Afternow RPG
This is work-in-progress of the new Afternow RPG based on True20, a simplified version of D20.
What is Tales From The Afternow?
The Afternow is a future that wants us to prevent it from happening. It is a grim dystopian future that broadcasts warnings to the past using time transmission broadcasting. In The Afternow, the world has gone to hell in a handbasket. When you play The Afternow RPG, you're playing a character in that dystopian post-apocalyptic future.
Afternow Transcripts
What is True20?
True20 is a generic ruleset currently available in pdf at RPGNow. Green Ronin produced True20
from d20 to give more emphasis to story and less to
tactics. Gamers like it. It uses familiar d20
conventions but with a different approach. There's easy conversion
between the two and instructions are given, so it should be possible to
take all that existing support material and use it with this.
Download printable True20 Quick Start Rules Download these to learn the basics of True20
Downoad printable True20 Character Sheet
RPGNet True20 Review
Afternow Kit
The Afternow is a nasty place where just surviving is a challenge every day and having the right kit is the difference between staying alive and being recycled.
The future is already here, it's just not widely distributed anymore
High technology exists but much of it is lost or in the hands of corpolitical elites while fringers and wastelanders live more primitive existences. Scarcity is the rule because many things are not easily replaceable, especially in the fringes and the wastes where stores are few and far between.
I've heard stories of everything that's mentioned in science fiction books I've heard of it.
But there is no way to confirm who has what technology cause all of it's locked down, now nobody knows who's got what.
(39:34)
Its ironic that in a time that technology is so strong there is so many people who still have no idea.
Supplies
Of course if bad guys don't get you, you still gotta watch out for water and food. SCRAP food packs are the de-facto currency of the Fringe and the Wastes. Corporations use scrap-equivelant Credits.
SCRAP: Synthetic Consumable Ration Pack
Scrap is an acronym for Synthetically Created
Ration Provision or Synthetically Created Rationed Provision. They are
food stuffs made from unknown organics to feed the people in and
surrounding the archologies. Their slogan is “Consumables for
Consumers.” They are about one decent meal and a large number of
advertisements and some snack samples.
Any of the scrap packs you get, from the vending machine, of course
they are loaded with advertising. Scrap bags are just one decent meal. Well,
some that's a half decent portion, and then everything else is a bunch
of little things. It just advertises a product, you know, like one
tenth of a chocolate bar or something.
So the trick is when you get that scrap bag you tear it open and you
break it down so that you can carry it more easily. Most of the stuff
that's in there is crap, I mean you need the chocolate bars that's
useful, you, you leave anything that you're not going to be
able to keep.
Usually you got some kind of instant coffee or some kind of a speed in
there that comes with, you need that. And of course you take whatever,
you know, solid food they got in there and if it is a fluid of any type
that's coming along. Sometimes you get lucky and you have scrap bags,
and its like a,
you'll get like, synthetic juices and sometimes you'll get water, its pretty nice when you get water.
I remember kids seeing them, you know they all go get their scrap pack and then they trade back and forth.
SCRAP Dispenser
Franchising a WASTETECH scrap dispenser on your premises can be a lucrative business. You'll
make a share of the dispenser's profits but you're responsible for
defending the dispenser, resupplying it and preventing it from being
tipped and detonated. The neighborhood preservation insurance is
expensive, especially in dense urban areas where the blast radius is
highly populated.
Water Bags
If you can't get the water bags, water from the vending machines, they sell it in these plastic bags. Looks like a medical bag.
Straw Filter
If you can't get water bags you need to make sure you got a good bunch of straw filters.
It's like a thick tube maybe half-an-inch thick 10, 12 inches long I
guess. You can find a pool somewhere you can stick a straw in one end
and try and suck on it. Takes a while to get the water up through it
but you can stay alive with it. Works out fine.
Afternow Hazards
Acid Rain
Rain Exposure: Drinking acide rain moisture will cause a sore throat for weeks.
"I hope I didn't drink any of that rain, if that gets into my throat I am going to have a sore
throat for weeks. It's gonna suck. I hope that doesn't burn through the roof."
Lightning
Ah that thunder crash was a little close. Lightning here is scary. If you get a lighting strike on one of these car condos man. I mean it'll cook a lot of people and fry even more equipment. (26:24). This is a good one we have going on here, I tell you. Well if I cut out of all of a sudden you will know what happened to me(26:32)
Body Armor
Going over a kit here, ya number one thing you have to look after is ya have ta get your hands on some body armor. Body armor allows ya to get hit. Being able to take a hit is more important than being able to give a hit. That's the first rule. If you can hit hard that's great, but if you can't get hit well you're done.
Sports Armor Toughness +3
Ballistic armor is expensive, more than that everyone wants it so most of out here we, keep our vitals protected with sports armor.
While the Great Plague was happening and the war was raging they ah they really cranked up sports and they even invented sports, all highly contact stuff, combative stuff. Give them circus ad give them bread. Trying to distract us from what's going on. That's the name of the game, distract 'em keep them busy.
So sports gear was just everywhere, everyone was involved in sports and it was crazy, like the world went sports crazy. So at the lowest level on your skin you'll usually have a, oh like an old t-shirt or some cloth wrapped around ya and then you'll throw your armor on In the summer a lot of people don't even wear, they just, make sure the armor has enough holes in the it Small holes anyways to stop the It make the mostly stop blunt force trauma, bats. I mean if you get shot you're done right, depending on how.
And then you dress for the occasion right, Like if you are going somewhere and you think it's going to be bad well you might want to keep up. For guys like me always on the move you pack light.
Some shoulder guards, chest plates, stomach protection. I found some old cycle gear, Spine protection, sewed it all into a vest, threw some hooks on it, I've had this for awhile, it's kept out ok. Everything's loose and in layers
Loose and in layers that's the name of the game
Target Vest Toughness +5
A target vest is two pieces of metal, with 2 holes drilled with scraps of string or wire and made like a sandwich board that goes the chest and back.
2-24:33
Tactical Pants
I've had some baggy old black combats that I put together. I don't know what they make these combat pants out of but man they are tough. I guess they were black at some point now they are like a gray mottled white I mean the rain has been on them sucked all the color out of them.
Sunscreen Cloak
Got a cloak I wear over the top, I usually keep it cinched up at the waist. And ah, the base of it, has like a draw string that uh, I tie it around like a belt over top the armor and everything and that's for the sunscreen right because well If the rain doesn't get it, then the sun defiantly will.
See the, my robe is actually made of sunscreen. I've got a scarf made of it to which I keep around my head. The scarf's combat more and the cloak is made from stuff they took from the cities. I get a cloak out of all it though a lot of people don't know what sunscreen is though it's so dirty and mottled but uh, works out ok. It's kinda hard ta, hard to describe but whenever you're out here you want to have loose and in layers and make sure you got head protection.
Plus with the long robes and everything, I s'pose, it probably keeps
them back But Yeah the long robes they get tied up pretty good, when
you're in the city, you tie them up, and when Well when you're in the
city in the day time you let 'em down, but If you think you need to move fast or whatever I mean, I might even
just take it off, take off the, the cape and throw it in my pack, you
know. There's no hard and fast rule, its kinda more so, it's like an art you gotta learn how to use it.
Cloaks provide +4/+20% concealment of your equipment and +2/+10% intimidation because who knows what you might be carrying but they cause a -2/-10% to running because they slow you down.
Mirror Shades
Of course nothing beats a good pair of shades. Mirror shades are the best. Everyone's got mirror shades just to keep the light out. I mean your eyes will burn in no time. If you're outside and you haven't got a, any kind of light protection for your eyes you're cooked. I mean there's all sorts of blind people wandering around here, they don't live very long. I mean scag gangs take them when ever they want them, burn booth somewhere, jack. Being bad, blind is a pretty bad state of affairs when everyone is out for your head.
Mirror shades allow you to see normally during the day. Without them you suffer partial blindness from glare when in direct sunlight, suffering -2/-10% chances on all dexterity and spotting-based skill checks. Each five hours of continuous exposure carries with it a cumulative DC 2/5% risk of causing permanent blindness.
Tanker Boots
One of my best treasures is my boots. I got a set of tanker boots. They use zippers to get them on and off. You'd be very fast. See, 'cause whenever you sleep you've got ta strip all this gear off, right.
These old tanker boots here they just never die.
They come up to my knee. Zippers on the side.
Zip Boots can go on in 2 seconds, compared to lace boots which can go on in 3 and take 2 more seconds to lace properly.
I don't really think about them. They got some writing on the side here I can't read. Lettering is really blocky. Like a Hebrew I don't really know.
Leg Armor
They got this nice kind of a alloy plating that comes along the front, breaks up into a kneepad here. When you're out here on the fringes, especially if you're in the wastelands and you're doing any kind a scooping out here, you want to make sure you got your legs plenty of protection. Especially if you're running. If you never know if you hit wire or fences or steel or whatever and especially if you run into any hostiles. I mean you run into hostiles out here. First thing they do is they take out your legs. You don't got legs, you can't run.
Decontamination Mits
You never sleep in your clothes, it's a bad idea. Any toxins you have, your body will try to sweat out and you'd sweat in your clothes. It's hard to wash you see. Most of the time what we do is just use the same de, decontamination mits and we pat down the inside of our clothes like, like a talcum powered. It works like a cleaning. Keeps the germs from building up. That powder is good stuff. After you use a glove, any powder that's left in the bag you try and get some kind of container and store the remaining powder that's in the bag in that container so you got some for you know, powder bathing your clothes and stuff. Works out good.
Riot Gloves
Of course I've got some riot gloves. I always keep a small satchel on my webbing of ah, rubber gloves. There're everywhere, you can get them from any wai, any vending machine. But ah The rubber gloves you see you keep handy. With the finger-less weighted gloves, the riot gloves, they got about 8 ounces of steel shot sewn into the knuckles of the gloves. But no fingers on them so you put on the rubber gloves. If you're going to be in an area where you're touching stuff and you're not sure whether or not it's safe you throw the rubber gloves on and you put the weighted gloves over top. That way it serves as kinda an additional barrier and keeps the rubber intact. And ah, also gives you a little bit more of a hit in case you need it. I mean, I can't tell how many times that has saved me.
+1 Strength bonus and –1 on finesse attacks for melee strikes both with fists and with hand weapons.
Second Line Webbing Gear
I guess that's pretty much it. That's like your underwear, that's, that's what's always with you. And the next layer which I have always got with me. You can always tell the outlanders, man the wastelanders, the guys on the fringe, they never ever drop their vests.
Soldiers have their webbing, its kinda like our very own webbing.
Mine's kinda integrated with my armor, that's how much I wear it, I mean you know as long as I got my armor I got, I got my gear.
Just hooks, satchels, places I put stuff on me, you know I kinda customize, everybody's different everybody has got their own, kinda configuration.
But ah, you know, you talk to 10 different guys they'll give you 10 different explanations.
Yeah mine, I mean, you talk to 10 different guys you'll get ten different explanations on what's
good, right
You gotta, kinda do what's right for you depending on, again on what you mostly do. Me I'm, I'm a wastelander/fringer I always meeting people so it's beneficial for me to be pretty much light weight fighting mode all the time that's what I need to be. So that's where usually you want to have a good fighting knife, cause you may have to use it.
Blades
How long did the blade rule the Earth
Its amazing
Sometimes you see guys with a, with swords
Japanese, European styles
(25:29)
Swords are worth a lot.
So if you have got a sword you have to know how to use it, because everybody is going to challenge you to try and get your sword
(25:38)
After you chop a few people up I guess they kinda get the point.
Well, most people with swords have a name, most
people know who they are
(25:49)
In a way I suppose, I mean
A knife is useful right?, like you can use it in daily life but
carrying a sword around well that only has one purpose so you are kinda
inviting trouble
Kukris are good like that.
