Fallout D6 Thread
Posted: 2003-12-16 10:02pm
This is a continutation of this thread. This is the thread where I will be posting further D6 rules, answering character-creation questions, filling out the last 1-2 character slots, and then finally beginnig the game this Friday or Saturday.
Introduction to Fallout: After the Bomb
Fallout: After the Bomb is set after a nuclear war, specifically in Iowa in the year 2142. While the detonations across the continent have surely wiped the surface clean of most life, there are still a select few underground locations that hold survivors. One such location is an underground complex known as Vault 60, built just south of Iowa City. Only a very small number of people managed to reach the safety of this vault before the bombs dropped, and for the last 65 years they and their descendants have managed to stay alive, remaining isolated from the world above and relying on their large stocks of food and water. Life has been rather quiet and simple for the Vault-dwellers.
This adventure begins with a small handful of Vault-dwellers, each with various jobs, skills, and fields of interest. They each have their own rooms on the 3rd level of the Vault (the 1st and most of the 2nd levels are vacant, with most water and power shut off in those areas. The Vaults were designed for at least 1000 people, yet only 50-60 live in Vault 60). They have recently been called to meet with Vault 60’s Overseer, down in the command room on the lowest level.
General Rules, House Rules, and Modifications
Rolling Actions: All characters actions and the difficulty of their success is given a Difficulty Number. These numbers fall into 6 Difficulty Levels and a range of numbers for each:
Very Easy: 1-5
Easy: 6-10
Moderate: 11-15
Difficult: 16-20
Very Difficult: 21-30
Heroic: 31+
In order to succeed in their actions, characters must beat the action’s difficulty number by rolling the number of dice (or simply ‘D’) listed on their related attribute or skill. If the number is equal or greater than the difficulty number, they succeed. If it’s lower, they fail. That’s the very basic and universal idea behind most RPGs, so let’s get right into character creation and cover some useful info on Attributes and Skills while also showing how characters are created.
Character Creation: All characters’ natural abilities and learned skills fall under five Attributes in fallout D6: Strength, Knowledge, Technical, Dexterity, and Perception. Player Characters have 15D to allocate to these attributes, keeping them between the human minimum and maximum stats of 2D and 4D. Every D can be split into 3 points, or ‘pips’, and be allocated that way. For example, if someone creating a character currently has 3D in each stat, but they want to increase Technical by lowering Perception, they can lower Perception to 2D+2 (1 pip lower than 3D) and add the extra pip to Technical to get 3D+1.
Skills: Skills are the character’s abilities that have been learned and improved over their base Attributes, and relate to a specific type of action or ability (such as Handguns for Dexterity, or Value for Knowledge).
Skills: Starting Characters get 7D to spend for up to 7 skills to raise them above their Attributes. No more than 2D can be spent on one starting skill (for example, if Perception was 3D+1, you could raise Search by 1D to 4D+1 or by two up to 5D+1, but not any higher. If the player wants their character to have Specializations, a single D can be split into 3D to go only towards 3 Specializations. Specializations are more specific versions of skills, and pertain only to a certain type of action of ability (for example, a character with Throwing at 4D and Throwing: grenade at 5D would roll 5D when throwing grenades, but only 4D when throwing other things like rocks or knives).
List of Common Attributes and Skills:
Strength: Brawling, Climbing/Jumping, Lifting, Stamina, Swimming
Knowledge: Bureaucracy, Business, Culture, Foodstuffs, Guns and Ammo, Intimidation, Language, Law Enforcement, Locations, Scholar, Streetwise, Survival, Value, Willpower
Technical: Ammo Loading (Archaic), Ammo Loading (Modern), Armor Repair, Auto Mechanics, Construction, Communications, Computer Programming, Crafting, Demolitions, Electronics Repair, Firearm Repair, First Aid, Machinery Operation, Machinery Repair, (A) Medicine, Robot Programming/Repair, Security, Sensor Equipment Operation
Dexterity: Artillery, Big Guns, Bow Weapons, Brawling Parry, Energy Weapons, Handguns, Longarms, Melee Combat, Melee Parry, Pick Pocket, Running, Throwing, Vehicle Weapons
Perception: Bargain, Command, Con, Forgery, Gambling, Hide, Investigation, Persuasion, Search, Sneak
Traits: Characters can, if they wish, pick a Trait that affects their abilities in both positive and somewhat negative ways:
Fast Metabolism: Heal twice as fast, -2D to Strength and Stamina against radiation.
