Travel and Downtime Rules

When redlining, double your total distance traveled; for example, with an average distance of 200 miles, redlining it would give you an additional 200 miles of travel for a total of 400 miles for the day. This doubling applies to any additional bonuses you’ve accrued for the day.

Redlining is hard, both on the body and on the mind. For each day you spend redlining, you take a -2 penalty to WILL saves and a -1 to FORT saves; these penalties can only be removed by performing the Meditate activity.

In addition, the vehicle you’re handling may not appreciate the stress. Every day you spend redlining, the vehicle itself must make a flat DC 13 check; this check is increased by 1 for every consecutive day spent redlining. On a failure, the vehicle breaks down and does not run until a downtime activity is spent repairing it (a DC 12 Vehicle or Technology check).

Hiking

Sometimes, there’s nothing else to do but hoof it. It’s slow and exhausting… but what isn’t nowadays?

On foot, your total distance traveled equals 50 miles. Traveling on foot gives you a -1 penalty to all FORT saves; this penalty goes away after a night’s rest. You can choose to double time or redline while hiking… if you’re desperate enough.

Downtime Activities

With America as empty as it is, there’s plenty of days where nothing happens and nothing changes except the position of the sun in the sky. Managing these moments can sometimes be as important as managing your food stores; after all, an idle wastelander is a dead wastelander.

Instead of traveling, you may instead choose to spend one time block on one of the activities listed below. NPCs who are with you may also engage in one of the following activities, though depending on the individual, it may require some persuasion or bargaining to get them to assist the group instead of looking out for their own interests.

Meditate

This doesn’t have to be sitting cross legged going ‘ohm’, though it can be. Some folks meditate just fine taking a walk through the woods, spending time scavenging for something trivial, like that perfect leather jacket, or just sitting around the campfire, talking with friends. Essentially, to meditate is to take some time to still your soul, to build yourself up, and to reach some level of peace within yourself in spite of the chaos around you.

When a player meditates, they receive an additional Hero Point, to a maximum of three.

Study

Requires access to a book

Knowledge is power, and power is what keeps people alive. While studying, you read over a book you own. At the end of the downtime, make an Intellect roll, DC 15

On a success with a nonfiction book, you receive permanent skill points in the relevant skill equal to the bonus the book gives. Once you get those skill points, though, you can no longer use that book to gain a bonus to your skill roll; you already know all it has to say, after all.

On the other hand, a success with a fiction book means you’ve memorized that book’s contents so well you could write a script from it from memory; you can do Storytelling challenges with that book as if you had it in your possession even if you no longer own it or have access to it.

If you study the book but fail the Intellect roll, you gain a +3 bonus to the roll the next time you Study the book. These bonuses are cumulative (i.e., studying the book twice and failing would give you a +6 to the roll the next time you study it.)

Scavenge

An idle wastelander is a dead wastelander, as the saying goes. You take some time to scavenge off on your own, not far enough to be in danger, but far enough to find something… hopefully.

Roll once on the supplies table to see what you find out on your own.

Cultivate

Requires access to food plot

Just because you have a garden giving you vegetables or chickens laying fresh eggs doesn’t mean you should just call it good there. To cultivate your land means to take the time to go above and beyond simple chore maintenance, instead taking time to fertilize, care, and improve your lands.

After cultivating, the next time your plot would produce Superb food, it produces double that amount instead.

Scout

Knowing the road ahead is the difference between a peaceful day and being set upon by a ghoul pack.

Upon scouting, roll a DC 10 Perception or Investigation check, your choice. For every degree of success, you can ask the GM one question about either your location or the route you’re planning on taking (are there any zombies on the road ahead, how well-scavenged does this area look, are there any hazards that are going to come up, etc.)

Mingle

Must be in settlement

Humans can be every bit as dangerous as the walking dead, and far less predictable. Understanding those around you is often what makes a stay in a settlement amicable and peaceful, as opposed to being run out with torches and pitchforks.

Upon mingling, roll a DC 10 Insight or Persuasion check, your choice. For every degree of success, you can ask the GM one question about this settlement or its people (who calls the shots, are there any rumors around town, how well defended is this settlement, etc.)

Collect Water

Water is the most important resource for any survivalist; those who don’t take the time to stock up are dead, plain and simple.

When you collect water, you spend the day bottling, filtering, and boiling water from local water sources in the area. Roll 1d6; you gain that many units of water. The GM may impose a penalty or a bonus to the d6 roll depending on the environment you’re in (for instance, a -3 if you’re in a desert, or a +4 if you’re near a major river).

Tinker

Requires access to Scrap and the Inventor advantage

Ever since the panic, most of the world has been thrown back to the dark ages, working and fighting hard to barely survive. Those that can access some of the old world’s tech have a significant advantage in the business of staying alive.

