A morning
at home.

1. Open the full inventory. One player counts, the other writes. No roll.
2. Review the categories: water, food, medical supplies, workshop, equipment, transport, caps and knowledge.
3. Have them record the supplies: 112 purified water, 16 dirty water, 192 food items or ingredients, 1,200 caps. Those 192 food items are not 192 prepared meals.
4. Count four consumers: the two PCs, June and Biscoto. Archie neither eats nor drinks.
5. Record the PCs' states: Peckish, Dehydrated, Well Rested; 1 Fatigue from thirst. Rest grants +2 maximum HP until the next sleep.

Count supplies before breakfast and purchases from Sol. Water units are servings, not liters.

Read aloud

Archie: “Sixteen days of menus. Eight days of water, if nobody sweats. Please avoid all unnecessary biological activity.”

Read aloud

Archie checks your inventory.

“Ah! We can make noodles. They fill your stomach and quench your thirst. Or a mirelurk omelet: more filling, but make sure you have a drink. Which one shall I show you?”

“Shame about the tatos. With the carrots from the garden, we could have made my soup. Good for days when the counter starts crackling.”

1. Present the two effects below without bringing out the ingredient cards. Answer questions; no information Archie knows requires a roll.
2. Let the players suggest a menu. Four portions; they can mix menus.
3. Then open the cards. Have them find the ingredients in the inventory. Before spending anything, the players see the costs and may change their minds.
4. For the soup, let them put the facts together: there are no tatos in stock; the carrots are still in the garden. Archie confirms this as soon as they ask. It is a lead for later.

Neither dish is irradiated. Healing cannot exceed maximum HP. The shared pool holds no more than 6 AP. Purified water drunk with the omelet is a separate expense.

Learning: a rare recipe is learned from a person or a copy. Here, Archie teaches the noodles while they cook; no extra learning roll or time is added. For the omelet, he helps with a recipe already known under the rules. The copied card is kept and can be used again; it supplies neither ingredients nor a missing perk.

Explain before cooking: without enough Survival, a roll is required; failure destroys that portion's ingredients. Archie can prepare any portions entrusted to him.

References: pages 149-150, 190-191, 210 and 216-217. Teaching during the scene is a narrative choice; rarities and prerequisites come from the book.

GM card, reveal on request. Vegetable soup: 1 carrot + 1 dirty water + 1 tato. Complexity 3, Survival, common recipe, no perk required.

One portion improves hunger and thirst by 1 state each, restores up to 7 HP and grants +2 radiation damage resistance until the end of the next scene. It is not irradiated.

The tato is missing. The two carrots still need harvesting. Four breakfasts use 4 of the 16 dirty water; the remaining 12 can be used for cooking or purification.

References: pages 151, 191 and 217.

1. Choose the cook and a station. Each PC may prepare their portion; Archie handles any portions entrusted to him.
2. Set aside the ingredients for that portion. The attempt will consume them.
3. Calculate the difficulty: complexity minus Survival rank, minimum 0. Here: 2 − Survival.
4. At difficulty 0: success without rolling is possible, with no AP. Otherwise, roll 2d20, TN = INT + Survival.
5. Success: remove the ingredients, add 1 dish. AP gained = successes − difficulty − Fatigue, minimum 0.
6. Failure: remove the ingredients, no dish. Canned food can replace the lost portion; remove it from the stock as well.
7. Allow 20 minutes per portion. After success, 2 AP halves that time. A complication adds 10 minutes and may spoil ingredients.
8. Repeat. Four dishes: 80 minutes of work, or 40 minutes with both stations in use, without incidents or reductions.

Reading the roll: a die ≤ TN gives 1 success; a 1 gives 2. If Survival is a tagged skill, a die ≤ its rank gives 2. A 20 gives a complication. Before the roll: 3d20 cost 1 AP; 4d20, 3 AP in total; 5d20, 6 AP. Spending 1 Luck rerolls 1d20 once, keeping the new result.

Archie: Survival 2, a profile convention. He succeeds at these dishes without rolling; no AP are generated for the PCs. Two stations are available, including one that can be dismantled for camp (5 kg, a scenario convention). If it goes with the PCs, Archie keeps just one station at home. Record their fire time without deducting one fuel per dish.

Purify instead of cooking: 3 dirty water produce 1 purified water; complexity 1, Survival, common recipe. After four breakfasts, the remaining 12 dirty water can produce 4 purified water in 1 h 20 at one station, before AP reductions. They will no longer be available for later meals.

References: pages 13-17, 21, 210 and 216-217.

1. Ask who eats, drinks or saves their portion. Include June and Biscoto.
2. Remove the dishes consumed. Apply hunger, healing and bonuses.
3. Remove each purified water drunk. Thirst improves by 2 states; up to 3 HP are restored.
4. For a PC's omelet: add max(0, 2 − Fatigue) AP, without exceeding 6. With the starting Fatigue, this gives 1 AP. Drinking does not remove that point yet.
5. At the end of a calm scene: remove 1 Fatigue if all its sources are gone. Here, it is enough to no longer be Dehydrated.
6. Record the states and time. The clocks keep running afterward; H+0 marks this first meal.

Convention retained for this introduction: soup counts as both food and drink for the scene; do not add purified water to the same meal. NPCs' omelets do not give AP to the PCs. A small sip is not a full serving.

References: pages 149-150, 160 and 190-192.

1. Have the players announce the remaining quantities. Do not deduct ingredients a second time at the meal.
2. Keep leftovers and saved dishes. The learned recipe and the tools remain available.
3. Keep the shared sheet open for what follows. Harvests, work and purchases will be recorded there. Note which food could travel, which needs cooking, and what stays for June and Biscoto.

Use actual water consumption to update the eight-day estimate: choosing noodles can extend it.

• Crate-and-bait trap: INT + Survival, difficulty 1. A GM suggestion; no roll if the method is certain to succeed.
• Specify the target: one animal or both, depending on the trap's size and position.
• Failure: the targeted animal escapes the trap, then flees or defends itself. No automatic damage.
• Bare-handed: announce the risk of a bite before the action.
• Lasting solution: drive both animals away and block access to the crops with wire mesh and stones.

