A VESSEL GAME BY SAMUEL E H YEAGER
WAR RIG
A role-playing game of survival, desperation, and cooperation in a
world that wants you dead.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To
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CHAPTER 1: GETTING IT IN GEAR
THE ENGINE ITSELF
The world has ended, but life has not. The planet has died, but humanity clings to
life through grit, hope, and brutality. The last stands of civilization persist in small
communities, scattered across the wastes. They get by with scavenging what they can, and
stealing from those who can get more. You and yours stay moving, though. You ride upon
a beast of steel, fire, and fury, your WAR RIG. Many wheels, many hands upon it, and many
miles to go before the next rest.
In WAR RIG, you will play in phases. In some phases, challenging circumstances will
be decided by negotiation and the use of resources. In others, challenges will be faced
with dice. This is where the VESSEL engine lives. In these high stakes moments of life and
death, the engine turns and rumbles to life, and the GM marks the beginning of an
encounter. When you, as a player, take action to overcome an obstacle, you will call upon
the power of one of your stats, typically the one most fitting for the action you take. You will
roll one six-sided die, and if the result is above or equal to 4, it counts as a success.
Otherwise, it is a failure. To succeed in an encounter, fight, or challenge, each player will
need a specific number of successes (called the threshold.) This number is kept secret by
the GM until someone reaches that threshold. Whatever the result of your die roll, you
mark down that you have spent 1 die of the stat you called upon. When you use as many
dice as you have points in that stat, you cannot call upon that stat for the remainder of the
encounter. Should you expend all your options without meeting the threshold, you will be
at the mercy of your friends, or the enemy. Should you meet the threshold with dice to
spare, you can use those dice to help your friends, or help yourself, by continuing to roll.
If you are under, you can ask your crew, who also rolled their own dice, for help. If you are
over, you can give it. When you have more success than you need, you can give as many of
those spares as you wish to any who need them to reach the threshold. However, you can
also choose to hoard those points, clinging to hope that your frugality will pay off later.
More detail is given later, but this is the nature of most of the game. Roll dice to face
danger, and decide to put yourself or your crew first.
Keep in mind: the failure/success of the dice may be binary, but the challenge is not.
If you fail by a little, perhaps you can make it through with your skin. If you fail by a lot,
you’re in for pain, or worse. Helping one another is good, but the threshold doesn’t always
mean life or death.
CHAPTER 2: THE WORLD GRINDS YOU DOWN
WHAT’S YOUR STORY, STRANGER?
Now that you understand the core of the game, you can prepare to set off on your
adventure. The first thing you need to play WAR RIG is a group of friends, at least three
people in total, but at most five. All but one player will then create a character, whom they
will play in the game. The one left will be the Game Master, who is in control of the world
around the crew, and keeps track of the supporting cast of characters, enemies, and all else
that the crew interacts with.
Gather up enough six-sided die (or d6) to accommodate every player (eight per person
should be enough.)
The next step is to create your characters. Firstly, you need to know your character’s
strengths and weaknesses, or their Stats. There are four core statistics to know:
Strength: How hard you hit, how much you lift, how far you leap.
Speed: Your swiftness on foot, reflexes, and agility.
Grit: Your fortitude, your vitality, and the pain you can take before falling to the dirt.
Brains: Your cleverness, skill with words, understanding of complex concepts.
To decide the numbers behind these powers, roll six d6, rerolling any results of 1, and then
cut out both the highest and the lowest numbers. This will leave you with four results, which
you then place in each Stat as you see fit.
In addition to the four core Stats, there are a handful of other numbers for players to keep
track of:
Wounds: When you take enough wounds to be equal or greater than twice your Endurance
score, your character falls dead. One wound is recovered every time the crew rests safely
for a night, perhaps more if drugs or a sawbones are available.
SCRAP: Every character starts with a Scrap score of 0. This represents the various goods
and supplies you can scavenge from the wasteland. These points increase when
high-quality goods are found. When you face a challenge, you can spend one point of
Scrap to increase the effectiveness of your dice, to exploit your resources and make life
easier. Instead of successes only being 4-6, results of 3-6 are all successes. Alternatively,
when you have a negative Scrap score, things get harder, and only results of 5-6 count as
successes when facing challenges. Should you ever reach -3 Scrap, you fall to the dirt, never
to rise again.
HOPE: When you roll and have more success than you need to surpass a challenge, you can
choose to hoard your victories to yourself and gain Hope. These points of Hope then give
you a choice: in any challenge between when they are earned and your next rest, you can
choose to give one success to a friend in need, as if you had rolled that extra success for
that challenge. Keep in mind, however, that Hope affects your scavenging chances.
After deciding your scores, you choose your character’s nickname. This decides a little of
your character’s personality, their role in the crew, and gives a bonus to two of their Stats.
