ZONES (ashcan)

This is an ashcan of the final product. Feel free to download, playtest, and enjoy the game while it develops! 

ZONES is an immersive tabletop roleplaying game set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by mysterious anomalies and inhabited by diverse factions vying for survival and supremacy.  If you've played the STALKER series then you will be right at home in ZONES. Hell, even the player characters are called Stalkers!

Everything is written for solo and cooperative play. No GM required! Lots of tables, lots of rolling, lots of NSR goodness. ZONES is not forgiving! Expect to have a hard time navigating the world and the dangers that populate it.

What to Expect

Players take on the roles of adventurers known as Stalkers, navigating through dangerous territories filled with mutated creatures, treacherous environmental hazards, and valuable artifacts. 

With a blend of tactical combat, resource management, and narrative exploration, ZONES challenges players to survive and thrive in a harsh and unpredictable landscape where every decision could mean life or death.

All rules provided allow for a solo gaming or cooperative play without a GM. Tables for everything needed to tell an immersive story from start to finish are included.

No matter your reason for coming here, getting into the zone is will be the easiest part of your journey. Welcome to the zone, Stalker

What System is This?

ZONES uses the Cairn system (Into the Odd / Knave) as its skeleton.

A few new systems and changes are included. These are:

• Rules for handling guns and ammo
• Player growth using XP and Wounds, replacing the Scars system
• A new Wound system replacing Cairn's Scars
• Inventory management and quick versus slow/long actions
• Artifacts replace Spells but function almost the same

Using Other Cairn Content

You can transfer any of your own content from Cairn to ZONES with very little work. Stats are equal (TOU = STR, DEX = DEX, SUR = WIL). New rules do not completely replace the old rules and are free to mix-and-match as you see fit.

What isn't Included?

This is stuff that is currently a work in progress:

• Rules for tracking game sessions
• Rules for creating your own monsters and encounters
• Faction reputation tracking and benefits for doing so
• Rules for generating a hex map
• A sample campaign and map
• How to gain the positive conditions
• How to gain all the negative conditions
• How Quick Slots works for the inventory
• Tracking companions (rules for using them are included, so just use a scrap piece of paper in the meantime as companions are really helpful)
• Enemy special abilities (everything just attacks or moves)
• Combat setup rules (how far is the enemy when the combat starts)

ZONES is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.  All works in this project have been adapted from Cairn and the Cairn SRD.