Fighting Knife
Now a fighting knife by itself is pretty good, but when you cross that with those weighted gloves
you've got a much more of an impact weapon. Those 8 ounces of steel shot, cross that with my kukri, I tell you that's a good chop. 18 inches of pain. Intimidation value is pretty high.
Fighting Knife, +1 Strength
Kukri
A kukri is a particularly nasty forward-curving cross between a hatchet and a machete.
+2 damage, 18-20 Critical +3, small slashing 2lbs
Short Sword
+2 damage, 19-20 Critical +3,
Long Sword
+3 damage, Crit 19-20 +3
Greatsword
+4 damage, Crit 19-20 +3
Bastard Sword (Katana)
+4 Damage, Crits on 19-20 +3, one handed with exotic weapon proficiency
Traveling At Night
Of course running around in the day time is a bad idea. To much of a priority target, everyone can see ya, especially if you're in the wastelands so you try moving around at night, and everybody else is going to be moving around at night to. It's not that you're hiding, it's just that you want to keep a low profile, you never want to be showy or flashy in any way shape or form, or you make yourself for a mark. Everything is low profile, unless you can back it up. If you can back it up, Hey be as showy as you want. Doesn't bug me.
Night Vision Goggles
But ah, Ideally if you've got any night vision gear that's, that's the bomb. You'll see some of the wastelanders, they, they'll have, like you know blocking things around their necks. You know, usually covered up with their scarves, they wear it loose so it covers the NVGs but they're in high demand.
LED Flashlights
Most of us use LED flashlights. The wastelanders use red ones. Red light is harder to see in the dark at distance, and a white light you can see for miles, a red light fades to fast, so if you're out in a area where you know there might be hostiles you always use your red light. The LEDs are better than bulbs. They don't burn out and they burn longer. Stack of battery will, keep LED's going for days. Guys have fallen asleep with their LEDs on and they are still fine for another couple of days, works fine.
Gigahertz Radio
Just about everyone carries the gigahertz radios. It's little radios that ah It like a walkie-talkie but they broadcast and receive for like 5 kilometers, just a tiny thing. They've been around forever. But ah, they're calibrated to different settings and depending on what community you're in they'll have like, local 5 kilometer little radio stations that people broadcast on, or maybe they re-broadcast news or there'll be like a help channel in case someone has got a problem they'll just do a call out and whoever's got their radio on will respond, if they know you know, they got community landmarks and stuff. So if they got a problem they will know where they are. I keep mine with me, but I don't, I move around so much that I don't know the, I don't know the, the local call signs. I know some communities but not as many as I'd like.
Scanner
So on the back of my armor I managed to get my hands on a scanner. Well what happens is I run the ear mic from the gigahertz set and the ear mic from the scanner to this little mixing pod, made up kinda one overlays the other. The scanners louder I got a little dial that I can adjust it but this way I just have my clear phones. I put one clear phone over one ear and I'm good to go.
Quite often, especially out in the wasteland, there'll be frequencies
broadcasted out or there'll be ghost frequencies, frequencies just
bounce around or old military you know, downed choppers frequencies or
distress calls that are automated from gear that's crashed and people
just go out and try to find the strength of frequency and try and home
in on it so they can get the salvage right. Lot of valuable stuff,
especially on downed military craft.
Clear Phones
Clear phones are, ah that's a military thing, they used to give them to soldiers but they were popular in the civilian market. It's like a headphone only the ah, the back of the headphone that covers your, that would normally cover your ears is, is like a mesh see through, you can see through it. And ah, you can hear what's going on outside as well. And no one else can hear what's coming through the clear phone. So it looks likes you're kinda like wearing this rubber thingy like a, some kind of strainer over the side of your head. Small one you know. I mean it just hooks on to your helmet or you can ah, wear it underneath your scarf.
Helmet
I got a helmet. I don't usually wear it unless I am out in the wastelands, but I think it's a rappelling helmet I don't know what it is, it's really tight fitting
Assault Mask
I got an assault mask I keep as well.
Helmet Lights
For most of the times when I'm ledding I've got head mounted lights, LEDs, twin LED lights, with a red filter 'em, I put on either side of the helmet. They just snap on and If I am going in to the wastelands and if I'm in the inner city I will generally just have my scarf around my head, right, but if I am out in the wastelands and I'm doing some scooping, I've got the helmet tight, I've got the face mask on and ah, I got the goggles over top of that. And then at night you just hit the LEDs and it gives you like these two red lights. I mean it looks pretty bad ass to, and again that keeps them back. If you look like you're not an easy mark than they stay away from you. Anyway, fact is that you gotta make sure you got your lighting.
Scopes & Binos
Oooo, See if I had'a been smart, I'd use the other thing I keep on my webbing here, I keep my spy glass thing, scopeing. (26:46) Everybody's got bino's or a, a decent rifle scope that they keep handy just to get a distant look
at things. I mean if you just see like a downed chopper in the middle of the desert I mean, chances are it's a trap. You know you gotta scope things from all angles. I usually do a pretty wide circle. Quarter mile maybe, round anything I see on the wastelands and I scope it for a long time before I move in. I've seen all kinds of guys moving in on stuff and I thought, ah, should I move in there. And before you know it, you know they get taken down or you know. Teams that lay in wait in the wastelands are, you know they got a weird cult or something, I mean, you don't know what's in the wastelands. I means it's anybodies ruling in the wastelands. Nobody knows what's out here, I mean there's lots of soldiers and cults and chem weapons and all sorts of crap just floating around out here.
Shooters
That's why you got keep your shooters with you. Shooters are the auto
injectors. I always got some right on my chest in case I need to get
'em in a hurry.
Atropine Adrenaline Shooter
They are like anti-chemical weapons stuff. If you've got a problem and you think you, you start feeling tingly, things are going wrong, you
jack yourself and run like hell.
Get out of the area.
+4 running
Climbing Gear
I've got a pretty nice hook up here now, Normally in, in bags and on your webbing you got
some rope, but what I done, is I got a
I found this heavy fishing reel you know, I don't know what they use to rule with this thing but
it's oh maybe ten inches across
I hooked it up in the middle of my back
With a 'biner on it and you can change this dial, I guess for how heavy you want the pull to be so it will let line out
really slowly based on pu, pull I guess if you were catching like some thousand pound fish, you,
you'd have it so that it just wouldn't you know make the fish tired or whatever
I've never been fishing, whatever but anyway I've got this heavy reel and I attached it, with no small amount of effort I might add, to
the back of my armor vest here.
With the 'biner if I've got to get down in to a chasm or if there is like a, a pit or something I just
hook on to the top. And ah, I've got it set for my own body weight so that it just lowers me down. I don't' bother trying to reel it back up I just cut it, get another 'biner. 'biners are the little aluminum clamps you can make 'em ah, its just a steel hook with a spring on it so it closes the hook or you just get a, make your
own steel hook I mean. Kits a lot of time makes 'biners, hooks are always just handy to have.
Rope
But, I mean if you gotta climb up you can't beat rope or anything so I only carry about 50 feet of rope if that. Most of the time it's spider line down, You, you don't go down into a hole unless you know
there's a way out of it that you don't have to come back up, otherwise that might as well be your grave. (31:15)
Zippo
I can't remember where I got this Zippo. Zippos are still around. Nice thing about the new Zippos is that they'll burn just about anything. If its got a fuel it'll burn alcohol, ethanol, acetone, whatever, if it burns the Zippo will burn it. It's handy. Its good for emergency lighting. (31:44) Just it's always good to have fire.
GPS
And of course on the Global Positioning System, so you have some idea so you can mark stuff. Especially if you're out on the wastelands and you find something, in the middle of the day and you're being hunted or whatever, you can't stick around you just mark it and keep going (32:03) Its all about how fast you can go.
Light Pack
Now aside from all the webbing I have a small pack And I do mean a small pack 'cause you gotta pack light. (32:22). You're running around out here, I mean you never carry more than 15 percent of your own body weight anyway otherwise you will just, you'll kill yourself. Couple, Some soldiers were altered to be able to carry more but even still, I mean You gotta pack light man, you gotta.
Wool Blanket
In my pack I keep a very large blanket. This one's like a thick towel, wool. I don't know what it is. It's like a, it's like a towel that's made of wool. If it gets wet it's still warm. (33:06) I mean if this gets wet I can't use it, but that's one of the nice things about wool, But it's absorbent, eh, So I mean it can dry me off.
Sleeping Bag
Some people have like a very thin sleeping bags but I mean you don't wanna sleeping bag, I mean it will be a body bag if you can't move and you get jumped in the middle of the night, you're done (33:27)
Sewing Kit
To put all this webbing together I keep a sewing kit, Nail needles, you take a, a nail and you bend the end and you kinda pound it flat. Kids make
them, they are just for like well working with armor, stitching stuff, in case you need to. Works like a, it does the job a needle can't do. (33:53) Spider line is the a, the thread of choice. It's like the world's toughest fishing line, works pretty good. (34:04)
Crack Sticks
Its always good to have a couple of crack sticks in there. CPU stacks over clocked with a connection on it so that, you know, you got a chance to cut through some encryption. Any of the military stuff out here that might be crashed might be a little bit older. Couple of crack sticks might be able to break the codes. Their always handy to have. Again a wastelander tool. You don't even think about carrying stuff like that near the Arcs. They bust you with crack sticks you're gone.
Pump Burner
I've got a pump burner. A pump burner's like a butane torch, but like the Zippo it's made to run on just about anything that'll burn. You fill it up and it's got a little pump built into it, so you pump it until you can't pump it any more and then you light using usually a Zippo and it gives you a hot blue flame.
Some guys are artists with these things man, they can solder with them, they can do whatever, it's pretty handy. But it's good to, in a tight place you gotta heat up some metal or well you'd be surprised, it's always good to just have that kind of heat, usually a tin of some kind of fuel if you can get it
Salvaging Kit
And your tools, some guys keep their tools on their webbing. I kinda drift back and forth, if I am going wastelanding, then yeah I will switch them to my
webbing but if I'm inner city or running around in just the fringe I, I'll keep 'em in my bag. My essentials, I mean everyone's got different sets of tools they want to use but mine are the wire cutters
A set of vise grippers
Wire cutters are good because you know, I mean, you can cut anything with it
I mean you can break in to old rocket pods or whatever, get some valuable wiring it's just like
you're all purpose scissors baby.
Vise Grippers
The vise grippers of course cause, well gotta buckle on to something
You gotta pry, I mean you're hands get tired,
Especially if you've been humping all day the vise grippers are the bomb. You can do first aid with them to, they work like a clamp, in case you gotta tie something off. That's pretty, pretty desperate
Adjustable wrenches always got one, decent size
See you can't carry to much, you gotta remember it's only one wire cutter, one vise grip, or one
adjustable wrench.
You know, multi-bit screwers, so you got, you know whatever you need to get into any kinda
electronics you find
Crowbar
+2 strength bludgeoning damage, small.
I'm very lucky, I've got a titanium pry bar. Light weight titanium, this thing if I threw it in a burn booth I'd probably get 50 bucks for it. But I wouldn't part with this thing for the world. It's a makeshift weapon in emergency you can't go wrong with a crowbar man, these things
rule.
'Course on my quick draw I used to have my 'brelle
Umbrella
Everyone packs umbrellas here, you don't go outside, you don't go anywhere without an
umbrella. Umbrellas save your life. Man you even think there's going to be rain you drop the umbrella up. Lots of guys on rain watch here. And they'll start hitting alarms and that if they think that some guys are good and they can really tell, like from a crows nest position they'll start banging on these big metal gongs they made to warn the rains coming and people just take cover.
