AtB Warehouse

[IN THE NEWS] First Chimera Monkeys Born

2012-01-06T09:49:00.004-06:00

Researchers in Oregon say they have created the world's first genetically modified monkeys by fusing cells from up to six different embryos, in what could be a big advance for medical research and the rise of an anthropomorphic animal empire.

Hamster Dance

2011-09-06T10:05:00.001-05:00

I have the sudden urge to make these guys into AtB characters.

HELP!!!

2011-09-02T10:33:00.000-05:00

I know there are people still visiting this site despite the lack of any new game related content, but the problem is that I'm out of ideas.

Well, that's not entirely true. I have ideas, but I haven't been able to play and After the Bomb for quite a while, so the inspiration just isn't there.

I'm hoping that I can get some help from you. Yes, YOU!

What would you like me to work on next? Scenarios, locations, NPCs, organizations, animal nations, short/micro fiction, etc. You name it and I'll work on it.

What ever you would like to see next, give me a vague idea of the type of scenario, NPC, nation, etc you want, and I'll do my best to get it posted.

Turtle Cart

2011-08-29T12:21:00.001-05:00

This video gives me so many ideas, I don't know where to start.

Cats With Thumbs

2011-05-20T13:06:00.002-05:00

I found this milk commercial and figured I'd share it here:

Imagine that, Cat's With THUMBS?!

Growth Accelerators

2011-05-18T17:00:00.002-05:00

Years ago I wanted a logical reason for areas of the country to be completely overgrown with full grown forests even though less than a century had passed since the fall of civilization. What I came up with was an idea that forestry companies would have developed a fertilizer or genetically modified tree that would grow and mature at an accelerate rate. This would allow them to plant young trees and be able to harvest the lumber in as few as three years.

This eventually became the basis of an adventure I ran several years ago and ~~am currently working on~~ occasionally tinker with, "The Whispering Woods". This idea of genetically modified plants eventually found its way into another adventure I posted back in '08, "The Garden of Evil".

Interestingly enough, I came across an article today where a growth acceleration fertilizer was used with disastrous results:

The flying pips, shattered shells and wet shrapnel still haunt farmer Liu Mingsuo after an effort to chemically boost his fruit crop went spectacularly wrong.

Fields of watermelons exploded when he and other agricultural workers in eastern China mistakenly applied forchlorfenuron, a growth accelerator. The incident has become a focus of a Chinese media drive to expose the lax farming practices, shortcuts and excessive use of fertiliser behind a rash of food safety scandals.

[guardian]

The director of the vegetable research institute at Qingdao Academy of Agricultural Science, Cui Jian says the chemical "should not harm anyone's health." Well, not unless one of those melons were to blow up in your face.

So you can see where you could have some fun with plants and science gone wrong.

AtB Adventure: The Whispering Woods

2011-05-17T00:36:00.001-05:00

-- Under Construction --

This adventure was designed using Second Edition rules and was written for a group of adventurers with no specific background or power requirements, though it is assumed that the characters work for Cardania in some respect. GMs may want to change some aspects of this adventure to better suit your group.

PLAYER BACKGROUND
It's a warm summer afternoon in a small southern Cardania boarder town, when the PC's, members of the local militia, are called together for a mission briefing.

The militia members sit waiting in a warm and stuffy motor pool garage housing three large all-terrain militia haulers, when Major Erick Woodchuck enters the building.

"Sorry to cut into your afternoon fun, but I've just received orders from Smoketown to send you on a mission.

"An expedition to the south came across the ruins of a pre-Crash agriculture research station a few days ago and have requested equipment and provisions to set up a long-term research site. Smoketown agreed and assigned you to make the delivery and help the expedition set up the site. There are no roads where you're heading, so it should take you approximately four days along the rough trails through the wilderness to get to their base camp.

"You will be transporting the equipment and provisions in those three haulers behind you. Unless any of you have questions or equipment requests, fall out and get ready to move out."

Major Woodchuck will answer any questions he can and fill any equipment requests that he finds necessary to complete the mission. The characters will also be given a If there are fewer than three PC's who can drive, the Major will assign militia members to drive the remaining trucks.

ADVENTURE BACKGROUND
Six days ago, a small Cardanian expedition came across the ruins of a pre-Crash agriculture research center in southern North Carolina, outside the borders of Gatorland. Their initial inspection of the site found that it was still in decent condition despite its age, and that several of its mainframes were still operational. They immediately sent a request to Smoketown for permission to set up a long-term research site.

Later that evening, during a return trip to the ruins, one of the expeditions teams came into contact with a mutagenic plant that propagates by infecting a host with a vegetable symbiot. That night, the first of the team was driven mad as the changes started to manifest themselves (twigs and buds sprouting from the skin) and went on a rampage through the camp destroying their radio gear. The expedition leader had no choice but to have the team member shot and the other members of its team restrained as they too starting to show the same physical manifestations and mental instability.

The next day, shortly after sunrise, the symbiots in the other infected team members accelerated. They broke free and went on a murderous rampage through the camp killing all but three of the expeditions remaining members before running off screaming into the wilderness. The surviving members returned to the ruins looking for answers as to what caused the teams mutations and a cure. However, as they searched the ruins, the mutated team members attacked them and they locked themselves in an old lab room.

Since the incident, the mutated team members have been wandering around the area attacking and infecting some of the local wildlife.

GAME MASTER INFORMATION
The first leg of the trip to the expeditions last base camp will take the characters around Gatorland through scattered woodlands and grasslands in the Plains of Free Cattle where homesteads are uncommon and villages are rare. If the GM wishes to throw a couple encounters at the caravan during the trip, chose one from the following list or roll on the Wilderness Encounter Table in the main book.

1. Pack of Non-Sentient Feral Wolves. Sometime during the night, while the group is camping, a pack of six feral wolves begin stalking the campsite. They will attempt to take an inattentive guard by surprise and drag them into the woods. If any of the wolves are killed, or severely wounded, the pack will retreat into the woods in search for easier prey.
2. Swarm of Mosquitoes. A cloud of 60 mutant mosquitoes is spooked by the passing caravan and will attack anyone not protected within the vehicles. See main rulebook (pg. 190) for details on these creatures' tactics.
3. Cardanian Scouts. A group five Cardanian scouts are heading back for Smoketown after a yearlong scouting mission to the south. They will gladly share a meal with the group and welcome any news from back home. If entertained, the scouts will share tales of the wilderness and ruins they explored along the Gulf of Mexico.
4. Free Cattle Scouts. Once the caravan enters the Plains of Free Cattle, they will be shadowed by a group of five Free Cattle Scout. They will track the group until they make camp before confronting the group. The scouts will want to know what their business is and where they are headed. When the scouts realize where the group is headed, they will impart a warning that the woods there are haunted by the uneasy spirits of those who died during the Big Death, and that the woods will eat anyone who would dare enter them.

Base Camp

The Blue Ridge Mountains grow larger as the caravan approaches the location of the expeditions last base camp on the edge of a large forested area. The caravan is met by one of the expedition scouts, a mutant horse named Jehosh Marcus, who offers the group a meal before they continue on through the woodlands towards the ruins.

During the meal, one of the two scientists will insist on contacting the expedition to let them know they are nearly there. The radio calls will go unanswered. The scout knows nothing of what has transpired at the main camp and will assume that they are merely experiencing radio troubles, "again."

A mile or so from the site, the caravan is suddenly rushed and attacked by a very large and odd looking boar. It is nearly twice as large as a boar of its type should be and is covered with leaves, branches and vines. The boar will continue to attack until it is dead or otherwise subdued.

Infected Boar
Size: 6' long
Weight: ~500 pounds
Hit Points: 23
SDC: 18
Armor Rating: 6
Horror Factor: 12
Speed: 22 (15mph), Can charge at 50 (35mph) for 3D6 melee
Attacks Per Melee: 2
Damage: Tusks do 2D6+3, Head-butt does 1D6+3, Trample does 2D6+4
Bonuses: +3 on initiative, -3 to Strike, -3 do Dodge
Natural Abilities: Prowl 60%, Track by Smell 65%
Behavior: This infected boar has been driven insane by a plant symbiot. It will fight anything that gets in its way to the death.
GM Notes: The boar was infected by one of the infected expedition members last night. It is unable to infect anyone else at this early stage, and is only motivated to kill itself so it can act as a food bed for the plant to grow in. See later notes for the life cycle of the symbiotic plant.

When the fight is over anyone who examines the boar will find that the boar is not just covered with branches, leaves and vines, but instead they are growing out if its body. The two scientists are excited by this new discovery and start taking notes and pictures of this exciting new mutation. The scientists will insist on bringing the remains with them to the expedition camp so they can examine it more thoroughly.

Expedition Camp Ruins

When the caravan arrives at the expeditions campsite, they find it in ruins. Several dead bodies lie around the camp, victims of a brutal attack.

Searching the area, the group will find the dead bodies of seven of the eighteen expeditions team, the rest are missing. In the expedition leaders tent, they find the expedition's logbook. The last few entries note the discovery of the ruins along with a crude map of its layout; receiving approval from Smoketown to set up a long-term encampment; and then a note that one of the expedition members went mad, "Aristaeus is dead. He came down with the shakes shortly after his team returned from the ruins, but the doctor said it was most likely allergies. During dinner he became quite agitated and started a fight with the scouts. Before we could restrain him he ran into the radio shack, destroyed the communications gear, and killed Zaria! I had to shoot him before he could harm any of the other expedition members. The doctor doesn't have any answers, but noted some odd changes to his appearance."
The leader later notes that the other members of the team had been restrained, "The rest of Aristaeus' team have started to change, so we must protect ourselves should they too go mad. We have tied them to their cots and the doctor has heavily sedated them. The doctor has informed me that Aristaeus' body is still changing!"
The last entry is from three days ago. A quickly scribbled note that the members of the team had gone mad, "Madness and mutation has taken those poor souls. They have broken free of their restraints and fled into the woods, but not before killing the doctor and Timon. I intend to take those that are left to the ruins to find out what caused the mutations and search for a cure."

Jehosh will identify the expedition members noted in the log: Aristaeus was one of three team leaders, Zaria was the radio operator, Timon was a scout, and the doctor's name was Paul. Aristaeus team members were Hoc, and Adalia.

If the characters search the area, (Perception check vs. 14) they will find the remains of Aristaeus. It would almost have mistaken for an odd looking thorn bush if it weren't for the clothes stuck to its thorny branches and the horrifically distorted face hidden beneath it's leaves. The character finding the bush must save vs. HF 15; failure results in a temporary (1D3 days) loss of 1D4 ME and a phobia of plants.

Anyone examining the thorn bush without a natural armor rating of 6 or better (or wearing protective gear) must save against non-lethal poison or become infected with the plant symbiot. See later notes on the symbiotic plant for details.

AgPax Botanical and Agricultural Research Biosphere Ruins

Jehosh, though a bit skittish, will lead the group to the ruins, which is only a fifteen minute hike south of the campsite.

A path through the forest opens up onto a field of huge corn stalks; each plant stands fifteen feet tall with several eighteen inch ears of corn growing on them. In the center of the field, if anyone is able to see over the top of the corn, rises the AgPax Botanical and Agricultural Research Ruins.

The ruins consist of a number of geodesic conservatory domes surrounding a complex. The domes and central complex have all succumb to the decades of weather and unchecked growth of plant-life.

NPCs

The Expedition Survivors

Michael Dean, Expedition Leader
Casey Hatch, Scout
Theodore Cook, Expedition Member

Ent Hunters

Symbiotic Plant

Like Rats In A Maze

2011-05-11T16:33:00.000-05:00

I've been a fan of the Cube movies and the Portal games for a time and now I'm wondering how I would go about recreating the puzzle mechanic in a tabletop role playing game environment.

It's one thing to have visual cues to go off of while stuck in a seemingly impossible puzzle room, but when the majority a tRPG is verbal, it's not that easy to make a trapped puzzle room that a player, or their character will be able to solve without giving away the solution in the description or continuously repeating the descriptions to your players.

I suppose I could take the route of the old text based adventure games like Zork where I give a general description of the room and then give the clues as the character(s) examine various portions of the room.

d20 games takes this to task with the Spot, Search, and Listen skills. Skills that do not have a relative parallel in Palladium games. The closest that you could come is that in some games characters may have heightened senses, or super vision powers; but nothing to roll them against for successfully spotting the clue to solving a portion of a puzzle or circumventing a trap. The GM can always have the player(s) make an arbitrary roll against a target with a modifier taking into effect their special abilities.

My ultimate goal in this is to create a testing facility run by Doctor Feral, and used to test different mutants (human and animal), and run it at the next Palladium Open House.

One Small Step

2011-01-25T16:06:00.001-06:00

This is Ambam, a bachelor Western Lowland gorilla at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent, England. He loves to walk around like this!
The video was taken by Johanna Watson whilst she was working for a project on great ape locomotion.

[IN THE NEWS] Automated Flying Construction Robots

2011-01-17T15:10:00.004-06:00

When I saw this, I knew they were something I need to scale up and bring into some role playing game.

Watch as a group of automated quadrotor robots autonomously build several cubical structures. Quadrotor researcher Daniel Mellinger notes, "We tell the quadrotors what structure to build and they figure out the assembly plan and then build it."

These structures beams are held together with magnets, but there's no reason if this were scaled up that you couldn't have a team of welding robots securing larger metal beams while the lifters recharged their batteries.

This reminds me of the 80s sci-fi movie Runaway

2019: A Future Imagined

2010-12-07T15:13:00.001-06:00

2019: A Future Imagined from Flat-12 on Vimeo.

Visual Futurist Syd Mead ("Blade Runner," "Aliens," "Tron") reflects upon the nature of creativity and how it drives the future. Photographed in P2 High Definition, this featurette provides insight into the fascinating mind of one of the most influential artists of modern cinema and automotive design.

Post Apocalyptic Survival Video

2010-12-06T14:18:00.002-06:00

Ducked and Covered: A Survival Guide to the Post Apocalypse from Nathaniel Lindsay on Vimeo.

Ducked and Covered: A Survival Guide to the Post Apocalypse is an instructional public information film designed to assist the general population with surviving life in Australia after a nuclear war. Produced by the Australian Board of Civil Defence during the early 1980s, this previously unseen, dusty print was uncovered deep within a university film archive.

Broken into four chapters, the film guides wary survivors through the trials that will await them in the post apocalypse. From post-apocalyptic fashion and unique uses for surplus human skulls, to becoming a local warlord and avoiding radioactive mutants, there is something for all dwellers of the wastelands. With its dry methodical narration, brooding synthesizer, minimalist animation and erroneous guidance, Ducked and Covered is a dark humored parody/loving homage to the late cold war era, early 1980’s public information films, as well as a reminder… OF WHAT STILL COULD BE.

WINNER - Audience Award - Best Animated Film - MAELSTROM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Seattle, WA, USA 2010.

OFFICIAL SELECTION

CINEQUEST 20 FILM FESTIVAL, San Jose, California, USA 2010.

THE WILLIAMSBURG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Brooklyn, NY, USA 2010.

MAELSTROM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Seattle, WA, USA 2010.

DOOMSDAY FILM FESTIVAL & SYMPOSIUM, Brooklyn, NY, USA 2010.

NEWFILMMAKERS NY, FALL SERIES, New York City, NY, USA 2010.

STATE OF DESIGN FESTIVAL, Melbourne, Australia 2009.

PRESS
http://www.macguffinpodcast.com/macguffin-content/m-i-f-f-f-2010-animation-shorts-review/3/
http://www.thesanjoseblog.com/2010/03/cinequest-comedy-short-films.html
http://www.fanboyplanet.com/movies/cg-cinequest2010.php

Mutated Animal Found In Ditch

2010-11-23T12:28:00.003-06:00

Okay, it's actually a video short by Neil (District 9) Blomkamp. IO9 tracked down some information on the AGM Heartland logo on the side of the creature and found this info:

Entertainment services by way of an online website with video, audio and textual content and images featuring characters and storylines about a fictional genetic engineering company that produces genetically engineered and altered organisms.

Growing Giant Bugs

2010-11-01T17:10:00.004-05:00

One of the arguments of those who don't believe in giant insects is that there's no way they could support their own weight, yet giant (well compared to now-a-days) insects did exist in prehistoric times and one scientist set out to prove that they could exist today; given the right conditions...

