RUST AGE

26 Aug, 2026

Welcome to the RUST AGE.

sprite by me

If you can comprehend these words, you are a Mind. You are housed inside a Body, which is physical. Let's go through it in order. (Reader, write down each bolded entry on a separate index card like you're making items for a video game. You can draw pictures too.)

Bodies are made of Components. They look like this:

Megaprocessor: PRC 12, ER 1, MASS 1.

Cycloptics: ER 1, MASS 2, [SEN +2]. Great long-range sight, fuzzy up close.

That first Component is a computer housing your Mind. It provides 12 Processing (PRC), has 1 Energy Requirement (ER), and weighs 1 unit of MASS. If the Component holding your Mind is destroyed, you cease to exist. The second Component is an optics unit that lets you see far away, but it's not good at seeing things up close.

Let's look at your Mind now. Minds are made of Programs. They look like this:

Spark of Life: DATA 4, [EGO +3]. Your core consciousness loop. This is YOU.

Language Interpreter: DATA 5. You understand and can converse in all machine languages with average fluency.

The Spark is the core of every Thinking machine, like you or me. If it ever loses its housing, it is destroyed. If its housing loses power, it simply falls "asleep", but may not wake back up the same person. Be careful with yours! That second Program lets you communicate in any language. Programs have a DATA rating which is how much PRC is needed to run them. DATA is also size for the purposes of storing them elsewhere.

Your current body is pretty beat up. Let's give you a new one with the parts I have laying around... (Reader, roll on or choose from each chart and make a new card for each new part.)

First is a shell. These are large Components that will give you slots to install other Components, like arms or optics. They inform your overall bodyplan and shape, and grant you SLOTs. Each SLOT can hold a Component up to its listed size in MASS. You can only have one shell.

Now let's give you some locomotion! These give you MOV, which is how many feet you can move in a round. They also have a Support rating (SUPP), which is how much MASS they can move, total! If you got something that already gives you MOV, then just skip this part. You can have as many of these as you want, but you can only use one at a time.

Lets add some manipulators next. These give you Dexterity (DEX), which is for fine motor controls and precise work, and Strength (STR), which is for shoving and lifting things. Grab up to 2 of these, or none!

How do you feel about your Cycloptics? If you want, you can replace it no problem. We can get you some other sensor Components while we're at it. These give you Sensors (SEN), which is for inspecting your surroundings and detecting threats, and generally determine how you can sense the world around you. Usually sensor Components only provide their SEN when appropriate: optics for vision, mics for sound, etc. Grab a free Multiscanner in addition to other parts if you want to cover your bases.

Finally, it's time to give yourself a power source. These grant you Energy (ENRG), which is used to power everything else. Make sure you grab one or more that provides enough ENRG to cover all of your Components. Most of these take some kind of fuel; without fuel, it won't produce anything!

How does your new Body feel? Feel free to tinker with the parts here if the requirements aren't lining up to be functional. Now that that's all taken care of, we should make a quick Summary Page... (Reader, make one last card containing the following information. Make sure it's in pencil so you can edit it as your form changes.)

This is mine to give you an example:

Name: Iveri (it/its)
HP: 8/8
Total MASS: 26
ER/ENRG: 14/16
DATA/PRC: 11/16
[STR +1] [DEX +2] [SEN +2] [EGO +4]
[MOV 4] [EDEF 14]

Let's go through it. First is your name and pronouns, how you're addressed. Next is HP, or Hit Points. This is equal to the MASS of your Shell Component, but may be modified further. Then there's the total MASS of your entire Body. Just add up every Component's MASS. The next two lines are for keeping track of how much ENRG and PRC you have and how much each is being used up with ER and DATA. Be sure to only count Programs you have installed, not stored somewhere.

Then there are the attributes: STR, DEX, SEN, and EGO. These values are added to (or subtracted from) the result of rolling a Check using the relevant attribute. Strength (STR) is for moving heavy things and striking, Dexterity (DEX) is for fine motorics and interfacing, Sensors (SEN) is for inspecting and noticing things as well as aiming ranged systems, and EGO is for wielding your sense of self and force of personality. If any of these aren't listed, then they are simply 0.

Below those are MOV, PDEF, and EDEF. Movement (MOV) is how many 5x5ft spaces you can travel in a turn, and is also a measure of your overall speed. Physical Defense (PDEF) and Electronic Defense (EDEF) is the number an opponent needs to meet in order to hit you physically or with electronic attacks. If a defense score isn't listed, it is 10, like my PDEF.

That's all! If I missed anything I'm sure you'll figure it out. The world's a big place, and it can be scary at times, but just remember your village is looking out for you and counting on you to get through things. If you ever need help, just drop by, though I do need to charge for extra parts now. The scrapmerchants don't take favors, after all.

(Reader, equipped with your deck of cards representing your Body and Mind, you are ready to head out into the wider world. Find a like-minded friend or two and explore together. It's the Rust Age, and settlements are still reforming their connections with each other. Maybe the town on the other side of the Hollow Hull Mountains has a solution for your village's failing central reactor? It could be worth looking into.)

""Rules""

• Play Rust Age like it's not about you.
• Modify your Mind and Body. Get crazy with it.
• When something is time-sensitive, risky, or uncertain, roll a 1d20 and add a relevant attribute when it's applicable. Target numbers are 10 for simple tasks, 15 for difficult tasks, or 20 for the nearly impossible (interpolate if you want more gradation in difficulty.)
• Components take no more than an hour to install or remove.
• Programs take minutes to download, an hour to install, and [DATA] days to copy (with a specialized Component). Your Spark can't be copied, but it can be transferred.
• Store unused Programs and information in Components that provide STOR. 1 STOR can hold 1 DATA.
• The world was terraformed millennia ago, humans never showed up. Every person is a robot. New Sparks awaken all the time.
• Things used to be pretty nice, but something happened and now the world is burgeoning into new, shaky life.
• Humanoid? Facial features? Nah, embrace the Construction Crane Chieftain. The Roomba Farmer. The Sentry Turret Kids.
• Pretty much all Components with PRC can communicate short-range via radio. Don't worry about not being able to talk because you don't have a speaker or whatever.
• Make up new Components and Programs. Like, a ton.
• Utility things don't have to be Components, you can just hold tools and weapons.
• Components can be scrapped for [MASS] Scrap: basic metals and plastics for building stuff.
• They can also be carefully harvested for 1 or 2 useful items: capacitors, circuits, lasers, motors, magnets. Valuable items that can be used to repair or craft new Components with the right know-how.
• At 0 HP, each new point of damage damages a Component, external ones first. Damaged Components only provide half of whatever they do. Repairing them costs Scrap and harvested items. Once everything is damaged, new damage destroys Components.
• Your Spark contains your personality and memory, but not extra skills. Those are Programs that need to be installed. Find or buy them to learn blueprints, how to hack, farm chembeans, synthesize cryotheum, manage a drone swarm, etc.
• The Rust Age is dangerous, but you don't have to be. Figure out how much violence (if any) there will be in your game. You can always avoid threats or hack them or whatever too.
• You'll probably need a player to be the GM, but maybe you all can do it together.

This hasn't been tested one bit. Hope you like it! >.o