Wasteland Life: Mutants, Rugged Stuff, Frontier, Self-Reliance, Survival . . .

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

I'm trying to plan an adventure where PCs encounter a hidden splinter society living in a wasteland where paranormal phenomena are common. I know the trope is somewhat cinematic, but I would like to at least make it reasonably plausible in the context of the setting in question. I'm interested in all sorts of aspects - traits, skills, equipment, culture, whatever.

Setting's relevant bits: the setting is TL6+3^ with retarded science of genetics and microelectronics, but (this will surely be important) a presence of neoforge technology - which can be functionally described as a 'manually operated TL9 3D-printer' (i.e. can make assorted stuff on demand without need of assembly lines, but sucks at automation). Nuclear physics doesn't exist - laws of nature are different in this setting; there are some other types of radiation, though.
The planet is mostly peacefully balkanised politically.

The zone:
The Alienation Zone is a place which started experiencing anomalous phenomena about a century ago, and has been largely evacuated. Possible phenomena include: weird radiation that causes disadvantages and/or death (but some percentage survives and becomes more resistant in the process); electromagnetic phenomena similar to C&C's 'ion storms' that make satellite imagine of the area, and atmospheric flights in it, extremely problematic; occasional space-time anomalies that are more harmful than interesting; occasionally corrosive rains (of the borderline-realistic sort); spontaneous transmutation of regular minerals into alchemically-infused, more valuable ones. That sort of stuff. The idea is that the zone should be rather risky for normal humans (well, human-likes) to loot, inherently 'adventury', and provide some amount of valuable stuff that local mutants can trade to the outside world. Also, probably some TL6+2^ ruins too.

The inhabitants:
The whole reason why there are inhabitants is probably best described as a mix of religion and patriotism. Essentially, unlike other nations/clans, they refused to evacuate when the anomalies began. Most died. The survivors and their descendants got tougher in the process. They also eventually experienced a cultural shift that allowed them to stay away from their homeland for up to 50% of a year.
As far as traits go, I think about giving most of them Resistant to Metabolic Hazards +8, PF 10, maybe Regeneration (up to Regular, and likely Weird Radiation / WR Only) (BIO50), plus an assortment of individual traits - representing that no two have been born/changed alike.

(If some hazard afflicts disadvantages, is there a way to take these disads permanantly for points, but make sure the aforementioned hazard will not make them worse?)

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Equipment:
I'm thinking it would be logical for the cultural traditions to make 'Rugged, Cheap' the default quality of equipment (including vehicles . . . which probably translates into having half as many Systems in a vehicle for the same mass). Mass modifiers are ×1.2 ×1½ = ×1.8. I'm thinking of bumping it to ×2 and throwing in some protection against some of the more specific hazards typical for the zone. How does that sound? The cost ends up being ×1. (High-Tech, page 10)
Note that as far as vehicles go, 'cheap' is supposed to mean 'clunky', but not maintenance-capricious (the usual meaning of 'cheap' in SS).
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The Survival skill:
Closest thing to a specialisation for a weird wasteland that I've seen in GURPS was in 3e - the Survival (Chthorran) skill. Given that the actual terrain types in the 'wasteland' range from prairies, through savannah, through oases, with the occasional jungly bit . . . I'm not sure if a single specialisation is right. OTOH, adding a bunch of specialisations (Wasteland Desert, Wasteland Plains, Wasteland Jungle . . .) seems wrong too. Requiring a Perk would seem odd too. I'm unsure what to do with this.

Also, the whole setup probably encourages a wandering/hunter-gatherish lifestyle despite a high TL, with all those moving bad-stuff-areas.
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On culture:
I wonder how does a culture look like if it mixes conservative linked-to-land'ness with the need to innovate in order to survive, as well as be sufficiently friendly while acting abroad and trading with the normal-landers.
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What other things should I pay attention to on this topic? What comments there are on things already said?

Thanks in advance!