"Ancient Earth saw dragonflies with wingspans up to 28 inches, and their size is thought to be linked to higher levels of oxygen in the prehistoric atmosphere. Now John VandenBrooks of Arizona State University has tested that hypothesis by growing himself some big bugs."

Arthur C. Clark and The World of Tomorrow

2010-09-03T13:58:00.002-05:00

PART 1:

PART 2:

Building The Babies Of Tomorrow

2010-08-23T11:31:00.002-05:00

Lorigen Engineering from JimTheFilm on Vimeo.

[Lorigen Engineering]

Biped Porcupine

2010-07-19T13:33:00.002-05:00

Here's an interesting video of a porcupine mimicking the walking motion of the people watching it.

2010 Kia Soul Hamster Commercial

2010-07-12T16:37:00.001-05:00

I've got a few ideas brewing again. Here's something to keep the Blog alive.

20 Random Wild Mutations

2010-06-11T11:10:00.005-05:00

Not every animal in the world of AtB was mutated into an anthropomorphic intelligent being.

Here is a list of wild mutations you might consider adding to some wild animals that your characters can encounter while traveling the wilderness. These creatures can also be used to terrorize a border town for a quick game session. As always, use your imagination.

Table of Random Wild Mutations: (roll 1D20)

Bone Spurs
Horns
Tusks
Venom
Extra/Fewer Appendages
Extra Heads
Unexpected Appendage(s)
Multiple Eyes
Cycloptic
Gigantism
Mutant Power (See Heroes Unlimited)
Animal Psionic Power
Bald
Odd Covering (i.e. scales instead of fur)
Odd Color
Diet Change (i.e. carnivore instead of herbivore)
Habitat Change
Sickly/Leprous/Disfigured (HF 12+)
Siamese

Unstable Mutation

Brief descriptions for the non-obvious Wild Mutations:

Bone Spurs: The Calcium in the creatures bones have grown into several sharp bony protrusions that have pierced the skin and can be used offensively as weapons, or defensively as armor or spikes.

Extra/Fewer Appendages: The creature is missing or has a few extra arms and/or legs. If this is a chimera, the extra appendages can be from a totally different animal.

Unexpected Appendage: This includes antennae, horns, mouthparts, wings, gills, walking legs, tentacles , swimming legs or fins, and parts of the tail that don't normally occur on the creature (ie: an elephant with elk horns or tail of a dolphin).

Cycloptic: The creature's eyes have grown together into a large single eye.

Gigantism: This creature is huge. Double or add 10 to the creatures size levels.

Mutant Power: Grab a copy of Heroes Unlimited, Powers Unlimited, or copy of the Rifter and pick a suitable, or outrageous, power to add to this creature.

Bald: Obviously this doesn't apply to a creature that doesn't already have hair. If that's the case, just add a whole lot of hair instead. This works best when added to another Wild Mutation.

Odd Body Covering: Hairy Dolphin, Scaly Cow, Chitinous Gopher... Just change the skin normally found on a creature to one that is way out of place.

Habitat Change: Funny, you don't normally find Polar Bears in the Tropics... Does your creature normally live under water? Well, now it burrows underground (Land Shark!).

Sickly/Leprous/Disfigured: Oh, the horror!! This creature is scarred by sickly soars, oozing pustules, and/or rotting flesh, etc... Anyone who sets eyes on it must make a Horror Factor check or run in terror (House Rule: NPCs are -10 to all HF checks).

Siamese: Two creatures (not necessarily the same species) are joined at some part of their anatomy. Some may speculate that this to be some form of chimera that didn't work out so well.

Unstable Mutation: Every so often this creature goes through a metamorphosis that changes it. Be it a new unstable mutation, a change to it's appearance, a new power or disadvantage, or even a chimeric addition; you never know what you'll be facing from one encounter to the next.

Julius The Red

2010-03-29T17:19:00.007-05:00

Alignment: Unprincipled
Attributes: IQ 11, ME 12, MA 29, PS 10, PE 16, PP 11, PB 9, Spd. 20
Age: 22 Gender: Male
Species: Red Squirrel
Size Level: 6
Length: 2'10" (5' 8" with tail) Weight: 18lbs.
Hit Points: 45 SDC: 28
Disposition: Megalomaniac
Human Features
Hands -- Partial
Legs -- Partial
Speech -- Full
Looks -- None
Other -- Fluffy Tail (2' 10" long)
Powers: Extra I.Q.; Extra M.A.; Rodent Leaping; Climbing Claws
Psionics: Danger Sense; Animal Control; Animal Speech
Level of Experience: 6th
Background: Guerrilla Warrior
Apprenticeship: n/a
Occupation: Guerrilla Leader
Primary Skills of Note: Wilderness Survival, Prowl, Camouflage, Demolitions, Demo. Disposal, Intelligence, Land Navigation, Recognize Weapon Quality, Climbing, Hand to Hand: Assassin
Languages & Literacy: English 88/78%
Weapon Proficiencies: Revolver, Shotgun, Bolt-Action Rifle, Paired Weapons
Secondary Skills: Identify Plants & Fruits, Tracking, Climbing, Escape Artist, Public Speaking
Attacks per Melee: 6
Bonuses: +1 to initiative, +3 to parry/dodge, +2 to strike, +3 to roll with punch/fall/impact, +3 to pull punch, +2 to entangle, +4 to damage, +3 to pull punch
Special Weapons: Julius always wears a pair of pear handle Bantam .22 Revolvers and six quick-loaders.
Personal Profile: (pending)

Muscle Doubling Package

2010-03-15T14:03:00.003-05:00

Though out the early and mid 21st Century, biologists worked on ways to remedy food shortages around the world. One method that was developed early on was known as muscle doubling, which literally caused the transgenically altered animals to double their muscle mass.

When the EGG (Embryonic Genome Generator) was introduced, muscle doubling was one of the more popular transgenic alterations gene-hackers introduced to their creations, which soon became a highlight in illegal mutant animal fight arenas. Soon after hackers were even able to splice the transgenic code for this mutation into a virus which could be used on humans.

BIO-E Cost: 30
Attribute Bonuses: Character gains Crushing Strength, 2D4 P.S., and +15 SDC
Increased Mass: Character base weight increases one size level.
NOTE: This package can be purchased by those who already have Crushing Strength for the additional bonuses, but must also take the increased mass.

Genetically-Modified "Terminator" Trout Have 20% More Muscle [io9.com]

New Character Sheets

2010-03-12T14:48:00.013-06:00

I finally got around to finishing and uploading some new After the Bomb character sheets.
-UPDATE- I've converted the sheets into .pdf files to make them more accessible.

Download Character Sheet Page 1 (PDF)

Download Character Sheet Page 2 (PDF)

Patrol Boat, Light

2010-02-15T12:27:00.004-06:00

The Cardanian Navy utilizes many salvaged and refurbished boats from before the Crash in their patrols and defense of the Cardanian coast line and it's many rivers.

Generic Patrol Boat (Light)

Engine: Internal Combustion
Speed: (Cruise) 25mph / (Max) 35mph [Speed Class 2 30/20]
Range: 250 Miles

Hull Length: 30'
Crew: 4 (Captain, 2x Gunners, Mechanic)

SDC: 300
AR: 12

Armaments:
1) (Bow) .50 cal -- 315 degree forward arc Dmg: 1D6x10
2) (Aft) .50 cal -- 315 degree rear arc Dmg: 1D6x10
3) (Midship) Mortar -- 360 degree Dmg: varies
4) (optional) Grenade Launcher, M60

Other Standard Equipment:

Radar
Sonar/Depth Guage
Searchlight
Radio, Mid-Range

[IN THE NEWS] Digital Doomsday

2010-02-04T11:18:00.001-06:00

Ever wonder why everyone seems to be down in the dirt in post-apocalyptic settings, even several decades after? Even though we are so brilliant now and would probably be even more some time down the road? Why don't the survivors just use that knowledge to pick themselves up by the boot straps and get back to it?

Because everything we are is built on a house of cards.

Read this Article: Digital doomsday: the end of knowledge

Tom Simonite and Michael Le Page write:

Yet even as we are acquiring ever more extraordinary knowledge, we are storing it in ever more fragile and ephemeral forms. If our civilisation runs into trouble, like all others before it, how much would survive?

[snip]

Whatever the cause, if the power was cut off to the banks of computers that now store much of humanity's knowledge, and people stopped looking after them and the buildings housing them, and factories ceased to churn out new chips and drives, how long would all our knowledge survive? How much would the survivors of such a disaster be able to retrieve decades or centuries hence?

[snip]

In 2008, for instance, it emerged that the US had "forgotten" how to make a secret ingredient of some nuclear warheads, dubbed Fogbank. Adequate records had not been kept and all the key personnel had retired or left the agency responsible. The fiasco ended up adding $69 million to the cost of a warhead refurbishment programme.

Something to keep in mind next time your AtB players/characters try booting up an old computer that's been gathering dust in the ruins on the Crash, or wonder why the few surviving humans didn't just rebuild the nuclear power plants and fast food joints.

Of course, since AtB is science fiction, anything is possible.

Embodied Cognition

2010-02-03T13:52:00.003-06:00

One of the areas I'd like to explore in the AtB-verse setting is the idea that, before the Crash, people were able to "grow" themselves a spare body for recreational or medical reasons. In addition, these bodies could be customized in whatever way the owner wanted.

Not only could you completely change your appearance, these bodies could be hybridized with any transgenic feature you could think of. You could have a centaur body, a winged body, an amphibious body, etc. Just about anything you could think of would be possible.

One aspect I had not thought of until after watching Avatar recently was how swapping bodies would impact the human psyche. Thankfully, John Pavlus recently posted an article that takes a look at the idea of "Embodied Cognition":

...your mind-your "I"-is a function of a cephalized, bipedal, plantigrade, bilaterally symmetrical body between 1.5 and 2 meters tall with two arms terminating in five-fingered hands with opposable thumbs, two lungs, a warm-blooded vascular system, mostly hairless skin, two front-focused eyes, etc. etc. Change any aspects of that physical configuration-in subtle or radical ways-and the mind will inevitably change too.

You can read the whole article on io9.com ~~or an earlier version on his blog~~.

Iz goin to do science!

2010-01-18T19:11:00.003-06:00

Rise my army!

2010-01-15T12:55:00.001-06:00

[IN THE NEWS] Plant-Animal Hybrid

2010-01-13T13:40:00.008-06:00

Ever wish you didn't need to eat? Well, there is a Sea Slug that can do just that thanks to its ancestors stealing plant DNA allowing them to create genes necessary to make green chlorophyll pigment. They then steal chloroplasts from algae they eat to conduct photosynthesis.

LiveScience.com wrote: [link]

"The sea slugs live in salt marshes in New England and Canada. In addition to burglarizing the genes needed to make the green pigment chlorophyll, the slugs also steal tiny cell parts called chloroplasts, which they use to conduct photosynthesis. The chloroplasts use the chlorophyl to convert sunlight into energy, just as plants do, eliminating the need to eat food to gain energy.

"We collect them and we keep them in aquaria for months," Pierce said. "As long as we shine a light on them for 12 hours a day, they can survive [without food]."

Something like this has to have been toyed around with at some point in the AtB setting. A few years ago I did write up an adventure called "The Green Death" which involved a symbiotic plant that dominated it's human and animal hosts, but this concept opens up a whole new dimension of possibilities.

Here's a little mutation package you could add to your game:

Animal Photosynthesis Package

BIO-E Cost: 25
Appearance: This mutant's skin and hair/fur/feathers/scales now have a dark green pigment from the natural chlorophyll.
Power: With exposure to light, the character's natural chlorophyll and chloroplasts needed to convert sunlight into energy and reducing, or alleviating, the character's need to eat depending on the character's level of activity.
NOTE: A majority of the character's body must be exposed to sunlight for this power to be affective. Clothing reduces the effecivness of this power dramitically.

ANT Vehicles

2009-12-22T11:12:00.005-06:00

I'd really love to find some of these vehicles in working order in AtB.

More info and graphics at: http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/12/21/united-nations-goes-ant/

Moving

2009-11-03T14:32:00.002-06:00

I'm in the process of moving to my new house, so I'm not going to be around much to reply to emails or post anything new until I'm settled in. The nice thing is, I'm planning on designating one area as my AtB work-zone; absent all the other clutter that tends to distract me from brainstorming.

Hopefully I can start posting new stuff by the end of the month.

[IN THE NEWS] Fanged Frogs

2009-09-25T22:22:00.004-05:00

Not too long ago, I wrote an article on a new AtB creature I called the Viper Frog. Well, as it would turn out, scientists have discover fanged frogs in Thailand:

Fanged Frog and Other Bizarre Species Discovered [livescience.com]

A bird-eating frog with fangs, an alien gecko equipped with orange eyes and technicolor skin, and a flightless bird are among the 163 newly identified species discovered in Southeast Asia last year...

Bird-eating fanged frog (Limnonectes megastomias): An opportunistic eater, this frog lies in wait for its prey in streams in Thailand. Males of the species use their fangs for male-to-male combat, as scientists have seen frogs with missing limbs and multiple scars.

And this wasn't the first fanged frog found recently. Another species was found in New Guinea:

Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New Guinea [guardian.co.uk]

A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea.

So, it is possible that the Viper Frog could have evolved in nature. Funny how science fiction always seems to be one step ahead.

Chinchilli Day

2009-09-15T10:46:00.003-05:00

I saw this promo for Las Vegas, and thought, "Hey, that sounds like a great idea for an Road Hogs game." Decide for yourself.

Cybernetics, Robotics, Bionics

2009-09-10T14:15:00.008-05:00

What if bio-augmentation isn't for you? What if you grew up in the Empire of Humanity where purity is the expectation. Well, there's always mechanical augmentation.

Be it cybernetic, bionic, or robotic, there are numerous ways you can augment yourself without muddying your genetics.

Anthropomorphic Robotic Vehicles & Armor
Anthropomorphic robotic vehicles, like the Empire's Type 1 Robotic Armor, are much more maneuverable than typical wheeled and tracked vehicles. They also tend to have a higher psychological impact on the enemy. The drawback, in real life, is that they require complicated computer assistance to operate and require a lot more maintenance than a wheeled or tracked vehicle, which is probably why you don't see them being used by the military...yet.

Robotic Exosuits
The main difference between Robotic Armor and Robotic Exosuits is size. Robot Armor is an offshoot of Robotic Vehicles that users drive, while Exosuits (like the 2dx) are seen as cybernetic body armor that the user wears.

The following video is of an exosuit that could also be termed a Robot Vehicle, except for its size.

Bionic Limbs and Senses
Here we enter the realm of "The Six Million Dollar Man" and the "Bionic Woman". Whether you've lost your hearing, sight, or even a limb, you can get it replaced with a bionic equivalent. Often, that bionic replacement can have better functionality than the original. "We can make you better, stronger, faster."

The next two categories aren't designed to augment the human condition, but are going to be a part of a technologically advanced society.

Unmanned Robotic Vehicles
Remote robots were first used by law enforcement agencies to check and handle EODs (Explosive Ordinance Devices), but the current big thing is the use of Unmanned Combat Vehicles by the military that can piloted remotely from some distant command center (sometime on another continent). Most of these are UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles), but there are also ground and submersible vehicles for utility, scouting and combat purposes as well.

And while these units don't "augment" the human condition it does offer the introduction of remotely controlled robotic surrogates.

Autonomous Robotic Systems
Why put people in harms way when you can sent an autonomously controlled robot in their place? The autonomous robots are operated by an AI that is programmed to make its own decisions on the fly. While they are rather rough around the edges today, and do have the drawback of not being directly controlled by a human operator.

But watch out that you don't unleash a horde of AI killing machines on the world...

Informational Links

iRobot (Government & Industrial Robots)
TALON Military Robots
HAL Suit (Cyberdyne)
Touch Bionics
Bionic Eye Cam (NewScientist)

[IN THE NEWS] Regenesis: The New You

2009-09-09T15:01:00.010-05:00

A few years ago I had this idea for an idea that could add a little character to the world before the Crash and Big Death, and maybe play on how it might impact the world of After the Bomb.

