AH Setting: Berlin Zero (Map + Intro page)

[Burgeri]

This is the campaign intro page for players in my own Atomic Highway campaign.  Colin hinted that you people might be interested.

Berlin Zero - intro page: http://www.burgergames.com/notes/berlin.htm

BZ Map (big!):

[Second Variety]

Excellent!

Can't wait to find out wha those symbols mean. It has a very Metro 2033 feel to me.  ANd that's a very good thing.

[Burgeri]

It's all explained on the intro page (I guess the map steals the attention from the web address). For your convenience, here is the quick map legend:

Shields = Enclaves
Spades = Bartertowns
Tents = Straggler Camps
Crosses = Reich Bases
Skulls = Raider Grounds
Radiation = Radnests (fallout, mutants and worse)

[Second Variety]

Your right, I missed the link.  I checked it out, amazing stuff.  Love the gritty tone.  I think my own write up needs a re-wrok on the tone.
I'd love to see paly reoprts or even an on-line pbp game of this.

[Burgeri]

(Is it really fan fiction if it is my setting in Colin's game?)

WAKING NIGHTMARES

Mik had been in the subway when the bomb went off over Berlin but he couldn't remeber where he had been going. He remembers a pink glow, like light shining through the stone of the tunnel. It must have been real because it lingered for an instant after all lights went out. Then everything was dark and they could feel the ground shaking. There was screaming and panic. The sound of windows being broken and scuffles at the doorways as passengers fought to get out. When did he learn that the city above them was no more? He couldn't remember but he had. The firestorm raging on the surface sucked people right out of the station stairwells. Mik never went near them. Instead, he sat in the tunnel, his eyes closed and hands pressed on his ears until the screams, the shaking and the howling winds died down.

His hand slips over the end of the bar, jolting him out of his waking nightmare. It all happened long ago. 21 years to be exact. Now the owner and keeper of Misfire Club at Wuster Bartertown he serves his patrons liquor and a place to do business while they unwittingly rescue him from his waking nightmares. His survival is his own personal horror story and he has heard a lot of those. Everyone of them is different and yet the only thing that matters is whether or not you are here to tell yours. Mik stares at his reflection on the waxed and polished wood. Old and grizzled like stead farmer at the age of 42. Not the way he once imagined it would be.

Everyone over 25 has the horrors. Memories of the World Before and the nuclear fire. His horrors would come when it was otherwise peaceful and quiet. Misfire Club did not open until sunset and street noises are muffled by old carpets draped over scorched walls. This dimly lit chamber is not really a match for the tunnels but the Horrors came anyway. He wonders if it will get worse with age. Memories of the Flash have not faded. Instead, they seem to be focussing on certain details at the exclusion of others.

Where the hell had he been going? Try as he might, he couldn't remember.

His sweep is stopped short by a bottle of Scotch landing on the counter. The label is long gone but the glass carvings and amber colour are the real deal. And it's not one of his. Startled, he looks up and into a round, smirking face. Short stature, stocky build and puffy dark eyes all fit the visage perfectly. The delicate, arching Roman nose does not. And there is another man at the door, tall, young and thin as a rail. Mik had not heard either of them coming in and is fairly certain the door was locked. If it wasn't for the bottle, he would guess this is a robbery.

”Gentlemen”, he says, clearing his throat. ”My club does not open until sunset.”

”Oh, we are not here to drink”, the round fellow says, pushing the bottle towards Mik. He wears faded camos, a cracked leather overcoat and belts weighted with pouches and tools. This is not a skulking thief but a scavenger. Or as they put it: ”we only steal from the dead”.

”I am Rat”, the round man says, smiling as if to a joke that only he knew. ”The young fellow here is Mouse. We are looking for Redbow and he is proving hard to find. Maybe you can help us.”

Mik glances the bottle and then shifts his attention back to Rat.

”Redbow lives here in Wuster”, he says, pushing the bottle away from him. ”I've never seen you two before. If Red is in trouble I am not going to rat him out.”

Rat pushes the bottle back to Mik.

”We're from Potsdam. Redbow made a deal with the Collective over some meds but never showed. We thought he cheated and that would have meant trouble. But we were wrong.”