Surprising what some people can tell just from looking at the sky through a pair of spyglasses, I can't, I'm never very good at that
But it works them ok
Gotta have your 'brella
I guess that's about it, I mean I try to keep it as light as I can
Drugs
You know I usually try to, keep some extra goods for trading you know
Flask of booze, some bog weed, that's always healthy with the server monks and frankincense,
that always goes over good I, I mean it's kinda of a personality of what you know.
Data Tablet
And of course with me, I always keep data. Cause that's my job right? Got my tablet, that goes without saying. Tablet goes, well on my webbing. That's, that's always with me. I keep it in a light sheath. Actually got a hard pack case for it, that where I keep all my books.
Book Stockpiles
I've got a stockpile of, where I keep my actual physical books. But I would never carry that around with me, I mean they're to big so I've got a trusted place I
leave it. Scan all the data and then, carry it around with me on my tablet, issue it out to people as they need it, you know. Technical manuals just transfer it to the tablet.
Irradiated Salvage
Some of the salvage you'll find will be irradiated and dangerous to hold onto.
Some of the books I got, had to be destroyed. I mean a lot of them come from these irradiated libraries, people bring me this stuff and the micro amp readings just got threw the roof, eh. You sit there and you I was just looking at this.
I remember I got this one book It was some kind of Soviet manual, on some kind of monitoring equipment, I've It was related with the old school echelon stuff before they went to the next gen but I mean I just looked at this thing and my canary vents started to go nuts you know. But I mean a book that would kill you, but again to, I guess if you didn't have the knowledge it would kill you. So I threw on as much shielding as I could and, scanned it and then destroyed it.
Canary Vents (2 scrap)
In the inside of my ah, visor, on my helmet here I got a canary vent. Canary vents are about the size of a small coin. A piece of plastic with air vents on it. Little yellow LED. I guess it just looks for any kind of carcinogenic gas or Chem. Weapons, All I know is I am out on the inside, see its in kinda up near my top field view but if. That LED goes off, I mean like, you can't miss it, it's really bright, you know because it shines practically in my eye (28:59) That's important you see, because ah, if that goes off that means the air is toxic and I gotta get out of there. You know in the cities it's not that big of a deal, even on the fringes. But if you're a wastelander running around like me, you never know what's floating around in the air man. All sorts of particulates. Some times in the inner city they'll go off when the pollution gets heavy. When you know, smog comes in (29:25). When the smog comes in, of course the air vent is going to go off but. Canary vents do the radiation. You always want to keep 5 or 6 of those things going.
Book Scanner
Vehicles
APC
Armored personal carrier
Armored vehicle used by the police of the archologies for transportation.
Antigravity Tanks
I've heard stories of anti gravity tanks.
Time Transmitters
The final of hurdle of course was time.
That got conquered just a few years ago I guess.
I mean I, I can't say for sure, I got no data.
Just what I hear.
(39:59)
The way that the people can hear this in the past is that apparently they take some signal and they do something with it.
They accelerate the frequency and using light or something I don't know how it works.
But they can transport electric frequencies and light back and forth through time.
(40:27)
Some say that's what the UFOs were. All throughout history it was people in the future throwing these bright balls of light back in time.
But I don't know if we can do more than that, I don't know if.
Some of the books I have I read about people talking about abductions and cattle mutilations and all sorts of stuff.
(40:54)
Afternow Paths
There are all kinds of survivors from crazies to corpoliticals scraping by in the ruins and remnants of civilization. Where you ended up is usually a combination of bad luck and tough choices and where you go from here depends on finding a reason to survive.
Character Profiling: Who are you?
Profiling your character is a step-by-step process using the following checklist:
-
Choose Your Background
-
Choose Your Path
-
Choose Your Identity
- Choose Your Survival Story
- Choose Your Nature: Virtues & Vices
- Choose Your Abilities
-
Choose Your Feats
-
Choose Your Skills
- Choose Your Kit
Identity
What's Your Name?
Even peoples' names have not escaped the century of upheavals.
In the Afternow, naming schemes for people are made up of a few parts. First the company you work for, then your job title, then your IP address given to you by your company, then your birth given name, and finally the number of life extensions you have.
For example:
- Independent Librarian Dynamic Sean Kennedy the Sixth
- Wastetech Plumber abcd:ef12 Joe the Third
Note: IP addresses are in
compressed IPv6 format, which replaced IPv4 when everything became networked and the maximum number of IPv4 addresses were exhausted.
Survival Story
Everyone that's still breathing has a survival story. Nobody just gets by in this cruel world. You've got to dodge bullets and bureaucrats just to live to see another day.
What is your survival story? How
Backgrounds
Everywhere you go, there's different hazards conspiring to kill you. Wastelanders fear the elements, Arcers fear the corps. There's nowhere that's exactly safe, but you learn to survive the hazards of your particular level of hell.
Old Worlder
Some people have been around since before the Collapse and stayed alive by means of life extension and stasis. They may have some memories from before the Wars and before the Listener's License. That is, if they have any memories left after all the brain damage from life extensions. However, they have to put their city slicker ways behind them to adapt to this harsh new world.
Bonus Skill: Knowledge (Pre-Collapse)
Wastelander
Wastelanders live in the nasty desert wilderness that is the wastes outside of the enclaves of civilization.
Wastelanders have to be tough and resourceful to survive these conditions.
Bonus Skill: Survival (Wastes)
Fringer
Fringers live in isolated communities outside of the relative safety of arcologies. Because the Fringes are far from the dubious protection of the corpolice, they have to police their own. Fringers are regulated mostly by local gangs and knowing how to deal with gang culture is essential to staying alive there.
Bonus SKill: Survival (Fringes)
Arcer
People living inside of arcologies often grow up sheltered from the harsh realities of the outside world.
Connections: Archers can make connections in the business world.
Listener's License: Archers usually have a listener's license, allowing them to do business and participate in corpolitical arcology society.
City Slickers: Archers tend to be clueless about surviving outdoors. They get survival (arcology) for free but no Wasteland survival.
Some people have survived The Afternow by living underground in underground arcologies called vaults.
Convict
Convicts imprisoned, releaased, escaped or paroled from the Convicted Consumer Concentration Camps (4Cs) lived a life of indentured servitude. It is what the prison system has evolved into. They utilize a point system where you work off your sentence by earning points through manual labor. Rumors of them being a pool of genetic material and spare organs for the mega-corps to utilize abound.
2-31:01
Vault Dweller
Some people have been in stasis so long that the whole Afternow seems like some kind of hellish afterlife. They mostly lack any kind of survival skills, but they have knowledge of the old world they went to sleep in.
Cultist
Cultists grew up in sheltered ideological communities isolated from the outside world. They're perfectly equipped to avoid running afoul of The Leader but they're often somewhat naive about the outside world.
Example Cult: New Roman
New Romans hail from an experimental city state.
Your Credit Is No Good Here: New Rome's internal currency of Credits are worthless outside of New Rome and cannot legally be hoarded in large amounts.
Bong Weed Addiction: New Romans start out addicted to Bong Weed.
Paths
There are many different paths and trades people take up to survive in The Afternow. Paths are not strict limitations on what you can choose for your development. They are suggestions. You can combine feats from different paths to progress at your own pace in your own way and name your own path.
Path Roles
There are three general categories of paths: Warriors, Experts and Adepts. Like paths, these are just general categories and do not restrict you in any way.
Warrior
Warrior paths are constantly dedicated to improving their Combat Training at the expense of other skills and usually begin with Armor Training and Weapon Training.
Expert
Expert paths are good at skills other than pure combat, and many experts overcome their less frequent Combat Training with specialized fighting styles emphasizing finesse over brute force.
Adept
Adept paths are good at manipulating unseen forces through cybernetic augmentations allowing them to send and perceive electromagnetic energy and computer data.
Librarian
"Information wants to be free."
Independent Librarians are preservers of lost knowledge. They are adventuring archaeologists, salvaging valuable information from the ruins of pre-collapse civilization.
A collector and distributor of information. Because it is illegal to gather information you are not allowed access to and even more illegal to distribute it, librarians are one of the most hunted outlaw professions.
Soldiers sometimes respect Librarians as having some kind of reconaissance function, allowing them to try to negotiate passage through the Sticks.
Server Monk
"I am a node of server. I am part of the vast global network."
Server Monks are dedicated to the practice of Cybudic philosophy.
Feat: Server Seeker
There are many Seekers who believe in Server but have not yet passed the Initation Tests to become full Server Monks. Some never will become monks, but Server is with them still.
Requirements: Skill: Knowledge (Server), Test of Faith
Test of Faith: To gain entry to a Server Temple you must recite the Server Mantra and have true belief in Server or the polygraphs will detect your lack of faith and the turrets will ventillate you. There is only one way to test your faith, and that is at the entrance of a Temple with the turrets as your witness.
To pass the test of faith, you must leave a free Feat slot open and find a Temple to test yourself and gain the feat or die.
To become a server monk you must find a Server Temple and apply to become a novice.
Applicants' talent, virtue and perseverance will be tested before they
are accepted by a Temple as novices.
Feat: Server Monk Initiate
Requirements: Server Seeker, Cyberjack Implant, Test of Dedication
To become a full Server Monk, you must pass the Monks' tests. Legend has it that these tests evolved from the
Once you have passed the tests of the Monks, you become an intiated Server Monk and receive advanced training.
Monk Kit: Monks have some signature kit: Monk Cowl, Retractable Cyberjack Cable
Server Monk Implant: When the applicant has proven themself, they receive their cyberjack implant and begin their formal training under the mentorship of other monks.
Cyberjack Neural Interface Implant: Server monks are implanted with cyberjack neural interfaces that allow them to tap directly into computers with their mind without the use of a tablet screen or external goggles.
Feat: Cyberserver Implant
Requirements: Server Monk Initiate
This implanted cranial computer allows the Monk to serve their brain directly to the Net, making their brain a powerful node of Server in its own right. The Monk's brain becomes accessible to other Monks who can draw on the Monk's Knowledge skills.
Default Abilities: Str 0, Dex 0, Con 0, Int +3, Wis +2, Cha 0
Level 1 Skills: Computer, Disable Device, Knowledge (Server)
Level 2 Cyberjack Implant
Level 3 Server Monk Initiation
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Gardener
"Growing food with attitude! Revolution is delicious!"
Gardeners are farmpunks: they grow food with attitude. They're unlicensed spreaders of seeds tending a network of geocached secret gardens in the margins of the wastes and the fringes in defiance of Wastetech.
The Farmpunk movement began when food prices started rising. Gardeners can make things grow where others cannot. This is a powerful and dangerous ability in a world where food is currency. Most gardeners can't risk doing anything on the scale of the farms they've only seen pictures of. Gardens have to be planted in hidden spots where they can escape Wastetech's raids.
Many gardeners are also cooks and many make it a personal mission to feed the hungry multitudes. Back before the fall there used to be all kinds of community kitchens that fed anyone who was hungry.
Feat: Green Thumb
You can find ways to make things grow even in poor soils that look lifeless.
Feat: Water Gathering
You can create water gathering systems to increase the food productive capacity of an area.
Environmentalist
"It's not too late for the land or for us. The technology that got us into this mess can get us out or through."
That the world's been poisoned doesn't mean it can't be nursed back to health. Environmentalists specialize in handling and reversing man-made hazardous pollution to make it safer for people and other living things.
Feat:
Feat: Detoxify
Counselor
"Ask not what you're good at, ask what you dream of doing enough to get good at it?"
You can find a way to inspire people to do something with their life. You have the power to break through the nihilistic apathy and medicated depression that afflicts so many people in the wasted world.
Feat: Talent Finding
You can find a talent in someone they didn't realize in themselves. This allows you to give someone a skill or feat that might start them on a path. You can only do this once per person.
Community Organizer
"This is going to be a great place for tactical training and raising families!"