Seeing as how the world was experiencing a golden age of Bio Science, I thought that it would be great if they had come up with a way to grow you a new body to order. "Bored with your current body? New You can grow you a new one to order." You would be able to everything from height, weight, eye color, skin color/tone, gender, facial appearance, etc...

The crazy thing is we are already ridiculously close to being able to do just that. Well, to an extent.

Gone will be the days of organ donors and the possibility of passing along infectious diseases. In the last decade or two we've been able to grow replacement organs, ears, and skin grafts, but this often required the use of a host organism (usually a rat or pig) for the replacement tissue/organ to be grown. Recently, it was found that you can strip the existing cell tissue from a donor heart, coat it with stem cells from the recipient to regrow a working organ, and the resulting organ won't be rejected since it is now covered with the recipient's own cell tissue.

To sweeten the deal, researcher have found that they can more easily reprogram adipose [fat] cells into stem cells. An since stem cells can be turned into any other cells in your body, all you need to do is put on some weight before hand and have it harvested when you need it, or put in a bank for future use.

We aren't just limited to soft organs either. We are now learning how to regrow teeth, and bones!

Throw all this together and what's to stop someone from growing you a whole new body? Just transplant the brain and you've got yourself a "New You". Sure, you and your new body will need to go through some physical therapy to operate properly, but you can get past that in the realm of science fiction.

To take this on an even wilder ride, why limit your new body to that of a human. Why not buy an anthropomorphic body, or something entirely alien. It appears that this idea is used in the movie Avatar (though instead of transplanting the brain, they use a mind link interface). Imagine transplanting yourself into the body of a centaur, mermaid, or winged human!!

You could take this to the extreme and figure that someone could use this technique to life forever, if it weren't for that pesky problem of deteriorating brain tissue, but who says that has to be a problem anymore? Brain tissue is pretty much just like any other in the body and should be able to be regrown. the problem is that you wouldn't just (or might not) be able to just grow yourself a second brain and swap out the old one due to the fact that (as far as we know) there is no way of transferring your consciousness from your original brain into the new one. One possibility I can think of is that you could periodically have new brain tissue grown within your new (larger?) skull to compensate for the loss.

However, again, in the realm of science fiction anything is possible...

So, there you go the basis of the idea that would be Regenesis: The New You, a company that can grow you a new body -- built to order.

Oh yeah, what about your old body? What if you want to go back to being the old you? Well, they will keep that for posterity in cryogenic storage, for an added fee.

IN THE NEWS Links

[IN THE NEWS] Biologists Napping While Work Militarized

2009-08-20T15:15:00.007-05:00

Scientists are often portrayed as the dupes of the military, or government conspiracies. Now a new editorial by Bioethicist Malcolm Dando states that biologists don't understand how their research is being weaponized. Read the full article to understand the very real ramifications.

Biologists napping while work militarized [Nature.com]

As researchers discover more agents that alter mental states, the Chemical Weapons Convention needs modification to help ensure that the life sciences are not used for hostile purposes, says Malcolm Dando.
At the 4th European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons in 2007, researchers from the Institute of Experimental Medicine and Charles University in Prague described the effects on macaque monkeys of combinations of drugs that produce a rapid loss of aggressive behaviour. They argued that the drugs could be "used to pacify aggressive people during ... terrorist attacks". The same researchers have also investigated methods of aerosol delivery to human volunteers.
Those who support the development of incapacitating agents often argue that using them in conflict situations stops people being killed. Historical evidence suggests otherwise. At the Nord-Ost siege, for instance, terrorists exposed to the fentanyl mixture were shot dead rather than arrested. Likewise, in Vietnam, the US military used vast quantities of CS gas — a 'non-lethal' riot-control agent — to increase the effectiveness of conventional weapons by flushing the Viet Cong out of their hiding places.

It's worth reading the entire editorial - full of facts of how life sciences has been perverted into blueprints for bioweaponry and just how some scientists either turn a blind eye to, or are complicit in the weaponization of their scientific discoveries.

However, in relation to the After the Bomb game setting, it offers a gold mine of possibilities. Whether it be mad scientists wanting to test their latest experiment on some rural locals, a war lord using the scientific discoveries of a duped scientist, or the Empire discovering some lost biological weapon from before the Crash, the possibilities are nearly limitless. As horrible, troublesome, or disturbing as they may be...

[IN THE NEWS] Bio-Hackers

2009-08-04T16:00:00.006-05:00

It seems that we are already living in an age where people already have their own home bio-labs. Currently, it's a fringe group know as bio-hackers, creating the genetically-engineered bugs in makeshift gene laboratories for fun.

Okay, their not just creating germs and viruses, Boston bio-hacker Kay Aull (as seen in the attached video below) used her hacking skills to test her father and herself for the genetic disease haemochromatosis.

There's even a DIYbio forum where these guys share their 1337-skills. However, authorities are becoming increasingly concerned of the health and contamination risks of these at home bio hobbyists. DIYbio Founder Mac Cowell, in a Sky News said, "The main danger is if you're doing it on your own - the chemicals can be considered hazardous waste so you need to know how to dispose it."

So it will be no surprise when Erick's vision becomes a reality,

"It wasn't long before ordinary citizens could buy gene-scan attachments and software for their personal computers, before trading in gene patterns was common on the internet, and before 'virtual' breeding games let anyone experiment with mixing genes and chromosomes from different animals.

One of the most dramatic new products was called the EGG®, or Embryonic Genome Generator. Sold as "make your own mutant" kits, the first EGGs were used to grow transgenetic mice. EGGs suitable for growing dogs, cats and other pets quickly caught on. Within months, people all over the world were experimenting by mixing genes from different animals, and even from humans."

There are Bad Guys and then there are Villians

2009-07-28T10:18:00.005-05:00

Some words of wisdom from Darths & Droids:

It's easy to throw monsters and Big Bads at your player's characters, adversaries who will simply do anything they can to kill them as quickly as possible. They'll use any dirty trick they can, any sneaky means at their disposal, any evil trap for the unwary PCs. They'll outgun them, hit them with their full strength, spare no expense, and hold nothing back. They'll kick the PCs when they're down. They'll be evil, nasty, rotten, wretched, and downright mean. They'll make false promises, break their word, engage in extortion, blackmail, torture, and slander. You won't be able to trust them as far as you could spit them.

Which is all well and good as far as it goes.

But if you want to make a villain, give them a sense of honour.

If you make your villains honourable in some small way, there will - inevitably - come a time when they can rub the heroes' faces in the fact that they have behaved in a way which is better than the PCs.

If your players care about their characters to any extent more than a hack-and-slasher, this is pure gold.

If you haven't heard of, or read Darths & Droids before now, take the time to start from the beginning and catch up. It's well worth the time.

[IN THE NEWS] Talking Mice?!

2009-06-11T14:49:00.004-05:00

Talking mice? Well, maybe not today, but a team of German scientists, studing the evolution of speech and language, have created transgenic mice with the gene associated with human speech. [ScienceDirect.com]

IO9.com wrote: [link]

The researchers wanted to shed light on how humans developed our language capabilities, including the intricate thought and muscle coordination which allowed us as a species to develop complex language. One gene responsible for that development is the FOXP2 gene. Its absence leads to speech disorders, and its presence is an important component of human speech. Humans and Neanderthals are known to have a specific variation on the FOXP2 gene, though versions of it appear in other mammals and birds.

So while these experiments may not result in NIMH rodents, who knows what might happen if these mice are left to continue their line with the mutation?

[IN THE NEWS] Anti-Metal Virus (Bacteria)

2009-06-04T15:53:00.004-05:00

I read an article today that got me thinking again about the Anti-Metal Virus Erick wrote about in Mutants Down Under Sourcebook back in '88:

LINK: Science Daily Article / io9 Article

Researchers are trying to find ways to use metal-extracting bacteria in a preemptive move to prevent struggles over natural resources.

In nature these deep sea bacteria extract metals from the sea water to form manganese or cobalt nodules and crust; the result of a process known as biomineralization. Scientists hope to harness this ability to mine the ocean floor for these and other precious elements.

It's not that far of a step to imagine that this process couldn't be perverted into some weaponized viral strain to produce the AMV that was mentioned in Mutant's Down Under. Does this send a shiver up anyone else's spine?

* * *

The first argument people inevitably make is the virus vs. bacteria argument, A virus can't affect metal! My response is that the AMV virus may not be a virus in the conventional sense. Alternatively, it may have just been given that name by some military or government entity because they like the sound of it and didn't care for the difference between virus and bacteria.

Maybe Anti-Metal Virus is actually a nano-virus. A swarm of nanomachines could concevably do what the the AMV is reportedly able to do, "metal artifacts immediately stop working and eventually rust into a useless blob." Perhaps, once the AMV comes into contact with a metal surface, the nanomacines penetrate the metal surface and start replecating (causing a localized EM field that paralizes any electronics and causes an accelerates the oxidizing process which first gums up the works and then eventally turns the oject into a "useless blob".

You could also just look at it from the ficticious (bends/ignores-the-laws-of-nature) perspective and take it as some futuristic/alien virus that actually can exist in a world populated by intelligent anthropomorphic mutant animals...

Your choice.

QualComm Bioengineering

2009-04-02T15:46:00.004-05:00

Found this video while visiting the Science Fiction blogzine io9.com

Journey behind the scenes at Qualcomm where we learn how they built their wireless service on the backs of pigeons, wolfpigeons, sharkfalcons, and (science willing) crocodeagles.

For more information, visit: Qualcomm

If It Ain't Broke...

2009-04-01T22:20:00.002-05:00

One thing I have realized from all the stories I've seen re-imagined from one format to another (be it book to movie, movie to television series, or movie to video game), it's that they always muck it up because someone thinks, "I can do it better!"

I should have realized, when I started taking the notes from one of my more favorite AtB stories, The Green Death, and formalizing it to share with anyone who cared to run it, that I was falling into the same muddy trap. I started adding what I thought was some extra depth that was missing from the original notes, stuff that might have been missing. However, what I really started doing was changing the story into something different. I realized that had actually happened was that now, the original adventure was missing.

So now it's back to the drawing board and try to post what I had originally intended, a quick little one-or-two session adventure that's straight to the chase.

Apocalypse Meow, The Animated Series

2009-03-27T12:09:00.004-05:00

Apocalypse Meow, known as Cat Sh*t One in Japan, is being made into an animated series. The trailer looks awesome, and I hope it get's released over here. I'd imagine that they will probably rename it if it does...

If you've never heard of Apocalypse Meow, is was a three volume manga series set in an anthropomorphic animal version of the Vietnam War. The series appears to change the setting to the Middle East. I never bought the mangas - something I chastise myself over each time I think of it - so I can't go into any details. One of these days I'll have to track down a copy of these books.

The animated series is due for release early 2010, so it probably won't hit the states until 2012.

Gene-Hound (Purebred)

2009-02-25T13:44:00.012-06:00

[Revised March 2, 2009]

The Gene-Hound is a transgenic chimera blend of Wolf, Blood Hound, and Rottweiler with a specially designed extra-sensory organ, sort of a complex bio-computer, tied into several of the gene-hound's other senses and organs (sinuses, lungs, taste buds, and skin) that it uses to sense and track transgenic mutants.

Before the Crash, scientists and law enforcement agencies utilized these hounds to track down genetically modified plants, animals, and humans that had escaped into the wild. A few other animals were gengeneered with the gene-hound's extra-sensory organ, but only the Gene-Hounds were known to survive the Big Death.

The Empire of Humanity military will often bring a gene-hound along on raids to pick out any mutant animals that may be trying to hide themselves as wild animals, or use them to track down any escaped military and/or political prisoners.

Size Level: 6
Build: Medium

Mutant Changes & Costs
Total BIO-E: 20, for Animal Psionics and Powers only.
Attribute Bonuses: +4 I.Q., +3 P.S., Brute Strength +3 M.E. and +5 Spd.

Human Features
Hands: Partial.
Biped: Partial.
Speech: Partial.
Looks: None. Appears to be a very thick and solid hound, with a large short snouted skull that is a cross between Rottweiler a Bloodhound, without the jowls, and with the erect ears and yellow eyes of a wolf. Their coat is medium length and consists of a waterproof undercoat and a coarse top coat. The fur is normally black with mahogany patches, but some variations have been know; light gray or a dark brown, or the very rare red.

Natural Weapons:
Automatically gets 1D6 Damage Canine Teeth
Automatically gets 1D4 Damage Running Claws
5 BIO-E for 1D6+1 Running Claws
5 BIO-E for 1D8+d Damage Canine Teeth
10 BIO-E for 2D6+4 Damage Canine Teeth

Unique Mutant Animal Powers:
Mutation Sense (Special!). This ability is automatic and constant, the gene-hound can sense the presence of mutant animals in close proximity.
Range: 15 feet, +5 feet per level of experience.
Base Skill: 60%, +3% per level of experience.

In addition, much like the Cell Reader, the hound can sense the genetic structure of an animal, human, or plant by coming in contact with some fragment of the subject (tissue, blood, seeds, etc.). The character can identify the type of animal from which it has evolved, as well as any genetic modifications or mutations and added genes from other species. The gene-hound can even identify a Shifter Mouse in disguise.

Gene-Track (Special!). Like a souped-up Bloodhound, by sampling some fragment of the target (tissue, blood, pollen, etc.) the hound can track and identify specific mutants over great distances.
Base Skill: 60%, +5% per level of experience. Roll once per hour to stay on track.

Mutant Animal Powers:
Automatically gets Advanced Smell.
5 BIO-E for Advanced Hearing
10 BIO-E for Advanced Taste
10 BIO-E for Leaping Standard
15 BIO-E for Beastly Strength
5 BIO-E for Extra Intelligence Quotient
10 BIO-E for Extra Mental Endurance
5 BIO-E for Extra Physical Endurance
5 BIO-E for Extra Physical Prowess
10 BIO-E for Extraordinary Speed
10 BIO-E for Predator Burst
10 BIO-E for Internal Compass

Animal Psionics:
Most Gene-Hounds tend to have few, if any, psionics.

Vestigial Disadvantages:
Automatically gets Domestication
-5 BIO-E for taking Color Blind
-5 BIO-E for taking Vestigial Tail
-5 BIO-E for taking Vestigial Ears
-10 BIO-E for taking Diet: Carnivore

[IN THE NEWS] The Great Escape

2009-02-18T16:06:00.006-06:00

One of the greatest fears about Genetically Modified Organisms (both plants and animals), is that, one day, they might escape into the wild and taint the wild non-modified breeds. Well, it's happened: [newscientist.com]

"It's official: genes from genetically modified corn have escaped into wild varieties in rural Mexico. A new study resolves a long-running controversy over the spread of GM genes and suggests that detecting such escapes may be tougher than previously thought."

This has gotten me to thinking about how future gengineers might detect and track escaped GMOs. Enter the Gene-Tracker.

As soon as I read the New Scientist article, I had this idea of genetically augmented bloodhounds that could smell GMO plants and animals, much like some animals are supposed to be able to sense cancer and illness in people.

For more information in the GMO debate, visit these sites:

Panacea-Goat (Genetic Chimera)

2009-02-16T14:00:00.003-06:00

In the mid-21st century, pharmaceutical scientists had genetically engineering goats to produce a variety of drug proteins in their milk to treat various diseases and illnesses. In the years following the Crash, mutagens in the environment altered the goats so that they gained the ability to detect what disease or illness was affecting others and produce the appropriate cure in their milk.

Panacea Goats look like any other goat and tend to live among normal non-mutant goat herds. The only way to tell them apart is with a genetic test or a Cell Reader. Due to this these mutant goats are considered very rare.

It is rumored that the milk of these goats will grant an extraordinary long life, maybe even immortality, to anyone who drinks it regularly and thus these goats are a highly sought commodity.

Size Level: 6 (Medium)
Size: 4' long, 4' 6" feet tall
Weight: ~75 pounds
Hit Points: 20 (2D6+10)
SDC: 12
Psionics: See Aura, Cell Reader, Telepathic Transmission
Attacks Per Melee: 2
Damage: Horns 2D4; Hooves 2D4 (front only)
Mutant Animal Abilities: Panacea Milk (special), Immune to Disease & Illness
Average Life Span: 10 years
Habitat: Various
Notes: Panacea Goats have greater than animal intelligence, and may communicate to others with their telepathic transmission in short and simple words (yes, no, leave, sick, danger, etc.). Only females produce the Panacea Milk.

