52 North World Guide v1.21

8/8/2019 52 North World Guide v1.21

1/17

52 North

LRP in a Post Collapse UK


2/17

1

52 North

The young boy stared out at the dark outline of the forest, the tops of the pine trees jutting upagainst the moonlight like a distant range of mountains. He started out into the darkness, the silencesurrounding him as the adults all froze and waited, nervous hands sliding to weapons on belts orchecking the precious few rounds in the chamber of a gun. After a few moments people began tomove again, if they dont come when the frenzied screaming stops then they dont usually come at all.The young boy looked up into the face of the oldest man in the village who was standing beside him,a hand resting on his shoulder. What makes them crazy? he asked.The old man smiled and knelt down, his joints creaking with the effort. He looked into the boyseyes and grunted a laugh, Something from the old world, long forgotten that was caused by theactions of a few.What do you mean?They are afflicted with an illness from the world before the collapse, an illness that we can nolonger treat. There is no hope for them. Its ironic really, we used to be the country that had thefewest cases of it and now were overrun. The old man laughed bitterly and shook his head. Hegently tapped the side of the young boys face, Dont worry, youre safe in here.

The young boy looked around at the fence, the men guarding it, the spears and wooden staves theycarried and the bits of scrap armour that adorned them. He turned back to the old man and asked;What was the world like when you were young? You were alive before the collapse, werent you?The old man nodded. It was different but it wasnt the paradise you youngsters seem to think itwas. There was war, famine, violence, all of these things, just as there is now. We had money andthe internet, a place where you could talk to people on the other side of the world and even buythings on the other side of the world.The young boy snorted in derision, You couldnt talk to people on the other side of the world, thatssilly.The old man smiled, You could, believe me.Whats buying?Buying is like barter only we used paper with words on it and the person selling it to you told youhow much of the paper he wanted and you either agreed or you didnt get what he was selling most ofthe time.Why paper? Its not very useful.It was then. It was more than useful, it was powerful. The world revolved around it and that iswhy the world devoured itself when the collapse happened. A man, called Keith James, released aself perpetuating virus onto the internet. Thats like a sickness for these machines we had calledcomputers that did all of our hard thinking for us and told us how much our paper was worth.Anyway, it infected a computer and then produced more copies of itself and they went off andinfected other computers. Within an hour the internet was overloaded and all the computersconnected to it turned off, even the special ones that governments had. The computers didnt justtell us how much our paper was worth but also they helped us speak to people far away, to control

things that we had grown too lazy to control and to help look after the sick. With them turned offnone of this could happen and since our society needed computers to tell us these things we werelost, like a small child alone in the woods without a grown up to show them how to get home.Sounds like it was scary.It was, I wasnt much older than you are now. The society we lived in collapsed under its ownweight and chaos reigned. It looked like the government would rally and bring order to chaos butthey were simply overwhelmed with the demand on their time and services. Wow! The childs eyes were wide with awe, Thats a lot of people. How did the Lawkeepersmanage to keep them all safe?


3/17

2

Well, said the old man, They had a lot of them. They were called the Police and they wereallowed to arrest you and put you in a holding cell for ever if youd been really bad, like if you killedsomeone.But they must have put a lot of people in holding cells forever then.No, back then, people didnt kill as often, there wasnt the need to. There was plenty of cleanwater and food. Anyway, as I was saying, the government collapsed and the world went to hell veryquickly. The paper was useless and so people started to swap things for other things that theywanted which is what led to the bartering we use now to get things. People were scared and aloneand so if someone who was stronger or who knew how to talk to people came along they ralliedround them, hoping they could save them or keep them alive, maybe even lead them to a better life.Some people held onto crackpot ideas andformed cults and sects, others flocked to safelooking, fortified towns and hamlets, like ours.Yeah but if someone wanted to take our townfrom us, could they? Why would they do it?Were a good community kid, water and foodare available and were mostly safe from the Lost

