BRITISH NUCLEAR FALLOUT SURVIVAL

GUIDE

WASTELAND 2nd edition

1

PREFACE

Hello. My name is Harry Smith, though most people call me

‘Hunchback’. If you’re reading this then you’ve either bought,

scavenged or somehow laid your hands on my survival guide, second

edition! Congratulations! You’ve taken your first step toward survival!

This newer edition should give you a lot more information on the

British Wasteland after the war, rather than the God awful

government edition I penned before the war… and before anyone says

it, yes I know those Anderson shelters weren’t strong enough. No, I

won’t be held personally responsible.

Anyway, the British Wasteland is a bleak, retro-futuristic Britain,

where all the paranoia from the Cold War continued long into the 20th

century. Around 2070 someone, somewhere decided they’d had enough

and launched their nukes. Then everyone else, including our

government did the same. We weren’t well prepared…

So, the world is pretty dead. Outside the government run walled

communities and bunkers they call Havens is a Wasteland of scrap,

dirt and savage people. This guide should give you advice on how best

to defend yourself, forage and scavenge to survive, deal with radiation

and life threatening injuries and above all treat your fellow British

Wasteland with the respect they deserve!

Harry

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’d like to thank a few people for helping me put together the ideas for this book.

“Munchkin” Ben Macey, Rae Leaver, Troy Healy, “Disco” Sam Winston, Mark “Spock” Phillips, Luke

Gouldstone, Reading University Games and Roleplaying Society and Rose Bruford College of

Theatre and Performance. As well as all the Wastelanders I’ve met over the last few years!

2

CONTENTS

How to Survive in the British Wasteland

Your Health and You

A Wastelander’s Skills

Equipment You Will Need

The Perks of the Apocalypse

Scavengers’ Traits

Melee Combat

Firearms Combat

Medicine in the Nuclear Aftermath

Repairing your Gear

Taking and Baking Chems

Scavenging Tips

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Wasteland

People of the Wastes

GUIDANCE

LRP safe weapons

NERF Guns

Costume

Props

Safety and Fairness

3

HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE

BRITISH WASTELAND

Surviving out in the post-nuclear world is your

primary concern and you should be constantly on the

lookout for good, edible food and water. It’s not good

enough just to pick up any old bit of rotting meat or

berries off the floor: that food needs to actually

have some nutritional benefit! Not only that, you’ll

have keep one eye out for any radiation out there

and the other eye on signs of infection on yourself

and others… So that’s four eyes, peeled at all times!

I’ve divided up those things necessary to your

survival into what I call Vital Signs and I’ll

describe these below:

MALNUTRITION (“MAL”)

There are 5 levels of Malnutrition that can affect

you. You gain a level of ‘Mal’ every mealtime and for

the less knowledgeable amongst you, that’s breakfast,

lunch and dinner. Food and drink can be consumed to

reduce your ‘Mal’ (but never to prevent it from

increasing) but like I say that food needs to have

some nutritional value in the Wastes.

Level 1 and 2 MAL: Don’t affect your performance, you

just feel hungry - the normal feeling for most folks.

Level 3: I’ve found most Wastelanders can’t use brutal

melee weapons or firearms requiring the Firearms 2

skill (as defined by me, later) at this level of MAL.

Level 4: Melee blows that hit you will knock you back

and you cannot run. Infection (INF) points and Hit

Points take twice as long to heal.

Level 5: When you reach this level it’s time to pass

out and begin the short slip into death.

CRITICAL MALNUTRITION

Death count: 10 minutes

Healing Time: 5 minutes

For a doctor, and only a doctor, heal malnutrition

they’ll need some food or water and spend the

healing time feeding their patient the food or drink.

The relevant MAL will be reduced when the critical

injury has been healed.

Here is a little guide to food and drink in the

Wastes:

Foraged food, a portion of hunted meat will

deal with about 1 MAL

Tin of pre-war food or water will deal with 2

MAL

But beware! Food and drink may be contaminated, and

increase your exposeure to radiation and infection!

Cooking food is an effective way to reduce the INF in

your meal, reducing it by 2 INF by cooking it

thoroughly.

RADIATION EXPOSURE (“RADs”)

You need to always be aware of dangerous radiation

around the Wastes. Far too many Wastelanders have

wandered into a RAD zone and not lived to tell the

tale! I’ve broken down radiation sickness into 3

levels and given each levels 3 RADs, which is how

much you need to be exposed to before you get the

symptoms:

Level 1 Radiation poisoning (3 RADs) You’ll

immediately gain 2 MAL from all the vomiting you’ll

be doing. You’ll probably have nausea, disorientation

and some slight burns on the skin.

Level 2 Radiation poisoning (6 RADs) You’ll be made

weak enough so that every location is at -1 HP, that

can’t be cured until the radiation sickness is

reduced below 6 RADs. You’ll have skin lesions, burns,

pustules and the sickness you felt at level 1 will be

much worse.

Level 3 Radiation poisoning (9 RADs) You’ll be

immediately incapacitated with the following injury:

CRITICAL RADIATION POISONING

Death Count: 5 minutes

Healing time: 3 minutes

Infection: 2 INF

To be healed the patient must receive RAD-Away.

The RADs from the RAD-Away will be removed as normal.

INFECTION (“INF”)

Infection or INF indicates how sick you are. The

Wasteland is rife with all sorts of diseases and

without access to proper medical facilities lots of

people go downhill very quickly. One particular

problem to watch out for is the infection gained from

cuts and other injuries going septic! I’ve given 3 INF

points to each level of infection, just like RADs.

Level 1 Disease (3 INF) The disease displays its basic

symptoms but doesn’t debilitate the Wastelander in

any other way.

Level 2 Disease (6 INF) Full symptoms present

themselves and there’ll be a serious effect on your

overall health that cannot be cured until the INF is

removed.

Level 3 Disease (9 INF) The disease is at such a

dangerous level that you’ll be in imminent danger of

death and be incapacitated with a critical injury.

4

YOUR HEALTH AND YOU

All Wastelanders can typically take 2 firm hits to

each part of their body, or as I like to call them: Hit

Points. Some, tougher, Wastelanders have what I call 3

Hit Points and even Rougher Wastelanders have 4 Hit

Points per body location. Armour can help you take

more damage without receiving an injury.

Wastelander Hit Points per location

Normal 2 HP

Tough 3 HP

Rough 4 HP

Light armour +1 HP

Medium armour +2 HP

Heavy armour +3 HP

Injuries

When a location is reduced to 0 Hit Points (HP) it

becomes injured and depending on the location it

will begin to bleed out or incapacitate you.

Crippled Limbs

If either an arm or leg is reduced to 0 HP then it

begins to bleeds out. Bleeding out only takes 1

minute. During that time anyone with the Field Medic

skill can bandage it up (which takes 20 seconds to

complete) and stop it from becoming crippled. If the

location bleeds out, though, it’s crippled and can no

longer be used. If your limb is saved by a field medic

staunching the wound, then you can use it normally

but it remains on 0 hit points (HP). If the limb is

damaged again whilst on 0 HP then it is immediately

crippled and can’t be used.

Incapacitating Injuries

If your head or chest is reduced to 0 HP, that’s life

threatening! More often than not you’ll have a common

injury and will be only 3 minutes away from death! A

doctor will need to attend to your injury and heal it,

saving your life.

Regaining Hit Points

Healing Hit Points can only be done through more

medical treatment from a doctor. Don’t expect injuries

to heal on their own! It’ll take a doctor and medicine

to fix you up for another fight…

Armour and ‘Armour Points’ (AP)

Wearing something a bit sturdier than just some

clothes you found on some skeleton somewhere can

make a world of difference to how much damage you

can take. Wearing light armour like leather jackets

or layers of reinforced clothes can give you 1

temporary hit point that I call Armour Points. Medium

armour like leather reinforced with metal, motorcycle

helmets and soft flak armour can give you 2 Armour

Points, while Heavy Armour like the thickest riot

armour and scavenged full metal armour can give you

3 Armour Points. For more on different types of

armour, check out the Repairing your Gear section.