A community organizer is someone who builds up a community's strength and happiness by making improvements and leading the people to mak necessary changes.
Community organizers can't do it all by themselves. They need the help of environmentalists, gardeners, librarians, defenders and more to create a place people can thrive.
Primitive
Primitives have learned to do without most technology and live in the wilderness, which is no mean feat in the forbidding wastelands that Man has wrought.
Feat: Low-Tech Substitute
You can replace pieces of manufactured equipment with improvised tools made of natural materials like bones, hide and plants.
Clown
Unlicensed performers.
Poet
Unlicensed word combiners.
"A long time ago there was a
Cultist
All sorts of cults have proliferated in the wastes.
The Cause: Most cults have a unifying cause which all members believe in.
Benign Or Evil: The goodness or badness of a cult is often a matter of perspective and many cults are mixtures of beneficial and harmful aspects.
The Leader: Most cults have one or more leaders who are admired and followed unquestioningly by cultists.
The Enemy: Most cults define themselves in part by what they are against, and most of the time this necessitates designating some groups of people as symbolic enemies of the cause. Not all cults are violent towards The Enemy but in the Afternow life is cheap and cultists tend towards killing.
The Leader Wants You: Cultists excel at recruiting new believers in their cause.
All Hail The New Leader: Today's cultist may become tomorrow's cult leader by succeeding a previous leader peacefully or otherwis, splintering a rebel faction or starting an entirely new cult movement.
Corpolitical
The Company: Most corpoliticals are loyal to a single powerful
megacorporate company all their lives. When their usefulness to the
company ends, their employment contract ends and rather than letting
them work for a rival, the company revokes their listener's licens and
escorts them outside the arcology to fend for themselves.
The Competition: Most corpolitical companies have rival
competitors who they are fighting in a kind of low-intensity war. Corp
wars may go beyond business rivalry into actual physical violence and
sabotage which is usually conducted by mercenaries. Who are your
competitors?
The Job: Every corpolitical has some kind of highly specialized
job to do for which the company keeps them alive. Being good at your
job isn't just about earning a promotion. It's about preventing
termination. What is your job?
Office Politics: Corpolitical politicking can get vicious when the stakes of the corporate ladder are life and death.
Executive
A high-level corpolitical aspires to becoming an executive and
although executives weild tremendous power in the company, they also
face extreme responsibility for the success of their business units and
a slightly lower life expectancy than lower-level workers who can slack
off without facing such ultimate accountability. If your division has a
bad quarter, you might get downsized because the employees you've been
micromanaging decided to drag their feet until you got cancelled.
Freelancer
A few rare corpoliticals run their own consultancy companies working
independently for multiple corporations. Freelancers have the advantage
of a life expectancy that doesn't expire as soon as their employment
contracts do.
Corpolice
Police are private and most work for a particular regional corporation
hired to enforce laws by those who can afford it. Many police are
ex-Soldiers discharged from professional militaries after wars.
"The soldiers that did come home those that lived past you know, 2
years.
Most of them were all discharged with a handshake and a medal.
And in a way in a sick way, I s‘pose it was a good thing the
archologies were up cause they all, most of them went to work as corp
cops.
They were still usable with any kind of functional resource
for them.
The archologies had there own police forces inside the buildings.
Security forces making sure that espionage was under control, not stopped, just under control.
Big money to be made in the corporate espionage business.
You got the right files, man you can make money.
That's a whole nother game though.
Instead of having 50 some odd nations to do spies with you got
thousands of them.
The Law: Police have the power to enforce the law of the land
which usually means which ever corporation gets its hands on you first.
This gives them the power to arrest criminals.
What Rights?: Corpolice have almost total power to incarcerate
people who lack enough influence to pull strings to keep from becoming
"dissappeared".
Request Backup: Police can call for backup when they run into danger in the line of duty.
APCs: Corpolice have access to APCs.
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Soldiers
Soldiers working with an organized military. Not all soldiers are
supersoldiers. Som are not genetically enhanced but have military
training.
Call Airstrike: Soldiers can request fire support from artillery and aircraft of nearby friendly forces.
Recruit: Soldiers can recruit locals to join their forces.
Mercenary
All the factions of the Afternow have use for hired muscle to help defend their turf and enforce their rules.
Gladiator
Extreme sports became all the rage as The Afternow transpired, and
gladiators put their lives on the line to entertain the bloodthirsty
fans. Their athletic showmanship serves to distract people from the
bleakness of the Wastes and the corruption of their governments.
Gladiators tend to focus on melee striking as most coliseums prohibit ranged weapons.
Survival of the Fittest: Gladiators live or die by victory in
the colloseum. To earn their living, they must constantly risk their
lives against increasingly tough opponents.
Popularity: Gladiators that win become more popular, and
particularly showy gladiators become fan favorites, attracting
dedicated fans who support them.
Elite Gladiator Status
Requirements: Reputation +5
Elite gladiators earn the right to fight less
frequently and choose which opponents to match up against, allowing
them to prolong their career lifespans to make more money for the
arenas.
Level 1: Combat Training
Level 2:
Level 3:
Level 4:
Level 5:
Level 6:
Level 7:
Level 8:
Level 9:
Level 10:
Slaving
Capturing and selling slaves is a lucratively amoral business.
Salvager
Salvagers are treasure hunters digging up valuable technology from the
ruins of civilization. They specialize in finding and breaking into
installations to appraise and salvage tech.
Crafter
Crafters are experts at making things like art and technology. In a
world where manufactured goods can be hard to come by and even harder
to fix, crafters have the power to keep technology working.
Trader
A trader is a businessperson who buys and sells goods distributing things to where they're needed for a profit.
Trucker
Truckers are long-haul transporters of goods driving supercharged transport monstertrucks.
Roleless Character Creation
True20 has three roles called Warrior, Expert and Adept. Real20 roleless character creation does away with the artificial limits imposed by Roles. Instead, class features are handled by feats chosen with extra feats at each level.
Paths Instead Of Roles
Paths are suggested feat and skill progressions that replicate the True20 roles.
1 class feature = 2 feats = 4 skills
Generally speaking, each major class feature is worth two feats. Each minor class feature is worth one feat. Each feat is worth two skills.
Level 1:
Combat Bonus: 0 (combat bonus is gained through feats)
Skills: 2 +/– Intelligence modifier (skills are gained with feats)
Feats: 6 (with which to buy capabilities)
Each Level Up:
Feats: You gain 3 feats.
Paths
Path: Expert
Level 1: Skill Training +4 (x2), Saves (Fort, Will or Reflex) (x2), Reputation, +1 discretionary feat
Level 2: Combat Training, +1 discretionary feat
Level 3: +1 discretionary feat
Level 4: Combat Training, +1 discretionary feat
Level 5: +1 discretionary feat
Level 6: Combat Training, +1 discretionary feat
Level 7: Ability Increase, +1 discretionary feat
Path: Warrior
Level 1: Combat Training +1 (x2), Save (Fort)
Level 2:
Path: Adept
Level 1: Power Training +1 (x2), Willpower,
Transhuman Paths
Humanity didn't just sit still. Humans evolved themselves by force into new kinds of transhumans.
Humans
Many of the humans of the Afternow are much modified from their
natural state through widespread genetic engineering to produce fitter
more desirable offspring.
Spiders
Spiders are biologically enhanced humanoids with a monstrously strong
spidery body and the enzymes to eat anything including human flesh.
People who use plaenamel and genetics to modify their bodies to have the characteristic of spiders
2-44:15, 3-61:58
Plaenamel Bones:
Feat: Plaenamel Limb Extensions
Limb extension was the signature modification that inspired the nickname Spider, and it instantly identifies you as a member of this monstrous subspecies.
Your height is increased by 2 meters of legs and your reach increases by a meter.
Jumping Legs: You gain a +6 bonus on Acrobatics and Climbing skill checks.
Extended Reach: You gain a reach category, making even the smallest weapon a Reach Weapon and making larger Reach Weapons reach another meter farther.
Spiders have +2 strength, +2 dexterity and -6 charisma to the point
of causing terror and hatred in most people, probably on account of
their reputation for eating people.
Feat: Plaenamel Armor Implants
Plaenamel bone armor is a thick layer of
Feat: Plaenamel Exoskeleton
Plaenamel Exoskeleton replaces most of your skin with artificially grafted bone, making you highly damage resistant.
+2 Natural Toughness
Feat: Bioregeneration
Bugs
Bugs are cybernetic humanoids enhanced with monstrous looking machinery to gain superhuman capabilities.
Becoming A Bug: Becoming
Feat: Bug Hivemind
Becoming a Bug takes more than just getting external cybernetic implants. Bugs' minds are connected in a hivemind network. Bug hives tend to be as large as the range of their radio communications allow. To becom a Bug, you must find a Bug Hive that will accept you into its Mind.
Hives: Bugs have hive communities that are somewhat terrifyingly alien to normal humans.
Dreadmen
Dreadmen are mentally altered humanoids with implants that allow them to
sense and project electromagnetic energy like radio waves.
Dread Sensitivity: Dreads have an additional perception skill called sensing in addition to spotting and listening.
The Black Shakes: Sensing is always active, which can cause a
Dread discomfort when they would rather be in silence. Dreads can wear
shielded helmets or reside in shielded shelter to get some peace and
quiet once in a while.
Becoming A Dread: Dread implants can be installed in a person to give them Dread sensitivity.
Wireless Cyberjacking: Some advanced Dreads can initiate a
connection to a computer wirelessly, duplicating the effect of a
wireless cyberjack implant without touching the computer. Range for
this is the same as a for a wireless cyberjack.
Antennaing: Dreads can connect to antennas to magnify the range and power of their sensitivity.
Soldiers
Soldiers are genetically enhanced warriors psychologically and physically conditioned for a life of warfare.
"Any human rights for the soldiers went out the window.
Bio-medical experimentation, super soldier serum, genetic modification,
DNA modification
It was all the order of the day."
"Thousands and thousands and thousands of these bright eyed bushy tailed
19 year old kids were strapped down to cold laboratory tables and jacked with God knows what.
Of course the media listed their most successful transformations as
superheroes.
Look at this, Johnny can lift 5 tons, Johnny will only live 12 months
but Johnny can lift 5 tons.
It was a freak show.
Treating these kids with drugs to take radiation, but the drugs would
kill them in 10 years.
But that's O.K. were not worried about the long term.
Enough people survived to keep killing. Keep the war alive.
Keep the war effort going.
War is good for business. Business was doing well."
Becoming a Soldier:
Soldiers vary somewhat in their degree of training and enhancement.
To become a soldier you must enlist with a force of soldiers who can
train and augment you.
Androids
There exist robots animated by AIs powered by quantum computers. Some
inhabit humanoid android bodies but most have many legs like quadripeds
and spiders.
I've heard stories of cyborgs completely bipedal walking, synthetic people
(39:18)
Feat: Moravec Transfer
You've used a Moravec Transfer Helmet to convert your consciousness from biological neurons to nanotech neurons. You now have an android brain.
Feat: Brainscan
You've had a complete brainscan to an external medium so that you could use it as a backup. Each backup restoration carries with it the potential for memory loss.
Pathfinders
Pathfinders are almost mythical supersoldiers engineered in an
ill-fated military research program from which only a few survived and
even fewer are still alive. The most famous pathfinder is the New Roman
Princess's bodyguard.
—Fan art by KindelingBoy
Path Role Feats
Feat: Expert Skill Training
You are multitalented.
+2 Skills: You gain two skills.
Multiple: You can gain skill training multiple times, choosing two different skills each time.
Expert Feats: You gain access to expert feats.
Major Feat: Warrior Combat Training: (Costs 2 feats)
You are tained in combat and your fighting experience makes you better able to hit opponents.
+1 on attacks: You get a +1 combat bonus on all melee and ranged attack checks.
