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

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Genesis

I would just declare it - natural weird hazards occasionally afflict disads temporarily, these will clear up according to the schedule. Long-term exposure, extreme or unusual conditions, etc., may result in such disads becoming permanent - put them on your sheet. If you start play with a permanent version of these disads, you may take points for them. In either case, having a permanent version on your sheet makes it so that the temporary effects don't hit you - you're already warped in the appropriate way. I don't think a special build is required for that.

The trickiness is that irradiation grants random disadvantages out of a large pool of variation at certain thresholds. So e.g. one character has Disturbing Voice due to misfiring neurons in the appropriate areas, another gets No Depth Perception due to desynching eye control, and a third will maybe get a Susceptibility (Disease) from a weakened immune system. I'm a bit worried that if it were a PC, this option would be a 'free ride' due to being able to leverage almost any physical disad into a 'buffer' from further disads at the early stages of irradiation.

Originally Posted by Genesis

That sounds totally workable to me. You end up with big, clunky equipment that survives the zone, but is noticeably bottom-shelf outside it. What specific hazards would equipment need to survive that the bonus from Rugged doesn't already cover?

Corrosive rains / suspiciously sped-up rust, sandstorms, probably some EM nastiness, some occasional weird mold/shroom/barnacle that decides to inhabit it. I don't actually have a table of random nasties yet (and I want them to be nasty but not immediately deadly for an expedition).

Originally Posted by Genesis

I would probably take the usual Survival specialties, then layer a "weird" penalty on top of them - a prairie is a prairie, unless it's all radioactive and mutated. Then it's a prairie with a couple big caveats on it. Give -4 to all survival rolls in the Zone (and a special critical failure table, probably). I think a perk is totally appropriate here: Weird Survival [1], negates the survival penalty due to Zone weirdness. Specialized by terrain type? I would probably demand that, but if you think that's too much noise, scrap it. Yeah - I'd demand the specialty, and call Weird Experience a [5] UB that covers all relevant "zone weirdness" penalties, including Survival (all specialties).

Oh well, I guess ultimately a Perk is the way to go - Exotic Environment Training, let's say, by analogy with Exotic Equipment Training.

Speaking of Perks, I just realised that a bunch of Immunities to Specific Hazards might be in order, once I figure the more nasty and important hazards for the random nastiness table.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Semi-anarchic in the zone, but with a strict "us" and "them" mentality regarding normal-landers. There's probably a lot of space in the Zone (judging by what you've said about depopulation), so if you've got a quarrel with someone you can always just walk the other direction when everybody picks up stakes to move camp. Decentralized power, with strong hierarchies within small groups - clans with patriarchs, maybe, but there's room for diversity among different zone-peoples.

Yes, the ability to just go away (as long as you/your group can survive there) seems like a good one. Are strong hierarchies in small groups necessary, and why?

Regarding the strict 'us' vs. 'them': I like the idea of constant awareness of the differences, but I want to make sure they're neither hostile nor aggressive towards outsiders. I wonder what flavours of that can be - a 'patronising' flavour can be one, surely.

Originally Posted by PU6-Perks, p.17

Chauvinistic
An extremely low level of broad-based Intolerance
(p. B140). You’re always aware of differences in sex, skin
color, etc. even if you don’t actually react poorly to others.
Thin-skinned individuals might occasionally react to you
at -1 as a result.

Originally Posted by Genesis

How chaotic is the place? Is geography relatively stable? Does Navigation take a weirdness penalty, as well as Survival?

Well, relatively stable. The hazards move around, but at such a rate that hiding into shelter or moving camp should be an option. Navigation should probably not so much as take a weirdness penalty, as be denied bonuses from having a compass or GPS, and the occasional lack of bonus for a map (when using outdated, pre-incident maps); then of course there's the factor that an area can be temporary impassable, denying a route. Regarding Survival, I generally want it to be quite difficult for outsiders, but reasonably OK for locals and long-term stalkers.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Do zone-people from families that've been there since the beginning breed true - that is, is mortality rate among zone children the same as it was in the beginning, or (for all the diversity of mutations), is resistance to the weirdness now pretty much universal? How quickly does this stuff take hold?

