by Kiyeon

Prototype: Rules of Play

Title of the game: Survivalist

Description:

  • Survivalist is a Zombie-type board game where each player plays as one of the four survivors who are currently in their homes. Players must venture out into the cold city streets filled with zombies and make their way into the middle of the city, where a safe zone has been established by the military. Along the way, players will find items that will help them survive the journey. Players also have the option of exploring and looting buildings for better items. Players can work together to get to the safe zone, or they can use other survivors/players as bait for the hungry zombie horde.

Inventory/Game Pieces:

  • Rule book and Instruction Manual
  • 4 player (survivor) pieces
  • 24 zombie pieces
  • 4 Immunity Turns Clock (1 for each player) – like a clock, numbers go from 0 to 10
  • 22×22 Game Board
    • 10 Building tiles
      • 3 Hospital
      • 4 Supplies
      • 3 Armory
    • 10 Infection tiles
    • Bridge tiles – allows players to move onto the bridge and into the inner circle/safe zone
  • Pair of dice
  • Deck of cards (2×2 size each card)
    • 3 Separate Card Sets

Card Sets:

Zombie/Infection Set (45 cards) – cards that are put onto Infection tiles. This set has cards that increases infection, makes zombies stronger/faster, etc.

SOME EXAMPLES – MORE TO COME:

  1. Virus (8 cards) – +1 to infection
    • Placed on a Zombie (underneath the piece)
    • A max of 2 can be placed at a time
    • If drawn automatically after a turn cycle, put this card on top middle corner of the board. This now affects all zombies and will only last 3 turns
  2. Mindless March (4 cards) – Zombies move 1 step forward towards the nearest player.
  3. Sound March (3 cards) – Zombies move 2 steps forward towards the nearest player
  4. Horde (3 cards) – add 2 zombie pieces onto the board
    • If drawn by a player, have the player choose which tile
    • If drawn automatically after a turn cycle, put 1 on a Armory tile, and 1 on a Supply tile
  5. Contaminate (3 cards) – make a Building tile unusable (but crossable) for 2 turns
    • If drawn by a player, have the player choose which tile
    • If drawn automatically after a turn cycle, contaminate all Hospitals for 1 turn
  6. Fungus Spore (2 cards) – player loses a turn
    • If drawn automatically after a turn cycle, have all players roll the dice. The highest roll loses a turn

Action Set (30 cards) – cards that are put onto Building tiles. This set has cards that give the player the ability to cure, protect, move, etc.

  1. Medicine – 7 cards
    1. Contains medicines and vaccines that removes and counters the infection
      1. Full Cure (2 cards) – removes infection completely
      2. Anti-Virus – cannot be infected for 2 turns
      3. Vaccine X – +2 immunity
      4. Vaccine Y – +3 immunity
      5. Vaccine Z – +4 immunity
      6. Adrenaline – +1 immunity and +3 nice dice rolls
  2. Vehicle – 5 cards
    1. Contains cards that enable the player to move further
      1. Bicycle – permanent. +1 to dice roll
      2. Car – +2 to next dice roll
      3. Boat – +3 to next dice roll for 2 turns
      4. Helicopter – +4 to next dice roll
      5. Tank – +2 to next dice roll, immune to infection and able to defeat zombies without dice roll
  3. Weapon – 5 cards
    1. Contains cards that enable the player to have increase fighting chance against Zombies (i.e. higher dice roll)
      1. Pistol – +1 to dice roll against zombies
      2. Shotgun – +3 to dice roll against zombies
      3. Grappling Hook – move 3 steps forward
      4. Sniper Rifle – instantly kill a zombie within a 12-tile radius
      5. RPG – instantly kills a zombie and destroys an Infection tile
  4. Supply – 8 cards
    1. Contains cards that increases immunity turns
      1. Ragged Shirt (2 cards) – +1 to immunity turns
      2. Hooded Jacket – +2 to immunity turns
      3. Full body armor – +3 to immunity turns
      4. Ration++ (2 cards)– +2 to next dice roll
      5. Trap – set up a trap on a tile the user is standing on
        1. Kills a zombie after stepping on the trap
      6. Bait – skips a zombie fight
    2. Danger – 5 cards
      1. Contains cards that trigger infection and negative events (e.g. discard a card, lose a turn, draw from Infection set, etc.)

Scrap Set (40 cards) – cards that each player draw from each turn. Similar to Action cards, but less useful

  • Contains +1 cards only
    • +1 current dice roll
    • +1 next dice roll
    • +1 immunity turns
    • Etc.