Panacea Milk (Cure Disease/Illness 85%): To produce this cure-all, the goat must first sample a bit of the patient's blood. This is usually done by the goat biting the sick being and drawing blood (1 hit point). This would normally heals within fifteen minutes. It will take 8-48 hours for the goat to produce the cure in their milk, depending on the severity and nature of the disease/illness, during which time the goat must consume a large amount of grass. There is an infinitesimal chance that someone might be allergic to the proteins in the goats milk, in which case hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis, are possible. Fortunately, the goat will know this from their Cell Reader ability and will not produce any milk for them.

Empathic Transmission: (See Heroes Unlimited or Beyond the Supernatural)

[IN THE NEWS] Pharm Animals

2009-02-13T22:02:00.007-06:00

In After the Bomb, the Spider-Goat was based on experiments done around the turn of the century to mass produce spider silk through goats milk. [1], [2], [3]

Now it's come out that a pharmaceutical company has produced a drug from a human protein extracted from the milk of genetically engineered goats. [4], [5], [6]

The process for producing ATryn involves scientists inserting DNA for the human antithrombin protein into a single-celled goat embryo. This embryo is implanted into a surrogate doe. The resulting transgenic offspring are able to produce high levels of antithrombin in their milk. This protein is collected and purified from the milk to produce ATryn, which is administered to patients by intravenous infusion.

So what kind of AtB mutant could we come up with with this? How about an animal that could produce almost any kind of curative drug. A veritable walking pharmacy. Given time, who's to say that scientist couldn't create goats that could produce multiple drugs in their milk, or even one that could sense what is ailing you and then produce the appropriate drug(s) to cure.

In mythology, a panacea, named after the Greek goddess of healing, was supposed to be able to cure all diseases, illnesses, and extend life...indefinitely. Thus is born the Panacea Goat.

[IN THE NEWS] We are becoming Homo Evolutis

2009-02-06T16:26:00.010-06:00

Here's an interesting new article in Ars Technica:

At TED 2009, Juan Enriquez talked about the new human species emerging before our eyes. Thanks to an array of biological advances and our growing aptitude in robotics, we now find ourselves in the early days of the deliberate creation of what he called a new species.

We are already in the midst of minor improvements to the human body and mind; Enriquez gave examples of growing new tissues for successful transplant, programmable cells, and augmenting our abilities through robotics. As this trend accelerates, more and more aspects of the human experience, of the human life, will be capable of scientific manipulation. While some improvement may come post-birth, our understanding of DNA and biology may lead to something much bigger.

The day may come when we are able to take the best biology of the known animal kingdom and make it part of our own.

Read the full article: http://is.gd/iz1U

Other Juan Enriquez TED Talks:

Two Talking Rabbits...

2009-02-06T11:16:00.004-06:00

Found a humorous comic strip at PartiallyClips which brings up the striking difference perspectives Fantasy and SciFi take on subjects such as two talking rabbits riding a flying rocking horse.
(Click on the picture to see the whole strip)

As the first rabbit indicates, in a fantasy setting such a subject is usually just accepted. 'Two talking rabbits on a flying rocking horse? Okay.'

Science Fiction on the other hand almost always demands an explanation. 'Two talking rabbits on a flying rocking horse? How did the rabbits learn to talk? How can a rocking horse fly?'

Both genres have their pros and cons, but at some point can't we just accept some of the things in Science Fiction without having to sit through a lecture by the author as to why something is the way it is?

Star Wars was pretty good at telling their story without resorting to giving us a technical thesis as to how Light Sabres worked, why there was gravity on the space ships, and how the the Force worked (well not until the Phantom Menace...). Some will argue that Star Wars is Science Fantasy rather than Science Fiction. I'll argue that the stories were just 'cutting to the chase'.

After the Bomb rides the line of 'cutting to the chase' and trying to offer up a technical explanation as to why there are mutant animals in the world. The plausible--but not definitive--explanation is given that it started out as a prank by a couple kids which got out of hand. Other than that, the game pretty much cuts to the chase that humanity is near extinction and that animals--both those mutated by the virus and those engineered before the Big Death--are rising up to become the dominate species on the Earth.

Do we really need to know why and how? No. However, our curiosity compels us to find out. And that, really, is the nature of Science Fiction; curiosity.

Run Rabbit Run

2009-02-02T15:44:00.009-06:00

Been trying to come up with another story, so when I saw this picture today I decided to write the first thing that came to mind. It's probably crap, but it's practice...

** ** **

It was a wet and miserable Jersey night as I sat on an old crate waiting for my contact to arrive in the alley behind the Run Rabbit Run. My only companions a pair of wild rats diving for scraps in the kitchen dumpster. I don't know how the wild ones can stand the damp, but the cold drizzle seemed to find it's way through my coat and soak my fur underneath. My grandfather used to tell me that from what he remembered from his 'wild' years, before he was 'lifted' by the humans, it was instinctual; that he would just ignore the cold and the damp. Personally, I think he was full of it. He was an old fart and a little soft in the head, but my father believed him and would always listen to his stories over and over again. My father told me that most of the lifted couldn't remember the time before, while they were still wild, or at least they won't talk about it. Makes me glad I'm a third generation 'fur'.

Most of the 'furs' of my generation don't think about it because we're to busy trying to rebuild the ruined remnants of the old human world into a new world of our own design. One where we don't have to live in burrows and nests and kennels like out wild cousins. Those crazy inbred human holdouts up north and their subservient New Kennel lap dogs aren't making our lives any easier though. Most of the humans around here have resigned themselves to the fact that animals have started to take over and that the 'Age of Man' has reached its final chapter, but the Empire of Humanity acts like this planet is their birthright and no stinking 'mutant' animals--lifted or otherwise--are going to take if from them.

I guess that's why I decided to join the Cardanian Intelligence Agency as a field agent. A few years ago, the Empire started sending in covert espionage agents to hamper our progress. Assassinations, sabotage, poisoning water and food supplies, even trying mutagens to reduce the lifted animals back to wild beasts. Their campaign of terror went unchallenged for most of a decade until President Foxline approved the creation of the CIA to combat the phantom threat from the north. A threat the militia families couldn't answer.

So now I sit here in dark alleys in the Contested Lands waiting to receive information from our spies and then deliver it to my superiors for review. It's not a glamorous job, and certainly not a safe one--I have the scars to prove that--but I'm told that we've been able to stop a dozen or so attacks this past year, so I am proud of what I do even if I have to catch pneumonia once in a while.

As I sit in the dark and the wet I keep an eye on the street at the far end of the alley, I chose this location because it's a dead end--only one entrance to the street and one into the kitchen. If there's gonna be any trouble, it'll come from one of those two directions, and then, most likely from the street. The humans and dogs they send after us are usually not very creative and almost always go for the frontal assault. Once they sent a sniper, but dogs don't tend to know what the meaning of the word, 'stealth'. He made such a racket accessing the roof across the street from the meeting spot that night that my contact was able to sneak up behind him and take him out before he had his rifle fully assembled. I still have that gun back at my apartment as a memento.

Finally, at half past midnight the light thud of cat paws landing on the corrugated steel awning over the taverns rear entrance announced the arrival of my contact. Steve was one of the few who didn't shed their wild forms when they were lifted. This was a huge asset to the agency, since most Humans won't give an animal a second glance, unless it's doing something obviously uncharacteristic for a wild one. Steven was a pro though. Even when we meet up in a safe spot like this one, he won't drop the pretense of being a wild feline until he's absolutely sure the area is clear. On more than a couple occasions he's even fooled me.

Finally sure that we are not being observed, Steve hops onto the crate next to me and shakes the damp from his fur. I half-seriously ask if he was followed, and receive a cold feline stare in reply. Sometimes I think Steve is going to forget that he's more than a wild cat. After the exchange of code phrases I slipped the collar from around his neck and removed the microfilm tucked inside. I placed my prize in the concealed compartment in the butt of my knife and tossed a small plastic wrapped gift onto the crate at his paws, which he snatched up in his mouth before leaping down to the alley floor and skittering out into the night.

With my package retrieved I shook the wet from my coat and left the alley to enter the tavern through the front door. I had a few hours before my ride back to Cardania would arrive and the Bunnies at the Run Rabbit Run were a nice way to pass the time.

Is Science Fiction Dying?

2009-01-30T14:18:00.000-06:00

Some time last week I stumbled on a post somewhere about science fiction dieing out. I immediately wanted to post a response, but couldn't find the words. Today, I found a post on New Scientist entitled, "Is science fiction dying?" by Marcus Chown. I won't say that my response was the most eloquent I could have posted, but I think it pretty much expresses my opinion on the subject:

Science Fiction won't die because it's fiction. The reason it feels that way now is because of the speed at which science is advancing. Back in the 50s and 60s, what was seen as sci-fi (space ships, small computers, androids, etc) was so far out of reach that if kept it's allure for a long time. Nowadays, all that is quaint.

Another problem with sci-fi is that elements of sci-fi are creeping into a lot of non-sci-fi media and diluting the WOW factor. Sci-fi now has to go that extra mile to keep from seeming quaint.

Sci-Fi needs to move from the realm of cyberpunk to biopunk since bioengineering is more the area of where science is going to be making slower progress than computers and robots and space ships.

Well, maybe not the space ships...

I do think that sci-fi in a lot of respects is already moving into the realm of biopunk with speculation on cloning, genetically modified plants and animals, drugs, etc. Stories about people who have been genetically altered to have gills or wings, evolved anthropomorphic animals, epidermal computers, and bioroids are where Science Fiction will continue to keep it's edge.

Science fiction won't die. At least not until science does.

Awsomest DNA Science Video

2009-01-30T11:58:00.001-06:00

BioWare

2009-01-29T10:03:00.003-06:00

One of the projects I've been trying to find time and inspiration to work on is the idea of the "Body Shop" from the pre-Crash period of AtB. In an article I found today, "The Wicked Side of Cyberpunk", Earl S. Wynn talks about the staples of Cyberpunk sci-fi and their Bioware (Biopunk?) equivalents:

One of the defining factors of Cyberpunk is cybernetic implants, but circuitboards and clunky metal bits aren't the end all and be all of implanted augmentations for the human body. Consider the lab-grown skingrafts that worked as experimental insulin patches in the early nineties, and now take it a step further. Imagine a full recoating of the dermal surface with a graft or a "skinweave" of engineered cells that can do anything from filling the body with specially-tailored chemicals to generating it's own exterior coating of poison, color-changing pigment, or even organic superlubricant. Improved organs are a possibility too- imagine a digestive tract upgrade that allows for the digestion of things like gasoline and broken glass (Hey, with the right culture of microbes, anything is possible) or lungs that can glean air from water or nerve gas without any ill effects. But lets take it a step further even than that- imagine being able to get anything you wanted in a body, and then imagine the cosmetic and fashion fads that would start. That's right. Think tails, bizarre-colored eyes, lavender skin, reculturing of the bacteria in sweat to produce a specific scent instead of the dreaded sour tang of B.O. Going into a bar in the city would be like walking into a scene from Star Wars- we'd have all the aliens we'd ever need right here on earth.

Wynn goes on to talk about Brain Mods, Subdermal implants, Brain Hacking, and other topics that could have been present in the golden age before the Big Death.

I'm hoping that maybe I can take and use this to inspire me to get back to work on the Body Shop article. I think it would be an interesting addition to both AtB and Heroes Unlimited.

Frank The Duck

2009-01-26T11:15:00.002-06:00

Found this interesting news story of a truck driver and his... pet duck, Frank. I'll have to make a character based on Frank. :)

AtB Politics

2009-01-21T15:09:00.003-06:00

This past election season it struck me that President Thana has technically been in power for over twenty years (AtB first published in 1986). Does Cardania have Presidential term limits? Does she have a VP? Who is the Secretary of State? How closely does Cardania's government mirror the modern United States?

We know that while Cardania based it's government on the Constitution of the United States, they most likely scraped, or re-wrote, the amendments to the Bill of Right to suit the fact that theirs was a solitary state (not a "United States") - I patched this by dividing Cardania into eight counties, each governed by elected Governor and Councilors (similar to the U.S. Governor and Senate), and each county having a two Senators in the Cardanian Senate. I dropped the House of Representatives to streamline the Legislative branch in the game, going for a more Roman Senate structure (as best I understand it). Cardania has five appointed Supreme Court Justices.

While we know the governing styles of the main AtB states (Empire of Humanity, Cardania, and Gatorland), and have a vague idea of their political interactions (The Empire and Cardania's Cold War), the book (understandably) doesn't go into the diplomatic side of things, even though such a topic would have been really helpful in understanding how these two keep from going for the others throat. We are told that it is merely a matter of numbers - a few thousand pure humans versus millions of mutant animals on all sides - that keeps the Empire from instigating to all out war with Cardania, and the threat of the Empires high-tech weapons that keeps the mutant animals from invading, but are there other mechanisms in place to keep them from "pushing the button"? Could the two have some sort of diplomatic presence in the "Contested Land"? Could Gatorland be pulling some strings from the shadows? Does the Empire and/or Cardania hold a "wild card" (nuke or bio-weapon) that scares the bejesus out of the other?

Food for thought...

Bart's Demise

2009-01-09T16:40:00.003-06:00

I have decided to try, once again, writing some AtB based flash fiction. I'd really like to try and work my way up to an actual short story, but as they say... 'You must crawl before you walk, walk before you run...'

- - - - - - -

Bart had waited for hours in the snow covered branches of the pine; waiting for a courier to pass by on the road below. The mutant squirrel had been given the unenviable task of making sure that documents bound for the Empires capitol did not reach their destination. He died quickly from a snipers bullet.

Anthro Humor

2009-01-09T12:59:00.003-06:00

More Bizarro humor can be found at Bizarro.com and BizarroComic.blogspot.com

[IN THE NEWS] Back From The Dead

2009-01-08T11:50:00.008-06:00

No, this isn't an article about Zombies in After the Bomb. Instead, we're talking about bringing extinct species back into the world.

We know that in the 2nd Edition reboot of AtB, the world had entered a Golden Age of Bio-Engineering and that a few mutant "throwback" species had been brought back from extinction (ie. Passenger Pigeons, Egyptian Cats, etc.). While many of these throwbacks in the game were not necessarily pure blood reincarnations of the extinct species, a new article was posted on NewScientist.com yesterday, Ten extinct beasts that could walk the Earth again, suggests that it may be possible to bring back those species for which we are able to sequence their DNA:

"THE recipe for making any creature is written in its DNA. So last November, when geneticists published the near-complete DNA sequence of the long-extinct woolly mammoth, there was much speculation about whether we could bring this behemoth back to life.

Creating a living, breathing creature from a genome sequence that exists only in a computer's memory is not possible right now. But someone someday is sure to try it, predicts Stephan Schuster, a molecular biologist at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, and a driving force behind the mammoth genome project."

With the EGG's described in 2nd Edition AtB it is most likely that a wolly mammoth would have been, if they had an EGG large enough, brought back from extinction, and that they may, in the game, be roaming the northern wilderness as the glaciers slowly make their way south.

There are so many other extinct species that people have wanted to bring back, not to mention that there are so many species that go extinct every year and others that are dangerously near the edge. Luckly, in the realm of RPG's, we are not limited to those considerations (land, money, and ethics) that would limit what we can do in real life, so let your imagination run wild and bring back something extinct in your next game.

What is Role Playing

2008-12-23T17:22:00.001-06:00

I was reading a series of older articles at the Game Design Novice that did it's best to convince people that Zelda is NOT an RPG, and found myself searching for what really makes a game an RPG.

Typical gamers will say that any game that lets you progress a character's abilities is an RPG. Well, by that definition, there are a lot of sport games that could now hang the RPG tag to their title. For example, Madden NFL games (and other sports titles) have added the feature of creating your own NFL personality and play through the game as that player. You even get to increase his stats to improve it's abilities for the team position you choose to play. You can also hire a manager (NPC) to help negotiate a contract with a new team, so you're not just stuck with one team for your NFL career. It doesn't stop there; you can also equip your character with different outfits and other "bling", just like a character from an RPG. With all that, the game is now an RPG by the standards of most video gamers.