5

A WASTELANDER’S SKILLS

Scavengers come in all shapes and sizes and bring

all sorts of different skills to the table. Some of

them are fighters, some sharpshooters and some are

keen foragers while others are engineers, doctors or

chemists. Most, however, have a mixture of different

skills, so rather than describe each kind of

Wasteland wanderer to you in this chapter, I decided

to give you details of each of the skills you can

find in the Wasteland and their attributed Scav

Points cost.

Scav Points

Guys and Ghouls, let me introduce you to the humble

scav point! Invented by yours truly, Harry Hunchback,

to represent how difficult something is to acquire in

the Wasteland.

Scav points in this chapter represent the time and

difficulty it takes to acquire the skill in question.

Your average Wastelander has 25 scav points of

skills and equipment.

Skills

Skill Cost Skills Cost

Melee Fighting 3 Engineer 12

Firearms mk.1 6 Lockpick 4

Firearms mk.2 4 Hacker 4

Explosives 4

Field Medic 4

Scavenger 4 Doctor 12

Forager 4 Chemist 8

Melee Fighting (3 scav points)

Melee Fighting is the skill for those with a

proficiency for hitting or cutting people and making

it count. They can do DOUBLE hit point damage using

Brutal melee weapons and know how to use special

melee weapons that have power or a special function

behind them.

Firearms Mk.1 (6 scav points)

Those with the Firearms Mk.1 skill know the basics of

firearms combat, can shoot, reload and maintain

pistols,, rifles and shotguns. They will also have

either a pistol, shotgun or rifle when they begin

their adventures in the British Wasteland.

Firearms Mk.2 (4 scav points)

Requires: Firearms Mk.1

This more advanced understanding of firearms allows

the Wastelander to fire, reload and maintain assault

rifles and other automatic firearms.

Explosives (4 scav points)

Those with skills in explosives can set, detonate and

disarm explosive traps as well as throw grenades

and other similar explosive devices.

Scavenger (4 scav points)

Scavengers are skilled explorers of the Wastes with

an eye for what valuable scrap is and what’s well…

just scrap…. Not as skilled in identifying parts as

an Engineer but Scavengers will know the field of

engineering it belongs to as well as chem

ingredients used for brewing.

Forager (4 scav points)

Foragers are Wastelanders skilled in the arts of

tracking, hunting and gathering. They are able to

tell you how food might affect you, in terms of

Malnutrition, Radiation exposure and Infectious

diseases. They are also able to track animals and

humans with varying degrees of success, based on the

terrain, weather conditions and other factors.

Foragers are also able to lay a series of traps that

don’t affect other Wastelanders but catch food,

instead.

Engineer (12 scav points)

A Wasteland Engineer is a valuable thing. Someone

who can repair equipment and identify parts for use

or trade. Engineer’s typically have a field of

expertise which they excel at, like gunsmithing or

computers. This is covered more in the Repairing your

Gear chapter. Not only that, but they can set and

disable traps. More on that in the same chapter.

Lockpick (4 scav points)

Lockpickers can get locks open, with tools, when

others can’t. Typically they know the manufacturers

combinations on combination locks and get them open,

getting access to the goods inside!

Hacker (4 scav points)

Hackers are skilled in the art of infiltrating

computer equipment. They can then use whatever

functions the computer still has or access whatever

data hasn’t corrupted.

Field Medic (4 points)

Field Medics are skilled in staunching wounds and

stabilising incapacitated Wastelanders. They’re great

at keeping you a couple of minutes from death, but

not from curing you of sickness or healing your Hit

Points.

Doctor (12 points)

Doctors are worth their weight in caps in the Wastes.

These are the people who can treat injuries, save

lives, heal Hit Points, cure diseases and diagnose

your Vital Signs. Doctors, like Engineers, also have

their own Medical Specialty, which can be anything

from surgery to neurology or medical physics.

Chemist (8 points)

Requires: Field Medic or Doctor

Chemists can identify and brew chems using even the

most rudimentary apparatus. They can also counsel

any Scavengers who have an addiction to a certain

chem - a more common occurrence than you think!

6

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

There’s plenty you can say about a scavenger but one

of the most important things to realize out in the

Wastes is the more shiny stuff they have on them, the

better they’re doing! So here’s a guide to the bits and

bobs that will help you survive.

Scav Points

Again, I’ve given the items on the list a scav points

value showing how rare or difficult the item is to

obtain.

I’ve also found that the 25 scav points your average

Wasteland has is used to buy both skills and

equipment… so the more stuff they start off with, the

less they’ve had to learn in life to get by!

Food and Drink

Item Cost Item Cost

Irradiated Food 1 Irradiated water 2

Dirty Food 1 Dirty water 2

Unlabelled tin 3 Clean water 4

Labelled tin 5 Purification Tablet 3

Irradiated Food (1 scav point)

Irradiated food will heal 1 MAL but also has 1 RAD.

Dirty Food (1 scav point)

Dirty food will heal 1 MAL but also has 1 INF.

Unlabelled tin (3 scav points)

An unlabelled tin of pre-war food will heal 2 MAL but

might have either 1 RAD or 1 INF.

Labelled tin (5 scav points)

A labelled in of pre-war food will heal 2 MAL and

have no other ill effects. And you have the bonus of

knowing what you’ll be eating!

Irradiated water (2 scav points)

Irradiated water will heal 2 MAL but has 1 RADs.

Dirty water (2 scav points)

Dirty water will heal 2 MAL but have 1 INF.

Clean water (4 scav points)

Clean water will heal 2 MAL and have no ill effects.

Purification tablet (3 scav points)

A purification tablet can be dropped into water to

make it safe to drink, removing any INF present in

the water.

Cooking food (no cost)

The act of cooking food and boiling water reduces 2

INF, providing its thoroughly cooked.

Medicine and Chems

Item Cost Item Cost

Medicine Dose 3 Dragon 3

Sterigel 2 Hermes 3

Antidote 3 Peepers 2

RAD-Away 6 Roxinol 3

RAD-X 3 Berk 4

Stimpak 6

Medicine doses (3 scav points)

A medicine dose represents having drugs, bandages

and other medical supplies needed to heal injuries

and hit points. 1 medical dose can heal an

incapacitating injury or heal 1 to 2 hit points,

depending on how the doctor uses them.

Sterigel (2 scav points)

“Sterigel” or Sterilization gel, does exactly what it

says on the tin: sterilizes medical instruments. It

takes 2 INF away from an incapacitating injury.

Antidote (3 scav points)

An antidote cures a victim of poisoning, whether

natural or chemically engineered.

RAD-Away (6 scav points)

The miracle cure against radiation. This sharp dose

of chemotherapy heals 3 RADs.

RAD-X (3 scav points)

RAD-X is a supplement taken to reduce the rate you

take RADs by half.

Stimpak (6 scav points)

An Adrenal Stimulation pack is a one-shot injection

that sends the heart racing and the body’s healing

qualities into fast forward. A Stimpak heals 2 hit

points to the location it was injected into

immediately.

Dragon (3 scav points)

Dragon gives you the strength in a fight to not be

KNOCKBACK or KNOCKDOWN for 3 minutes.

Hermes (3 scav points)

Hermes gives you the speed in combat to avoid effects

like blows that go THROUGH armour or KNOCKBACK for 3

minutes.

Peepers (2 scav points)

Peepers gives your PERCEPTION to see hidden enemies

and recognise disguises for 30 minutes.

Roxinol (3 scav points)

Roxinol is a potent opiate analgesic drug that lets

you use crippled limbs or act normally when

incapacitated.

Berk (4 scav points)

Berk is a combat drug, letting you ignore damage

dealt to you, but you suffer all of it at once when it

wears off, after 1 minute.

7

Combat equipment

Item Cost Item Cost

Pistol 12 Light armour (per loc) 1

Shotgun 12 Medium armour (per loc) 2

Rifle 12 Heavy armour (per loc) 3

Bullet 2

Pistol (12 scav points)

Wastelanders with the Firearms Mk.1 skill start with

a choice of either a pistol, rifle or shotgun… but it

sometimes pays to have another!

Shotgun (12 scav points)

Wastelanders with the Firearms Mk.1 skill start with

a choice of either a pistol, rifle or shotgun… but it

sometimes pays to have another!

