Setting & Background

posted by Hedningen Original SA post



Mutant: It Takes a Lot of Lars To Make A Swedish RPG

Might as well get started - it's time for the most Swedish of RPGs, Mutant. First published in 1984, it's one of the most beloved games ever to come out of the wintry Northlands. Published by TAMB Äventyrspel in 1984 after their success with Drakar och Demoner , it runs on the BRP engine, which many of us may be somewhat familiar with. Still, Mutant has its own unique charms, and I don't know of any good translations yet, so this is going to be part overview and part-translation.

So, what does the creator have to say?

Fredrik Malmberg posted:

In Fall of 1983, we began the first drafts of a project which came to be called "Mutant". I asked Michael Petersen to write a game and got the first version in March of 1984. After reading it, I gave it back for editing and got it back at the beginning of summer.

Playtesting and editing brought in several more people who came up with criticism, made comments, and brought in new ideas.

I would like to thank Michael Peterson for his patience and tolerance during the game's development. He has let me change, revise, and re-work the game according to my own will, all without too much protest!

Setting and Background
Even before we get to the rules, we're presented with the background of the game - hell, this stuff comes before the traditional "What is an RPG" forward that is required for every single game. Still, this is kind of a neat setting, so I'm just going to translate it for people who want to run their own games, even without the rules. It's pretty classic post-apoc stuff and clearly influenced by Gamma World, although there are some key differences that really make this game shine.

”Mutant” posted:

The first century of the second millennium rapidly changed the lifestyles of the entire world. Technical and political advances followed one another in a never-ending stream.

A new Russian Revolution took place in 2011, and after half a year of anarchy, the Soviet Union was once again an empire. The other states behind the Iron Curtain soon followed, one after another, following Big Brother's example, and by the year 2020, calm had settled over the former Communists.

They quickly formed a peace treaty and defense pact with the USA. The Alliance then crushed the Great Chinese People's Republic in a series of short, bloody conflicts. During this, they detonated five nuclear weapons inside the Great Wall of Chine.

Western Europe protested half-heartedly, already embroiled with internal struggles between politicans and representatives of big business.

The governments also had another thing to worry about. Environmental problems spread further and further from the detonation site, and the mass withering of plants became a serious problem and threatened the world's food supply. Logging of the South American rain forests continued with unabated intensity. Following this (according to the warnings of quickly-silenced scientists) came a great deal of climate change in the tropical and sub-tropical zones.

The technological development progressed in leaps and bounds. Computers became more and more sophisticated and were everywhere. The first Cyber-computers, where artificial and human intelligence were joined, saw the light of day.

This greatly increased the control of the individual. It became necessary to make computerized ID-cards for almost all public functions.

Parallel to this, space research went further and further. The first in a planned series of multi-generational colony ships was sent out to further broaden mankind's knowledge of of the universe. Just beyond Pluto, contact was lost with the gigantic ship, which has never been heard from again.

In the year 2060, a manned mission was landed on Mars for the third time. For the third time, they also took mineral and plant samples for transport to the planet.

At a research station in Arizona, a catastrophe occurred. Several inattentive seconds caused a leak in a sealed room. It was more than enough time for an unknown organism to escape.

At first, nothing happened. The organism was harmless, but it proliferated rapidly and suddenly mutated. Three years after the unlucky accident, it had become a deadly scourge. It began in China, and quickly spread over the rest of the world. Over a billion people died in the following two years, and widespread panic ruled the day.

Governments helplessly watched the plague's progress. No known medicine was capable of helping, and once someone was infected, the chances of recovery were almost non-existent. Those who survived the plague were often killed in the constant riots that followed the protests against the government's inaction.

The prognosis was clear: mankind is on the road to extinction.

In the year 2075, the remaining governments and heads of state gathered together in a crisis meeting. It was decided that all resources were to be allocated towards building self-sustaining underground cities. This way, mankind would at least have one last chance to survive.

The initiative was important, and ten years later, the cities, called “Enclaves”, were the last place on Earth where humanity survived. Virtually all animal life and over 50% of the world's plant life died during the plague.

But these Enclaves were not the final solution. Gradually, problems with energy, nutrition, and waste emerged. Fairly soon, man would be forced to return to the surface of the Earth.

Researchers wagered everything on a bold plan. They decided to genetically manipulate numerous animals, plants, and even people in the hope of finding a mutation which could survive on the ruined Earth's surface. A great number of unique mutations occurred in these laboratories and were sent out into the devastated world. Most died, but some adapted to the new conditions. Slowly, a functioning ecosystem was revived. It was certainly unlike the original, but at least it was fairly stable.

Over time, relations between the various separate Enclaves worsened. Discoveries were kept secret, and espionage became common. Attempts at sabotage and conspiracies targeting important figures became the norm. In the year 2103, war broke out between the Enclaves. It was a grim, brutal war without winners. Twelve years later, the last Enclave was abandoned and destroyed.

A variety of fusion and fission-weapons had been used, and in just twenty years, the atmospheric radiation level was over 100 REM. The fallout slowly transformed to harmless isotopes.

But radioactive fallout was not the only thing that transformed during that time – life-forms on the planet also transformed.

It was found that the laboratory-induced mutants had incredibly unstable genetic material. Mutants mutated anew, and a jumble of breeds and species spread across the world.

Now, it has been nearly 400 years and the world is filled with more or less strange creatures, remnants of the former technology, and a strong desire to build a new civilization. The world of Mutant awaits you!

Society in Mutant
The year is roughly 2500. The old days, before the plague, are almost entirely forgotten. No one speaks “the Old Language”, apart from a handful of robots. Existence is a tough battle for survival and the rebuilding of society . . .

When play begins, the world is divided into small communities with different governance and varying technological levels. There are some major communities; one is a communist society, another is democratic, and a third is a bloody dictatorship. Some zones have armies and well-guarded borders. Some of these have communities of between 7 – 10 thousand people. The most common, however, are small farming communities with little technology.