However, a role playing game is much more than taking on the role of a character and improving that characters skills and/or stats. That difference is linearity. Video games are very linear in their score and really don't allow you to improvise. And improvisation is the true hallmark of a role playing game.

The best parallel I can make for Role Playing is improvisational theatre. Everyone takes on a role (a character) and is given the basis of a situation (a quest) which they then get to interact with other characters to resolve. The main difference is that in table-top RPGs, you have a story teller (aka game master, dungeon master, or referee) who helps the game along by taking on the role of every non-player character the player interact with through their characters.

Another thing to keep in mind is that role playing really has nothing to do with dice. Though many role playing game systems use dice roles to determine the outcome of a situation, they are not necessary to the act of role playing. There are game systems that use points, karma, and/or cards to decide the outcome of player character actions, while others that use nothing but the discretion of the story teller.

So really, role playing is best described as a form of theatre often wrapped around (but not requiring) a system of event resolution mechanics. Anything that calls it self an RPG just because you take on the persona of a character without allowing you the free reign of self determination or choice is really nothing more than a scripted story that gives you few choices, limited by it's author, to reach a predetermined ending.

If that's all you want, you may as well go buy a book.

There She Is (Flash Video)

2008-12-12T15:40:00.008-06:00

Ahh, the things you can find while surfing the WWW. I came across this little anthro love story from Korea. It chronicles the budding romance of a boy cat (Nabi) and girl rabbit (Doki) in a society that frowns upon interspecies relationships.

You'll find "Step One" embedded below. You can find the rest at:
http://www.sambakza.net/amalloc/tteotta_main.htm

Interspecies tensions would make for an interesting background story for any AtB game. If you're up for a challenge, give it some thought.

Chickogriffen (Genetic Chimera)

2008-12-04T11:17:00.004-06:00

These rare beasts, found scattered in the Appalachian Mountains, appear to have been created as a chimeric blend of pony and chicken. No pre-Death records have been found that detail their cration, so it is not known for sure whether they were spawned durring the golden age, or whether they were created after.

It should also be noted that these creatures have the most foul nature around other equine species, and are known to hunt feral dear and horses - both mutant and natural.

Size Level: 13 (Medium)
Size: 5' 8" long, 5' 4" feet tall (adult)
Weight: ~270 pounds
Hit Points: 25 (4D6+10)
SDC: 20
Armor Rating: 8
Psionics: Sense Weather, 5% have Invisible Haze
Horror Factor: n/a
Attacks Per Melee: 3
Damage: Bite does 1D6, Claws do 2D6
Bonuses: +2 on initiative, +1 to Strike
Natural Abilities: Basic Flight, Glide, Adv. Hearing, Adv. Vision
Average Life Span: Unknown
Habitat: Temperate Woodlands, Mountains. Normally found in the Appalachian Mountians.

Ninja Cats

2008-11-14T13:08:00.002-06:00

What could I say about this commercial? I love the bit where he distracts the cats with the swinging light. LOL

Natural Technological Genius (New Psionic Power)

2008-11-10T16:36:00.003-06:00

(this is a modification of the Natural Mechanical Genius as found in the 2nd Edition core After the Bomb book)

Range: Special
Duration: Unlimited
Minimum ME: 10
Saving Throw (Reliability): 25% +5% per level
Cost: 10 BIO-E

Much like the Natural Mechanical Genius, this character has an uncanny affinity for computers and electronic devices. Instead of having to study skills like Computer Operation, Computer Repair, and Basic Electronics, the character just senses what is wrong with electronic devices. The devices seem to respond to the character's presence and attention and begin operating again at 100% reliability. Better yet, this character seems to be able to fix problems by just being near the device or with any spare electronics parts that are handy.

But with all things there is a down side. The "fixed" devices only seem to continue running properly as long as the psychic stays within 250 feet (76m) of them. As soon as the psychic leaves, the device is likely to break down again (75% chance; roll once every 30 minutes of use). Even if the device continues to work it won't work as smoothly or effectively (slow file access, strange noises, programs become unresponsive) as when the Natural Technological Genius is around.

Because their work breaks down after they leave, Technological Geniuses tend to have a bad reputation. Ironically, characters with this power believe they do superior and permanent repairs, and can not be made to believe that their handiwork is due to some psychic link between them and devices they fix. Thus, they blame others for "mistreating" the computers, radios, and other electronic devices they "fix".

NOTE: Unlike the Techno-Mind, this character cannot communicate directly with these devices. Also, just like the Natural Mechanical Genius, after the Genius has performed a half dozen "repairs" on the same device, it becomes completely dependent on the psychic character to work. After the sixth repair, 2D6 minutes after the character leaves, the device will blow have a meltdown, disabling the device, and requiring a real technician or engineer to completely rebuild the device. Making maters worse, for all the Geniuses work, all future repairs will be done with a -20% skill penalty and take 1D4 times longer than normal.

Apocalyptic Island

2008-11-07T10:12:00.004-06:00

Speaking of images to help set the scene and use as inspiration, I remember stumbling across some images of an abandoned Japanese island mining village some time back, and found it again today.

The level of decay is quite impressive for this site since it's only about 35 years old.

See the full set of photographs to get a better idea of what some ruined cities might look like in AtB.

After the Bomb & Fallout

2008-11-06T13:19:00.003-06:00

I picked up a copy of Fallout 3 last Friday and have been hard pressed to put it down since. Now, you may wonder how this relates to AtB other than that they both take place in a post-apocalyptic world. Well, both take place in an alternate reality: Fallout in a retro-tech wasteland, and AtB in a post-golden age of science wasteland.

I like to look at the way the populace in Fallout have scrounged together the remnants of the old world and use it to work in their post-apocalyptic situation. Also, if you've had a chance to see or play Fallout 3, it could give you a good idea of what the ruins of the old world might look like.

I've a visual person, and really appreciate game books that include illustrations and artwork that help give the reader of a sense of what the author(s)of a game setting is trying to convey. Fantasy games already have a great deal of artwork to use as examples, but there aren't many post-apocalyptic artists to draw from, and even fewer post-apocalyptic anthropomorphic art examples. And since Erick has passed, we no longer have the original author to call upon.

I'll be interested to see if Palladium revisits the AtB setting some time down the road, and in what direction they take it and who they get to take the helm. However, since AtB is such a niche game setting, it's doubtfull that it will see a reemergence in the next decade.

But my fingers will be crossed.

Shane! Come back!

Techno Chicken

2008-11-06T11:24:00.003-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. The RPOL game has been moving rather slowly, and I've been having a hard time solidifying some of my ideas into anything I can post. In other words I've gotten a bit rusty...

To make up for the lack of posts I give you, TECHNO CHICKEN!

Okay, it's not as good as a game related post, but I'm going to work on that.

Squirrel Ninjas

2008-09-30T11:27:00.003-05:00

I think I will base my next squirrel character on this video clip.

Comedic Chipmunk Sings

2008-09-25T09:40:00.004-05:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've been working on an online AtB game over at RPOL.net (Role Playing onLine). So to break the silence I'll be posting the above video of a Chipmunk singing Queen's, "Another one bites the dust". It does get old after a bit, but it might get you contemplating what kind of music and what kind of entertainment personalities are popular in the setting.

Viper Frog (Genetic Chimera)

2008-07-22T13:55:00.013-05:00

It is unknown whether this species of viper-frog chimera was the product of wild mutation or the creation of some geneticist from the Pre-Crash Golden Age. Regardless, it has become a very strong species and can be found as far north as the Gatorland Swamps and as far south as the rain forests of Central America. Several feral communities in these areas have taken to collecting these animals for their venom, which they use to poison their weapons.

Size Level: 1 (short)
Size: 4 to 4.5 inches
Weight: 75 to 100 pounds
Hit Points: 3 SDC: 4
Psionics: None
Attacks Per Melee: 2
Damage: Bite does 1D4+poison, Entangle very small creatures with tongue. Poison Venom will cause paralysis in any creature size level 2 or smaller in two melee rounds and will last for 3D10 minutes (save vs. non-lethal poison reduces duration by half and doubles the time paralysis sets in).
Bonuses: +6 on initiative, +3 to strike, +10 to Dodge, +10 roll with Fall/Impact, +4 vs. poison/disease, immune to psionics.
Natural Abilities: Nocturnal, Reptilian Leaping (special); Predator Burst; Night Vision 90 feet; Prowl 85%
Average Life Span: 6 years
Habitat: Temperate to Tropical Wetlands, Viper Frogs are tree dwellers and excellent jumpers.
Notes: Viper Frogs are carnivores and their diet consist of any animal that will fit in their mouths, even other frogs! Viper Frog venom can be concentrated into two types of poison:

Size Level	Diluted	Concentrated
1-5	Lethal (1D12 Hit Points/Melee)	Lethal (no save - death)
6-10	Non-Lethal (Paralysis 1D12 Hours / Save vs. Coma)	Lethal (1D12 Hit Points/Melee)
11-15	Non-Lethal (Paralysis 1D4 Hours)	Lethal (1D6 Hit Points/Melee)
16-18	Non-Lethal (Paralysis 3D10 Minutes)	Lethal (1D4 Hit Points/Melee)
19-21	No Affect	Non-Lethal (Paralysis 1D12 Hours / Save vs. Coma)
22+	No Affect	No Affect

*Reptilian Leaping: Can leap eight times their length or height both lengthwise and height-wise, and ten times leaping down from a height.

Post-Apocalyptic Images

2008-07-11T12:38:00.003-05:00

This guy has several interesting paintings that you might think of using to help set a scene in an AtB game. Click on the image to visit his site.

Quick Adventure Creator

2008-07-09T14:00:00.001-05:00

I was thinking what it takes to make an adventure for After the Bomb, or any role-playing game for that matter.

What I've boiled it down to are two very basic elements: Adventure Premise and Themes & Objectives. I suppose motivation could be included, but I wanted to keep this very bare-bones. So if you want to give it a shot pick up that underused D8 and give it a roll.

ADVENTURE PREMISE (roll twice)
1) Fight Evil/Corruption
2) Fetch and/or Deliver
3) Investigation
4) Search & Destroy or Recover
5) Exploration/Discovery
6) Double Cross
7) Protect/Rescue the Innocent
8) Survival/Escape

THEMES & OBJECTIVES (roll multiple times if wanted)
1) Technology/Gadgets
2) Mutants (Flora or Fauna) (Wild or Domesticated)
3) Knowledge/Information
4) Empire of Humanity (or other nation)
5) Mutagens (Natural or Man-Made)
6) Wealth/Power
7) Military/Politics
8) Lost/New Nations/Civilizations

Example of use: Robin rolls a 6 (Double Cross) and 7 (Protect/Rescue) on the Adventure Premise table. Then she a 3 (Knowledge) on the Themes. From this Robin begins to formulate the following adventure: The characters are hired to escort a Cardanian spy from New Kennel who was supposed to have stolen important information on Empire operations. However, the person who hired the characters actually a double agent working for New Kennel security using the characters to flush out the spy who actually knows about the double agents identity.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Flying Monkey (Genetic Chimera)

2008-07-09T13:45:00.008-05:00

Description: Not wanting to be outshone by the Porkopolis Flying Pigs, geneticists at the Wortman Habitat for Primates in Boulder Colorado created a chimera inspired by the winged primates from the Wizard of Oz. These creatures proved to be so popular that countless variations were created by zoos and circuses all around the world. Unfortunately, some of these creatures had to be destroyed due to genetic defects which caused a few to become extremely violent. There were several instances of them attacking and eating other animals. Following the Crash, these monkeys came near extinction due to their inbred reliance on humans. The few that survived can be found in or near human populations. Those who have broken from their domestication typically stay far away from civilization, preferring life in the woods or mountains.

Original Animal Characteristics
Size Level: 4
Build: Long

Mutant Changes & Cost
Total BIO-E: 30
Attribute Bonuses: +3 IQ, +1 ME, +3 PP, +2 Spd.

Human Features
Hands: Partial
Biped: Partial
Speech: Partial
Looks: None

Natural Weapons
5 BIO-E for 1D6 damage Teeth.
10 BIO-E for 1D4 damage Razor-Sharp Nails.

Mutant Animal Powers
Automatically gets Extra Limbs: Wings & Basic Flight.
Automatically gets Prehensile Tail (use as partial hand)
Automatically gets Prehensile Feet (use as partial hand)
10 BIO-E for Soaring Flight.
15 BIO-E for Raptor Flight.
5 BIO-E for Advanced Vision.

Vestigial Disadvantages
-5 BIO-E Vestigial Tail
-5 BIO-E Diet Herbivore
-10 BIO-E Domestication

Weird Animal Ideas

2008-07-08T17:06:00.001-05:00

It's strange the ideas you can come up with for new mutant animal species to insert into AtB. While browsing Reddit, I came across these images:

Flying Monkey

~~A Really Big Fish~~

Snake-frog

The Frog-fly

Another Frog-fly

The Frogbat
(More Cool Frog Images)

Now all I need to do is create their details.

Weird Locations

2008-06-13T09:00:00.001-05:00

Wouldn't it be great to find places like these around the world of AtB?

http://www.wackyarchives.com/featured/15-creative-architectural-designs-for-the-future.html

RIP: Erick

2008-06-09T11:02:00.002-05:00

Erick passed away this weekend at the age of 57.

His fight with cancer ended Saturday evening.

Erick is one of those people who has inspired me over the years and it is a great loss to hear of his passing.

I only had the pleasure of meeting him once, during last years Open House, but what a pleasure it was.

For more on Erick, please visit: http://www.erickwujcik.com/

Tamandua

2008-05-13T14:03:00.004-05:00

Over the past couple days I've seen several pictures of Tamandua (anteaters) dressed in sweaters and jacket posted online and today I came across this video of one striking a very cool kung-fu pose when threatened.

I'm thinking that these guys really do deserve their own martial art form for After the Bomb. Their hooked clay and meaty tail look like they could be used as a formidable weapons if properly trained.

Speaking of which, I really should post the Panda Fist Kung-Fu style I wrote up for Jing Pi - Mike Jones' Panda character.

[IN THE NEWS] Chilli the Giant Cow

2008-05-12T16:54:00.002-05:00

Holy Heffer Batman! No, that picture has not been photoshopped, that's a 6 foot tall cow.

LUKE SALKELD writes in an article for the Daily Mail:
"The black and white Friesian bullock weighs well over a ton and at the same height as a small elephant, casts a shadow over his cattle companions who are about 5ft.

The heifer, who is almost as high as he is long, lives at the Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Chard, Somerset, after he was left on their doorstep aged just six-days-old.
Nine years on, Chilli has kept on growing, and staff believe the giant will smash a record for Britain's tallest ever cow."

Imagine this guy as a Purebreed line of cattle in the Plains of the Free Cattle. No wonder they would be able to maintain their independence.

The Secret of NIMH

2008-04-30T11:36:00.005-05:00

I have to admit that I don't think I've ever watched The Secret of NIMH before. I know several friends have tried to get me to watch it in the past, but for what ever reason I've never taken the time to sit down and watch the movie.

Last night I fixed that mistake.

While the movie shows it's age, it is still a wonderful work of art. I do frown on the inclusion of the mysticism in the film - an element that was not present in the original novel it was based on - but it also adds an interesting element to this interpretation of the story. The Nicodemus character is a classic seer or wise man of the NIMH rats, and the similarity between him and the Great Owl really makes you wonder if he might also be a shaman shape shifter.

Unfortunately, due to the movies short runtime (82 minutes), it seems like much of the story was rushed and missing much of the exposition needed to explore the characters of Jenner and Justin in any depth. It would be nice if Dreamworks would remake the movie as a full length (100+ minutes) feature.

AtB Adventure: The Garden of Evil

2008-04-25T11:26:00.027-05:00

last updated: June 16th
This adventure was designed for a solo or small group of characters using Second Edition rules. No special powers or backgrounds are required. Individual GMs may want to change some aspects of this adventure to better suit their group size and level.

