"What Comes After": Non-Human Species

All of the species (human and non-human) have been detailed, and given unique specials to chose from at creation and during level-up. The only thing that remains before this section is totally finished is the completion of images for each. The pages are structured in the same manner as the Lizard- Folk featured in the image.

Each species has some possible adjustments to attribute stat scores, Passive abilities inherent to all members of the species, and basic and advanced specials included.

As mentioned in a previous post, the playable species include Human, Infected, Gato (cat-folk), Mongrel (dog-folk), Ratlings, Ravens (bird-folk), Lizard-Folk, Scimmia (monkey/ ape folk), Robots, and Fungoids. That's ten species and seven character classes for 70 possible combinations of characters (with an eighth character class possibly making it in as well).

"What Comes After": Human Specials

In "The Wasted Hack", all characters are human, with the slight exception of "Infected", which are a variation of human.

In "What Comes After" there are several species (as indicated in the previous post) with unique abilities and features.

Humans gain an extra stat point to place wherever they choose during character creation, and also gain a bonus Luck Point at the start of each play session. This gives them two Luck Points to start each time the players sits down at the table, or in front of the computer screen I suppose.  As this doubles the chances that a character will have a spare Luck Point left over at the end of the play session, it increases the chance that the character will gain the 5 Improvement Point bonus.

While this is a small bonus, and totally dependent on the player saving a Luck Point, it is a something of an approximation/ homage to the red box where humans leveled up faster than "demi-humans".

As far as humans go, I was prepared to leave it at that, but considering the other character types gain new specials based upon their species, I thought I should work up some Basic and Advanced specials just for humans, as seen in the image above (or to the left depending on your display).

Invisible Ruck-Sack is a reflection of the imbalance of power and agency in the Great Ruined World. The non-human species come with a lot of perks, but they are almost always marginalized to some degree in human society. This special reflects that sad reality.

Hubris is a variation of a Special I developed for Future Maxx called "cocky".

Compassion is a selfless Special that allows a character to aid another through a "meta-game" channel.  Of course this could be purely tactical, and advantageous to the using character as well. I should/ will edit this special to include the tag "Pyrrhic".

Fast Learner is handy for gaining two lower powered specials for the price of one, and many of the Universal Specials function as skill sets.

Dumb Luck is one my favorite specials I worked up for "Future Maxx", and is pulled directly from those rules.

Hell-Bent reflects the tenacity of humans, to pursue a goal against odds and without regard for the consequences.  I developed this for "What Comes After", but will also use it in "Future Maxx" for the human specials. I originally wanted to make this special benefit the character at the expense of others, but that edges into the "Low-Life" character class abilities, and I like it as it stands.

What Comes After: Playable Species

The second edition of "The Wasted Hack" continues to receive the "Future Maxx" treatment with updates and additions to the rules based on things developed for its sci-fi counterpart.

There are now several playable species a character can choose from aside from the original "human", which, when combined with classes gives players 60 different combinations to choose from.

Each of the new species has changes to the "character/ class template itself", such as bonuses and penalties to starting stat points, and some passive abilities associated with the creature type (natural armor/ bonus to spot/ etc.) as well as a subset of Basic and Advanced specials specific/ exclusive to the species.

The playable species now include: Human, Infected, Gato (cat-folk), Mongrel (dog-folk), Ratling, Raven (bird-folk), Lizard-Folk, Fungoid, Scimmia (chimpanzee/ ape-folk), and Robot.

Playing a non-human species can have some drawbacks, such as being discriminated against in certain settlements or even strongholds that hold to a purist/ human-first viewpoint, as well as being targeted first in combat by hostile "monster" versions of their species.

Between Class Specials, Universal Specials, and Species Specials, there are loads of ways to customize each character from level 1 to level 10, and with the addition of "Legends of the Wasted-World" rules, characters may continue to progress to level 15, gaining access to "Legendary" specials starting at level 11.

What Comes After: Classes

The Classes in "What Comes After" have been reformatted a bit from "The Wasted Hack".  Some of the specials have been tweaked, while others have been moved to "Universal Specials" if they were common across all classes.  A few new specials (from Future Maxx) have been included for classes as well.

The layout has been changed, with alignment to a baseline grid.

As much as I loved the ScreamQueen font from Blambot, having to make outlines of every single instance of it (per the license) was a daunting affair when making "The Wasted Hack", and Sigmar One (the replacement font) was the font I originally used when The Wasted Hack was being created as a card game some years ago.

The Infected Class has been removed, with Infected now a playable species across classes.  The species still retains the relevant Special Abilities associated with the class from The Wasted Hack.

All of the additional classes (BeastHunter, Low-Life, and Cavalier (driver)) that were included in other books (published and unpublished) have also been included in What Comes after, as well as playable species.

It will now be possible to play an Infected Low-Life, Ratling Scavenger, or even a Robot Savage.