1. Draw two zones: the crops and the path.
2. Place the two PCs and the two mole rats. Clarify who can reach whom.
3. Read the initiative scores. PCs: PER + AGI + bonuses. Each mole rat: 9. No roll.
4. Order them from highest to lowest. Ties: the GM decides, including between the two mole rats.
5. Identify who starts the combat. One PC or one mole rat.
6. Give them a full turn before the first round.
7. Start round 1 in order. Whoever started combat acts again at their initiative.

PC Defense, page 48: AGI 1-8: 1; AGI 9+: 2. Add any applicable modifiers.

Two opponents: each has its own HP and its own turn. An attack targets a single mole rat.

Reference: page 24. Biscoto has fled: he neither attacks nor provides any combat assistance.

1. Apply any start-of-turn effects.
2. Give 1 minor and 1 major action, in the order chosen by the player.
3. Resolve the actions using the walkthroughs below.
4. Apply end-of-turn effects, including bleeding.
5. Move to the next combatant.
6. After the last one, start the list again. This is a new round.
7. Stop when the confrontation ends. Death, capture, escape or withdrawal from combat.

Only one movement per turn. Other actions remain possible, pages 25-26.

Example: A acts at 12, B at 10.

1. Have the player describe the assistance. It must be possible at the time of the test.
2. Apply the cost from the table. Note any turn the player gives up.
3. Choose the assistant's TN. Their attribute + skill, appropriate to their method.
4. Have the main character roll the test normally.
5. Have the assistant roll 1d20. Use their own TN.
6. Does the main character have at least one success? Add the assistance successes.
7. Do they have no successes? The assistance successes are not added.
8. Also resolve any complications on the assistance die.

Assistance: just 1d20, outside the main character's five-die limit. After your turn, assisting requires having spent your major action on Assist.

References: pages 16-17 and 26.

1. Check range. The mole rat must be within reach.
2. Announce the base difficulty: 1. Apply modifiers. Declaring a specific hit location normally adds +1 difficulty.
3. Calculate the target number: STR + Melee Weapons. Write it down: TN = …
4. Buy any extra dice. 2d20 free; 3d20 = 1 AP; 4d20 = 3 AP; 5d20 = 6 AP.
5. Roll the d20s. Read the results using the table below.
6. Offer rerolls. Aim, if used this turn: 1d20. Luck: 1 point for 1d20.
7. Check the final result. Enough successes: a hit. Otherwise: resolve complications and stop here.
8. Calculate AP gained. Successes above the difficulty, minus Fatigue, minimum 0. They can be used immediately.
9. Determine the hit location. Roll 1d20. If a location was targeted, no roll.
10. Roll damage. Sledgehammer: 5 combat dice, plus the character's damage bonus and any additional spending.
11. Apply resistance. Mole rat: 1 ballistic everywhere. Net damage = damage minus resistance, minimum 0.
12. Subtract net damage from HP. One HP total for the whole body.
13. At least 5 net damage in one hit? Apply an injury to the location hit.
14. Check remaining HP. At 0 HP, the mole rat dies unless the attacker decides otherwise.
15. Resolve complications. Keep unspent AP, up to 6 in the shared pool.

A given die can only be rerolled once. Keep its new result.

Reading a test d20:

Reading combat dice:

Sledgehammer: faces 5 and 6 each inflict 1 damage, with no additional effect.

References: pages 12-21, 27-32 and 111.

Read this table using a new d20, after scoring a hit.

Hit location: determines protection and the effect of an injury. No bonus damage for hitting the head.

Triggers: 5 or more net damage in one hit; or dropping to 0 HP. Both triggers together cause two injuries.

Mole rat limb: use the leg effect, a GM adaptation. Treatment: page 34. For the head, only the loss of normal actions ends after one turn.

1. Play the mole rat whose turn it is: defend its food or flee.
2. Choose just one row of the table to suit its situation.
3. Spend the listed actions.
4. If it bites: follow the bite walkthrough below.

Burrowing uses the major action: no bite with that same action. Track separately which mole rat has burrowed.

Behavior chosen for this scene: if one falls, the survivor tries to flee. No morale roll.

1. Choose a target within reach.
2. Read their Defense. That is the attack's difficulty.
3. Roll 2d20, TN 7. Results of 1-2: two successes each. Results of 3-7: one success each.
4. Apply Aim, if used: reroll no more than one d20.
5. Compare with the difficulty. Failure: resolve complications and stop here.
6. Add excess successes to the GM's AP.
7. Roll 1d20 for hit location. Use the human PC column.
8. Roll 4 combat dice. When emerging, 1 GM AP allows it to roll 5.
9. Count the Effects. Piercing 1 ignores 1 ballistic resistance per Effect, minimum 0.
10. Subtract the remaining resistance from damage, minimum 0. Then subtract that net damage from HP.
11. Apply an injury if necessary. At least 5 net damage in one hit or dropping to 0 HP.
12. Resolve any complications.

At 0 HP, a PC is dying: consult the emergency reference. Note any bite that cost HP for the end of the scene.

If a PC waits with the sledgehammer for a mole rat to emerge:

1. The PC picks up the sledgehammer, if necessary: minor action.
2. They state their trigger: “As soon as a mole rat comes back up within my reach, I strike.”
3. They spend their major action: Ready.
4. Does a mole rat emerge within reach before the PC's next turn? Immediately resolve a sledgehammer strike against it.
5. Does it emerge elsewhere? No readied strike is triggered.
6. Does the PC's next turn begin? The wait expires. They may ready again.
7. Does the mole rat survive and still have actions? Resume its turn with its remaining actions.

• One readied strike: one target only. The action is spent after that strike.
• Simultaneous attacks: follow initiative order.
• Aim: no reroll if the readied strike happens outside the PC's own turn.
• Other PC: bait, lookout or protecting the plants. Bait does not guarantee where the mole rat will emerge.
• Burrowing: no free attack or automatic surprise. Emerging, biting and burrowing again requires an extra major action.
• Harvest: a missed strike does not automatically destroy it.

Combat ends when both mole rats have fled or been neutralized.

Biscoto returns when everything is quiet. He checks that the PCs are all right, then carries stones to close the holes in the fence.

