Vehicles: Your Lifeline on the Flat
You simply cannot live on the Flat for more than a day or two without a vehicle. The heat of day and the cold of night are assuredly deadly, and weather will ruin any tent on it’s first pass. The ability to move to avoid weather and deadly predators is paramount to any and all residents of the Flat. In addition, raiders and survivalists are always on the lookout for the easiest marks, so you should be prepared to defend your ride from harm!
| Description | Size | Seats | Body Points | Armor | Mobility | Power |
| Bike | 1×1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Moped/Vespa | 1×1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| Motorcycle | 1×2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| Small Car | 2×2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 5 |
| Medium Car | 2×3 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 5 |
| Large Car (SUV) | 2×3 +1 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Moving Truck/U-Haul | 2×5 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Cherry Picker | 2×2 +1 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Big Rig Cab only | 2×2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Big Rig + Full Trailer | 2×10 | 4 +16 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
All vehicles have certain statistics that are type-specific.
Size: This is how many slots the vehicle will take up in a 5’x5′ grid. A human takes up 1 5’x5′ grid worth of space, and will typically occupy a single space. A +1 indicates that there is a special seat, such as the top of an SUV or the basket of the Cherry Picker.
Seats: This is how many people can safely ride on this. Each additional passenger will have to come up with some creative seating should they want to hitch a ride. Use common sense and keep pacing in mind when thinking up how additional riders could effect the group. For example, an extra passenger on a moped is a considerable burden, but an extra passenger clinging to an SUV will probably be in danger to themselves!
Body: This is how many points of damage the vehicle can take before they are destroyed.
Armor: This is how many points of damage your vehicle will soak.
Mobility: This is the maximum number of dice that you can use while driving this vehicle
Power: How much power a vehicle has to ram or push another
Vehicle Mods
Adding Mods to your ride is a great idea. After all, your ride is your life, and you can never have too much protection, storage, speed, or seats for the friends you make along the way.
Modding cars is not as simple as choosing from this list and crossing scrap resources off of the sheet. Each Mod needs to first be created by rolling Intellegence + Engineering, with the difficulty and successes needed determined per type. Each roll takes one hour of time. If you do not get enough successes in a single roll, you may continue adding successes by rolling again and spending another hour. Failing a roll is not the end of things; you may continue but your frustration means you will roll at a +1 difficulty for the duration of the project. A botch means you lose all accumulated successes and scrap for this project; you will need to get new materials and start over. Consider high-priority mods to be a good use of Adrenaline automatic successes!
As you stack mods onto your vehicle, the weight of everything may bog you down. If the DM deems that you have stacked too many layers of crap onto your vehicle then they may rule that it is too heavy to drive properly, or the engine could explode from the load it is under. The world of the Flat is a fantastic one with insane inventions and a suspension of disbelief, but that doesn’t mean your motorcycle with two layers of steel armor is moving anywhere fast!
Armor : Take scrap and slap it on the side of the vehicle! Each application of armor will add armor to a single 5 foot section of the car. An armored section gains 1 Armor, which will automatically soak 1 damage from all attacks. This is very useful to protect the otherwise vulnerable wheels
Game Rules: For every 4 sections of armor added to a vehicle, lower the Mobility of the vehicle by 1; soaks 1 damage
Scrap Cost: 1 scrap per section
To Create: Intellegence + Engineering, Difficulty 5, 1 success required
Spikes: Strengthen and sharpen your scrap and fuse it to the surface of your ride! Spikes add damage to ramming attacks, and makes it harder for boarders to board you. Add 1 damage to all ramming attacks where the spikes make contact. If the target is human add 2 damage instead. In addition, anyone climbing on the spikes will take 1 damage per turn as they hold on; at the DM’s discretion, actions such as attacking or being attacked could also cause damage (holding onto spikes on a moving car hurts!).
Game Rules: For every 4 sections of spikes added to a vehicle, lower the mobility of the vehicle by 1; causes damage as above
Scrap Cost: 2 Scrap per section
To Create: Intelligence + Engineering, Difficulty 5, 3 success required
Weapon Stash: Nothing turns the tide of battle like the riot baton you just pulled out of a hidden compartment! Perfect for the driver’s cab, the outside of the vehicle, or anywhere really! This can take many creative forms. Maybe the steering wheel has knives you can holster in it, or a pistol kept hidden in a trunk or a wheel well.