ADVENTURE BACKGROUND
In a secluded river valley, there is a garden of mutant fruits and vegetables. Among them is a tree that bears a fruit that possess an interesting trait - the fruit that it bears bestows upon those who eat it an amount of mutagen (BIO-E). Over time the levels of these mutagens will built up and begin to (further) mutate anyone who eats a steady diet of them. Some time ago a mutant snake stumbled upon the garden and discovered its secret.

Unfortunately, the snake's extended exposure to the mutagens has also caused it to grow addicted to the plants and fruit that grow here and is very paranoid of anyone caught in his garden. This has put a local tribe of feral mutant animals at odds with the snake since they use the food from the garden in their ceremonies. Lately they have taken to sneaking into the garden to gather their ceremonial needs. This has not gone unnoticed by the snake.

The snake has since hired other mutant animals as guards to protect his garden from trespassers. Anyone caught in the garden will be brought to the snake for sentencing. If those who are caught can persuade the snake that they are innocent, the snake will insist that they find who has been stealing from the garden. If not, the snake will have the offender(s) chained in the tunnels below the garden where "the Beast" awaits it's next meal. Members of the local tribe will free characters if they cannot escape or kill the Beast, and then beg them to rid the garden of the snake.

LOCATIONS
The Mansion
Most of the mansion and its grounds are in ruins have overgrown with thickets. All that is left of the main building is the kitchen, dining room, a grand hall with staircase that leads upstairs to snakes extravagantly decorated bedroom. The snake spends much of it's time in the hall which has been set up as a throne room. In the kitchen, there is a pit which drops into the tunnels below the mansion. The pit is one meter in diameter and covered with a locked iron door.

The Tunnels
Beneath the ruins of the mansion are a series of tunnels that lead from the mansion to the garden. It is unclear as to the original purpose of these tunnels, but there are about a dozen small rooms (now empty) that are built into the tunnels. The walls of the tunnels are damp and covered in moss in most places. There are three entrances into the tunnels: the locked pit in the mansions kitchen, a small gated portal in the eastern portion of the garden, and gated stairway that leads into an old shed in the overgrown southwester portion of the garden.

The Garden
This well maintained garden covers just over four acres of land outside of the mansion. At the heart of the garden is a most unusual tree that bears an even more unusual fruit. Once every three months, irregardless of season, the tree bears approximately a dozen (1D12) fruit that contain a mutagenic nectar. The garden is protected by a very ancient, but operable, security system that is connected to the mansion which will alert the snake and the guards to any intruders. The security system includes hundreds of camouflaged motion sensors, and video cameras.

Mutant Plants
SLEEPING WILLOW
Description: These small willow trees, planted around the gardens only pond, have been engineered to emit specially engineered pollen to act as a mild sedative. The gardens designer used these threes to stun and capture interloping who might stop at the pond for a drink. Anyone coming within 100 feet of the trees or pond must save against non-lethal poison or be rendered unconscious.

BLACK CAPPED TOMATO
Description: This bio-engineered plant was designed to produce a natural toxin for medical research. After decades of exposure to the gardens mutagens it now produces a lethal toxin. Anyone who eats one of these fruits must save against its lethal poison. NOTE: Mice, Rats, Rabbits and Squirrels never pass Stage 2 symptoms.
Symptoms:
Stage 1: No Symptoms for 1D6 hours
Stage 2: Fever, dizziness, nausea for 1D4x10 hours
Stage 3: Remission for 2D12 hours
Stage 4: Coma for 1D4+3 days; usually followed by death (save vs. death)

COBRA DOLL'S EYE
Description: This plant’s berries, like a normal doll’s eye, bear a strong resemblance to an eye – white body with a black spot at the end. The difference being that the berries on this plant will actually follow any movement within 60 feet, and that it has a special bred psioinc power (Hypnotic Suggestion) which it uses to get any creature – sentient or wild – that examines it to eat the berries. The plants creator found this to be an amusing way for the plant to spread its seeds. Any character that examines the plant must save against the psionic attack. Reptiles are somehow immune to the plant’s psionic power.

PSILOCATA GRASS (False Cat Nip)
Description: This weed looks, smells & tastes better than regular catnip and is usually found growing in patches as large as thirty square feet. Anyone with Catnip Addiction will be drawn irresistibly toward it from as far as 300 feet (100 meters). Other felines must save against an 8 or better to resist its lure. All felines who come into contact with the psilocata grass must save against harmful drug (-6 if addicted to Catnip).
Symptoms: In addition to the normal affects of catnip, victims will experience anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations within minutes and can last up to 2D4 hours from when they leave, or are removed – which can be considerably difficult – from the patch.

The Village (Population ~150)
The goat village is located about five miles away from the garden and is very primitive in appearance, and has only iron age technology. The people here follow their spiritual leader, a mute elder goat they call Ol' Grady. The villagers fear the snake and believe that it must possess great powers ever since none that have gone to the garden have ever returned.

Money and credits are of no use to the people of the village. They are also not interested in any modern weapons. They will be interested in trading for food, farming supplied, work, or knowledge in building and farming techniques.

GAME MASTER INFORMATION
Encountering the Guards:When the goats first encounter the player characters, their first objective will be to disarm and ensnare them. If possible, they will try to split up any group of four or more into smaller, more manageable numbers. If your group is well armed with modern weapons, you might want to drop in a few pit traps or snares to help the guards capture the characters. You could also equip the guards with stun guns salvaged from the mansions ruins.

The Mansion Ruins & Tunnels: What mysteries does the mansion yet hold? While much of the mansion is in ruins, the players may wish to explore the ruins in search of any salvage that may have survived the decades. I would suggest rolling on the Random Scavenger Table (AtB 2nd Edition, pg 191). You could also add your own choice of items for the characters to find. Could the mansion and garden have been the property of a certain mad scientist from BIO-Spawn?

The Gardens Origin: I will leave it up to the GM to decide if they want to explore what brought the garden and the mutagen tree into being. It is unlikely that such a thing could come into this world on its own, could it?

The Mad Snake: If the characters choose to drive the snake out of the garden, or it is able to escape, might the snake try to get it's revenge against the characters? Will the snake loose some of the powers it gained while it controlled the garden? Will it try to return to the garden and regain control?

NPCs
The Mad Snake
Alignment: Anarchist
Attributes: IQ 11, ME 16, MA 12, PS 12, PE 14, PP 13, PB 6, Spd. 13
Age: Unknown Gender: Unknown
Species: Snake
Size Level: 9
Hit Points: 20 SDC: 30
Disposition: Agitated & Paranoid
Human Features
Hands -- Full
Biped -- None
Speech -- Partial
Looks -- None
Powers: Brute Strength; Infravision; Extra ME
Psionics: Mind Speak; Danger Sense; Invisible Haze; Bio-Manipulation: Paralysis, Mute, & Pain
Background: Feral
Occupation: Lord of the Garden
Skills of Note: Farming & Gardening 70%; Identify Fruits & Plants 70%; Tracking 55%; Wilderness Survival 55%; Climbing 75%; Hand to Hand: Basic; Swimming, Advanced 90%; Wrestling; Detect Ambush 45%; Use & Recognize Poison 44%/36%; Botany 60%
Weapon Proficiencies: Rapier, Dagger
Attacks per Melee: 5
Bonuses: pending
Personal Profile: The snake first stumbled into the garden seven years ago and took up residence in a nearby mansion. It found out about the special tree by spying on the older goat who made frequent visits to the garden. A few years later, driven mad by it's addiction to the diet of mutagen fruit, the snake decided that it did not want to share the garden with anyone and used a creature which had been deformed by the plants mutagens as a guardian against the goats.
Years later the beast had become unruly, so the snake locket it in the tunnels that ran between the mansion and the garden and replaced it with three goats that had tried to sneak into the garden to steal the fruit for their tribes elder.

The Beast
Species: Rat Abomination (New)
Size Level: 10 (Medium)
Height: 4ft at the shoulder
Length: 5ft snout to tail
Weight: 800 pounds
Attributes: IQ Animal, PS 20, PE 25, PP 13, Spd. 12
Hit Points: 30 SDC: 50
Horror Factor: 13
Psionics: None
Attacks Per Melee: 3
Damage: Bite does 2D6, Claws do 2D4
Bonuses: +5 Damage, +6 to save vs. horror factor, +2 to save vs. poison or disease.
Natural Abilities: Heavy Claws, Tunneling, Beastly Strength, Rodent Leaping, Color Blind, Advanced Smell, Advanced Hearing, Hibernation
Skills of Pote: Prowl 60%, Tracking 80%
Profile: Driven by hunger and a desire to be free, the beast attacks anything the snake tosses into the tunnels that run between the mansion and the garden.

Guards: Gli, Rex, Hugh
Alignment: Scrupulous
Attributes: IQ 12, ME 9, MA 12, PS 20, PE 18, PP 13, PB 7, Spd. 14
Age: 18 Gender: Male
Species: Goat
Size Level: 12
Hit Points: 20 SDC: 60
Disposition: Agitated, Paranoid
Human Features
Hands -- Full
Biped -- Partial
Speech -- Full
Looks -- None
Powers: Advanced Vision, Horns (2D4 Damage)
Psionics: None
Background: Feral
Occupation: Garden Guard
Skills of Note: Climbing, Escape Artist, Prowl, Tracking
Weapon Proficiencies: Spear, Net
Armor: Plastic Plated Armor (A.R. 13, S.D.C. 80)
Attacks per Melee: 4
Bonuses: +1 Initiative, +6 Damage, +2 Roll with Punch/Impact
Personal Profile: These three goats were once members of the local tribe, but were captured by the snake while trying to steal the fruit several years ago. Using threats against their tribe, the goats have remained subservient to the snake and begrudgingly guard him and his garden against any trespassers. To improve their capability as guards, the snake has used some of the juice of the mutagen fruit to strengthen the goats.
While the goats will not fight the snake, they will not come to his aid if they feel the characters have a chance of defeating it. Once freed, the goats will return to their tribe.
New Weapons:
Energy Net (WP Net): Causes no SDC or Hit Point damage, but character must save against pain (14+ with PE bonus) if they become entangled or loose one attack/action per melee in addition to the normal net effects. Power cell must be activated by wielder and has enough charge to last for five minutes (20 melee rounds).
Stun Guns (WP Energy Pistol): Causes no SDC or Hit Point damage, but character must save against pain (14+ with PE bonus) or be knocked out for 1D4x15 minutes, 1D4 hours, or 1D6 hours. These weapons look like over-sized pistols. Each weapon is powered by an energy cell that can deliver up to 12 shots and can only fire once per melee round.

Tribe Elder: Ol' Grady
Alignment: Principled
Attributes: IQ 13, ME 15, MA 12, PS 8, PE 13, PP 10, PB 12, Spd. 8
Age: 80+ Gender: Female
Species: Goat
Size Level: 7
Hit Points: 21 SDC: 60
Disposition: Agitated, Paranoid
Human Features
Hands -- Partial
Biped -- Partial
Speech -- None
Looks -- None
Powers: Advanced Vision
Psionics: Advanced Cell Reader, Animal Speech, Mind Block, Psychic Diagnosis, Sense Nemesis, Sense Weather
Background: Feral
Occupation: Tribe Elder / Shaman
Skills of Note: Farming & Gardening, Identify Fruit & Plants, Musical Instrument: Flute & Rattle, Sign Language, Wilderness Survival, Herbal Medicine, Camouflage, Prowl
Weapon Proficiencies: None
Attacks per Melee: 2
Bonuses: +1 Dodge, +4 Roll with Punch/Impact
Personal Profile: Ol' Grady is the spiritual leader of this tribe of goats. She was born and mutated in a farming plant before The Death. In the chaos that followed, she freed as many of her kind from the pens of the facility and took them into the wilderness. There she cared for those who became ill from the plague and nurtured them the best she could - being a mute animal. In the decades since, the tribe has become a peaceful agricultural society.
O' Grady found the garden and it's secret about two generations ago. She uses the mutagen fruit to in her healing medicines and in potions she uses in her shamanic ceremonies. She did not discover that the garden had been invaded by the snake for three years, and by that time it had already discovered one of the creatures that had been affected by the fruit and used the beast to guard the garden against the tribes attacks.

Typical Tribe Member
Alignment: Scrupulous
Attributes: IQ 12, ME 10, MA 9, PS 14, PE 14, PP 11, PB 9, Spd. 13
Species: Goat
Size Level: 10
Hit Points: 21 SDC: 60
Disposition: Agitated, Paranoid
Human Features
Hands -- 70% Full, 30% Partial
Biped -- 75% Full, 25% Partial
Speech -- 90% Full, 10% Partial
Looks -- 90% None, 10% Partial
Powers: Advanced Vision, 65% Horns (2D4 Damage)
Psionics: 3% have Mind Speak, 5% Animal Speech
Background: Feral
Occupation: Mostly Farmers, some artisans (blacksmith, potter, carpenter, etc.)
Skills of Note: Farming & Gardening, Identify Fruit & Plants, Sign Language, Wilderness Survival, Herbal Medicine, Camouflage, Prowl
Weapon Proficiencies: Club or Spear, Net
Attacks per Melee: 1

[In The News] Mutant Black Squirrels Take Over

2008-04-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, this isn't exactly AtB relevant, but in a way you could look at it in the perspective of how mutations among some of the mutant animals could affect their populations.

I found this story in the UK's Daily Mail:

"Mutant 'testosterone-fuelled' Russian black squirrels in Cambridgeshire are giving their grey cousins a taste of their own medicine and driving them from their homes.

A Cambridge academic believes the unusual black squirrel now makes up half of the total squirrel population in the area from which they have originated.

The upstarts are the genetic mutations of grey squirrels. And although nuts may be their food of choice there have been reports of their hungry Russian counterparts savaging stray dogs.

<snip>

"Three years ago, a pack of Russian black squirrels bit to death a stray dog in a Russian park. They were said to have scampered off at the sight of humans, some carrying pieces of flesh."

This article brings to mind several things. Mostly it kind of reminds me of how the Neanderthals or Cro-Magnon diverged.

Creation of Non-Mutant Humans

2008-03-31T15:22:00.004-05:00

While After the Bomb was created primarily with idea of playing mutant animals in a post-apocalyptic setting, there are some people who may want to play the game as a non-mutant human.

We know they exist--primarily in the Empire of Humanity, so why not offer them as a playable species. In the Second Edition release, humans were included in the species chapter for players who wanted to play a mutant human, but nothing for non-mutant humans. The following steps should be used to create a non-mutant human:

Non-Mutant Human Creation Steps

Step 1: Attributes & Bonuses
Follow the rules for rolling attributes as they appear in the book.

Step 2: Background Education & Skills
You can use the backgrounds that appear in the books (just ignore any BIO-E bonuses) or the backgrounds created by Fubarius that appear in the previous posting. Alternatively, you can also use the education tables that appear in Heroes Unlimited if you want to create a character from before the Crash. Usually these characters are pretty old unless preserved by cryogenics or some other twist of fate.

Step 3: Hit Point & SDC
There has been some discussion as to what the base SDC for a non-mutant human should be in AtB. Typically "Average Humans" have 12 SDC, but historically Player Characters have been "above average". For this I'd put academic characters at 1D6+12; athletic characters 1D10+12.
If you want to run a more powerful game, I'd use a base SDC of 30 to 35.

Step 4: Choose an Alignment
Same as always.

Step 5: Round Out Your Character
While this step is entirely optional, complete tables for rounding out a character can be found in most of the contemporary Palladium settings. What I present here is a truncated version.

Size Level
01-12% Short: Size Level 7
13-30% Below Average: Size Level 8
30-50% Average: Size Level 9
51-75% Above Average: Size Level 10
76-00% Tall: Size Level 11

Age
01-25% Teenager: 14-19 years old (13+1D6)
26-50% Twenties: 20-29 years old (19+1D10)
51-75% Thirties: 30-39 years old (29+1D10)
76-85% Forties: 40-49 years old (39+1D10)
86-90% Fifties: 50-59 years old (49+1D10) Reduce Spd by 10%
91-95% Sixties: 60-69 years old (59+1D10) Reduce Spd by another 10%, Reduce PS, PP, PE by 10%
96-99% Seventies & Eighties: 70-89 years old (69+1D20) These characters were born before the Crash or soon after. Reduce Spd, PS, PP, PE by another 10%, Reduce skills by 10%, Modify perception rolls, initiative, combat bonuses, and number of attacks per melee by -2.
100% Nineties and older: These characters were born before the Crash and should use one of the contemporary Palladium settings to generate their education/occupation (I prefer the "Occupations & Skills" section found in Beyond the Supernatural 2nd Ed). Reduce all physical stats by half, and mental attributes by 20%.