Setup:

  1. First, open and lay down the board
  2. Have each player pick their corresponding survivor. Put the survivor pieces onto the corresponding colored corner tiles.
  3. Have each player take 4 zombie pieces, and distribute it randomly across the board tiles. The zombie pieces cannot be placed on top of an Infection tile. They can however, be placed on top of a Building tile or a Bridge tile.
  4. Have each player draw 2 cards from the Scrap set. These are their starting items.
  5. Shuffle the 3 card sets. Do not combine them together.
  6. Take 3 cards from the Action set (without looking at it) and put it all face-down onto each Building tile
  7. Take 3 cards from the Zombie/Infection set (without looking at it) and put it all face-down onto each Infection tile
  8. Have all players roll a pair of dice, whoever rolls the highest goes first and the lowest roll will go last. Whoever rolls the second highest, will be the 2nd to go. Whoever rolls the third highest, will be the 3rd to go. If it’s a tie between 2 or more players, roll the dice again

 

Setup – How it should look:

  • A circle corresponds to a Survivor piece.
  • The square blocks they’re in are the houses they live in. Players will start here.

boardgame

Rules of Play:

  1. At the beginning of every turn, the player must draw a card from the Scrap set
    • Each player is only allowed to have 7 cards. After 7 cards, he/she must discard a card
    • Players can play their cards during their turn, before or after rolling the dice
    • If there are no more cards to draw from, shuffle all Scrap cards from the discard pile back to the Scrap set
  2. After drawing or playing a card, the player must roll the dice in order to move
    • While moving, a player can discard a card onto a tile to help other players
    • In order to obtain this card, other players can simply move along the path and land or go past the tile of the card
  3. If a player lands on a Building tile, he/she has the option of:
    • Staying on the tile and looting (Get 1 card from the Action set that’s on the Building tile).
      1. This will immediately end the players turn
      2. For example, if a player rolls an 8 and it only takes 3 to get to the Building tile, choosing this option will only move the player 3 tiles.
      3. A player can stay at a building tile for two turns in a row without moving. This will give players the ability to loot 2 cards from the Action set for each Building.
    • OR
    • Ignore the Building tile, and move along the path.
      1. Player will not be able to loot (obtain a card from the Action set)
  1. If a player lands on a Bridge tile, they can choose to:
    • Move onto the bridge path
    • OR
    • Move along the current path
  1. If a player lands on a tile with a Zombie piece, they must roll a dice
    1. If the total dice roll is greater than or equal to 7, then the zombie dies and no harm will befall the player
    2. If the total dice roll is less than 7, then the player will be “Infected”

INFECTION:

  • Each player has 3 turns (own turn) to cure or delay an infection through the use of Action cards or Scrap cards
  • For every additional bite, the player loses a turn until they become a Zombie
    • 1st bite = infected (3 turns left)
    • 2nd bite = 3 – 1 = 2 turns left
  • To keep track of this, use the Immunity-turn Clock. This works like a clock and the players can move the arm wheel depending on how many turns they have left.
    • If a player has a card that adds immunity, it will be added to “Immunity turns”
      • For example, a player has 3 turns + he uses a full body armor card (+3 immunity turns)
      • 3 + 3 = 6 turns before the player turns into a zombie
      • This immunity can stack up to 10 times
    • If zombies have been strengthened by Infection cards, then the player will receive an extra infection based on the zombie’s strength
      • For example, if a zombie has been upgraded through the “Virus” card (+1 infection) and a player gets bitten
      • Instead of 3 turns, the player will now lose the game within 2 turns
      • 3 Immunity turns – 1 infection = 2 player turns before he/she turns into a zombie
      • 3 Immunity turns + 3 Immunity turns (Full Body Armor Card) – 1 Infection = 5 turns before the player turns into a zombie
    • If a player is not able to cure the infection, the player loses the game
      • A player who lose the game can still play the game as a Zombie
      • The Zombie player loses the ability to draw cards from the Scrap set
      • The Zombie player can now only roll the dice and “chase” and infect any other players
      • They can infect the player by landing on the same tile
    • If there are more than 1 Zombie on a tile, then the total required dice roll to avoid an infection will increase by 1
      • For example: 2 Zombies on 1 tile
        • The player must now roll greater than or equal to 8 (instead of 7) or else the player will be infected
      • For example: 3 Zombies on 1 tile
        • The player must now roll greater than or equal to 9 in order to defeat the zombies
      • A max of 3 Zombies can be put on 1 tile
        • If a card summons more zombies, then that zombie will be put on to the next tile (whichever is closer to the player)
  1. If a player lands on an Infection tile, they must draw from the Zombie set
    • The drawn card will be flipped and shown to the other players
    • After showing and applying the effects of the card, discard the zombie card
  2. After 1 turn cycle (each player has moved), 1 card must be drawn and flipped from the Zombie set
    • The zombie card will then be played
      1. If the drawn zombie card only affects 1 player, the card will now affect ALL players unless otherwise stated by the card

How to win:

  • The objective of the game is simple, whoever gets to the Safe Zone (middle circle), wins. However, there is no 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place, or 4th You just win.
  • Players can help one another so that they can all win.
  • Players can also betray one another and have the zombies chase the other players
  • It is also possible that ALL players lose the game (all players become zombies). This can happen if every player is competitive enough and they’re all assholes.

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