Endure: A tabletop RPG for preppers

Seth Johnston - June 29, 2022

ScenariosSkills

Heya everyone! I wanted to share something cool I found that we could use to test out or even just play around in hypothetical scenarios. It’s a rules-lite, pay-what-you-want Tabletop Roleplaying Game known as Endure. You can find it here!

https://vonbednar.itch.io/endure

The basic idea of it is that you are an average person caught in a Crisis Scenario. This isn’t The Division, where you’re essentially a super soldier putting the world together one city block at a time. No, I’d say it feels more like The Long Dark or The Last of Us. You can also set the game in whatever time period or setting you want, as long as you’re surviving a Crisis.

All you need to play this game is two six-sided dice. No complex character sheets, no battle maps, none of that. I like this because it leaves the game open for Players and GMs to tell the story they want to without being confined to a framework. The only thing I don’t like about it is that combat isn’t explained very well, as they just advise avoiding it if you can. While that makes sense, a little more on the subject would be nice.

Regardless, I hope y’all find this game interesting!

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We had our first game night on Friday July 29th. Seth was the DM. Gideon, EzzlyAmuzzed, and Eric (me) played with Seth as DM.

We were on a road trip in Alaska when a bright flash of light disabled our van, sending us skidding into a snow bank. Thankfully no one was hurt, but we were now trapped in a remote area and expecting a very cold night. We scavenged what we could from the van, including some insulation from the seats (not enough), some cans, and a first aid kit, then set off on foot for a ski resort that we’d passed recently.

While walking, Eric became too cold to continue, so we were lucky to find an abandoned gas station where we could stop and rest. While at the gas station we were able to warm up by a fire and prepare hot drinks by melting snow in cans. We also scavenged a switchblade from the gas station and some more insulation from an abandoned car, then continued our trip to the ski resort.

We arrived at the ski resort to find that three buildings were on fire. With no idea what had happened here, we rushed to put out the fires. We were able to quickly extinguish fires on two houses, but the third fire turned out to be much more difficult.

To be continued…

We’ll be finishing the game this Friday Aug 12 at 5pm pacific time (California) 8pm eastern time (New York). Anyone want to join us? We have room to add one more player, who would be found at the ski resort.

 

My nephews are into Dungeons and Dragons and have asked me to play with them a few times. They are super into it and understand all the rules but it was a bit over my head. 

Tabletop RPGs aren’t my particular cup of tea, but I can see why people like them. This one that you are sharing right now does look much more appealing than a fantasy one with elves and witches. I like how you say it is not complex and is minimal on the rules.

There’s another forum thread you might be interested in Seth. This forum post talks about video and tabletop games that teach survival skills.

 

Yep I know about it! That’s part of the reason I made this post.

 

I’m with you, Robert: Not particularly into RPGs, and never been into fantasy anything, but I can see why others like them: If you invest time in learning the rules, world, and gaming culture it seems like a big, engaged community. I also see the appeal of and feel more genuine and immediate interest in this game than in any other I’ve heard about so far. If there were some way to try it out with TP folks, that’s probably what it would take for me to really give it a shot, but maybe I can persuade my husband… we’re doing a March 2020-style lockdown this month to ensure that we don’t bring ‘rona to an upcoming large family gathering, and he’s definitely over me kicking his butt in Boggle. 😀 Thanks for the find, Seth!

 

Maybe we get a group of TP forum members together on a Zoom or Discord call and play some prepping games like this 🙂

Let me know if anyone is interested.

 

I’d be down!

 

I bought a copy snd will check it out. Up for trying it if we get a TP group together. 

 

I’m interested but have some difficulty committing to times in advance. If you choose a time on a workday evening or weekend/holiday morning I’ll probably join.

Whoever’s judging should give guidelines in advance for character creation so we can all do that part individually in advance.

Page 14 has a list of useful items that can be found in game. I suggest replacing those with items from TP’s bug out bag list so we can practice finding creative uses for the items we intend to take on real adventures.

 

So what’s it going to take to get this started? Shall we brainstorm scenarios? Anyone open to being the Judge/DungeonMaster? Or maybe we just draw straws for that role as the game starts…

 

I’m more than willing to GM! I already have a Discord server set up so I can invite y’all there if you want.

 

I suggest we use TP’s Slack or Discord server. Many of TP’s most active users, including myself, are already on TP’s Slack. I’m not on TP’s Discord yet (recently setup and less active) but was meaning to do that anyway.

https://theprepared.com/forum/thread/community-discord-slack/

What date/time for our first game? Do you have a scenario in mind and character setup instructions or would you like to brainstorm with the group on those?

 

I’m not familiar with Slack, but I’m open to brainstorming with the whole group on the details!

 

Everyone who wants to play, please request a Slack invite on this page. Make sure to provide your email which is required to setup the account.

https://theprepared.com/forum/thread/community-discord-slack/

 

I’m just giving ideas to help our Game Master, Seth, so he can override any of this.

All players should create their character in advance based on the instructions on Endure p11 which I’ve copied below. (Downloading and reading the whole guide from Seth’s link is recommended but not required.)

 

Your three items should be taken from TP’s bug out list. Level 1 FAK counts as one item. Level 3 FAK counts as three items.

Also choose one asset, one trouble, and a background story (can be one sentence). No superhero characters that would make our adventure too easy.