1. Deal with emergencies. Stabilize dying characters and treat injuries if possible.
2. After combat or strenuous effort: worsen thirst and sleep by one state.
3. Check the new states. Dehydrated or Weary, in particular, may add Fatigue.
4. For each bitten PC who lost HP: END + Survival, difficulty 1 if this was the only exposure.
5. Failure: roll for the disease in the disease box, p. 193. Note its effect and Duration.
6. Delay its effects until the next day. When symptoms appear: 1 Fatigue, plus the disease's own effect.
7. Add the harvested carrots to the inventory. Both threats dealt with for good: 34 XP per PC, even without killing.
8. Offer to butcher each dead animal. END + Survival, difficulty 0; automatic success possible.
9. Add the loot to the inventory: per body, 1 mole rat meat and 1 common component. Two bodies: 2 meat + 2 common components.
10. Ask whether they drink. Apply the drink's effects and deduct each serving from the stock.

After combat, depending on the current state: Hydrated → Thirsty, no Fatigue; Thirsty → Dehydrated, +1 Fatigue. Rested → Tired, no Fatigue. The rest bonus lasts until the next sleep. If the clock has already changed a state, start from the one recorded on the sheet.

Disease: several bites count only once. Add the other categories of exposure, to a maximum difficulty of 5.

Butchering: accessible body and suitable tools. An optional difficulty 0 roll is possible with the GM's agreement: AP and complications may result.

Raw meat: the two pieces can be cooked into 1 mole rat steak at Archie's. One body is not enough.

Escape: if the animals can return to eat the plants, the threat has not yet been dealt with for good. Blocking access finishes the job.

Purified water: thirst improves by 2 states, up to 3 HP restored. Thirsty → Quenched.

References: pages 160, 190-193, 217, 332 and 350.

1. Open the inventory: starting stock of 96 common, 24 uncommon, 4 rare; add the loot actually recovered in the garden. Keep the 32 fuel for cooking.
2. Present the costs and effects. Choose a project for the water search and note the time. A container adds capacity, not water; a module only helps where Archie is present.
3. Choose the recipient. June lends her 10 mm; the modules benefit only Archie.

Archie: no module installed at the start. The claw retains its functions; the boiler is a service module. No extra arm. After four recipes using dirty water, 12 remain. Each use of the boiler removes 2 dirty water from that stock.

Claw in play: with Archie present, PER 7 + Lockpick 0, TN 7, critical on 1; reduce difficulty by 1, minimum 0. The module does not grant a skill rank. Base profile p. 358-359.

Scenario plans: the compass and water tank costs and effects are conventions, not recipes from the book. The water tank replaces the damaged tank and the wheelbarrow. Empty capacity: 64 water; total load capacity: 60 kg, including the container. When loading, allow no more than 32 kg for its 64 water, then add the weight of the container and other luggage. Passable terrain is required.

1. Choose the crafter and any assistance. June explains the steps.
2. Check the workbench and plan. Receiver: weapons workbench, common recipe, no perk required. Compass and water tank: repair station and June's plans.
3. Calculate difficulty: complexity minus Repair rank, minimum 0. Receiver 2; compass 1; water tank 3.
4. At D0, offer success without rolling: 1 h, no AP gained.
5. Otherwise, test INT + Repair. 2d20; assistance: 1d20, counted if the crafter gets at least one success.
6. Success: craft the item and deduct the materials. AP gained = successes minus difficulty minus Fatigue, minimum 0; shared pool capped at 6.
7. Offer 2 AP to reduce 1 h to 30 minutes. Then add 30 minutes per complication in this scene.
8. Failure: the hour passes with no result, without automatically destroying materials. Offer another attempt, abandoning the project, or success at the announced cost.
9. Receiver only: proceed to installation below.

1. Take the part: Archie's prepared module or the receiver crafted by the PCs.
2. Check for the appropriate workbench. Robots for Archie; weapons for the 10 mm. These three mods require no perks.
3. Announce the test: Archie, INT + Science D2; receiver, INT + Repair D1. Duration: 1 h.
4. Roll, with any assistance. Dice and AP as above: 3d20 = 1 AP; 4d20 = 3 AP; 5d20 = 6 AP.
5. Success: apply the effect. Optionally spend 2 AP to reduce the time to 30 minutes; add 30 minutes per complication in this scene.
6. Failure: the mod remains uninstalled. Roll 1 CD: an Effect damages it and makes it unusable. Announce this risk before the test.
7. Update the inventory. Move the module from the box to Archie, or write “hardened receiver” on the 10 mm.

Luck: 1 point rerolls 1d20; keep the new result. Never reroll the same die twice.

1. Show the result. Have them try the crafted item.
2. Count what remains. Receiver: 93 / 24 / 4 materials; compass: 94 / 24 / 4; water tank: 92 / 22 / 4. Installing a prepared module: 96 / 24 / 4, but the part leaves the stock. Add the garden loot and deduct any earlier spending that actually occurred in play: these totals start from the initial stock, without butchering.
3. Check the containers. Without the water tank, the reservoir remains damaged: 68 water capacity for the two PCs. If they take the water tank: 132. No water is gained.
4. Note the time. Meal at H+0, garden until H+0.5, receiver finished around H+2.5 in the example schedule. Count complications and record unfinished work. Sol visits after the workshop scene; use the actual preparation time when planning departure.

If June makes the test: INT 7, Repair 3, Science 2, with neither skill tagged. A profile convention; her skills are not lent to the PCs.

Read aloud

June shakes the box of caps.

“We've got enough to pay. What we need is someone who's selling.”

Book references, printed pages: modification and failed installation p. 87; 10 mm compatibility p. 96; hardened receiver p. 100; robot modules pp. 185-187; workbenches p. 209; crafting p. 210; materials p. 211; receiver recipe p. 222. The prepared modules, household tools and two expedition plans are part of this adventure's starting equipment.

Separate stock: 264 purified water and 72 cooked portions on the cart. Sol offers up to 60 purified water at 20 caps each. The remaining water and meals are reserved for her own journey and existing commitments. She offers no escort or future deliveries.

Household purse: 1,200 caps before purchases. At the stated price, all of it buys 60 water. This is a finite extension of the household’s reserves; the water search is still needed. A discount or barter never raises the 60-water sale limit.

Trade: accepting the price requires no roll. If the PCs haggle, use Negotiating a Price: Sol rolls 2d20, CHA + Barter TN 5, critical on 1, without Alma’s merchant bonus. State the value of any item offered before resolving the exchange; its owner must agree. Sol’s information does not depend on a purchase.

Trinket, if relevant: outside combat, contemplating your personal trinket allows you to recover 1 Luck. Once per quest; never above the Luck attribute. Page 21.

