I’ve been putting together a hexcrawl zine for the post-apocalypse RPG Cepheus Atom. Cepheus Atom is a stripped-down, simplified version of the Traveller/Cepheus Engine ruleset, set in a slightly gonzo apocalypse. Basically, it’s Traveller: Gamma World. My character sheets are available here.
I’ve been making a hexcrawl for Cepheus Atom called The Shabby Land. I previewed the map here. It’ll be a small (48-hex) sandbox for the players to bounce around in, full of weird creatures, places, and plot hooks. I may also convert it to other post-apocalyptic RPGs I like (most likely some of the Black Hack stuff)
Here’s a sample hex: (one of the rougher ones)
Hex 0404 – PAX Station Theta
Two giant metal doors built into the living rock of the mountainside protecting a hidden bunker of frozen Ancient scientists and technology. The door can be opened with a 10+ Technical roll. It would take 500 points of damage to blast the doors open, and would certainly destroy the contents.
Before the Cataclysm, a well funded group of humanitarians foresaw the fall of civilization and created an organization called PAX. A group of 200 scientists, doctors, and engineers chose to be cryogenically frozen to wait out the end in a sealed high-tech bunker. It was their belief, that when awakened, they could help build a new, better world out of the ruins of the old. They completed the project just as the old world started to tear itself apart.
If anyone breaches the door, the cryonauts will be automatically revived. The PAX personnel will be friendly, and eager to share knowledge and technology, in exchange for news of the outside world.
Unfortunately, during the Cataclysm, the PAX personnel were infected with a bio-weapon called the Bedlam Virus. Within 3 hours of being unfrozen, some of them will start to show signs of paranoia and rage. The PAX scientists will be able to identify the virus and its effects, but will be unable to come up with a cure in time. As descendants of the Cataclysm survivors, the PCs will have an immunity to the virus.
Within 6 hours, all of the PAX cryonauts will degenerate into mindless, frenzied, murderers. They will start tearing apart the installation and killing everyone within. If they’re not stopped, they will destroy the PAX bunker, and then start marauding across the surrounding countryside.
Bedlam-infected Cryonauts
Number: 200
Endurance: 8
Lifeblood: 15
Movement: 10m
Armor: 0
Attack: Club (melee 2D)
The infected never make morale checks, and will always fight to the death. No longer intelligent, they can only use simple weapons, like clubs.
What’s in the Bunker?
PAX provided all of the equipment that the cryonauts would need to restart civilization. The installation has multiple laboratories and equipment lockers. Any of the relics found in the Cepheus Atom book are likely here.
The question is, how much of it survives the rampage of the infected cryonauts? Players searching the bunker, once the infected are dealt with, will use a modified version of the Cepheus Atom Urban Scavenging rules (pg 23)
The players can make up to 6 scavenger rolls per day to find relics, succeeding on a Survival 5+ to get a chance to roll on the Relic tables. (Cepheus Atom pg 44). Mishaps can be ignored.
Polyhedral Nonsense 