The surviving zoners breed true amongst themselves. In case of crossing with an outsider, the chances of breeding a zoner are much lower, which tends to self-correct in the long term.
I'd probably say the cutoff points moved somewhat: Most of the child death have shifted into very early miscarriages instead. And an overwhelming majority of those who do survive, have the necessary resistances (and some flaws in other areas!).
Life expectations are probably lower - perhaps as low as 40-50 human years. I'm trying to balance the death/birth/survival ratios so that while zoners started out with a 10:1 death:birth ratio in the first generation, they're only somewhat below replacement now, and about to reach a stable or slowly increasing population in a generation or two.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Will PCs be outsiders, or from the Zone? How deep can outsiders expect to penetrate into the Zone before they're overcome by the dangers? How long can outsiders last?

PCs are outsiders. None of them are stalkers, though. Regarding how deep - hard to measure. But I think the overall amount of trouble from getting in there should be ×2-×5 times as bad as failed survival rolls in normal places, but such that unsuitable equipment is less useful to mitigate difficulties, and the problems are more weirdness-flavoured. Hmm, maybe ask for two Survival rolls - one for usual hazards, one for zone weirdness.

I'm not quite sure whether the PCs will actually go there. But I do plan them to meet an NPC from there as a hookup for the next (well, one of the next) adventure. And I'd rather be ready if things go deeper.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Is the weirdness uniform, or does it ramp up as you get closer to an epicenter(s)? Can this epicenter(s) be identified on a map? Do outsiders know what ground 0 was?

Hmm. I think there should be slowly moving, appearing and disappearing epicentres.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I'm a bit worried that if it were a PC, this option would be a 'free ride' due to being able to leverage almost any physical disad into a 'buffer' from further disads at the early stages of irradiation.

I would solve this by saying that radiation grants some form of Resistant advantage at the same time it grants the disadvantage (this will usually still be negative points), so the player who wants to have been already subjected to radiation can buy an advantage to reflect this fact.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I would solve this by saying that radiation grants some form of Resistant advantage at the same time it grants the disadvantage (this will usually still be negative points), so the player who wants to have been already subjected to radiation can buy an advantage to reflect this fact.

Yes, the mutants have the Radiation Resistance trait, but I don't see how that solves the problem.

See, a given absorbed dosage results in a certain amount of flaws (a successful HT roll allows to take the Bad Stuff of one line above, but not ignore it completely; this is largely irrelevant, though):
(A Fol is essentially a Weird GURPS Rad)
10 Fols (I): -10 temporary points worth of disads / no permanent effect.
35 Fols (II): -25 temporary/-1 remaining permanent even after healing.
100 Fols (III): -75/-5, and occasionally lethal in the long term.
350 Fols (IV): -150 / -25, and usually lethal in the long term.
1,000 Fols (V): -200/-100, but almost always lethal very soon.
3,500 Fols (VI): lethal almost immediately.

My idea is that zoners effectively have an accumulated dose of 35 Fols or so. This means they have at least -25 worth of Disadvantages that count as symptoms for purposes of irradiation.

So let's say a zoner gets exposed to a 'hot' source with an unmodified dose of 650 Fols.
Since zoners have PF10, that's an effective dose of +65 Fols - enough to trigger the next stage.
Let's say the zoner fails the HT roll (unlikely, but I want to go simple). That means the zoner must bump the amount of symptoms to -75/-5. But the zoner already has -25 worth of symptoms, so after healing, the zoner will not gain any new permanent disads; it also means that the zoner only gets an extra -50 worth of disads from the irradiation.

Essentially, this is the combination of a weird analogue of 'Accumulated Rads' (a Disadvantage that was discussed recently on this very forum), and the right to count certain disads as a flat reduction to the number of disads afflicted by a specific source.

[Genesis]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

The trickiness is that irradiation grants random disadvantages out of a large pool of variation at certain thresholds. So e.g. one character has Disturbing Voice due to misfiring neurons in the appropriate areas, another gets No Depth Perception due to desynching eye control, and a third will maybe get a Susceptibility (Disease) from a weakened immune system. I'm a bit worried that if it were a PC, this option would be a 'free ride' due to being able to leverage almost any physical disad into a 'buffer' from further disads at the early stages of irradiation.

OK - then as Anthony says, you probably want a separate advantage that shields the character from further weird radiation damage. If you lack the advantage you take further weird mutations as normal, but picking up permanent weird mutations occasionally bestows the resistance advantage (or makes it available for purchase? Perhaps it comes in levels, and you need a certain number/type of mutations to get enough to be totally immune?).