Martial Feats: You gain access to martial feats.
Multiple Up To Level: You can gain this feat multiple times equal to your level.
Major Feat: Adept Power Training (Costs 2 feats)
You are trained in using adept powers of the mind to manipulate brain-computer interfaces.
Power level +1: You gain a +1 Power Level.
Key Ability: When you first gain adept training, you choose Wisdom, Intelligence or Charisma as your Adept key ability.
Power Ranks For Checks: Power ranks are power level + 3 + key ability.
Power Saves: Saves for your targets vs your powers are 10 + 1/2 power level.
Multiple Up to Level: You can gain this feat multiple times equal to your level.
Adept Feats: You gain access to adept feats.
Feat: Ability Increase
Requirements: You must be at least sixth level to gain this feat.
+1 to one of your abilities.
Multiple: You can gain this feat multiple times equal to your level divided by 6 rounded down(at 6th, 12th and 18th).
Feat: Fortitude
You have a high tolerance for pain and abuse.
You gain a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves +1/2 your level rounded down.
Feat: Willpower
You have a strong-willed and disciplined mind.
You gain a +2 bonus on Willpower saves +1/2 your level rounded down.
Feat: Reflex
You are ready to leap clear of danger in an instant.
You gain a +2 bonus on Reflex saves +1/2 your level rounded down.
Feat: Reputation
+1 reputation + one per level divided by 4 rounded down (4th,8th,16th,20th)
Precise Shot
Precise shooting is particularly important for fighting hordes of enemies like waste zombies to avoid friendly firing allies.
Optional: Separate shooting and striking bonuses.
Combat Training provides a bonus to both ranged and melee attacks for the sake of simplicity, but in reality these are totally seperate skills.
Optionally, you can allow players to choose two separate feats that cost just one feat each, one for shooting with ranged weapons and one for striking with melee weapons. This will make characters slightly more powerful as some will put less feats into one or ther other, giving them extra feats to choose something else. The easiest way to balance players who choose to min/max in this way is to single them out for the kind of combat they have neglected to train in. You may also require that players train their lower of the two bonuses to at least half that of the higher.
Feat: Shooting Training
You get a +1 on shooting attacks.
Multiple Equal To Level: You can gain this feat multiple times equal to your level.
Feat: Striking Training
You get a +1 bonus on striking attacks.
Multiple Equal To Level: You can gain this feat multiple times equal to your level.
A lot of the soldiers that came back were modified to be able to live in
that kind of radiation.
I hear that there's camps on top of some of the arcologies where no
one goes, that
The security forces don't go up there.
Some of the buildings have actually got camps high above the
cityscapes where these guys live, and breath, and work.
(37:54)
—TFTA (33:59)
Afternow Skills
All of the skills described in True20 are available here, plus a few new ones and a few new uses for old skills. For descriptions of how the basic True20 skills work, consult the True20 Quick Start or the True20 Revised rulebook.
The Skill List
Listed by Ability Name (Key ability modifier)
- Standard True20 Skills
- Acrobatics (Dex)
- Bluff (Cha)
- Climb (Str)
- Concentration (Wis)
- Craft (Int)
- Diplomacy (Cha)
- Disable Device (Int)
- Disguise (Cha)
- Escape Artist (Dex)
- Gather Information (Cha)
- Handle Animal (Cha)
- Heal (Wis)
- Intimidate (Cha)
- Jump (Str)
- Knowledge (Int)
- Language
- Notice (Wis)
- Perform (Cha)
- Ride (Dex)
- Search (Int)
- Sense Motive (Wis)
- Sleight of Hand (Dex)
- Stealth (Dex)
- Survival (Wis)
- Swim (Str)
- Afternow Specific Skills
- Computers (Int)
- Survival (Wastes)
- Survival (Fringes)
- Survival (Arcs)
- Survival (Prisons)
Afternow Specific Skill Descriptions
Survival (Wastes)
Key Ability: Wisdom
Wasteland survival is all about dodging deadly man vs nature and
man vs hungry feral waste zombie plotlines. The best way to survive
such horrors as the afternoon sun and maurauder gangs is to avoid them.
Sometimes entire Wastelander communities will migrate rather than stay
in the path of an oncoming natural or man-made disaster.
Predict Weather (DC 15): One of the most important aspects of staying alive in the wastes is predicting the weather so as to know what's coming and find shelter before it hits.
On a successful Predict Weather check, you think you can predict with some accuracy what is coming for the new six hours or so depending on visibility conditions.
A scope can give you a +2 bonus on Survival (Wastes) checks to predict weather. A weather sensor can give you an additional +2 bonus on Survival (Wastes) checks to predict weather.
Find Shelter (DC 10 in rough terrain, DC 20 in the open): Finding a place to get out of the elements and lay low is essential to surviving natural and human hazards.
Identify A Trap (DC is Stealth or Bluff checks of enemies): Another part of surviving in the Wastes is knowing when something really is too good to be true. All sorts of scum like to set traps and tip them with bait to lure insufficiently paranoid Wastelanders into their clutches.
A scope can give you a +2 bonus on Survival (Wastes) checks to identify a trap.
Find Water (DC 10): Finding water in the wastes is particularly difficult and critical.
Survival (Fringes)
Fringers live in isolated communities outside of the relative safety of
arcologies. Because the Fringes are far from the dubious protection of
the corpolice, they have to police their own. Fringers are regulated
mostly by local gangs and knowing how to deal with gang culture is
essential to staying alive there.
Key Ability: Wisdom
Appease Gang (DC is Intimidation check of gang members): A successful Survival to appease gangs check allows you to earn the right to be ignored by a local gang. This is especially important when it comes to Scrag gangs.
Join Gang (DC is Intimidation check of gang members + 5): A successful Survival (Fringes) check allows you to earn the right to become a member of a local gang. This is difficult to do unless you do some kind of favors for the gang to prove your sincerity and usefulness. But depending on the gang's style, the favors they could ask for might go against your better nature.
Survival (Arcs)
Arcologies are tighly regimented corpolitical police states.
Key Ability: Wisdom
Appease Company (DC is Intimidation check of company officers): A
successful Survival (Arcs) to appease company check allows you to earn the right
to be ignored by a local gang. This is especially important when it
comes to Scrag gangs.
Join Company (DC is Intimidation check of company officers + 5): A
successful Survival (Arcs) check allows you to get an interview for a corporate job. You still have to do well in the interview to get the job, but you can at least get your foot in the door and step on the toes of the dozens of other desperate applicants trying to earn a shot at success or just stay Licensed and indoors.
Joining a company is difficult to do unless you have
some kind of relavent work experience to prove your "professionalism" and
usefulness. But depending on the corporation's style, the experience they could be looking for might go against your better nature.
Of course, someone with the right computer skills could help you forge some credentials...
Computers
Intelligence, Trained Only
You’re trained in the operation of computers and modifying or creating
software.
Check: Most normal computer operations—using software, getting your e-mail—don’t require a Computers check and can be done untrained. However, searching an unfamiliar network for a particular file, writing programs, altering existing programs to perform differently, and breaking computer security all require skill checks (and training).
Find File: The Difficulty and the time required to locate a file on an unfamiliar system are determined by the size of the site, from 10
for a personal computer to 25 for a massive network. Finding public information on the Internet does not fall under this category; this only
pertains to finding files on unfamiliar computer systems.
Defeat Computer Security: The Difficulty of the check is determined by the quality of the security installed to defend the system, from 20 for minimal security to 40 for the best-defended systems. If the check fails by 5 or
more, the system immediately alerts its administrator there has been an unauthorized entry. An alerted administrator may attempt to identify you or cut off access to the system.
Defend Security: If you are the system administrator for a site (which may be as simple as being the owner of a personal computer), you can defend it against intruders. If the site alerts you to an intruder, you can attempt to cut off the intruder’s access or even to identify the intruder.
To cut off access, make an opposed Computers check against the intruder. If the check succeeds, the intruder’s session is ended. The intruder might be able to defeat your security and access your site again, but has to start over again. Attempting to cut off access takes a full round.
One surefire way to prevent further access is to simply shut the site down. With a single computer, that’s no big deal, but on a large site with many computers (or computers controlling functions that can’t be interrupted) it may be time-consuming or even impossible.
To identify the intruder, make an opposed Computers check. If the check succeeds, you learn the site from which the intruder is operating (if it’s a single computer, you learn the name of the computer’s owner).
Identifying the intruder requires 1 minute and is a separate check from cutting off access. This check can only be made if the intruder is accessing your site for the entire length of the check—if the intruder’s session ends before you make the Computers check, your attempt fails.
Degrade Programming: You can destroy or alter programs on a computer to make it harder or impossible to use. Crashing a computer with a Difficulty 10 check simply shuts it down. Its user can restart it without a skill check (however, restarting takes at least 1 minute). Destroying programming with a Difficulty 15 check makes the computer unusable until the programming is repaired. Damaging programming with a Difficulty 20 check imposes a –4 penalty on all checks made with the computer (sometimes this is preferable to destroying the programming, since the user might not know anything is wrong, and won’t simply decide to use a different computer).
Fixing damaged programming requires an hour and a Computers check against a Difficulty equal to the Difficulty for damaging it + 5. Destroyed programming must be re-installed.
Write Program: You can create a program to help with a specific task. Doing so grants a +2 bonus to the task. A specific task, in this case, is one type of operation with one target. The Difficulty to write a program is 20; the time required is one hour.
Action: Computers requires at least a full-round action, usually a minute or more.
Special: You can take 10 when using the Computers skill. You can take 20 in some cases, but not those involving a penalty for failure. (You cannot take 20 to defeat computer security or defend security, for example.)
New Computers Uses:
Crack License (DC 15): You can attempt to bypass copy
protection on a system that requires authorization through a Listener's
License. You get caught using a cracked License though and you're
getting an all-expense-paid trip to the Four Seasons.
Forge License (DC 35): You can attempt to forge a
Listener's License identity for someone with manufactured credentials.
You get caught using a forged License though and you're getting taken
to the Ministry of Love to find out who gave it to you for sure.
Spy License (DC 30): You
can attempt to get access to someone's private details stored in their
Listener's License. All kinds of personal history is on file, like a
combination of bank records, facebook profiles and FBI files.
Craft
Intelligence, Specialty, Trained Only, Requires Tools
In modern settings, Craft tends to be broader than a particular trade or handicraft. The different modern Craft specialties are:
- Artistic: You can create works of visual art, such as drawings,paintings, sculptures, and so forth.
- Chemical: You can mix chemicals to create acids, drugs, explosives, poisons, and so forth.
- Electronic: You can build electronic items.
- Mechanical: You can build mechanical items.
- Structural: You can build wooden, concrete, or metal structures including buildings and furniture.
Otherwise, the Craft skill works normally.
Example Characters
Independent Librarian Dynamic Sean Kennedy the Sixth
[Note: This is just a mockup for testing the rules. Only Sean can make his own character sheet. :) ]
Level: 10 (6
Path: Librarian / Seeker / Soldier
Feats: Recon Legs, Biovore Modificiation, Server Seeker
Skills: Stealth, Notice, Survival (Wastelands), Survival(Fringes), Knowledge (Server),
Afternow RPG Writing Style Guide
The Afternow RPG's text needs a consistent style of writing and usage of terms to have a unified quality from one part to the next.
Referring To the World
One question is how to refer to the Afternow world in the text relative to the present. So far the text refers directly to the Afternow like this:
In the Afternow, there are all kinds of abandoned installations to explore lying dormant and uninhabited. Or at least you'd better hope they're uninhabited.
Another way of doing it would be to refer to The Afternow in the present and refer to the real world as the past like this:
Nowadays there are all kinds of abandoned pre-war installations to explore lying dormant
and uninhabited. Or at least you'd better hope they're uninhabited.
