Ashes Without Number — Post-apocalyptic sandbox from the SWN designer

"The old world burned. All that's left is deciding what you'll carry out of the ashes."

Free B/X

Diced20 (combat) + 2d6 (skills)

Players3–6

Prep~20 min

Foundry VTTCommunity

Complexity

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What is this system

Ashes Without Number is Kevin Crawford's 2025 post-apocalyptic RPG, the fourth in the Without Number family and compatible with Stars, Worlds and Cities. The old-school chassis is d20 for combat, 2d6 for skills, and Edges plus a Focus at character creation. The real draw is the toolkit: the book helps you build your own end of the world, from nuclear wasteland to zombie plague, with enclaves, factions and ready-made adventure hooks.

Is it for your table?

Pick it if

your GM wants tools to build a custom apocalypse: nuclear, zombie or mutant
you want an old-school sandbox around enclaves, factions and scarcity
your group already knows Stars, Worlds or Cities Without Number

Skip it if

you want a ready-made post-apocalypse with a fixed story
your table prefers narrative dice over d20 and 2d6 checks
your group wants a cyberpunk city rather than ruins and survival

Setting

The apocalypse of your choice. The book supports three genres: After the Fall (social collapse, invasion and global disaster), Deadlands (zombie hordes and besieged enclaves) and Mutant Wasteland (post-nuclear wastes with mutants and mysterious tech). The modules switch on and off, so you can blend them or keep just one.

What it looks like at the table

The party reaches an enclave rolled from two tags, Chokepoint and Contaminated Land: one path through the poisoned district, and raiders hold it. The scout looks for a way around: 2d6 + skill + attribute modifier, and the total beats the difficulty, so the group comes at the raiders from the flank. A short firefight, and the gunner kills a man. By the Stress chart he now takes stress, because in this world even a justified killing leaves a mark.

Playstyle

Survival Sandbox Exploration Post-Apoc

Key mechanics

Build-your-own apocalypse

Step-by-step tools build your end of the world: nuclear war, civil collapse, zombie plague, alien invaders. Genre modules (vehicle raiders, mutants, zombies) plug in as you like without changing the core rules.

Enclaves

System-agnostic rules for outposts, tribal villages and refugee camps. There are 80 enclave tags: roll two and combine them. Instead of fixed asset lists, enclaves get descriptive Features.

Stress

A chart puts a price on specific actions: killing another person, for example, gives you stress. In a world where there's never enough of anything, hard choices take a toll on the mind, not just the body.

The Without Number chassis

Rolled attributes, backgrounds, skills and saving throws, plus Edges and a Focus. Combat is d20 vs AC; skills are 2d6. The moment-to-moment rules fit on a single page. Compatible with Stars, Worlds and Cities Without Number.

What people say

Ashes Without Number is a great single book if you want to play in a variety of tones from homespun apocalypse to a thinly-veiled The Walking Dead, Fallout, or Gamma World-esque romp.— Cameron Kunzelman, The A.V. Club

That basic framework is also deeply efficient and easy to learn.— Cameron Kunzelman, The A.V. Club

Art & materials