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The RAD-Hack

Overview

The RAD-Hack is a compact post-apocalypse game built on Black Hack principles but tuned for wasteland scavenging rather than dungeon fantasy. It keeps roll-under attribute tests and player-facing defenses, then layers on asymmetric classes, radiation pressure, tech relics, addiction, armor-point attrition, and vehicles. The result is a fast ruleset with a strong campaign texture: scarce resources, dirty gear, unstable bodies, and sudden bursts of lethal violence.

Core Engine

  • All risky actions use roll-under tests on d20.
  • Enemies usually do not roll. Players roll to attack and to avoid harm.
  • Advantage and disadvantage use the standard extra-d20 lower-or-higher rule.
  • Usage dice track consumables, powers, radiation resilience, and gear depletion.

This keeps the game quick at the table while making resource decline visible in multiple layers, not just ammunition or rations.

Class Structure

The four classes are meaningfully asymmetric rather than cosmetic reskins.

Human

  • 4d6 drop lowest for stats, except a temporary slowdown to straight 3d6 after each 15+
  • d8+4 starting HP
  • d8 radiation die
  • wide weapon and armor access
  • profession-based advantage on relevant tests
  • social edge over mutants in human-dominated areas
  • unique ability to attempt robot control through Charisma

Humans are the most stable generalists and the class most grounded in social position and equipment access.

Mutant

  • d20 for each stat, rerolling 1s and 20s
  • d6+4 starting HP
  • d10 radiation die
  • 2 random mutations and an ability die
  • mutation mishaps on natural 20s when powers are used
  • stronger radiation tolerance through advantage on radiation-die rolls

Mutants are built around volatility. Their mutations are strong, but repeated use always carries the possibility of visible change or backlash.

Robot

  • point-buy stats starting from 8 with 27 points
  • d10+4 starting HP
  • immunity to poison, radiation, air, food, water, and sleep demands
  • 2 chosen modules plus ability die
  • 2 AP from metal skin by default
  • repair instead of resting

Robots are the clearest expression of the game's tech layer: durable, flexible, and expensive to keep functioning.

Psionic

  • weak physical stats but stronger mental generation
  • d4+4 starting HP
  • d10 radiation die
  • 2 random psionic powers and ability die
  • built-in reroll with advantage once per session
  • advantage against hostile psionic effects

Psionics are fragile specialists with high utility and burst potential, but the rules keep backlash risk high enough that power use never feels free.

Ability Dice And Powers

Mutations, modules, and psionic powers all run on the same model:

  1. Test the most relevant attribute.
  2. Roll the class ability die.
  3. On a low result, the die steps down.
  4. Refresh happens through rest or repair.

That shared chassis is one of the system's strongest design choices. It gives each class its own content list while keeping the actual procedure identical.

Notable content patterns include:

  • Mutations: claws, web, fire breath, regeneration, pheromones, sonar, flight.
  • Modules: jet boosters, plasma cannon, drone bay, first aid, decontamination, satellite uplink.
  • Psionic powers: domination, healing, sleep, teleportation, telekinesis, weather control.

Economy, Equipment, And Attrition

Slugs And Ammo

The game uses Slugs as both currency and common firearm ammunition. That ties spending power directly to combat sustainability, which is excellent for scavenger play.

Usage Dice

Consumables and limited assets degrade down the standard chain:

$$d20 \rightarrow d12 \rightarrow d10 \rightarrow d8 \rightarrow d6 \rightarrow d4$$

On a 1-2, the die steps down. A d4 that rolls 1-2 is exhausted.

This applies to food, water, fuel, powers, radiation resilience, and other temporary resources, giving the system a very consistent depletion language.

Armor Points

Armor does not merely make you harder to hit. It absorbs incoming damage a limited number of times.

  • Light armor: 2 AP
  • Medium armor: 4 AP
  • Heavy armor: 6 AP
  • Shields add more AP
  • Robots start with 2 AP from metal skin

AP returns after resting, so armor behaves like a short-term survival buffer rather than a static defense number.

Quality And Breakage

Weapons and armor have a quality die, usually d4 to d10. Critical failures, maximum melee damage, and harsh use can force quality tests. Repair requires Scrap and a successful INT test.

This turns gear condition into another scavenger loop: find scrap, keep equipment alive, and accept that high-output combat burns tools down.

Combat Procedure

Turn Structure And Initiative

  • On a turn, a character moves and takes one action.
  • Initiative is a DEX test; those who pass act before opponents.
  • Passing or failing side coordinates internally as a group.

Attacking And Defending

  • Melee attacks: roll under STR.
  • Ranged attacks: roll under DEX.
  • Defense against melee: roll under STR.
  • Defense against ranged: roll under DEX.

This is extremely player-facing. The GM usually rolls only for damage.