To be decided.
Afternow Playtest (GMs Only)
This is a playtest script for GMs who want to playtest Afternow RPG with a group of players. It will be revised and added to as GMs come up with more scenarios for other GMs to try with their players.
SPOILER ALERT
If you are not an Afternow GM, do not read this. It will spoil your enjoyment of playtesting.
Pregame Checklist
First, introduce the game to the players.
Ask who has and hasn't roleplayed. Explain the basics to new roleplayers.
Ask who has and hasn't played True20. Explain the basics to True20
newbs. To those who have played True20, explain the Real20
modifications to standard True20 rules.
Ask everyone to create characters.
Who among you is an Arcer?
You received an email ordering you to report for a corporate
training seminar. You show up at the training office and the
receptionist greets you.
"Welcome to ArcLite Training, official Learning License approved information supplier for the Fortune 50! Please sign in here."
She hands you a tablet with a palmprint entry screen.
"Okay you're ready to learn! Remember, ! signs you in and gives you a name tag. You walk into
Who among you is a Convict?
You
Who among you is a Wastelander?
You awaken too late to escape the intruders who have tripped your
alarm cans. The last thing you remember is being grabbed and injected
with sleep toxins.
for people to id Slavers capture you
Rantiversary Afternow Playtest Group
The Rantiversary Playtest Group is the first group of people to play The Afternow RPG and their feedback will be incorporated into the game.
If you are one of the Afternow playtesters, subscribe to this group now. If you don't have an Empowerment account yet, you need to register first.
Player Character List
Please add your name to this list (Remember, this is a wiki, you can edit any page on Empowerment)
- Alex Peake, GM
- Yugosaki
- Avagdu
- BSV, Warrior, Fringer
- (tentatively) ghostdog_688
SPOILER ALERT!
Reading about the playtest will spoil the
playtest scenario for you! If you are thinking of GMing a playtesting
group, read on. But if you are thinking of playing in a playtest group,
avert your eyes and ask your prospective GM to read it instead.
Real20 Rules
Real20 is a set of optional rules for True20 to enhance realism and compatability with Empowerment's Skillpedia learning system. Real20 rules are designed to be optional so you can skip them if you just want to play as quickly as possible but you can choose to use Real20's more dramatic and realistic mechanics when you want to.
Current Status: Conceptual
These rules are still in the conceptual stage and are not yet playable.
Most of The Afternow RPG follows True20 rules. There are some differences. These optional rules are calld Real20.
One of the basic principles of Real20 is to use common sense terms and concepts rather than RPG-centric
terminology and rules that make no sense in the real world. The result is streamlined realism.
For example what is
a "combat round"? What is "rolling against a DC"? These terms are
needlessly complicating the ideas of "measuring time in "seconds" and
"taking your chances".
True20 Term
|
Real20 Term
|
True20 Example
|
Real20 Example
|
| DC |
Chance |
The door break DC is 10 |
Breaking the door you have a 10 out of 20 chance |
Bonus & Penalty
|
Plus & Minus
|
The weapon has a plus 5 bonus to damage |
The weapon has a plus 5 chance of damaging.
|
Rolll
|
You have a chance |
Roll to save versus damage
|
You have a chance to resist damage |
| Rounds |
Seconds |
You are stunned for a round
|
You are stunned for 6 seconds
|
d20 For Now
Why use D20s instead of D100 percentages? D20 is what people are
used to using and D20 numbers are smaller which makes the mental
arithmetic faster. A computer version of the rules doesn't require
players to do mental math, so it would work better with D100
multiplying everything from D20 by 5. You can refer to D20 modifiers as
percentages and do the mental math before using it as game mechanics.
For example, you can say that something has a 50% chance.
Real Time: Time In Seconds Where Speed Kills
Combat "Rounds" are replaced with our good friend who helps us measure
time in the real world, "Seconds". True20 rounds represent
approximately 6 seconds but Real20 action happens in one second
"rounds".
Some things that normally take one person a second could take someone else several as they fumble around trying to do it.
Timing Matters
Time is everything. Every second is precious. Speed kills. RPGs often
reduce combat to comparing numbers, but the best combatant standing
still for a couple seconds is one carefully aimed shot away from death,
and time is a crucial factor.
What can you do in a second?
You can't do as much in one second as you can in a six second "round".
Some things that can be done in a single 6-second round in True20 take
multiple seconds to complete in Real20 and could get interrupted
halfway through.
Speak for a second: Even if you speak quickly you can only speak about 5 short monosyllabic words in a second.
Multitasking: Doing more than one thing in a second is very difficult.
Moving for a second: You can walk about 5 feet or 2 meters in a second.
Jog for a second: You can jog 10 feet or 4 meters in a second.
Run for a second: You can run 20 feet or 8 meters. When you run you build up momentum so you have to run each second in a straight line.
Real Skills
In Real20 everything a person can learn how to do is a skill. Feats are
just binary skills that cost skill points just like skills do.
Ideas
Characters have ideas that motivate them. These map directly to ideas in EmpowerThyself.com. They influence the game a bit like spiritual attributes in Riddle of Steel.
It works both as a mechanic and a narrative tool. As a mechanic, when
you do something motivated by one of your core ideas, you get a plus to
your chances of success, and when you do something against your ideas
your lack of commitment is a minus to your chances. As a narrative
tool, a narrator can weave the story around the motivating ideas of the
characters to help invest the players in the story.
This is similar to True20's Conviction points linked to Virtues and Vices.
FAQ
Why is realism important in an RPG?
RPGs are abstractions by nature, so making abstractions that are
inherently unrealistic just compounds a limitation by making it more
confusing.
Players have to learn the game's abstraction rules to play, and the
more intuitive those rules are, the easier the game is to pick up and
play.
Also, realistic systems allow you to learn about reality and may inspire further learning.
"Realism might seem far-fetched as a goal in RPGs, but I will offer a
personal testimonial. As a child (in the 10 to 15 range), I played
the original Traveller science fiction RPG released by GDW.
This has a detailed system of generating random star systems:
including the star's stellar rating and luminosity, the planet's
position, orbital eccentricity and axial tilt, and even the planet's
albedo. This was all real science -- and explained it in a manner
which is far more interesting and absorbing than some dry textbook.
Since then, I have gone on to get a PhD in Physics from Columbia
University and work on an international cosmic ray experiment."
—John H. Kim, Realism in RPGs
Interesting D20 Rules
D20 Postmodern Debatable Actions has rules for resolving debates
Tales of the Afternow Index and Glossary of Shows
from "Coign's Corner"
Tales of the Afternow
Index and Glossary of Shows
A bit of explanation to describe how I decide what to list in the Index.
The first entry may not be the explanation of the term but may just be the first entry. I find it interesting to see how far back planning went with the story line and where the first mentioning of various items are. For example Server, Carcass, and Prophet were all mentioned in the very first episode though not described. In some cases it was not until second season that you learned details about them. So the first mention of each item is the first entry in the index. This may or may not be the first description of that item though.
And just a quick bit of trivia. Since I transcribe these in Sean’s own words and grammar I have been searching for a particular bit of Canadian slang. Now before you think I am being mean, let me tell you about myself. I grew up for about 27 years in Northern Minnesota. We get accused of having a Canadian accent more than any other American. So I wondered, does Sean say “eh” since he is Canadian? I know I do. Well in transcribing the radio show as of episode 3 I have found one instance at 3-19:42 that he ends his line with eh. So yes he does but very rarely.
If you find I have missed an entry, feel I should add an important event or term, or have any comments on my index please mail me at Coign@vaillife.net
X-ZZ:YY
X = Episode
ZZ = Minute of broadcast
YY = Seconds of broadcast
-Symbols and Numbers-
4Cs
Acronym for Convicted Consumer Concentration Camps. It is what the prison system has evolved into. They utilize a point system where you work off your sentence by earning points through manual labor. Rumors of them being a pool of genetic material and spare organs for the mega-corps to utilize abound.
2-31:01
-A-
acid rain
See rain,acid
anti-gravity, tanks
Rumored to exist.
1-39:07
Arch’ers
People who live in the archologies
1-46:09, 1-49:25, 2-39:20
archology
A huge tower that is a completely self-contained environmental structure to protect a large amount of humanity in a most efficient space.
1-24:57, 1-36:01, 1-43:05
armor, body
Almost all people wear some type of body armor. They range from the full suits of ballistic armor to the most simple target vests. Because of the proliferation of aggressive sports in the years leading up to the Afternow sports armor reminiscent of reinforced football armor or motocross armor are very common.
See also target vest
3-08:16
armored personal carrier
Armored vehicle used by the police of the archologies for transportation.
1-43:49
Asian War
The war created when China invaded other countries across the world.
1-14:49
autobahns
Roads made from plas-steel to survive the harsh environment without upkeep
3-44:59
-B-
black market
The black market to buy and sell items declared illegal by the WLO.
1-44:25
blade, importance and role
The weapon of choice for the majority of the population is a blade of some type in the Afternow. These range anywhere from simple carving knives to full size swords.
2-21:05, 2-25:02, 3-18:06
biners
Slang term for carabiners. These are common for wastelanders to have a collection of in case of any rappelling needs along with either rope or spiderline.
3-29:30
binos
See scopeing
body banks
Businesses reminiscent of emergency wards of the 20th century. These places will buy the organs of the recently dead.
See Also gut sold
2-45:13
bog weed
A favorite mind altering substance of the server monk population.
3-39:42
boosters
Pills that will give you energy to go without sleep and remain active and alert when fatigued.
3-45:54
boots, tanker
Knee high boots that have a piece of metal joined to a knee pad to protect the shin and zippers to get them on and off.
3-13:20, 3-14:29, 3-47:04
borg dog
See C4R-C.A.S.
burn booths
Buildings with openings that will accept bodies and will weigh and measure the chemical content of the body and pay out the chemical-component value of the body from a slot next to the opening. In addition to organics the burn booth accepts plaenamel.
1-23:33
burn booths, burn pits
The first methods to dispose of the massive amount of bodies that were created by The Great Plague.
2-11:45
-C-
C4R-C.A.S.
Canine Assault System, also referred to as borg dogs. They are a genetic enhanced version of a dog fitted with cybernetics to relay information and improve fighting skill. They have machine eyes and information relays that run the length of the neck and more cybernetics under the skin. Their tail acts like a broadcasting antenna to communicate with other canine assault units.
3-48:54, 3-65:18
canary vent
This is a small plastic disk with yellow LEDs. The LEDs light up anytime it is in contact with a large number of various hostile environments. Things like toxins, gases, carcinogens, and radiation will set it off. Pretty much anything that can float in air, is hostile to the normal human body, and is otherwise undetectable will trigger it. People who frequent hostile environments will always keep a couple of them going.
3-28:07
Carcass
Independent Librarian Dynamic Sean Kennedy the 6th’s dog.
See also C4RC.A.S.
1-49:25, 2-22:57, 3-48:54, 3-65:18
China
The futuristic version of the current China.
1-32:17
city core
These are the areas within the archologies. To reach this area means that you have gone through check points of mega-police and corp-police.
2-32:59
clear phone
This is a mesh filter that covers your ear. It then has a cable that plugs into a listening device such as a scanner or a gigahertz radio. It allows the wearer to hear the device and the environment around him without the sound broadcasting to his surroundings.
See also radio, gigahertz
See also scanner
3-22:28
corp-police
Instead of defending the archologies, these police defend the companies. And that involves patrolling the areas located inside the archologies. These police use the latest in technology and some have cybernetics to aid them in their patrols. Any major crime they find you of, they apprehend you and you are never seen from again. It is unknown what they do to their prisoners.