and bandits around here. Theres Lawkeepers inthe town and the surrounding area so it wouldbe hard for someone to take it but you can seewhy theyd want to.Because its safe?Yes, not much is these days.Are things going to get better? Will it be like itwas when you were young?The old man stared out into the night and shookhis head, Ive heard that a group of people aretrying to form a government and are spreading the word but theyve got a massive fight on theirhands. Theyll need to get rid of the bandits, the Lost, makes sure everyone toes the line and....The man stopped and shook his head again. Sorry kid, I think its like this for some time to come.The child seemed to mull this over for a moment before speaking again. Couldnt the Mechanistsrun things? They know how to make machines work and they keep us safe with the Chimera, surelytheyd be good at running things?The old man laughed, Remnants of the military with delusions of grandeur running the country!No thank you, wed be reopening the tunnel and marching to France before you knew it!Whats France?You know the old man with the strange accent that comes here from time to time? The one thatsays he has a boat?Henry? Yes, hes nice. He gave me toys and they worked and everything.Henri, not Henry. Hes from France. He sails his boat from there and he comes here with thingsto trade.What, across the sea? Thats impossible, its too far away!Not as far as youd think and anyway, yes, thats exactly what he does.The young boy looked doubtful for a moment but then, accepting what the old man had said, hebegan to get excited as he thought about a whole new country somewhere that can only be reachedby boat.You see, us old folk are very resourceful. The old man patted the young boy on the shoulder. Offto your parents with you, its late. What time do you have? asked the boy


4/17

3

Nine thirty by my watch by the clock of crows in Raymonds Rest.Oh, that is late. Thanks for the stories Mister Roberts. With that the young boy ran off towardshis home, always keeping to the light of the watch fires in the town square.

Introduction

Welcome to 52 North, a game about post-collapse society in the UK. This guide is intended to give you afeel for the game world and explain the system. This document is an ongoing project and as such will berevised over time. The document version is listed at the front. A list of changes can be found in theappendix at the back for ease of reference along with the dates of revision. A new version can be obtain

by e-mail from Gee at any time. If you would like a printed and spiral bound version this can also bearranged.

A (very) brief history of the world.

Some time in the early 21 st Century a hacker called Keith James released a virus called Una Bomba ontothe internet. It was supposed to infect machines, replicate and spread. Once it had spread from thehost machine it caused it to enter an infinite loop of circular logic which made it crash and not reboot.The idea was that the hacker was exposing the dangers of having everything connected throughout theworld and the ensuring that companies became better prepared, perhaps even employing him toupgrade their security to avoid such threats.

Unfortunately it worked like a dream. Every single computer connected to the internet was infectedwithin hours and shut down. Stock markets, military communications, mobile phone networks, airtraffic guidance, banking systems, anything that used a computer ground to a halt. Within 24 hoursmoney wasnt worth the paper it was printed on. Rioting, looting, all the horrible things that humanbeings do in these situations rose to the fore and society teetered on the knife edge.Governments tried to restore order but with police forces and the military having to operate without upto date orders and information they were stretched, too stretched. Within a few weeks things had gonefrom bad to worse and slowly society began to topple.It didnt take all that long for things to fall, dragged down by hubris and reliance on machines andtechnology.People in the UK found themselves cut off from the rest of the world barring sea travel across thechannel to France or risking walking the Channel Tunnel but the continent didnt really fare any better itseemed. The remnants of the police around Dover secured the Tunnel against incursions from thecontinent and the Gendarmerie Nationale secured it on the French side, nobody was getting through ineither direction.Some pressure groups took this as the opportunity to perform acts of sabotage against a weak system.One such group broke into vivisection labs and released all of the animals into the wild. This includedanimals that were diseased and sick, infected with Aids, Rabies and far worse. This caused a massivesurge in disease across the surviving population and wiped out swathes of people. Those that didnt die


5/17

4

but became infected were culled quickly and their bodies burned by quick thinking groups but some of them fled, fearful for their lives, making the situation even worse.Within 2 years, half of the population was dead, 5% of it appeared to have gone feral and native and therest was clinging on in groups ranging in size from a handful to a small town full of people. People thathad experience distilling were able to make small amounts of fuel for vehicles if they could scavenge theparts to convert them. The larger and bolder groups of bandits in the country seized these quickly tomake sure they had the edge over everyone but some of the remaining government groups did thesame, the odd police force managing to maintain a couple of working vans or cars. The military basesbecame insular, relatively safe behind their fences and walls and armed to the teeth. When it becameclear that the government wasnt going to be able to re-establish itself in any useful fashion the militarygroups became independent. Some became no better than bandits, praying on the surroundingcountryside, others became like a police force, maintaining a semblance of order in the area aroundtheir base and some retreated behind their barricades and rarely emerged.Time has moved on and things have stabilisedin the country, insofar as they can following thecollapse of meaningful society. It has beensomewhere between 60 and 70 years since the

