What exactly is all of this?
One of my ongoing passions and interests lies not only within playing tabletop role-playing games, but designing and adapting new mechanics and experiences within them. This project represents one of my first fully fledged attempts at creating a full game system with resources to aid players adapted from two popular post-apocalyptic survival games.
"Frostpunk is the first society survival game. As the ruler of the last city on Earth, it is your duty to manage both its citizens and infrastructure. What decisions will you make to ensure your society's survival? What will you do when pushed to breaking point? Who will you become in the process?"
-11 Bit Studios, 2018, Frostpunk
"Apocalypse World is the award-winning and critically acclaimed game by Meguey & Vincent Baker that launched the Powered by the Apocalypse school of rpg design, kicking off a revolution in tabletop RPGs.
Apocalypse World is a gritty narrative focused RPG about characters surviving in a post-apocalyptic setting. The apocalypse happened 50 years ago, the nature of the catastrophe is co-created by the players as they build the details of their unique world and find out what their characters do to survive. You’ll play characters with agency and vision: the leader of a bike gang, an untouchable gun lugger, the head of a post-apocalyptic stronghold, and more.
There are no preplanned adventures or settings for Apocalypse World. Instead there are clear agendas and principles to build our own apocalypse and play to find out what happens. The apocalypse is here; visionaries and protectors, battles and bullets, and the world’s psychic maelstrom pressing in at the edge of perception. What are you going to make of what’s left of the world?"
-Deernicorn Distro, 2010, Heart of the Deernicorn
Powered by the Apocalpyse and its design theory
" 'Powered by the Apocalypse' isn't the name of a category of games, a set of games' features, or the thrust of any games' design. It's the name of Meg's and my policy concerning others' use of our intellectual property and creative work."
-D. Vincent Baker, 2017
The work of the Bakers was something I studied closely in my undergraduate years, and with their sources I learned a great deal about creative writing, world-building, collaborative storytelling, character development, system design, playtesting, and more. The school of design known as Powered by the Apocalypse, or PbtA, simplifies mechanical concepts as much as possible to enable players and characters to confront- or avoid- conflict and the consequences thereof. This is what made it most appealing to adapt from and work with for a survival genre.
Because these systems are guided towards episodic adventures that are easy and effective to delve into and out of, one of the most important questions that a facilitator and their players can ask is: "what would happen if nobody intervened?" An engaging experience as such often comes from giving players agency and importance in their involvement within the narrative's collaborative effort, even if their importance may seem unassuming. PbtA aims to highlight how every individual has an important part to play in the creation of a story, and that their investment can actively make a difference in the ultimate outcome of events. This notion is central to the design philosophy behind this project.
New systems & features design
Levels of Warmth & Illness: "Your vitality and ability to survive in this harsh land is based not just on your grit, but on your ability to stay warm. As the days and times vary, the weather may grow more or less cold by certain values. For every point of Cold that is active beyond the amount of Warmth your character has, your character will be treated as if they have already taken an additional point of harm. Luckily, some structures grant extra warmth, but the Captain can also control the distribution of warmth throughout the city via the Generator. Whenever you enter a new area, you will be told how cold it is there. If you count for too much harm due to cold for too long, you may receive an Illness or injury that could be longer lasting or even permanent."
Marks of Sin & Absolution: "Sin for a character determines if they live or die, for a person who is filled with evil has no place in the city. If a character does something wrong, write down their Sin for them to remember. If they get discovered for it by the authorities, they are branded for it with the shape of a hash mark- up to six unresolved in total before being ordered to execution. Choosing to create a character with the vices and troubles of sins affords them bonus equipment upon their introduction to the story. No matter how much sin a character has been branded for, they can also atone for sins as well. If a character addresses a sin, succeeds in an action in order to correct it, and brings evidence of it to a capable member of the Church, they can receive Absolution."
Factions, Fields, & Professions: "There are four vital Factions of industry which allow the city to survive which all include three particular fields beneath them: Labor, who maintains resources; Science, who maintain knowledge; Conduct, who maintain authority; and Public, who maintain society. Your chosen field will include three professions- subclasses of options within your playbook that give you a more specific role in the city. It will also tell you where you work specifically and who is of importance to you."
Backgrounds, Histories, & Lifestyles: "Every character has Background features that better define their skill sets. You will be asked to choose a variety of features from a list that define your character’s life and skills more closely in detail. Your Lifestyle will determine general things about your character’s work and possessions: You will be told what Tier of citizen you are and how much unresolved Sin you possess, you will know your Pay rate for normal working hours and overtime as well as how many credits you start out with, you will have a Residence given to you where you stay as well as who you may stay with, and any conditions for your lifestyle, your work, or your equipment may also be described to you."
Matte painting with in-game screenshots by Sean Herman
Worldbuilding and playtesting for future development
This system follows the assumption of a normal playthrough of Frostpunk's narrative, where a settlement of survivors assemble a city around one of man's last known steampunk Generators to survive against a Victorian ice age's everlasting frosts. It runs under the assumption of players designing their own city and its features to support their settlement and promote future endeavors, labors, and challenges of survival.
I've already gathered peers to facilitate testing sessions and have ongoing records of playtesting feedback from figures of all backgrounds and levels of experience in tabletop role-playing games, giving me plenty of content to continue working on in the future. My current hope is to finish first iterations of every available playbook and to attend community tabletop events through my local games store and my undergraduate associates to continue playtesting before elevating the scope of the system.
Still, plenty of other elements are in the works. Item systems and inventories, character creation templates, upper level gameplay, inspirational lore entries, premade modules, and more still lie on the horizon. I would also wish to leave room for detailed gameplay balancing and stat analysis, as well as opportunities for players to create their own custom playbooks to enhance their own game experiences.
All of this being said, my greatest concern for future development lies within the use of existing franchises. It is very likely that I will have to shift gears and steer away from the dress and feel of the IPs involved, steering more towards a more open-ended format that doesn't infringe upon the genre's roots by opting for new naming conventions and verbiage.
The Playbooks (works in progress)
Stay tuned for future playbooks and updates!
Citations:
11 Bit Studios S.A. 2018, Frostpunk Logo, digital image, FrostpunkGame.com, accessed 19 March 2024,
<https://www.frostpunkgame.com/>.
<https://www.frostpunkgame.com/>.
Lumpley Games 2010, Apocalypse World Cover Art, digital image, Apocalypse-World.com, accessed 19 March 2024,
<http://apocalypse-world.com/>.
<http://apocalypse-world.com/>.
Lumpley Games 2010, Angel Playbook, book page, Apocalypse World Basic Playbooks, accessed 19 March 2024,
<http://apocalypse-world.com/AW-basicplaybooks-legal.pdf>.
<http://apocalypse-world.com/AW-basicplaybooks-legal.pdf>.
Copyright 2010 by Lumpley Games, 2012 by Evil Hat Studios, 2018 by 11 Bit Studios
Content and materials are the intellectual property of their respective owners.
Licensed and created under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.
Bodies of works are unofficial content shared to demonstrate professional skills and design ability.
Content and materials are the intellectual property of their respective owners.
Licensed and created under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.
Bodies of works are unofficial content shared to demonstrate professional skills and design ability.
See Contact page to issue copyright notice, request of revision, or other legal outreach.
