Who are you, anyway? What is this?

 This is the original background handed out to all players:

You are an elf or a human from the village of Rockton. Your character is a young adult, 16-19 years old.  You have been to at least one Marriage Meet and for whatever reason you did not come away with or go to a spouse.

There is no difference, mechanically game-wise, between humans and elves.  Also people are occasionally blue, green, purple, etc – this is about as common as having red hair in the real world.  Most people (humans and elves) are a shade of brown with dark hair, but genetic throwbacks (such as a blond-haired blue-eyed child born to two dark-skinned parents) are more common than in the real world.

Rockton is the southernmost village in a string of a dozen villages in the Great Valley.  Has a population of about 300.  Rockton is so named because it’s essentially a quarry.  Rocktoners are known for their stonemasonry.  The quarry is made from Godstone.  It has a 30 meter demarcation grid that is easily worked into a cube, and then worked into smaller cubes all the way down to a 50 centimeter cube.  Trying to make it smaller destroys the cube.

The nearest village to Rockton is Dirtscratch, known for exceptional farming.

To the west of the Great Valley is a mountain range that harbors an evil Wizard who breeds a race of devil-men to do his bidding.  Green lightning constantly plays and strikes about in the peaks of the mountains, visible even during the day.

To the east of the Great Valley is the Ancient’s Waste, a blighted wasteland full of mutants, ancient ruins, and monsters.  Occasionally something slithers, hops, shuffles, or rolls out of the Waste to plague innocent inhabitants of the Valley.

The Great Valley is ruled by the Priesthood.  The Priesthood delivers the word of the Holy Trinity: Allah, Buddha, and Christ.  The Priesthood teaches us that the gods smote the Ancients for their hubris, and the mountains and Waste are reminders of their wrath.  We must not make the same mistakes the Ancients did, and so learning is restricted.  The Priesthood enforces laws, sponsors marriage festivals, and organizes responses to emergencies.

Restricted Skills – to avoid making the same mistakes the Ancient’s made, certain knowledge is closely guarded and controlled by the priesthood.  Teaching a restricted skill to someone outside your profession will bring a harsh penalty, up to and including Banishment from the Valley.

Acolyte – a priest in training.  Whether you are a devout believer in the Holy Trinity or you’re doing this because priest is a sweet gig is up to you.  You can read, which is a restricted skill.

Ranger – You patrol the Waste!  It’s a glamorous, heroic job… that usually ends in radiation sickness or the belly of a monster.  Your starting talent is automatically Wasteland Veteran.  You go on expeditions in the waste to bring back valuable materials (like plastic or steel) or even hunt tasty monsters like Radscorpions (THEM’S GOOD EATIN!)  Relaying too many details of a Wasteland event or phenomenon may incur the same punishment as teaching a restricted skill.

Geneticist – There were less than a thousand survivors blessed by the gods to find the Great Valley, and inbreeding was a very serious concern.  From careful management of marriages, Geneticists have guided the population from 700 to the robust 10 thousand we have today!  You can read, which is a restricted skill.  Geneticists organize Marriage Meet festivals every season and communicate who is allowed to make babies with whom.  You have Science: Genetics, a restricted skill.

Mason – You harvest the Stone of the Gods for use throughout the entire valley.  You occasionally get to ride with a teamster to deliver the stone to other villages.  You are likely larger and/or stronger than average.

Carpenter – It doesn’t do anyone any good to have all this fancy stone around if nobody knows what to do with it.  You can build stuff!  You know Craft: Carpentry, which is a restricted skill.

Teamster – You drive a brahmin cart up and down the Great Valley, hauling Godstone north and everything else south.  You meet all sorts of people and hear all kinds of rumors and stories.  You are skilled in animal handling.

Healer – Every civilization needs one!  You treat humans, dogs, and brahmin for any and all of what ails them.  You can read and know Chemistry, restricted skills. 

Blacksmith/Mechanic – Who fixes wagon wheels?  Who breaks down robots for scrap metal?  Who likes to show off his “hammerin muscles” to the girls?  You do!  You know Craft: Mechanics, a restricted skill.

 

Everyone gets the Primitive flaw in addition to character flaw chosen by the player

 

New Talent: Radiation Tolerance

Now I’ma see if I can hang with the ghouls!

 +2 Body vs Radiation effects. 

New Talent: Wasteland Veteran

Do NOT drink that.

You may make a Survival as a knowledge roll to identify nonhuman monsters that inhabit the Waste.  You have a knack for knowing which water is safe to drink and finding the least-radioactive path.

 

Everyman skills: Athletics, Brawl, Empathy, Stealth, Survival