The Survivor – update

It’s been a while since I reported on how the design of The Survivor was going.  A quick reminder – The Survivor is a solo role playing/card game where you play the sole surviving  astronaut that has crashed on a planet.  It uses a standard deck of playing cards and some dice.  So…

It’s going well.  I was having an issue with how to move between the crash site and the beacon.  There wasn’t enough linkage or coordination between movement and the passage of days.  I found myself getting to the beacon well before the end of the month.  With the help of my gaming buddy Keith Carter, the movement issue has been solved.  Instead of just rolling a single die to determine how many spaces to move, you now take the difference of two dice and move that many spaces.  Not a big change but it helps a lot.  Also, Keith came up with an idea.  Rolling doubles determines whether you move toward the beacon or away.  That added aspect enhanced the game.

While pondering the movement issue I had an idea of how to convert the challenge resolution mechanic to a card based one from a dice based one.  I worked that out and modified the challenge chart accordingly.  But I can’t decide which version I like better.  It’s out to some playtesters to help me decide which way to go.

In the meantime I’m building unique challenge cards to move away from the challenge chart.  I originally intended or devised the game for a standard deck of cards.  But the game is a bit cumbersome with the challenge chart.  Having to look up the challenges each time slows the game down.  So I’m designing challenge cards to replace the chart.  These will be the cards that are flipped each day to find out what that day’s challenge will be.  Each has the challenge, conditions needed to overcome that challenge, the consequences of failing, and the benefits of overcoming the challenge.  And graphics.

Another idea that has returned is the journal or diary.   I originally had you writing out the story as you went.  The narration part was dropped at some point.  But I’ve added it back.  It was one of the unique aspects of the game that I liked.  It brings in a storytelling aspect that I enjoy and sets it apart.

I’ll post more of the actual game soon.