Post-Apocalypse Survival in a Nuked Soviet Metro: Cooking Characters in RAD

RAD by Hipólita definitely caught my eye as a Mausritter-inspired post-nuclear sovietica OSR-style adventure game. Bullets, mutations, community building, and resource management are promised in the game's description, and I am all for it. I got a copy of it from the Ind of the Year 2023 itch bundle. You can check the book here. There is no definitive version number in the book, so for documentation's sake, version I'll use is from Jan 2024 download I've made. And as of writing this, there seems to be no new update.

Putting a naive but curious character would be fun in a post-apocalypse survival game, so we'll take note of [Dimasilaw] archetype when making the character. See Cooking Characters Primer for more details about archetypes. So let's dive in and make our post-nuclear explorer!

kill fascists and look cool doing it

Step 1. Roll 3d6 for each of the main stat, keeping the two highest die result as the score. If the total value of all stats is less than 32, we reroll the lowest stat. When rolls are done, we can swap any two values.

COORDINATION (COR): [6] [5] [4] = 11
SENSE (SEN): [6][5] [3] = 11
VIGOR (VIG): [1] [6] [3] = 9
WILLPOWER (WIL): [3] [2] [2] = 5

That score spread seems about right. Let our explorer be strong and athletic enough for survival, but not a lot of charm and wit. 

Step 2. Roll for Resolve and Bullets, then determine background and starting items. Starting Resolve, which is the HP equivalent, is 1d6, and starting Bullets, currency and ammo of the game, is 1d6 * 10. Got [5] for Resolve. And [4] for Bullets, so 40 starting ones.

Starting items include a battery-powered flashlight and a weapon of choice. I looked into the weapon section, and I think a light machine gun would do well for them. 

We cross-check the background table, and we get Medic. Nice. We also get radiation meds and a scalpel as additional items.

...And that's it! That was hella quick. We now put the details in the character sheet. I'll edit in the card slots too for the items.

The sheet says VIT instead of VIG, I'll assume that's a typo. There is a list of names in one of the reference pages, but it is not numbered for rolling. So, I'll just choose one. Oleksandra should be a nice name for our explorer. 

REMARKS!

• The creation was quick. Maybe too quick, in that there's no other way to shape your character other than what you rolled for. Perhaps that's intentional as a survival exploration game.
• Compared to Mausritter, there were no tables or references to color nor root your character to - like coat color and star sign in the mouse game - just stats and backgrounds, which feels flat.
• The backgrounds in RAD also feel flat, but it might be because these are semi-modern jobs or trades, compared to fantasy ones in Mausritter. I'd also compare the starting items to original Into the Odd, which had sets of starting packages having more personality vs the ones in RAD.
• The creation and character sheet definitely gives the vibe of an urbancrawl RPG with supplies and firearms, albeit a general vibe one, not specifically in a post-nuclear metro.
• Speaking of character sheet, I like the trackers for bedroll, rations, battery, and the rerolls. Having them there speaks a lot that resource management is important.
• There are a bunch of typos or inconsistencies, which I can only guess as game wasn't fully reviewed yet. As mentioned, char sheet says VIT instead of VIG. But the rules text also flips between it. Stats section mentions VIG but Saves and Travel section mention VIT. And some nitpick, item cards don't match their names from the book vs the card sheets (meds and flashlight). Another is that rules text says you can put 100 bullets per inventory slot, but the card sheet indicates you put 500 per slot.

SCORING TIME! 

• Player fun: 4
• Creation is fast and to the point but falls short in evoking the core concept of the game to players as they create their explorers. Character sheet is compact and easy to navigate.
• GM fun: 0
• Aside from backgrounds and maybe certain items, nothing in the char gen process would be pivotal for GMs to know beforehand. There's no collaboration implied or otherwise between players and GM.
• Design fun: 2 
• Mostly for the character sheet, which looks clean and intuitive to use for players. And I'm also curious having Bullets as both currency and ammo in the long run.

TOTAL of 6 POINTS - THIS IS RAWWW!

There are a lot of cool stuff in the game itself, but I think it is detached to the character creation and sheet. It could be more mechanical stuff to adjust or add, but I personally think it just needs Sovietica fluff to ground characters in the ruined metro. Aside from names, perhaps a table for survivor demeanor, scars/trauma, or trinkets about your previous adventures. Or more exploratory questions to the group about why you lot are together, why live in this lifestyle, or how many fascists you've killed already. Anything that could emphasize and direct the players to the intended concept, aim, and tone of the game written in the starting pages.