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I imagine that's left completely up to the GM. It's likely an offshoot from the writer having the view that no one would ever live long enough for things like learning new skills to be possible hence why there aren't any rules for learning new skills in the game. So age and development were also considered irrelevant as he seemed to confuse AtB with Paranoia where everyone's supposed to end up dead so nothing they do matters.

If I remember correctly, the answer I received some time back regarding the lack of character progression beyond starting skills, was that they didn't expect campaigns in AtB to last long enough for this to be an issue. This is part of the reason characters can start off with so many skills compared to those in other settings.

I did post a method that added the ability to learn and teach characters new skills, that you may be interested in checking out: http://atbwarehouse.blogspot.com/2007/04/teacherinstructor.html

As for aging, there are no set rules so it's up to the GM, but in a post-apocalyptic setting it's usually rather short (malnutrition, illness, predators, radiation, etc), however there are mentions of mutant animals and humans with exceptionally long life spans: Weschek the Wise (84), Emperor Christian(96), and Doctor Wilbur Vincent (136).

I'm not sure the brothers on the half shell are supposedly still around ....and if that's true they seem to stick with a longer life span ...unless the setting is only 110 years into the future...witch is the normal life span for some turtle species.

hollowecho wrote:I'm not sure the brothers on the half shell are supposedly still around ....and if that's true they seem to stick with a longer life span ...unless the setting is only 110 years into the future...witch is the normal life span for some turtle species.

Well it's not like early maturity precludes a long lifespan as an adult, the turtles could have an accelerated maturing rate compared to humans and still manage to live longer. The ATB setting itself, at least from the original books, can't be more than a hundred years or so after things fell apart since one of the NPC (that addled-minded scientist) is old enough to have lived through the crash. I think he was like 146.

hollowecho wrote:I'm not sure the brothers on the half shell are supposedly still around ....and if that's true they seem to stick with a longer life span ...unless the setting is only 110 years into the future...witch is the normal life span for some turtle species.

At the back of the Road Hogs supplement, there is a mini-comic that has at least one of the original Turtles surviving as the sensei of a new group of ninja turtles, and his students make reference to his "great age". I think this was the only direct reference to the Ninja Turtles in the original After the Bomb setting. The only other vague reference that may be attributable to the Turtles is the "ninja organization known as the Gang of Four" in Gatorland. Whether this is a clue that Ninja Turtles survived, are here by other means (time travel?), or exists solely as a nod and a wink to TMNT fans, are entirely up to the GM.

The best advice I can give, as a long time fan of the setting, is this, make the setting and the story your own; bring in elements that contradict the books if you want, don't be a slave to the rule books. If you don't find anything in the rules about something (or event if you do), make your own rules, or leave it as a mystery that can be explored in a future adventure.