Mundane Background - "The Natural" by Theo McGuckin
In a world where purple robed pyschopaths can hurl nuclear bombs from their fists, bald-headed freaks can control or detonate your mind, white-robed zealots can kill you or cure with equal skill and frizzy-haired weirdos can build robots to fight for them, the average waster is best off staying home, clutching his gun and hoping the neighbors don't come a callin'. Indeed it takes a trully exceptional person to go out and actively hunt out the monsters of the wastes with nothing but a gun, a few bullets and their own skill. This person invariably has some knack, some edge, some forte, something that they are a NATURAL at to help them. This edge lets player choose one skill at creation that the character has a +2 to all rolls for. This bonus only applies to that skill and if the skill has concentrations then the player must choose one (you're a natural at shootin:pistols, not shootin).
Mundane Background - "Reluctant Hero" by Theo McGuckin
Why you? You ask yourself that every day. All you want is to go find a nice little farm inside a town with a really high wall and lots of guns and OTHER people to use them and live out your life. But that bastard Fate keeps screwing with your life. You tried to tell the town that a rock just happened to fall on that Doomie's head and kill him, but they all insisted it was you. The fact that the rock hit you too didn't seem to change their minds.
The next thing you knew you were on the road with this bunch of weirdos to hunt down a PACK of doomsayers. You couldn't even escape on your watch last night. You tried but instead you wound up tripping over a mutie that was hiding in the bushes and ended up alerting the group to an ambush that was about to take place. Now they think you're some type of hero too, and have elected you their scout. Why you?
Your character doesn't want to adventure, but things just keep happening that push him along that course. No matter what he does adventures just seem to hunt him down. If you take this background edge then the marshal gets free reign to throw you into any type of circumstances he wants. You're basically a tool for Fate to play with. The good news is you get some help along the way, although probably NOT in the form you'd like. In game terms anytime your char. rolls a critical failure then it counts as both a critical failure for him and his target. If he was trying to dodge an attack, then he slips on a rock and hits his head in the fall. But the rock also goes flying and knocks the gun out of the hand of the person that was shooting him. If he was driving a car then he crashes the car INTO the other guy's. Destroying both. If he was shooting a gun then his gun blows apart in his hand, but his target dodged anyway, right off a cliff. Suffice to say that however bad it is for you, your opponents going to be just as bad off.
Note that with "Reluctant Hero" the effect of the botch should be appropriate to the roll that was made. A botched combat roll should result in damage or damage to the combat equipment of the opponent. A botched social roll should result in a bad social situation for the opponent, or the opponent giving away a key piece of information. Also note that if the character botches a roll that doesn't interact with someone else "Reluctant Hero" has no effect. So if the player were to botch a tracking roll to find the villain, the villain wouldn't spontaneously fall out of his jeep 20 miles away and break his neck. The mundane background would have no effect in this case.
You are also Yeller and have the Luck of the Irish. You're going to need it.
Mundane Background: "There is no God!" by Theo McGuckin
Well maybe there is, but he sure doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with you. You don't know what it is, but magic and all of its effects just don't seem to work on you. Good or bad. Your character is TOTALLY unaffected by all magic. Doomsayer miracles, syker powers, black magic, hexes, miracles, blessings, favors, magical powers of creatures. None of it works on you. Directly.
You might walk right out of a Nuke, but if you were on a bridge at the time you are still going to fall to your death. And while you may be able to punch right through a syker's Force Field, bullets from your gun don't (and neither would a sword you were using) and if you were to punch a Doomsayer his Molecular Cohesion would still work as it is healing him, not stopping you.
This Mundane Background is a real double-edged sword. It may be nice to ignore all those wiz-bang powers. But it sucks when you're still nursing wounds from 3 weeks ago while everyone else is walking around perfectly fine because the Templar healed them.
As a result of your unique interaction (or lack thereof) with magic you are also a Doubting Thomas.
Mundane Background: "Action Hero" by Theo McGuckin
You don't know what it is about you, but your life is just one big thrill-ride of an adventure! Everywhere you go, bullets are whizzing, buildings are exploding, bodies are flying through the air... and the women/men! They can't seem to get enough of you! Your friends just don't get it. They don't understand the thrill of charging head-first, guns blazing at the enemy then leaping through the air, killing two, landing at the thirds feet with a roll and taking him down with a quick knee-elbow-fist combo.
Action Heros definitely bring an "over the top" feel to the game. They can do things with guns that most average people can't even dream of.And they always seem to be moving too. As one Action Hero put it: "Cover is for wusses and nancy-boys." No ones heard from him in some time...
Action Heros never suffer movement penalties to their actions (like shooting). They can sprint, roll, dive and jump and still suffer no penalties to their rolls. They get no bonuses, they just don't have to take the penalties Someone shooting AT an Action Hero suffers the normal penalties.
HtH is effected in one of two ways for Action Heros:
1. If the Action Hero has the edge Martial Arts Training (many do) then he does not have to declare maneuvers before rolling to hit. Rather he can roll, see the result and then decide if he wants to use a special move. He gets no bonuses to the rolls.
2. If the Action Hero does not have the Martial Arts Training edge, then he can learn maneuvers just as if he did. He gets a number of them equal to his fightin':brawlin' skill. These manuevers tend to be a bit more straight-forward though. A Flying Kick might be a simple Tackle instead, for example. Even though he's getting some spiffy techniques, since he doesn't have the Martial Arts Training edge, don't forget that the damage he causes is only considered brawling and not lethal.
In order to take MB: Action Hero the character must have a minimum Mien of 2d10. Whether the brooding loner with a dark past, or the handsome leading lady that all the men fall over themselves for, the Action Hero ALWAYS has a strong presence.
The Action Hero also gets the following edges/hinderances: Insane Bravado (see back of The Junkman Cometh), Heroic (naturally), Brave and Big Britches. Note, unlike normal hinderances, where there is no penalty for not playing them (you just don't get chips), the marshal should feel free to penalize an Action Hero for not being Heroic and Impulsive (hey you're getting a lot, you have to live up to the reputation). Action Heroes who don't act like Action Heroes quickly find themselves losing their special abilities...