Escape the Apocalypse - design diary 3
By Alex White
- 4 minutes read - 824 wordsI said earlier that the game now known as Escape the Apocalypse would be based on The Long Road Home, but would have some changes to better suit the source material. Well, little did I suspect how much I was going to end up changing!
The Driver for Change
The more I looked at post-apocalyptic settings, it became clear to me that resource scarcity was a big theme across many of those settings, and so resources felt like it ought to be important in Escape to Apocalypse too.
Touchstones become Beacons
Each characters touchstone becomes a Beacon for them. The hope that drives them onwards. The Beacon might be a family member, a friend, a lover; or it might be faith, government, or legacy. These are the stakes which you are gambling for as you head for Utopia. Will your beacon actually be there at the end?
Settings become Zones
Rather than use settings to distinguish how long it has been since the apocalypse took place, as I was thinking earlier, I am now using them for what I call 'Zones'.
The point of settings in the original game was to allow locations and threats which were distinct for a particular setting (fey, shadowed, sylvan etc). Post-apocalyptic games are typically happening on earth, somewhere around the present day. But the kind of threats and environmental challenges you meet will be different in urban, rural, industrial and wilderness zones... So I've decided that the game includes all those zones. You start off Act 1 in an Urban zone, and in Act 2 and Act 3 you have the opportunity to move to other zones, where there are different threats and opportunities.
In particular, some zones have a resource cost that has to be paid while you are in those zones. Industrial and Wilderness areas you have to spend some of your food resources. In Wilderness zones you also have to spend tool resources. In Urban and Rural areas you can find enough food to subsist on without digging in to your precious resources.
Different zones make it easier to pick up extra resources. Urban zones are good for food and medicines, Rural zones are good for weapons, Industrial zones are good for tools, and Wilderness zones are good for secrets.
Threats have Value
I'm still using playing cards to provide interesting threats - but what if I use the value of the card to provide a difficulty that the threat causes? Perhaps a 2 represents a single toddler zombie, while a King (value 13) represents being suddenly surrounded by a horde of mutant zombies? We can scale this nicely by multiplying the threat value by the number of players.
And players must use the cards which they have in their hand in order to meet or exceed the total value of threat. If they succeed, then they overcome the threat and gain some additional resources. If they fail, then they must either sacrifice one of their supporting characters or someone has to accept a 'Dead Man Walking' token...
Now, we've been collecting resources, haven't we? Well, resources can be spent on a 1 for 1 basis to add to your party attempting to overcome a threat. But to use medicines, you have to play a heart. To use tools, you have to play a diamond. To use weapons you have to play a club. To use secrets you have to play a spade. Choices, choices!
Allies and... Traitors?
Supporting Characters are valuable for the role-playing juice that they add to the game, and because they provide a contribution to overcoming threats (+2 per supporting character). However, things are not always rosy after the apocalypse. If you are in an industrial or wilderness zone and you cannot spend enough resources to keep everyone happy, there is Trouble in the Ranks. This means that all supporting characters withdraw their support against threats, and their negative personality trait comes to the fore in all interactions with them.
Homecoming becomes Arrival
As well as the discovery about your beacon, you will also discover at the end of the game whether the future for humanity as a whole seems bright, dim, or dire - based on the genre of game you are playing and how many unused secrets you have discovered along the way.
The likelihood of a happy ending with your beacon depends upon whether you have a Dead Man Walking token associated with you or not. Additionally someone who has a Dead Man Walking token may choose to sacrifice themselves, have a worse ending, to boost someone else's ending. Keep the drama going right to the very end!
Next Steps
Continue testing the mechanics at various number of players.
Refine the lists of threats, especially the apocalyptic threats. There are some placeholders that I'm not especially happy with at the moment. Then provide descriptive sentences to bring each entry to life a little bit.
So plenty to do!