that's so good there are entire communities built around hating it for being cool (well, it and any other game that's "too popular"), plus it's cheap now, which is why I recommend it as your first. If nothing else, watch someone play through Vault 22 on Youtube. Skip through if you don't have the time. It should give you a good picture of what a well-designed vault looks like.

36 Post-Apocalyptic Treasures + Simple Rules for Radiation, Chemicals, Magazines, and Headgear

I've always been a big fan of post-apocalyptic settings. The weirder they are, the more I like them. I loved Unlawful Games' D100 post-apocalyptic loot tables I saw a while back, or more accurately, the D10 treasures from the end. Dan's post-apocalyptic nuns post also brought the apocalypse back into my mind. So did an end of the year discussion about the best videogames this year where me and my friends agreed Slay the Spire will probably be Game Of The Year when it releases next year for a lot of people, which reminded me that the excellent dying earth science fantasy acid trip that is Caves of Qud likely will be mine.

I also watched Isle of Dogs recently, which is surprisingly apocalyptic in aesthetic. Good movie.

So I thought I'd put together some treasure tables, and then I had to tack on some rules ideas to explain some of their mechanics, and then I had some ideas for locations, gods, and creatures which I'll put up in another post. This is a D66 table, which means you roll a two D6s - the first one is the tens digit, the second the ones digit. So a roll of 2 and 5 becomes 25, a roll of 6 and 1 becomes 61, etc etc.

Some Assumptions
There are psychics. I have a homebrew system for psychics but it is poorly tested and not to everyone's taste - I've tried to make the psychic-related items be not too tied to my system.

Mutations are common and unrealistic. Think Nuclear Throne, not Mad Max.

The Old World got up to some crazy levels of technology. They may well have had extra-solar colonies by the time it all came tumbling down.

There may be supernatural elements (beyond psychics, of course). Some of the items are certainly a bit more than just mundane, but the setting need not be explicitly or even secretly supernatural.

Without Further Adieu...
All items occupy one inventory slot except for those in italics, which occupy none.

11 Brain Enhancement Box: A metallic box that can be attached to the back of a person's head. It drills inside, attaching itself to the spine and prompting a Constitution test. On a success, all mental stats are raised by 2. On a failure, the BEB is simply wasted. On a critical failure, the BEB kills the recipient. Some Old World machines can determine if someone is a viable recipient (IE they make their test before actually plugging the BEB in).

12 Laserblade: A small metal handle which, when a button on it is pressed, projects a beam of powerful energy the length of the average sword. The sword counts as a Masterwork Sword (D6+1 damage, Melee range, 1 hand), but ignores physical armour and can be used to (slowly) cut through all but the hardest metals. However, energy shielding completely blocks the blade. Casts dim light up to Reach distance.

13 Energy Shield: A small metal belt that can be worn comfortably (albeit taking up an inventory slot). It provides 1 Armour while activated and blocks all energy damage, both incoming and outgoing. While in use, it projects a light blue field an inch above the wearer's body, that smells faintly of ozone.

14 Antigravity Harness: A harness that can be adjusted and worn comfortably over most forms of armour and clothing. By manipulating dials on the harness' front panel, its antigravity effect can be triggered, pulling the wearer up and down up to ten metres above whatever is below them. If set to the maximum, the antigravity effects will soften a fall, allowing the wearer to ignore up to the first fifty metres of what would otherwise be falling damage.

15 Neuromod: A handheld device which can be placed against an eye and activated to shoot inside and connect to the nervous system. It can then "drain" a single skill the target knows, recording it and removing all knowledge of it from their mind. The Neuromod can then be injected into another person's eye to give them that skill, but in doing so, the device is rendered unable to be used again. A target need not be compliant but struggling will lead to their death and loss of the knowledge. As such, unwilling targets should be coerced or rendered unconscious.