day that the virus destroyed the old world andgave rise to the new one. There are someareas of the Island that are no go areas. Theold nuclear power stations have not been takencare of and the area surrounding them is toxic,nothing lives for miles around them but someyoung gang members use the areas as initiation grounds for coming of age ceremonies where they sendteenagers in to retrieve something and prove their manhood (and getting horrific radiation poisoning inthe process). Its a wonder any of them actually survive.Some of the woods and forests, especially near old zoo sites tend to be a bit risky to venture into asyoure never quite sure what lives in them and a few of the big cities are derelict wastelands, run by

vicious gangs and psychopaths or prime hunting ground for the inevitable slave drivers that appearedafter the society toppled.People get by, most hamlets and villages are fenced or walled and most folks are suspicious of strangersuntil theyve proved their not out to kill/thieve from or enslave them. The barter system is the onlyrecognised form or exchange and trade for goods or services and as a result the worth of things variesfrom place to place but some things, sealed wet wipes, ammunition for firearms, clean water and food,working batteries and fuel for vehicles or generators usually fetch a high price in most places.

The current state of affairs.

Think Fallout 3 without most of the mutants, Mad Max 1 or 2 (not 3, dear God NO, not 3), The Book of Eli, The Postman (apart from the terrible, terrible ending) a future where technology is largely brokenbut there are still working examples of most things though some are rarer than others, people surviveby bartering and theres a decent excuse to wear spiky shoulder pads, hubcap chestplates and walkaround with a gun or a big, rusty knife.


6/17

5

Survival is a daily chore for a lot of people.Medicine isnt what it used to be, most folkshave to use herbs and poultices to stave off infection. Clean water can be hard to find asthe nuclear power stations have bled toxicwaste into the water table and decent foodcan be scarce.Some people have taken to cannibalism as away to always make sure they can eat. This isstill viewed as a taboo practice at best and as atotal, utter vulgar loss of the right to callyourself human to most. This doesnt stoppeople that are desperate of course. Sincemost cannibals suffer from the shakes due tothe almost exclusive protein diet most of themare easy enough to spot.The year is roughly 2082 by the reckoning of

most. England has been without centralgovernment for longer than a lot of peoplehave been alive. There are rumours that agroup of folks near the south of the countryhave buried their differences and areattempting to re-establish a central, governing body for the country. As there has been no mass recallof the Lawkeepers to Central this seems to be just that, rumour.Different parts of the country are run in different ways depending on how big the group is that controlsit currently. Some areas are off limits due to massive bandit attacks or toxic seepage. Others arecontrolled tightly by large groups of ex-military groups for whatever reasons they have and since mostfolks dont bother stopping to ask them the mysteries remain.

The area that the game is centred around is a small town called 52 North which resides on the edge of aforest somewhere is central England. It is a stable community and on a safe-ish and widely travelledtrade route along the centre of the country, being not far from one of the major old big roads that goesfrom North to South. It is blessed by a natural spring that gives clean water straight from the local watertable and it appears to be uncontaminated by any of the ecological disasters that have gone on before.Some of the nearby settlements of people trade regularly with 52 and they form a small group of co-dependent settlements that seems to deter large bandit groups from trying to take the land and thewater. It has been tried in the past but the local Lawkeepers and a company of The Mechanists Sectrepelled the bandits with such merciless force that no-one has ever fancied trying again.Several Zonewalkers make their trade in the area, often fulfilling requests of the locals for certain thingsand they bring with them stories of the wider world, stories of hope, of restoration but also stories of despair and increasing banditry and marauding gangs of the Lost.The town is faring reasonably well and everyone that lives in it is mostly disease free and has enough toeat and drink on a daily basis. As it is the larger of the townships in the immediate area it is usually theone that annual celebrations are arranged at. Harvest, Xmas, Midsummer and Deepwinter are allcelebrated at the town and each nearby community sends at least a couple of people to represent them.A good time is usually had by all and the local tavern/inn helps to put up somewhat drunken revellersfrom the nearby towns.


