Runner of the Wastelands

You are a "Runner", a traveler who faces the dangers of the wastelands as a courier between the few cities that still stand. Make people trust you, so that when someone has to send a package, you're the runner they think of. "Runner of the Wastelands" is a solo-journaling resource-management TTRPG where you explore the wastes using a hex-map and miniatures in a hex-combat-grid to resolve encounters. Every time you venture into the wastes to fulfill one of your courier jobs, creatures and enemies can stand between you and your destination. Run away, or face them, that's your choice. A star-faced wolf, one of the creatures you might encounter in the wastelands. A Runner encounters two Burrowers! The Runner plans to fight the Burrowers... The Runner thinks twice and escapes. --------------------------------------------------------------------- An evolving game: I want "Runner of the wastelands" to be an ongoing project, and make more art, rules, and tools for it, so that you and I can have the most fun with it. So for every 20 bucks that this game makes, or for every 20 reviews/comments (about your experience with the game), I will do one of the following: A new landscape drawing for one of the six possible "types" of terrains on the hex-map to use as a background for your minis. Small printable "terrain pieces" , for one of the twelve "peculiarities" of the terrain on the hex-map (such as crystal, ruins, plants, etc). Rules for expanding the game beyond 10 towns. Spark tables for towns. Spark tables for the wastes. Factions and rules for them. Additional tools for solo playing What's new? 16/October/2025: As we reached the first goal ( Thanks!!!), I added the extra material number 1 ( Extra N1 ): A 2d12 oracle , with some spark tables and a thread/focus table to tie the oracle to the events, places, characters, and plots that your character is interested in. 28/December/2025: Happy holidays! We reached the second goal!! In the coming weeks, I will be working on the next additional material: Looting and “Sub-Hex" exploration rules. 22/January/2026: I finally added the extra material number 2!! (Extra N2): Rules for Exploring and Looting within the hexes of the map. The rules include two modes of exploring and looting: i) "Just Rolls", in which you just use some dice rolls and tables (good for fast narrative play), and ii) "Hex grid", in which you set up a hex grid to explore, and where you can loot the obstacles in that grid, for more danger and fun! 4/April/2026: We reached the third goal!! In the coming weeks, I will be working on the next additional material. For this third round of extra material, I have three possible ideas: 1) include a “prestige” system linked to the price that can be charged for each job and expand the “connect table”; 2) create tables and rules for the type/biome of each hex (starting with the two most common, the glass tundra and the desert); 3) create a point crawl procedure for "in town" (akin to the "zoom in" procedure I included for the previous goal). If you have any other ideas or prefer one of these three, leave a comment; I'll start working on it by the end of next week! 27/April/2026: I finally added the extra material number 3!! (Extra N3): Rules for Prestige and Handler. The prestige rules allow you to charge more for your job in places where you are known to be a good runner, but punish you in towns where you have repeatedly failed as a runner. The handler rules let you get, well... a handler. When you visit them, they can have more than one job waiting for you (1 to 9), but they will charge you a fee for each job you take from them. In addition to these rules, I extended the connect table from 10 rows to 20, and I added a new entry, "desire". As with all extra rules, these are purely optional and designed to be flexible, so just use the ones that make your game more interesting and fun! 20/June/2026: We reached the fourth goal!! So, in the coming weeks, I will be working on the next additional material. This time, I have two ideas: 1) create tables and rules for the type/biome of each hex (starting with the two most common, the glass tundra and the desert); 2) create a system of trackers to allow your runner to learn new skills ("level up") and to manage factions. If you have any other ideas or prefer one of these three, leave a comment; I'll start working on it by the start of next week! 22/July/2026: I finally added the extra material number 4!! (Extra N4): Unwritten Actions, Rules for those actions without rules. The idea of these rules is simple: to give a framework to do things outside the rules written in the core rules and the extra material. This is an extension of the "everything you do costs 1E" overarching rule suggested in the core rules. It adds a procedure (using a pool of dice) to include the external factors that could change the amount of E you will need to complete your action and how to weave them into the narrative. Additionally, it includes a "Do it anyway!" rule, which allows you to try your luck instead of paying the E you need for the action, but beware, the consequences can be worse! 30/Sept/2026: We reached the 100 goal!! After one year, Runner of the Wastelands continues to grow, and it feels really cool to know that there are people out there, in this crazy and often dark world, sharing a common experience through something I created. It has extended far beyond what I initially planned, and that's all thanks to everyone playing and being part of the game! Now, what comes next? This time, following the feedback and experiences shared by players (both on the comments page and through private messages)I have a couple of ideas to make the game... well, a better game: 1) Create and test a carrying capacity limit for runners 2) Make the deployment rules for obstacles and enemies less cumbersome. Probably by creating a table of "shapes" for the obstacles, instead of using a hex-by-hex deployment. 3) Make this game even more "Print and Play " friendly by adding some 2d paper miniatures and some paper obstacles. As you can read this is a lot, and for the 100 goal I think I would like to work in all of these ideas. So the extra material N5 will probably take me a little longer to complete (and this will be more of an update than "extra material"). If you think there are other, more interesting things to add to the game, or you think these updates are a cool path to go for, leave a comment: I'll start working on it by the end of next week! *Runner of the Wastelands and extra material N1 and N2. What else should we add? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Actual play! You can watch my playthrough of “Runner of the Wastelands” to learn more about the game : Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- The music I listened to while playing/creating "Runner of the Wastelands": Polygondwanaland by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Hyper Light Drifter OST by Disasterpeace