2-32:59
corpse gloves
See decontamination mitt
crack sticks
This is a circuit board with a daisy chain of multiple processors used to run through digital combinations to break electronic locks. In the fringes they are commonly used to break into the vendors. In the wasteland they are used to break into the electronic locks found on old military equipment. They are highly illegal in the archs.
2-42:49, 3-35:26
cyborg
A combination of man and machine.
1-39:07
-D-
decontamination mitt
A foil bag that is opened by removing the top. Inside is a mitt with a gray powder that will counteract the acidic value of the rain. Also known as corpse gloves due to the smell and look of the person after being covered in a gray dust. It is a product of Waste Tech sold by the vendors.
3-04:55, 3-13:50
Doctor Carl Grandb:erg
See Grandberg, Doctor Carl
-E-
End of, world
Where the world changed from a place of human rights and freedom to one of control of the populous.
1-03:36, 1-14:49
enviro Suits
Armor clad space suit looking things that protect a person from the sun
1-20:22
-F-
fence
The contact for the black market that will buy and sell stolen or illegal goods from others.
2-43:41
flesh ripping
See gut sold
fringe
“Its an area of sound and fury and sex and noise and explosions and, Desperation, Always desperation everywhere, YOU feel it clawing at your eyes. Areas that used to be neighborhoods and trash piles.” The area outside of the outer reaches, this is the area where civilization breaks down. It is not patrolled by any organized forces and gang members and those of strength rule here.
1-31:22, 1-41:17, 1-46:56, 2-20:52, 2-28:03, 2-33:41
Fringers
People who live in the fringe.
1-27:37
Four Seasons
Slang term for 4Cs
See 4Cs
-G-
gangs
Out in the fringes it is the gangs that provide protection for various neighborhoods. Almost all kids belong to a gang and almost all family members have a gang member in their family to insure their protection.
See also scag gangs
2-42:27
gen-joke
To genetic modify a creature to extreme measures.
1-49:46, 2-05:30
global positioning system, GPS
A device that uses satellites to triangulate your position. Most GPS are not as accurate as the ones from the 20th and 21st century due to satellites not being maintained and falling out of alignment but they will still get you within a couple of hundred yards of your target.
2-08:03, 3-31:44
gloves, riot
Fingerless gloves with 8 ounces of steel shot sewn into the knuckles.
3-15:25
gloves, rubber
Heavy rubber gloves to protect the wearer against any toxins that he may come into contact with would scavenging old equipment.
3-15:25
glyph, server monk
The type of writing that is on the Internet that monks and military use.
3-67:56
gigahertz radio
See radio, gigahertz
Grandberg, Doctor Carl
A doctor who setup a hospital on the outskirts of Chicago in an old concrete plant and helped the homeless and poor for 5 years before the hospital was discovered.
1-31:10
gut sold
To sell off the organs and body parts of the recently dead. The dead must be within 30 min of death to get money for organs or else they are only worth burn boothing.
See also body banks
2-23:19, 2-26:31, 2-44:00
-H-
helmet
Almost all people in the wastelands or in dangerous fringes will also have a helmet of some type. The head protection is crucial if a person is involved in any type of fight. It also can provide another location for a hook point to mount objects such as NVGs or LEDs.
3-23:16
-I-
Independent Librarian Dynamic Sean Kennedy the 6th
See Kennedy the 6th, Independent Librarian Dynamic Sean
inner city
This is the first neighborhoods of the archologies. Patrolled by mega-corp police this is the buffer zone of Archer population that keeps all others out.
2-29:47, 3-06:40
-J-
-K-
Kennedy the 6th, Independent Librarian Dynamic Sean
1-00:00, 2-19:36, 2-48:28
kit
The gear you carry for survival in the Afternow.
3-08:16
kukri
2-22:28, 2-25:49, 3-63:09
-L-
librarian
A collector and distributor of information. Because it is illegal to gather information you are not allowed access to and even more illegal to distribute it, librarian’s are one of the most hunted outlaw professions.
1-02:12, 1-41:31, 2-40:41, 2-46:51, 3-43:00
lich
A server monk who, instead of promoting the free distribution of information and enlightenment, use information as a means to gain power and control others.
2-43:19
life, extension
Any type of method to extend your life beyond its normal life expectancy. On average you will extend your expectancy by 20 years for each life extension.
2-03:55
Listener’s License
Required Identification to receive or participate in any media form
1-08:38
-M-
mega-corporation
Any coglomarte made up of numerous large and smaller companies.
1-24:45, 1-34:46, 1-45:00
mega-police
These are the forces that control the enforcement and maintain the security of the archologies. They patrol the inner city and sometimes stretch out to the outer reaches. These guys are judge, jury and executioner in most cases. They do have laws they are told to follow and if they are going by the book they will apprehend criminals and imprison them in the 4Cs
2-29:47
Middle East
The Middle East was nuked into oblivion and is mostly inhabitable. All that is left is mutated natives, remnants of The Big Red Machine, and areas of burned out toxic wastelands.
1-14:49, 1-32:17
mirror shades
See shades, mirror
monks
See server monks
-N-
name, scheme
Names are made up of a few parts. First the company you work for, then your job title, then your IP address given to you by your company, then your birth given name, and finally the number of life extensions you have.
2-02:00
nail needle
A nail that has been pounded flat and shaped into a crude needle for sewing purposes.
3-33:27
New York
Pack mecha inhabit New York right now.
1-04:39
night vision
Not everyone has night vision goggles but they are a valuable item on the fringe and in the wasteland. Those who do not have NVGs will use red LEDs to see.
3-20:03
-O-
outer reaches
The immediate area surrounding the archologies and the archologies’ inner cities. The outer reaches are where those who work for any company not located in the archologies lives. Companies like Waste Tech. They are as close to the Archers as you can get with out being an Archer. This area has sporadic random patrols of volunteer cops and locally funded cops.
2-28:49
ozone Layer, loss of
The event of 13 nuclear bombs going off in the atmosphere.
1-17:20
-P-
Panoshiba
A major company that is highly technological in electronics, robotics, and cybernetics.
2-33:18, 2-49:20
brelle
Slang term for umbrella. The umbrella of the Afternow is a dome-like pop-up structure that can completely cover a man.
3-01:25, 3-38:10
pirate radio
The pirate broadcasts by gang members around the inner cities of the archologies.
1-44:07
plaenamel
A plastic synthetic that will modify and strengthen bones
2-44:15
Plague, The Great
A combination of unknown viruses, genetic poisoning, and radiation from the sun since the loss of the ozone layer.
1-20:45, 2-10:29
Prophet
A soldier and leader of other soldiers, traveling through the wastelands in a large convoy of vehicles that run on waste gas.
1-38:12
pump burner
A butane style torch that, like a Zippo, will burn anything combustible liquid. The flame gets hot enough to do low level welding and cutting.
3-35:56
-Q-
Queen’s English
The copy written language most commonly spoken in North America
1-00:00, 1-27:19
-R-
radio, gigahertz
Small radios the size of walkie-talkies that will transmit and receive radio signals in a 5 kilometer range. Most communities have a public broadcast channel broadcasted over the gigahertz radios.
See also clear phone
See also scanner
3-21:04
rain, acid
The rain of the Afternow is described as a mild battery acid. It will cause rashes if it contacts skin and will slowly erode thin metals. If drank it will cause ulcers of the throat and stomach.
3-00:42
rain, black
The strongest acidic value of the rain. The falling of black rain greatly accelerates the rate of decay and damage the rain would normally do.
3-04:13
Red Machine, The Big
Slang term to refer to China’s war forces
1-32:41
riot gloves
See gloves, riot
rolled
An adjective, to have been robbed and left naked.
2-21:47
rollers
A person that has been robbed and left naked and unconsciousness.
2-23:19
rubber gloves
See gloves, rubber
-S-
S.C.R.A.P.S.
Also referred to as Scraps, an acronym for Synthetically Created Ration Provision or Synthetically Created Rationed Provision. They are food stuffs made from unknown organics to feed the people in and surrounding the archologies. Their slogan is “Consumables for Consumers.” They are about one decent meal and a large number of advertisements and some snack samples.
1-22:00, 3-34:04
scag
Hormones extracted from the heads of dead victims, usually teenagers in the stages of puberty. These range from euphoria, a natural painkiller, to adrenaline.
2-26:58
scag gangs
A large number of gangs are scag gangs and they will hunt others to take off their heads to extract the hormones used to scag.
2-26:08
scag lords
The leaders of the scag gangs.
2-46:21
scanner
A device hooked into a gigahertz radio to scan multiple channels. A useful tool if you are wandering from one community to another and do not know what the local channels in use are. The scanners are also useful for locating lost equipment that may be broadcasting its location. It was common for old military equipment to have a beacon that would broadcast to aid retrieval when it was damaged beyond repair.
See also clear phone
See also radio, gigahertz
3-22:07, 3-25:15
scopeing
This is the slang term for any method of vision enhancment that allows you to see long distances. This includes, telescopes, binoculars, rifle scopes, or any of the new enhanced vision found in some soldiers helmets. Binos is a slang term for binoculars.
3-26:32
Server
Said to be a consciousness that awoke through the saturation of information on the Internet
1-00:00
server monks
These are monks that get a cybernetic jack in the crown of the head, usually between the eyes on the forehead, to allow them to connect to the Internet and walk through a virtual world. They worship Server as a god and are the masters of the virtual world. They reside in temples and have acolytes and petitioners that cater to their needs.
1-26:32, 2-07:33
shades, mirror
Sunglasses to protect your eyes from the daytime sun. The average person will go blind if caught outside in the day without eye protection.
3-12:50
shooters
Auto injectors that you inject yourself in case you enter an area of chemical or bio warfare. They are a potpourri of chemicals combined with adrenaline to allow you to survive for short periods of time in hostile environments. Once you inject yourself your first priority is to leave that area.
3-27:37
soldiers
Genetically enhanced warriors
1-33:28, 3-32:22
spider
People who use plaenamel and genetics to modify their bodies to have the characteristic of spiders
2-44:15, 3-61:58
spider line
An extremely lightweight high strength cable used for anything that rope or cable could be used for. It is light enough that it can be used in heavy fishing reels and has a test weight of at least 1000 lbs. It has a small enough thickness that it can also be used as thread.
3-30:53, 3-33:53
straw filters
“It’s like a thick tube maybe half-an-inch thick 10, 12 inches long I guess” This allows you to filter water out of various standing water sources.
See also water
3-18:53
sunscreen
Fabric that creates shade and stops the UV rays the sun emits.
1-48:10, 3-11:39
-T-
tablets
Tablet laptops. The major form of data storage and access for the common populous. They are tools of advertising for the corps.
1-41:17, 2-46:51, 3-39:42
tanker boots
See boots, tanker
target vest
A target vest is two pieces of metal, with 2 holes drilled with scraps of string or wire and made like a sandwich board that goes the chest and back.
2-24:33
terrorist movements
During the breakdown of the American government and loss of a central authority minor civil wars broke out and the terrorists that the government had used to control the populous came to exist. Some say that the government’s slide in a totalitarian government created the terrorists to fight them, so in preventing the terrorists to enter their country they in fact created the driving force to promote terrorism.
3-46:14
The Great Plague
See Plague, The Great
time, moving throughout
The method that Independent Librarian Dynamic Sean Kennedy the 6th uses to send the radio transmission back in time.
1-39:34
time, regulation
The manner and reason that time was copy written in the future.
1-02:12, 2-01:18, 2-07:12
Trash Town
The starting neighborhood in the Tales of the Afternoon. It is distinguished buy the pyramids of cars that make up its landscape. The pyramids of cars are the living spaces for the population of Trash Town.
2-34:18
treasure hunting
The act of wandering the edges of dangerous or illegal places looking for technology that could be resold
2-41:52
-U-
-V-
vendor
Put in place by the company Waste Tech these giant black monolithic vending machines that sell anything you would ever need. To prevent them from being robbed Waste Tech has implanted them with bombs that will take out a few city blocks if it is disturbed.