The mutated animals, which generally have significantly higher intelligence than our time's animals, tend to keep to themselves – dogs have their own territory, as do bears, and so forth and so on. Animals often live by hunting and fishing, but some of them survive through farming. There are no non-mutated animals, apart from some insects that look the same as they did before the Plague. Otherwise, all species are more or less mutated, including the unintelligent animals which roam the land.

There are some communities where both animals and humans live. They often consist of individuals who have broken away from their original community or village and started over again.

In large parts of the world, there is only wilderness, where various tribes (both animal and human) survive as woodsmen, hunters, and fishers. Woodsmen often know bits of news from other parts of the world. Every so often, woodsmen discover societies and cities which have been isolate for a hundred years or more. The reaction to these meetings is variable – there is as much a chance of an overwhelmingly positive reception by the community as there is a chance of caution and outright hostility.

Some uninhabited areas are called “Forbidden Zones”. Originally, these were severely-irradiated areas: the radiation has mostly dispersed, but there are still some areas with intense radiation. In these Forbidden Zones, one can find ancient ruins from before the catastrophe – sometimes entire ruined cities or bombed-out military bases. Inside the Forbidden Zones, one can often find advanced technology. Terribly mutated monsters – even mutated plants – oftentimes life in these Forbidden Zones, which are sometimes even patrolled by robots or protected by other security systems. Most tribes and communities have stopped exploring these areas – hence the name.

In the countryside, technology is fairly unusual. The most advanced thing one might see in a small village is steam power, or something like it. The local residents are usually quite protective of their technological treasures and guard them as best as they can. Villages are often surrounded by a palisade for protection against the strange creatures that prowl through the night.

In the larger cities (between 3 and 7 thousand inhabitants), there may be several steam-powered devices, and even some small industry. The most effective weapon that can be manufactured here is the flintlock (also known as a muzzle-loader). They are mostly found in cities, and most often with bodyguards or the local police force. Although there are communities with even higher technology levels, they are incredibly rare.

In densely-populated regions, there are even mail riders (which rides on a mutated version of present-day horses) and heliographers (mirrors which are mounted in special towers ever few miles. By reflecting sunlight, one can send a message via Morse Code). It is rumored that some very well-developed cities have set up a steam-driven wagon on rails between them. With that, one can send people and goods even faster than the mail riders.

High-tech devices are almost exclusively in the hands of adventurers and in the hands of community leaders. Some armies (which almost never consist of anything more than a hundred men) might have some military technology, such as a mortar. Villagers and other rural folk often fear high-tech devices, because they only see the results of using these devices.

War between different villages and communities is commonplace. Animal-communities rarely tolerate intruders in their territory and often fight one another. Non-mutated Humans usually look down on mutated animals and humans, and the feeling is often mutual.

Because there is no uniform monetary system, barter is common.

In the Forbidden Zones, there sometimes are surviving Mainframe Computers and Cyber-Computers. There also exists religious sects which worship high-tech devices and refer to objects from before the Catastrophe as “The God's Possessions.”

Those who control the small, independent communities often have different goals. Some want to unite the neighboring villages and build a large city. Others want to develop their own communities and move towards industrialization. Others just want to have peace and tranquility, and let life take its own course. But all of them known almost nothing about the time before the Plague. When civilization perished, most of the important historical sources disappeared, and in the difficult times that followed, the Old Language and how to read it were forgotten. Survival was more important than knowing how to read or write.

So that's the basics of Mutant . Definitely an interesting way to handle things – rather than the usual “Nuclear apocalypse wipes out everything”, it was a mutated alien plague that managed to kill most of the people, and the mutations are considerably more intentional.

This is part of why Mutant is so good – it handles the idea of mutation really well. There has to be a reason for all of these mutated things somehow surviving, and knowing how long evolution takes, they figured it had to have gotten a little bit of help from the various scientists attempting to survive the plague.

It also gives the person running the game a shit-ton of freedom – there's a huge number of available plots to be found in just the setting introduction alone, and it fleshed out the world quite a bit without going into too much detail. I'll cover some of the important (and specific!) bits later, but for now, you've got the general idea of the world.

Next time – Basic Rules, Character classes, and some awesome tables to roll on

Let's Get Some Rules Up In This Zone!

posted by Hedningen Original SA post

Cooked Auto posted:

It's worth pointing out by the time Undergångens Arvtagare came out they pretty much used the same background as this edition but made it even more vaguer and mythic. But having read the UA book I do recognize a lot of the elements in UA coming from this edition but expanded by a whole lot. Fun to see it's origins though as my only real contact with Mutant comes from UA and some Mutant 2089. (I'd almost want to do a write up of the specific adventure I played back then but I think it'd be kinda out of context.)

If anything if and when you come around that you should probably post a translation of either the background story or the story of the founding of the nation of Pyris. Otherwise I'm pretty sure there is a semi-finished translation you can use or link to for that purpose.

I'd love to use the translation of M:UA, as it's an awesome game. Part of this is practice for working on larger-scale translation projects (because I am awful at them) and part of it is "How fast can I give commentary on these sorts of things?", because Mutant is fucking awesome. I definitely will talk about Pyris, because everybody loves them, but for now, it's time for a bit more learnin' about Mutant !


Mutant: Let's Get Some Rules Up In This Zone!

Chapter 2: The Obligatory Explanation of the Hobby?
This is the obligatory “this is how you play a role-playing game” explanation of the text. Pretty boilerplate stuff, and it doesn't really contain anything too interesting for people who are used to this sort of thing. We all probably understand that there's somebody who tells everyone else what happens, explains the results of the actions, and that the players are more involved in exploring a world than they are in winning the game.