Planning example: departure H+3; initial water reference H+192, about eight days. After four omelets and four servings of purified water at the first meal, 108 purified water and 12 dirty water remain: suggest 54 purified water for the PCs and 54 for June and Biscoto. Keep the 12 dirty water for upcoming meals, or explicitly reallocate them. Also deduct drinks taken after the garden. Recalculate if the menu changes; track the inventory.

On site: the abandoned rooms and old water marks reveal why the residents left. Reading these signs and using the roof require no roll. There are no supplies to search for.

1. Has water reached home? Record date, quantity, and actual flow. A dirty water delivery must still be purified or drunk with its risk.
2. What do the PCs have left? Deduct return-trip water, meals, caps, materials, ammunition, and medicine; record injuries and Fatigue.
3. Who controls the valves? Agreement honored, guards gone, or occupation maintained. Agathe and Rose may reverse a secret reopening.
4. Is the problem solved or postponed? Active pipe: lasting flow. The Cisterns: finite batch. Water canisters from the waterworks: amount reaching home after return-trip consumption.
5. If water is still short: update needs and remaining supplies, then plan the next attempt to secure water. H+192 does not automatically kill anyone; use the actual state of the household.

RR-4. Level 3; 24 XP per PC if the threat is permanently neutralized. Pages 361-362. RR-4 accepts release slips signed by Vern.

Abilities: robot, unaffected by hunger, thirst, suffocation, disease, radiation, or poison; no natural healing or ordinary medical care. Use Repair instead of Medicine. It suffers injuries. One injured arm reduces fire rate by 2; two injured arms prevent laser attacks. The volley therefore drops to 5 CD with only one functioning arm. The volley uses a normal major action, not a free attack.

Piercing 1: each Effect ignores 1 energy DR. Burst: during the volley only, each Effect allows a hit on another target within close range of the first. Do not activate this on the NPC's ordinary shots.

Running Its Turn

1. Check the explosion risk. At 4 HP or less, or with two injured arms, apply self-destruct below.
2. Otherwise, check whether it remains hostile. If the parts are put back and the PCs back away, RR-4 ceases fire.
3. Enemy within reach: minor action Aim, major action Claws.
4. Visible enemy beyond reach: minor action Aim, major action Laser. At a distance of one zone, add +1 difficulty to this close-range laser.
5. Use its volley only once, if it is trying to stop an armed attack. Mark it as used.
6. Outside its perimeter: it guards the workshop; it does not pursue anyone beyond the forecourt.

Self-Destruct: Announce Before Combat

Vern warns: "Once it's half dead, it blows up the other half." The robot's red label confirms the mechanism. The profile provides no grace round.

1. On its turn, if the threshold has been reached, RR-4 advances toward the nearest opponent if it can move.
2. It spends its major action to explode in its zone; it is destroyed.
3. Roll 2d20, TN 7, criticals 1-2, base difficulty 2 for the zone.
4. Success: 6 CD; failure: 3 CD. Resolve the area hit against its occupants and their resistances. Do not replace this difficulty with a single PC's Defense.

Hit locations: humanoid table, as for PCs. Injured arm: unusable; leg: prone, no sprinting, movement requires a major action; head: loses its next normal actions and +2 to visual tests; torso: 2 CD ballistic damage ignoring DR at the end of its turn. Describe a malfunction or leak, not bleeding. References: pp. 28, 32, 34.

Accessible wreck: INT + Science D1; salvage 2 CD common materials, +1 CD per AP spent; each Effect also grants 1 uncommon material. No ammunition is added automatically. The regulator is a separate item in the workshop.

Agathe and Rose: normal level 2 Raider, p. 384, converted to ghouls using p. 394. Equipment is limited as listed below. 17 XP each per PC if the threat is permanently resolved through combat, an agreement, or successfully bypassing them until departure; p. 332.

Skills: Melee Weapons* 2, Small Guns* 2, Unarmed 2, Sneak 1, Medicine 1, Throwing 1, Repair 1, Survival 1. Others 0. Asterisk: tagged skill. Watchfulness: PER + Survival, TN 6, critical on 1.

Starting positions: Rose guards the gate in the yard. Agathe is at the pumps, Isaac at the valves. Only Rose makes the lookout test until the others take up guard duty.

• Aim: minor action; reroll 1d20 on the next attack that turn, p. 25.
• Unreliable: complications on 19-20 with the pipe gun; p. 90.
• Close Quarters: the pipe gun ignores the +2 to ranged attacks when an enemy is within reach; p. 90.
• Ghoul: immune to radiation damage and effects; every 3 radiation damage received restores 1 HP. No poison immunity, claws, or radioactive attack; p. 394.
• NPC ammunition: no tracking rounds or buying CD with ammunition; only Agathe can use her weapon's volley, once; p. 335.
• Injuries: normal rules. At 0 HP, death unless the attacker chooses otherwise; pp. 32 and 332. The guard still standing immediately offers a truce.

Available equipment: Agathe carries only the pipe gun; Rose only the tire iron. Both: leather clothes. Ammunition recovered with the weapon: 10 + 5 CD .38 rounds, rolled once, p. 200. Any equipment taken is no longer available to its former owner.

Isaac: Resident profile, level 2, ghoul version, 8 HP, Defense 1, initiative 11; INT + Repair TN 6, critical on 1. He does not fight, hides at the first shot, and provides no additional XP reward. His help with assembly uses 1d20, not his own 2d20 test. He cooperates if the PCs leave him alive and keep irrigation running.

Two individuals in the underground room at The Cisterns. Level 1; 10 XP each per PC. Page 347. Two turns, two HP pools. No swarm rules.

Ballistic and energy DR: 0 everywhere. Immune to radiation and poison.

Bite: 2d20, TN 6, critical on 1; 1 CD ballistic, Radioactive; within reach. Each Effect adds 1 radiation damage, after resolving ballistic damage and applying the relevant radiation DR.

Small: any injury kills the radroach. Defense 2 and HP 6 already account for its size. Sneaky: TN 10 on Sneak tests; +1d20 on sneak attacks. Alma warns the PCs and points out signs of the nest: no automatic surprise. An actual sneak attack also reduces difficulty by 1, minimum 0, and adds Vicious, p. 29.