Corrosive rains / suspiciously sped-up rust, sandstorms, probably some EM nastiness, some occasional weird mold/shroom/barnacle that decides to inhabit it. I don't actually have a table of random nasties yet (and I want them to be nasty but not immediately deadly for an expedition).

Well, normal rugged adds to the item's HT, which would help it resist corrosion/rust/nasties by default. Do you want items made from endogenous "weird" materials to have extra bonuses against weird damage? In that case, invent a new materials quality. Maybe something like Weird Construction: +2 HT against Zone anomalies and hazards, but -1 HT against normal wear and tear. +0 CF. This'll partially cancel out Ruggedization bonuses and make the items simply Cheap in the outside world, but will make specially-made gear a must for adventuring in the Zone. Play with the numbers a bit if that's too big a boost. Maybe it only gives +1 HT to Zone stuff, but occasionally spawns its own Zone weirdness of a lesser, annoying (as opposed to dangerous) fashion.

Oh well, I guess ultimately a Perk is the way to go - Exotic Environment Training, let's say, by analogy with Exotic Equipment Training.

Speaking of Perks, I just realised that a bunch of Immunities to Specific Hazards might be in order, once I figure the more nasty and important hazards for the random nastiness table.

Yeah, that sounds like a perk to me - why did you want to avoid doing it as such?

Yes, the ability to just go away (as long as you/your group can survive there) seems like a good one. Are strong hierarchies in small groups necessary, and why?

Not necessary, I suppose, but they tend to crop up when survival is hard and population density is low. People need each other to survive, disputes need to be settled according to some schema... I was just giving an option. Tightly knit small groups are the norm among low-population density people in hostile environments all over the place (with obvious exceptions). I said strong hierarchies because you prompted with "conservative."

Regarding the strict 'us' vs. 'them': I like the idea of constant awareness of the differences, but I want to make sure they're neither hostile nor aggressive towards outsiders. I wonder what flavours of that can be - a 'patronising' flavour can be one, surely.

Yeah, that'd fit. They don't have to be hostile, but they probably see themselves as separate, at this point. Language drift might be an issue, but cultural drift will be extreme (especially if the rest of the world is still urbanized). Not to mention the physical manifestations of the mutations. Zoners might see them as a point of pride, and have a whole culture of mutation aesthetics that prizes odd traits that outsiders find disconcerting ("I love how her tongue forks!" "Oh stop it dear - I just can't get enough of your fur..." *makeout noises*)

Well, relatively stable. The hazards move around, but at such a rate that hiding into shelter or moving camp should be an option. Navigation should probably not so much as take a weirdness penalty, as be denied bonuses from having a compass or GPS, and the occasional lack of bonus for a map (when using outdated, pre-incident maps); then of course there's the factor that an area can be temporary impassable, denying a route. Regarding Survival, I generally want it to be quite difficult for outsiders, but reasonably OK for locals and long-term stalkers.

Well, locals and long-term stalkers have the appropriate perks. But outsiders aren't likely to get a month's walk into the Zone and discover that the landscape behind them has changed and they're forever lost, right? (I have a setting where that's explicitly the case, the whole world over, actually - so I'm partial to the notion, but it doesn't seem like what you're going for exactly)

The surviving zoners breed true amongst themselves. In case of crossing with an outsider, the chances of breeding a zoner are much lower, which tends to self-correct in the long term.
I'd probably say the cutoff points moved somewhat: Most of the child death have shifted into very early miscarriages instead. And an overwhelming majority of those who do survive, have the necessary resistances (and some flaws in other areas!).
Life expectations are probably lower - perhaps as low as 40-50 human years. I'm trying to balance the death/birth/survival ratios so that while zoners started out with a 10:1 death:birth ratio in the first generation, they're only somewhat below replacement now, and about to reach a stable or slowly increasing population in a generation or two.

So the populations are robust at this point. How often do outsiders breed into the Zoner population? In another hundred years of accumulated mutations will Zoners be a whole different species (or set of species)? What's the Zoner take on this phenomenon?

PCs are outsiders. None of them are stalkers, though. Regarding how deep - hard to measure. But I think the overall amount of trouble from getting in there should be ×2-×5 times as bad as failed survival rolls in normal places, but such that unsuitable equipment is less useful to mitigate difficulties, and the problems are more weirdness-flavoured. Hmm, maybe ask for two Survival rolls - one for usual hazards, one for zone weirdness.

