2X71

2X71 is a new version of the original 1978 ruleset for future mutant campaigns. 40 pages of the rules will take you through:

• Designing a region. The referee will fill their world with ancient ruins, settlements, radioactive areas, and of course encounters and artifacts to uncover.
• Creating your characters. Players can decide whether their characters are human (wear armor, have more followers) or mutant (use weird powers).
• Meeting encounters. The world of 2X71 is full of strange creatures, but you almost always can communicate with them (and it is the safer option).
• Conducting combat. If fighting should break out, you can use physical or mental attacks to get your way.
• Discovering artifacts and using equipment. Within the ancient ruins you will find many secrets, which can give you an edge in exploring the world further.

You can download this reference for free, in addition to the character record sheets. There might be a print on demand booklet available in the future.

What are the goals?

The original 1978 publication is interesting in that it serves more as a collection of cool ideas, toys if you will, rather than a coherent game book. It assumes you know and have played D&D, and are able to understand terms like saving throws, even though the book does not explain them. By the book, you never have a reason to roll against your attributes. As I was playing or running post-apocalyptic campaigns and seeing other people do the same, I wanted to have an easier time referencing the 1978 rulebook. This is where 2X71 comes in.

My goal with 2X71 is to preserve this feeling of the original, but to update layout and text to modern standards and sensibilities.

The current version is v1.0 (9 March 2023). It contains complete, but not fully edited text. It find precedents in publications like Mutant Future, but I would like to rework more of the descriptions. I will also continue working on making the text easier to reference (like adding an index) and more pleasant to look at.

The text is released under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Following in the footsteps of projects like Fantastic Medieval Campaigns, I invite you to expand or remix the text and share your projects.

What's different?

Based on these goals, I've made several changes to the textual contents:

• Reorganizing the rules, bringing related sections together. This of course required some interpretation, as many sections belong to multiple topics. For instance robotic units can be considered both artifacts and encounters.
• Simplifying descriptions, cutting out common sense, boring, or otherwise ill-chosen text. This means either changing naming for some mutations, or completely overhauling others for example. Because of this simplification, some descriptions are more vague and require referee interpretation.
• Simplifying charts where possible. Mainly in the hazard sections, charts are much easier to reference.
• Obscuring the setting. While the original makes many references to the history of its world, it does not interest me and is not the scope of this project.
• Completely new one page example scenario that the referee can use as a jumping off point for their campaign.

How to support?

If you want to support this project, leave a comment with your thoughts! This is how I'll see if there is interest in it progressing. You can also purchase other zines I have on the page, or donate to a Ukrainian charity.