7/17

6

Organisations

The Guild of Fair TradeThe guild operates across the country, mostly in caravans and packs, bartering in settlements and townsas they roam around. They usually have the nicest stuff to trade and frequently offer recharging andrearming services for batteries and ammunition. All guild members are identified to the public by a redarmband with the guild symbol on it. Guild Masters, members that have proven their worth to the guildand now run their own caravans, can confirm the authenticity of someone wearing a guild armband justby talking to them. It is rumoured that there is a secret handshake that is only known to guild membersthat identify them and help prevent fraudsters.The guild is generally given sanctuary wherever it goes as it is a lifeline between isolated communities

and also in possession of useful goods. The presence of a guild caravan also affords some protection tothe community that shelters it as most folks wont attack the guild for fear of ending up on their blacklistof people or places not to trade with.The guild can also be hired to take messages, missives or mail between communities.

The MechanistsThese somewhat militant folk are the ones responsible for creating the Chimera system that fits in mostcurrent firearms. With the collapse came the inability to create complex machinery and a small militaryoutpost realised that they had plenty of ammo but the weapons to use it were failing. The soldiers andtechs designed and created the Chimera system, a series of gaskets, cams and self adjusting clockworkthat fits inside the barrel and chamber of most firearms. When the weapon is cocked the system latchesonto the round that enters the chamber and creates a serviceable but poor gas seal that means theround will fire providing the barrel is big enough to throw it out of the other end. Of course accuracy ishorrible, range not much better and the thing is in constant need of adjustment and tightening but itsbetter than not having a weapon when you need one.The creators of the system evolved into an autonomous military group that travels the land servicingtheir invention and trading and bartering for the things that they need. Though anyone with decentmechanical knowledge could probably make a Chimera the Mechanists will only service ones they makethemselves so few people bother trying.As well as the Chimera the Mechanists fix broken machinery and barter heavily for written texts relatingto anything mechanical or discusses skirmish tactics. They are more or less welcomed everywhere butsome see them as slightly aloof and arrogant while others may perceive them as helping perpetuate acycle of violence. Whatever their outlook, most folks run into a group of them at some point andinevitably have need for their services.The Mechanists all bear a patch or banner with the Mechanist logo so are easily recognised. Theyapparently have secret rituals and rites that ensure they can test if someone is genuinely a member of their sect or not though whether this is true has never really been tested openly.

The LawkeepersPeople that choose to enforce the local laws are called Lawkeepers. They are a universal group of noblefolk that try and keep murder and rape at bay throughout the land. They have a headquarters in a


8/17

7

fortified stockade in what remains of London according to rumour and their orders are dispatched byplain clothes runners who carry them up and down the country, relaying intelligence and wantedposters as well as new order or laws from the Lawgiver, their revered master. Each Lawkeeper has abadge of office that is bestowed upon them by the Lawgiver and they use this to both instil fear andcommand respect as well as a means of identity between their own brotherhood.

Lawkeepers are a welcome sight in the land as they help protectthe weak, at least in theory, and will often exchange food and aroof over their head for patrolling a town or village for a periodof time. There are stories of groups of corrupt, maraudingLawkeepers in the Wild Places like in the hearts of dark forestsand the hills and mountains in what used to be Wales but thesestories are always told by the friend of a friend who knewsomeone who survived and so are often taken with a pinch of salt.Some towns and villages use Lawkeepers much like a townwatch or guard that help maintain order permanently. Thesefolks tend to be locals that have sworn an oath to a roaming

group of Lawkeepers that has had a Sergeant among them foronly a man of rank can swear in new ones. Though they willlikely spend most of their time in that town there is always theconcern that they could be summoned away if a call is put outfor all Lawkeepers to gather to face some huge threat.

The ChurchThe religious and devout weathered the collapse through faith and hiding in Churches and other places.Those that made it through believed that they were chosen by God to lead the flock that remainedthrough the dark days that lay ahead and into the light of the Kingdom of Heaven when the Rapturecame. The Church believe that the collapse was merely the beginning of the end of days and that the

Rapture is literally upon us. They are prophets of doom and heralds of sermons and depressing dogma.The priests of the Church are Chosen and there are thosedevout souls that devote themselves to ensuring thatthey are able to go about their mission of preaching andsaving unhindered by guarding them, protecting themand aiding them in whatever way they can as service toone of the chosen Priests of the Church is a sure way intothe Kingdom of Heaven. The Priests are often seen withtheir entourage of repentant sinners in the countryside,bringing religion and salvation to those that need it. Of course, anyone who says they dont need the salvationof the Church obviously has an even greater need of salvation.The Aspirants, as the repentant are known, often see themselves as unworthy of the Church and theLord and self-flagellate to cleanse their spirit through pain. Some are delirious with the Word of theChurch, so much so that they recite their litany almost without knowing they are doing it, some thathave learnt to write scribble the litany onto paper and pin it to their clothes and bodies as a walkingprayer. For a good barter there are some who will scribe a prayer for you and wear it, reciting it for youconstantly, for a year and a day.