Rifle (12 scav points)

Wastelanders with the Firearms Mk.1 skill start with

a choice of either a pistol, rifle or shotgun… but it

sometimes pays to have another!

Bullet (2 scav points)

Bullets are the real need for those of the firearms

persuasion. They’re still produced in the factories of

Brum, but hard to come by elsewhere in the Wastes.

Light Armour (1 scav point per location)

Light armour consists of soft leather clothes,

layered or reinforced clothes and coats and other

soft but durable materials. It gives the wearer 1

armour point (AP) of protection.

Medium Armour (2 scav points per location)

Medium armour consists of light but solid materials

such as “flak” armour, stiff purpose made leather

armour, thin metal plates and other similar

materials reinforcing durable clothing. It gives the

wearer 2 armour points (AP) of protection.

Heavy Armour (3 scav points per location)

Heavy armour consists of only the most durable of

materials. Purpose built metal armour, thick riot

gear and similar materials. It gives the wearer 3

armour points (AP) of protection.

Obtaining Armour

Obtaining armour can only be done through the use of

scav points. Armour is such an ingrained part of

someone’s survival, taking it off their corpse is just

too difficult. It’s the Wastes… hey, I don’t make the

rules!

Survival Equipment

Item Cost Item Cost

NBC Suit 8 Geiger Counter 8

Gas Mask 4

Gas Mask (4 scav points)

Gas masks protect the wearer from all airborn

disease and noxious gases, it also provides 1 armour

point (AP) which, if damaged, renders the breathing

apparatus broken and the wearer is once again

vulnerable to gases in the air.

Geiger Counter (8 scav points)

Geiger Counters are atomic instruments that measure

RADs in the area. One of these handy little gadgets

will give you a RAD reading per minute, e.g. “1 RAD per

minute” which means for every minute spent in the

area, the scavenger gains 1 RAD. A Geiger counter

gives you a reading from its current position rather

than at range.

NBC Suit (8 scav points)

A Nuclear Biological Chemical suit is a protective

garment that was issued to military personnel and

sold in surplus for personal use. These wartime

pieces of kit protect the wearer from all radiation,

biological and chemical dangers. They come with a

gas mask.

8

PERKS OF THE APOCALYPSE

As well as 25 scav points worth of skills and

equipment, your Wasteland Scavenger will have at

least one perk (depending on how long they’re been

wandering the Wastes.) These are the ones I’ve come

across; there may be more… at which point I’ll have to

produce another Wasteland survival guide!

Below are their titles and a description of what the

perk entitles the Wastelander to.

Advanced Entry Proceedures

Twice a day you may attempt to “break” a lock rather

than pick it and automatically succeed in opening

the lock. It doesn’t always work as certain special

locks might be reinforced against it.

Agility

You are naturally agile, and may DODGE one effect

from a melee blow per combat.

Careful Surgeon

Skill required: Doctor

When treating an incapacitating injury, the infection

gained is reduced by 2.

Clean Shot

Perks required: Sniper, Perception

Using a clean shot guarantees that one shot per

scavengers’ gathering will hit its intended target.

Where it hits the target will still depend on the

description.

… Blow the Bloody Doors Off

Skill required: Firearms Mk.2

You can utilise shoulder mounted explosive

weaponary, such as a rocket launcher.

Bloody Mess

Skill required: Melee Fighting

You may deal GLOBAL damage once per day, in addition

to any damage grade on the same melee strike. This

cannot be combined with any other effect.

Bodge Job

Once a piece of equipment is broken, you may

temporarily make it work again by fixing it up with

gaffa tape. Tear off 3 parts of gaffa tape, fix them

to the item and then tear them off for each use of

the item. Bodge Job gives you 3 uses of the item, (so, a

gun can fire 3 shots, a powered melee weapon can deal

3 damaging blows and a Geiger counter can give 3

readings.)

Brainiac

Skill required: Engineer or Doctor

Brainiacs gain either another field of expertise or

medical specialisation, based on the lists in the

Medicine in the Nuclear Aftermath and Repairing your

Gear chapters.

Charismatic

You can CHARM people twice a day or negate someone

else’s CHARMS. Folks like this will say, “Would you

kindly…” to get their view across and make you act

out in ways you wouldn’t usually. It doesn’t always

work, but when it does and you’re also a charmer you

can stop them by saying, “Would you kindly not try to

influence me like that?”

Easy Living

Skill required: Forager

You always gain 1 dirty food before every scavengers’

gathering.

Endurance

You have 2 additional minutes during an

incapacitating injury before you die.

For Science!

Skill required: Chemist

You may brew more potent, experimental chems that

have twice the duration, but are much more addictive.

For Science, Herr Doktor!

Skill required: Doctor

You may perform experimental surgery on an

incapacitated patient with a chance of either

instantly healing them or outright killing the

patient depending on what is done to them.

(My middle name is) Geiger

You have an innate sense for radiation. When RADs

are being accrued you can feel it, like a rash

developing or itchiness. While it doesn’t tell you how

much radiation is in the area, it does automatically

let you know when dangerous levels of radiation are

present, even without the necessary equipment.

Graduate of the British School of Rocketry

Skill requirement: Engineer

You gain bonuses to engineering projects with

rockets and explosives.

Greasy Spoon

You take half the Infection points (INF) from tainted

food or drink that you normally would.

Ha Ha, Can’t See Me!

Requirements: 2HP per location, no sneak perk

If in imminent danger, you may hide behind the

nearest object and cannot be seen by anyone for 2

minutes, allowing the danger to pass. You may only do

this once per scavengers’ gathering.

Herbology

Requirements: Chemist. No Doctor skill.

The generations old art form of brewing poisons to be

able to harm others. Through the use of plants,

animal extracts and minerals. Lore sheets will be

provided to those who have this perk.

9

I know a guy…

You gain 1 random chem before every scavengers’

gathering.

Intelligence

You have another 5 points to spend on skills only.

These scav points must be spent immediately and

cannot be saved.

Inventor

Skill required: Engineer or Chemist

You may engage in projects in your relevant field to

produce wholly new research and interesting

equipment or chems. You must be an inventor to begin

researching engineering items or chems.

Lead Belly

You take half the RADs from food or water.

Lucky

You are inherently lucky, and may use it once per

day to your advantage shouting “LUCKY!” to the cruel

gods of fate.

Mack the Knife

Perks required: Sneak, Tough, Strength,

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

When you first strike your opponent from sneaking

you deal TRIPLE THROUGH damage, as long as they are

unaware of your blow. This cannot be combined with

any other effect or damage call.

Medicine Cabinet

You are a proverbial medicine cabinet and always

manage to find 5 med doses between scavengers’

gatherings.

Mercenary’s Hunch

Requires: You are not a member of a group

Lone wanderers and mercenaries gain a unique sixth

sense, alerting them to danger. Before an attack,

surprise theft or something similar you may get a

hunch that something is about to happen…

… Pass the Ammunition

Aptly named from the song, “praise the lord and pass

the ammunition,” you’re never in short supply, always

having a full magazine of 6 bullets before each

scavengers’ gathering.

Pennies from Heaven

Perk required: Lead Belly

You are immune to RADs from rain.

Perception

You have the eyes of a hawk! You can detect people

and creatures that are sneaking. You can also tell if

someone is wearing a disguise.

Percussive Maintenance

Twice a day you may repair one part of an item by

one point of condition through systematically

applied violence. You don’t need a spare part to do

this.

Pickpocket

Perk required: sneak

You know the art of pickpocketing. By placing a peg

on the pocket or pouch of your mark, you can gain its

contents.

Pill Popper

You half your chance of chem addiction.

Rags to Riches

You always manage to get a handful of chems before a

scavengers’ gathering.

Rough

Perk required: Tough, Strength, Endurance

You truly are a tank, having 4 Hit Points per

location.

Scrounger

Once per day you have more luck than most in finding

the parts you want. You can trade an unwanted spare

part for another of the same or different field of

expertise.

Sneak

You can hide more effectively in the Wastes. To do so

you must: be in cover, not move and indicate you are

sneaking by holding a raised fist in the air.