It also gives a few pointers, namely that the whole point of these sorts of games is to keep things moving – everyone needs to participate, and just because the SL writes the story and the rules tell you what to do, it doesn't mean that the players can just sit back and do nothing..Hanging around doing nothing may mean that you're safe, but you're also not having an adventure. I really like that they include that advice, as it's so goddamn Swedish-collectivist that it's beautiful.

Chapter 3: Numbers, Codes, and Mysterious Glyphs of the Gamer

First off, some quick RPG terms in Swedish for those of us who (somehow) have a copy of any of these Swedish-language texts, yet cannot read Swedish. This is also so that I can use similar terms to what appears in the text, so you're not searching in vain.

Seeing as we're in another language, we're not gonna be rolling 3d6 – no, that's for filthy Americans with their hamburgers and their alliances with the Russian empire. Instead, like decent god-fearing Swedes, we're gonna roll tärningar , which are like dice but in Swedish. Otherwise, the terminology is the exact same thing: we're rolling 3T6.

For Mutant , you're gonna need the following dice, at least according to the book – 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, and 1d10. One of the ways you can tell that this is an old-school product is that it explains how to roll and read these madness-inducing shapes, because such things are not intuitive and you may, for example, manage to kill yourself while rolling 1T4.
Here's my favorite description:

quote:

Rolling T4 is a bit complex. You read the upright number on the side of the die (it's the same figure on every side). The upright number is the one closest to the table
For some reason, it just cracks me up that they needed to explain this, as I can't think of anyone who has ever had trouble reading a four-sided die. I also worry about the poor soul who has a T4 that had the numbers on the top , because then there would be multiple numbers near the bottom, and the book would offer no solutions. Many a curse must have been shouted at Mutant over T4.

We also get this wonderful relic of the 80s – how to roll T20 without having a twenty-sided die. For those who don't know, there was once a time when it was actually a bit difficult to get certain dice – twenty-siders could be a bit weird to find, but for some reason, ten-sided dice were easier (I believe some places used them for math or other counting games – I know I use them when teaching foreign language because it helps students to learn how to quickly read numbers). So, if the book calls for you to roll 1T20, roll 1T10 and 1T6 – if the T6 shows 1, 2, or 3, you've take the T10 as shown, but if it shows 4, 5, or 6, then you add ten to the T10.

While we have the luxury of twenty-sided dice, I have never allowed their use when playing the original Mutant , because it just feels more old-school. If I'm gonna play an ancient game, I'm gonna be as grodnardish as possible in this write-up, and so if I roll dice for any sort of examples, I'll be doing it the old-fashioned way.

There's also a bit about miniatures and maps – while there's no explicit rules for them in Mutant (Remember – it's the 80s), it recommends their use to make things clear for your players. It also does a good job of pointing out the limits of maps – they point out that a good SL can describe a hell of a lot more than fits on a map, and that you're better off using your imagination for a lot of the game and looking to these sorts of aids as just that – supplements to make some of the bookkeeping a little easier.

You've seen me use the term “SL” a few times by now – it stands for Spelledare , and it's just the Swedish word for GM. Again, I'm using it for consistency with the manual, as a lot of what I'm going to post in terms of images (especially stuff like character sheets) will be in Swedish, and if you know what to look for, you'll be golden.

Some other helpful terminology:
Rollperson – Your character in this wonderful realm of madness.
Grundegenskaper – Basic stats. You see this in most games.
Färdigheter – Skills. These are important to your character
Mutationer – Mutations. The best goddamn part of this game.

So, you can probably read a character sheet now (were I to post one), because if you can't guess some of the other terms from English context clues, then I fear for your literacy.

Chapter 4: Let's Make a Character!
Okay, so now that we're aware of what a game is, how we roll dice, and the world of Mutant , we need to work on the basic rules. So, how do we make ourselves a character?

First off, you need to know the stats. For the sake of convenience, I'll post the Swedish and then the English, but I'll stick to the Swedish abbreviations so that the character sheets match up. When generating a new character, roll 3T6 for each stat – this is an old-school game, so you do it in order.

First up is STY , which is an abbreviation for styrka , which means Strength in a language that doesn't sound like a drunken clown fighting Germans. It's pretty much how much you can lift and carry with you.

There's also an important number that comes paired with STY , which is BEP , or Belastningspoäng . That basically means “load points”, and it's an abstraction of weight. You can carry as many BEP as your STY without impairment, but every BEP over that (including partials) means you take a -5% on all skills, plus you can only move at half speed if you're over your max load. It's a pretty nice little mechanic, and it means you really think about the stuff you're carrying.

Then we get INT . You get one guess as to what it means, and it's pretty clear, I'm willing to bet. It also helpfully points out that the lower the number, the dumber you are, and that you should be sure to play somebody with INT 5 as someone of exceptional dumbness.

Next up is STO , which is an abbreviation for storlek , or size. It's how big you are, and there's even a little chart that explains your size based off of this, and an optional rule that you can roll 1T10 for each of them to add some variation into it.


If you can't figure out how to read this chart, please contact your doctor.

Then, we've got FYS , which stands for fysik , which I've chosen to translate as physique. It don't matter how tough you are if you don't have a good constitution or the ability to withstand the various dangers, like radiation and poison/marriage.

We also get our first derived stat here – Kroppspoäng , also known as body points. This is how much damage you can take, and you get it by adding together your FYS and STO . Looking pretty familiar, right? It's just like some systems that we're used to playing, except in a foreign language and with intelligent Badger-men.

Then, it's on to MST !

Er . . . not that one.

Nope, it's mental styrka , or mental strength. This is your strength of will, which represents how good you are at directing your thoughts. It's kind of a weird stat, until you remember that Psychic Mutant is a class/race/whatever and realize that it's necessary to really interact with a lot of their powers. If you're a Psychic Mutant, this is pretty much your most vital stat.

SMI , which stands for smidighet , is a measure of your speed, agility, and smoothness. Not too much to say here.