Running Each Radroach

1. Beyond reach: minor action Move into reach, major action Bite.
2. Already within reach: minor action Aim, major action Bite.
3. Roll 2d20, TN 6, against the target's Defense; Aim allows one die to be rerolled if used this turn.
4. On a hit: determine the PC's hit location, then roll 1 CD. Subtract their ballistic DR from the damage.
5. An Effect? Also resolve 1 radiation damage, minus that location's radiation DR. Reduce maximum HP; lower current HP only if they exceed the new maximum.
6. PCs behind the closed door: the insects stay in their room. Retreat ends the exchange.

When attacked: apply Defense 2, DR 0; 5 net damage causes an injury and therefore death, even with 1 HP remaining. For this insect only, ignore hit location: a declared simplification with no practical effect here. The rulebook provides no specific hit-location table for ground-dwelling radroaches.

Afterward: thirst and sleep worsen by one step after combat. If a bite dealt damage after resistances, check for disease as with the mole rat. Butchering: END + Survival D0, one meat per accessible body. Permanently neutralizing both: 20 XP per PC, without dividing by two. Luring them outside for a few minutes does not necessarily count as permanent neutralization.

Base: Wastelander, p. 392; ghoul conversion p. 394. Level 2. For Vern, Noé, Isaac, and Sol.

Initiative 11; Defense 1; HP 8; no Luck points or melee damage bonus. Values from the printed profile.

Skills: Melee Weapons 2, Small Guns* 2, Athletics 1, Speech 1, Unarmed 1, Repair 1, Survival* 2, Barter 1; others 0. Quick reference: Speech TN 5, Barter TN 5, Repair with INT TN 6, watchfulness PER + Survival TN 8, criticals 1-2.

Ballistic and energy DR: 1 on torso, arms, and legs; head 0. Radiation and poison: 0. Leather clothes provide these profiles' protection.

Available equipment: Vern, Noé, and Isaac have their tools. Sol carries a machete. Tools do not deal that weapon's damage.

Isaac and Sol are ghouls: radiation immunity; recover 1 HP for every 3 radiation received. They eat, drink, and sleep. No poison immunity. Agathe and Rose have their own profile.

Conflict with residents: announce weapons; use initiative if they attack; allow a truce or retreat. Unless a cash reserve has already been set, wealth: 1d20 caps, rolled once. Vern uses only his announced cash reserve of 20 caps, plus his sales. Do not reward simply attacking an ally as though it were a completed quest.

Alma. Level 4, notable character. Page 393.

Initiative 13; Defense 1; HP 15; Luck 3. Skills: Melee Weapons 2, Small Guns 3, Lockpick 1, Speech* 3, Unarmed 2, Repair 1, Survival* 2, Barter* 4; others 0.

Speech: TN 12, criticals 1-3. Barter: TN 13, criticals 1-4, plus 1 automatic success in opposed tests thanks to Master Merchant. When a merchant assists the PCs, this talent does not replace the main test.

DR: ballistic 1 and energy 2 on torso, arms, and legs; head 0; radiation and poison 0.

Prepared equipment: wasteland wanderer outfit and automatic 10mm pistol. No rifle or Molotov in these scenes. Shooting TN 8, critical on 1, 3 CD ballistic, close range, fire rate 4, Inaccurate. Once per combat: 7 CD and Burst with Let Rip. Fists: TN 7, critical 1, 2 CD ballistic.

Well Stocked: stock is defined by the scenario and is never unlimited. Alma has a single supply of 320 dirty, irradiated waters. Purchases, barter, and service rewards all draw from this same supply; her profile creates no additional reserves. Total wealth: 6d20 caps if needed, rolled once; do not count a second identical purse.

1. Place combatants in the described zones, then follow initiative. Use the initiatives in their profiles, not the mole rat's.
2. Choose the weapon and a visible target. Melee: within reach. Ranged: note its optimal range.
3. Difficulty = target's Defense. Add +1 per range category away from optimal range, +1 for targeting a specific location, and any other applicable modifiers.
4. Ranged attack with an enemy within reach: +2 difficulty, unless the weapon has Close Quarters. Close = same zone; medium = adjacent zone; long = two zones away.
5. Roll 2d20 against the profile's TN. Apply criticals, complications, and any Aim reroll; Inaccurate prevents the Aim reroll.
6. Failure: no damage for an ordinary attack; Blast deals half the CD. Resolve complications. Success: excess successes become AP for the relevant side.
7. Determine hit location using the table, except for the radroach simplification. For Blast, determine one location per occupant hit. Protectron: humanoid column.
8. Roll the attack's CD, count damage and Effects, then apply qualities.
9. Cover: if the location is actually concealed, roll the protection CD and add the result to its DR. Wood 1 CD, rubble or bricks 2 CD, steel 3 CD. A piece of scenery does not automatically protect the whole body.
10. Subtract the appropriate DR, minimum 0, then remove HP. At least 5 net damage from one hit, or dropping to 0 HP: an injury. Apply any profile exceptions.
11. PC ammunition: remove one round per shot, plus any spent to increase CD, up to the fire rate limit. NPCs can Let Rip once per combat: add fire rate to CD, with Burst if the weapon has that effect.
12. End of turn and end of scene: ongoing injuries, then thirst, sleep, and any diseases. Use First Aid if necessary.

Standard CD: d6 = 1: 1 damage; 2: 2 damage; 3-4: nothing; 5-6: 1 damage + 1 Effect. Do not add morale tests or opportunity attacks from another game. Moving or sprinting: only one movement per turn, as in the mole rat scene.

References: pages 25-32, 37-38, 90-91, 190-193, and 335.

1. State quantities, prices, and what is offered in exchange. Accepting a satisfactory price or agreement requires no roll.
2. If the PCs haggle: opposed CHA + Barter. The merchant rolls first; their successes set the difficulty.
3. Alma: 2d20, TN 13, criticals 1-4, then +1 automatic success. The PC can then buy dice and make their roll.
4. Does the PC match or beat the difficulty? Price 10% more favorable; 20% if they spend 2 AP after succeeding. Round down.
5. Do they fail? Price unchanged; the merchant may spend 2 AP to make it 10% less favorable. The PC may refuse.
6. Selling an item: the normal starting price is one quarter of its value, rounded down. Services and special contracts are still negotiated according to their usefulness.
7. Deduct only once the money, goods, and stock sold. A good roll does not create additional stock.

