Apocalyptic Swords & Wizardry - Food, Fuel, Bullets, and Parts: The Currencies of the Future

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First things first: when discussing a gonzo post-apocalyptic setting, the simplest foundation to build upon is the economy. Or, more specifically, common resources often serving in trade or as treasure: fuel, ammunition, and mechanical/electronic parts. The necessities of post-apocalyptic "civilization", if one can call it so.

The basic economic unit in my version of the gonzo apocalyptic future is the Trade Unit (TU). A TU is the worth of enough food for one person for one day. In the less-contaminated parts of the Slag Marsh, water drinkable by mutants who survived for generations on untreated water. In more arid settings, the water required by one person for one day is also worth a TU. Food for one day weighs 2 pounds.

Pre-Collapse vehicles, as well as jury-rigged post-Collapsed vehicles use fuel. I won't go as far as to differentiate the various kinds of petrol products, as an abstraction, a Can of Fuel weighs 10 pounds (just as a US "Jerrycan" weighs) and is worth 100 TU. (Fuel can also serve to create Molotov Cocktails, 10 per Can of Fuel.

Making bullets is relatively easy with certain mechanical tools and chemical supplies a post-apocalyptic town with access to pre-Collapse scrap. However, the standard dirty bullets, made after the Collapse, are inferior to advanced bullets, made before it with mass industrial technology rather than in a post-apocalyptic cottage industry. Dirty bullets are standard; they also jam the gun on a natural result of 1 or 2 on the 1d20 attack roll. The rarer advanced bullets never jam the gun and enjoy a +1 bonus to both attack and damage rolls. Bullets (as an abstraction) come as either handgun ammunition, rifle ammunition, or shotgun shells. 50 bullets of any type weigh 1 pound. 10 dirty bullets cost 1 TU; a single advanced bullet is worth 1 TU.

Most scrap left by the Collapse is not very useful for post-apocalyptic tinkering, such as repairing pre-Collapse tech and jury-rigging contraptions. 1 pound of useful mechanical parts is worth 5 TU, and 1 pound of useful electronic parts is worth 10 TU.

Food, Fuel, Bullets, and Parts may serve as "coinage". Of course, when finding a stockpile of fuel, the intrepid scavenger will have to be careful when carrying such valuable, but flammable, load back to "civilization"... Note that the most valuable "currency" compared to its weight are advanced bullets, at a worth of 50 TU per pound.