PER is the last stat, and one of the coolest, in my opinion. Rather than copping out and going with charisma, we instead get personlighet , which translates to personality. It's a clever way of dealing with the fact that you may be a mutant gecko with a laser gun attempting to converse with a unmutated human about whether or not he'll take a handful of pre-Catastrophe bullets for his mutated, carnivorous chicken.

We also get a neat little table for encounters, which says that you roll 1T6 when you encounter folks, and then check the result, modifying it based off of PER and any relevant conditional modifiers, such as if the people are xenophobic of mutants or if you've come with a giant tin of delicious, delicious fudge.


Mmm . . . delicious fudge

Result of 1T6 Roll
0: Hatred - The person furiously attacks you.
1: Disgust -They immediately start attacking, but you can negotiate your way out of it.
2: Irritated - Roll 1T6. 1-3 means that they'll attack, but only if provoked.
3: Neutral - Solid disapproval . . .
4: Neutral - Some positive feelings.
5: Positive - Roll 1T6. 4-6 means that they'll help the characters.
6: Friendly - If it's not too dangerous, then they're willing to offer some help.[/td]
7: Enthuastic - Help in rain or shine!

There's also some modifiers associated with high or low stats, but only three of them change depending on what your stats are.

A STY of 16 means you do an additional point of damage with melee weapons. 17 grants àn additional two points, and 18 is +3 points of damage. Likewise, a STY of 5 gives you a -1 to damage, 4 gives -2, and 3 gives -3.

INT is pretty much the same thing, except for figuring out how to work ancient technology. Basically, you get to roll 1T4 whenever you try and make the device work. On a 1, you figure something out and it works – on a 4, you've done something stupid, and you may have broken it/it might have exploded hilariously. It works just like STY – an INT of 16 lets you ignore the first 4 you roll and so forth, and an INT of 5 makes you ignore the first 1 you roll, continuing in the same pattern.

I bet you can figure out what table is affected by PER, right? Let's assume you can, but remember that unless you can communicate or somehow deal with folks, you don't get the bonus.

You also get another derived number – SMI-kastet, or “Reflexes”, as I've chosen to translate it. Basically, it's the percent chance you have of doing something that requires immediate movement with no thinking, like dodging a falling stone, ducking beneath the boomerang that was just thrown at you, or catching the really fragile bottle of deadly virus that the goddamn robot just threw at you.

You also figure out how fast you can go in a round by FYS + SMI. If you're humanoid, add +3. If you're a mutated animal, +6. This number can be modified by various factors, such as environment.

Holy crap, we know what all the stats mean now! It's awesome! But that's nothing, because we need know how to really make a character, and that's what I was telling you.

Mutant is pretty basic in that you choose a class and your previous employment. I'm not really sure why they chose the word class – I'd say it would be better represented as “Race”, but my opinion cannot travel back in time and change a book written in 1984. You also get some skills, but we'll handle that shit later. Right now, we're gonna go down the “classes”, and be damn happy with it.

First up, we've got Unmutated Humans (which I may have called non-Mutants earlier, but consistency is for hookers and fat people), who tend to be the easiest to deal with – and also the most boring, at least in terms of rolling on tables. You're also pretty awesome because you haven't been mutated by the whole “massively irradiated and plague-filled planet” thing, so you get +2 to STY, FYS, PER, and INT. Yes, that's a lot of bonus, but you also don't get any cool tables, which is boring and lame.

It's also pointed out that Unmutated Humans are kind of dicks to all their poor, mutated cousins, because they're clearly better, what with the not mutating and everything. Mutated animals also get that treatment, because being racist is cool in the apocalyptic future. You also are told that you get to try and command robots, because there has to be something cool about being human in the apocalypse.


Pictured above - the glorious perfection of mankind, after a ton of shit happened

Then we get to Mutants , the bread and butter of the game. Your stats remain the same, but you get to roll on the mutations tables that come up in the next chapter, which is fucking awesome, because some of them are patently ridiculous, like having two brains. You can also get defects, which are “bad” mutations.

In terms of fluff, you're supposed to have a complicated relationship with Unmutated Humans, because they act all superior thanks to the fact their genetic code doesn't resemble a ladder made by a drunken performance artist who thinks that little things like “straight lines” and “structural integrity” are for suckers, but you know you're better because your mutations make you more awesome. You're also a little bit more likely to get along with all the other classes, because most of them are a little bit mutated.


Because pointy ears just scream "horrendous mutation", don't they?

Moving on, we get to Psy-Mutants , who are your stereotypical “brains bulging out of forehead after the apocalypse” kind of mutants. You get psychic powers, but at the cost of physical strength, being the apocalypse's answer to nerds. First off, say goodbye to that STY – roll 1T6+3 for your new score. Then check out your FYS, because it's now 1T6+6. If it makes you feel better, you get psychic powers . . .
This is actually one of the bits of the system I find really elegant. Rather than choosing to be a Psy-Mutant before rolling, you get to wait until you get a good MST score. Otherwise, you'd end up like one of my original groups, who assumed you should choose class before rolling stats, and ended up with Reginald, the Psy-Mutant with a MST of 6. Many fun times were had, at least until he managed to blow himself up by starting a car we tried to fix with several pounds of C4 in place of a carburetor.

In terms of fluff, you're kind of a dick to everyone, because let's face it, you're above those puny mortals who can't make things explode with their minds. People tend to distrust Psy-mutants, so think of a good reason you'd be hanging around the groundlings if you're gonna play one in your group.


Pictured above - douchebags.

Now, we get to talk Robot . I'm not gonna lie – when I first played Mutant , the opportunity to play a robot seemed incredibly goddamn cool. First off, you get some bitchin' stats – STY is 2T6+6, and FYS is 1T6+12, so you're hard to kill. This also comes with a penalty – you have to repair yourself, which means you get a skill called Repair when you choose to play a robot. It starts at 20%, and once you've managed to get it up to 90% or higher, you can start teaching the primitive screwheads how to repair some advanced technology. Finally, you've got steel skin, which absorbs 4 points of damage like armor (which we'll talk about later).