Bruiser: +1D to Strength, -1D to reaction rolls (Dodge, Melee Parry, Brawling Parry).
Small Frame: +1D to reaction rolls, -1D to Lifting.
One-Hander: +1D to attack rolls using one-handed weapons, -1D for two-handed.
Finesse: -1D to attack damage, damage Criticals occur on a 5 or 6 on the Wild die.
Kamikaze: +1D to initiative and multiple combat actions, -1D to resist damage.
Heavy-Handed: +1D to melee damage rolls, no attack or damage Criticals.
Fast Shot: Can fire guns at twice their fire rate as one action, cannot aim or call shots.
Bloody Mess: Violent deaths!
Jinxed: Everyone within vicinity receives a Failure on a 1 or 2 of the Wild die.
Sex Appeal: +2D to Perception for opposed rolls VS the opposite gender, -2D VS same.
Skilled: +14D starting skill die, but a teacher is required to improve any skill.
Gifted: One additional Attribute die on creation, one Attribute must be 5D and one at 1D.
Fallout Points: These serve as your character’s free ticket out of dying. Characters receive only one per adventure session,and it can be used to reduce a Mortally Wounded or Killed damage result to Incapacitated. It can also instead be used to double all rolls made during a round (or a single action that lasts multiple rounds, such as defusing a bomb). It would be wise to only use Fallout Points in the latter manner in the most dire or important of situations.
Example: Carl gets hit in the chest with a rocket from Ellen’s bazooka, so the GM rolls for damage. Carl rolls 3D for his Strength and gets a 13, while Ellen rolls 12D for damage and gets a 43. This is more than enough to turn him into Carl™ brand Human jelly, so the GM spends Carl’s Fallout Point (unless Carl’s player says otherwise) to lessen Carl’s bad luck. The way event plays out from the Fallout Point is that the rocket fails to go off on impact, instead it slams into Carl’s chest, incapacitating him as it bounces off and tumbles and falls some ways off. Carl is simply out cold for about 20-40 minutes, but he is in better shape than he would have been. Carl does not receive another Fallout Point until next adventuring session, so he will be out of luck next time he receives a mortally wounded or killed result sometime later in this session.
Character Points: Character points are earned at the end of each adventuring session, usually about 10-15 or so. These points are rewarded for experience and good role-playing at the end of every session (or during a lull in action, like a week-long journey). They can be used for improving and learning new skills, and they can also be spent during the adventure to boost a dice roll by 1D per point (for a maximum of two Character points spent per roll).
Always keep in mind that the most important thing in this adventure, and adventuring in general, is not about winning or achieving, it’s about role-playing your characters and having fun. Acting out of character, using your own knowledge/skills in place of your characters, and generally taking deliberate advantage of the rules and RP limitations is generally called ‘meta-gaming’, and it should be avoided. It should be avoided because it requires taking information and skills from outside the adventure’s universe, which breaks its laws of reality. And when the laws of reality are broken, bad things happen. I’m going to leave it at that, and let your imaginations run wild about the possibilities of meta-gaming repercussions. So don’t do it (and no, hiding indoors will not protect you from tortoise-carrying eagles. They will find you.).
Typical Guns and Weapons in the Vault 60 Armory:
(Note: this is just a set of examples of common weapons. It is not a list of starting equipment.)
Knife
Model: Vault-Tec VC Utility Knife
Type: Knife
Skill: Melee Combat: knife
Cost: $20
Difficulty: Very Easy
Weight: 0.25kg
Damage: STR+1D (Maximum: 5D)
Springfield XD Pistol
Model: Springfield Armory X-treme Duty .40 S&W
Type: Semi-automatic Pistol
Skill: Handgun: .40S&W pistol
Ammo: 10+1
Cost: $520 (10-round clip: $50)
Weight: 0.75kg
Fire Rate: 4
Range: 3-10/20/40
Damage: 5D+1
M1 Springfield
Model: Springfield Armory M1A .308
Type: Semi-automatic Rifle
Skill: Longarm: .308 semi-auto rifle
Ammo: 10
Weight: 3.75kg
Cost: $1400 (10-round clip: $70)
Fire Rate: 5
Range: 2-30/100/300
Damage: 6D+2
Winchester Defender Shotgun
Model: US Repeating Arms/Winchester Model 1300 Defender 8-shot 12-gauge
Type: Pump-action Shotgun
Skill: Longarm: 12 gauge pump-action
Ammo: 7+1
Cost: $500 (8 shells: $32)
Weight: 3kg
Fire Rate: 1
Range: 3-8/12/24
Damage: 7D/6D/5D/4D
Introduction to Fallout: After the Bomb
Fallout: After the Bomb is set after a nuclear war, specifically in Iowa in the year 2142. While the detonations across the continent have surely wiped the surface clean of most life, there are still a select few underground locations that hold survivors. One such location is an underground complex known as Vault 60, built just south of Iowa City. Only a very small number of people managed to reach the safety of this vault before the bombs dropped, and for the last 65 years they and their descendants have managed to stay alive, remaining isolated from the world above and relying on their large stocks of food and water. Life has been rather quiet and simple for the Vault-dwellers.
