Surviving a deserted planet

Additionally if you have any cool ideas or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated

>>46004189
yea i was going for a sci-fi vibe

>>46004058
A really important thing is how do they become stranded on the planet? Do they take a life raft/escape pod down to it, or does their whole ship crash down on the surface.

If the whole ship crashes down then a lot of their tech will be seriously fucked, but small stuff would still work. They'd have a place to operate out of, but the ship itself will pose dangers as fuel and coolant leak all over the place making most the ship lethal via radiation or whatever.

If they come down in a life raft it may have some small supplies but it won't provide nearly as much utility as the ship, but it can be mobile and used for other functions and the characters will be in much better health if they landed via life raft rather than a fierce crash.

Is the planet inhabited? What do you want the end game to be?

I have only played 40krpgs so I can't tell you what system would work well, but the 40k setting would be fine for the scenario.

>>46006252

those are great suggestions. i think ill have the large ship crash down so that they can still get a few supplies (shelter/weapons/food) to survive the first few in game days and encounters.

the planet will be a host to many dangerous creatures, and likely environments so i can throw that challenge at my players.

but i have no idea what the endgame should be, i might probably make it so they just have to repair a shuttle to get out off, seems better than just indefinitely surviving there.

>>46008534
While they're there, what are they doing? Unless your players really love nitty gritty combat, and have no real value placed on RP, surviving can get boring. Maybe they still need to complete the mission (whatever reason they had for exploring the planet).
Or maybe some NPCs survived and it's a walking dead style experience where you need to survive and keep people happy. Or murder the complainers. Whatever.

>>46004058
I'd be interested as well of a system that makes adventuring in a given environment a greater challenge than a few dice rolls.

In the meantime, I've got an upcoming session with my group walking a mostly barren tundra, and I've figured and fleshed out a few aspect of how it should play out. If you want, I could just paste it here. It's a tundra, and a fantasy setting, but you might find a few things to pick up.

>>46008534
And to actually answer your question, I only know 2 systems. DnD 5e wouldn't work, so I suggest GURPS, as you can do this sort of thing with it.

>>46008918
You're right, it might eventually get tiring. my players don't have a problem with RP, we are pretty good at that, but in terms of content.
i was probably thinking about their new mission be repairing their shuttle, and each day they would have to fight the environment to get what they need

Ex: they need a power core to get the ship to even have power, so they can get lights at night and warmth from the space heater, but the scanner says the power core fell over a half days away, when they arrive its getting dark and they have to climb some sort of cliff, and at the top theres the core, and a giant man eating bird who collects shiny things.

see thats great and all, but theres only so many times i can say " you need X, its over there, you encounter environment issue (water/lava/wind/etc...) you get it, survive the trek back to camp"

needs more substance. I'm sure a more creative GM could get it done

>>46008926
Sure go for it.

Yeah im dong some looking now to see if theres an entirely survival based RPG

>>46009325
System is 5E.
The objective will be clear to the party thanks to them using a compass. Rather than distance, I've decided to measure their progress by time, namely the "Travel time to destination."

I've isolated five parameters to fiddle with : Weather, Marching, Camping, Rations and Encounters

WEATHER

Every day, a d12 is rolled to determine weather

1-2 : Sunny : -1h to travel time to destination per 5hours walked. No adverse effects
3-7 : Ovecast : No adverse effects
8-11 : Rain : -1 to survival rolls, adverse effects on camping
12 : Snow : -2 to survival rolls, -1 on CON rolls, adverse effects on camping
MARCHING

Every Day :
Roll for CON, can also roll for survival
DC CON 10
DC survival 15
Every successful survival decreases CON DC by 1 for the next day, by
>scouting efficiently
>distributing load ideally
>finding a good spot to rest
>maintaining travelling gear

On Failed CON rolls :

>Regular Fail
No effect if march for 6 hours or less
Will decrease total CON of character by 1 otherwise, and by 2 if march for more than 9 hours. Lasts until successful CON roll or if the character is helped.