All this badass comes with a price, however. You might have to obey any Unmutated Human who gives you an order. You have what is basically a skill – Obedience – that you actually want to fail. When you make a Robot, roll 1T100. On a 50 or lower, your Obedience is 30%. Otherwise, it's 1T10+30% for your obedience. It notes that playing in a party with a Robot and an Unmutated Human can lead to some supremely dickish moves, so pay attention. You've also got to note that Robots can never intentionally harm an Unmutated Human, because of the Three Laws of Robotics.

Generally, Robots are meant to be polite, but knowledgeable and efficient. You can play a somewhat crazy robot if you'd like, but the book doesn't recommend that. You also learn that robots can look like imitation humans (which is generally the best way to play one, because then you're not being dicked around by Unmutated Humans), or you can look all badass and robot-y.


Definitely Not Roy Batty. Nope. Not at all.

Finally, we have the reason all you cats showed up to this little party – Mutated Animals , the classic feature of Mutant . They're made exactly the same way as a regular Mutant, but you can fluff your character however you'd like to. Generally, try and make it match your stats – the example given is that a character with low FYS but high SMI is probably a mutated cat-person, whereas the other way around would probably be a mutated bear.


You wish you were this awesome

As far as personality, Mutated Animals tend to be loners or to stick to others of their kind. They also are supposed to hate Psy-Mutants (who are apparently complete dicks) and generally don't trust robots, because technology is evil or something.

Well, those are the major classes. So, why don't we select three characters to roll up, and we can get started on showing how this game performs under the hood.

Coming up next: some sample characters, MUTATIONS, and more mechanics!

Let's Make the Worst Explorers Ever!

posted by Hedningen Original SA post

Mutant: Let's Make The Worst Explorers Ever!
Because the best sort of game is the kind where the audience gets to interact, let's talk a bit about making some example characters. I'll toss up some ability arrays and let people vote on what sort of people they should be in the horrible post-apocalyptic future. It's also good because it lets me talk a little bit about the various changes to the rules over the years.

Let's get some stats up in this!
Character 1:
STY:13
INT:9
STO:11
FYS:7
MST:13
SMI:12
PER:11

Character 2:
STY:13
INT:6
STO:14
FYS:9
MST:14
SMI:13
PER:11


Character 3:
STY:8
INT:5
STO:7
FYS:11
MST:10
SMI:7
PER:17

I should note that there's a bit of ambiguity in some of the rules - it implies that you can take mental mutations as a Mutated Animal, but it never outright says that you can, and it tends to contradict itself by saying that only Psy-Mutants can roll on the mental mutation table. It's stupid like that, and this is eventually fixed in future editions where the classes are divided into Unmutated Human, Physical Mutant, Mental Mutant, and Robot, with both Mutants being either Human or Animal.

Mutant: UA also fixes some of the problems players had with robots - namely, that they didn't have as many options in the beginning, despite being completely fucking awesome. So, in M:UA, we get the addition of Options , which are like Physical and Mental mutations in original Mutant.

For those worrying - I intend to go through the various Mutant games in order, mostly concentrating on where things change, what sort of fluff comes up in this game, and the other awesomely neat stuff. There's also the reference to Roy Batty above - I swear to Satan that the guys who wrote Mutant had this really weird obsession with Blade Runner . Don't believe me? Here's a picture from Mutant 2:



Awesome.

So, give me some ideas what you'd like to see in action, and we'll see what sort of characters we can make.

Coming up next: the heroes of this demonstration, TABLES, and more about the changes over time

Generating A Mutant

posted by Hedningen Original SA post


TABLES TABLES TABLES – Generating A Mutant
All right, we've got three rolled-up characters, but I figure we can't really fluff them out until we have a series of mutations and other things of that nature for 'em. I've opted to make an Unmutated Human, a Mental Mutant, and a Mutated Animal for our characters.

We're in Chapter 6: Mutations, which is probably one of the best chapters, because some of the possibilities are weird and awesome. Part of the reason this took so long is because I'm translating this as a resource for people – if you want to sit down and play Mutant, you'll have everything to do so, because this game has been out of print so long, I was actively laughed at when I first started looking for another copy. I had a friend who managed to pay for rent and food by selling his pristine copy to a collector. Plus, nobody wants to translate it, and even though I've presented five chapters of translated Mutant: UA to the original publishers, I have gotten no response as to whether or not they're willing to just release a damn English pdf. However, if anyone wants this removed because it goes into so much detail/is basically just a translation of the entire chapter, I will do so.

. . . but enough bitching about the translation market. Let's talk about Mutation!

If you're a Mutant, Mutated Animal, or Psy-Mutant, roll 1T4. This determines the number of mutations and defects you've got. Psy-Mutants get +2 to the roll (because they're special and shit). You also have a chance at defects – 1-2 gives no defects, 3 mutations give you a defect, and 4-6 gives you one guaranteed defect and a 50% chance at a second defect. So, it's a bit of a crapshoot, but some of these mutations are fucking awesome, so it's worth it.

All of the descriptions, including Defects , follow the same format in this section, which I'm going to lay out here:
Damage: Knowing exactly what you're looking for, this tells you how much damage a direct-combat mutation does. If if doesn't do damage, then it won't have a value for this.
Range: How far away it works. Some mutations are “Personal”, in that they effect only you.
Uses/Day: How many times you can attempt to use this power a day. If it's something physical, then it always works.
Chance to Function: Tends to be either a percentage or an associated contest/attribute. This is what you roll to see if it works. If it says “100%”, then congrats – you've got a mutation that always works. Or you've got a real shitty defect. Who knows?