Other social requests: listen to the argument. An agreement that serves the NPC's interests succeeds without a roll. When uncertain, announce the test and stakes; active opposition uses the procedure on p. 16. Surrender without leverage is not automatically difficulty 1.

References: pages 16, 85-86, and 315.

Choice shown on the map: 96 km and 28 hours of walking instead of 104 km and 36 hours. The dry ravine cuts through the ridges and opens into the crater at The Cisterns. Split drums have contaminated its floor and the old lake deposits. The shortcut passes through this pocket for 30 minutes; the rest of the route and Alma's yard lie outside the area. Announce the danger before entry. Scenario hazard based on p. 198.

1. Describe the drums and warnings. No roll is needed to understand that the ground is contaminated.
2. Choose before moving on: cross, skirt this pocket by adding 8 hours, or return to the ridge trail. The local detour cancels the 8 hours saved but avoids this hazard.
3. Direct crossing: 1 CD radiation per 10 minutes, totaling 3 CD radiation per person, once for the 30 minutes. Combine this into one roll at the end of the crossing.
4. Apply the body's lowest radiation DR. Rad-X does not replace choosing a route; deduct any dose used and track its duration.
5. Subtract net damage from maximum HP. If current HP exceed the new maximum, reduce them to that maximum. Track the character's conditions without inventing an END test to negate this damage.
6. Each new crossing causes fresh exposure. Add the 8-hour detour manually to the displayed time: the calculator checkbox represents the direct crossing.

Creative alternative: complete protection, a constructed footbridge, or another passage may alter exposure. Announce the cost and outcome before any roll. A failed navigation test does not teleport the PCs into radiation.

Scenario allocation: five residents, four consumers. The two PCs, June, and Biscoto eat and drink. Archie consumes neither water nor food. No food multiplier applies to Biscoto.

Total starting stock: 112 purified waters + 16 dirty waters. Use each character's thirst track to determine when they need another drink.

Calculating Eight Days

Assumptions: four omelets and four purified waters at the first meal; all four organic residents are then Hydrated. Temperate weather, light activity, no losses. H+0 means this first meal, after cooking. Individual needs still follow the rulebook.

Per person: the first water covers 6 hours; the next 27 each cover 7 hours if drunk while Thirsty, before becoming Dehydrated. Therefore 28 waters × 4 people = 112 waters, for a theoretical 6 + 27 × 7 = 195 hours. H+192, or eight days, is the practical reference point, with only three hours to spare in this ideal calculation. Drinking times may fall during the night; combat, exertion, and heat reduce coverage.

After four omelets and four purified waters: 108 purified waters + 12 dirty waters remain. Possible starting allocation: 54 purified for the PCs, 54 for June and Biscoto, with the 12 dirty waters left at home for cooking. Both groups then have the same supply per person. Add water spent on the garden and preparations before packing the bags.

What Actually Changes This Budget

• Four noodle dishes at the first meal: the four dirty waters also quench thirst. All 112 purified waters remain available: a theoretical 4 + 28 × 7 = 200 hours of coverage per person, before exertion.
• Mixed menus: track each person. One soup's benefit does not give the entire group five extra hours.
• Drinking dirty water directly: improves thirst by one step, with normal irradiation. Biscoto is immune to radiation and poison. Remove each unit drunk from the cooking stock.
• Purification: the 12 remaining dirty waters yield 4 purified waters, in 1 hour 20 minutes at one station, before AP. Distributing them equally adds roughly 7 hours per person to the ideal calculation. They are then unavailable for the next three breakfasts in the sixteen-day menu: find more water or revise those meals.
• Combat or strenuous exertion: thirst worsens by one step at the end of the scene. Recalculate the next drinks; Biscoto's heavy labor also counts.
• Heat above 32 °C: thirst intervals are halved. This heat is not the starting assumption.
• Rationing, purchases, or a new source: adjust stock and timers. Eight days is a reference point, not a deadline imposed despite good decisions.

At zero water: continue tracking thirst states, then Fatigue and the specified HP losses. No one automatically dies at H+192. Reassess the water search using the actual reserves, needs, and time required.

References: pages 53-54, 149, 160, 190-192, and 216-217.

Stock before breakfast: 192 food items. The quantities in the table provide 16 breakfasts, 80 other cooked dishes, and 64 canned meals, plus 16 unused breakfast ingredients depending on choices. No dishes are prepared at the start.

Preservation: for this scenario, the salted or dried meat and sheltered pantry ingredients keep for this period. They still need cooking.

Total: 96 dishes and 64 canned meals for four people over sixteen days. The 16 breakfasts consume the 16 starting dirty waters; purifying or drinking them requires revising those meals. Purified water is counted separately. The menu assumes a new water source before supplies run out, around D8.

Cooking: 32 crispy squirrel bits cost 32 squirrel bits; 16 mole rat steaks cost 32 meats; 32 ribeye steaks cost 32 brahmin meats. These common recipes have complexity 1, use Survival, and require no perk. Including the 16 breakfasts: 96 dishes × 20 minutes = 32 hours of work, spread over time and between the two stations. Archie can cook at the fixed station during the expedition. The PCs can take the second station to prepare meals on the road.

Canned and raw food: hunger improves by 1 step; normal irradiation. Solid cooked dishes: hunger improves by 2 steps. Noodles: hunger improves by 1 and thirst by 1. Biscoto suffers no radiation from canned food. Observe the limit of one food consumption per scene; the four meals on the canned-food day are spaced apart. Rationing, harvesting, or changing the menu alters this duration.

References: pages 149-151, 190-191, and 216-217.

All kits and doses start in the shared cupboard. The first aid kit is separate from Stimpaks and a doctor's bag.

References: pages 164-170 and 181.

Materials: from the starting 96 common materials, a receiver leaves 93; a compass 94; the mobile water tank 92 common and 22 uncommon. These totals include the 32 fuel materials. The 4 rare materials remain available. Prebuilt modules cost no materials to install. Add junk yields when scrapped; remove any tools sacrificed or bartered.

Cooking: a station needs one combustible common material after 8 hours of operation. The 32 fuel materials provide 256 additional hours, to divide between the stations. Put out the fire after use; record actual time burning, not just successful recipes.

Camp kitchen: the second station breaks down into pot, grill, and tripod, 5 kg total by scenario convention. If the PCs take it, it leaves the household: Archie has only one station left. Its remaining burn time is whatever remained at departure, after any preparations already completed. Deduct fuel carried from the 32 materials in stock.