From Prey (2017)

16 Translator Bracelet: Worn on the wrist, this heavy computer automatically translates into and from all languages known to the Old World. It is also capable of adapting to new dialects and languages, recording, analyzing, and putting together new discoveries about languages translated by whoever wears it. However, the robotic voice, go-between nature of the device, and tendency to speak as formal as possible incurs Disadvantage on tests related to charisma – but not clarity, as the translation is always sufficient.

21 Psi-Crown: Whoever wears this ring of metal plates around their head is immune to all assaults on their mind. They cannot be directly targeted by psionic powers that affect the mind and their soul is invisible to creatures who can see them. They could be lifted by telekinesis, or set aflame by pyrokinesis, but not have their mind read or senses altered. Psychics who wear Psi-Crowns are unable to use any of their powers. The metal is soft, chosen for its ability to block psionics and not bullets, and does not count as a helmet.

22 Pain Grenade: When activated, this grenade-like object projects a feeling of intense psychic pain after a few moments (so that you can throw it), incapacitating everyone within Reach distance. Each round they may make a Constitution or Body Save to act, but only slowly and shakily. The grenade can be deactivated early by pressing the button, but will deactivate automatically after a minute.

23 Cloak of Confusion: A blue, starry cloak which, when worn, renders it and anything it covers unable to be acknowledged by intelligent creatures. Anything that touches it, however, is able to acknowledge it, and can actually see through the cloak. If not touched by a living creature, its power will not be activated, letting it be seen by people while not in use. The power only affects creatures who see the cloak with their own vision – recordings show it as normal, soulless (but not free-willed) robots can see it, and it triggers things like laser alarms and proximity activated doors.

24 Psi-Monitor: A phone sized handheld computer. When psychic abilities are used within proximity of it – either their effects or their user are within range – it buzzes to alert its bearer and records what type of psychic effect was used. The average range is Near, but exceptionally strong uses of psionics may extend this range to Far and exceptionally weak or well-controlled normal uses may shorten it to Close.

25 Shimmer: A psychic drug, purple and shimmering (hence the name) and inhaled through the nose. If consumed by a psychic, they recover to their maximum Psi, or recover to their maximum uses of psychic powers per day, or recover all committed Effort for the day, or clear all the cooldowns on their powers, etc etc. If used by a non-Psychic, they get to use a single Precognition power with 4 Psi or 1 Effort, etc etc. When Shimmer is used, roll a D6 – on a 1-2, the drug runs out.

26 Curious Icosahedron: A blue crystal with twenty sides. It feels lucky. Whoever bears it can choose to reroll any failed D20 roll they make, taking the new result if it is better, but in doing so the crystal shifts to red and feels unlucky. They must reroll another D20 roll and take the worse result in order to shift it back to blue. The crystal can only be used once per direction per day.

31 Autodoc Helm: Worn on the head, this white and red plastic and metal helm resembling a targeting rig. Instead of assisting in combat, however, it gives advice and information related to medicine. It allows the wearer to reroll Fumbles on rolls related to medicine, surgery, and diagnosis.

32 Blood Rifle: As a normal Assault Rifle (D6+1 damage, Near range, 2 hands), but every time it deals damage to an organic target, the wielder heals 1 HP. The rifle is made of bone with red, fleshy decals between and beneath the bone. While it loads normal ammunition, its shots are bright red and splatter blood where they strike.

33 Shipskin: An organic suit which remains in a dormant state until fed. One ration gives the Shipskin enough energy for a day, during which time it recycles oxygen, reduces radiation by one step (or otherwise provides partial protection against it), and resists pressures from 0 to 100 P. It can be fed extra rations for up to a week of advance feeding. In an emergency, Shipskin can be eaten for one ration per stored ration, and one extra ration if you eat it all (which destroys it). When worn it appears a thin layer of pink transparent goop over the body, but is warm to the touch and feels stretchy but not slimy. It fits over everything except power armour, and fits under power armour and similar clothing easily. It does not hinder movement at all.

