Revision as of 19:35, 30 October 2022

The Uncivilized Area (often shortened to UA) is the name given to any of the rooms and areas not part of a town or an intersection.

The UA is composed of an immense, maze-like array of rooms of many different styles, in varying states of decay, interconnected with each other seemingly indefinitely, creating a maze-like world, giving meaning to the name of the world: the Mazes. The only semblance of coherence in the UA is found in the network of roads connecting Civilized Areas, which guide the Mazes' inhabitants in the right direction.

Theoretically, there is no known end to the depth of the Mazes, and there are many more unseen and unexplored roads than those depicted on the world map. Exploring outside of the known world is a dangerous and lethal endeavor.

Rooms in the UA are in a constant state of flux, making no two trips between towns and intersections the same and affecting every aspect: the room types and states of decay, the contents of each room, and even the number of rooms separating you from your next destination. There is no known explanation for this constant state of flux; the most widely-accepted theory is that an unknown chaotic force is responsible for it.

The Theoretical Physics Science Team believes that the effects of the chaotic force can be repelled by settling communities and gathering people in the same area, resulting in the formation of a new Civilized Area, such as a town or an intersection. A controversial theory suggests that people who live in the UA for extended periods of time may be exposed to the chaotic force, resulting in the development of mental issues and aggressive, self-destructive behavior. This theory may explain the number of hostile creatures living in the UA, but it has not been definitely proven to be true, as there are many examples of creatures that do not exhibit hostile behavior.

Traveling in the Uncivilized Area

Choosing a destination

A traveler will find themselves in the UA if they step south of any town's Gap corridor, or through an open exit in an intersection. If leaving a town, the traveler may have to choose their intended destination, depending on the number of other towns and intersections directly connected to the one they're leaving. If leaving an intersection, each open exit corresponds to a destination. Check the maps on this article or the infobox on each individual town or intersection.

• Example: When leaving Arnett, there are three possible destinations: Elkins, Semitas, and Intersection 09.

Traveling routes

Right before entering the first UA room of the trip, the player will be prompted to choose between one of the available traveling routes. Three different route types exist:

• Trader's Route / Safe route: The safest path. Lowest danger level, lowest potential loot. Sets the base distance from the next destination to 30 rooms.
• Courier's Route / Fast route: The fastest route. Medium danger level, average potential loot. Sets the base distance from the next destination to 25 rooms.
• Adventurer's Route / Deep route: The long way. Highest danger level, highest potential loot. Sets the base distance from the next destination to 35 rooms.
  • If your character possesses the Directionless trait, add 5 rooms to the base distance. If they possess the Navigator trait, subtract 5 rooms from the base distance.
  • If multiple characters in a group have the Directionless or Navigator traits, they do not stack.
  • If a character in a group possesses Directionless while another has Navigator, it is up to the GM to decide which character's trait prevails. Recommendation: Ask which character is leading the group; their trait will prevail.

Regardless of the traveling method employed, traveling induces Travel Fatigue.

Availability of traveling routes

Not all traveling route types are available between any two locations. While most locations are connected to each other with at least an Adventurer's Route (with very few notable exceptions), the availability of a Courier's Route (Fast) or Trader's Route (Safe) depends on the geography and whether the two locations are located around an important traveling axis. For instance, don't expect to find a Trader's Route when traveling from a small, out-of-the-way town to another.

To find out what route types are available, you have a few options:

• Browse the maps on the Civilized Areas and check the colored paths connecting each location. Green paths are Safe routes, blue paths are Fast routes, and red paths are Deep routes.
• Check an individual town page or the Intersections page and look at the "Geographic connections" section. The notation (S/F/D) will be used to denote available routes.
  • (S/F/D): All three routes are available
  • (_/F/D): No Safe route available, only Fast and Deep
  • (_/_/D): No Safe or Fast routes available, only Deep
  • (S/F/_): Safe and Fast routes only, no Deep

Skip traveling

Alternatively, the GM has the possibility to offer a fourth option:

• Skip: This is a "fast travel" option, which skips the UA entirely. No loot is found, no enemies are fought, no creatures are met, no resources are expended, and no rooms are seen or explored. In exchange, the next destination is immediately reached and 1 day period passes. Skipping induces Travel Fatigue equivalent to 30 rooms.

Room-by-room traveling cycle

The GM must keep track of a rooms remaining until destination counter. The starting number depends on the route selected (see above).