If you go this route I'd ask for one skill roll (a more normal-flavored skill roll, albeit with weird critical failures), and layer on top of that a GM roll for "weirdness encountered" where you set up a table of possible events and dish them out at random intervals. That way the PCs can respond how they like and the flavor of the Zone doesn't get subsumed into a "we successfully avoid having weird stuff happen to us today" roll.

Hmm. I think there should be slowly moving, appearing and disappearing epicentres.

Oh, that's very interesting. Does the Zone migrate over time? Is it expanding or shrinking? Does anyone know what causes the disturbances? Why lies at the hearts of these epicenters?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Genesis

OK - then as Anthony says, you probably want a separate advantage that shields the character from further weird radiation damage. If you lack the advantage you take further weird mutations as normal, but picking up permanent weird mutations occasionally bestows the resistance advantage (or makes it available for purchase? Perhaps it comes in levels, and you need a certain number/type of mutations to get enough to be totally immune?).

Radiation Resistance is already part of the template. How to price a flat immunity to a fixed point-equivalent amount of afflictable disads (but not more) is unclear to me.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Well, normal rugged adds to the item's HT, which would help it resist corrosion/rust/nasties by default. Do you want items made from endogenous "weird" materials to have extra bonuses against weird damage? In that case, invent a new materials quality. Maybe something like Weird Construction: +2 HT against Zone anomalies and hazards, but -1 HT against normal wear and tear. +0 CF. This'll partially cancel out Ruggedization bonuses and make the items simply Cheap in the outside world, but will make specially-made gear a must for adventuring in the Zone. Play with the numbers a bit if that's too big a boost. Maybe it only gives +1 HT to Zone stuff, but occasionally spawns its own Zone weirdness of a lesser, annoying (as opposed to dangerous) fashion.

I'm just not sure whether +2 HT is actually good enough.
I do like the idea of a totally different quality-class that provides greater protection, but only against zone-specific stuff. Now I'm pondering whether this is too implausible in the context.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Yeah, that sounds like a perk to me - why did you want to avoid doing it as such?

Mostly because being careful around any sort of trait bloat. But the more I think of it, the more it seems like a once-and-for-all solution.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Not necessary, I suppose, but they tend to crop up when survival is hard and population density is low. People need each other to survive, disputes need to be settled according to some schema... I was just giving an option. Tightly knit small groups are the norm among low-population density people in hostile environments all over the place (with obvious exceptions). I said strong hierarchies because you prompted with "conservative."

Hmm. Now I'm wondering about plugging in at least some bits of ubuntu into those societies.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Yeah, that'd fit. They don't have to be hostile, but they probably see themselves as separate, at this point. Language drift might be an issue, but cultural drift will be extreme (especially if the rest of the world is still urbanized). Not to mention the physical manifestations of the mutations. Zoners might see them as a point of pride, and have a whole culture of mutation aesthetics that prizes odd traits that outsiders find disconcerting ("I love how her tongue forks!" "Oh stop it dear - I just can't get enough of your fur..." *makeout noises*)

Seeing selves as separate - definitely, but I'd prefer to see this as 'different, but neither better nor worse' (even though they're sure better in their main environment).
Language shift is something I already thought of, yes.
Æethetics - hmm, that makes one consider of having a separate racial Appearance level, despite technically being of the same race(s) as the surrounding continent.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Well, locals and long-term stalkers have the appropriate perks. But outsiders aren't likely to get a month's walk into the Zone and discover that the landscape behind them has changed and they're forever lost, right? (I have a setting where that's explicitly the case, the whole world over, actually - so I'm partial to the notion, but it doesn't seem like what you're going for exactly)

No global geographical changes behind one's back. Radically changing weather/climate is probably the most drastic geographic change available.

Originally Posted by Genesis

So the populations are robust at this point. How often do outsiders breed into the Zoner population? In another hundred years of accumulated mutations will Zoners be a whole different species (or set of species)? What's the Zoner take on this phenomenon?

I think zoner+outsider families are rare, because zoners don't spend more than half their lives outside, while outsiders have a certain amount of difficulty staying in the zone.
Different species? That's probably going too far.

Originally Posted by Genesis

If you go this route I'd ask for one skill roll (a more normal-flavored skill roll, albeit with weird critical failures), and layer on top of that a GM roll for "weirdness encountered" where you set up a table of possible events and dish them out at random intervals. That way the PCs can respond how they like and the flavor of the Zone doesn't get subsumed into a "we successfully avoid having weird stuff happen to us today" roll.