Damage And Threat Scaling

  • PCs deal class-based damage bands.
  • Monsters deal damage by HD.
  • Heavy weapons use exploding damage.
  • Stronger opponents penalize weaker PCs by adding +1 to the player's roll for each HD above the PC's level, making success less likely.

The last point is an elegant compression rule. It lets high-HD enemies feel overwhelming without special exception text.

Criticals And OofA

  • Attack roll of 1: critical hit, damage doubled.
  • Defense roll of 20: enemy critical, damage doubled.
  • At 0 HP, the character is Out of Action and later rolls on the OofA table.

OofA results range from knockout and temporary penalties to limb loss and death. The optional deadlier-combat rule makes criticals even nastier by forcing OofA rolls immediately and killing at 0 HP outright.

Movement And Encumbrance

Distance is abstracted into:

  • Close
  • Nearby
  • Far-Away
  • Distant

This keeps gunfights, chases, and vehicle scenes lightweight.

Encumbrance is equally simple:

  • carry up to STR items freely
  • above STR means disadvantage on all tests and capped movement
  • above double STR is impossible

The rules do not hide that this is a hard-pressure survival game. Carry limits matter quickly.

Advancement Model

The game discards traditional kill-XP. Advancement comes from surviving sessions, bunker levels, dangerous missions, or other campaign milestones defined clearly by the GM.

On leveling:

  • increase max HP by class hit die
  • roll d20 for each stat; if the roll is higher than the stat, increase that stat by 1
  • class-specific advancement then applies, such as more powers, more modules, or bigger ability dice

This means weak stats improve faster than strong ones, which helps keep wasteland characters from calcifying too early.

Radiation And Drugs

Radiation

Radiation is one of the game's defining procedures.

  • Roll the radiation die when entering or remaining in irradiated zones.
  • Frequency depends on intensity: per day, per hour, per minute, or per combat moment.
  • Each step lost from the die reduces CON and max HP by 2.
  • When a d4 still rolls 1-2, the victim suffers acute radiation effects, including mutation chance, damage, or death.

This is excellent pressure design because radiation is not just damage. It degrades long-term capability and makes contaminated environments feel qualitatively different.

Drugs And Addiction

Drugs provide short-term boosts such as AP, faster action, better stats, healing, or radiation relief. Repeated use risks addiction, which imposes broad mental and social penalties without regular intake.

That makes chemicals an attractive but destabilizing survival resource, which fits the genre well.

Tech And Vehicles

Tech

Tech is intentionally rare, strong, and bespoke.

  • Tech weapons may ignore armor, add bonuses, or deal superior damage.
  • Tech armor may boost AP, protect against radiation, or add mobility.
  • Most tech requires energy packs with their own usage die.
  • Some tech requires explicit understanding before reliable use.

This is a good pattern for science-fantasy relic design because the item is both treasure and subsystem.

Vehicles

Vehicles have HP, AP, size classes, ramming damage, and repair rules based on Scrap plus INT tests. Attack rolls from moving vehicles are harder, while defensive rolls gain an advantage.

The included roster covers mopeds up through trucks and semi-trailers, which makes convoy or wasteland-road play immediately viable.

Bestiary And Encounter Support

The back half of the file includes a compact wasteland bestiary keyed to the system's assumptions, including raiders, cannibals, gene cultists, pterodactyls, desert whales, void travelers, giant vehicle-scale threats, and replacement-clone horrors.

It also includes:

  • random encounter cadence
  • d8 reaction table
  • poison effect guidance
  • robot-control modifiers

Together these sections make RAD-Hack more than a player pamphlet. It is close to a full campaign engine for short, dirty wasteland play.

Why It Is Useful

  • It shows how far a Black Hack chassis can be pushed into post-apocalypse without becoming rules-heavy.
  • It combines several pressure systems cleanly: ammo-money, AP attrition, usage dice, radiation, addiction, and gear quality.
  • It offers a strong template for relic-tech design and vehicle-enabled campaigns.
  • It is especially relevant for science-fantasy or polluted frontier settings where body instability and scavenged machinery should matter moment to moment.

See Also

Overview

The RAD-Hack is a wasteland game built on Black Hack assumptions: roll-under attribute tests, usage dice for depletion, and lightweight class packages. Its distinguishing texture comes from radiation handling and the split between Humans, Mutants, Robots, and Psionics.

Mechanical Profile

  • Core resolution: roll under relevant attribute on d20.
  • Advantage/disadvantage uses extra d20s with lower/higher kept.
  • Usage dice govern consumables, powers, and radiation resilience.
  • Armor uses armor points that absorb a limited amount before recovery.
  • Enemies pressure PCs through player-facing defense rolls rather than mirrored NPC tests.

Design Value

The game is useful as a reference for compact post-apocalyptic class design and for showing how Black Hack techniques can carry cybernetics, mutation, and scavenger economy play without much overhead.

See Also