Sniper

Skill required: Firearms Mk.1

Armed with a rifle, you may describe a target that is

at long range to fire a sniper shot at them. The

target must be out of your normal range. The level of

detail you can describe will translate into the

effectiveness of the shot. Bad descriptions will miss,

while good descriptions will hit the target in the

vital parts! Snipers also usually have scopes to aid

them in their descriptions. While this isn’t

mandatory, I’ve failed to put a scav point cost on a

scope, simply because they’re so rare and so closely

linked to those who are snipers it’s almost a given

that a sniper will have one.

Some things you do to survive

You are a cannibal, and can eat human flesh to

reduce Malnutrition (MAL). Each location eaten reduces

MAL by 1. I wouldn’t recommend doing this in public,

though… not speaking from past experience, or

anything…

Strength

You’re that strong that you aren’t KNOCKDOWN or

KNOCKBACK in combat, unless something really nasty

hits you! You might even be able to manage feats of

strength others can’t depending on the circumstances.

Time for Tea

The most British of persuits: any water you use to

brew tea is considered clean of Infection (INF)

10

Tough

You’re built like a brick outhouse! You have 3 Hit

Points per location.

Tripper

You may KNOCKDOWN opponents when dealing melee

damage to the leg location, every 20 seconds.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Perk required: sneak

You get them where it hurts, but not always on

sportsmanlike terms. You can deal DOUBLE THROUGH on

the first melee blow after sneaking. This cannot be

combined with any other effect or damage call.

Vicker’s Garden Party

Skill requirement: Firearms Mk.2

You can use fully automatic machineguns.

Who’s Behind the Glasses?

Perk required: Sneak

You can disguise yourself as fictional people or

other individuals you have come across. To disguise

yourself you’ll need different clothing or the same

clothing of the individual you wish to impersonate,

as well as some thick rimmed black glasses to hide

behind.

With My Ray Gun

Requirements: Firearms Mk. 2, Special downtime action

studying an energy weapon

You have gained enough experience to fire, reload,

maintain and identify ammunition for energy

weapons. Combine this ability to use energy based

explosives and EMP devices.

GROUP PERKS Some Wastelanders that share a location, base of

operation or some other form of camaraderie often

have a unique set of perks to choose from. This can

be anything from the technology they have managed

to get working at home to the very location they

inhabit, enabling them further than your average

Wastelander.

Lone wanderers, who move from place to place, have a

bonus perk, called “Where I lay my hat” meaning they

can spend time with a group or at their base of

operation and choose from the perks that group has

access to because of their connection to the group.

Group perks will very much depend on the history of

the group, the technology that the group has

invested resources into, its location and it will need

maintenance through a new downtime action called

“MAINTAIN BASE” A few generic examples are below:

Drug Lab

Requires: Chemists in the group

Your group can buy chems at a reduced rate of 1 scav

point less than the price stated in this guide.

Fallout Farmland

Requires: history of farming or furtile land

Your group’s malnutrition (MAL) will all be reduced by

1 MAL over a downtime, providing the farmland is

maintained through the MAINTAIN BASE action.

Medical Stores

Requires: ruined city location

Your group has access to untapped medical stores, and

as such can get medicine doses at a reduced rate of 1

scav point less than the prices stated in this guide.

Sure Defences

Requirements: history of fortified location

Your group lives a safer life than most and as such

receives a boost of 1 Vital Sign point to each HEAL

and REPAIR downtime actions.

Where I Lay My Hat

Requirements: Not part of any group

You gain access to the perks of a group through a

special downtime: by staying at the base of operation

of the group and learning about the way its

scavengers operate. You must do this each time you

wish to gain a perk from a group, but you are not

limited to how many different groups’ lists you can

gain access to. To take multiple perks from the group

you must still spend a special downtime with that

group.

11

SCAVENGERS’ TRAITS

Traits

Scavengers don’t just have a set of skills, equipment

and perks to call on… Each person out there has

their own unique story of growing up and venturing

out in the Wastes. Because of this, they have what I

call a trait - a unique ability to them that either

enhances their skills or lets them do something no

one else can.

This of course all depends on their background, so

without futher ado, let me tell you about myself!

I was born in North London, Tufnell Park in fact, not long

before the war hit. Judgement day rained down on us when

I was just 8 years old and we did what most Londoners did

at that time and we ran for the Underground Station.

There I spent my adolescent years just surviving, as most

of us did, on badly tasting rations and recycled water…

and that’s when it happened. On my 14th birthday I began

to notice skin peeling away, and oh God was it painful!

Then my hair began to fall out. I tried to cover it up, only

wear hats and all that but more and more people began to

notice it in themselves. Some called in “the change”, some

said it was a disease but then we heard from a scientist

fella down on the central line that he thought it was due to

low level, long term radiation exposure…

Turns out the Underground wasn’t as safe as we all

thought and most of us reckon now that using the Tube

network as a shelter for millions of people was just a PR

campaign to keep us from panicking. Well, a fat lot of

good it did us! Soon everyone had skin problems and some

worse than that… those stations that were close to the

surface began to go nuts, starting eating each other and

then just went feral on us. Stations became flooded with

the crazed mutants and stations locked themselves down to

repel the tide of the crazies.

Once that subsided life went back to normal, until the food

began to run out. I was in my twenties by this point, and

soon people were doing whatever they could to survive. Some

folks turned cannibal - we don’t talk to them anymore - I,

however, took to the most humble of professions and became

a rat-catcher, bartering what I could spare for whatever I

needed at the time. Then, as Freddie Noone and his promise

of food in exchange for the bottlecap came through things

got better.

Unfortunately, a few years later I was caught nicking

chemical ingredients from some sleezy drug dealer in

Tottenham Court Road and was forced into exile - a terrible

punishment considering the surface of London is a hotbed

of radiation, teaming with crazies and whatever other

mutants roam its ruins. But, with my natural tenacity I

managed to make it out of London alive and have made a

living foraging ever since…

- TRAIT -

“GHOUL”

You bare the mark of necrotic mutation and due to

your exposure to radiation over a long period of

time you have built up an immunity to radiation

poisoning. Get too much, however, and the RADs begin

to attack your brain sending you ‘feral’.

PRO

You will never receive ill effects from accrued RADs.

CON

No doctor will ever be able to diagnose how many

RADs you have been exposed to. If you reach critical

radiation poisoning, instead being incapacitated you

will become feral and attack everyone around you.

Once at this stage your RADs cannot be healed.

12

MELEE COMBAT

Most Wastelanders have little more than some

improvised weapons like knives, bats or clubs; so it’s

good to know how to defend yourself if you get up

close and personal with someone who wants your last

meal. Here’s how!

Simple weapons and Brutal weapons

On the whole, there are two types of weapons out in

the Wastes. ‘Simple’ weapons are one handed weapons

that won’t cause anything more than a SINGLE hit

point of damage.

Brutal weapons are two-handed weapons, at least 42”

in length that have a heavy weight or blade at one

end. These weapons, in the right hands, can deal 2 hit

points of damage or DOUBLE the damage of normal

weapons.

SIMPLE WEAPONS

One handed, SINGLE damage

BRUTAL WEAPONS

Two handed, 42” in length or more, DOUBLE damage

Melee Fighting Skill

Only those with the Melee Fighting Skill can deal

DOUBLE damage with brutal weapons and use any

special melee weapons to their full potential. Those

who don’t have Melee Fighting Skills will only ever

deal SINGLE damage when fighting hand to hand.

Armour and Armour Points (AP)

Wearing armour gives you added Hit Points to a

location, depending on where you are wearing the

armour. Like Hit Points, Armour Points will be removed

by each damaging blow. Once there are 0 AP left,

damage is dealt directly to Hit Points (HP) and hurts

like when your mother used to smack you… When

armour takes damage it will remain at the reduced AP

amount until repaired by an Engineer.

Damage Effects

Some weapons or wielders do more than just damage

you if they hit you, some have fancy moves that go

THROUGH armour, while some can cause you to be

KNOCKBACK or KNOCKDOWN. On the other side of the page

is a list of all the effects that can be done to you

through melee fighting

Shields

Shields in melee combat will protect you from damage

but still aren’t enough to stop effects like KNOCKDOWN

or THROUGH. So, if you defend a blow doing DOUBLE

KNOCKDOWN then you take the KNOCKDOWN but not the 2

points of damage.