Pretty easy to read, no? Well, prepare for a SHIT-TON of things that can be done, along with the table you roll on. Bear in mind that you're also supposed to re-roll if you get the same mutation twice.

Physical Mutations

1-3: Change Form
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You've got the power to turn into an animal for an hour at a time. There's a few restrictions, though: mammals only, the SL gets to choose what animal form you get (although we tended to ignore this when playing), and you get one animal form. Mutated animals, on the other hand, find this power a lot more useful – you can turn into an (outwardly unmutated) human or an animal.

4-8: Double Brain
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You've got two brains! You can do (or think) two things at once with no penalty. The example given is holding two weapons at once and firing them at two different targets simultaneously.

9-13: Throw Fire
Damage: 3T6
Range: 15m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You shoot a beam of fire. This can be fluffed any way you'd like it, but it's still a beam of fire. You generally need to choose a target for this.

14-19: Energy Absorption
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 4
Chance to Function: 100%
Kind of an interesting one – in a sort of biofeedback way, you can concentrate on shielding yourself from harmful energy. While this power is active (as long as you concentrate), you take no damage from electricity, lasers, radiation, or heat.

20-25: Extra Limbs
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You have 1T4 extra limbs. You can decide whether they're hands, feet, or tentacles – no extra heads, for example. This is another example where you need to work with your SL – they'll figure out the exact in-game effects.

26-30: Photosynthesis
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You can convert solar energy to food. While you require the normal amount of water to survive, you don't ever need food. As a side effect, your skin turns green. Mutated animals with fur should apparently roll again if they get this mutation, although you're free to allow it in your games if the SL is cool with it.

31-35: Generate Magnetism
Damage: None
Range: 10m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can pull metal objects to yourself with the help of magnets – it's a fucking miracle. You're limited to 5kg of material, although you can use it to drag weapons and other objects out of a target's hand, in which case it's a contest of your MST versus their STY.

36-41: Gills and Webbing
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You've got gills and webbed hands/feet. You can survive underwater for unlimited periods of time. You also swim really good, thanks to the webbing.

42-45: Great Leaping
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
Your legs have additional joints and reinforcement that allow you to jump good. It's a bit uncontrolled, however – for each hop, roll 1T10 to see how far you can go. You can add or subtract up to 3 meters to that roll, though, so it's not totally random.

46-49: Fangs
Damage: 1T6
Range: Melee
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 30% Base Skill, but may be trained
You've got a set of kick-ass fangs you can use to totally mess up a dude. Unfortunately, you need to be in pretty close, and you can't use any other sort of attack while biting someone.

50-53: Immunity
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
Roll 1T4: Your result indicates whether you're immune to -
1: Radiation
2: Poison
3: Disease
4: All of the above

54-56: Infrared Vision
Damage: None
Range: 25m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can see heat. This not only allows you to see in total darkness, but you can track people by their body heat left one things for a short period. It doesn't work near big fires, in really warm places, or on cold-blooded monsters.

57-58: Chameleon Skin
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can change the color of your skin to match the background and totally blend in. Unfortunately, you need to be completely naked for this to work. You also can't combine this ability with photosynthesis – roll again if you've already got it.

59-63: Claws
Damage: 1T4 per hand
Range: Melee
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 25% base skill, but may be trained
You have clawed hands. You can attack with both in the same round, if you so desire. You can't parry with them, however.

64-66: Light
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: Automatic
You're smaller (and faster) than you originally rolled – subtract 1T8 from STO (minimum 3) and add it to SMI. Don't forget to change your height and weight according to the new STO!

67-69: Heavy
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: Automatic
You're bigger than you initially rolled. Roll 3T6+6 – that's your new STO. You should also remember to change your height and weight. Amusingly enough, there's nothing in the rules against being both Light and Heavy, so it's entirely possible to have both qualities RAW.

70-71: Invisibility
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can turn invisible – none of that chameleon “hiding near stuff” crap. It lasts as long as you concentrate, but you can only talk and move while it's active, otherwise it wears off. Things which can see into the infrared or UV spectrum can still see you, however.

72-74: Armored Skin
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You've got 1T6 points of natural armor. Additional armor worn adds to this protection – you can get pretty hard to kill with this mutation.

75-78: Radar
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You can see via sound. You've got gigantic ears, as well as an organ which sends out periodic ultrasonic pulses. You can act in darkness with no penalty

79-83: Berserk
Damage: +2T6
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 1
Chance to Function: 75%
You work yourself into a berserk rage, giving +2T6 damage to melee attacks. Your opponents find it a lot easier to hit you, because you're not concentrating on defense – they get an effect +10% to their combat skills. There's a 50% chance that you'll fall asleep for 1T4 hours immediately after combat – either way, when combat ends, you calm down.

84-88: Regeneration
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can regenerate damage. You heal 1 Body Point every 5 rounds, until you're completely healed. This power only lasts an hour per use, however, so if you're not healed by the end, you don't magically fully-heal.

89-93: Directional Sense
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 95%
You have a 95% chance of knowing which direction North is. Whoop-de-fucking-doo.

94-96: Mirror Skin
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
Your skin is metallic and mirror-bright. It reflects all light and laser-based weapons back at the person who fired them. In strong sunlight, you also have a 60% chance of blinding anyone closer than 30m, in which case they take -20% to all skills. To do that second thing, you need to be totally naked.

97-98: Speed
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You're fast. Really fast. You get a +10% to hit with non-ranged weapons, +10% parry chance, and enemies are at a -10% to hit you because of your speed.

99-100: Wings
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You have wings which let you fly up to 10m per round. You can't lift anything more than yourself (including possession) when you fly, and it's pretty leisurely and slow, but you can fly!

Physical Defects

1-9: Double Damage
Damage: See below
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You take double damage from weapons and the like. On the plus side, you still take normal damage from poison, radiation, and sickness.

