Wasteland HERO
The Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Sourcebook for the HERO System
By Ronald A. Miller
Lexus Martino couldn’t have picked a worse time to sign on as a laborer for this "towner". He should have went with his instinct. He should have moved on past this community. If it hadn’t been for that dust storm, he wouldn’t have needed somewhere to stay, and he was getting very tired of trading labor for a place to sleep. Two days had already gone by, but the storm kept blowing. Now they had him digging a new well, at least they saw his extraordinary strength as something useful.
He had just started his morning’s work when he heard the screams coming from the vehicle shed. He scrambled out of the well to see what was going on. As he lifted himself to his feet, a slick bolt of purple "lightning" emanated from the barn, barely missing his right arm.
Lex had no idea of what was going on, but he knew that something wasn’t right. He suddenly remembered hearing the rumors about a growing "Demi-droid" invasion, but he thought that they were just stories. He had never seen such a creature, yet he had a sick feeling that this had to be their work. An explosion rocked the vehicle shed and Lexus quickly covered his eyes with his forearm. The blast barely moved him.
He started to run, but instead quickly examined choices:
1) Fight to save total strangers from certain doom, or
2) Flee to the cover of the Wastelands.
He thought carefully. The dust storm was still blowing up from the east and there was a huge radiation belt scourging the south and west of the ranch. Where could he possibly run?
He had no choice but to fight.
Armed only with his shovel, he quickly jumped quicker than a skrat into his shallow well. He had just crouched down as another purple bolt hissed over his head, frying the nearby brush behind him. He crouched down further and waited, not daring to look up. He could smell the burnt vegetation. His heart raced. He could remember someone once telling him that certain man-machines could move silently, and this was only a fraction of their powers. Was his imagination running away with him? What else could it be?
Lex knew that the shovel wouldn’t be enough. He would have to rely on his "Gift". The Human elders called it a "Curse", running him out of town and forcing him ultimately into a life of wandering because of their fear of his supernatural strength, and the potential limits that he never fully discovered. He knew how tired the "Gift" made him, but he also knew that it just might save his life.
This time, if he survived, he would stop running. Maybe he would head north to Dune City where he would learn to run no more. After all, they accepted his kind there.
He concentrated on bringing the power up from inside him and, as his muscles churned and rose under his mottled gray skin, he waited quietly for something to happen...
I INTRODUCTION
A. TIMELINE OF EVENTS
(Dates unknown, and unimportant)
The New Renaissance (Cyber HERO age)
Technical advancement and the creation of androids
Collapse of Scientific Ethics
The Great Rebellion of the androids
The Creation Wars - man vs. Machine, advantage: androids
Age of Human Persecution begins
Middle East falls to the android legions, developed Africa taken hostage and ultimately reclaimed by humans using ECM technology
Biological Warfare worldwide, many humans die, androids perfect ECCM technology
Europe falls to the android legions, Australia and most of South America destroyed
Technical evolution geared towards survival in preparation of the inevitable collapse of human culture
U.S.-Russia stalemate with android legions, major android manufacturing sites crippled, androids retreat to hidden bases to launch nuclear attack
Nuclear Exchange, 95% of remaining world population destroyed
Fall of world governments
Nuclear Winter
The Great Thaw
Formation of the American Wastelands
The Plague Years - Emergence of the Races
Game Era
B. WHAT IS WASTELAND HERO?
What You Will Need To Play:
Required
Optional (but highly recommended)
1. The Genre
The post-holocaust genre has had good representation in science fiction literature. Most of the sources available were written, curiously enough, before World War II. The remainder seems to come from the cold war days of the mid-seventies into the early eighties. (IMHO It is due for a comeback soon.) It has only met limited success as a role playing platform, all of the available games "out there" seem to support either World War III itself or else hundreds to thousands of years after the fall of civilization.
Wasteland HERO tends to be best played three to five generations after the final fall of civilization. The world is an ecological nightmare and very few life forms have survived intact. Of those species that survived, humans fared the best. They were ready for the devastation that they created. Their progeny, however, didn’t survive entirely intact. The integrity of the species was threatened spawning several new sub-species. As it turns out most of the "Neo-Earthers" were a product of the collapse of scientific ethics in the last days of man. The once familiar creatures of the earth were transformed into mighty beasts worthy of legend, and hostility quickly replaced serenity for the sake of survival in a barren world.
2. Future Pessimistic vs. Future Fantastic
In it’s many incarnations, science fiction has pressed a major need upon advanced technology, especially in role-playing games. Millennia of human culture has placed high value on powerful weapons, amazing gadgets, and a large selection of labor saving devices. In terms of the post-apocalypse genre, the importance placed on technology was ultimately the key to the demise of this once great race.
The post-apocalypse genre gives the player a sense of self-reliance. Any remnants of the technology used by man has either been destroyed or buried. A world-wide loss of electrical power sources has left a hole in the practicality of late human invention. All of this lends a certain awe to the devices of man.
For the characters, it is a time to start over. The lack of sophisticated electronics, intricate mechanisms and in-depth scientific know-how leads directly to the rebirth of crude technologies. Only some of the remaining humans have the vision of reconstructing what has been lost. In the shadow of nature’s torment, their dreams of such reconstruction won’t be easy to accomplish. Through the instruction of the legendary "Tomes of Knowledge", man has slowly embarked on rediscovering the tools of survival. Reading has become a survival skill in it’s own right and, in the Wastelands, it is a skill more valuable than gold. This is especially true since the humans are the only one’s with the power to unlock the mysteries of these fantastic Tomes. They are the only ones who kept up the traditions of the old language skills, including teaching them to their young. As a result, the sub-species are constantly pursuing the humans to give up the fruits of their progress, by bargaining and by force.