>Crit Fail
Character will suffer crippling injury after more than 5 hours of march, must be helped by others (STR DC 15 or healed to full, crippling injury translates into being put at 1HP) for the rest of the day.
Character will straight up drop if march is longer than 7 hours.
A heal check must be performed at the end of the day (DC 12+1 per additional crit fail) on the injury to tend to the wound, as magical healing cannot prevent long-term consequences of the wound (displaced bone and such)
On a fail, character's injury remains, and their CON decreases by 2.

cont.

>>46009520


On SUCCESSFUL CON roll :

>10-15 : No positive or adverse effects if marching is less than or equal to 9h. -1 CON if marching for more than 9h
>15+ : can do one of three things :
Fast : Consume only half a ration with no adverse effects
Scout : Will decrease travel time to destination by 1 hour
Help : Will negate a failed CON roll from another character

If EVERY character succeeds their CON roll with more than 15, travel time to destination is automatically reduced by 10 hours.

RATIONS & EATING

PCs start off with 7 rations. Rations are consumed at the end of each day.

1 ration a day is enough to keep one going with no adverse or positive effects
2 rations grants advantage on CON rolls till end of next day.
0 ration grants disadvantage on CON rolls till end of next day. Each additional day spent without eating reduces PC's CON score by 2.
1/2 ration grants disadvantage on CON rolls till end of next day, but PC will not suffer additional mali.

>>46009549
ENCOUNTERS

Every day, a d12 is rolled to determine encounters
>1 : Threat of a pack of wolves (4+1d6 wolves and 1 dire wolf pack leader) (Day 4+)
>2 : Swampy area. PCs can either go around (increase travel time to destination by 3h) or cross it
If crossing, CON roll DC 12 or diseased and -2 CON from cold and wet.
>3 : Rocky area. Going around or passing through increases travel time to destination by 2h
>4 : The PC enter the territory of a (Manticore, couple of griffons). It/they will attack them at dusk. a survival (DC 16) or perception (DC 15) check is made automatically to see if the PCs detect the threat.
>5-8 : Nothing
>9 : a lone, badly wounded creature (elk, deer, wolf or horse) crosses the PCs road. Only magical healing will save it, as it has lost a lot of blood and is exhausted. The PCs can put the creature out of its misery, and recover supplies from it.
>10 : The PCs enter a somewhat sheltered area. +1 to CON rolls for the next day, +2 to the next camp value.
>11 : Region is mottled with pure-water lakes. Game and wildlife abound. PCs can stop 1h to collect meat and water, granting them a DC 10 survival check. On success, they collect 5 + (check result - 10) supplies.
>12 : The area houses a small wood, barely more than 50 meters in diameter. At the center, a grove with pristine water and a standing stone bearing the mark of the local nature god. Drinking the water will restore the PCs fully, erasing wounds and other CON damage. The PCs can hunt game and cut trees, but doing this will summon a hostile dryad, a giant elk and a dire wolf. They will not pursue de PCs outside of the woods.
Attuned PCs can commune with the spirits within. If asked for assistance, the spirits will tell of the quickest road and the safest road.
>Quikest reduces travel time to destination by 10 hours
>Safest mean no encounter rolls are made for the next three days.
This encounter can only happen once. If another 12 is rolled, the weather changes to sunny instead.

>>46009586
CAMPING

A least one survival roll (DC 12, 15 if adverse effects) is required to make a camp.
Camp value is determined by the substraction of the DC from the successful roll.
People can help camping by doing a variety of rolls, increasing camp value. Some rolls can only be done once in the session (1!)

>DEX, DC 14. Helps the tent hold together. Each success lowers further DEX rolls for camping by 1, but only for the successful character. Each success increases camp value by 2 (4 for crits)
>INT (1!) and WIS (1!). DC 18. Each permanently increases camp value by 2, by inventing more efficient and clever ways to design the tent.
>PERCEPTION, DC 16. Helps pick out the ideal location for a camp in the vicinity. increases camp value by 2.
>SURVIVAL, DC 16, to forage supplies in the vicinity. Success adds 1 supply.

Camp value :
>No camp : Disadvantage on all rolls for the next day due to extreme fatigue
>0-2 : Basic, shoddy camp. -1 on all rolls for the next day due to fatigue.
>3-5 : Average camp. No adverse or positive effects
>6-8 : Comfy Camp. +1 on all rolls for the next day due to good rest.
>9+ : Comfiest Camp. Advantage on all rolls for the next day due to excellent rest.

