SURVIVING THE GULAG
by Marcus Salo
INTRODUCTION
Scenario for WarpQuest.
Click here for the WarpQuest Core Rules.
The year is 1947 and the player is an Estonian patriot and
resistance fighter that has been caught by the russians and
transported to Siberia to a brutal labor camp. The sentence is
ten years of horrific conditions. The player has to survive the
camp to return to the beloved Estonia.
In this variant there is only one module, the camp. The spaces
represent time, not distance like in the original Artifact.
THE HERO
Resistance Fighter, Kalle Loodus, 33 years of age, former
corpral in the Estonian Army during the independence, fought in
Finnish Army during the War of Continuation, after the war
returned to the Soviets by Finnish communist traitors, escaped
and fought as a "Forest Brother Guerilla Fighter" until caught
and sent to labor camp in Siberia.
A man with nine lives, just like a cat.
Kalle Loodus has six skills, roll on the Skill List Table.
In this version there are no companions.
Every time Kalle fails
a challenge, he loses one life.
Skill List Table
1D10 Skill:
1 Fighting +1
2 Cunning +1
3 Agility +1
4 Survival +1
5 Personality +1
6 Toughness +1
7 Spirit +1
8 Stealth +1
9-10 pick any skill
CARD LIST
-40F Temperature Survival x 2
Strong Wind Survival x 2
Ivan, Brutal Russian Guard Toughness x 2
Russian Interrogators Cunning x 2
Russian Prisoner Gang Fighting x 2
Forced Labor Toughness x 2
Food Storage Window Open Stealth & Agility
(if succesfull, eat your stomach full and advance 1d6 spaces forward)
Torture Toughness & Spirit
Exhaustion Spirit x 2
Desperation Spirit x 2
Fellow Estonian Prisoner No challenge, gain 1 Spirit
Armenian Prisoner that
has two coats Personality x 2
(if succesfull, the Armenian sells you the other coat, gain 1 Survival)
Boris, Brutal Russian Guard Toughness x 2
Diarrhea Survival x 2
Hunger Spirit x 2
New Prisoners Personality x 2
(if succesfull, you get news from home, gain 1 Spirit)
Storage Room Door Unlocked Stealth & Agility
(If succesfull, you steal a new pair of pants, Survival +1)
Lithuanian Prisoner that
works in the Kitchen Personality x 2
(if succesfull, eat your stomach full and advance 1d6 spaces)
Caught Stealing,
1 month in total isolation Spirit x 2
Warm Summer Day No Challenge, advance 1d6 spaces
Fever Survival x 2
Vladimir, Brutal
Russian Guard Toughness x 2
Work in a Coal Mine Agility & Toughness
Deep Snow Survival & Agility
Communist Propaganda Officer Cunning x 2
(if succesfull, you fool the communist and are released from labor for a week,
advance 1d6)
Russian Doctor Cunning x 2
(if succesfull, you play sick and stay a week in a hospital, advance 1d6)
Exhaustion Spirit x 2
Scurvy Survival x 2
Desperation Spirit x 2
Mad Guard Shooting
from the Guard Tower Agility x 2
Russian Under Cover Informer Cunning x 2
Kitchen Duty Stealth x 2
(if succesfull, eat your stomach full and advance 1d6 spaces)
Tuberculosis Survival x 2
Finnish POW No challenge
(you have a nice long chat about the Russians. Gain 1 Spirt)
*********************
INTRODUCTION
Warp Quest is an abstract game system that depicts goal driven
scenarios.
Each player controls a collection of Units who are attempting to
be the first to reach an objective and bring it back to the start.
The units could be a party of adventuring archeologists hoping
to recover a lost artifact, a squadron of bombers attempting to
hit a military target and return home, a band of samurai seeking
to vanquish marauding bandits or a company of mixed creatures
seeking to destroy a piece of evil ornamental jewelry that has
the nasty habit of trying to control the minds of all free creatures.
The scenarios that use the Warp Quest engine will hold the details.
DICE & PIECES
· Six and ten sided dice are needed.
· Each player has a pawn to represent his or her group of Units
(adventuring party, fleet, etc.) on the board.
· Use a small trinket to represent the Objective.
· There is only one Objective.
THE BOARD
· The board is a single winding path of connected spaces
with a Start Space and an End Space. The path should be 30 Spaces long.
· The First Space represents the start.
· Spaces 2-15 represents travel through the first scenario module.
· Spaces 16-29 represents travel through the second scenario module.
· The End Space is the final destination where the Objective is found.
THE DECKS
· There are 2 decks for each scenario:
· The Module 1 Deck and the Module 2 Deck.
· Each deck has one of each card in its card list.
· There may also be an Aid deck.
THE UNITS
· Each player controls a group of units called a Party.
The scenarios will detail the make up of the units in the party,
their attributes (Skills, Traits) and starting dispositions.
TURN SEQUENCE
· Players take turns.
· Each turn consists of 3 phases:
1. Move Phase
2. Draw Phase
3. Challenge Phase
MOVE PHASE
· Roll 1D6. Move your pawn that number of spaces towards the end space.
· You automatically stop when you enter the end space.
· If you are the first to land on the end space your party acquires the Objective.
· Once a party has acquired the Objective then all other
players may move their parties in either direction on the path.
· The party with the Objective must move towards the start space.
· The first pawn with the Objective to reach the start space wins the game.
DRAW PHASE
· If you land on an empty space in spaces 2-15 draw a card from the Module 1 deck.
· If you land on an empty space in spaces 16-29 draw a card from the Module 2 deck.
· If you land on an opponent’s party do not draw a card.
· If a deck ever runs out, shuffle its discard and draw from it.
· Cards are of 2 types: Challenge cards & Aid cards.
· Place Aid cards in your hand.
· Challenge cards are encounters your party faces immediately in Challenge Phase.
CHALLENGE PHASE
Each challenge card lists one or more skills.
Your party will have to make a skill check vs each skill listed.
(The same skill may be listed twice or more, requiring that many skill checks)
A Skill check consists of a Skill roll and Challenge Roll:
Roll 1D10. This is the Skill roll.
Add the skill bonuses of your party members to the roll.
You may discard Aid cards for further bonuses to the skill roll.
Next roll 1D10. This is the Challenge roll.
Some Challenges have a DM (Difficulty Modifier). Add the DM to the Challenge Roll.
If the challenge roll is less than or equal to the skill roll you win the Skill check.
If the challenge roll is greater than the skill roll you fail the Challenge.
If you win all the Skill Checks, you win the Challenge.
The adventure card may say what happens if you win or lose the Challenge.
If the card does not give directions, then roll on the following table:
If you lose the challenge: Roll 1D6: (Challenge Loss Table)
1-4 Go back 1D6 spaces
5-6 Lose 1 Unit (Man, Ship, Hit Point, etc., depending on the Scenario)
If you Win the challenge gain 1 Experience Token.
You may spend an Experience Token to let you reroll a Move Roll or a Skill Roll.
MOVING ONTO AN OPPONENTS PAWN
· If you land on an opponent’s pawn there will be a fight.
· The current player rolls on the Skill List Table to determine
which skill will decide the confrontation.
· Both players make Skill Rolls. In case of a tie nothing happens.
· The loser rolls on the Challenge Loss Table.
· The winner takes the Artifact from the loser if the loser was
in possession of the Artifact.