List of melee effects

DODGE

The defender ignores any effects with the

damaging blow, but still takes the damage.

KNOCKDOWN

The defender is knocked to the floor.

KNOCKBACK

The defender staggers/is thrown back 3 paces.

THROUGH

The blow ignores armour and deals damage

directly to Hit Points (HP)

BALLISTIC THROUGH

The blow ignores normal and ballistic grade

armour and deals damage directly to Hit Points

(HP)

SUBDUE

A non-lethal blow that deals damage as normal,

but instead of crippling or incapacitating the

defender at 0 HP, the location or person is

unusable or unconscious for a minimum of 1

minute.

STUN

You are blinded, immobilized and severely

disorientated for 10 seconds.

BREAKING/BROKEN

A melee blow that is strong enough to break

weapons and armour. This effect must be done a

number of times equal to the parts or AP of the

item, and once complete it is BROKEN. All of the

parts go immediately to 0 condition and the item

no longer works.

13

FIREARMS COMBAT

Firearms combat is more for your ranged adversary.

Guns are the predominant weapon, while some more

‘back to basics’ people, particularly foragers, like to

use bow and arrow. Ranged combat, regardless of the

weapon, is all about aiming effectively, hitting your

target and putting them down with a well-timed shot.

Guns

Guns come in all shapes and sizes but can be sorted

into these simple categories:

PISTOLS - single shot, cocking action or semi-

automatic guns held in one hand.

SHOTGUNS - Single or dual shot gun, pump action, fired

with two hands.

RIFLE - Single bolt action gun, fired with two hands.

ASSAULT WEAPONS - Semi-automatic/Fully-automatic guns

that either fire in rapid succession or fire more

than 2 bullets per pull of the trigger. Used with two

hands.

HEAVY MACHINE GUNS - Chain or belt fed fully

automatic large guns fired using two hands.

GRENADE/MISSLE LAUNCHERS - Heavy weapon, firing

explosive charge or shell, fired using two hands.

Firearms Damage

All basic firearms, firing bullets, will do DOUBLE

THROUGH damage to the location they successfully hit.

That means that the shot will do 2 Hit Points of

damage to the location, ignoring any normal armour

the target is wearing. If the bullet doesn’t hit, no

damage is done.

Firearms Skills

Those without any Firearms skills can only fire

pistols (they cannot reload or maintain them.) Those

with the Firearms Mk.1 skill can fire, reload and

maintain guns in the pistol, shotgun and rifle

categories. A Wastelander with the Firearms Mk.2 skill

can fire, reload and maintain assault rifles.

Ammunition

All ammunition was standardised during the run up

to the days of the war, so every pistol, rifle and

shotgun will take the same ballistic ammunition.

Energy Weapons

There were rumours of the military developing energy

based weapons, and definitely documented evidence of

the army using PLASMA weapons during the war. These

incredibly destructive weapons, I’ve never seen, but

I’ve been told the NUK has access to them. It’s

incredibly rare for anyone to ever handle one and

those scavengers who have get access to the WITH MY

RAY GUN perk.

Bows

Like I said earlier, some more hardcore survivalists

prefer to use bow and arrows or crossbows and bolts

rather than a real weapon… as if survival wasn’t

hard enough! Due to their often rugged construction

and inferior ammunition a bow or bolt will do a

SINGLE point of damage to the location it hits. Armour

can still protect you from these weapons.

Thrown Weapons

People throwing objects like bricks or bottles was a

popular past time right before the war, particularly

at the police. So if you’d like to relive those

colourful days, you can! I’ve only ever found these

kind of objects to STUN the target rather than

actually damage them in any real way. Those with the

Melee Fighting skill can throw knives and similar

sharp objects, though, to deal a SINGLE hit point of

damage. Armour still protects you from these attacks.

Armour

Normal armour won’t protect you from the penetrating

force of a bullet, and neither will a shield. Damage

from a bullet hitting armour will go THROUGH it and

damage your hit points (HP). Equally, if a bullet hits

a normal shield it goes straight THROUGH the shield,

the armour and damages the arm location the shield

is being held with.

For armour that protects you from ballistics damage,

look no further than Ballistic Grade Armour (BG). This

more bullet resistant armour can protect the wearer

from the brunt of the bullet damage, meaning when

being hit by a shot from a firearm the bullet does

not go THROUGH the armour, and its damage is deducted

from the armour’s Armour Points (AP).

Some weapons, if well maintained or upgraded enough

can still pack enough punch to go through Ballistic

Grade armour, though and type of shot is called

BALLISTIC THORUGH.

Armour Armour Points (AP)

Light ballistic grade armour 2 AP

Medium ballistic grade armour 3 AP

Heavy ballistic grade armour 4 AP

14

MEDICINE IN THE NUCLEAR

AFTERMATH

This chapter should really be called “Why doctors

are the most important people you’ll ever know.”

Doctors have the skills to heal people, treat injuries

and diagnose and cure diseases, while Field Medics

can assist them by stabilising patients and

staunching wounds. I’ve given a rundown of what each

of them can do for you and added some helpful hints

of what can be done practically to ensure your

survival in the Wastes.

Tools of the trade

A doctor’s kit contains any instruments they’ve

managed to scavenge from medical centres in the

aftermath of the great bombings. Typically you’ll

find stethoscopes, bandages, thermometers, surgical

knives, torch, pressure monitors and other things

like that. They should also be the one with the

medicine - which makes them both incredibly useful

and a huge target for raiders.

Medicine Doses

A medicine dose is a token representation of the

actual medicine a doctor needs to treat an injury or

heal hit points. I’m no doctor, so can’t say

specifically what medicine - but if a doctor doesn’t

have a medicine dose, they’re unable to do anything

about your malady… or the pain.

Staunching Wounds

Field Medic skill

Field Medics are able to staunch the bleeding of

limbs before they become crippled. During the 1

minute bleed-out time when a limb reaches 0 hit

points (HP), a field medic can spend 20 seconds

binding the wound with gauze bandages to stop it

from becoming crippled. Bleeding out still continues

whilst the staunching is going on, so the field medic

may run out of time. If successful, however, the limb

is still on 0 hit points (HP) but is usable. The

patient then needs to seek out a doctor to heal their

hit points. If the limb is damaged again whilst on 0

hit points, then it immediately becomes crippled.

Stabilising an Incapacitated Patient

Field Medic Skill

Whilst a patient is dying with an incapacitating

injury, a field medic may try to stabilise the patient.

By spending 30 seconds securing airways, controlling

bleeding, treating shock and securing fractured or

broken bones will give the patient another 2 minutes

to live, hopefully giving the doctor time to save the

patient’s life.

Treating an Incapacitating Injury

Doctor Skill

Requires 1 medicine dose

Treating an incapacitating injury is all about

literally saving someone’s life. There will be many

different life-threatening injuries to treat, so that

first thing the doctor must do is diagnose the

patient, which takes 10 seconds of looking over and

discovering the injury. Secondly, they need to spend

the appropriate time and action on treating the

specific injury. You will need a medicine dose to be

able to treat the injury and once your treatment is

complete the patient will be stable and their injured

location will be back to 1 hit point (HP).

Healing Hit Points (HP)

Doctor Skill

Requires 1 medicine dose

Old injuries, deep cuts and fractured bones heal at

an incredibly slow rate - mostly taking a few weeks

for flesh to mend and bones to mesh back together.

Doctors can speed up the process of Hit Points

healing by administering a medicine dose. They can

either choose to heal the body by 1 hit point to

every location, or focus on one location and heal it

by 2 hit points. This process takes 30 minutes after

the medicine dose has been taken.

Stimpaks

An Adrenal Stimulation pack is a one-shot injection

that sends the heart racing and the body’s healing

qualities into fast forward. A Stimpak heals 2 hit

points to the location it was injected into

immediately.

Infection

While treating incapacitating injuries, INF will be

gained from the surgery taking place in the

typically dirty environment of the Wastes. The

amount of Infection (INF) will be clear from the

injury. Good medical practice or using Sterigel may

reduce this INF due to surgery.

