Se7en Sagas

Greetings, wasteland warriors and survival enthusiasts!

Today, we’re diving into how you can adapt the Dawnfall system to run a campaign inspired by the iconic Mad Max universe. In a world where fuel is gold and trust is rare, your adventures will be wild, fierce, and full of heart-pounding action. Here’s how to gear up your game:

Setting the Scene

Imagine a desolate wasteland, a world scoured by nuclear winds where water is more precious than currency and the law of the land is the law of the road. Your players are lone wanderers, gang members, or maybe remnants of a forgotten order, all striving to survive and carve out an existence among the dunes.

Customizing the Rules

Vehicles as Characters

In Mad Max, vehicles aren’t just transportation; they’re characters in their own right. Integrate vehicles into your Dawnfall system by assigning them “health,” abilities, and even quirks. A vehicle’s performance can be affected by its condition, modifications, and the harsh environmental challenges of the wasteland.

Characteristics: Each vehicle in Dawnfall can be treated as a character with its own set of stats:

Health (Durability): Represents the vehicle’s ability to withstand damage.
Power (Engine Strength): Dictates speed and acceleration, crucial for chase scenes and escaping dangers.
Handling (Maneuverability): Affects the ability to perform complex driving maneuvers and affects initiative in vehicle-based combat.
Capacity (Storage): Determines how much resource and gear the vehicle can carry.

Perks: Vehicles can also have unique Perks, adding flavor and strategic elements:

Nitro Boost: Allows a temporary surge in speed, useful for critical escape moments or to ram an opponent.
Reinforced Chassis: Reduces damage taken from collisions and attacks.
Stealth Coating: Provides a bonus to evade detection in certain scenarios.

Maintenance and Upgrades: Like characters, vehicles can be upgraded and will need maintenance. Using parts found during scavenging missions can enhance a vehicle’s capabilities or repair damage, affecting its performance in subsequent encounters.

Resource Management: Fuel, water, and ammunition are rare and valuable. Use the Dawnfall Effort system to manage these resources carefully. Spending resources should be a significant decision, impacting not just survival but also the power dynamics within the group and with outsiders.

Adapting Mutational Stress:

Resource Points: Renamed from Mutational Stress to Resource Points, this system tracks the availability of ammunition, water, and fuel. Each resource has its own track, starting from 5 and counting down to zero.

Usage and Replenishment: Spending a point might represent using a significant amount of fuel for a high-speed chase or several rounds of ammunition in a firefight. Resources can be replenished through scavenging missions or trading with other groups.

Survival Implications: When any resource track hits zero, the consequences are dire. Running out of water or food can lead to weakened states, reducing Effort Points available each day. No ammunition means relying solely on melee combat or fleeing, and no fuel could leave the party stranded and vulnerable.

Dynamic Combat Rules:

Combat on the Move: Adapting the Dawnfall combat system to include high-speed chases and vehicular combat is essential. Characters can jump between vehicles, engage in melee on moving cars, or conduct daring drive-by shootings. Adjust initiative and movement rules to reflect the dynamic nature of vehicle-based combat.

Initiative: Vehicle handling plays a crucial role, with higher maneuverability granting earlier action in the turn sequence.
Combat Actions: Include shooting from vehicles, ramming, and quick maneuvers to dodge or shake off pursuers.
Boarding Actions: Characters can attempt to jump between moving vehicles, requiring a high expenditure of Effort Points to succeed, reflecting the risk and difficulty of such daring moves.

Sample Vehicles

In a Mad Max-inspired setting, vehicles aren’t just a mode of transportation; they embody survival, status, and aggression. Here are a couple of examples of customized vehicles that might roam the wastelands in your Dawnfall campaign:

The Dust Rattler

Type: Light Scout Vehicle

Description: The Dust Rattler is a heavily modified dune buggy designed for rapid reconnaissance and guerrilla tactics. Its lightweight frame is stripped down to the essentials to maximize speed and agility.

Characteristics:

Health: Moderate
Power: High (enhanced with a turbocharged engine)
Handling: Very High (excellent for quick maneuvers and escaping tight spots)
Capacity: Low (minimal storage, mostly for small arms and survival gear)
Perks:

Sand Skimmer: Enhanced suspension and wide tires allow the Dust Rattler to move effortlessly over sandy and rocky terrains, ignoring typical movement penalties associated with such landscapes.
Evasion Boost: Once per encounter, the driver can engage an emergency evasion maneuver to automatically avoid an incoming attack, thanks to its reactive steering technology.
Ideal Use: The Dust Rattler is perfect for scouting missions, hit-and-run attacks, and quick escapes. Its ability to quickly cover ground and avoid engagement makes it invaluable for reconnaissance and gathering critical intel in hostile territories.

The Iron Behemoth

Type: Heavy Assault Truck

Description: The Iron Behemoth is a fortress on wheels. Originally a fuel tanker, it has been retrofitted with armored plating and a ramming prow. The vehicle serves as a mobile command center and a frontline bruiser in raider assaults.

Characteristics:

Health: Very High
Power: Moderate (powerful engine but limited by heavy modifications)
Handling: Low (clumsy at best, with a slow turning radius)
Capacity: High (capable of carrying a large crew, heavy weapons, and ample supplies)
Quirks and Abilities:

Mobile Fortress: The thick armored plating reduces incoming damage by 2 points, making it extremely resilient against attacks.
Ramming Prow: Designed to smash through barriers and enemy lines, the Iron Behemoth can initiate a ramming attack that deals significant damage to structures and vehicles.
Ideal Use: The Iron Behemoth shines in direct confrontations where its durability and offensive capabilities can dominate the battlefield. It’s also used to transport valuable resources securely or to spearhead assaults on fortified positions.

These vehicle examples can serve as templates for players to customize their rides or as formidable adversaries they might encounter in the wastelands of a Dawnfall Mad Max-themed campaign. Each vehicle’s unique traits and abilities offer strategic choices and narrative depth, enhancing the post-apocalyptic gameplay experience.

Skills and Perks

Driving: Critical for maneuvering through hazardous terrain and executing complex maneuvers during chases.
Mechanics: Essential for repairing and upgrading vehicles on the fly.
Scavenging: A skill for those adept at finding salvageable parts and resources in unlikely places.

Factions and Enemies

Introduce factions that control various resources, such as water reservoirs, oil fields, or armories. Each faction has its own culture, vehicles, and combat style, ranging from barbaric raiders to organized militant groups.

Raiders: Fast, ferocious, and unpredictable, raiders attack with little warning, seeking loot and destruction.

Cultists: Followers of a bizarre apocalypse cult who believe in the sanctity of motor engines and the power of nitro-fueled ascension.

Adventures and Quests

Your campaigns can revolve around escort missions, scavenging runs, or faction wars. Set up scenarios where players must make alliances or stand alone against the wasteland’s horrors. Quests can involve searching for mythical places rumored to have untouched resources or ancient technology.

Conclusion

Adapting Dawnfall to a Mad Max-inspired setting offers endless opportunities for thrilling adventures and deep storytelling. With a focus on survival, resource management, and high-stakes combat, your game nights will capture the raw, adrenaline-pumping drama of a life lived at full throttle in the wasteland.

Ready to take your place in the convoy of the damned? Fire up your engines, load up your shotguns, and remember: in the wasteland, it’s ride or die!