The WasteLand Hack by Feral Games
A quick, basic Fallout-style Black Hack RPG coming in at 34 pages. (Note, I only have the original, non-revised edition.)
Likes:
- Probably the lightest rules version of a table top Fallout RPG.
- Best survival rules (radiation, starvation, dehydration, sleep) of any Black Hack PA offering.*
- Background and Class included.
- Barter system of currency (yet it uses "new Dollars").
- Settlement system (good that this is included, bad that it is a very Fallout 4 settlement system...YMMV).
- Minimal equipment/gear inclusion.
Overall, if you want to play Fallout on the table, this is a good, inexpensive option.
The Wasted Hack by Shattered Pike Studio (Aaron Frost)
A general post apocalyptic role playing game (PARPG) based on The Black Hack that clocks in at 102 pages.
Likes:
- An actual table of contents.
- Well integrated rules for features, mutations, and gear.
- Pretty dang good leveling up system.
- Some nice quick and dirty advanced enemy options.
- Schematic weapons.
- Decent equipment table.
- Interestingly designed character sheet.
- Monster Cards for quick reference.
- Classes only, one of which is a Race-as-Class, but still pretty limited option-wise.
- Credits as currency. Better than barter or abstract systems, but not by much in my opinion.
- Kinda limited weapon and armor selection.
- Somewhat limited mutation selection.
- Luck Points. I believe luck is in the die rolls and shouldn't be a game mechanic, but that's purely a personal preference.
- The somewhat limited and fantasy-like monsters, even though this is expanded by Waste-Land Beasts and How to Kill Them.
- Somewhat limited artwork that is average quality.
- Too much wasted space in the layout, which expands the page count.
Rad-Hack by Karl Stjernberg
A general PARPG based on The Black Hack covered in 36 pages.
Likes:
- Fairly good Class selection, though I do miss plants and cyborgs as options.
- Slugs as a currency, it may also be ammunition, but it is still a better option than barter, abstract, or credit systems. About on par with gold/silver systems.
- The artwork, I'd say Karl Stjernberg is one of the go-to artists for post-apocalyptic gonzo artwork.
- Random professions on top of classes.
- Fairly decent equipment list.
- Equipment Degradation rules.
- Nice Radiation effects table.
- I like the interesting Creature Reaction table.
- Vehicles and vehicle combat.
- Fairly good selection of post apocalyptic creatures.
- Great maps.
- Leveling Up system is kind of weak.
- Limited Mutation, (Robot) Modules, and Psionics lists (this sort of limitation is quite possibly by design, but I prefer a LOT of options personally).
- Limited armor and weapon examples, however, since these are examples of types of weapons, a slightly expanded selection (for example a d6 table) would have been good.
The Wastes Lite Post-Apoclapytic Roleplaying Game by JEN Games (James T. Kato)
A rules-lite PARPG, not based on The Black Hack, that comes in at 23 pages.
Likes:
- The majority of this book is just random tables to work with, very minimalist, yet at the same time quite inclusive.
- A d300 wasteland junk table.
- Waste Adversaries and Waste Encounters are great minimalist tables which give you lots of stuff to play with.
- Probably the most rules lite game in this review, while this can be advantageous to some, I find the lack of rules for things like starvation, dehydration, radiation, encumbrance, currency, and so forth somewhat lacking in utility.
- The 'mutations' and starting equipment are combined into one table of Character Advantages. A good selection of stuff (d100 table), but I would have preferred to split it.
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ReplyDeleteSomebody can explain why Damage doesn't increase with level or with weapon ?
humain 1D6 damage with stone or bow same same. WTF ? Throw you a stone and I'll make the same damage with a bow ? uh ?
Hello! This might be too late, but do you have any info on The Wastes Lite Post-Apocalyptic Roleplaying Game? It seems to have disappeared totally. Thank you
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