“FOREIGN OBJECT” Surgeon field required

Time until death

3 minutes

Treatment time

2 minutes

A piece of shrapnel, bullet or

blade is lodged putting pressure

on a key artery. It needs to be

removed, the bleeding stopped and

the wound cauterized.

Infection

2 INF

15

Diagnosing Vital Signs

Doctor Skill

Doctors are the ones who are able to diagnose your

Malnutrition, Radiation sickness level and any

diseases you may have. A diagnosis takes about a

minute of examination, at which point the doctor will

have a good idea of the Malnutrition, Radiation

Sickness level and any levels of disease.

Malnutrition can be diagnosed by looking for signs

of skin problems, pale colouration of the skin,

swelling of the tongue, and feeling incredibly tired

or out of the breath easily.

Only a doctor can diagnose malnutrition.

Radiation Sickness can be diagnosed by looking for

the signs of nausea, vomiting, burns on the skin and

loss of hair.

Only levels of Radiation Sickness can be diagnosed,

not individual RADs

Diseases can be diagnosed by looking for their

specific symptoms.

Only levels of Disease can be diagnosed, not

individual INF points.

Healing Radiation Poisoning

Doctor Skill

1 dose of RAD-Away

Doctors can heal RADs using a dose of RAD-Away. RAD-

Away removes 3 RADs from the patient and cures

levels of Radiation Poisoning based on the number of

RADs remaining in the patient.

Only a doctor can heal Critical Radiation Poisoning

and should do so based on the following injury:

Healing Diseases and Infection (INF)

Doctor skill

When greeted with the sick, doctors have two options.

They can either use 1 medicine dose to cure 3 INF

from the patient, or refrain from using a medicine

dose and just treat their symptoms with a potential

to remove 1 INF. Both treatments take 1 hour to do, but

only the former option is guaranteed. Treating

someone’s symptoms doesn’t guarantee that the

Infection Point (INF) will be removed. Successfully

treating Infection (INF) will result in removing

levels of Disease based on the number of INF

remaining.

Levels of Disease

Level 1 Disease (3 INF)

The disease displays its basic symptoms but doesn’t

debilitate the Wastelander in any other way.

Level 2 Disease (6 INF)

Full symptoms present themselves and there’ll be a

serious effect on your overall health that cannot be

cured until the INF is removed.

Level 3 Disease (9 INF)

The disease is at such a dangerous level that you’ll

be in imminent danger of death and will present a

critical injury.

Doctor’s Specialisations

Doctors all have specialisations - an area which

they’re more familiar in than others or that they

excel at. Some injuries or diseases that doctors come

across in the Wastes require certain skills in order

to treat them. Below is a list of specialisations that

I’ve come across in my time - this list isn’t

exhaustive, and you never know what kind of weird

and wonderful specialisations might exist.

Clinical Biochemistry

The chemical study of various bodily fluids to

identify and diagnose bacterial, viral, fungal

and parasitic infections, research and

investigate illnesses within the immune system

and the treatment of diseases. These doctors can

diagnose exact INF points, unlike normal vital

sign diagnosis.

Cardiology

Diagnosis, assessment and management of diseases

of the heart and vascular systems. These doctors

are the only type of Doctor who can perform

heart surgery.

Bio-engineer

Designs and installs equipment for monitoring,

diagnosing, treating and the rehabilitation of a

patient who has lost a limb. This doctor can work

with an Engineer with the Biomedical field of

expertise to create artificial replacements for

lost limbs.

“CRITICAL RADIATION

POISONING”

Death Count

5 minutes

Healing time

3 minutes

Infection: 2 INF

To be healed the patient must

receive RAD-Away.

The RADs from the RAD-Away will

be removed as normal.

16

Medical Physicist

Can use radiation to treat illnesses as well as

being able to diagnose RADs more effectively with

less chance of infection. Due to their experience

can advise on dealing with radioactive materials

or situations. These doctors can diagnose exact

RAD points, unlike the normal vital signs

diagnosis.

Neurosurgery

This is the only type of doctor who can identify,

diagnose and treat all brain and nervous system

illnesses. Offering treatment where others

cannot. This kind of doctor is the only one who

can perform surgery on a patient who is

suffering from a disease or condition which

affects the brain or nervous system.

Surgery

This is a general knowledge surgeon. All major

surgery including the removal of bullets from

arteries, organs and bones, repairing organs from

assault and such. They can also perform basic

plastic surgery and heal the patient, but the

patient will remain scarred. The only 2 types of

surgery this doctor cannot perform are

neurosurgery (brain and nervous system) and

cardiovascular (heart and blood system.)

Pathology

This is an advanced doctor with the skills to

perform an autopsy to determine what has killed

a patient. Some have even been able to perform

live autopsies or exploratory surgery.

Phytotherapist

Requires: Chemist

These doctors have, through generations, learned

the secrets of using plants to brew poultices and

concoctions to heal the sick and injured. Not as

good as medicine doses, but it does allow for more

natural remedies.

17

REPAIRING YOUR GEAR

As they say, you’re only as strong as your weakest

link and that is doubly true when it comes to your

gear. Items don’t function if their parts are broken,

and guns will quickly degrade and break if they

aren’t maintained.

Engineers

Someone with the Engineer skill is well versed in

making repairs, assembling things and generally

maintaining gear. There are some things below which

can only be done by an engineer, others by

Wastelanders with certain skills.

Item Condition

An item typically has 3 parts:

This pistol has a short barrel, magazine feed and a

trigger mechanism as its component parts. The short

barrel is in poor condition, the magazine feed is in

average condition and the trigger mechanism is in

good condition. However, an item’s overall condition

is only as good as its weakest part, and so this

pistol is in poor condition.

Engineers use a traffic light (whatever they are!)

system for telling what condition a part is in.

RED = Poor

AMBER = Average

GREEN = Good

If a part is broken, it is black.

BLACK = Broken

Degradation

Parts in an item degrade after significant use. A

well maintained item will be able to bear most of the

brunt of degradation, while a poorly maintained item

will see its parts degrade quicker.

Degradation is a fairly random occurrence, and can

happen during an items use or after. There is also a

chance a part could break altogether.

Maintenance

Maintaining an item can be done by those with the

appropriate skill, or those with the appropriate

engineering Field of Expertise.

Pistols, rifles and shotguns can be

maintained by those with Firearms Mk1 and

Engineering: Gunsmithing

Assault rifles and larger firearms can be

maintained by those with Firearms Mk2 and

Engineering: Heavy Weapons

Powered melee weapons can be maintained by

those with Melee Fighting skill or an

Engineer: Weaponsmith

Mechanical devices can be maintained by an

Engineer: Mechanic

Computers can be maintained by an Engineer:

Computing

Medical devices can be maintained by a Doctor

or an Engineer: Computing

and so on…

Maintaining an item will ignore the degradation of

the first part that is tested for. It cannot be saved

for later checks, and is used up without the

maintainer’s discretion.

Spare Parts

Spare parts are a key part of the scavenger

lifestyle. All sorts of pre-fall gubbins are littered

around the Wastes, and it’s our duty to find them and

make use of them! They are used to either repair

items or to make new items. Every scavenger worth

their salt (those with the Scavenger skill) are able

to recognise parts and the field of engineering they

belong to, based on an old pre-war method of coding.

P

This is an example of the coding found and stamped

by the engineers of Brum back before the nukes hit.

It shows that it belongs to the mechanical field of

engineering and the 3 numbers are the code

identifying the item. Only engineers will know what

the code means as its knowledge has been handed

down through the sands of time - all the pre-war

documentation lost during the fallout. A scavenger

in this example has handily written a ‘P’ next to the

18

code, showing it’s in poor condition. It will only be

able to repair 1 point of condition.

Repairing items

Repairing items is a case of swapping old for new… or

in this case, better parts to increase the condition

of an item. Use the spare part and the part you

already have in your item, combine the best bits of

the two and you can increase the condition of the

part in your item. In other words…

Say I took a condition 1 (poor) spare part and used it

to repair a part that was in condition 2 (average) -

the part inside the item would become condition 3

(good)!