This adventure begins with a small handful of Vault-dwellers, each with various jobs, skills, and fields of interest. They each have their own rooms on the 3rd level of the Vault (the 1st and most of the 2nd levels are vacant, with most water and power shut off in those areas. The Vaults were designed for at least 1000 people, yet only 50-60 live in Vault 60). They have recently been called to meet with Vault 60’s Overseer, down in the command room on the lowest level.
General Rules, House Rules, and Modifications
Rolling Actions: All characters actions and the difficulty of their success is given a Difficulty Number. These numbers fall into 6 Difficulty Levels and a range of numbers for each:
Very Easy: 1-5
Easy: 6-10
Moderate: 11-15
Difficult: 16-20
Very Difficult: 21-30
Heroic: 31+
In order to succeed in their actions, characters must beat the action’s difficulty number by rolling the number of dice (or simply ‘D’) listed on their related attribute or skill. If the number is equal or greater than the difficulty number, they succeed. If it’s lower, they fail. That’s the very basic and universal idea behind most RPGs, so let’s get right into character creation and cover some useful info on Attributes and Skills while also showing how characters are created.
Character Creation: All characters’ natural abilities and learned skills fall under five Attributes in fallout D6: Strength, Knowledge, Technical, Dexterity, and Perception. Player Characters have 15D to allocate to these attributes, keeping them between the human minimum and maximum stats of 2D and 4D. Every D can be split into 3 points, or ‘pips’, and be allocated that way. For example, if someone creating a character currently has 3D in each stat, but they want to increase Technical by lowering Perception, they can lower Perception to 2D+2 (1 pip lower than 3D) and add the extra pip to Technical to get 3D+1.
Skills: Skills are the character’s abilities that have been learned and improved over their base Attributes, and relate to a specific type of action or ability (such as Handguns for Dexterity, or Value for Knowledge).
Skills: Starting Characters get 7D to spend for up to 7 skills to raise them above their Attributes. No more than 2D can be spent on one starting skill (for example, if Perception was 3D+1, you could raise Search by 1D to 4D+1 or by two up to 5D+1, but not any higher. If the player wants their character to have Specializations, a single D can be split into 3D to go only towards 3 Specializations. Specializations are more specific versions of skills, and pertain only to a certain type of action of ability (for example, a character with Throwing at 4D and Throwing: grenade at 5D would roll 5D when throwing grenades, but only 4D when throwing other things like rocks or knives).
List of Common Attributes and Skills:
Strength: Brawling, Climbing/Jumping, Lifting, Stamina, Swimming
Knowledge: Bureaucracy, Business, Culture, Foodstuffs, Guns and Ammo, Intimidation, Language, Law Enforcement, Locations, Scholar, Streetwise, Survival, Value, Willpower
Technical: Ammo Loading (Archaic), Ammo Loading (Modern), Armor Repair, Auto Mechanics, Construction, Communications, Computer Programming, Crafting, Demolitions, Electronics Repair, Firearm Repair, First Aid, Machinery Operation, Machinery Repair, (A) Medicine, Robot Programming/Repair, Security, Sensor Equipment Operation
Dexterity: Artillery, Big Guns, Bow Weapons, Brawling Parry, Energy Weapons, Handguns, Longarms, Melee Combat, Melee Parry, Pick Pocket, Running, Throwing, Vehicle Weapons
Perception: Bargain, Command, Con, Forgery, Gambling, Hide, Investigation, Persuasion, Search, Sneak
Traits: Characters can, if they wish, pick a Trait that affects their abilities in both positive and somewhat negative ways:
Fast Metabolism: Heal twice as fast, -2D to Strength and Stamina against radiation.
Bruiser: +1D to Strength, -1D to reaction rolls (Dodge, Melee Parry, Brawling Parry).
Small Frame: +1D to reaction rolls, -1D to Lifting.
One-Hander: +1D to attack rolls using one-handed weapons, -1D for two-handed.