Game Rules: So long as it is deemed reasonable by the DM, any number of weapons that could conceivably be hidden somewhere can be done so. Each and every instance should be detailed; this is a highly personalized mod and every weapon should at least be justifiable. Truly huge projects (hollowing out components, drastically altering bodywork to make room for a weapon) may justify more successes to complete.
Scrap Cost: 1 Scrap + weapon to be stashed
To Create: Intelligence + Engineering, Difficulty 6, 2 success required
Scythe/Pendulum Trap: This is a weight or bladed weight that is suddenly released, clearing a side of anything that is hanging on it. Usually requires the vehicle to stop before it can be reset. This trap can only be installed on vehicles with clear, tall sides (i.e. SUVs and trucks, not sports cars and motorbikes)
Game Rules: Activating this trap will release the scythe or pendulum, which will remove any and all objects from the side of the vehicle. Stubborn hangers-on will find limbs missing, or they will take typical damage from falling from a moving vehicle
Scrap Cost: 3 scrap
To Create: Intelligence + Engineering, Difficulty 5, 3 success required
Mounted Turret: Some sort of turret, typically with at least a few shots, designed to be mounted on the vehicle somewhere.
Game Rules: The type of turret depends on the tribe making it. The Chem Druids will make a spray of acid, the Unbound could make arrow or harpoon turrets, and Sharps may lob balloons filled with fermented piss and fishhooks. No matter what, the creation cost will create a launcher for it with whatever associated seating and ammunition that it requires. Assume initially that you can create 12 damage worth of projectiles, with a maximum of 6 damage per projectile made. Each projectile must be of the same type. For example, you could create a dart shooter with 6 2-damage darts, or a harpoon launcher with 3 4-damage darts. If you spend 1 additional fine scrap, you can add a special quality to the ammo, such as a tow line or a napalm spray.
Most vehicles can only accommodate a single turret; some exceptions can be made for longer vehicles such as busses and trucks.
Scrap Cost: 2 scrap + 2 fine scrap (special ammo +1 fine scrap) for the turret and initial ammo. Reloading costs 2 fine scrap, or 3 fine scrap for special ammo
To Create: Intelligence + Engineering, Difficulty 7, 4 success required
Felch Cannons: Large, one-shot cannons set up to shoot down and behind a vehicle at a 45° angle. Destroys anything directly in the path and shoots sand into everything else. It costs 1 scrap to reload the cannon. After being fired, the cannon must typically be manually reset, and therefore it is extremely difficult to reload the cannon while in motion.
Game Rules: This absolute lad of a cannon will deal 15 damage to anything directly in it’s path, which is typically just behind the rear wheels. The blast lifts all but the heaviest vehicles into the air, so any unsecured cargo will likely fly off. The resulting sand cloud does 5 damage to anything in a 10 foot radius around the impact point, as sand and debris lash into flesh and tear into rubber and glass.
Scrap Cost: 4 scrap + 1 scrap to reload
To Create: Intelligence + Engineering, Difficulty 5, 5 success required
Another Fucking Engine: What’s that? You’ve put so much shit onto your car that it can barely move? Just put another engine on the car somewhere and let the Cumbustion Gods figure out the details!
Game Rules: Adds +1 Mobility to a vehicle. Modders must indicate exactly where this engine will be placed; it must be justified *somehow* even if it stretches the limits of practical engineering (we are making a combustion engine out of scrap parts here, after all!)
Scrap Cost: 3 Fine Scrap
To Create: Intelligence + Engineering, Difficulty 8, 5 success required
Net Spreader: This device sits behind or on top of a vehicle, and it shoots a big net over a vehicle.
Game Rules: TBD
Scrap Cost:
To Create: Intelligence + Engineering, Difficulty , success required
Flamethrower Turret: Keep it nice and full of something flammable. Every tribe uses what they have, and you should too.
Game Rules: TBD
Scrap Cost: 3 Fine Scrap
To Create: Intelligence + Engineering, Difficulty 8, 5 success required
Other Vehicle Mods
A huge part of staying alive on the Flat is keeping a nice ride to live in, drive in, and battle in. No regular car would survive for long out in the barren world anyway, but when you have active threats patrolling every road, you have to be prepared to counteract bad actors!
Rebar Raven: This looks like a rebar ladder with a hook at the end. Used to hook your vehicle onto another (for better or for worse!). Riders can climb across the Raven to make it to other cars if they want to risk it
Danger Pole: This is basically any variation of an explosive or similar device placed on the end of a stick that is attached to the vehicles’ frame. This can be a great device to protect your rear or sides from attacks, but use caution when installing one sticking out front!