Meals on the road: four ribeye steaks a day for two PCs use four brahmin meats and 1 hour 20 minutes of cooking. This ordinary cooking fits within the 16 hours at camp on a day with 8 hours of walking, provided watches and 6 hours of sleep each remain possible. Additional work exceeding those windows delays departure. Deduct ingredients and fuel used; no free rations are created.

Workshop limits: one repair station, one weapons workbench, and one robot workbench, all fixed. No chemistry, armor, or power armor station. No deluxe toolkit or multi-tool; ordinary tools do not reduce difficulty. The prepared stations and modules are part of this adventure's revised allocation.

Fuel: the rulebook gives no daily consumption for a Mr. Handy's thruster. The 20 shots supply only the flamer. Keep the radio, flashlight, and propulsion running throughout this adventure without daily tracking or adding recoverable fuel to stock.

References: pages 54, 91, 181-183, 208-210, and 216.

Starting equipment for all five residents, carried and stored. Reconcile the PCs' sheets with this inventory before play; character creation adds no extra supplies.

Ammunition: count shots without adding a full magazine to the quantities. The flamer's 20 shots appear under Workshop and energy in the main table. Biscoto's natural protection belongs to his profile, not to recoverable items.

References: pages 53-54, 91, 95, 111, 124, and 146.

Container capacities are scenario conventions, expressed in servings. No volume in liters is inferred from the rules.

Ordinary equipment: each PC has a household bag, canteen, bedding, and covering for travel. The two small bags each add +2.5 × STR kg to maximum carry weight. The other accessories grant no bonus.

Water on site: no usable source, no separate watering reserve. The crops survive on soil moisture and suffer from the lack of water. No water, milk, or animal manure production is added each morning. Any supplies actually gathered during play are added to stock.

Transport: filling a container removes the same amount from the fixed tank. The four usable canisters provide capacity for 64 waters. Add 2 per canteen: 68 for the two PCs, or 72 for all four organic residents. Repairing the damaged tank or fitting it into the mobile water tank adds 64, giving 132 for the PCs or 136 for the household. These totals describe empty containers, not acquired water.

Loading: the allocation of 54 purified waters fits in the PCs' 68 spaces. Count at most 27 kg of water, then containers, food, and equipment; also add the 5 kg camp station if carried and check each PC's maximum carry weight. The wheelbarrow carries 60 kg, including the container. A full mobile water tank represents at most 32 kg of water; it occupies the existing wheelbarrow. Do not count a second wheelbarrow or tank after assembly. These loading weights round water to 0.5 kg per serving when preparing the expedition.

Scenery and salvage: furniture, housing, and tools can be sacrificed for materials according to their nature. This destroys or impairs their use; no additional yield is credited until that choice is made. Ordinary accessories in this table grant no numerical bonus unless listed.

References: catalog tools pages 181-183; capacities, furniture, and crops set for the scenario.

Inventory scope: ordinary accessories are included in the two equipment groupings. Unlisted specialized gear, consumables, and items granting a bonus are unavailable at the start. Known recipes still require their ingredients and perks.

Assumed standard of living: sixteen days of menus, medical supplies for a few incidents, maintained tools, two firearms, and savings. No regular trading surplus. For comparison, one purified water costs 20 caps in the catalog: 1,200 caps would buy 60, only if a seller has them and accepts that price. Sol offers up to that quantity at this price before haggling. Equipment resale value is negotiated separately.

References: pages 21, 160, 209-210, and 216-217. Quantities and allocations: scenario choices.

1. Announce the goal, difficulty, and risk. Difficulty = successes required; TN = attribute + skill.
2. Roll 2d20. Before the roll: 3d20 cost 1 AP, 4d20 cost 3 AP, and 5d20 cost 6 AP total. You may give these AP to the GM to buy dice.
3. Count successes. A die ≤ TN: 1 success. A 1: 2 successes. Tagged skill: any result ≤ its rank gives 2 successes.
4. Meet the difficulty: success. Excess successes generate AP, minus Fatigue, minimum 0. Keep at most 6 AP in the shared pool.
5. A 20: a complication, even on a success. A complication does not turn success into failure. If no relevant complication applies, add 1 AP to the GM's pool.
6. Difficulty 0: success without dice or AP. With the GM's agreement, you may still roll to gain AP and risk a complication.

Luck pool: equal to the attribute at the start of the quest. Once per quest, contemplating your trinket outside combat restores 1 point, without exceeding that maximum. CHA = Charisma; LCK = Luck.

References: pp. 12-21. Extra actions and damage: combat options.

Standing watch and cooking are not sleep. One recovery from sleep per 24 hours, p. 35. Naps on the sleep track, p. 192, do not provide multiple daily recoveries.

1. Record the duration and restore HP. Radiation still reduces the maximum: sleep does not remove it.
2. If the PC has an injury: END + Survival upon waking. Difficulty depends on the previous day: rest 1, light activity 2, travel without combat 3, travel with combat 4.
3. Expand the complication range by 1 per untreated injury. One untreated injury: 19-20; two: 18-20.
4. Success: one injury heals, plus one per 2 AP spent. Failure: it remains; sleep has still restored HP.
5. Remove sleep-related Fatigue after at least 6 hours if it had no other source. Otherwise, also resolve hunger, thirst, disease, or exposure; then remove 1 Fatigue at the end of each noncombat scene.

References: pp. 35 and 190-192. Full states and intervals: hunger, thirst, sleep.

1. Subtract net radiation from maximum HP. Reduce current HP only if they exceed the new maximum.
2. Prevention: diluted Rad-X. One dose, a minor action if already in hand: +3 radiation DR until the end of the scene. Doses do not stack.
3. Treatment: RadAway. One dose, a minor action if already in hand: remove 4 radiation, or 2 for a diluted dose. The maximum rises; this does not restore lost HP.
4. First Aid with RadAway: remove radiation before applying other healing. Only one chem per First Aid action.

Robots and super mutants: immune to radiation. Sentient ghouls: immune, and recover 1 HP for every 3 radiation received. These immunities do not protect a human PC.

References: pp. 31, 34-35, 53-54, 149, 164-165, 169, and 394.

Removing this source: at least 1 hour with suitable protection. Then remove Fatigue under the normal rules. This adventure's budgets assume temperate weather; announce any heat before the route is chosen.

Reference: p. 192.

