Savage Deathlands Part 3: Gear and Stuff

This one is gonna be short and sweet. This is the gear section!!

Note: Updated the vehicle section, adding a mishap table for the old rebuilt vehicles.

Keep in mind that for Deathlands, pretty much all the gear in the Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition can be used as is. This includes archaic weapons and equipment all the way through modern day gear and vehicles.

Inmany Deathlands novels, hundred year old equipment just works. It’s assumed that the gear has been maintained all this time or that it has been rebuilt. That said, there are often times when gear will fail, as the story dictates. Rather than creating hard rules for this failure rate, I recommend GM’s use the idea of old, pre-dark equipment failure as plot devices. Just don’t abuse this. It’s never fun to always have to worry about equipment.

Weapons & Wags

Use all the rules from Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition for vehicles, weapons and gear.

Wags

Cars, civilian trucks & SUVs are the most commonly available vehicles. Motorcycles are around but not as common as they cannot carry a large load. Most vehicles in the Deathlands have been rebuilt multiple times over the decades since skydark. As a result they typically are not as good as when they were new.  For every Deathlands modified or rebuilt vehicle, roll a D6 and consult the following table. The result is the quirk for that vehicle. At GM discretion, the players can repair the quirk by making a repair check at -2. In order to make this check, they must have scavenged replacement parts or purchased them. The cost of the parts are equal to 20% of the total vehicle cost.

Weapons

Pretty much all the weapons in the Savage Worlds Deluxe edition can be found. Archaic weapons, such as swords, machetes, & knives are equal parts pre-dark originals and Deathlands creations. Firearms tend to be all pre-dark, with some primitive firearms being built post skydark. Either way, the stats are the same whether it is a pre-dark or post-dark creation. Though owning any pre-dark weapons or gear is a sign of prestige among many in the Deathlands. High tech weapons do exist, though are extremely rare, and often are prototypes that work only half as well as intended. Often times, the extreme high tech things they come across, just don’t work as intended. There are some rare exceptions to this though, such as those who have learned to troubleshoot and repair old tech (Those with the Weird Science edge).

Grenades

There are a variety of grenades or “grens” that are available in the Deathlands.

Frag: Fragmentation grenade (5/10/20, 3D6+2, MBT) $50

Burners: These are thermite grenades (5/10/20, 4D6+2, AP2, SBT) $60

Hi-Ex: Basic High Explosive (5/10/20, 4D6, MBT) $75

Implode: This type of grenade creates a micro-singularity that lasts for a fraction of a second. (5/10/20, 6D6, AP 6, MBT) Priceless

Flash: This is a flash-bang type grenade that creates a very bright flash and intense concussive blast. They do 1D6 to all in SBT. All within a LBT area must make a Vigor check at -2 or be shaken, they must also make a Agility check or be blinded for 1D4 rounds. $60

Ammo, the Universal Currency!

In the Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer’s Edition, page 64 lists ammo costs as small bullets are $10 for 50, medium bullets are $25 for 50 and large bullets are $50 for 50. For purposes of simplicity, bullets are worth ten times what they used to be. So small bullets are $10 for 5, medium are $25 for 5, or $5 each and large bullets are $10 for 1. This would be fairly standard in any barony or ville. If anything, in more remote areas they would be more valuable than this.

Next time I wrap up my initial offering of Savage Deathlands with the centerpiece of the stories, Muties!! Part 4 was originally going to be my last post, but I will have a fifth one that will go into Archetypes for the Deathlands. Right at the moment, I plan on doing one for each of the companions to represent the role that each one filled plus a few others, such as one for the weird science edge, and one for sec men.

As I mentioned in my last post, you can always find additional information at the following links.

Much more detailed information is available through the James Axler Wiki.

You can also go to the Deathlands Wikia page.

Please let me know what you think of my conversion of the Deathlands to the Savage Worlds Rules!