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The Devil’s Highway
Redline pegs on its reworking of D&D’s d20 mechanics to energize this post-apocalyptic setting. Skills are streamlined to suit the setting, providing character backgrounds, and describing simple, straightforward rules for autodueling. In addition to the obvious new skills such as Drive and various Knowledges, many of the basic skills are reworked. Craft is replaced by Build/Repair (simple and complex). Clamber consolidates Balance, Climb, and Jump into a single skill. Scrounge replaces Search and focuses on finding gear. Fake Out replaces Bluff. Diplomacy is broken into Barter and Chatter with Chatter used as a catchall for any non-business, non-threatening interaction including those that might have been covered by Gather Information. The entire skill list is cut down to 21 skills and 7 knowledges.
Six backgrounds are provided for characters with Mad Max appropriate origins. Each background provides a +2 attribute modifier and skill modifiers. Most also provide bonus feats and additional bonuses. The Drifter and Feral are familiar. The Bornagain are devoutly religious and have the ability to smite muties. The Bygone honor the past and can inspire others with tales of courage. The Reject are born tainted by the Creep. Big and strong, they have an immunity to the Creep as well as other advantages and disadvantages. Savants are adept with some attribute based skills and inept with others.
The Redline character classes are the Marauder, Rediner, Rigger, Trader, and Walker. Marauders are the brawlers and berserkers. Redliners are the drivers. Walkers include some of a Ranger’s wilderness traits with the Rogue’s Sneak Attack. Each class has a Hard Core special ability that gives them bonus dice in their area of specialty (e.g. damage, driving, repair, charisma) that begin with a d4 at 2d Level and that can increase up to a d12 at 18th Level. The classes receive at least one bonus feat or special ability at each level. The classes receive Resource Units (RUs) for purchase of vehicle and personal equipment. Most classes start with vehicles. The Marauder begins with a dirt bike. The Redliner gets a police interceptor. The Rigger has an economy car, the Trader a van.
Redline includes 12 new general feats as well as vehicle feats and building proficiencies. Weapon proficiencies are revised into Simple Archaic (knife, spear, crossbow), Advanced Archaic (swords, bows), Simple Firearms (revolvers, shotguns), Advanced Firearms (automatics), Simple Vehicle (guns), and Advanced Vehicle (flamethrowers!).
No prestige classes are included in the rulebook, but highway hero and brewer PrCs are offered on the Fantasy Flight Games web site. Neither adds much beyond what is offered by the base classes.
Death Race
Vehicle combat occurs at relative speeds where the game map is abstracted as the vehicles speed from one side of a map to another with turns and obstacles entering across the leading edge of the map and falling off of the trailing edge as the vehicles race along. During a combat round, a driver can use a standard action either before or after moving or attempt an attack maneuver such as ramming or slamming. As part of a vehicle’s move, a vehicle may attempt to turn, avoid obstacles, redline beyond its top speed, or jump. All vehicle maneuvers are resolved by making a Drive skill test against listed DCs that can range from 10 for a minor hazard (rough road), to 20 for a major hazard (oil slick), to 30 for a colossal obstacle. A failed Drive test can result in a collision or a loss of control, which can range from a slip to a roll.
Attacks from a vehicle are conducted like other attacks. Each vehicle has a base AC which is modified by speed. Vehicles are also rated for Hardness and base Hit Points. Additional Hit Points can be purchased with RUs or during play a character can do a Mr. T and upgrade a vehicle with scrounged armor. On a critical hit, a vehicle component can be damaged such as environmental systems, communication systems, control systems, weapon systems, engine, tank, weapon system, fuel system, or sensors (all of which can be upgraded with RUs). Vehicles and vehicle weapons are rated for size from medium (motorcycle) to colossal (semi-trailer). A huge vehicle can mount either one huge weapon or two large weapons or four medium weapons. Unfortunately, there are no stats for grenades, oil slick sprayers, light anti-tank weapons, or other classic autodueling weapons.
Why Johnny Can’t Speed
The setting information is bare bones but provides all you need for running a game set on deserted highways and in ruined truck stops, and autodueling arenas. Descriptions are provided for the various types of folks likely to be found along the highway - warlords, gangers, zealots, rebuilders, nomads, savages, and survivors - with 2-3 brief examples of how each survivor group might be encountered and used in the game. Info is provided on various resources, their importance, and where they might be found. The Mad Max theme is carried through even into the Australian road maps that are used as backgrounds for the chapter headings.
The principle regions are described - wastelands, ruins, and green zones - with information on the resources that might be found in each region along with hazards and potential settlements and features. In all of these regions, there is the potential for encountering the Creep and Creep-tainted muties.
The Creep is what remains of the nuclear, biological, and chemical agents that were released in the war that destroyed the world. There are various types of Creep described by name, type (method of exposure and whether it is Rad or Bug), medium, effect, duration, interval, and contamination. Contamination points measure a character’s cumulative exposure to the Creep. When a character has accumulated contamination points equal to their Constitution, within 24 hours, the character manifests a 1st Threshold mutation. As a character continues to accumulate contamination, mutations continue to accumulate to the 7th Threshold. At the 1st Threshold, the mutations are mostly cosmetic. At 2d, benefits or penalties begin to manifest. At 3d, new, more potent benefits or penalties manifest. At 4th, the penalties take over. At 5th, the mutations become more sever. At 6th, the character becomes a Creep zombie. At 7th, the lucky characters die quickly. Mutations can either be randomly rolled on charts or “linked” according to a theme or design so that a character may have some hint of what lies ahead. Three Creep mutated creatures are provided as examples of what might be found along the highways. The Creep provides interesting opportunities for dramatic tension as the PCs accumulate Creep, encounter NPCs that are borderline Creep zombies, meet townsfolk suspicious of anyone who might be carrying Creep, and have to choose between entering Creep infected areas for salvage and adventure or moving on down the road instead.
All in all, Redline is an excellent and rewarding product, particularly for the price. I would have liked to have a character sheet listing the revised skills, and you have to look under the Walker class for a description of the Survival skill, but those are some of the only faults I could find. Also missing is any discussion of how to set a Redline campaign in your home town or other known area. Given the space constraints for such an affordable product, though, there is plenty of information here to get your motor running.
