Appendix H: Survivability

Attacks always hit. However, players have quite a few options to postpone their untimely demise. These options can be sorted into 2 types: player survivability and mechanical survivability. It’s a good idea to share these concepts with your players! Each layer of survivability ‘stacks’ upon the next; the subsequent ‘layer’ is a fallback, if the one above it fails.

Player Survivability

• Strategy prevents the need for tactics; kill your enemies before they know what hit them! Why storm the house if you can set it on fire? Why fight in a pitched battle against a squad of bandits if you can collapse the ravine walls?

• Tactics prevent you from getting hit. Positioning, cover, high ground – everything that takes place within combat, and stacks the deck in your favor.

Mechanical Survivability

• Fatigue allows you to block, dodge and parry. It can prevent and minimize damage. It also ties into your inventory management.

• Inventory and what you carry: you can sacrifice gear to prevent damage.

• Skills allow for damage reduction and -prevention, such as Scrap Fighter.

• Armor works as a flat damage reduction, if you really run out of options to prevent incoming damage.

• HP protects your STR, and symbolizes your general ability to protect yourself. It can be increased by training.

• STR is your last line of defense. If you fail a Critical Damage Save, or if your STR reaches 0, you die.