The outcome:

Breaking an item down

I’ve also seen engineers break down items into their

component parts so they can use them for something

else. Breaking an item down will get you the parts in

the condition with which they are in the item, so:

Broken part becomes scrap

Poor part becomes a spare part (poor)

Average part becomes a spare part (average)

Good part becomes a spare part (good)

Mechanics Tools

Having seen more than enough tools in my time, a

mechanics toolkit usually consists of a lot of

screwdrivers, allen keys, duct tape and pliers. A

hammer is essential, especially for mechanics that

favour their Percussive Maintenance. There’s also

more than a few loose screws, nuts and bolts in the

bottom of a toolkit that have probably been spare

after constructing something. The old world was

obsessed with providing things with 1 too many

screws… if only they knew how valuable they’d be now.

Armour

Repairing armour is actually a pretty exacting

science. Anyone can wear a leather coat, but an

Armoursmith (see below) is the only one who can

repair it. The heavier the armour the more detail you

need to go into in its construction and repair.

Because of that, Armoursmiths are you best friend -

and should they like you back, they’ll happily repair

your armour for you.

I’ve come across armoursmiths who take their time

with repairs and those who can strap something back

together in next to no time (usually with a “that

will do, for now!”) So, in that spirit, I’ve not been able

to figure out a time requirement on repairing armour.

It takes as long as it takes… just hope they don’t

rush the job and don’t repair it as well as they could

have…

Traps

Engineers can lay traps that inflict damage or

effects to their enemies. Traps can take any form you

like, but their construction will prove what damage

or effect that make. One key part of the trap, though,

is the snap trigger - this is what produces the cap

gun sound. Without this going off, the trap won’t

function.

19

Fields of Expertise

Just like a doctor has his or her specialities an

engineer has their fields of expertise. I mentioned a

few before in the maintenance paragraph, but here

they are in their entirety (as far as I’ve come across,

anyway!)

Gunsmithing - These guys can repair your

firearms for you, everything from your

pistols to your assault rifles.

Weaponsmithing - These folks have knowledge

of brutal melee weapons and can repair them

for you.

Armoursmith - Armour is a much more intricate

skill than you think, and because of that not

everyone can repair armour. These people can.

Mechanics - Mechanics is the field of clunky

machines and big electronics. Has it got big

moving parts? Then you’ll probably need a

mechanic.

Computing - Does what it says on the tin. This

guy can repair computers and other

electronic devices. They can use computers

too, providing they have the appropriate

access to the User Interface. (Yeah, I don’t

know what one of those is, either, I just added

it in to sound clever.)

Explosives - These daredevils make things go

bang. Stand back when they’re working. I won’t

warn you again…

There are also some more advanced fields I’ve come

across, that require a certain level of knowledge of

the above fields first. Here’s a few of them:

Heavy Weapons - (requires Gunsmithing) Bigger

is better, according to these engineers. They

deal in death using the larger firearms, like

grenade launchers, rocket launchers…

Robotics (requires Compting) Britain was once

a world leader in robotics technology, so it

is fitting that survivor engineers explore

this field once more, finding old world tech

to appropriate.

Biomedical (requires Computing, Robotics)

Biomedical engineers combine the fields of

robotics and medicine to produce rudimentary

prosthetics for lost limbs. I’ve yet to see one,

but if the rumours are true there are blokes

walking around with mechanical arms and

legs! These engineers either need to be a

doctor or require their help with their work.

Inventing

Inventing is more of an art than a skillset, and

inspiration can strike the strangest of minds - take

Jimmy Noone as an example! But once you’ve had that

eureka moment, it’s hard to let go - but only those

with the Inventor perk can invent items,.

Inventors only create new items from their field of

expertise, so don’t expect your computing expert to be

able to make you that electrified knife you’ve always

wanted.

Inventing goes through 4 stages:

Design

It’s entirely up to the inventor how they design

their item, but what it must have are 3 key parts that

make it work. These parts come from their knowledge

of spare parts out in the Wastes, based on their field

of expertise. So don’t go inventing something with a

discombobulator, if no such part exists! Draw your

design out, label it, work out how it’s put together

and how it operates, then it’s onto the next phase…

Scavenge

You’ll need to find those parts you’ve used in your

design out in the Wastes. Once you’ve got them,

brilliant! It’s onto:

Prototype

You need to build a prototype, a testing kit, version

1.0 of your design. Test it to see if it works as

desired. If not, it’s back to stage one.

Schematic

Once you’re happy with your prototype and its design,

you’ll have a working schematic! Congratulations! You

can use the schematic to reproduce the item and

share the knowledge with your friends.

Schematics

Schematics can be used by anyone to build an item in

their field of expertise, but only inventors can

learn and copy schematics from others. It’s one thing

to be able to put something together, it’s another to

learn it off by heart and know where everything goes

without having to consult the manual.

20

TAKING AND BAKING CHEMS

Chems are either a brilliant opportunity to enhance

your mental and physical prowess, or entirely sinful

and illegal items. It’s really your call. Chems can

offer a quick fix to your physical ability and be the

difference between life and death. But some have side

effects, some are even poisonous and there is always

the risk of addiction.

That doesn’t stop your average scavenger having a

couple of chems on their person at any given time

and using them in combat. Like I say, in certain

situations it can be the difference of life and death.

Here are a list of the most common chems in the

Wastes. Most of these have been around since the

European Civil War.

Chem Duration Effect

Antidote n/a Cures one dose of poison

Dragon 3 mins Ignore KNOCKBACK/KNOCKDOWN

Hermes 3 mins Ignore combat effects

Peepers 30 mins You have Perception

Roxinol 3 mins Act freely during injury

Berk 1 min Ignore damage, then take it all

RADAway n/a Removes 3 RADs

RAD-X 3 mins RADs gained at half rate

Stimpak n/a Instantly heals 2 Hit Points (HP)

Antidote (3 scav points)

An antidote cures a victim of poisoning, whether

natural or chemically engineered.

Dragon (3 scav points)

Dragon gives you the strength in a fight to not be

KNOCKBACK or KNOCKDOWN for 3 minutes.

Hermes (3 scav points)

Hermes gives you the speed in combat to avoid effects

like blows that go THROUGH armour or KNOCkBACK for 3

minutes.

Peepers (2 scav points)

Peepers gives your PERCEPTION to see hidden enemies

and recognise disguises for 30 minutes.

Roxinol (3 scav points)

Roxinol is a potent opiate analgesic drug that lets

you use crippled limbs or act normally when

incapacitated.

Berk (4 scav points)

Berk is a combat drug, letting you ignore damage

dealt to you, but you suffer all of it at once when it

wears off, after 1 minute.

RAD-Away (6 scav points)

The miracle cure against radiation. This sharp dose

of chemotherapy heals 3 RADs.

RAD-X (3 scav points)

RAD-X is a supplement taken to reduce the rate you

take RADs by half.

Stimpak (6 scav points)

An Adrenal Stimulation pack is a one-shot injection

that sends the heart racing and the body’s healing

qualities into fast forward. A Stimpak heals 2 hit

points to the location it was injected into

immediately.

Application

Chems were standardised during the war leading up

to the great bombing, with everything military grade

(like the ones in the table below) put into a syringe

for quick assimilation by the body.

Side effects

There are plenty of side effects that come with

taking chems. I’ve listed the specific cases below:

Chem Side effect

Antidote None

Dragon Muscles seize up making it harder to move

Hermes Usually makes the taker hyper

Peepers Light sensitivity

Roxinol Makes the taker completely numb

Berk Makes the user more violent

RADAway Causes nausea and some vomiting

RAD-X None

Stimpak Dazes the user with a surge of adrenalin

Addiction

Addiction is possibly the most dangerous thing about

these combat chems. I’ve met far too many chem heads

waiting to get their next fix. Addicts also build up

an immunity to the chems they are dependent on, and

so their lives begin to revolve around taking the

said chem.

Being addicted to a chem produces the opposite effect

whilst on a “come down.” A come down is where the user

has had more than 12 hours without taking the chem.

Chem Come down

Dragon All damage deals KNOCKBACK

Hermes Combat effects double their effect to you

Peepers Sight loss

Roxinol Injury death counts are 1 min less

Berk Combat damage you take is doubled

RAD-X RADs gained at double the normal rate

21

Taking the chem whilst addicted still gives the user

the normal effects and duration, but 12 hours after

taking that chem the user is on a ‘come down’ and the

come down effect begins until they take the chem

again.

