03-18-2026, 06:00 PM
Okay, so I've been thinking about the generation rules and it has to meet three criteria:
There are three "boards:"
The first is a static "ship" board, im not sure what kind of ship yet, originally it was going to be a ferry but really any big boat that you can put stuff in will work. The ship board will have spaces on it for specific tokens like there will be a "weapon bench" token (or card?), and you can "install" it on your ship by finding the token in one of the generated villages and then bringing it back to your ship. Once installed, each "bench" thing will give you bonuses or upgrades, and maybe allow you access to different equipment. So you actually don't move around on the "ship" board, its just where you slot in benches or other things that give your whole group bonuses and other effects.
The second board is a "boat" board which has spaces on it for player tokens and cargo. Im thinking maybe it has like a grid of 12 spaces to start with, but can be upgraded if you find the right upgrade bench and resources to spend on it. Each space can hold one token which can be player tokens, survivor tokens, or cargo tokens. Im not going to worry about actual weight. Cargo tokens are resources, or machinery/benches/upgrade things. Like one cargo token might be "food" and another cargo token might be "scrap metal," but they're each just one space. Player tokens are self explanatory, this is the piece you're moving around on the map. Survivor tokens are survivor characters you find while exploring and bring back to the ship. Right now im thinking survivors exist for when somebody dies during game play. If you have a survivor token (or multiple) on your ship, then whoever died can pick one of those and continue playing. If you don't have one on your ship, they have to wait until you find one to come back into the game. Survivors might also be required to run the upgrade benches, but I don't think so right now. That is getting a little too complicated.
The third "board" is the actual generated maps which is where you'll be spending most of the time. Each generated map starts with the dock tile, because the idea is that you are on your ship cruising around, and you see a village or town, and you anchor off shore and then take your boat (the second board) from your ship to the dock tile. So every map will start with the dock tile, with the boat on the water side of it. The players disembark onto the dock tile and then make their way into the generated town. The way the generation works, I think, is based on what tile gets placed as its being built.
Every tile other than the dock has a chance of containing a monster. road tiles have 1-3 designated spaces for monsters, and as the tile is placed, you roll to see if there is a monster on each space. Building tiles contain 1-2 spaces for monsters.
Every tile also has a chance of containing loot (cargo). road tiles have spaces for 1 cargo token, and building tiles have spaces for 1 cargo token and 1 "equipment" (upgrade bench) token OR cargo token. So on a building tile you might get 0 loot, or 1 cargo and 1 upgrade bench token, or 2 cargo tokens.
You can only take back however many tokens fit on your boat, minus spaces for the returning players. You can't make multiple trips because: At the start of play, with each player token on the dock tile, a timer starts. You have X number of rounds before the horde senses you and arrives, and it counts down each round as you move through the town. If you fire a weapon without a silencer, the counter ticks down 2 rounds instead of 1. Using Explosives cause it to tick down 3 rounds instead of 1. Im not sure how many rounds you will get, I don't want it to be a rush. Maybe 30 rounds? An installed radar upgrade on your ship might increase this number.
Anyhoo, after you have gathered whatever amount of loot tokens you can carry on your boat, you return to the ship, slot in any equipment tokens onto your ship board, and spend any resource tokens to use those equipment tokens to do "things." I think you will be required to spend 1 food token in-between maps.
- Easy. It has to be really simple to generate a map.
- "Realistic" in that it builds reasonably normal looking sea-side villages/towns/buildings.
- Adjustable difficulty, for the amount of players.
There are three "boards:"
The first is a static "ship" board, im not sure what kind of ship yet, originally it was going to be a ferry but really any big boat that you can put stuff in will work. The ship board will have spaces on it for specific tokens like there will be a "weapon bench" token (or card?), and you can "install" it on your ship by finding the token in one of the generated villages and then bringing it back to your ship. Once installed, each "bench" thing will give you bonuses or upgrades, and maybe allow you access to different equipment. So you actually don't move around on the "ship" board, its just where you slot in benches or other things that give your whole group bonuses and other effects.
The second board is a "boat" board which has spaces on it for player tokens and cargo. Im thinking maybe it has like a grid of 12 spaces to start with, but can be upgraded if you find the right upgrade bench and resources to spend on it. Each space can hold one token which can be player tokens, survivor tokens, or cargo tokens. Im not going to worry about actual weight. Cargo tokens are resources, or machinery/benches/upgrade things. Like one cargo token might be "food" and another cargo token might be "scrap metal," but they're each just one space. Player tokens are self explanatory, this is the piece you're moving around on the map. Survivor tokens are survivor characters you find while exploring and bring back to the ship. Right now im thinking survivors exist for when somebody dies during game play. If you have a survivor token (or multiple) on your ship, then whoever died can pick one of those and continue playing. If you don't have one on your ship, they have to wait until you find one to come back into the game. Survivors might also be required to run the upgrade benches, but I don't think so right now. That is getting a little too complicated.
The third "board" is the actual generated maps which is where you'll be spending most of the time. Each generated map starts with the dock tile, because the idea is that you are on your ship cruising around, and you see a village or town, and you anchor off shore and then take your boat (the second board) from your ship to the dock tile. So every map will start with the dock tile, with the boat on the water side of it. The players disembark onto the dock tile and then make their way into the generated town. The way the generation works, I think, is based on what tile gets placed as its being built.
- The unique dock tile can only lead to a road tile.
- A road tile can only lead to another road tile, until you randomly draw a road-to-door transition tile.
- A road-to-door transition tile can only lead to a building tile.
- Building tiles can only lead to building tiles, and only the ones that fit with the current building tile. So the walls have to match up, for instance.
Every tile other than the dock has a chance of containing a monster. road tiles have 1-3 designated spaces for monsters, and as the tile is placed, you roll to see if there is a monster on each space. Building tiles contain 1-2 spaces for monsters.
Every tile also has a chance of containing loot (cargo). road tiles have spaces for 1 cargo token, and building tiles have spaces for 1 cargo token and 1 "equipment" (upgrade bench) token OR cargo token. So on a building tile you might get 0 loot, or 1 cargo and 1 upgrade bench token, or 2 cargo tokens.
You can only take back however many tokens fit on your boat, minus spaces for the returning players. You can't make multiple trips because: At the start of play, with each player token on the dock tile, a timer starts. You have X number of rounds before the horde senses you and arrives, and it counts down each round as you move through the town. If you fire a weapon without a silencer, the counter ticks down 2 rounds instead of 1. Using Explosives cause it to tick down 3 rounds instead of 1. Im not sure how many rounds you will get, I don't want it to be a rush. Maybe 30 rounds? An installed radar upgrade on your ship might increase this number.
Anyhoo, after you have gathered whatever amount of loot tokens you can carry on your boat, you return to the ship, slot in any equipment tokens onto your ship board, and spend any resource tokens to use those equipment tokens to do "things." I think you will be required to spend 1 food token in-between maps.