pe 5 Ee Ml Stott ans de ST ( - yy =d20 APOCALYPSEDESIGNERS Pe eco Core comico tel DEVELOPMENT noo e ern emeeeeon EDITC Geese) EDITING MANAGER PEO ee DESIGN MANAGER Cees cod ART DIRECTORS me cd ios we Sarde DOTY CARTOGRAPHY bere meret yd INTERIOR ARTISTS COC Sacto Tasca Pern ore eC Socios thes on GRAPHIC DESIGN Pe eee CU Starhy GRAPHIC PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Perce ko caeg IMAGE TECHNICIAN Ere cry DIRECTOR OF RPG RED STS Ear PRODUCTION MANAGERS Randell Crews, Joshua Fischer ECIAL THANKS eae rant ame product contains no Open Gxme Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced sm any evn Visi our website at wwwonizarda com/d20: d20 APOCALYPSE Foreword..... sence Hang On'~ tes Introduction be s Movement on Vehicles 3 f Progress Levels. 3 alngtroma ei. 36 oo : er Deving Roles. 38 “Giarter | Fontapocalypse | toner ew SS gee ‘Gaooee Your Apocalypse... Nate, 3 Campaign Trae Alten Invasion ‘Combat uh Animal 3 Department? te. ee met ovirnmerta Hears 3% ea a rat cctyon ee 39 Progesteveland aes 6 Asteroid Strike. . a Fallout Cloud » Magic and FX: 66 Jaigrment Day Ghost Storm. oi Te ree er Maclear Armageddon | ners $2 TThe Avengers of amaniy 62 se ofthe Machines Pas {© The pamnea & Bogue Planet eS (© Thelen Gain 68 eesti Aaastonal Mtatons a rendtaatoe « creatutesathe Apocivpee.. ose angga Ft “ ey ‘pocaiysse Demon emp) 44 ekg . “ cee (Combat Robot T-C-4 “Tin Can «46 ‘The Darened a pee Society Combat Robot MGs ee ence x Sit ai petir gg Bese omnes a. Donkey 4 Chapter 5: 4g Horseman of the Apocalypse 67 Atomic Sunrise ........ 76 a ‘yataed creature @ semmary % Bs ay Rad-Roach 50 ‘Campaign in Brief. 7% “oes : ‘Thinking Swarm, 50 Role of the Heroes 7 2 a Viral Dethspawn lempinte) sa Cempgn Tats 7 8 ia o Using Existing Creatures 52 Department-7 in ag vralence 3 Amie Sunrise n Oo SupervirsDescriptions...., se = Proatessleweland Rates 0.77 ‘Secondary infections, 35 Magic and FX 7 4 amas: Thetandscape 8 Character Options... 56 “Parivecrpe sh Starting Occupations % New PowvesGrutiasa . ‘Academic Sem ha orcas wom Asses 5) avasoré Gass o ers ae « 2 Celebrity sy ‘Chapter 6: ‘Criminal ..§7 Plague World... | Dilevante % semmery Bone 5 Gama in et we {aw Enforceien 3 —Roleo the Heroes 8 Miltary “S Campaign Tats ny Reis 5 Departmen in ural, 53 Page Wor ss ste 2 Se ProgessLevel and ies |... 67 Diplomacy (Cha) 8 ‘Magic and FX 9 crate cin Se, The Landscape ° eps S3_Power Groups > Bewearch dn se AdepusDes @ Survival Oia $ Tekin % Feats _Trannu 2 Advance Cases fo Frends and Foes a Tee 0 Spenthi Reaver a Investigator €—_ SpanthiTraciood ‘2 Perssnalty f — BpvanBuner % esd Warrior co Advanced Cases % ‘Salvager. 62 ‘Evolutionary osPear Resch eae I've played a lot of roleplaying games in my twenty-five years in the hobby. Like many garters, the bulk of my adventures have been in the fantasy genre, but my favorite setting, bar none, is the posta- pocalyptic campaign. In fact, when t ‘was on the 420 Modern design tearn, I started up a campaign in the office to playtest our rules-and my setting of choice was postapocalyptic. From the launch of that campaign almost a year before the 20 Mopeex Roleplaying Gane was published, my players are still traversing the wastes, battling bike-gang marauders, and delving into ‘the supernatural origins of the nuclear doomsday today, Tve long believed that the postapoca- lypse is a perfect setting for roleplaying games. Postapocelyptic worlds feature high adventure in a gritty setting. The landscape is the epitome of lawlessness~ a make-your-own-rules world in which adventuring heroes thrive. As n fantasy. anything is possible in a world twisted by mutations or the incomprehensible effects of alien assault or supernatural incursion. And postapocalyptie settings blend the best of modern worlds~ firearms, technology, and a modern coutlook-witht fantasy’s powerful foes and epic stories, Beyond all that Is the fact that postapocalyptic games are inevitably thematic. The world ‘as we-the players-know it has been destroyed. Can civilization recover? Will the heroes be a force for order in the chaos, or just another part of the problem? A fantasy world allows for all vari- fety of motivation: If a character simply likes kicking in doors and taking on the monsters, that's enough. But in a postapocalyptte game every player, consciously or jorldnot, makes 4 decision about how he relates to the world his character has inherited, ‘The most compelling aspect of a postapacalyptic setting. perhaps. is how itis at once familiar and, alien. We've all seen abandoned bulldings with their broken windows and weeds growing in the corners, and dented hulks of cars collecting rain- water and rust, We've heard the bree blowing through a quiet city block in the early hours, when, there's no sigh of living human being. We've