“Today, We Celebrate our Independence Day!”

 

Happy 4th of July!

Oh no!  Weregrog is going to bore us with some political screed about how great/not great/could be great (again) “‘Merica” is.  Well, I won't.

But I do want to talk about one thing and how it relates to this day:  D&D and RPGs.

Yes!  D&D/RPGs are an original, American invention and pastime; more American than (Dutch) apple pie, to be sure.  I think that the magic sauce of values that made this a free country is what makes something like D&D possible – a place where its people (or We the People) are free to have “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” with things like freedom of expression (through play) and freedom of the (game book ) press.  I feel this liberty also engenders the prosperity and leisure time necessary to indulge in frivolities like make-believe elf games, and I find that this is true regardless of how the country overall is doing at any one particular time (the 1970s were not that economically great and Gygax worked on D&D while unemployed!)  Finally, there is the spirit of independence.  And to me, this is personified by DIY D&D/RPGs and the OSR.

All that is worth celebrating!

Speaking of DIY, and since I'm on a Fallout (D6) kick, here's a vehicle for the game and the ‘Lanta Wasteland setting (did I tell you it’s going to feature vehicles?!): the Freedom Chariot.

Freedom Chariot

Move (meters per round/kilometers per hour): 84/60 kph 

Passengers (including driver): 1-2 

Toughness: 4D 

Maneuverability: +3D 

Price: 6,500 caps (unique)

Description: while former Regulator Commander Jessup Dux is no longer mobile, and spends most of his days drinking and swearing rather than working on customer’s war-wagons at Dux Garage, his daughter Maisey is extremely talented with machines (and pretty much runs the Garage these days.)  She has secretly worked on this mobility scooter for her father so that he can take impromptu trips to the nearby settlement of Woodfort, which while close, could still be a dangerous trek due to the many dangers of the ‘Lanta Wasteland.

The Freedom Chariot's reinforced frame is cobbled from various motorcycle and car parts and outfitted with a hybrid microfusion-methane engine, making it slightly more powerful and maneuverable than what one would expect for a vehicle of this type.  The forward area features a cargo basket and attached combat rifle for both long and short-range defense, while the rear platform can be used for either extra cargo or standing room for one passenger.  Rim and tire spikes function to repel flanking enemies, or grind Wasteland vermin and fallen enemies alike into paste.  The American Commonwealth flag is there to remind her father of his famous war-wagon, the General Sherman, and invoke the fear of the Old World into his enemies.