Making Survival Fun

[Frenchman]

I'm planning a game to run in a few sessions, and the intro to it is going to have the characters stranded on a tropical beach for a while. They have little or nothing in the way of gear, and they will need to find shelter, feed themselves, and possibly heal a few broken bones. I expect that they will take (in-game time, not real time) a few weeks or months to start exploring their surroundings - where they will find the real adventure.

 

So my questions are:

1) Do any of you have any suggestions how to make this 'Survival Hero' last at least a session and still be fun and interesting? Not "Roll your Survival skill - great, you build a log cabin and skin an elephant for dinner."

2: Are there any published books that allready discuss this that I may have forgotten/overlooked/not purchased yet? I have enough time to wait for shipping if I need to. I know the Ultimate Skill will most likely cover some of this, but we're all still waiting for it.

3- Any suggestions for challenges/obstacles for the characters to overcome? Preferably other than fighting locals or wierd beasts, though I'm open to any interesting ideas.

 

Just for background, this is taking place in a high-magic fantasy setting and the characters will have just entered a new and unexplored/forgotten part of the world.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Making Survival Fun

 

I would recomend role-playing the entire event of getting stranded, possibly going on a limited one on one with each character at the start to get them involved in the game. In other words, make the event of them getting stranded part of the story and allow them to affect the outcome (obviously not to the point of saving the ship, but perhaps to save supplies or other people that can act as "red shirts" to help identify the inedible plants and dangerous animals.

 

If you haven't done so, check out some books about survival and regurgitate some of the information during play, giving more detail to those characters who do have the Survival Skill. If you've got cable, watch a few episodes of Survivalman. If you've watched any of the Survivor series, block it out of your mind except to make jokes during the game.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Making Survival Fun

 

Castaway w/Tom Hanks might also be good for ideas. How even the little things like shoes are important, improvised tools, etc.

 

A big hurricane/typhoon/cyclone can be a very scary threat.

 

Getting drinkable water can be a problem. "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink" can be a real issue if you're surrounded by salt water. If it doesn't rain (or if you're not ready to collect it) it can be unpleasant.

 

Another NPC survivor who doesn't "get it" can be a real problem, hoarding supplies, stealing food from others, etc. Depending on your players, he could also serve as an extra resource once he's dealt with.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Making Survival Fun

 

I would suggest playing up the differences between the part of the world they're from vs where they find themseves. In a pre-National Geographic culture, most characters will be largely unfamiliar with other parts of the world; as a result, their survival skill/knowledge will tend to be very localized. For example, the characters are from a temperate European climate, but they find themselves on a desert island. Much of what they think they know about how to survive in the wilderness will be flat wrong. So they underestimate how cold it will get at night ("But it was so hot during the day!"), how quickly water will seep into the ground after it rains, how strong the winds are likely to be, and so forth.

 

No need to overdo it; most players hate to feel clueless and helpless, especially if they've spent points in a given area. But if a character tells you he's going to trap some game, his first traps may be too big/too small/wrong bait/etc; the Survival roll determines how quickly he is able to learn from his mistakes and adapt to the new environment. The end-result is the same, so the player feels like he "won," but the road getting there becomes much more detailed and interesting.

 

[Edit: One nice thing about this technique is that it can be easily tailored it to support what ever mood/emotion you're trying to evoke. So if you want to highlight the PCs resourcefulness and ingenuity, you emphasize the successful conclusion. If you want to highlight the strangeness of the New Lands, then emphazise the difficulties they have along the way.]

 

How much magical help do you expect the PCs will get? Depending on what type of magic (nature & weather magic?) they have available to them, that could change the situation dramatically.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Making Survival Fun

 

Any suggestions for challenges/obstacles for the characters to overcome? Preferably other than fighting locals or wierd beasts' date=' though I'm open to any interesting ideas.[/quote']

Besides the basics of surviving, there's always:

• Exploring the island, looking for food, fresh water, shelter, etc. (They don't know there aren't any hostile natives!)
  
• NPC survivors who aren't handling the situation as well as the PCs, challenge their leadership, or have ulterior motives. (I'm thinking the early episodes of Lost here.)
  
• NPC survivors that were previously antagonistic towards the PCs, but with whom they now have to learn to work with.
  
• You could get some mileage out of the PCs sorting through wreckage of the ship for items they can use (again, I'm thinking Lost and Castaway here), `tho you probably don't want to overdo this one.
  
• Storms are always good, especially if they haven't found/made decent shelter yet.
  
• If you need more, you can always throw in some old ruins to explore.
  

[Lucius]

Re: Making Survival Fun

 

. If you've watched any of the Survivor series' date=' block it out of your mind except to make jokes during the game.[/quote']

 

I haven't, but sometimes it seems like everyone else in America watched the show.

 

If you know something about survival yourself, it would be helpful. Especially if there are characters with survival, then you can tell them what they know. Some principles are basic and apply in any terrain.

 

I don't know anything about magick in your world, but it can play an interesting role. Say, if one of the players said, while the character was being created, "I'll never need a spell of purify food and water, I'll spend my points on this spell to blast monsters." Sometimes, spells or items can prove useful in unexpected ways; if a wizard has a forcefield spell that doesn't require constant gestures, incantations, or END, he may be the only one sleeping comfortably when everyone else has to cope with rocks under the blanket (if they're lucky enough to have a blanket) and crawling insects. He'll also likely be nominated to lead the search into any thorny underbrush.

 

The pilot who gave me my survival training (long long ago) said the most important factor in a survival situation is will-to-live. He told us stories of people who did everything wrong, and still came out alive becuase they never gave up. Stories that end with people getting medical attention and the physician saying

"I can tell you any of several ways this person died, I just can't tell you why they never realized it or how they keep breathing." We can probably assume that player characters have lots of determination.

 

He said the next most important factor is imagination, or creativity. One of the ways he tested us was to see how many different ways we could use a given common item. Be ready to reward the players if they come up with anything surprising or ingenious.

 

The instructor told us that all he could give us was the third most important thing - knowledge. This is where survival skill rolls would come in.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary reminds me to check the time.....

[Dust Raven]

Re: Making Survival Fun

 

He said the next most important factor is imagination, or creativity. One of the ways he tested us was to see how many different ways we could use a given common item. Be ready to reward the players if they come up with anything surprising or ingenious.

 

Absolutely! It's amazing how many common objects, even something simple like a rock, can be a Swiss Army knife in disguise. Of course, it helps if someone actually has a Swiss Army knift (or other multitool) but your average adult or teen carries just about everything you'd need from a tool like that everyday. Earrings, eyeglasses, belts and belt buckles, buttons, shoelaces, underwear ellastic, jewelry clasps, watch bands, keys, credit cards... not to mention all the fabric! And just think what useful tools you'll have if someone brought along their purse!

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Making Survival Fun

 

Another NPC survivor who doesn't "get it" can be a real problem, hoarding supplies, stealing food from others, etc. Depending on your players, he could also serve as an extra resource once he's dealt with.

 

Vote that guy off. Preferably using a pointy stick.

[Tech]

Re: Making Survival Fun

 

Don't forget one of the most suspenseful aspects of a possible survival episode: that characters might have to work with their enemy to survive.

 

Oh sure, the enemy may indeed not have any plot to attack the characters, realizing that would only hurt themselves, but the players don't know that.