watched scenes of environmental cataclysm~or even just urban decay-on television. And we can ook around us today and overlay that vision on the local shopping mall, the highways, the skyscrapers downtowneven our own neighborhoods. Unlike a fantasy setting, the postapocalyptic world is all around us. Charles Ryan Brand Manager for Roleplaying Games Wizards of the Coast INTRODUCTION Civilization, the defining characteristic of humanity, fs the cooperation and organization of individuals for the advancement of the community as a whole. It is marked by progress in agriculture. livestock maintenance, metallurgy writing, mathematics, and science. And though it would seem that its existence can be taken for granted. civilization is fragile. ‘As humankind progresses, advances in technol- ogy grant great bons, but also hold potential keys to humanity's undoing. Innovations In nuclear technology, medical science, and computer tech- nology are af enormous benefit to humanity in general, but each technology has the potential to contribute to humanity's demise Even without these human-made threats, other dangers from outside the planet pose perils just a6, deadly as those humans bring upon themselves. ‘Whether due to our own hubris or a power beyond our control, the known world ends. The apocalypse—the end of civilization~is here ‘This supplement gives you the tools to play in the postapocalyptic world, Tints book provides you ‘with descriptions of the most likely possible causes of an apocalyptic event. Within this supplement are additional rules that build upon those found in the d20 Mopeew Roleplaying Game and the 20 Future supplement to ‘bring the postapocalypric ‘world to life, These rules are modular, giving you what you'll need to create the postapocalyptic world of your choice. In addition, there are three distinct campaign settings that allow you to explore some ‘of the grim futures that might await humankind Each setting derives a great deal of flavor from the ‘cause of the apocalypse and the amount of time that hhas passed since the global society has fallen. ‘With this book, the apocalyptic future is yours wo explore d20 APOCALYPSE What You Need To Play ‘The 420 Apocalypse supplement is intended for use in any 420 Modern or d20 Future game, You will need the d20 Mopzmn Roleplaying Game and the d20 Future supplement to make use of the material in this book. In addition, 420 Apocalypse contains references to the 420 Menace Manual and the Ursan Arcana Cam- paign Setting, but neither of these books is required to use this one, Progress Levels The Progress Level (PL) of your campaign setting will be heavily influenced-if not completely deter- ‘minedby your choice of apocalypse. The apocalypse could occur today, sometime in the not too distant future, or far Into the future Some types of apocelypse, such as a biological disaster. alien invasion, or asteroid strike, can occur during any Progress Level, but others, such as rise of the machines, are directly tied with civilization’. level of technology. You'll need to determine how ‘uch or how litte civilization has advanced from its current Progress Level. ‘Also, the apocalypse can occur in the past. An alien invasion, for instance, could feasibly happen at any time in Earth’s history—but if the Progress Level at the time of the invasion isn't high enough to offer humanity some chance of surviving through the use of technology, it won't be much of a game. For an extreme example, think dinosaurs versus big rock, 65,000,000 years ago.) Some apocalyptic events are clearly tied to a minimum Progress Level and won't occur earlier. For example, if you want to set your game during the Age of Reason. a PL3 environment, your apoca: lypse cannot be « nuclear Armageddon because nuclear technology does not exist it PL 3 Each of the three postapocalyptic campaign settings descrfved in this book is designed for a Progress Level of PL Sor PL, After the cataclysm, of course, Progress Level often doesn't really mean what tt used to: Rather than an indicator of& state of technological development that, “pervades all aspeots of a vulture" (as stated on page 5 of 420 Future), PL might become a measure of the kinds of tecianalogy that survivors can discover or salvage from the ruined environment In d20 Future, for instance, PLS 1s described asa time when “computer technology and elec- tonics rule supreme’ In a postapocalyptic PL § world, however, instantaneous worldwide com munication might be @ thing of the past-the ‘world at large only at PL 3 in this regard—and any functioning computer terminal would become @ heavily guarded resource. Even though the technology is out there to be found (albeit in limited quantities), the apocalypse has fractured ‘the culture and society that the PL § technology once spawned.