1-42:17, 1-46:24
-W-
wasteland
The area of desolation and extremely low population outside the control of the mega-corps and archologies.
1-18:02, 1-37:54, 2-28:29, 2-49:20
Waste Tech
The most powerful company located outside the archologies. They setup public toilets and setup sewage treatment plants and sewage systems to houses in the inner city and some outer reaches. They pay the users of the sewage system for their bodily wastes as they make waste gas from it. Their second large enterprise is owning the vendors.
(35:25)
waste gas
Waste gas made from any type of organic substance, animal organics especially
1-19:28
waste zombies
These are people who have succumbed to a combination of fallout, toxins, disease, and a deadly environment. They suffer brain damage, go insane, and lose all sense of humanity. The will gang together and attack and scavenge from any group that is smaller then they are.
3-43:42, 3-61:19
water
Most common source for water is bought from the vendors and comes in a plastic bag
See also straw filters
3-18:35
webbing
The tactical webbing all wasterlanders and most fringers wear to keep their equipment within easy access. Some people will integrate their webbing into their armor.
3-16:42
wife, Sean Kennedy’s
The last person Independent Librarian Dynamic Sean Kennedy the 6th was close with and loved.
2-09:33
World Licensing Organization
WLO This organization sets the standards for all forms of media and is the organization that sets copy right laws.
1-26:32
-X-
-Y-
-Z-
Zippo
Based off of the 20th century Zippo the Zippos of the Afternow have the added bonus that instead of lighter fluid they will burn just about any combustable liquid. Gasoline, ethanol, acetone, alcohol, if it burns you can load it in to your Zippo.
3-31:15
Afternow Hazards
The Afternow is a hazardous place full of lethal dangers.
Wasteland Threats
The Sticks
The boundary between the Fringes and the Wastelands. The Sticks are guarded by Soldiers called The Watchers.
Soldiers will judge trespassers by their appearance. Removing headgear is a good idea.
If
you present the right appearance you may live long enough to be
challenged. Then it pays to speak their language and have Knowledge
(military). Convincing Soldiers you're their kind of people takes both
a Diplomacy DC 10 check and a Knowledge (military) DC 10 check.
"The
soldiers who stay on the line on the sticks are the Watchers. Anybody
who comes out here, weather they make it through is completely up to
the watchers. Maybe 8 times in 10 you'll just see a fresh body wind up
on a pole."
Looting In The Sticks
Looting in the sticks
is dangerous. There are sometimes fresh bodies with useful equipment,
but taking it is likely to get you challenged by Soldiers.
Waste Zombies
Zombies are degenerate feral mutant humanoids surviving the ruins of the wastelands.
Tactics: Waste zombies hunt in packs.
Stats: Level 1; Abilities: Str +2, Dex +1, Con +1, Int -2, Wis -2, Cha -2; Skills: Notice, Survival (Wasteland); Feats: Improved Trip, Combat Training +1.
"These are people who have succumbed to a combination of fallout,
toxins, disease, and a deadly environment. They suffer brain damage, go
insane, and lose all sense of humanity. The will gang together and
attack and scavenge from any group that is smaller then they are."
—3-43:42, 3-61:19
Slavers
Slavers are amongst the worst thing that can happen to you. Far from
being a fate better than death, many slavers sell slaves to be
harvested for organs. Slavers inject their slaves with pacifying drugs
to keep them docile.
Escaping From Slavers
Slavers use a variety of transportation methods.
Soldier Patrols
Soldiers patrol the wastes and the Sticks. If you get lucky and speak
Soldier slang well enough to convince them you're not the enemy,
they'll let you pass. But if they decide you are the enemy, you have
scant chance of surviving a fight with soldiers.
Marauder Bands
Marauders are nasty groups of nomadic bandits that murder raid and plunder Wastelander and Fringer communities.
Hunting Spiders
Spiders hunt human food. Most spiders live in spider territories and
only pose a threat to tresspassers, but some bloodthirsty spiders have
a taste for human and live in urban areas preying upon unlucky city
dwellers
Liches
Evil server monks are a rare but dangerous threat causing mischief and
misery to their victims by remotely wreaking havoc through the Net,
robots and human pawns maniuplated into doing their bidding.
Scag Gangs
Scag is a slang term for hormones extracted from the heads of dead
victims, usually teenagers in the stages of puberty. These range from
euphoria, a natural painkiller, to adrenaline.
2-26:58 A large number of gangs are scag gangs and they will hunt
others to take off their heads to extract the hormones used to scag.
2-26:08 They are led by Scag Lords. [2-46:21]
Flesh Rippers
Flesh rippers kill people to gut sell the organs and body parts of the recently dead to body banks. The dead
must be within 30 min of death to get money for organs or else they are
only worth burn boothing.
See also body banks
Ways To Earn Scrap
Body Banks
Body banks pay good scrap for fresh organs delivered in 30 minutes or less.
Burn Booths
Burn booths pay for chemical compounds from all kinds of organic matter.
Waste Gas
Skills
Weather Forecasting
Predicting extreme weather hazards like acid rain and wind storms can save you from melting or being caught in a white out.
Lots of guys on rain watch here. And
they'll start hitting alarms and that if they think that some guys are
good and they can really tell, like from a crows nest position they'll
start banging on these big metal gongs they made to warn the rains
coming and people just take cover. Surprising what some people can tell just from looking at the sky
through a pair of spyglasses, I can't, I'm never very good at that. But it works for them ok.
Tools: Scopes, weathervanes, canary vents, barometers, satlinks, and umbrellas.
Ganger
gangs
Out in the fringes it is the gangs that provide protection for various
neighborhoods. Almost all kids belong to a gang and almost all family
members have a gang member in their family to insure their protection.
See also scag gangs
2-42:27
Heat
An unprotected character in hot weather must make a Fortitude save
(Difficulty 15, +1 per previous check) or receive a level of fatigue.
Additional failed saves cause further levels of fatigue. Once a
character is unconscious, failed saves cause the character to become
disabled, then dying. Character may make Survival checks to receive a
bonus on this saving throw (see the skill’s description).
| Heat conditions
| Temperature
| Saving throw frequency
|
| Very hot
|
above 120 ºF (50 ºC)
|
once per hour
|
| Severe
|
above 140 ºF (60 ºC)
|
every 10 minutes
|
| Extreme
|
above 160 ºF (70 ºC)
|
every 5 minutes (breathing air also deals +2 lethal damage per minute)
|
The temperature fluctuates little from season to season;
temperatures remain fairly constant throughout the year. The dark sun
shines relentlessly during the day, with temperatures around 110º F
(43º C) before noon and 130º F (54º C) by late afternoon. On very hot
days, temperatures sometimes rise to 150º F (65º C). Low air humidity
lets most of the heat escape at nightfall, when temperatures plummet to
40º F (4º C). Some areas, such as high in the mountains, see night
temperatures as low as 0º F (-18º C).
On an average day the temperature
reaches very hot for four hours.
A character exposed to the sun all day
would have to make four Fortitude Saves. On a hot day the temperature
reaches very hot for four hours and extreme heat for four hours. A
character exposed to the sun all day would have to make 28 Fortitude
saves. To escape the deadly heat, a character should seek shade.
Shade
Shade negates the effects of very hot and severe temperatures, but
not extreme heat. Apply the following criteria to determine what
constitutes shade:
- A physical object not worn by the character
- The object must shield half or more of the creature from the
sun Often, the GM must resolve these issues on a case-by-case basis.
For example, howdahs, tents, parasols, buildings and wagons grant
shade.
Shields, backpacks, clothes and armor do not grant shade. Certain
terrains make it more difficult to protect oneself effectively from the
sun’s blistering rays, substantially reducing the benefits of shade.
- Salt Flats: Shade reduces the heat category by one (extreme
heat becomes very hot. Very hot becomes none. No changes to abysmal
heat).
- Obsidian Plains: Shade does not negate or reduce the effects of heat.
Heat and Armor Heat has a disastrous effect on those wearing armor.
Apply the armor check penalty of a given suit of armor as
a penalty to Fortitude saves vs. heat. For example, a Breastplate
incurs a -4
penalty. A masterwork version would incur a -3 penalty.
Thirst
Clothing
Survivors use clothing to effectively shield themselves from the sun.
Cold
At night it gets cold.
Acid Rain
Storms
Whiteouts
Whiteouts are dangerous because you lose visibility. In urban areas
this leads to lots of accidents when people try to navigate and collide
with each other, especially when vehicles hit pedestrians.
Wind
Wind can become a lethal hazard when it blows objects around.
CodeCorps has a goal to become connected with 
In alignment with CodeCorps mission and goals, all software produced by CodeCorps will be licensed under the 
How is this possible? Well try as we might to burn candles at both ends or cheat sleep, there simply aren't any new hours to be had, but there are quite a lot hours sitting in the unemployment lines or working at jobs they hate to buy sh- Well you get the idea. So rather than conjure our own day out of whole cloth, we're doing what Christmas and Haloween did, hijack other peoples' days!
Rant is a cyberpunk Internet media network and a community of 
Newsgather: A live podcast show recorded in Second Life before and after 
ORLANDO, Florida -- The U.S. Army has scores of bases scattered all
across the world. Soon, it'll be occupying virtual territory in a bid
to win recruits.
Starting
with a Chicago-area facility due to open later this year, Microsoft
will use an approach in which servers arrive at the data center in a
sealed container, already networked together and ready to go. The
container itself is then hooked up to power, networking, and air
conditioning.
"The trucks back 'em in, rack 'em, and stack 'em," Chief Software
Architect Ray Ozzie told CNET News. And the containers remain sealed,
Ozzie said. Once a certain number of servers in the container have
failed, it will be pulled out and sent back to the manufacturer and a
new container loaded in.
For
a lot of gamers, Dungeons & Dragons serves as something of a
default game system. Certainly, it is by far the most popular, though
some would argue the system suffers in comparison to other RPGs. After
all, there are countless systems out there, some of them very different
than D&D. For instance, game designer Jonathan Tweet created Over
The Edge, a system with no skills or attributes, as well as Everway, a
game with no dice. Of course, fans of the White Wolf's World of
Darkness series of games prefer their system, and GURPS-players like
theirs.
<!--start-->
Indianapolis will become a "mock battlefield" for the
next three weeks according to local press, as over two thousand
marines will stage a huge urban warfare training exercise in and
around the city.
<!--start-->
In Alex Jones' feature 
<!--start-->
In 2005 details of just one of many Military operations on American
soil was exposed in the run up to Bush's second coronation. A
secret counterterrorism program code-named 
What does the True20 roleplaying game have to do with Empowerment? True20 just scored a Gen Con 08 Ennie Award for Best Supplement, a WIRED.com feature article, and they've won my game designer heart for our own game developments.
There are Empowerment and Afternow role-playing game projects underway and the whole Empowerment project originally started as a D20-inspired activism RPG that went from realistic to real. Now that we're coming full-circle and doing RPGs again, the question is, what system should we use? Up until recently, I hadn't given it much thought, but as fate would have it, no sooner did I start looking than True20 found me.
I love the True20 system and I plan on using it as a starting point for future Empowerment role-playing game systems. It makes D20 simpler and more realistic in one clean sweep that clears away the cruft and sacred cows of 1970s roleplaying like hit points and rigid classes. I plan on making some optional modifications to make it even more realistic and calling those something like Real20.
At Gencon I met up with True20's Green Ronin Games designer Steve Kenson. I picked his brain about his inspirations for the system and possibilities for adding a simulationist-level optional combat system. Great guy, great company, great system. True20 is the utopian Vault in which to survive the D&D 4pocalypse.
There will be many empowering game projects and many systems used, but this one works for me right now.