Each day will go like this :

>Determine Weather
>Roll Marching Survival, Determine marching CON DC, roll marching CON
>Determine Encounter
>Resolve encounter
>Calculate new Travel Time to Destination
>Apply CON mali from forced march
>Determine Modifiers for Camping
>Roll camping rolls
>Determine camp value
>roll survival for foraging
>Determine ration repartition
>Calculate new ration total
>Determine ration and camp modifiers for the next day

I suggest you give them a reason to explore (local inhabitants, pirates/slavers coming for the wreck so they have to get out, other escape pods or crashed ships nearby with ressources/survivors,...) and, more importantly, a goal besides surviving. Why are they stranded ? Was it an acciden, an attack, an exile ? Why were they here in the first place ? If they are acheologs whose ship hit an asteroid by mistake, they might want to carry on their mission so the next expedition will find their work alongside their dessicated cadavers, if they are pirates disembarked after a mutiny, they may want revenge.... Bonus points if there is a time limit and opposition. Survivors of a space patrol having to communicate intel concerning an impending enemy offensive to high-command, CEO having to go back to his headquarters before some opponents buys his megacorp dismayed by his disparition,...

There is quite a lot of sci-fi novels with that theme, you might want to read some for inspiration. Jack Vance's Tshai or Giant Planet come to mind, and another one, the title of which I can't recall, where the hero has to cooperate with an hostile alien prisoneer from the ship so they can leave the planet.

>>46009605
How long did you run this? and what kept it from getting repetitive?

also, nice fucking job, this is great.

>>46009726
I plan on doing this for only one session, and I haven't tested in on the player. If you have feedback I'd be happy to hear it. I can see on it may be repetitive, but the encounter should provide for some variety.
For starter, the players do not have enough supplies to start with (7 ration/player, providing for 7 days, but their travel will take them 13 days in normal conditions. They'll have to cope with that one way or another.

If you plan on running this longer, I'd suggest adding more encounter and maybe side objectives (increasing travel time but providing supplies, or maybe high risk/high rewards ones)

>>46006252
Another crucially important aspect to this is the setting. What is the setting of the society that the players are from? Do they even FTL? Do they maintain a considerable presence in the Galaxy, holding planets in numerous systems, or are they just a fledgling spacefaring group. These points are fundamental towards understanding if rescue is possible.

The next question that needs to be asked is what was the ship used for? Was it a military cruiser, or a massive cargo freighter? Perhaps it was a prototype research vessel. These factors will heavily affect the likelihood of having a rescue/recovery effort dispatched and the time it takes. If it was a Military or research craft, it will probably be recovered the quickest if they have other vessels with same travel capabilities. If it's a cargo freighter, or a transport or owned by a private entity it may be harder to dispatch a recovery effort for it.

Another important point and someone addressed it, was that once the players are planetside it shouldn't be a game of go here and get piece A, then piece B, and so on so forth. Instead have defined stages:

Stage 1: Ensure the health and safety of all survivors and formulate a plan.

Stage 2: Salvage- Survivors get all good gear secured and use it for survival. This is also where they go and formulate a plan for retrieving a power source or some part that's essential for the rescue beacon to work.

Step 3: Exploration- survivors need to assess their surroundings and realize that they may be there for some time. Expand out gradually and make sure someone is taking detailed notes or making a map.

Step 4: Establish proper shelter- While the ship may have been good for the first few days, the overall structure of the room is slowly becoming compromised by a broken fuel tank above, or create some reason to make the characters seek a better shelter in the ship or outside.

>>46006252
Continuing on... it'd be a bomb ass mission if the survivors manage to scavenge some explosives in order to bust through some bulkheads and then jury rig the door to the bridge so the survivors can use the elevated, spot with massive windows as a vantage point.

Step 5: recover the beacon, this is a real risk it all mission. W/out the beacon there is no rescue. Make them scale a sheer cliff face, being buffeted by gale force winds and maybe encounter a beast of somekind.

Step 6: turn on beacon and wait. This is where the GM's mettle is truly tested. Rescue should not be immediate. It is up to the GM to give the players reasons to keep playing. Dwindling supplies, dangerous and hungry natives, a dangerously deteriorating ship that is no longer safe to be in.