Books and Magazines

Books and magazines are old pre-War publications which provided information and entertainment to the masses. In the wasteland, they’re a useful source of forgotten or rare information. When you discover a book or magazine during looting or when trading with someone else, roll to determine which publication it is.

All books and magazines have a Weight of <1, a Cost of 100, and a Rarity of 3.

Perks: When you read a magazine, it grants a temporary perk, a bonus which applies once, normally on a single skill test, a single attack, or other distinct situation. If you have the Comprehension perk (p.62) you have a chance to use the benefit again. Once you used a temporary perk, you may choose to learn it permanently when you next level up; otherwise, you forget it and must find another copy of that magazine to ‘remind’ yourself of the perk.

... A Delilah Powers Story

A pre-War series of romantic novellas popular among southern suburban housewives who consumed the pulp fiction voraciously. The stories were often campy-teetering-on-absurd and laden with propaganda, featuring erotically charged stories set in space or on the front-lines of combat. The rapid release schedule led to accusations of the use of ghost writers, but the publisher, Heartland Publications, insisted that "Ms. Powers wrote every line of every story."

Perk: Depending on the individual novella found, you receive a different perk, which you may benefit from for a single scene. If you later learn the perk, you may use that benefit constantly. Roll to determine the issue found:

Random Delilah Powers Novellas

D20 ROLL	ISSUE	EFFECT
1-2	Always Use Protectron	+2 to all damage resistances against Robots for one scene
3-4	Operation: Anchorage Nights	You may re-roll 1d20 on a single Speech or Barter test
5-6	Becoming Mrs. Uncle Sam	+1 Maximum Health Points to all party members for one scene
7-8	Fusion Cowboy	+1 on attacks with Energy weapons
9-10	The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter	You may re-roll 1d20 on a single Pilot test
11-12	Mantan of The Jungle	When you spend a Luck point to re-roll a d20 on an STR test, instead count that die as if it had rolled a 1
13-14	Atomic Hearts	After spending a fusion core charge, you may spend 1 Luck point: if you do so the charge is not spent
14-15	Finding Love on Mars	When you spend a Luck point to re-roll a d20 on a CHA test, instead count that die as if it had rolled a 1
16-17	My Lover, My Communist?!	+1 on attacks with Small Guns weapons
18-19	Super Powered Romance	The group AP pool may contain 1 AP more than normal for one scene
19-20	Power Armor For Two	At the start of one scene, add +1 AP to the group pool if you are wearing Power Armor