Raising his eyebrows, Mik takes the bottle without taking his eyes off Rat. ”How so?”

”Well, he is missing and someone ransacked his cot. I think he is already in trouble and that makes us the saving angels. If it's not already too late.”

Running an establishment of colourful repute has its perks. Mik has seen a lot of people over the years. A lot of people and now he looks into Rat's round face. That perpetual grin is annoying but scavengers tend to be a little around the bend. It is a coping mechanism for the horrors of the ruins. And Rat is not a crook. If you are dead, he wont think twice about looting you naked but he wouldn't kill you to make it happen. Mik hides the bottle behind the counter, sealing the deal.

”I don't know where he is”, he says, choosing his words carefully. ”But you are not the first one to ask about him”

”Oh?”

”About five days ago. This fellow we call Mister Fritz.”

Rat cocks an eyebrow. ”Sounds like you don't like him.”

Mik replies takes a deep breath. ”He is spying for Reich. Does not even try to hide it.”

The smirk suddenly dies on Rat's face. He grimaces like the very idea of Reich would have a bad taste. Guessing his thoughts Mik adds: ”This is not the Collective, sir. The Guild likes to have someone like him around so they can talk to Reich.”

”So he is an ambassador?”

”Unofficially but you get the picture.”

”Could your Mister Fritz be messing with Redbow?”

Mik shrugs. ”Could be. I heard Redbow took to the field the next day. I thought he was back already.”

A light dawns on Rat's face, like he had figured something out. The smirk returns and he leans over the bar, whispering as if someone was eavesdropping on them.

”This Mister Fritz, is he one of your regulars?”

”Oh yes. Plays card in that corner table.”

”We'll be back tonight. All you have to do is point him out to us.”

”You are not starting trouble in my house!” Mik says with a frown, not liking the gleam in Rat's eyes.

”On the contrary, my good man!” Rat exclaims with faked indignation. ”I just love to play cards!”

[Second Variety]

How can it be? Colin's setting is by implication.  Nice and light, just enough to provide a base for the rules.  Not that the rules need any.   I love this minimal implied setting approach.

Excellent story so far.  Please keep going.  Damn Reich spies.

[caul]

I wish I knew how to make a map like this for my game...however I'm probably going to just pick up a fold out roadmap to the area I plan on running the game it, crumpling it, yellowing it, and then using sharpies to add updates to it.

[IceMcFrost]

The more I look at this forum the more I think a Wiki would be great ... For both V6 Engine, AH and everything related to RAD!

[Second Variety]

I wish I knew how to make a map like this for my game...however I'm probably going to just pick up a fold out roadmap to the area I plan on running the game it, crumpling it, yellowing it, and then using sharpies to add updates to it.

A classic way to go. Maybe leave it in the sun some to give that faded look.

[IceMcFrost]

If you want some good tips and pointers to make old looking paper try E-How. I know loads of possible ways from coffee+soy sauce+direct sunlight exposure to put it under a pile of dirt for a week .... Anyway ... There's loads!

[Burgeri]

My map base is obviously from Google Maps with the terrain as the visible options. I then used paint.net (free) to add the map markers on partially transparent layers and finished off by tweaking the colours, contrast and the sepia -feature. I usually hate the road markers when using Google Maps for gaming purposes but this is the one genre they actually fit.

P.S.
Don't forget that a map is nothing without a matching data or legend: http://www.burgergames.com/notes/berlin.htm

[Burgeri]

It rains that evening, the way it usually rains in the Wasteland. Skies grow dark and the winds pick up. Thunder rumbles somewhere behind the clouds but it is rare to see lightning hit the ground, or even the metal piping left standing in the ruins when walls fell away from it. The rain is just mist, soon condensing on walls and metal like a heavy dew. It pools up into droplets and flows down the walls leaving behind dark lines. By the time it hits the ground it is heavy with dirt, filth and dust and either cloudy grey or oily black, depending on the spot. Not that you'd want to drink it anyway. Even in the clouds it picks up dust particles from the fallout. Far from collecting it, stead farmers and water wardens are trying to keep it out.