Shipskin is designed for use in space, and grows bloated when overfed. Image from Prophet.

34 Diagnostic Scanner: A handheld computer that scans organic creatures within Reach distance of it when activated. It analyzes them over the course of a few seconds, determining what ails them, such as diseases, internal injuries, or mutations. If used on a corpse, it will determine what killed the corpse. The scanner can offer no aid in how to cure ailments, but has 95% accuracy in diagnosis.

35 Super-Salve Injector: A salve injector, but clearly marked as well beyond a normal injector's ability. Heals a single organic to full HP, of all injuries, diseases, and radiation, and raises all physical stats by 1. If used on someone who has died within the past minute and whose body is still relatively intact, it restores them to life but rather than raising their physical stats, it lowers them each by 1.

36 Medical Omnibus: A thicky, heavy textbook that covers the most important details of nearly every Old World medical discipline. It can be read before performing medicine to gain access to the Medicine skill, or to gain Advantage on medical rolls or the ability to perform complex procedures if you already have the Medicine skill. It functions like a magazine in this fashion, but unlike a magazine, the Medical Omnibus can be used indefinitely as the breadth of its knowledge is wide and the quality of its paper enough to prevent damage during reading.

41 Glowing Headband: A green headband which glows like radioactive materials. If worn, the headband functions like a normal headband (+1 unarmed damage), but allows the wearer's arms to stretch. Their melee and unarmed attacks have Reach range, and they can grab things at that distance comfortably.

42 Irradiator Rifle: A rifle (D6+1, Near range, 2 hands) that loads batteries and fires large beams of radiation. They do not cause mutations/saves against radiation, but they do ignore armour and cover. Anti-radiation armour blocks the beams entirely, and irradiated creatures and all robots are immune to the damage.

43 Radsuit: A HAZMAT Suit that protects against radiation like a normal HAZMAT suit, complete with a gas mask. This one, however, is bright green instead of bright yellow, and renders the wearer completely immune to radiation. The kind of radiation that can penetrate it is the kind that'll burn you before it poisons you.

44 Water Purifier: A heavy object which filters water of everything, including radiation and disease, rendering it good to drink. It takes one hour to purify enough irradiated water for a person to drink for a day. The energy it consumes is so low that a handcrank attached to its outside can charge it for an hour if wound for ten minutes by hand.

45 Mutagen Injector: A tonic injector containing a glowing green liquid clearly radioactive in nature. It is warm to the touch, and yet it does not project radiation. When injected, the target gains a random positive mutation. If injected into a character of a mutant class or race, they roll twice and pick which mutation.

46 Rad-Crystal: A glowing hunk of green stone on the end of a pendant. It does not cast its radioactive glow however, instead appearing to draw it in from it surroundings. When worn, it grants the wearer Advantage on Saves vs Radiation.

51 Warhelm: An Old World military helmet. Counts as a helmet and targeting rig at the same time.* Looks operator as fuck, granting +1 to reaction rolls with soldier-types.

52 Rocket Launcher: Loaded with one rocket with D6-1 extra ones beside it. Attacks deal 2D6 damage to all creatures within Reach distance of where it hits, or D6 vehicle damage to a single vehicle. Autohits at Close or Near range, but can fire up to Far range away with a successful Ranged Attack.

53 Carbide Armour: The pinnacle of Old World armour. This armour counts as Light Armour but provides 2 Armour instead of 1. The suit is clearly military in nature.

54 V8 Engine: A engine of unsurpassed power. When installed in a vehicle, it grants Advantage to all tests related to speed and endurance, and raises its top speed by a suitable amount (enough to make it to the next "level" of speed).

55 Meal Replacement Pills: A tin of 28 dense, large pills that can be chewed and swallowed in under a minute. Each pill has a single, light flavour such as ice cream or butter chicken, and provides all the nutrition you need for a day. As a result, a tin of MR Pills provides a month of rations in a single inventory slot.