9/17

8

A lot of people try and give the roaming members of the Church a wide berth for they are a disturbingpeople to most. Some of them are borderline insane from the perspective of a non-believer but theyare righteous and the work of the Church must be done, especially in the face of adversity.

ZonewalkersThis nickname is thrust upon anyone who makes a living by venturing outinto the wilds and the contaminated places of the country and tradeswhatever they manage to scavenge. They are usually treated with somemild suspicion as some people think them little more than armed thugsand thieves. However, they often manage to get hold of little pieces of working technology, reliable ammunition or decent, disease free game.They tend to travel alone and trade between a regular group of settlements, sometimes filling bespoke requests for certain items thatthe trade caravans dont have but the settlement needs. That said, it isnot unheard of for a Zonewalker to travel the length of the Country,trading all over it and coming back with stories of what lies beyond theborders of England.

The Lost Not an organisation so much as an affliction. The Lost are people that have succumbed to madness anddisease. Some of them travel in packs, some travel alone but all of them inspire fear. They are the soulsthat have been infected with whatever horrific, mutated diseases that have come to exist in the currenttime. Most of them simply become sick and die but a small minority exhibit irrational and often violentand murderous behaviour. Though it is a minority it is deemed safer to completely avoid or kill the Lostwhen they are encountered on their own. When they are present in a pack however they are a very realthreat to life and limb. The howling madness that is a pack of Lost tends to go silent when it has foundsomething to prey upon for some reason. The silence lasts a moment or two before they begin thehowling and screaming again as they rush their target. This seems to be a universal pattern of behaviour

and at least lets a village or travelling group know that they are about to be attacked.The Lost have no saving graces, they are wild, savage and disease ridden. They tear through people andsettlements, eating the fallen and violating the living until they are broken and dead and thenconsuming them out of frustration.

Vocabulary

Language has mostly remained the same other than a few colloquial sayings and phrases that areexplained here.As there is no centralised time from atomic clocks anymore everyone has a slightly different idea of what the current time is. It is customary for people to synch their working timepiece with a local one inthe area they mostly reside in, be this a clock in the town square or the watch of the town mayor. As aresult when asked for the time people respond with not just the time but they clarify that it is the time


10/17

9

according to them which in turn is synched with something else. So, a resident of 52 North wouldusually say 9pm by saying 9 oclock by my watch, by the clock in the North 52 Tavern.This helps people to set their timepiece to the local time. Most places are within an hour or so of eachother but you can get places that have a few hours difference.

System (v1.2)

Firstly, a word on combat. LRP safe melee weapons are to used for melee combat, thats agiven, as is slow, non-contact, telegraphed blows for hand to hand fist fighting.Ranged combat, such as bows must be phys repped using LRP safe arrows. Gun combat will bephys repped by Nerf guns. Nerf guns? WTF?Nerf guns eliminate the need for damage calls, they also remove the doubt as to whether youwere shot or not and since this is a post collapse society you are using either well out of dateammo or hand reloads so the range will be compromised and some of them might not work.This will be represented by the fact that the ref will load ALL Nerf guns at the start of the eventand some rounds may besabotaged to not fire. The ref will supply all Nerf ammo.Since it is unlikely that everymember of the player base willhave a firearm it shouldnt be

an issue. If you dont like theidea of using a Nerf gun thendont have a firearm in game.Firearms are rare enoughanyway so dont expect theevent to be a gun fight asyoull probably be ratherdisappointed.

Nerf ammo

All ammo for in game guns will be supplied by the ref. This is because some ammo may or may

not work. The ref will load your gun at the start of the event so you cant see if youre gettinggood ammo or a few duds. Please honour the secrecy of what is loaded. You will know howmany rounds you have, just not if theyre all live or not. If you buy ammo then the personselling it will give you a chit to take to the ref who will supply the actual physical darts. Again, if possible, these will then be loaded into your gun secretly. If not then you will see what you aregetting, or you could stuff them in a pocket and take one out when you need it and pray.


11/17

10

Once a nerf dart is fired it is used up. Please do not collect darts from the ground and keepthem, please return them to the ref.

