Gear

Equipment is essential to surviving the end of the world. Here are some common items you'll need or encounter.

Carrying and Encumbrance

You can carry a number of items equal to five plus your athletics score without effort. Heroes with super strength or a similar ability can carry 20 items.

When carrying a number of items more than that, you are burdened by the weight. This makes many tasks hard, and some tasks like hiding or sneaking about very hard.

Stress wears on you both mentally and physically. Starting at two points of stress, and for every two points of stress thereafter, you can carry one less item.

Bartering and Scavenging

There is no central bank. No dollar. And nobody needs gold. What people need is food, shelter, ways to stay safe. Ways to relax. And ways to get away.

You won't find stores or shopkeepers in the world of Super Dead. Instead, anything you want, you'll have to find, or barter for. And since everyone has so little, you're going to need to give up something good if you want what someone else has.

Hand-to-Hand Weapons

Hand-to-hand weapons aren't the best way to take on groups of zombies. But for one or two zombies, they are quiet and effective ways of getting the job done.

Table. Hand-to-Hand Weapons

Chainsaw. Attacking with a chainsaw is hard because they are unwieldy. Because they are clumsy, chainsaws only deal damage during the second and third exchanges of a hand-to-hand phase. Using a chainsaw is as loud as a motorcycle.

Firearms

Firearms are a reliable form of self-defense with the significant advantage of being effective outside of biting distance. They are all but ubiquitous in the United States. However, they are as loud as they are deadly.

Ammunition

A significant limitation of firearms is that they need ammunition to fire.

The amount of ammunition that takes up a single slot in your inventory is determined by your magazine size.

Keep track of the ammo that you use. When you have shot all the bullets in your magazine, you may reload only if you have another.

Table. Firearms

Machine guns and Assault rifles are capable of providing suppressive fire. Suppressive fire makes it very hard to take actions in the area under fire. Because machine guns are purpose made for suppressive fire, if you attempt to take an action while under suppressive fire from a machine gun it is extremely hard.

Shotgun. Attacking with a shotgun at immediate range is deadly; shotguns do double damage in immediate range.

Armor

Armor is hard to come by in the modern world, but against unarmed zombies, even makeshift protection can be the difference between life and death.

Each piece of armor has three properties:

1. an armor value indicating how much protection it provides;
2. a type, indicating what type of attacks it defends against; and
3. a durability, indicating how it holds up to damage.

Table. Armor

Armor value is subtracted from damage taken to determine whether or not you suffer wounds.

Armor type indicates whether the armor protects against hand-to-hand weapons, firearms, or both.

Durability indicates the durability die of the armor in perfect condition. After any combat round in which you take damage, roll the durability die associated with your armor. If that roll is a 1, reduce the die by 1 step. If the die would be reduced below 1d4 in this fashion, the armor has broken and offers no more protection.

Equipment and Vehicles

Table. Equipment

Anti-Mutant Weapons

When the power of the mutants was understood, the Army Research Labratory developed anti-mutant weapons for both war and policing. Becasue of the unique dangers of the mutant threat, even small-town police forces were provided anti-mutant weapons by the federal government.

These weapons work by delivering an M-shock: an electrical shock similar to a taser, that vibrates at a specific frequency capable of suppressing mutant powers.

Suppression. In addition to their damage, anti-mutant weapons also reduce the power level of mutants a number of steps based on their suppression. These reductions are always applied to the highest-level power first. If any mutant power would be reduced below 1d4 in this way, the super is incapacitated.

Table. Anti-Mutant Wepaons

Suppressor Net. The suppressor net must be thrown at immediate range. Once a mutant is entangled in the suppressor net, they must make an athletics save to escape. Until they escape, they may take no actions other than attempting to escape. You may make one escape attempt during each phase of combat.