Curing Addiction

Chemists and Doctors can both cure addiction. It

requires a fair amount of counselling and needs the

user to go without the chem for a while.

Doctors can issue a placebo by using a medicine dose

to ease the come down of the addict and should

remove the debilitating effects of the come down - but

it doesn’t always work. A placebo lasts for 1 hour per

medicine dose.

Addicts are required to be off the chem they’re

dependant on for at least 48 hours. They should seek

doctors or chemists for counselling, but if not done

properly they can so easily get back on the slippery

slide of chem addiction.

There is no addiction risk with Antidotes, RAD-Away

or Stimpaks.

Overdoses

Chems always have that chance at an overdose if you

take too many in quick succession. Overdoses are life

threatening and almost always result in an

incapacitating injury based on the chems used. So,

don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Brewing Chems

Brewing chems is done through the use of base

chemical ingrediants, which can be categorised as

either C, H or O in varying quantities.

Each ingredient is used to varying degrees in each

chem, but only a chemist will know what ingredients

are needed, and how much! Any chemist can brew chems

from the basic list, apart from Stimpaks.

Inventing Chems

Inventing chems works like an engineering project,

but for this I’m calling them “Research Projects”,

because it sounds more like science… Just like

inventing for engineers, those who want to make

brand new chems must have the Inventor perk.

Research Projects go a little something like this:

Design

This where you decide what you want them chem to do,

how long it will last and what ingredients are

needed to make it.

Scavenge

You’ll need to find the ingredients and synthesise

them into the quantities you need to make your

prototype chem.

Prototype

This is where a willing (or unwilling, depending on

how you play it) gets to be a guinea pig for you!

Unless of course you have a real guinea pig. But you

might not want one… I hear they stand 12 feet tall

and breathe fire.

Formula

If your chem is a success you have the chance to

name it and keep the recipe for it as a ‘formula’. Like

engineering schematics this formula can be copied

and learnt by other chemist inventors and followed

by any other chemist to make your chem.

22

SCAVENGING TIPS

Scavening is a necessary part of the post apocalypse

life. All sorts of pre-war tech, supplies, food,

medicine and the like are scattered across our fair

country ripe for the scavving! Here are a few tips or

tricks to help you with your Wasteland scavenging.

People Power

It’s always handy to have friends around you! They

may spot something you don’t, or maybe the one to

save you from that RadBadger nest you’ve just

disturbed. A good tip is to gather a group before

wandering out into the Wasteland, because you never

know what you might find. When your group is ready

and the conditions favour it - go forth and explore!

Scavenging

“Scavs Rights” is a basic principal applied to the act

of scavenging so it can be disassociated with theft.

Theft is the act of taking something from someone

without their permission, while scavenging is taking

things from the scarred husks of buildings across

the Wastes. The things you scav should have no owner,

so be sure to check they are not being guarded, that

you’ve invaded someone’s home or that they are not

trapped. If you’re around East Anglia and a victim of

theft can prove they took sufficient steps against

you to protect the item in question from being

scavved, then you’re in serious trouble! They take

hands… that’s the nicest punishment.

But on the whole, be on the lookout for spare parts

that look metallic or electrical in nature:

Medicine Doses that look like small bottles:

Chems in the form of syringes:

Chem ingredients in their test tubes:

And ammunition:

23

Foraging

Foraging can be done either one of two ways. Much

like scavenging, you may still be lucky enough to

find tinned food out in the Wastes, somewhere. This

food does have a caps value, but more often than not,

it’s worth just getting it down your gob…

Either that, or any good forager worth their salt

will be able to find food growing. Not everything is

edible, so be careful! A forager should be able to tell

you the nutritional value (MAL), the radiation

exposure (RADs) and the chances of infection or

disease (INF) of the meal.

Traps

Traps are a more common site out in the Wastes now,

and every scav should be wary about just picking up

any old box or opening any grotty door. Most traps

will have an audible snap, like the sound of a cap

gun, as the trap is sprung and any kind of damage or

effect is felt by the person to set it off.

More often than not the person who set the trap off

will feel DOUBLE hit point damage to the body

location that interacted with the trap… in the case

of tripwires, the leg or by manipulating something

with a hand: the arm. There are, of course, much more

devastating, explosive traps but they are rarer - and

you’ll certainly know when they go off! Well… maybe

you won’t, but your friends will.

Engineers are the only ones who can lay traps and

those skilled in explosives are the only ones who

can set explosives to detonate remotely. Traps can

take any form you like, but their construction will

prove what damage or effect that make. One key part

of the trap, though, is the snap trigger - this is what

produces the cap gun sound. Without this going off,

the trap won’t function.

The Noones and the Bottlecap Standard

Back when the dust was still settling from the

nuclear war, London’s radiation was seeping down

into the network of the Underground, where thousands

of people had taken refuge. Most didn’t survive, but

those that did developed horrible leprosy-like

mutations. Skin peeled, hair fell off… you get the

picture. Then the food began to run out and people

started rat hunting, squabbling and even fighting

one another. Station turned on station as hunger

fired the spirit. Then Freddie Noone came along, and

vowed that everyone who could pay 5 Meantime

Brewery bottle caps could have a tin of food; 10 for a

labelled tin. People began using the caps to barter

and soon a real economy began to flourish… but guess

who got rich? The Noones. Once they began to expand

and explore the Wasteland, people began using the

bottle caps to trade with them and now most people

use them.

5 Meantime bottle caps = 1 unlabelled tin of food

10 Meantime bottle caps = 1 labelled tin of food

1 Meantime Union cap = 2 Meantime bottle caps

24

DOWNTIMES A “Downtime” is the word us Scavengers use to

describe the actions or travels of Wastelanders in

between Scavengers’ Gatherings.

Wastelanders that survived the gathering get to

choose another perk from the Perks of the Apocalypse

section. They have also gained 4 scav points they can

spend on either skills or supplies from the lists in

the A Wastelander’s Skills and Equipment You Will

Need chapters.

Wastelanders then also perform actions over their

downtimes, but are limited to one each.

Downtime Actions:

SCAVENGE

(Skill requirement: Scavenger)

Spend some time scavenging the Wastes and gain 4

scav points to spend on supplies ONLY.

TRAIN

Spend some time learning a new skill and gain 4 scav

points to spend on skills ONLY.

FORAGE

(Skill requirement: Forager)

This Wastelander foraging, enabling them to heal 4

points of Maluntrition (MAL), divided up how they wish

with other Wastelanders.

TRADE

Using the caps you currently have, you can buy items

from the traders you encounter or sell items

currently in you or your group’s possession.

HEAL

(Skill requirement: Doctor)

A doctor can use their time in between gatherings

helping their fellow Wastelanders heal Radiation

(RADs) and Infection (INF). They can heal a total of 6

RADs or INF spread across a maximum of 6 people.

Doctors can also diagnose Vital Signs of those they

are traveling with between gatherings.

REPAIR

(Skill requirement: Engineer)

Engineers can also spend time between gatherings

working on their equipment. The stuff they’re working

on needs to be relevant to their field of expertise

and when they do work on it they can repair 3 points

of condition across a maximum of 3 parts.

Unfortunately, Inventing isn’t a downtime skill and

only ever occurs during a Scavengers’ Gathering.

SPECIAL

This action is for anything out of the ordinary that

you want to make count in the Wasteland. It could be

making contact with a particular individual, finding

out specific information or doing something to not

contained in the actions above.

So, for your downtime:

Decide on an action and describe how you go

about that action.

Choose skills or supplies based on how many

scav points you have.

Choose a perk of which the effects will begin

at the next scavengers’ gathering.

Scav Points

Scav points can be saved but never transferred. A

Wastelander’s scav points are his or her own.

25

NOTES

LOCKPICKING

To pick a lock get the right combination of 4 numbers on the

tumblers. Don’t worry, these locks started to use the same 3

sequences so it shouldn’t take too long. Unless someone’s

managed to change it but this is pretty rare.

4 5 6 1

Change the numbers to get the proper code

2 0 7 7

To pickpocket, place a peg on the

pocket or pouch and gain whatever is

inside!