Ethnicity
Since there is a high likelihood of mixed ethnicity, your roll only indicates your characters dominant ethnicity. Roll again, or choose, to determine your secondary ethnicity.
01-25% Anglo
26-45% African
46-55% Arabic
56-65% Asian
66-80% Hispanic
81-90% Indian
91-95% Indonesian
96-00% Native American

Human Character Backgrounds

2008-03-31T13:31:00.007-05:00

[Human Backgrounds written by: Fubarius (AtB Forum @ Palladium Books); posted with permission]

Human Renegade
Your average Empire of Humanity citizen doesn't have a whole lot of contact with your average mutant (except mutant dogs and the occasional slave of course). Your typical soldier on the other hand comes into contact with them all the time, though usually through the sights of their weapon. Every so often one of those soldiers realizes that maybe these upright walking and talking 'animals' might just be, well, people too. They also realized that trying to exterminate these 'animals' is, well, wrong. Due to the constant indoctrinization and propaganda of the EoH these attitudes rarely happen to new recruits. But after a campaign or two here, a purged village or two there, these attitudes start to creep in causing the once loyal soldier to leave the Empire of Humanity and become a renegade.
Apprenticeship: None.
Primary Skills: Hand to Hand: Expert, Running, Climbing (+5%), Wilderness Survival (+5%), Land Navigation (+5%), W.P. Pistol, W.P. Auto and Semi-Automatic Rifles, W.P. Sub-Machinegun, W.P. Energy Rifle, one Ancient W.P. of choice, Literacy (+15%), Basic Math (+10%), four Military skills of choice, and a total of two skills selected from Rogue or Technical.
Secondary Skills: Choose any 10
Special Bonuses: +5 BIO-E (for animal abilities or psionics only, more may be gained through the usual measures), +1d4 PS, +1 PE, +1d6 Spd, +3d6 SCD (plus the usual bonuses for a mutant human)
Money: The character HAD a sizable nest egg, 2d4 times 10000 EoH credits, but they were all confiscated the moment he deserted. So far he's only managed to scrape together 1d4 times 100 bucks.
Equipment: A nearly worn out EoH uniform (might work for a disguise, but not for very long or under close scrutiny), a set of civilian clothes, two modern weapons of choice (EoH Energy weapons are available with GM approval), EoH Flac Jacket (AR 11, SDC 80).
Relatives & Connections: May have a few friends in his new life. In the EoH he might have a close firend or relative who might provide assistance, but most humans will consider him a traitor.

Human Exile
You were an average citizen of the Empire of Humanity, going about your daily life with out a care in the world. Well, except for the growing population of monsters taking over the world, or so the news reels say. But then on that fateful morning something horrible happened that turned your world upside down. You pissed off the wrong person. Or you got convicted of a crime. Or they discovered you weren't "pure" enough by whatever standard they decided on that week. No mater the reason why the effect is the same, they kicked you out or you fled before they could kill you. So now you're living with the 'monsters' and trying to find a way to survive.

Reason for exile:
Note: do not use the bonuses for Mutant Human. Use the following instead.
1-20% You're an aspiring politician and your more powerful rival decided his chances of re-election was better with you gone. +2 MA, +1 IQ, +3 PB
21-30% In a fit of passion you committed a capitol crime (murder, rape, kidnapping, treason, etc) but managed to escape before your scheduled execution. Note: for good alignments the crime might have been justified (say having to kill a high ranking official in self defense), but the death sentence was still given for what ever reason. +1 MA, +1 ME, +2 PS, +2 PE
31-50% Falsely convicted of a crime. You are totally innocent but can't prove it (yet). You feel that if you can clear your name you can rejoin the Empire. But until then you're making do the best you can. +2 ME, +2 IQ, +2 PB
51-60% You worked as a researcher, accountant, technician, etc for the government, and now you Know Too Much and have been deemed a security liability. Luckily you found out about it before they could arrest you. You have 1d4 government secrets that many groups would kill for. +3 IQ, +2 ME.
61-70% Wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe you took the last donut in the cafeteria, maybe you laughed at the wrong joke, maybe some high up official just wanted to flex his political muscles, or maybe he didn't like the shape of your ears, but all you know is that one night some soldiers stormed into your bed room, tied you up, and threw you out the front gate with no explanation as to why. +5 BIO-E, +1 IQ, +1 ME, +1 PB.
71-100% Not 'normal' enough. During the latest purge they determined you weren't 'pure' enough (though they didn't mind the last 8 purges). Fortunately since you could convince them that you're 'mostly' human they couldn't kill you so they just kicked you out. +10 BIO-E, have at least one vestigial disadvantage (your choice), +1 IQ, +1 MA

Apprenticeship: None.
Primary Skills: Basic Math (+15%), Advanced Math, Literacy (+15%), Writing, History, Computer Operation, 2 Pilot skills of choice, 2 Domestic skills of choice, and a total of 6 skills combinedl from Medical, Scientific, and Technical.
Secondary Skills: Choose any 10 (Note, can only chose Hand to Hand Basic)
Special Bonuses: See above.
Money: The character HAD a small nest egg, 3d6 times 1000 EoH credits, but they were all confiscated the moment he you left. So far you've only managed to scrape together 1d4 times 100 bucks.
Equipment: A set of clothes, 1 simple ancient weapon scrounged up somewhere (club, knife, chain, staff, etc), 1d4 small high tech devices you managed to hide on you when you were exiled, and some basic survival gear you managed to trade for (matches, a blanket, etc).
Relatives & Connections: May have a few friends in this new life. In the EoH you still have a few close friends or relatives who might provide assistance, but most humans will consider you a traitor.

Attribute Checks

2008-03-07T17:20:00.002-06:00

A player over on the AtB message boards asked about how people go about resolving attribute checks. Here are a few suggestions I have:

Option 1) Have the player multiply their attribute(s) by 3 and the result as a percentage to roll against. I cut off attributes at 30, so if you have an attribute high than that this probably won't work.

Example: Rocky is a bear with a PS of 21 and is trying to tear a door off its hinges. Multiplied by 3 you get 63. Rocky now has a base chance of 63% to tear the door off.

Option 2) Give the task a difficulty target and have your character add their attribute score to a 1D20. If the roll exceeds the target, they succeed.

Example: Rocky is trying to rip another door from its hinges. The GM assigns the task a difficulty of 30. Rocky needs to roll a 9 or better to successfully tear down the door.

Option 3) Use the character's attribute scores as a points pool to perform actions that you feel would otherwise strain them. These points would heal back at the same per-day rate as SDC. This would add a sense of stamina to all stats - Mental and Physical.

Example: Rocky isn't all that smart (IQ 9), but he is really straining to figure out the answer to a riddle. The GM might offer to charge the character 1 IQ for a small hint, or 3 IQ for a bigger hint.

Birnbaum asked:
A character (size level 2) was riding a mutant grasshopper (size level 15), when the grasshopper does one of his enormous leaps, there might be a P.S check (or P.P check) to see if the pc gets bucked off or not.

Option 1) Take the character's PS (or average the characters strength and prowess (i.e. PS+PP/2)) and multiply it by 3. Use that # as the target of a % roll, just like checking a skill. You might also want to penalize the character for the size difference; say -1% per size level.

Option 2) That's a really big grasshopper compared to the character. I'd probably give the task a base difficulty of at least 25 or 30 (that's what I figure a character of that size would need to stay on such a large mount). Again you could average the character's strength and prowess.

Option 3) It's going to take a lot of effort for such a small character to stay on the back of the grass hopper. Let's say we charge the character 1-3 PS for every minute he rides the "hopping" grasshopper. Riding a walking grasshopper won't cost him anything, only when it starts hopping. Depending on the character's PS, they will tire out pretty quickly.

Of course you could also combine any of these methods as you like as well.

Mountain of the Dead

2008-02-27T14:46:00.003-06:00

I found an article today, while checking out Reddit, about the Dyatlov Pass Accident that happened in the USSR back in 1959. This got me to thinking that it would make an interesting adventure for a Palladium game.

For some time I've been trying to come up with a story for a mystery genre adventure for AtB, and I think this might just be the one. Actually, it would work for just about any Palladium setting.

For setting this in AtB the group of ski hikers could be either Cardanian scouts looking for a pass, or a Philly Trade Caravan moving west, through the Appalachian Mountains. Reports come back a week later that the bodies of the scouts or caravan have been found dead in a remote portion of their route.

The player characters are then sent to investigate the scene and find out what happened.

Several skills would be required by members of the group (medical, tracking, survival, wilderness survival, chemistry, etc. ) to examine the scene and/or discover evidence. People skills would be required to interrogate/question locals of the last town visited.

Several red herrings would be tossed in to prevent the mystery from being too easy to solve. Of course the adventure could be designed so that there would be multiple endings for the GM to choose from like in the movie Clue.

I'll try to create something from this story and post it in a future article.

[IN THE NEWS] Scientists Create Transparent Fish

2008-02-08T16:36:00.000-06:00

Roger Highfield, Science Editor for the Telegraph (UK) writes: [link]

Scientists have created ghostly transparent fish to make human biology clearer. The feat has been achieved with zebrafish are genetically similar to humans and are already in widespread use as models for human biology and disease.

[snip]

The classic method for studying human diseases in animals is to allow the animal to get the disease, kill and dissect the animal, then ask, "what happened?" But in cancer and other fast-changing processes that traverse the body, this method is bound to miss something. "It's like taking a photograph when you need a video," says White.

[snip]

White named the new breed "casper", after the ghost.

Wouldn't that gene be pretty freaky to find passed down in some mutants in AtB? Actually this gives me a great idea for a Mad Scientist villain. Someone like a Splicer from Rifts who's messing with mutants and then tossing them back in the wild to see how they react or how the environment reacts to them.

I'll have to work on that.

Rifter #41: The City of Philly

2008-02-07T14:52:00.000-06:00

After the Bomb received some attention in The Rifter #41 thanks to Erin (OmegaGirl) Lindsey.

This 24 page article brings the city of Philly to life with descriptions of the city, it's wards, history, and the Rodent Cartel and it's Families. Also included are NPC's, new mutant animals, apprenticeships, and beasts. Including the fearsome Jersey Devil!!!

And if that weren't enough, the article contains great illustrations and a full page map of the area!

If you love AtB, you've got to get this issue!

[IN THE NEWS] UK Allows Human-Animal Embryos

2008-02-05T15:25:00.000-06:00

AFP wrote:[link]

Britain's fertility regulator said Thursday it would allow scientists to create human-animal hybrid embryos for research.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) approved applications from two universities to create "cytoplasmic" embryos, which merge human cells with eggs from animals such as cattle or rabbits.

Scientists argue the research could pave the way for therapies for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's...

[snip]

Researchers want to produce hybrids that are 99.9 percent human and 0.1 percent animal.

[snip]

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, head of stem cell biology at the Medical Research Council's national institute for medical research, said: "The HFEA's decision is excellent as it adds to the arsenal of techniques UK scientists can use to provide understanding and eventually develop therapies for a wide range of devastating genetic diseases."

Of course there are those who are crying fowl:

John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), said the decision was a "disastrous setback for human dignity", creating sub-human "slaves" used as raw materials.

"Of those embryos with a smaller proportion of human material, greater uncertainty arises... as to whether such an embryo is a human being with due rights," he said.

Only time will tell if we can use this knowledge responsibly and ethically.

Story Idea: Proteus

2008-01-08T12:38:00.000-06:00

This is just an idea I had for an AtB story or game that I wrote down on a napkin two or three years ago while I was at a local pizza joint (behold the power of napkins!). Let me know if you think this is an idea worth expanding upon.

Proteus [Pro·te·us]

(noun) Classical Mythology. a sea god, son of Oceanus and Tethys, noted for his ability to assume different forms and to prophesy.
(adj.) a person or thing that readily changes appearance, character, principles, etc.

PRELUDE (208x - Pre-Crash)

- A female scientist and her assistant (a mutant chimpanzee) are hard at work trying to find a way to stop the mystery plague that is killing off the human race. The scientist's child, a young boy or girl dieing of the mystery plague, is placed in cryogenic pod until she can find the cure.

CURRENT DAY (After the Bomb)

- A battle between a group of mutant animals and a detachment of Human Empire soldiers rages outside the ruins of an Pre-Death building.

- After the human soldiers retreat, the mutant animals move into the building. It turns out to be a cryogenic hospice, a place where human from before the Crash would inter the terminally ill.

- Amazingly enough, power is still being supplied to a few of the cryogenic pods. The mutant animals find all but one of the occupants are dead - the victims of rotted seals. The remaining pod is that of the child from the prelude. However, the child is now a teenager, it's aging only slowed while in the cryogenic pod.

- The pod, the human child still inside, is delivered to a Cardanian medical facility in Cambridge where they attempt to reawaken the human inside.

- Soon after he/she is awakened, the child is frightened by mutant animal doctors and runs away.

- The human child hides in the old city ruins on the outskirts of Cambridge for a couple days until being attacked by a pack of street urchins (a mix mutant animals). The child is saved when another human (actually a pleasure bunny) comes to the rescue.

- The bunny takes the child to her home, an old but luxurious cabin hidden in the nearby woods. There she tells the child what has happened to change the world and admits that she is in fact also a mutant animal. After a while, she convinces the child to return with her to the medical facility.

- Back at the medical facility, the doctors run tests on the child and discover that the child does not carry the strain of the disease that killed humans, but a variation of the disease called Proteus - the strain that gave birth to the anthropomorphic animals. However, this variation would not affect animals, instead this strain would cause a "Proteus Transformation" in humans.

- Fearful of what he/she may turn into, how the transformation may affect him/her, and whether or not he/she will survive the transformation, the child accepts his/her fate. Monitored by the medical staff during the transformation, and watched over by the bunny, the child slowly begins his/her transformation into a .

- When the child is revived, he/she discovers that the transformation has also awoken new psionic powers, including the ability to telepathically listen to other peoples thoughts.

- Soon after, the child telepathically overhears a doctor plotting to use the new Proteus strain on other surviving humans and tells the bunny. The doctor discovers that the two know about the plot and the two must escape before they are captured by security.

- Back at the cabin the two start packing to escape Cambridge, but a group of canine mercenaries hired by the doctor tracks down the two at the cabin before they can leave and a battle ensues. The two escape down a bolt hole just as the cabin is destroyed in a fiery explosion.

- Content that nothing could have survived such a blast and musing that the only cure of the Protean strain would have been contained in the child's DNA (a fact that is overheard by the bunny), the doctor returns to the medical facility to work on his scheme.

- Safely outside Cambridge, the bunny reveals that she was once a member of a group of adventurers and suggests that they might go to them for some help.

SIDE NOTES

- As the story would have progressed, it would have been found that the child's mutation was unstable and would revert (like a lycanthrope) between mutant animal and human form. He/she would also discover new psionic abilities as well, including precognition.

- The mutant doctor's ultimate goal would be to use the Protean virus against the Empire of Humanity, rationalizing that once they had all been mutated into animals they would stop warring with the rest of the animal nations.

- At some point it would be revealed that the mutant chimpanzee that assisted the child's mother is still alive and possibly a member of the bunnies adventuring group. The chimpanzee would then reveal that the child's mother had almost finished the cure when she was taken away by soldiers to work at some survivors colony. The chimp was not allowed to accompany her and never heard of her again, assuming that she died along with the rest.

- Who else may be involved in the plot to infect the humans with the Proteus virus? What will the Empire do if/when they find out about the Proteus? Could the child's mother have survived? Could she have created the cure? What did she do with the cure?

"I Am Legend" and how it relates to "After the Bomb"

2007-12-28T17:25:00.000-06:00

WARNING: Includes spoilers for "I Am Legend"

I went to the movie "I Am Legend" last week and realized that in a way it kind of relates to AtB in how the world is drastically changed by a biological event.