As a major theme to the game, characters will seek ways to improve their chances of survival. Some will rely on new technology, some will rely on the rediscovery of old technology, but many will delve into the lost ruins of man to seek out whatever has survived the devastation. The issue of technology is a major one in Wasteland HERO, and skewed visions may arise as to what is useful and what is garbage.
3. Whatever Happened to the World We Once Knew?
The lost world of civilized man should be seen as a mystery to the characters. This can only be done effectively if the players find it a mystery as well. To serve this end, the final fall of man should occur a decade or two into the future. This is to the benefit of the GM, and to the further enjoyment of the players. The beginning of the game era should then start several generations after that.
It is necessary to place the players in as much darkness as the characters are supposed to be in. The alternative is a discontinuity in gaming logic that not even the best player can role-play through. There are many examples in science fiction literature that a GM can draw from, and if he thinks that the players may find that their knowledge succeeds their character’s he can switch things around just enough to make the situation playable.
For an example, lets say that a party of ruin adventurers are exploring a building of some sort (and have activated the dormant emergency generator). During their investigation, they happen upon a sheer metal door with a seam down the middle, from top to bottom. Now, without much thought, the players say something like "Aha, an elevator! We’ll look for a button next to the door’s frame." The players know what an elevator is, the problem is that the characters shouldn’t know what an elevator is. By masking future technology in unpredictable ways the GM can turn a simple "elevator" into a real riddle. With this forethought, the GM may define an "elevator" as "an hydraulic platform that surrounds the rider with "force walls" or a "mesh cage" in order to keep the rider from falling off". All the characters know is that as soon as they stepped on a grate in the floor, they were instantly "trapped" by some kind of cage. The "elevator’s" purpose is fulfilled, and the problem of player familiarity is practically circumvented.
A great source of near future technology that serves the "collapse of scientific ethics" theme well can be found in "cyberpunk" literature, including the "Cyber HERO" sourcebook. The GM should also remember that the world was at war (see timeline) when the end of civilization came, so a lot of left over technology should have practical military usage. Finally, some things just won’t change much in their future incarnations (a futuristic flashlight might be just like a modern one, with only minor modifications).
The "Essentials" section gives a detailed approach to the unique circumstances for discovering, identifying and using technology in Wasteland HERO.
4. Who is ‘The Enemy’?
a. Man:
Man’s propensity for greed has been amplified with the dawn of the new era. With the fall of organized government came the rise of Mob Rule. Since basic supplies are in limited quantity, a character must usually beg, borrow or steal the essentials. The alternative is either finding goods or actually making them. The ‘Tomes of Knowledge’ give the humans the major advantage in the latter. Overall paranoia has erupted due to the constant possibility of material loss.
Another reality is the potential for rule by force. There will be individuals who seem to come from nowhere bent on overtaking what little civilization there is. These would-be-overlords will quietly amass a small army of loyal followers and will usually initiate a quick and costly strike, establishing terror as a tool of control.
b. Beast:
The Apocalypse has had it’s way with the beasts (and plants) of the Earth. Several species have survived with only minor changes, but then some have become the stuff of nightmares. The Collapse of Scientific Ethics yielded strange combinations of genetically engineered creatures for show, entertainment, profit, and the egotistical satisfaction of pushing the boundaries. See the "Wild Life" section below for more information.
c. Machine:
The definitive event that changed the history of man forever was the creation of robots. The robots worked, and man became lazy and even more corrupt in their selfish pursuits. Robots tend to still be loyal to mankind, mostly laying dormant awaiting their master’s instruction. Humans are identified by various scans and, once verified, a human can use a robot’s programming to their advantage. Anybody, even a member of a sub-species, can give a robot orders but it’s up to the robot’s security programming and ‘state of mind’ whether the suggestion is obeyed or not. These programs include medical service, transportation, maintenance and protection. Time has been harsh on most of the robots that have survived, and now they are as likely to hurt a human than help due to time-scrambled programming.
As man became restless due to the boredom, his attentions turned to self-creation. Then came the birth of the androids, ultimately leading to the fall of man. The timeline gives a rough history of the cost of man’s arrogance. Through world-wide war, the androids have survived. At the start of the game the androids, like all the other species, have begun to creep out of their safe places to see if any humans have survived. The hunt continues...
d. Nature:
Nature has always been a major adversary of man. Bigger than life, it has been respected as unpredictable tyrant. With the crushing blow of man, Nature now rebels loudly. Wild in comparison to the pre-apocalypse, it has created some new manifestations of it’s raw power. A serene week in the Wastelands, weather-wise, is unheard of.
5.
Using Survival as an Adversary In Role-PlayingSo how do you play a game with the environment as a major adversary?
Chaos in the Earth’s activities will make for interesting backdrops to already complex campaigns. The Wastelands are not pleasant, all that remain are the broken remnants of a poisoned world. Harsh deserts and barren Hardlands compete with small islands of green pastures and thick forests known as "Oasises". Relief for the weary wanderer can still be found here and there in what remains of North America. For more, see the "Ecologies" Section.
The erratic force of nature will be reflected in what items are sought out as valuable. Weapons can only go so far, and the wary traveler will look to optimize his or her personal carrying capacity. The "weapons" of survival are placed high on the list of priorities. See the "Essentials" section for some examples.
Several familiarities will be common as a result of living under the environmental gun. These are geared to be general enough for a child to learn, but specific enough as to place your character at risk without them. See the "Skills" section for an abbreviated list.