Guild mercs at the Wuster bartertown patrol the makeshift walls and roadblocks that cut it off from the town ruins. Their searchlights sweep the empty streets beyond, sometimes flashing off from a pair of eyes. In the dark it is impossible to tell what manner of creature is behind them but as long as they are golden, there is no alarm. The guards themselves do not look any less monstrous with their hooded parkas and gas masks.

There are no guards inside Missfire Club but only certain patrons blessed with benefits for keeping the peace. Mik had pointed Mister Fritz out to Rat alright but also pointed Rat out to a number of his trusted regulars. Entering a bartertown means you have to leave your guns at entrance but scavengers are notorious for hidden pockets and the guards rarely bother to frisk anyone. Rat and Mister Fritz are the only two left in the corner table, staring at each other over two hands of cards. Around them stand a few onlookers but the rest are minding their own business. Radio is on. Megahurtz is putting out music right from the neighbourhood. It mixes with the laughs and multilingual chatter.

Mister Fritz is not laughing. He is well-dressed in khaki-coloured blouse and trousers, well-groomed right down to a shiny if an obviously non-functional wristwatch and sports a curly blond mustache. Mister Fritz belongs to another age. Or a Hollywood adventure film. He also fits the Aryan template of the Reich a little too well. Looking at the roots of his hair Rat can tell the hair colour is not natural and Fritz is using creams to keep the background radiation from tanning his face. It is hard to believe he is a spy because he is so obviously a spy that the opposite feels more plausible. A caricature rather than a real person.

But right now he is frowning, staring at Rat's hand on the table in disbelief. Two Aces, two eights and a Queen against his Ace of Spades and a Joker. Rat's grin almost splits his round face in two. He is even squinting, as if about to burst into laughter.

"This is called the Dead Man's Hand, Mister Fritz", Rat says in a jovial tone and tapping the cards with his forefinger. "It trumps your pair."

"I know", Mister Fritz replies coolly. "I just wonder how someone as lucky as you gets to be called Rat."

"Aren't rats the luckiest beasts around? They grow big and strong while you and I get a sunburn just from just standing in the rain."

"If you say so. Do you also gnaw the bones of the dead?"

"If I didn't, you would not have that chair to sit on, would you?"
 
They were playing over cartridges. 7.62 x 39mm East European standard, although these have been most likely manufactured by local gunsmiths. Ammo is the coin of the realm, or close enough as far as Wuster is concerned. Fritz does not look all too happy when Rat picks up the five rounds he had bet on this hand. One by one. Just before he picks up the last one, he looks up and leans back, leaving the last  cartridge standing on the table.   

"What do you say we play a final draw for these five? Double or nothing."

Fritz looks like he had bitten a firebug.

"I can't match another five. Let alone ten."

Rat purses his lips and lets out a quiet whistle.

"You really went all out on me, did you?"

The onlookers snort with suppressed laughter. Fritz usually does well in the table and has been less than modest when flaunting his wins. Now there is a flash of anger behind the blue eyes but it is quickly suppressed. Then Rat stops smiling all of a sudden. He leans forward. The round face and a hooked nose making look like a bird of prey. A hunting owl, about to strike a target.

"Can you call on your masters for more funds?", he whispers, although it comes out as a growl. "I hear they have a soft spot for the Wasteland."

Fritz stands up so quickly his chair falls down. The entire room is suddenly silenced (apart from the radio that is filling the void with slow blues). Heads turn, fearing or hoping to see either of them whip out a gun or a blade. But as Fritz relaxes and Rat leans back once more they turn away. Chatter begins again, gathering speed and volume like a snowball rolling downhill. Onlookers around the table have vanished into the crowds, being been too close for comfort if it had become a shootout or a knife fight. Rat waits for the crowd to be distracted and then pulls out a cloth pouch. It lands on the table with a metallic clink. It holds his winnings from tonight and Fritz knows it.

"You can have it all back, you know", he says, pushing it over so that a few rounds roll onto the table. "I just need a little information."

"Do I look like a fixer to you?"

"You do, actually", Rat says, pulling out a thick if also a little disheveled cigar from some invisible pocket. When he lights it up with a rust-spotted lighter, Fritz looks away as if he was in pain from the sight.