I Am Legend is set three years after the plague which has killed 90% of humanity and caused 9.9% to change into hairless rabid creatures of the night (in the original 1954 novel they turned into vampires). Only .1% of humanity was immune to the plague, but are now hunted by the 9.9% that survive as "dark-seekers". We also find out that animals are not immune to the plague, though they are immune to the air-borne strain, and can change into "dark-seekers" as well.

One could assume that the events following the plague that occurred in AtB had similar consequences. From the 2nd Edition book (pg. 164) we know that "within a month, over 74% of the human race died", and that "once released, billions died." In all we can assume that a good 85-95% of humanity was dead within a year due to the plague, radiation, disease, starvation, exposure, murder, etc.. Those few who survived would then face not "dark-seekers" but the mutating animals that were changed by the plague.

Imagine how these animals must have looked to the survivors, or the survivors to the mutated animals. These creatures would not have been like those domesticated "pets" that were created in the EGGs, these creatures were born in the wild. I'm sure that there were those who looked for cures, or just hunted down these smart monsters. Events that probably became legend to the surviving animals, and tales to be told to their children at night to scare them from the vicious humans.

Daniel R. Christian (later to be known as Emperor Christian) was probably someone like Robert Neville from the original "I Am Legend" novel. A man whose fear of the changing drives him to kill those things that were affected by the plague. Emperor Christian may not have always been the diabolic villian we know now, but a man whose mission has twisted his perception of the world to the point we find him now. I am sure that in the ages to follow his eventual fall, Emperor Christian will forever be a legend to the mutant animals.

Sad News

2007-12-26T12:19:00.001-06:00

About an hour ago I read the news that Erick Wujcik has been diagnosed with cancer. I, personally, have lost a grandmother (on my father's side) and grandfather (on my mother's side) to the disease. So the news that one of my idols is dying of cancer, weighs heavy on my heart.

I've only met Erick once; at the 2007 Palladium Open House where I had the pleasure to listen to him speak and participated in two of his games: After the Bomb and Entropy. It was a great weekend, one I was hoping to repeat at the next Open House. Unfortunately, the chances of that happening are now growing dim.

TMNT&OS was one of the first Palladium RPG's I bought. Then when After the Bomb came out I jumped on it -- I really enjoyed post-apocalyptic settings. I picked up all the TMNT and AtB supplements as soon as they came out, and was disappointed when they did not renew the licence and the 2nd Edition TMNT book was canceled.

Fortunately, most of the changes that were going to appear in TMNT 2nd ed. were put in the 2nd Edition After the Bomb book. Some of my fondest role-playing memories took place in the Mutants Down Under AtB setting where I took my friends character, Malcum, on a cross country adventure, a short detour to the moon, a mushroom forest, encounters with the Utrom, Triceratons, and a few jaunts back in time where he met up with the infamous Doc Ferall.

For all that fun, and all that is to come, I have Erick to thank.

Good Luck

~Season's Greatings!~

2007-12-20T12:37:00.000-06:00

Wow, with all the holiday preparations I've gone and forgotten to post anything yet this month. I think I can expect a lump of coal from Santa this year. :(

So I don't go the entire month without posting anything AtB related, I'm going to post some of David Jamesrobert "duck-foot" Morris's cold weather creations:

Snow Leopard
Leopard Seal
Arctic Package (turns any animal into a cold climate animal)

Great work David!

I hope you all have a happy holiday and a grand new year!

Snow Leopard

2007-12-20T12:36:00.000-06:00

by: David Jamesrobert "duck-foot" Morris
(posted with permission)

Description:
The snow leopard lives high in the Himilayas. This feline is rarely seen by man. The snow leopard is a nocturnal predator with exraordinary leaping abilities. The snow leopard looks very similar to the Central and South African leopard only its off white thick arctic fur and slightly larger size set it apart.
Size Level: 13
Length: 6 to 7 feet long (1.8 to 2.1 m)
Weight: 300 to 400 lbs (135 to 180 kg)
Build: Medium

Mutant Changes & Cost:
Total BIO-E: 30
Attribute Bonuses: +8 P.S.(Brute Strength), +4 P.P., +3 P.B.

Human Features:
Hands: Automatically None
5 BIO-E for Partial
10 BIO-E for Full
Biped: Automatically None.
5 BIO-E for Partial
10 BIO-E for Full
Speech: Automatically None
5 BIO-E for Partial
10 BIO-E for Full
Looks: None. Character looks like a large white and black spotted predatory cat. Massive jaws, whiskers, thick powerful body, long tail and ears on the top of the head.
5 BIO-E for Partial: A humanoid with a cats head, thick white fur. Long tail, whiskers, and a powerful build.
10 BIO-E for Full: Human looking with a lean, muscular build. Large powerful arms and legs with black spots over skull-white skin, small pointy ears and thick hair on the head.

Natural Weapons:
10 BIO-E for 2D6 Retractable Climbing Claws
15 BIO-E for 3D6 Retractable Climbing Claws
5 BIO-E for 2D4 Teeth
10 BIO-E for 2D6 Teeth
15 BIO-E for 3D6 Teeth

Mutant Animal Powers:
Automatically has Nightvision and Leaping: Standard
10 BIO-E for Beastly Strength
10 BIO-E for Extra Physical Prowess
10 BIO-E for Extra Physical Beauty
10 BIO-E for Extra Speed
5 BIO-E for Advanced Smell
5 BIO-E for Leaping: Feline
15 BIO-E for Predator Burst
5 BIO-E for Advanced Hearing
15 BIO-E for Extra Physical Endurance
15 BIO-E for Arctic Fur: The character is resistant to the effects of the coldest weather. Any non magical cold based attack on the character deals 1/4 normal damage. This fur tends to make the character look very puffy.

Vestigial Disadvantages:
-5 BIO-E for taking Vestigial Tail
-10 BIO-E for taking Nocturnal
-10 BIO-E for taking Reptile Brain: Predator
-10 BIO-E for taking Diet: Carnivore
-20 BIO-E for taking Low Heat Tolarance: The character cannot take tempatures above 60* Fierhenhiet (20* C) for more than an hour at a time before he or she succumbs to fatigue and exhaustion. Character must save versus poison or suffer -4 to strike, parry and dodge, -6 to Speed and -4 to P.S. and P.P. This effect will last for one hour for every point that the roll failed on a save.

Leopard Seal

2007-12-20T12:34:00.000-06:00

by: David Jamesrobert "duck-foot" Morris
(posted with permission)

Description:
Considered the most ferocious seal in the world, Leopard seals are found among the pack ice. The only seal to prey on other seal species, there are many tales from early explorers about harrowing encounters with Leopard seals. The body is dark grey above and light grey below and they have white throats with black spots. These distinctive spots are what give the Leopard seal its name. These characteristics combined with excellent sight, smell and ferocious canines have established them as one of the consummate predators of the Antarctic.
Size Level: 8
Length: 4 and 1/2 feet (1.3 m)
Weight: upto 200 lbs (88 kg)
Build: Medium

Mutant Changes & Cost:
Total BIO-E: 30
Attribute Bonuses: +2 P.S. Brute, +3 P.P., +8 Swimming Speed, -3 M.A.

Human Features:
Hands: Automatically Partial
5 BIO-E for Full
Biped: Automatically Partial
5 BIO-E for Full
Speech: Automatically None
5 BIO-E: for Partial
10 BIO-E: for Full
Looks: None. Looks like the animal. Triangular dog-like head with large pointy ears, thin whiskers, large sharp canines, thin course fur, thick folds of blubber, two pairs of large flippers.
5 BIO-E for Partial: Thin coarse fur, thick blubber, large humanoid like body with large floppy ears, thick black nose and large black eyes.
10 BIO-E for Full: Looks almost completely human, but with leopard spots.

Natural Weapons:
5 BIO-E for 2D6 canine teeth
10 BIO-E for 3D6 canine teeth
15 BIO-E for 4D6 canine teeth

Mutant Animal Powers:
Automatically has Advanced Swimming at 90% and a depth tolerance of 3000 ft.
Automatically gets Advanced Vision
Automatically gets Advanced Smell
5 BIO-E for Nightvision
10 BIO-E for Advanced Hearing
10 BIO-E for Extra Intelligence Quotient
10 BIO-E for Extra Mental Endurance
10 BIO-E for Extra Physical Prowess
5 BIO-E for Extra Swimming Speed
5 BIO-E for Extra Physical Prowess
10 BI0-E for Brute Strength
10 BIO-E for Predator Burst

Vestigial Disadvantages:
-5 BIO-E for Vestigial Ears
-5 BIO-E for Nearsightedness
-5 BIO-E for Color Blindness
-10 BIO-E for Prey Eyes
-10 BIO-E for Musk Glands
-10 BIO-E for Nocturnal
-10 BIO-E for Diet: Carnivore
-10 BIO-E for Reptilian Brain: Predator

Arctic Package

2007-12-20T12:26:00.001-06:00

by: David Jamesrobert "duck-foot" Morris
(posted with permission)

BIO-E Cost: 10
Attributes Bonuses: As base animal plus, +2 P.S., +1 P.E.
Arctic Fur: The character is resistant to the effects of the coldest weather. Any non-magical cold based attack on the character deals 1/4 damage.
Thick Matted Fur: +15 SDC. This fur tends to make the character look very poofy.

This can be used to create any arctic animal from polar bears to mammoth.

Books Galore!

2007-11-27T10:33:00.001-06:00

Woots! Kevin has been running a bunch of auctions on eBay for a while and recently there have been a few AtB items on the list. As a matter of fact, last week I won a copy of the 2nd Edition Book and all of the 1st Edition Books. All signed!!!

Now he's got an After the Bomb proofreader copy up for bid that I'm hoping to get too.

As if that weren't enough, before the auctions went up, I had ordered an After the Bomb® Supplement Bundle from Palladium's online store. So I now have three copies of all the AtB books, 1st and 2nd Edition. Now I just need to get more people around where I live interested in playing this setting...

Addendum:
I was outbid on the proofreader. It was one of those last minute outbids, which tells me that I should have been watching the auction in the last hour before it's end. Nuts. :(

TD:ATB Adventure Redux

2007-11-19T14:26:00.000-06:00

You may remember that a few months back I was working on a two part adventure that combined AtB and Transdimensional TMNT - Project Daleth and Sky High. Well, I'm going to go back, fix them up, and re-post them.

I had always know that there was something missing in the first part and didn't much care for the way I had designed the layout of the project facility. Then there was the title, Daleth (Etymology: Hebrew dāleth, from deleth - door), which I'll probably change to Project Gateway.

As for the second part, I felt that it felt too rushed and was missing an interesting way of helping the characters track down the team of scientists that escaped through the trasdimensional gateway. To fix this I will be adding some hardware (gizmos) in the first part of the adventure.

More later...

That's One Big Croc!

2007-11-14T14:16:00.000-06:00

The Last Darkness wrote:

So im creating a character/possible NPC mildly inspired by the greatly feared and dreaded "Gustave" Crocodile.
I rolled up Mutant Crocodile, Guerilla Fighter.
Now I sold attributes for bio e ending with a speed of 8.
At character finesh I was size lvl 20 which has me have to reduce speed by -10.

Im not sure how to interpret this, would spd go into the negative, remain at least one or is 3 the minimum you can go?
Im hoping to improve this with proper skills like running but im stuck on this issue as ill either be at -2 Spd, 1 Spd, or 3 Spd before I take skills.
Any advice would be helpful or better yet a Cannon Ruleing

I'd say that the character has become too big and is now "physically disabled". So unless you can get your speed (Spd) to 1 or better through skills, I'd say you need to reevaluate how you build your character unless you want him to move around in a Mac truck sized wheelchair.

However, if Darkness spends his BIO-E wisely he can still create a powerhouse of a character with a Speed that's greater than zero. Let's take a look:

Crocodiles start with 30 BIO-E and a Size Level of 15, and Darkness wants a Guerrilla Fighter that's a size level of 20, still able to walk around on it's own power, and probably trick it out a bit to be one mean mother [Shut yo' mouth!]...

First we will increase it's Size Level by 5 to 20. (-10 Spd) which costs a total of 25 BIO-E (Totals: Spd Bonus -10 / Remaining BIO-E = 5)

Next we take "Really Big & Slow" for some bonus BIO-E but at a cost of -6 Spd. (Totals: Spd Bonus -16 / Remaining BIO-E = 15)

Luckily the Guerrilla Fighter background comes with +2 Spd and +10 BIO-E. (Totals: Spd Bonus -14 / Remaining BIO-E = 25)

We are still hampered with a sizable Speed deficiency, but if you spend 10 BIO-E for Extra Speed you can pick up a whopping 17 to 27 [+(2D6+15)] Spd to counteract our handicapped speed. (Totals: Spd Bonus 3 to 13 / Remaining BIO-E = 15)

Now we can boost that a bit more if we spend 5 more BIO-E to pick up Alligator Quick Run which not only gives you a +4 to Speed but allows you to DOUBLE your normal speed for "quick dashes" up to 200 feet! (Totals: Spd Bonus 7 to 17 / Remaining BIO-E = 10)

So this, at best, would leave you with a Spd modifier of +7 to 17 and 10 BIO-E to spend on Natural Weapons, Animal Powers, or Psionics before you even start taking vestigial traits.

Now if you want to buy the best Teeth, Natural Armor, and Strength it will cost you another 55 BIO-E, in which case you would need to pass on the Quick Run power (which still leaves you with a positive Spd modifier) and take all the Vestigial Traits (15 + 40 = 55 BIO-E).

Hope that helps anyone else who might be interested in building big characters.

[IN THE NEWS] Scientists Create ‘Mighty Mouse'

2007-11-13T16:17:00.000-06:00

Not satisfied with a "Super Mouse", a team of University of Tokyo researchers genetically engineered a mouse that does not fear cats, simply by controlling its sense of smell.

National Institutes of Health
Knocking out a gene in the brain’s fear hub creates mice unperturbed by situations that would normally trigger instinctive or learned fear responses, researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have discovered. The findings may lead to improved treatments for anxiety disorders (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/anxietymenu.cfm), they suggest.

Fear memories are so essential for survival that they are easily formed and rarely lost.

Scientists now think that what they learn from these mice could be used to develop new anti-anxiety agents.

Story Links:
http://www.nih.gov/news/radio/dec2005/12162005mice.htm
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/nov2005/nimh-22.htm

Mutants Of The Rising Sun

2007-11-13T15:47:00.000-06:00

Unknown_Nobody on the AtB/TMNT Forum started a thread when his players showed interest in visiting Japan in the After the Bomb setting, but was perplexed since there was little to no information on the location.

While most have suggested that he make it a neo-feudal or cyber-punk setting, while I suggested that he, "create your own Japan setting to fit the tastes of yourself and your group. If history is any indicator, I would imagine finding some pretty weird... stuff. Do some real world research and go from there, or just base it on some anime or manga."

Then the topic of human/mutant hostility came up. I figured that since in most of the other areas where the human vs. mutant struggle is key, the humans are the bullies, maybe you could do something different with Japan:

Maybe you could do a 180 and have the humans in Japan subjugated by the mutant animals. Where the mutant animals have taken the Japanese fear of Tengui, Obake, Bakemono, or other creatures from Japanese folklore. It could be that after the bomb, the mutant animals were able to convince the human survivors that they were indeed the incarnation of these spirits and had come to punish them. Some may do it due to their hatred or mistrust of humans, others because they are trying to protect [the humans] from themselves.

This would be more in keeping with the feel of the region, IMHO, and players could play the heroic mutant or human trying to bring justice back to the lands.

After that I decided to come up with a name and graphic for such a setting...

MAN TGA 6x6

2007-11-09T14:30:00.000-06:00

I found this vehicle to be something I would love to get my hands on in an AtB environment! Take a few moments to visit the vehicles photo page and tech page. I found it awesome that it hides a 4-wheel ATV in the back.

[IN THE NEWS] Spider Community Creates Huge Web

2007-11-08T16:31:00.000-06:00

A friend told me about this story a week ago about this huge spider web that was found down in Texas. Said it was liek something out of Kingdom of the Spiders.

Well, I finally stumbled across this news report showing how awesome the scene actually was. Looks like a mini Mirkwood (the Hobbit)... Imagine huge mutant arachnid communities like this in AtB, only larger!