Hmm. Maybe average two rolls - the normal survival and the weird survival, and see which one(s) are failures/successes.
Both successful - things are OK, some phenomena encountered harmlessly.
Weird success, normal failure, net result successful - a hazard has been avoided by smart use of ambient weirdness.
Vice-versa, net result successful - weird complications, but things went OK.
Weird failure, normal success, net result failure - things were OK, but the weirdness suddenly ruined everything.
Etc.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Oh, that's very interesting. Does the Zone migrate over time? Is it expanding or shrinking? Does anyone know what causes the disturbances? Why lies at the hearts of these epicenters?

Well, southern parts of it are receding gradually. Otherwise it mostly migrates within established boundaries. So you'd rather not try to colonise certain right-now-okay areas, unless you're ready to deal with the weirdness returning eventually.
The cause of disturbances is very vaguely linked to spacetime anomalies resulting from attempts to make FTL gates. (And yes, the anomalies started some time before the FTL gate experiment was performed - and on a different planet too.)

[Genesis]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Radiation Resistance is already part of the template. How to price a flat immunity to a fixed point-equivalent amount of afflictable disads (but not more) is unclear to me.

Honestly, since you're inventing a new sort of radiation, I'd probably just say "this is how it works." Permanent radiation-induced disadvantages shield you from random new permanent disadvantages. Would outsiders who end up with permanent disadvatanges on their sheets get similar protection? That is to say - if you go on an adventure in the zone and pick up [-5] in permanent weird mutations, then go home long enough to heal the rads before heading back out there. Then he takes 35 Fols effective. Does he get an additional [-25] temp healing to [-1] permanent, bringing him to [-6] total at the end of the day? Or does he get [-20] temporarily, but they all heal?

I'm just not sure whether +2 HT is actually good enough.
I do like the idea of a totally different quality-class that provides greater protection, but only against zone-specific stuff. Now I'm pondering whether this is too implausible in the context.

I was suggesting +2 HT on top of the Rugged bonus, but only vs. weird stuff. From what you've said so far there are Zone-specific products that are themselves shaped by the weird effects found there - why not make one such possibility resistance to further warping? Or however you want to justify it - it's certainly an expected trope that extant stuff in hostile environments can withstand said environments.

Seeing selves as separate - definitely, but I'd prefer to see this as 'different, but neither better nor worse' (even though they're sure better in their main environment).
Language shift is something I already thought of, yes.
Æethetics - hmm, that makes one consider of having a separate racial Appearance level, despite technically being of the same race(s) as the surrounding continent.

You can also go halfway - not totally separate racial appearance levels, but a common Zoner-specific quirk "Prefers Zoners" or the converse for outsiders.

Hmm. Maybe average two rolls - the normal survival and the weird survival, and see which one(s) are failures/successes.
Both successful - things are OK, some phenomena encountered harmlessly.
Weird success, normal failure, net result successful - a hazard has been avoided by smart use of ambient weirdness.
Vice-versa, net result successful - weird complications, but things went OK.
Weird failure, normal success, net result failure - things were OK, but the weirdness suddenly ruined everything.
Etc.

Workable. Beware roll-bloat, of course, but that's always the temptation in these circumstances, I suppose.

Well, southern parts of it are receding gradually. Otherwise it mostly migrates within established boundaries. So you'd rather not try to colonise certain right-now-okay areas, unless you're ready to deal with the weirdness returning eventually.
The cause of disturbances is very vaguely linked to spacetime anomalies resulting from attempts to make FTL gates. (And yes, the anomalies started some time before the FTL gate experiment was performed - and on a different planet too.)

Wait, so do the people on this planet have any inkling of these FTL experiments? Or did they just get the weird end of the stick?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Genesis

Honestly, since you're inventing a new sort of radiation, I'd probably just say "this is how it works." Permanent radiation-induced disadvantages shield you from random new permanent disadvantages. Would outsiders who end up with permanent disadvatanges on their sheets get similar protection? That is to say - if you go on an adventure in the zone and pick up [-5] in permanent weird mutations, then go home long enough to heal the rads before heading back out there. Then he takes 35 Fols effective. Does he get an additional [-25] temp healing to [-1] permanent, bringing him to [-6] total at the end of the day? Or does he get [-20] temporarily, but they all heal?