56 Terrarium: A glass bottle full of dirt and a self-sustaining ecosystem. The glass is heavy duty, very hard to break and able to hold out any degree of radiation. Its mere presence inspires hope, and a party that carries it has Advantage against Fear (if a PC) and +1 Morale (if an NPC). If it breaks, however, the despair causes everyone in the party to lose 2000 experience (but do not lose levels).

The world's oldest terrarium. Imagine this but the size of his head instead.

61 Gashelm: An unholy combination of gas mask and helmet that somehow manages to combine the two without losing functionality. The wearer counts as wearing both of those and grants +1 to reaction rolls with tinkerers.

62 Jack the Ripper: What can only be described as a chainsaw sword, blue metal with the words "Jack the Ripper" written on it in red paint. It counts as a normal sword (D6+1 damage, Melee range, 1 hand). It clatters loudly as it spins, and the blades rip through the toughest metals with ease – but only if they catch right. Barring the most exceptional circumstances (such as being wielded by true swordmasters, or those with incredible hand-eye coordination), it has only a 50/50 chance of dealing damage, but when it does, it deals double damage automatically. Triumphs (critical successes) always deal damage, and four times the result rolled, at that.

63 Rad-Diver's Armour: A HAZMAT suit covered in pieces of leather, chainmail, and thin sheets of metal. It provides all the radiation protection of a normal HAZMAT suit and comes with a gas mask, but also counts as Light Armour.

64 Carpoon: To call it a weapon is inaccurate. It can be wielded in both hands and fired with Disadvantage, but the Carpoon is meant to be mounted on a vehicle. It fires a long metal rod which deploys hooks on contact (but only grapples living creatures if it reduces them to 0 HP, at which point they're dead so it doesn't matter). It deals D6 damage or 1 vehicle damage. After an attack, it pulls back to reload in a round, or to drag whatever it's hit along with the vehicle it is attached to.

65 Uberhulk: Hulk is a drug that strengthens the body at the expense of its health, as the muscles work with strength that rips and tears them apart. Uberhulk has a permanent effect, raising your Strength by 4 but lowering Constitution and Dexterity by 1 each, to the normal maximums and minimums of 18 and 3. An injector only works once, and being injected twice causes severe muscular atrophy.

66 Shaman's Bell: A bell made of scrap metal from at least a dozen sources. When shaken vigorously, the discordant noise it creates confuses all creatures and intelligent robots who can hear it (typically up to Close range away), stunning them for a round. The ringer is stunned as well, however, and cannot act the next round.

Radiation Rules

Radiation provokes a Save vs Radiation after a certain amount of time spent in its presence. Stronger sources prompt quicker tests and radiation-blocking items reduce the effective strength of a source. On a success you take 1 damage per level, on a failure you take D6 damage per level. Being reduced to 0 HP or below by radiation prompts Save vs Death. On a failure you die, on a success you suffer an injury from the table below:

Radiation Injury Table

1    -2 Constitution, hair loss

2    -1 Constitution, -1 Wisdom

3    -1 Constitution, -1 Dexterity

4    Mutation, Save or gain another.

5    Blinded.*

6    Lose 1 maximum HP per level.

*Injuries marked with asterisks prompt a Save vs Death at the end of a week to clear them. On a failure, they persist until the next month, where another Save vs Death clears them. If you fail both Saves the injury is permanent.

Severity	Save once per...	Examples
Minimal	Watch / 4 Hours	Outer space, the rad-desert.
Low	Hour	The toxic jungle, beneath the green comet.
Medium	Turn / 10 Minutes	A long-dead city, in a poorly-filtered vault.
High	Minute	A nuke's blast zone, next to leaking barrels.
Extreme	Round / 10 Seconds	The heart of a reactor, a nuke's ground zero.

In addition, drinking irradiated water, being struck by irradiated weapons, and other such events all provoke an immediate Save vs Radiation.

