Frequently (Not) Asked Questions!
What is RAD New World anyway? RAD New World is a (in development) tabletop roleplaying game set a thousand years after a technologically advanced Earth circa 2200 had a globe-spanning war that knocked everyone back to the stone age. Players create adventurers with fantastic mutant powers who go out into the world and solve problems, create other problems (often with fire), and hopefully help the various civilizations thrive in a strange world full of danger.
Oh. Neat. Why would I play this rather than 5e With a Thousand Houserules? Mostly because the game features problems more complex than monsters with giant bags of HP and problem-solving more interesting than a single skill check. Your characters might be called upon to explore a ruin left by the Ancients full or robots and lost technology, track down and save children kidnapped by bandits, take a direct role in managing settlements, hunt monsters for valuable resources to build new inventions with, sneak into and rob a fortress, fix barely understood devices, or mock someone into sputtering indignation during a high society event.
I mean, we could do all those things in 5e With a Thousand Houserules... Sure, maybe, but you'll miss out on all the character options RAD presents! There are over a hundred unique mutations, twice that many abilities, and a robust skill system that allows you to make a character completely unique even at level one.
All that sounds cool, but aren't classless games complicated? I don't like complex games. Not at all! There aren't big charts or any math harder than basic arithmetic. Character creation is taken step by step and features options you've never seen before.
For gameplay, aside from the general storytelling back and forth of any TTRPG, you'll mostly be rolling a D20 and adding whichever skill modifier is applicable, then throwing in dynamic effects from your mutations or abilities. Often, you won't even need to roll if you have just the right mutation or ability for a situation!
Wait! You said problem solving wasn't just a simple skill check! It's not. Simple activities might be a single roll of the dice, but most problems will lead into some sort of minigame to keep it interesting. You'll either need to exceed a goal number a set number times before failing it twice in a row, or challenge another player or the GM to bid higher and higher goals before the roll, or wear down an adversary's Resolve with arguments, or play cat-and-mouse games with guards with opposed rolling, or all the players contributing their various different skill checks to a big collaborative effort.
Can I lea- The gamemaster's handbook also has real, useful tools so a GM isn't left to pull BS out of nowhere for such common issues as: How quickly does a fire spread and how much does it hurt to be in? How fast does someone actually fall? If someone wants to pick up another dude and throw 'em, how far does he go? How hard is it to break objects? Why is That Rule the way it is?
Are there rules for kissing elves? No. We have no elves to kiss. But you can kiss all sorts of weird things and the selectable mutations can be read as a tag list if you're into that sort of thing. Hypnotic Suggestion, Tenacles, Height Adjustment, Monkey Feet, Prehensile Tail, Snake Legs, Web Spinneret, Elastic Body, Pain Induction, Telepathy... And for the truly freaky, Ventriloquism.
That's it. That's the FAQ.