 

We’ll brainstorm a bunch of scenario options. Our GM will pick one, or mix two, or just make one up on his own. The rest of us don’t know what scenario we’re playing until we discover the crisis during the game.

 

Some scenarios:

Neighbor’s house catches fire.

We’re riding out a hurricane that we thought would be no big deal, but the levees fail.

We’re in a severe heat wave when the power goes out – no more A/C.

We’re on a car trip and break down on a remote, snowy mountain road.

 

Y’all, I very much want to do this, but I had a family medical emergency come up and had to fly to California this morning at the crack of dawn. Now I think I’m going to be living in the hospital for the next few days. :/ Hoping I can play in a future round (though, advance warning: I will be really bad at it!).

 

Wishing you well in this real life adventure. We’ll save you a seat for round 2.

 

So sorry to hear you are going through that. Wishing your family a speedy recovery and that it will not be too stressful on yourself. 

The game night is 3 weeks out, so hopefully you will be able to make it.

 

@Eric and @Gideon — Thank you! Things are looking up with my sick parent, but I’m not stoked about the amount of time I’ve spent in the ER and hospital. Given what I’ve read about the transmissibility of the latest Covid variants and the fact that I’m still not eligible for a second booster back home (so my antibodies are like eight months old), I’m pretty terrified that I’ve locked myself into a case of the ‘rona (double masking notwithstanding). 

I can’t make the game because my wedding reception is that same weekend. Hence nerves about getting ‘rona… Husb. and I were planning to spend this entire month in full, April 2020-style lockdown. Instead I got on an airplane with 200 other people for the first time in three years, and then went and spent 20 hours in a major urban hospital (including 7 in a busy ER). Pretty much the opposite of what I had in mind.

On the upside, now that it’s pretty clear that the parent in question is (eventually) going to be okay, this has been a good learning experience for me as a prepper. I’ve had some small victories (and will eventually report them in the prepping victories thread); I have a better understanding of what to do and not do when someone you love is in the hospital; I made some dumb mistakes; and I have some new ideas about what it means to be ready to go at a moment’s notice.

 

“I’m pretty terrified that I’ve locked myself into a case of the ‘rona”

You already made it through 20 hours of this with no apparent infection, right? Just keep it up a little longer. Every month these variants get more infectious, but they’re still not magic. You’ve got this.

 

Eric, you were right: I did not get ‘rona from the airplane or the hospital! Jury is still out on whether I got ‘rona from the second airplane ride (Sunday) or my second and third trips to the ER (Friday and Tuesday), but I’m optimistic given my success in avoiding infection thus far. Thank you for the encouragement!

 

No rush, but I am looking forward to hearing what you learned through all this. Seems like I should have a emergency visit family bag or list of things to pack if I need to go to them asap.

Glad to hear your parent is going to be okay. 

And the biggest congratulations on your upcoming wedding reception! Really happy for you 🙂

 

Thank you Eric for helping to set this all up, but let’s try and move people over to Discord however for our game nights. That’s where we will host the games because it is much more stable and better at video/audio calls than Slack is. 

Here’s a link to the Discord for all who want to join. 

 

I’ve talked with Seth, and he has volunteered to lead us in a game of this Endure RPG on Friday 29th at 5pm pacific time (California) 8pm eastern time (New York). 

It will be over on The Prepared’s Discord server (open to all).

For the first get together, we are going to keep it to 5 people for now to see how that plays out and know if we need to add or take away players for future games.

So with Seth and I, that leaves three spots open for now. Please respond to this message if you would like one of the other three spots. 

Also see Eric’s post on here about creating a character and do that ahead of game night.

 

I’ll play. 🙂

 

Still looking for two more players. Anyone else want to join us this Friday evening?

NazSMD? Robert?

 

Thanks for the personal invite Eric, but I’m not big into RPGs. Hope you all have fun though!

 

We had our first game night on Friday July 29th. Seth was the DM. Gideon, EzzlyAmuzzed, and Eric (me) played with Seth as DM.

We were on a road trip in Alaska when a bright flash of light disabled our van, sending us skidding into a snow bank. Thankfully no one was hurt, but we were now trapped in a remote area and expecting a very cold night. We scavenged what we could from the van, including some insulation from the seats (not enough), some cans, and a first aid kit, then set off on foot for a ski resort that we’d passed recently.

While walking, Eric became too cold to continue, so we were lucky to find an abandoned gas station where we could stop and rest. While at the gas station we were able to warm up by a fire and prepare hot drinks by melting snow in cans. We also scavenged a switchblade from the gas station and some more insulation from an abandoned car, then continued our trip to the ski resort.

We arrived at the ski resort to find that three buildings were on fire. With no idea what had happened here, we rushed to put out the fires. We were able to quickly extinguish fires on two houses, but the third fire turned out to be much more difficult.

To be continued…

We’ll be finishing the game this Friday Aug 12 at 5pm pacific time (California) 8pm eastern time (New York). Anyone want to join us? We have room to add one more player, who would be found at the ski resort.

 

We’re playing this Friday evening and still have room for one more player. Anyone interested in joining? Maybe pnwsarah?

 

Game starts in 3 hours at 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern. Anyone who wants to join (or watch) should use this link to join ThePrepared’s Discord.

Join ThePrepared Discord

(Also a great place to chat with other TP members.)

Hope to see you there! 🙂