If you intend to Tinker, tell the GM what you wish to accomplish (build a gun, improve the range on my radio, repair this generator, etc.); the GM will then tell you how many pieces of Scrap as well as the DC of the Technology check needed to accomplish your goal. Make the roll. On a success, you make it. On a failure… well, you can always try again later. Each attempt to Tinker a specific item gives you a cumulative +3 bonus to attempting that Tinker again in the future (i.e., failing to improve the radio three times will give you a +9 bonus to the fourth time you attempt it).

Build

Requires access to Junk

The ability to put a few walls and doors between you and a walker horde can keep you alive; build them now and your future self will thank you.

If you intend to Build, tell the GM what you wish to accomplish (build a shack, make a crop plot, reinforce this vehicle, etc.); the GM will then tell you how many pieces of Junk as well as the DC of the Stamina roll needed to accomplish your goal (nailing boards together isn’t a complicated process, but it can be tiring). Make the roll. On a success, you build it. On a failure… well, you can always try again later. Each attempt to Build a specific thing gives you a cumulative +3 bonus to attempting that Build again in the future (i.e., failing to build a shack three times will give you a +9 bonus to the fourth time you attempt it).

Multiple people can attempt to build the same thing together. If so, choose one person to make the roll; each person assisting gives a +5 to the check.

Recuperate

Sometimes, the best thing you can do is rest before you work yourself into the grave.

If you have a disease or some other physical ailment that requires you to make a Fortitude save and you spend the day Recuperating, roll twice for the save and take the better result (if you have multiple ailments, roll twice for each of them).

Hunt

The dying world isn’t exactly a paradise for the gamesman; few creatures worth butchering are still around, and those that do have adapted to a life with the living dead, meaning that they're either incredibly skittish or incredibly aggressive. However, when the chips are down, sometimes the only option a survivalist has is succeed in hunting down his next meal… or die trying.

Hunting is performed with the Survival skill, though others may attempt to assist someone rolling the skill check with a relevant skill of their own (Perception to pick up tracks, Stealth to scout ahead, or something else, if they can convince the GM). Those making assisting rolls have a DC of 10; each degree of success gives +5 to the outcome of the final Survival roll.

Once the Survival roll has been made, the GM checks the result against the Hunting Table and lets you know what you found and if it seems aggressive or not. If the creature is aggressive, those participating in the hunt begin a combat against it. If it isn’t, the participating members need to succeed a skill challenge against the creature, the DC determined by the creature. If the party fails the check, the DC is raised by 2; if the DC reaches 24, the animal has succeeded in running away.

If there are multiple creatures, every turn it isn’t being targeted by a character automatically raises the DC by 2.

Example:

Richard and Tulsa decide that they’re going to go out hunting for the day and decide amongst themselves that Tulsa will roll the final Survival check; Richard, meanwhile, decides that he’ll scout ahead by hiding in the bushes. Richard gets a 16 on his survival check, giving +10 to Tulsa’s roll. With the addition of an extremely good Survival roll by Tulsa, the GM informs them that they have found four rabbits, blissfully unaware of the fate that’s about to befall them.

While Tulsa opts to run after them with Athletics, Richard continues to Stealth. The GM lets them know the DC for a rabbit is an 18, and the hunt is on.

Tula succeeds his first roll at a 20, while Richard flubs his stealth with a 17; one rabbit is down, but there are three more, and now that they’re on high alert, their DCs have been raised to 20. They try again; Richard rolls a 21 on his Stealth, managing to snag the one that eluded him. Tulsa chases after another, but with an 18 Athletics, it’s not quite good enough. Two rabbits captured, two still on the loose, now at a DC of 22. Both go for them, both roll 21s… and the rabbits hop away to safety now that their DCs have reached 24; they get to live another day, unlike the two friends Tulsa and Richard are now taking back to camp to consume and eat.

Foraging

Food is hard to come by. Medical supplies, even more so. Spending time gathering both keeps survivors from becoming a corpse, walking and otherwise.

Those that wish to Forage head into the surrounding areas and roll a Survival check; the GM then consults the Forage table to let them know what they found. Many entries are worth one to two food, but some plants give medical benefits of additions to Fortitude or uses of the Healing power, so keep your fingers crossed.

Seek

Sometimes, you don’t need things; you just need one thing. Scrap, fuel, food… in the wasteland, it can come down to the wire with access to a singular resource being the difference between life and death.

Whenever you Seek, name a basic resource other than Books or Medical Supplies (or water; c’mon, the Collect Water activity exists for a reason) from the list and roll an Investigation check, DC 15. Much like the Hunt activity, only one person can roll this check, but others can choose to assist with a relevant skill roll at a DC 12; each degree of success gives a +2 bonus to the person rolling the check. For every degree of success the Investigation check succeeds at, you find one unit of the resource at Average quality; alternatively, for every three units you secure, you can choose to instead take one Superb quality unit.