10-14: Poor Manual Dexterity
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
Your hands don't work so well. Take -20% on all skills that rely on the use of your hands, including fighting.

15-22: Obese
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You're really, really heavy. You weigh 2T6 x 10% more than you originally rolled, and you always act last in combat rounds.

23-27: Seizures
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 25%
Whenever you lose at ¼ of your Body Points, there's a 25% chance that you pass out. You lose control of your muscles and are helpless for 1T100 minutes.

28-36: Fast Metabolism
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You require four times as much food and drink as a normal person per day. Additionally, after 15 rounds of combat, you need to eat a normal day's worth of meals to avoid passing out from hunger and exhaustion for 1T10 minutes.

37-44: Poor Vision
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You have poor vision. The SL can assign a -10% to -20% on certain actions, including combat, depending on the situation.

45-54: Lowered Statistics
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
Also known as “Fuck this gay earth: the disadvantage”, you subtract 3T4 from one of your statistics, determined by rolling 1T8:
1 STY
2 INT
3 STO
4 FYS
5 MST
6 SMI
7 PER
8 Roll Again

55-65: Low Resistance
Damage: See below
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
There's a 50% chance that this mutant will die in 1T4 rounds when exposed to poison or radiation – disregard all other tables. If help (such as anti-venom or anti-rad drugs) are given, treat it as normal.

66-76: Sensitive to Sunlight
Damage: See below
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You take 1T8 damage per hour you spend in direct sunlight. This can be reduced to 1T4 damage an hour if you wear heavy, concealing clothing. Additionally, if you have the Photosynthesis mutation, roll again, disregarding this defect.

77-88: Horrifying Appearance
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
This only applies if you're a Mutated Human – your appearance is so horrifying that you take a -2 penalty on the Reaction Table, unless it's a really special situation.

89-00: Oversensitive Nervous System
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: (Damage x 2)%
Your nervous system is over-active: any time you take damage, roll 1T100. If you roll equal to or under the Damage multiplied by 2, you spend 2T6 rounds on the ground screaming.

Whoo! Weren't those exciting? Well, that's not all – it's time for the mental shit! As I said before, the book is a bit inconsistent – here is where it says you can play as a mentally-mutated animal and roll on this chart, although you don't get the +2 that Psy-Mutants normally get.

Mental Mutations

1-4: Empathy
Damage: None
Range: 100m
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You can feel other people's emotions. The SL will tell you if they're positive or negative, and inform you of any bonuses this might give you.

5-10: Combustion
Damage: 4T6
Range: 10 m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: MST versus MST
By concentrating, you can make this catch on fire by using your mind. Choose a target and engage in a contest of MST versus MST – if your target fails, they catch on fire and take 4T6 damage, which armor does nothing to prevent.

11-14: Confuse
Damage: None
Range: 25m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 35%
If this power functions, 1T6 of your opponents become confused. All of their skills are halved. If there are more enemies total than you roll, then the ones with the lowest MST are affected first.

15-18: Death Snap
Damage: See below
Range: 30m
Uses/Day: 2
Chance to Function: MST vs. MST
Holy shit, this is one of the really serious “Fuck you” powers that Psy-Mutants can get. Choose a target, then engage in a contest of MST vs. MST. If the target loses, then they're immediately reduced to 1 BP. The Psy-Mutant then falls unconscious for 1T6 rounds.

19-22: Illusions
Damage: None
Range: 25m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: MST vs MST
You can create illusions to frighten and confuse your enemies. It looks and sounds like the real thing, but you can't damage it. If the power fails to activate, you stand there like a twit.

23-26: Intuition
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You instinctively know where to find something, as though you'd been there before. You can know where treasure or supplies are hidden, the directions to a certain room, or even an important passcode.

27-33: Concentration
Damage: (Double)
Range: Special
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can concentrate so hard that you double either your level in a skill for one action or the damage from a melee weapon.

34-37: Control Animals
Damage: None
Range: 25 m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: MST vs. MST
You can take mental control of a single animal for 1T4 hours. It listens to you, but may be hostile when the control wears off. This doesn't work on Mutated Animals or other Humans, mutant or otherwise.

38-42: Control Weather
Damage: None
Range: 1000m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 35%
You can change the weather one step – for example, you can make it rain if it is cloudy or decrease a storm to a gentle rain, but you can't make a blizzard on a clear day.

43-46: Control Plants
Damage: None
Range: 25m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40% or MST vs. MST
You can control plants, causing them to move, wrap around people's ankles, or part from you. You can attempt to control 1T4 plants with this mutation – if the plant is unintelligent, it has a 40% chance of working, but if it is intelligent, it is a contest of MST vs. MST. Control lasts for 4T10 minutes.

47-50: Forcefield
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can erect a personal forcefield that absorbs 10 points of damage per round. If it takes more than 10 points of damage in a single round, it burns out – otherwise, it lasts for 1T20 rounds.

51-53: Levitation
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can lift yourself up and fly for 1T4 minutes. You can't lift more than MST + 20kg with you, however.

54-57: Mental Shield
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 25%
You are totally shielded against any attack which requires you to perform a MST vs. MST duel for 1T20 minutes.

58-61: Mind Attack
Damage: 3T6
Range: 25m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: MST vs. MST
By shooting out powerful mental beams, you can directly attack the mind of your opponent. If successful, it does 3T6 points of damage to your opponent, in the form of burns on their head. Personally, I always fluffed that if they died because of it, it's like Scanners

[NSFW] http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018...d2ce85f29_o.gif [NSFW]

62-63: Mental Reflection
Damage: Special
Range: 50m
Uses/Day: 2
Chance to Function: Activates 30% of the time after losing a MST vs. MST duel.
You automatically reflect the MST vs. MST attack that just hit you. This remains active for 1T4 minutes, and reflects any further attacks – it can get ridiculous.