Once the traveling route has been decided, the following process is used:

• Room generation: GM offers three doors - left, front, right - describing only the roomstyle and decay level of each
• Players decide which door to take
• Event generation: GM generates the events inside the selected room
• GM describes contents of the room
• Players act accordingly depending on who/what is inside
• Once the room is clear, players may ask for the next doors.
• Add 1 to the rooms passed counter. If a shortcut or detour was taken, remove or add rooms until destination according to the number displayed. (see below for details)
• Cycle back to the start of the list.

Repeat until the player has reached the end.

• If the number of rooms passed is 1 less than the number of rooms until destination, this is the last room of the trip, and all doors will lead to the destination, unless one of these doors is a detour.
• Using a shortcut can skip past the last room and make the number of rooms passed be equal or superior to the rooms until destination. In that case, the shortcut leads directly to the destination.

After reaching the destination, 1 day period passes. For example, if it was Afternoon during the trip, it changes to Dusk at the end of the trip.

Backtracking

If, at any point during the current trip, you feel the need to backtrack (or turn back) and return to the starting town or intersection, tell the GM you wish to turn back, and confirm this is your intention.

Backtracking will flip your starting point and destination (for example, if you were traveling from Arnett to Elkins, you will now be traveling to Arnett) but keep you on the same route (if you picked Safe, you will remain on Safe).

After confirming that you are turning back, 1 day period passes and travel fatigue is applied immediately. Your number of rooms passed resets to 0 and your number of rooms to destination becomes equal to the number of rooms passed before backtracking + 10.

• Example: It's the Morning, and you are on the Arnett to Elkins Safe route with 16 /30 rooms passed. If you choose to backtrack to Arnett, 16 turns worth of travel fatigue will apply immediately, your new destination becomes Arnett, and you will be at 0 /26 rooms passed (16 + 10).

You can backtrack at any point during your trip and as many times as you want, allowing you to stay in the UA indefinitely if you so desire, with one limitation: You must travel at least 10 rooms before you're allowed to use backtracking. In other words, the "rooms passed" counter must be at 10 or more before you can turn back.

Room generation

To generate a room, use the &roomstyle command. All that's needed is to roll it three times, once for each door, then show the results to the players.

Room generation will randomly generate two elements: Roomstyle and either a Shortcut/Detour or a Decay level depending on the roomstyle generated.

• The roomstyle is the overall appearance of the room. There are two broad families: roads (mostly empty rooms which have a chance of spawning shortcuts or detours but generally do not possess cover) and furnished rooms (abandoned versions of various room types seen in Civilized Areas, which have a decay level,
  • Roads are mostly empty rooms with no furniture. Roads have a chance of possessing shortcuts and detours. If a shortcut is present, it is always at the front door, whereas if a detour is present, it is always at the left door. Overall, there is a 32% chance to roll a road roomstyle, with equal chances between each style.
  • Furnished rooms are abandoned versions of various room types seen in the Civilized Areas. They have a decay level, which influences the chance of finding additional loot, mushrooms, functional powered room furniture such as radios or TVs, or even whether the room gets lights on at all. Overall, there is a 68% chance to roll a furnished roomstyle, with equal chances between each combination of individual style and decay level.

Shortcuts and Detours are affixed with a number representing the number of rooms skipped or added. For example, taking the door with a Shortcut 3 (-3) will remove an additional 3 rooms from the rooms remaining counter. A Detour 1 (+1) would add an additional room, canceling out the -1 normally received from passing a door, and effectively adding 0 to the rooms remaining counter.

Decay levels represent the state of disrepair of the room. Low decay levels improve the chances of finding roomstyle-specific loot (if applicable, see the section below). High decay levels improve the chances of finding mushrooms. Powered furniture refers to radios and TVs.

• Decay level 0 - Deserted: Lights are on, powered furniture is functional, 100% chance of finding extra loot, 0% chance of finding 1 bundle of mushrooms (&marisa)
• Decay level 1 - Abandoned: Lights are on, powered furniture is functional, 25% chance of finding extra loot (roll 1d4-3, loot is present on a 1 or more), 0% chance of finding 1 bundle of mushrooms (&marisa)
• Decay level 2 - Disaffected: Lights are on, powered furniture is broken, 25% chance of finding extra loot (roll 1d4-3, loot is present on a 1 or more), 0% chance of finding 1 bundle of mushrooms (&marisa)
• Decay level 3 - Overgrown: Lights are on, powered furniture is broken, 25% chance of finding extra loot (roll 1d4-3, loot is present on a 1 or more), 25% chance of finding 1 bundle of mushrooms (&marisa; roll 1d4-3, mushroom bundle present on a 1 or more)
• Decay level 4 - Blackout: Lights are OFF (Environmental blindness), powered furniture is broken, 25% chance of finding extra loot (roll 1d4-3, loot is present on a 1 or more), 100% chance of finding 1 bundle of mushrooms (&marisa)