Monkeybars: These allow a person or two to crawl around more freely on the back of a moving vehicle. Without some bars installed, it is very difficult to attack from the outside of a vehicle!
Exhaust Traps: Any type of trap that can be released from near the back of the vehicle to impair those behind them. This can be smoke, gas, tar, fire, glass shards, firecrackers, sand, oil, or anything else that has been rigged up.
Examples of Vehicles
Each tribe of people on the Flat have their own styles and preferences in terms of their design philosophy. Whereas the fire-obsessed Foomers may collect butane tanks and air compressors to customize their vehicles, the Keepers w
Infuriator
- Small Car, 2×2 body, 3 seats
- 6 BP, 0 Armor, 8 Mobility, 3 Power
- Weapons: Liquid-Fuel Flamethrower x2, side-mounted
- Weapons: Exhaust Trap w/ Glass + Metal mixed shards
The Infurator is a typical Foomer mount, built for speed and almost suicidally stripped down to that end. The front allows the driver room to climb out if need be, and the two back seats are perfect for using the duel flamethrowers. The strategy is usually to get in front of the enemy car and release metal and glass, and then they attempt to board the vehicle. If boarding the vehicle is deemed to difficult, they will instead hose it down with flames until the noises stop.
The Rupture Wagon
- Large SUV, 2×3 body, 6 seats + 2 “Meathooks”
- 6 BP, 1 Armor, 5 Mobility, 4 Power
- Weapons: “Rowboat style” Spears x4
- Weapons: “Sharp wings”, literal wings covered in fishhooks, with a Sharp member hanging from it
- Defenses: Fishhook armor
The Rupture Wagon is the product of drugs and anger and fear. The interior seats 6 ‘comfortably’. The back 4 riders can and will stab anything outside of the car using port holes fitted with long spears, keeping the riders safe from harm. The passenger acts as a spotter and a defender of the cab. Two wings of metal stick out from the SUV’s frame, and each wing is covered with hooks that support a Sharp member each. These Sharps are almost invariably filled with Needle Juice and are insane. They act to deter boarders even further, and they often have explosives, traps, or other implements at their disposal. These members are most often hanging from their own skin or armor embedded with hooks, so they are free to crawl around the wings with their hands and feet being more or less free.
Educator
- Large Armored Bus, 2×6 body, 12 seats +3 Gunner Stations
- 10 BP, 2 Armor, 3 Mobility, 7 Power
- Weapons: Felch Cannons (Large cannons pointing 45° down, designed to blast sand and fire over everything to the sides and behind the bus)
- Weapons: Crossbow Turrets
- Weapons: Firetrickle Tubes
- Defenses: Armored Wheels, Armored Windows, Fire Suppression
The Educator is a huge armored bus designed to carry an entire family of Unbound at once. More so than many other vehicles, this is a home with a fortress built over it. Windows are all covered up with sheets of titanium and aluminum, fitted with small slits for sticking out the Firetrickle Tubes or other firearms. There is a hatch built into the back, the top, and either side, so that in the case of fire escape can be rapid.
When attacked, the Educator’s engine rumbles to life and it’s people prepare for war. Three crossbow turrets line the top of the bus, each with metal shields to protect their users. Every person on the bus is able to assist in the attack, as bullets fly, liquid streams of fire emit from the sides, and huge “Felch Cannons” blow pressurized explosives into the sand, creating a car-dispersing cloud.
The Ochre Submarine
- Medium Armored Car, 2×3 body, 2 seats + 1 monkeybar
- 8 BP, 2 Armor, 5 Mobility, 5 Power
- Weapons: Depth Charge x4, 1 per side and 2 behind
- Weapons: Anchor (Omnidirectional)
- Defenses: Completely Armored Body
This submersible orb was found at the bottom of a very non-flat place in the middle of a great depression in the sand. The tribe that found it was very enthusiastic about the thickness and strength of the metal, and it’s pleasing, rounded shape. It was very heavy, of course, but it was nothing that lots and lots of engines and shocks were unable to fix. The result was a hulking monster that renders its two occupants almost invulnerable from harm. The person hanging out on the back is not so well defended, but at the very least they are ALLIED with one of the safest duos on the planet.
When attacked, the Yellow Sub is capable of moving far faster than appearances would lead. It can drop depth charges that can destroy vehicles, and the large anchor can be swung around and recovered via a mechanical winch. One of the engines is up front and center and is the least protected part of this beast.