ArrowsAll arrows and crossbow bolts are to be LRP safe phys reps.

Damage and healing

Depending on what you elected to do with your points at character creation you will havebetween 1 and 5 hits. Once you have taken your hits +1 you will fall over. You will then take abead out of your hit bag and it will denote what has happened to you in terms of wounds.

Everyone will have a hit bag. This will be a small pouch that contains 15 different colouredbeads. The beads denote different levels of woundsThe beads are coloured clear, green and dark red and they mean the following:

Clear Winded. You are hurt and a bit winded but nothing is broken and the bleeding can bestaunched easily by a couple of minutes of fussing by someone with the first aid or othermedical skill. If you have first aid you can stabilise yourself easily enough. There are no lastingeffects from the wound.

Green Injured. You have had the sense knocked out of you by the wound. You are dazed andsomething may well be broken or you are bleeding heavily and cannot treat the wound yourself.You need medical attention to stabilise you or your condition will worsen, begin counting slowlyback from 300. If you reach 300 before someone with the first aid skill or a medical skill gets toyou and starts to stabilise you then you progress to the wound status below and spend at least10 minutes achy and in pain. If someone is stabilising you but is interrupted before they havefinished you must begin countingagain from where you left off.

Red Mortal. You have received amortal wound and are in serioustrouble. You are unconscious anddying. Begin counting slowly backfrom 300. You can be stabilised bysomeone with first aid but you need

surgical medical attention as well. If you reach 300 before anyone arriveswith either first aid or a medical skillyou are dead. If someone with firstaid reaches you they can stabilise youand you can stop counting providingthey continually work on you. If they stop, you carry on counting from where you left off until


12/17

11

they start again.. If someone is stabilising you but is interrupted before they have finished youmust begin counting again from where you left off. Once you are stable begin counting backfrom 500. If you are not being treated by someone with a medical skill by the time you reachzero then your wounds reopen and you have a count of 300 before you die. At this point youmust be treated by someone with the medical or surgical skill, first aid will do nothing. The start

of treatment stops your count providing the person doing the treatment continues to treat youwithout interruption.

The length of time it takes to stabilise an injured person is explained in the skill descriptions.

Once you have become stable you drop to the wound above so if you are mortally woundedand you are treated by someone with the medical or surgical skill you move to injured and soregain consciousness but are quite woozy and in pain. Once this has happened it is up to you toroleplay recovering until you can move around and carry on as normal. If you want to get betterquickly thats fine, if you want to ham up being injured for hours, thats also fine.

The injury system is designed to allow for dramatic and angsty injury as you, the player, see fit,whilst also having the very real threat of death hanging over you so you dont just steam intocombat every 5 minutes while things bounce off you with no repercussions.

As mentioned earlier, everyone has 15 beads in the hit bag. If you have a body of 1 then youare a pathetic weakling who snaps in a strong wind. This will be represented by the fact thatyour 15 beads will likely be 2 or 3 clear ones, 3 or 4 green ones and the rest will be red. On theother hand, burly types with a body of 5 will have 6 or 7 clear ones, 5 or 6 green ones and therest will be red so you are less likely to succumb to mortal wounds.

Once you have taken a bead out to see what has happened to you please put it back in the hitbag for later.

The use of beads should make most combat self reffing should the ref be elsewhere.

All phys repped weapons, be they nerf guns, arrows, swords, sticks etc do LETHAL damage. Youcan use a melee weapon to call SUBDUE should you so wish.

Hand to hand fighting does subdual damage. You can take as many subdual hits as you havebody regardless of whether you have taken any lethal damage or not. If you fall over because of

subdual damage exceeding your hits you do not take a wound bead out, you are considered tobe temporarily knocked senseless or briefly unconscious. If the person continues to hit youonce you fall over due to hits you do then start to take lethal damage for each blow. Once youhave reached your hits again its bead time.If you are struck 20 times after getting a bead out then you automatically become mortallywounded and start counting. Any damage received after this is irrelevant. 20 hits may seemexcessive but if you want to beat someone to death with your bear hands you have to work at it.


13/17

12

Armour

Armour is locational and allows you to ignore a certain amount of damage on a hit for pointbasis. For example, 2 point armour allows you to ignore the first 2 hits of lethal damage youtake to that location. Subdual damage has no effect if applied against an armoured location.