“Just not for our side”, Rat says, smacking his lips to better taste the smoke. “Everybody thinks you're a spy but I think you are just fixer, selling newsflashes to Reich. And you just gambled away your rewards and can't ask for more "

It is clear that Fritz would love nothing more than to storm out with a stiff upper lip. Instead, he sits down with a resigned sigh.

"I am a reporter", he says. "A war correspondent from behind the lines and these", he gestures towards the pouch, "are from Signal."

"The Reich radio station?"

"It is the Reich media office, really. Radio is just part of it. I write accounts of how the world beyond the Reich borders is a cesspool of decadence and chaos. Sometimes they read them aloud in the radio but mostly it is for the newspaper."

"Never seen one of those. How do they pay you?"

"Reich officers visit Wuster from time to time. For the decadence beyond Reich borders. Sometimes they have a propaganda officer with them and he buys my texts with goods from the Reich. I trade them in for some local lead in the bazaars and live off that."

Rat ponders the story for a moment and then looks back at Fritz.

"You know what? I believe you and hate you less for it. But you did step over the line, didn't you?"

Fritz stiffens.

"What do you mean?"

Rat folds his hands and looks the would-be journalist straight in the eye.

"Your clients had a job for you, didn't they? About a stalker called Redbow. He sets out in the field, you ask around about his routes and report it back to your goose-stepping buddies. He goes missing and you..." he lifts the bag off the table, "are paid so well you got careless. Which is why I got all your lead right here."

Fritz is getting up again.

"I don't have to listen to this..."

"Sit down!" Rat growls. "Sit down or I am going to straight to the Guild Magistrate! Redbow was a local. The Guild might take a dim view of you selling him out to Reich."

Fritz looks nervously around him and sits down again, quickly.

"Not so loud", he hisses and sinks back into his chair, his face buried in his hands. Rat drops the pouch back on the table and it gives out a promising clink.

"I am from the Collective and don't give a rat's ass how the Guild cleans house. If you can find Redbow for me, this pouch is yours. If not... well, I am sure there is demand for a pretty boy like you right here in Wuster."

"They will kill me..."

"Could be but it is a big Wasteland. Shit happens. You already gambled all your lead away, so what's one more draw of the cards?"         

Rat pushes the pouch to the centre of the table.

"I'm all in."

Fritz stares at the pouch for a while and finally picks it up. Deal sealed.

"Not here", he says. "Fancy a walk in the rain?"

They get up and head for the door. Rat gives a small, almost imperceptible nod to Mouse, who has been sitting at another table with dark goggles pulled down on his eyes. In far infrared, he has seen through their cards all evening, putting up one finger for an ace, two and three fingers for pairs and threes and so on. Rat smiles to himself. This is precisely how rats got so lucky.

[IceMcFrost]

Working on a close-up map of Montreal (A likely target) ... And using reference documents I have on hand, I realised that Montreal would be badly hit since it has loads of military installations, a couple of airports nearby and a port ... So I dropped a 10 Megatons bomb on its military base and sent 4 x 1 Megatons missiles on its 3 airports and national defense base. The simulation gives away frightening results ...

ImageShack Hosting

- Red represents areas that are still lightly irradiated in the New World and which is nothing more than a crater today
- Orange represents areas that are totally devastated ... Only a plain of rubbles remains today
- Gold represents areas that are destructed ... Only the strongest structures are still standing but are heavily damaged
- Yellow represents areas that suffered significant amount of damage. Light or small structures are heavily damaged while sturdy or big structures are mostly intact

The four white circles are to be used for New World's Highlights such as FunTown (Formely La Ronde), Death Race Ring (Formely Circuit Jacques Villeneuve), The New Church (Formely Oratoire St-Joseph) and a Remnant Enclave (Formely Concordia University) ... All are working names ... I'll try to come up with something cooler later on!

Since St-Laurent Street (Downtown Montreal) is still mainly intact, I might as well use it for some kind of Red Light District/Gambling/Illicit Pleasures Neighborhood.

[Claybor]

Good stuff here. I'd like to see the OP's world in pdf form. 

[IceMcFrost]

I feel bad asking but: What's an OP?

As for the .pdf ... I'm able to do that ... As soon as it's completely done!