Certain items reduce radiation severity. A HAZMAT suit, gas mask, and the chem known as Blocker all reduce a character's suffered severity by one step each.

My reasoning behind radiation is to make it really scary. Real world radiation is frightening, so should fantasy radiation. A level one PC is as likely to be killed by radiation as a level ten one, albeit not quite as much thanks to their saves, and it kills faster than normal damage does in my rules for injuries and death. The injuries are worse than average, too.

Resisting radiation isn't too hard if you have the proper gear, but you can only wear one armour, one helmet, and be on one chem at a time. To resist it fully, you have to forgo a lot of these items. In addition, radiation is not always easy to detect. Without a Geiger counter or careful observation, it's possible to stumble into doses much higher than anticipated. Both PCs and their players aren't made aware of hidden radiation until they must make Save.

Some anti-radiation gear. - by shaonizzit

Chemicals

Chemicals provide a benefit and a drawback for a certain amount of time. Excessive use of the same chemical – think several times in a day, or once every day or two for a week or so – can prompt addiction, which causes the PC to suffer the chem's negative effect even when they are not using the chem. Chems without negative effects are non-addicting. A PC can only be on one chem at a time. Taking a new chem does nothing but waste it.

Hulk: A chem named for an Old World god of strength and rage. When injected, the user's muscles have their normal limits lifted, granting them Advantange on all Strength and Melee Attack rolls for two minutes – but dealing D6-1 damage each time such a roll is made.

Salve: An Old World chem found in injectors. Salve calms the nerves, soothes pain, and pumps the body full of chemicals involved with healing and adrenaline. In doing so it heals the recipient for D6+1 HP, and with no negative side effects. Attempts to use it more than once every ten minutes fail due to the fact that one Salve is already doing all it can do.

Blocker: One of the few Old World chems successfully reverse-engineered, and for good reason. It reduces incoming radiation by one step for a day, very useful in the irradiated wasteland, and is hard to scavenge due to the fact it was only rarely used in the Old World, and often in locations which are now flooded with lethal radiation.

Helmets and Headgear

Pieces of headgear (usually, headbands are one exception) take up one inventory slot and you can wear one at a time. They all provide benefits to the PC who wears them, often in the form of letting them reroll Fumbles (critical failures) of a certain kind.

Helmet: Military helmets. Renders you immune to critical damage from enemies - critical hits are treated like normal hits.

Targeting Rig: A military targeting computers attached to the head. Let you reroll Fumbled ranged attack rolls, as the computer helps aim your shots.

Gas Mask: Filters all but the most insidious gases, as well as airborne radiation, poison, and disease. Old World filters last for months of use, long enough to be irrelevant. This raises your radiation protection by one Rad Level, or to Rad Level 1 from 0.

Headlamp: A lamp attached to the head, which projects a strong beam of light up to Close distance in front of the wearer's direction of view. They usually run on Old World batteries as a flashlight, but some are modified to function with oil or candle light. Needs no hands.

Snazzy Hat: An Old World top hat, or New World shaman's regalia, or anything else suitably impressive (and large enough to take up an inventory slot). Grants +1 to reaction rolls with those who would look favourably upon it (an officer's cap might grant +1 with soldier-types, while a bishop's hat might grant +1 with the particularly religious).

Headband: Signifies physical prowess, granting +1 damage with unarmed attacks. Many headbands have storied histories and a large collection is said to bring fate's favour. As a result, owning a headband will often bring bounty hunters upon you.

Yes, headbands are mostly here to reference Afro Samurai.

Magazines

Old World magazines, rotting and falling apart. Opening and reading one requires an hour and will render the magazine ruined once finished, but will give the reader access to the skill the magazine concerns until they next sleep. If they already have the skill, the magazine will instead give them Advantage on such rolls or allow them to perform tasks beyond even their capabilities. If using a system with skill points, treat them as granting a 4-in-6 or 66% rating.

From Fallout 4