Armour will be given points by the ref at the start of the event and will depend on the phys rep.If you are wearing American football armour you will have more points than a leather top.Once your armour has absorbed its value in hits the remaining damage for the combat scene isapplied directly to you and your body/wounds. A combat scene lasts until all of the fighting hasstopped. If in doubt, the ref will clarify when a combat scene has ended.If you took enough hits on your armour to penetrate it there is a chance that it needs repairingbefore being able to take any more hits. See the ref, the ref will have a bag of beads on him andwill place an odd number in his hand. He will then place his hands behind his back, move thebeads between them and then hold them out, asking you to pick a hand. If you pick the handwith the most beads, your armour is fine. If you pick the hand with the least beads, you need torepair your armour or get someone else to do it. See the skills list for details of how to do it.

Character Creation.

Everyone will get a small, laminated character sheet at the start of the game. This will beroughly the size of a playing card and will contain all of your skills and stats data in a handy,wipe clean form.

Everybody has 2 sets of stats, attributes and skills. Attributes are your natural abilities such asyour strength etc. Skills are things you have learned.Everybody also gets a perk. This is a small tweak that gives you an ability or quirk in game.

Stats are rated from 1 to 5

At character creation your stats are all 1 and you have no skills and no perks. You have a pool of 5 points to spend on your three attributes.You then have 10 skill points to spend.You may then choose 1 perk.

Attributes.Strength Your physical strength, this dictates how capable you are of lifting heavy items andcan be used in direct contests with other people.Body This translates directly into how well you can handle pain and physical trauma. Eachpoint translates directly into 1 hit.Aptitude This is an abstract way of lumping intelligence, learning, manual dexterity and suchlike into a catch all number for system effects like lock picking and such like.


14/17

13

Skills.This list is by no means exhaustive. If you would like a certain skill that isnt listed, e-mail meand Ill get back to you with a yes or no and if its a yes Ill tell you how it works in-game. If its ano then its a no, sorry. I will also assign a points cost to it.

First a note on combat skills. Everyone is able to pick up a basic, single handed melee weaponand hit someone with it. This requires no in game skill. Skills that are listed here for specificweapons mean that you must have that skill on your character sheet in order to use thatweapon. Without the skill you do NO damage. This is so people that wish to play combatorientated characters have skills to set them apart from the regular folk of the game world.

2 Handed Weapons (requires a Strength score of at least 2) allows you wield a 2 handedweapon and cause damage. Staffs, halberds etc. Costs 1 point

Bows (requires an aptitude of at least 2) allows you to use bows and crossbows and causedamage with them. Costs 1 point

Firearms (requires an aptitude of at least 2) allows you to use any firearm and cause damagewith it. Due to the added complexity of the Chimera system and the jury rigged and unreliablenature of firearms in the game world you cannot use one without this skill. Costs 3 points

Armourer (requires an aptitude of at least 2) allows you to repair and create armour. It doesntallow you to tinker with anything else, just armour. You can repair 1 point of armour by usingsome tools and scraps of material/armour every 15 minutes. Costs 2 points

First Aid (requires an aptitude of at least 2) allows you to stabilise wounded people. In orderto do so you must phys rep the fact that you are giving them first aid and you must apply someform of bandage, poultice or tourniquet for the skill to affect anyone who is injured or worse.Stabilising someone takes at least 2 minutes of uninterrupted attention. If you are interrupted,i.e. you stop treating the patient, then they restart their injury count. If you return to stabilisingthem it still takes at least 2 minutes. You cannot stabilise a mortally wounded character but youcan work on them continuously to stall their countdown. As long as you continue to work onthem they get no worse. If you stop then they resume their count from where it last stopped.You can hand over treatment to someone with the medicine skill so that they can stabilise them.Costs 2 points

Medicine (requires an aptitude of at least 3) allows you to create herbal poultices andremedies and mix poisons. You can make basic herbal poultices at level 1 that can be used bysomeone with first aid which reduces the time to stabilise someone by 60 seconds. Level 2allows you to make poultices that can aid a medic or surgeon that reduces the time by 120seconds. Level 3 allows you to make poisons. This skill also means that you have some limitedexperience or skill with trauma, more so than someone trained in first aid. As such, you can treatand stabilise a mortally wounded character. It takes at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted


