Posted November 20, 2020 by @tibbius@dice.camp
Depletion and Despair should be key themes in a post-apocalyptic setting, and should have explicit mechanics to support those themes:
DEFENSE: Choose depletion, despair, or harm.
DEPLETION: Stuff wears out. When you use gear for a task, its depletion die is the largest die you can roll. A disaster can break or waste gear, a setback shrinks its die: (d12⮕d10⮕d8⮕ d6⮕d4⮕break or waste). Most gear starts at (d8). Fixing It can sometimes use parts to set an item’s die just higher than your roll.
DESPAIR: Even if you’re not physically injured, distress from failure can hinder further efforts. Counsel or Tenacity can remove this.
And of course there's also regular harm:
HARM: Injuries hinder you. Time and/or Surgery heal. Tenacity ignores. If killed, introduce new character ASAP. Favor inclusion over realism.
It took a few iterations to figure out Depletion so that it didn't require rolling too many dice. The concept now is that using crappy worn out gear detracts from what your skill could achieve with proper gear. This also means that when you upgrade your skill, you will want to find better gear. That's why:
ADVANCEMENT: After action, upgrade a skill in which you had a setback (d6⮕d8⮕d10⮕d12) and gain one item with (d10) depletion die.
It could be like a mini-quest when you reach (d12) skill to go find gear that supports your potential.