Table of roomstyles

Roads

Furnished rooms

Event generation

Events are roaming creatures, loot, or hazards that populate the Uncivilized Area. Depending on the traveling route, different events have different chances of being rolled. A GM may generate events for the next room with &event-fast. &event-safe, or &event-deep, depending on the traveling route selected.

Weapon generation

Weapon generation is relatively simple; the only additional necessary variables are condition and ammunition loaded. All weapons generated in the UA should be stock weapons, with no extra accessories.

• Condition: Roll 1d100, divide by 100, and multiply by the weapon's Max Condition: you obtain the Condition Points for that weapon, as well as the Condition percentage.
  • E.g.: When generating a Colt M16A1, the GM rolls 87. This weapon's condition is 8700 points (87 / 100 * 10000), which corresponds to a condition rating of 87%. This weapon is in good condition and suffers from no penalties.
• Ammunition loaded: Check the standard capacity of the rolled weapon, add 1 if +1 in the chamber? is Yes, then add 1. The result is X. Roll 1dX-1: the result is the number of rounds remaining in the weapon.
  • E.g.: The M16A1 comes with a 20-round magazine and accepts an extra round in the chamber. Therefore, X is (20 + 1 + 1) = 22. The GM must roll 1d22-1. They get 18; there are 17+1 rounds left in this M16A1.
  • When generating ammunition types, use the most common ammunition type corresponding for the caliber (typically, the first listed on the caliber's wiki page), or use the ammo generation methods listed below.

Ammo type generation

There are two main ways to generate the powder charge, powder type, and projectile type: the retail method or the full-random method. You should use the retail method whenever possible, and only use the full-random method if there is no retail ammunition for this caliber (e.g. .460 Rowland) or if you think it would make sense for the context (e.g. the current situation involves custom ammunition).

Retail method

Go to the wiki page for the caliber you're rolling, and check the Retail information section. Count the number of brand names available, and select one at random. Then, count the number of projectile types available in that brand, and select one at random.

• E.g.: The GM has chosen to randomly generate ammunition type for the M16A1 from earlier using the retail method. The M16A1 uses 5.56x45mm NATO ammunition. There are 4 brands of 5.56 NATO ammo, so the GM first rolls a 1d4. The result is 3: Milsurp. There are 4 projectile types available in this brand, so the GM must roll another 1d4, getting a 1. The ammunition rolled is Milsurp FMJ.

Full-random method

This method generates random powder charges, powder types, and projectile types. This method only functions with firearm calibers, excluding .22 Long Rifle, 4.2x30mm R Golden Gun, and 4.73x33mm Caseless, and is best suited for rare calibers with no retail equivalents, or for generating handloaded ammo.

First, check whether the caliber is a (P)istol, (R)ifle, or (S)hotgun caliber. You can find it on the complete list or in the infobox of each individual caliber pages.

• (P)istol calibers have access to all four powder charge levels: SP, -P, +P, and +P+.
• (S)hotgun calibers have access to three levels: SP, -P, and +P.
• (R)ifle calibers have access to only two levels: SP and -P.

Then, randomly determine the following, in order:

• Powder charge level: 1d2, 1d3, or 1d4 depending on caliber. 1 is -P, 2 is SP, 3 is +P, 4 is +P+.
• Powder type: 1d3. 1 is surplus powder (Surp), 2 is regular powder (Reg), 3 is premium powder (Prem)
• Projectile type: &pbt for (P)istol calibers, &rbt for (R)ifle calibers, and one of the dedicated commands for (S)hotgun calibers: &12st for 12 gauge, &20st for 20 gauge, &410st for .410 bore, and &CAWSt for 12 gauge CAWS.

Example: 5.56x45mm NATO is a (R)ifle caliber, giving access to only two powder charges: SP and -P. The GM will roll 1d2, 1d3, then &rbt.

• The results are 1, 3, and AP; the ammunition rolled is -P, Premium powder, with AP bullets.