The listed values are the maximum values (non-cumulative at any point in time). I.e. someone who has -5 in permanent disads, and goes for another irradiation that has the '-25/-1' result will temporary gain an extra -20 worth of disads, but not an increase in permanent disads. Someone with -25 worth in permanent disads from a previous exposure will suffer no additional effect from the '-25/-1' result, as s/he/it already has -25 irradiation-based disads.

The problem comes from the fact that a random outsider with inborn Haemophilia [-30] will suffer an extra [-25] of temporary disads (and [-1] will remain forever), while someone with Haemophilia left over from a previous irradiation will gain no additional disads. It makes sense from the PoV of laws of nature in the setting, but the latter character has some sort of advantage over the former, and I'm puzzled about how to differentiate the two point-wise. (Having a PF above 1 is a totally different matter.)

Originally Posted by Genesis

I was suggesting +2 HT on top of the Rugged bonus, but only vs. weird stuff. From what you've said so far there are Zone-specific products that are themselves shaped by the weird effects found there - why not make one such possibility resistance to further warping? Or however you want to justify it - it's certainly an expected trope that extant stuff in hostile environments can withstand said environments.

Yeah, it's certainly an expected trope. Hmm. Maybe I'll even occasionally go as far as to imitate a lesser form of Serendipity as far as zone-hazards go for equipment (but not users).

Originally Posted by Genesis

You can also go halfway - not totally separate racial appearance levels, but a common Zoner-specific quirk "Prefers Zoners" or the converse for outsiders.

Probably the most accurate description would be a form of Broad-Minded/Xenophilia that removes reaction penalties for all sorts of 'viable' oddities. Which probably interacts weird with the non-hostile Chauvinistic.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Workable. Beware roll-bloat, of course, but that's always the temptation in these circumstances, I suppose.

Three rolls instead of one for things that are not second-by-second. I think I'll manage.

Originally Posted by Genesis

Wait, so do the people on this planet have any inkling of these FTL experiments? Or did they just get the weird end of the stick?

All research material was more-or-less lost in the disaster (and stuff was too secret to be backed up far away from the disaster epicentre). There are occasional attempts to get back on tracks by other factions, but these are essentially dead-ends right now. I might change my mind later, but this is unlikely, as the campaign is meant to be in one solar system only.

[MatthewVilter]

As far as the local culture goes, if I was doing it, I would have a few groups, broadly categorized by their economic strategy:

Traders who collect valuables in the zone and do a lot of trading with outsiders (although they can still do quite a bit for themselves).

Gangs and/or clans of bandits that prey on everyone else using hit and run tactics with their retreats covered by anomalies (few of these guys but they make an impression).

Foragers who live off the land and either dislike outsiders or just don't care to be economically dependent on them.


Within those categories you could have different groups. Eg the group of ubuntu traders who rely on a good reputation and the allies they have made for prosperity and the miserly traders who are always tough negotiators (maybe going as far as price gouging) and depend on accumulated wealth for prosperity.


Depending on how many languages were spoken in the zone to begin with I might expect a pigeon to develop and it might be useful to have at least one party member who speaks each language regardless of where you plan go in the zone considering the nomadic nature of the locals.

Also one or more sets of local nomenclature for (at least) zone phenomena.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

As far as the local culture goes, if I was doing it, I would have a few groups, broadly categorized by their economic strategy:

Hmm. Indeed, need to avoid total monolithism.

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

Traders who collect valuables in the zone and do a lot of trading with outsiders (although they can still do quite a bit for themselves).

Yep.

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

Gangs and/or clans of bandits that prey on everyone else using hit and run tactics with their retreats covered by anomalies (few of these guys but they make an impression).

Gotta keep these to a very few. Otherwise things would get too nasty politically, and the zoners would attract too much attention too.

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

Depending on how many languages were spoken in the zone to begin with I might expect a pigeon to develop and it might be useful to have at least one party member who speaks each language regardless of where you plan go in the zone considering the nomadic nature of the locals.

The campaign is pretty language-rich compared to what I seemed to encounter in other people's campaigns, so I'll stick to maybe adding the occasional -1 for an obscure dialect. Otherwise, one language dominates in the area.

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

Also one or more sets of local nomenclature for (at least) zone phenomena.

Will think about that, thanks for the idea.