64-65: Psychometry
Damage: None
Range: Touch
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can “see” the history of an area or object, allowing you to know its history, who has had contact with it, and so forth. The more intense the impression on the are, the further back you can see – particularly catastrophic events can leave impressions lasting for 250 years or more.

66-72: Regeneration
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
You can regenerate damage. You heal 1 Body Point every 5 rounds, until you're completely healed. This power only lasts an hour per use, however, so if you're not healed by the end, you don't magically fully-heal.

73-76: Create Fear
Damage: None
Range: 25m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: MST vs. MST
You can cause panic in 1T4 enemies for up to 2T6 rounds. Against a group of enemies, use the MST of the strongest opponent.

77-82: Divination
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: 40%
The mutant can determine what will happen to him in the next 1T6 minutes, based on environmental clues. The SL is encouraged to reveal what might happen in the future, especially important details.

83-87: Telepathy
Damage: None
Range: 200m
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 100%
You can read the minds of people and intelligent animals. You can also project your own thoughts to them in order to communicate, but you must concentrate to do so.

88-95: Teleportation
Damage: None
Range: Personal
Uses/Day: Permanent
Chance to Function: 40%
You can instantaneously transport yourself between two points, moving through any and all material. You can teleport a maximum of MST x 3 meters at a time.

96-100: Dominate Will
Damage: None
Range: 25m
Uses/Day: 3
Chance to Function: MST vs. MST
You can control the will of another intelligent being for 2T6 rounds. They will not follow orders which will obviously harm or kill them.

Mental Defects

[b]1-11: Conflicted Mind[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] None
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 35%
You have a split between your conscious and unconscious mind. Anytime you fail to activate a mutation, check to see if this defect activates – if it does, for the next 1T20 minutes, your unconscious mind takes over and works for self-preservation, fleeing from any source of harm and abandoning your current course of action.

[b]12-20: Mental Block[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] None
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 100%
Due to a mental defect, you find yourself unable to acknowledge something that is obviously true. For example, you might have a mental block about robots – you are incapable of seeing them, you cannot ever learn anything about them, and you ignore them even if they attack you – you repress the pain, but still take damage. The SL comes up with this and the player is required to role-play it throughout the game.

[b]21-32: Mental Breakdown[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] None
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 25%
Roll every time the mutant attempts to activate a mutation. If it happens, then all mental mutations fail to work for 1T4 hours – the duration of which is kept secret from the player.

[b]33-41: Temporary Stupidity[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] None
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 25%
Any time the mutant fails to activate a mutation, check to see if this defect activates. If it does, the Mutant's INT is reduced to 3 for 1T4 hours, during which time the player must roleplay an extreme idiot.

[b]42-53: Backlash[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] Special
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 25%
Any time the mutant fails to activate a mutation, roll for this defect. If it activates, then resolve the mutation as though the mutant were the target.

[b]54-63: Telepathic Overload[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] None
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 25%
Any time the mutant fails to activate a mutation, roll for this defect. If it activates, the mutant hears all thoughts in a radius of 10km – all they can do is lay on the ground, attempting to sort out this overload of information. This lasts for 1T4 hours.

[b]64-71: Temporary Memory Loss[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] None
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 25%
Check for this defect whenever this Mutant is damaged. If it activates, then the mutant loses all memories for 1T4 hours. He does not recognize his companions, and must test on the Reaction Table to see how he reacts to them.

[b]72-83: Madness[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] None
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 20%
Check for this defect any time the Mutant fails to activate a mutation. If it happens, then the Mutant is under the SL's control for 1T10 rounds.

[b]84-92: Low Pain Tolerance[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] Imaginary
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 100%
The Mutant takes an extra 1T6 damage whenever he is injured – track this damage separately. When the Mutant is apparently at 0 BP, then they pass out. They cannot die from imaginary damage.

[b]93-100: Allergic to Metal[/b]
[b]Damage:[/b] None
[b]Range:[/b] Personal
[b]Uses/Day:[/b] Permanent
[b]Chance to Function:[/b] 100%
So long as you're using, carrying, or in contact with anything metal, you take a penalty of -10% to all skills. Brutal!

That's our tables! So let's roll for our two mutated characters and see what happens!

[b]Character 1[/b] is going to be a basic, Unmutated Human. Boooooring. I'll let y'all name and describe Boring McPost-Apocalypse.

Character 2 is more interesting – they've got a decent MST, so we're gonna make 'em a Psy-Mutant. Let's start by determining their new STY and FYS. I rolled a 3 and a 6, so STY is done from 13, but (hilariously enough), FYS goes up from 9.
STY: 6
FYS: 12

Now, let's figure out mutations! I get 1T4+2, and rolled a 2, so we get 4 Mutations, and 1 guaranteed defect. I rolled an 89 on the second defect check, so we're good there. For mutations, I rolled 54, 100, 74 (three times in a row, amusingly enough), and 8, which means this particular Psy-Mutant has Mental Shield, Dominate Will, Create Fear, and Combustion – a pretty snazzy combination. As for defects, I rolled 74 (SERIOUSLY DICE?), which means our little Psy-Mutant has some form of Madness. Again, I'll leave the description up to y'all.

[b]Character 3[/b] is going to be our token Mutated Animal, because that's half the reason to play Mutant. He's got 3 mutations and 1 defect, so let's roll! 68, 100, and 76 gives us Heavy, Radar, and Wings, and as for defects, we've got 74 (WHAT THE GODDAMN HELL, DICE?), which means we're Sensitive to Light. I rolled a 20 on the 3T6+6, so our new STO is 20 – we've got a hefty son-of-a-bitch. I'm gonna say it's pretty clear that the Random Number Gods wanted us to have a post-apocalyptic bat, so why not tell us a little more about him?

So, tell me about these three post-apocalyptic warriors. What are they like?

[b]Coming up next: Past Careers, Skills, and More Mechanics![/b]