STALKER 2’s tabletop roleplaying game equivalent is Rad

We’re now a week out from STALKER 2’s release, which marks an important part of every game’s lifecycle: long enough for players to get a taste, but not long enough for all the bugs to be patched. What’s left behind is an insatiable urge to engage with media that scratches that same itch. Luckily, Rad, the post-soviet nuclear wasteland tabletop role-playing game, has exactly what you’re looking for.

Created by Argentinian game designer Hipólita, Rad is set in an alternate history in which the United States turned the Cold War hot, launching a nuclear attack. Survivors found safety underground, hiding from the radiation that lingered on the surface. In the irradiated aftermath, the only people left rely on community-focused mutual aid to fend off the dangers and faction-based violence of the wastes. Bullets are the foundation of this post-fall economy, and every bullet fired comes at a hefty cost.

Rad’s base system is inspired by Old School Renaissance style play, specifically citing the mechanics of Isaac William’s Mausritter — a sword-and-whiskers fantasy RPG of woodland creatures. Never veering too far from the soviet theme, the character creation process is classless, offering 36 unique backgrounds. Collectivism plays a role in character advancement, with solidarity, mutual aid, and community efforts the primary path for characters to level up.

Rad’s mechanics offer a range of experiences depending on which area of the game you want to focus on, with rules for managing a small community littered with loyalists and spies, minigames for map-building, and exploration quests with intense resource management that reward careful strategy over wanton violence. Those that prefer the first-person shooter element of the STALKER franchise aren’t left in the radiated dust though, as Rad offers a set of mechanics specifically for upgrading and modifying firearms.