D20 Apocalypse Designers - Q&A Here

[Emiricol]

I LOVE the PA genre. I am a Darwin's World II fanboy (did I just say that? Wow! I'm finally a fanboy of something!). I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that the goal of making D20A complementary instead of competitive is realized. (Although I always thought it would be hard to compete with 375 pages in DWII vs 96 pages in D20A, so I wasn't too worried.)

I am likewise really excited to hear you are working on some DWII stuff. RPGO is without doubt my favorite 3rd party D20 publisher, and I don't think you'll mess that up for me So, happy about that.

Say, tell me about this Barter/Parts sytem - will it plug into DWII easily?

 

[ogre]

First, thank you for staring this discussion. It says alot about the product and your belief behind its goodness ;-)

This is my most anticipated release of D20... ever. I designed a D20 apoc game way back when 3e first came out. I had to make a lot of rules from stratch. A couple months back, after hearing about D20 AP, I bought D20 modern. I have been frantically working backwards to make my game more seamless with D20 modern and have been holding off on the final touches until I get my hands on this book. The feedback here has been very encouraging!

So, yes, I am planning on releasing my game in the near future augmented to fit with this new book.

Couple things... How do the characters learn technology? Is there a new system in place or is it only skills and feats.
Do characters choose mutations or are they rolled randomly? Are there rules for gaining new mutations? Either intended through genetic research or by entering a radioactive zone?
Are the D20 base classes used?

 

[Darrin Drader]

Speak to me of these Trade Units, Mr. Drader, if you please. Particularly regarding bartering and conversion from Wealth bonus to TUs. Thanks!

Very simply, trade units are the value of an object. As stated in the text, there is not straight conversion from wealth to TUs because things are valued differently after the apocalypse than before. For instance, if you have no electricity (which is a very real possibility in many places), what good will a laptop be to you? On the other hand, if you do have electricity, while that laptop will be useful, its pretty likely that there will be so many working unused laptops that their value won't be all that high. Gasoline, on the other hand, is pentiful, but is running out since they aren't making anymore, so that will probably have a reletively higher value. Maybe one gallon of gas isn't worth more than one laptop, but you get the idea. Bottom line, the TU values in the book were determined by designer fiat, so if a GM needs to price something not on the list, it would be priced by GM's fiat.

 

[Andur]

Ok, after having read and re-read the book, my likes, dislikes, and questions:

Liked:

From Twilight 2000 to Planet of the Apes one can pretty much use the rules within to "create" the feel of the campaign with rules which intermesh well with d20 Modern.

Barter system of TU's and parts. (Though Why in the world would a PC ever barter on such a scewed curve? or maybe better stated: How do NPC's ever trade with each other if the initial attitude is "give me double"?)

Vehicle Modifications (for those don't have it think Mad Max, Road Warrior, etc.) and good for any modern setting to boot. (Want to make an Anaheim custom job, rules are here, guerrilla modifications, monster trucks and more.)

Templates, very nice suitable for any "base" setting.

The differences in the settings, even though none of them exactly "fits the bill" there is not much overlap between them.

Disliked:

Reasoning for loss of Craft (Chemical) skill. It sorta "conflicts" with the fact there is still gasoline available which is quite a it harder to safely refine than it is to make blackpowder.

Radiation, didn't like it in d20 Future and still don't like it here.
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Overall it was a great value for the money. Above you mentioned Web Enhancements, do you know if it is going to be a one off deal or will it be supported a tad bit more than the core book was in regards to WE. Congrats on a well written and developed product.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Disliked:

Reasoning for loss of Craft (Chemical) skill. It sorta "conflicts" with the fact there is still gasoline available which is quite a it harder to safely refine than it is to make blackpowder.

More or less, I agree. I think making it a cross-class skill for all classes might have been appropriate.

Radiation, didn't like it in d20 Future and still don't like it here.

What didn't you like about it, and have you seen it done better elsewhere?

 

[Andur]

Eric, I don't like the way the entire radiation issue is handled. First there is no "lethal" radiation rating. Second, rads do and should accumulate, granted with neutrad in PL6+ they can be somewhat neutralized, but in a Post Ap (nuke) world, I personally believe we should replace keeping track of Wealth with keeping track of rads. Simple lil table with optins of X number of rads = mutation point for "fantastic" campaigns,-1 to an ability (Con for harsh) for less fantastic, or increase to next age category for "grittty" campaigns.

No I have not seen anything better, but I do know that I still have my lil badge with a rad rating on it, which I'm required to keep with me in case I happen to get back into the industry, and if I recall correctly I've lost only one or two points since '93...

 

[DMH]

I still have DW 1 and I think the radiation rules in it are what you are looking for- no fun mutations as a result, all kinds of nasty results and radiation stays with you for a long time. If you are looking for radiation that does not go away ever, the Redline has that (called Creep).

 

[Henry]

Barter system of TU's and parts. (Though Why in the world would a PC ever barter on such a scewed curve? or maybe better stated: How do NPC's ever trade with each other if the initial attitude is "give me double"?)

In a barter non-grossly commercial economy, the bidding always starts high, ends low. Because of unsteady supplies, you always ask more than it's worth, up to double, because your next shipment or production run could be lost to raiders, or destroyed in a catastrophe, etc. The "suckers" make up for the difference.

Reasoning for loss of Craft (Chemical) skill. It sorta "conflicts" with the fact there is still gasoline available which is quite a it harder to safely refine than it is to make blackpowder.

Not having the book, could someone explain this in detail? Are you saying there is no skill to govern crafting things like black powder, or matches, etc.?

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

If you are looking for radiation that does not go away ever, the Redline has that (called Creep).

Yup, Redline's "Creep" is in truth a blending of everything bad that comes from some sort of contamination (radition, biological agents, chemical agents) all wrapped into one term since no one in the era wil reasonably know what caused the problem at all. It all looks like the same thing to the sufferers in the Apocalypse Era so it's called the same thing.

Sort of how D20A simplifies the salvage system into generics that can transfer parts from a TV to repair a car for example, Redline simplifies contamination into generic taint. If you want something more complex and detailed, it's probably not what you want.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

No I have not seen anything better, but I do know that I still have my lil badge with a rad rating on it, which I'm required to keep with me in case I happen to get back into the industry, and if I recall correctly I've lost only one or two points since '93...

Interesting, what industry and what did you do, if it's not too sensitive to reveal?