Finesse: -1D to attack damage, damage Criticals occur on a 5 or 6 on the Wild die.
Kamikaze: +1D to initiative and multiple combat actions, -1D to resist damage.
Heavy-Handed: +1D to melee damage rolls, no attack or damage Criticals.
Fast Shot: Can fire guns at twice their fire rate as one action, cannot aim or call shots.
Bloody Mess: Violent deaths!
Jinxed: Everyone within vicinity receives a Failure on a 1 or 2 of the Wild die.
Sex Appeal: +2D to Perception for opposed rolls VS the opposite gender, -2D VS same.
Skilled: +14D starting skill die, but a teacher is required to improve any skill.
Gifted: One additional Attribute die on creation, one Attribute must be 5D and one at 1D.
Fallout Points: These serve as your character’s free ticket out of dying. Characters receive only one per adventure session,and it can be used to reduce a Mortally Wounded or Killed damage result to Incapacitated. It can also instead be used to double all rolls made during a round (or a single action that lasts multiple rounds, such as defusing a bomb). It would be wise to only use Fallout Points in the latter manner in the most dire or important of situations.
Example: Carl gets hit in the chest with a rocket from Ellen’s bazooka, so the GM rolls for damage. Carl rolls 3D for his Strength and gets a 13, while Ellen rolls 12D for damage and gets a 43. This is more than enough to turn him into Carl™ brand Human jelly, so the GM spends Carl’s Fallout Point (unless Carl’s player says otherwise) to lessen Carl’s bad luck. The way event plays out from the Fallout Point is that the rocket fails to go off on impact, instead it slams into Carl’s chest, incapacitating him as it bounces off and tumbles and falls some ways off. Carl is simply out cold for about 20-40 minutes, but he is in better shape than he would have been. Carl does not receive another Fallout Point until next adventuring session, so he will be out of luck next time he receives a mortally wounded or killed result sometime later in this session.
Character Points: Character points are earned at the end of each adventuring session, usually about 10-15 or so. These points are rewarded for experience and good role-playing at the end of every session (or during a lull in action, like a week-long journey). They can be used for improving and learning new skills, and they can also be spent during the adventure to boost a dice roll by 1D per point (for a maximum of two Character points spent per roll).
Always keep in mind that the most important thing in this adventure, and adventuring in general, is not about winning or achieving, it’s about role-playing your characters and having fun. Acting out of character, using your own knowledge/skills in place of your characters, and generally taking deliberate advantage of the rules and RP limitations is generally called ‘meta-gaming’, and it should be avoided. It should be avoided because it requires taking information and skills from outside the adventure’s universe, which breaks its laws of reality. And when the laws of reality are broken, bad things happen. I’m going to leave it at that, and let your imaginations run wild about the possibilities of meta-gaming repercussions. So don’t do it (and no, hiding indoors will not protect you from tortoise-carrying eagles. They will find you.).
Typical Guns and Weapons in the Vault 60 Armory:
(Note: this is just a set of examples of common weapons. It is not a list of starting equipment.)
Knife
Model: Vault-Tec VC Utility Knife
Type: Knife
Skill: Melee Combat: knife
Cost: $20
Difficulty: Very Easy
Weight: 0.25kg
Damage: STR+1D (Maximum: 5D)
Springfield XD Pistol
Model: Springfield Armory X-treme Duty .40 S&W
Type: Semi-automatic Pistol
Skill: Handgun: .40S&W pistol
Ammo: 10+1
Cost: $520 (10-round clip: $50)
Weight: 0.75kg
Fire Rate: 4
Range: 3-10/20/40
Damage: 5D+1
M1 Springfield
Model: Springfield Armory M1A .308
Type: Semi-automatic Rifle
Skill: Longarm: .308 semi-auto rifle
Ammo: 10
Weight: 3.75kg
Cost: $1400 (10-round clip: $70)
Fire Rate: 5
Range: 2-30/100/300
Damage: 6D+2
Winchester Defender Shotgun
Model: US Repeating Arms/Winchester Model 1300 Defender 8-shot 12-gauge
Type: Pump-action Shotgun
Skill: Longarm: 12 gauge pump-action
Ammo: 7+1
Cost: $500 (8 shells: $32)
Weight: 3kg
Fire Rate: 1
Range: 3-8/12/24
Damage: 7D/6D/5D/4D
Had me worried for the last half-hour that I've come off sound like I'm treating everyone like clueless morons, only to turn out you're just commenting on my avatar during that hour. *Grumble grumble* 