Pages 192-194. Does not affect robots.

Infection: End of Scene

1. Count categories: damaging animal bite/scratch; contaminated water; raw meat; toxic fumes without protection; a contagious sick person within reach; sleeping on bare ground.
2. END + Survival, difficulty = categories, maximum 5. A repeated category counts once.
3. Failure: 1d20 on the table. Success: no disease.
4. Next day: symptoms and +1 Fatigue; disease = source of Fatigue.

Dirty water: resolve disease and irradiation separately.

Contracted Disease

D: difficulty. CD: combat die. Duration: score to reduce.

Swamp Gas: the French text uses CHA for Luck (p. 43), rendered LCK here. Charisma is CHR in French and CHA in this translation.

Recovering

Timing used: end of the day, after symptoms appear.

1. END + Survival, difficulty = remaining Duration. Resting all day: D−1, minimum 0.
2. Assistance: INT + Medicine, 1d20, added if the patient scores a success.
3. Success: Duration−1; at 0, recovery. Failure: unchanged.
4. Antibiotics: maximum one dose/day; Duration−1 automatically at the end of the day, in addition to the test.
5. Recovery: source of Fatigue removed; recover according to p. 190.

AP and Luck are not part of the community's supplies.

HP, radiation, diseases, Fatigue, and XP are tracked on individual sheets.

Consult only when a player wants to use them.

The GM uses their own AP pool for the mole rat. Bonus dice from perks count toward the limit of three dice added to the base 2d20.

If a PC assists before their turn, they give up that turn, page 26.

Prone target, page 25: same zone, attack difficulty -1, minimum 0; farther away, difficulty +1.

Final difficulty 0, page 15: automatic success. For an attack, still roll hit location and damage. With the GM's agreement, you may still roll the test to generate AP and risk complications.

Prone character: crawling costs a major action; sprinting is impossible. Standing up costs a minor action.

1. Read the weapon on their sheet. Skill, damage, range, and effects.
2. Choose the test. Unarmed: STR + Unarmed. Small gun: AGI + Small Guns.
3. Start with the mole rat's Defense: 1. Add relevant modifiers.
4. For a ranged attack: +1 difficulty per range category away from optimal range.
5. Within reach of an enemy: +2 difficulty to tests other than a melee attack.
6. Resolve attack, hit location, and damage using that weapon's values.
7. Spend the ammunition fired, even if the attack misses.

To increase a shot's damage: one additional round per added die, up to the weapon's fire rate. Announce this expenditure before damage. Spending AP to increase damage applies to melee and thrown weapons.

Mole rat resistances: ballistic 1; energy 0; poison 0; radiation immunity.

1. Record an injury at the killing blow's location.
2. Add a second injury if the hit also deals at least 5 net damage.
3. Make the PC prone, unconscious, and dying. They can no longer act.
4. At the beginning of each of their turns: END + Survival, difficulty equal to the number of injuries; complications on 19-20.
5. Success: they remain alive and dying. Failure: they die.
6. To stabilize them: an ally uses First Aid, a major action, with INT + Medicine.
7. Difficulty: the patient's number of injuries.
8. Success: restore 1 HP. They remain unconscious but are no longer dying.
9. Option after success: spend 1 AP to restore consciousness.

Do not apply dying rules to the normal mole rat: at 0 HP, see the end of the attack.

Dying character takes damage: add one injury. Add another injury if the hit reaches 5 net damage.

Stabilizing or restoring HP does not treat injuries. Bleeding continues until the torso injury is treated.

1. Choose a patient within reach.
2. Spend a major action: First Aid.
3. Roll INT + Medicine. Difficulty = number of injuries; +1 for treating yourself.
4. On success, choose: restore HP equal to Medicine rank, or treat one injury.
5. For HP: each AP spent restores 1 additional HP.
6. For an injury: suspend its penalties; full recovery will require rest.

A treated injury may reopen if that location takes more damage: roll 1 combat die. On an Effect, its penalties return.

Stimpak already in hand: a minor action to use it. Restore 4 HP or treat one injury. If the patient is dying, stabilize them immediately.

References: pages 32-35. Radiation: Rad-X and RadAway. Robot: replace Medicine with Repair; Stimpaks do not heal it.

• Keen Senses: PER tests, difficulty -1, minimum 0.
• From underground: can detect creatures on the surface.
• Radiation immunity: no radiation damage or effects.
• Other tests: Body 5 or Mind 4, plus Other 2.

Reference: page 350.

• Suggested starting point: Full at 20:00; Quenched at 22:00; eight hours of sleep.
• Waking at 06:00: Peckish, Dehydrated, Well Rested; 1 Fatigue from thirst.
• Each point of Fatigue reduces every AP gain by 1, minimum 0.
• At the beginning of a scene: lose 2 HP per full 2 Fatigue, without resistance.
• At the end of a noncombat scene: remove 1 Fatigue if all its sources are gone.
• Six hours of sleep remove all Fatigue only if it came solely from lack of sleep.
• Noodles: hunger and thirst each improve by one step. Omelet: hunger improves by two steps, no effect on thirst.
• The omelet grants 2 AP minus the eater's Fatigue, minimum 0; with 1 Fatigue upon waking, the PC gains 1 AP. Drinking removes the source, then Fatigue decreases at the end of a quiet scene.
• Track the timers from the meal onward: Full → Sated after 1 hour; Hydrated → Thirsty after 2 hours. Record current states before combat.

References: pages 35 and 190-193.

• Full inventory and budget in Community Supplies: scenario allocation set for this introduction, not an official rulebook allocation.
• Archie has Survival 2 to prepare these dishes without a roll. NPC meals do not add AP to the PCs' pool.
• Soups: here, they use both the scene's food and drink consumption allowances.
• Workshop: the ready-made modules and workbenches are scenario allocations. The compass and mobile water tank are invented plans, with stated costs and effects; their recipes are not in the rulebook.
• Tank: no free repair in addition to the chosen project. An independent repair may use the rarity 1 assigned to this scenario item.
• Successful repair: no hidden leak added afterward.
• Prepared capture: INT + Survival, difficulty 1 proposed by the GM.
• Crops: two harvestable carrots provided by the scenario.
• Injured mole rat leg: apply the leg effect.
• Sledgehammer, mole rats, AP, and Luck: rulebook profiles and rules. The survivor tries to flee: behavior chosen for this encounter.