15/17

14

attention to stabilise a mortally wounded character at level 1. The time reduces by 3 minutesper level so at level 3 you it takes you 6 minutes to stabilise a mortally wounded character. If youare interrupted, i.e. you stop treating the patient, then they restart their injury count. If youreturn to stabilising them it still takes at least 15/12/9 minutes. You must phys rep thetreatment in some way. Costs 2 points per level

Surgery (requires an aptitude of at least 4 and Medicine of at least 2)allows you to treatmortally wounded characters as per Medicine above but it only takes you 5 minutes. Again, thismust be phys repped and all other rules described under medicine apply (i.e. uninterrupted worketc). Costs 4 points

Lock picking (requires an aptitude of at least 2) allows you to attempt to pick locks. You needthis skill to attempt to open any mechanical lock without the correct key. Can be purchased atlevels 1, 2 or 3. Lockable containers in the game will be phys repped with combination padlocks.If you have lock picking you will get a sheet of possible combinations for the event. The higher

the skill level, the smaller number of combinations you will have and therefore the easier it willbe to find the correct one. Costs 2 points per level

Tracking means you are a skilled tracker. You can recognise animal tracks and are able totrack animals or people through the undergrowth and woods. Costs 1 point

Forager you know where to forage for food in the wilderness and know what is edible andwhat isnt. You need medicine at 1 to be able to forage for herbs that help withhealing/disease/poison etc Costs 1 point

Literate (requires an aptitude of at least 3) you can read and write. Without this skill you havethe reading and writing ability of a 4 year old so you can probably read simple 1 or 2 syllablewords if you concentrate and read aloud very slowly and scrawl big, scruffy letters but have nocomprehension of spelling or grammar. Costs 2 points

Mechanic (requires an aptitude of at least 3) you have been trained to fix mechanical devices.You can repair broken mechanical items with access to the correct tools. You are also able to

jury rig temporary solutions together for mechanical problems. Any mechanical devices in gamewill have sticker on them denoting the minimum level of mechanic needed to fix/repair ortamper with the device. A mechanic skill of 1 also allows you to repair armour at a rate of 20minutes per point. A skill of 2 allows you to repair Chimera systems. Costs 3 points per level

to a max of 3

Ancient Technology (requires an aptitude of at least 3, literacy and Mechanic of at least 1) youhave experience with ancient technology (computers and such things). You have a very basicknowledge of how pre-collapse technology works and could probably use a computer terminalafter a lot of fudging about with it. Costs 4 points


16/17

15

Perks

Perks are a small addition to your character that makes you a little different to most otherplayers in game system terms.

Hardy You gain 1 additional hit but not an additional point of body.

Escape artist You are able to slip out of bonds or cuffs after 2 minutes of squirming around.

Lucky - You gain 2 additional clear beads in your hit bag.

High pain threshold you can choose to remain conscious regardless of the severity of yourwounds (unless you are dead of course).

It winged me When you draw a bead for a wound you can choose to draw an extra one andchoose the lesser effect. If they are the same, hard luck. You may do this TWICE per day only.

Extra rounds If you have a firearm you start each event with 2 extra rounds of ammo that areboth live.

Cast iron gut you dont get poisoned by dirty or irradiated water and food and can in factsurvive off them if needs be.

Starting kit.

Ask and ye shall possibly receive. Send me a list of your possessions when you create yourcharacter. I dont want everything you own but things that are pertinent to the game world, i.e.weapons, surgical tools etc. If you have a bow then you have whatever arrows you can phys repthat are LRP safe. If you have a firearm I will determine how many rounds of ammo you haveprior to each event. This will be done using some dice and adding them to a certain number soits fairly random and without bias.

Thats about it for the world and system guide. Obviously there is a lot that is vague or notspelled out as the people that play help shape the world and help the background evolve.


17/17

Please feel free to send ideas/backgrounds to me for characters and I will either say yes, fine ortweak something or outright say no if it doesnt fit.The game will be centred around the town and the inhabitants of it and any events after theplaytest will also be set around the town so playing someone who lives in 52 North is fine. If you want to hold a specific position in the town please let me know and Ill let you know. Feel

free to be the town mayor if you want to be in charge. You dont have to play a towns person atall but I thought it best to mention that you can if you want to.

The actual event flyer will be done in a few months after Ive written a plot but for now thisshould be enough for you to decide if it sounds like something you want to play/crew on and togive you flavour of what I see the game world as.

Gee

52 North World Guide v1.21

Documents

Transcript of 52 North World Guide v1.21