Once your nickname is chosen, think about the questions associated. Each of you lost
something significant when the world died. Consider how it affects you now. Additionally,
should you find a way to justifiably tie in the answer of any of those background questions
to a challenge, your GM may reward you! Anything from a reduced difficulty to a
guaranteed pass with leftover successes could be your reward, so make it count. Once you
resolve that question, make a check next to it and come up with a new one before the next
session.
Choose your nickname from the list below:
MADEYE: Crazed and bloody, you are known for taking risks and heads in equal measure.
+1 Strength, +1 Speed
Answer these questions to gain insight into your character:
You had a mind, once. How’d you lose it?
What is the name of the devil on your back?
TREADFOOT: Unstoppable and immovable, you stand between your friends and the end.
+1 Strength, +1 Grit
You’ve got a limp. How’d it happen?
Something or someone on the rig is precious to you. What is it?
BLACKFINGER: Whipsmart and sturdy, you know how to keep your rig running.
+1 Strength, +1 Brains
Who taught you this art?
You lost one hand. How do you get by?
BOSS: Bold and driven, you’re the face of this crew, for better or worse.
+1 Speed, +1 Brains
There’s something out there you’re searching for. What is it?
You lost an eye. What were you looking at?
SPEEDFREEK: Agile and fiery, you seek the fastest way to the next score.
+1 Speed, +1 Grit
You lost your tongue. What’d you say wrong?
What is it about going fast that gets your heart racing?
THINKTANK: One of the only working minds left, you advise and invent for the crew.
+1 Grit, +1 Brains
You know what killed the world. Why won’t anyone believe you?
You can barely breathe on a good day. What filled your lungs and hasn’t left?
The final step in preparing for a game of WAR RIG is the machine itself. Sit down as a group
and discuss what it looks like, how it works. How many wheels does it have? How is it
powered? Is it a commonplace vehicle, or a one-of-a-kind marvel of machinery? Once you
and your crew have a clear picture of your rig in your mind, you’re ready to hit the road.
CHAPTER 3: DAYS PASS
PHASES OF PLAY
A game of WAR RIG takes place over a series of phases. Within each phase, different
events can happen, and the stakes are different as well. Ideally, these phases flow naturally.
The GM must keep in mind the current phase as they present the world to the crew.
REST PHASE
At the end of each session, and in the moments in between, the crew should find
themselves time to rest. Perhaps they break for camp somewhere in the wasteland, or they
find shelter in a settlement somewhere. It is during this phase that players use their Hope to
scavenge useful Scrap, where they can converse with themselves, and discover more about
their surroundings.
Whenever you rest, you must go out and scavenge for life-sustaining resources. Each
character rolls as many dice as they have points in Hope, and each success is counted as an
increase in 1 to that character’s Scrap score. You cannot spend Scrap to increase your
chances on this roll. When these Scraps are first gained, you can divvy them up among the
crew as you see fit. Once they are divided up, that choice sticks until the next rest. After
scavenging, you reset your Hope score to 1. If you rested without any Hope, you stay at 0.
When you rest, if you didn’t have enough hope to scavenge, your Scrap score goes to -1,
representing your overwhelming hunger and thirst.
DRIVE PHASE
During this phase, the crew sets out in their Rig upon the wastes. The crew is aboard
their mighty vehicle, and the threats they face on the road they always face together. This is
where most of the game will take place. At its core, WAR RIG is about the struggle of a
band of people on the same machine, working to survive together. Thus, most of the story
should take place on that machine.
When the GM presents threats in this phase of play, the conversation should flow
something like this: the GM presents a danger, the crew discusses and presents their
solution (and how they each contribute to that end), and the GM declares what relevant
statistic is being challenged here, and the threshold of successful die needed.
Every member of the crew must roll as many dice as they have in that statistic, and
then successes are counted. Any character who falls short of the threshold can ask for help
from any who go above the threshold, but that decision ultimately lies alone with the one
who succeeded. Any character who keeps a spare success to themselves marks down that
many points of HOPE, as does any character who received help, regardless of whether it
brought them to the threshold or not. Then, consequences take place.
Any character who fell short takes wounds, or loses scrap. Between the two statistics,
the amount of wounds taken and scrap lost must be equal to the degree they failed the
threshold (I.e. if you fail a threshold of 6 with only 4 successes, you must lose 2 scrap, or
take 2 wounds, or lose 1 scrap and take 1 wound.) A character cannot be brought below 0
scrap in this way, and any character at 0 scrap must take wounds when they fail.
The players narrate how their results take shape in the world of WAR RIG, and the
GM then describes how the world reacts. Play continues in this way until the GM believes
either the threat has been successfully negotiated, or the party has been defeated. After a
threat is dealt with, the crew may choose to REST, or they may press on.
WALK PHASE
During this phase, the crew sets their feet upon the ground, and threats are faced
individually. Here, no dice are rolled, and instead, the players must negotiate with the GM
to get what they want. For example: if a player gets in a fistfight and wants to knock their
opponent out, they explain how their character accomplishes it. If the GM thinks it feasible,
the player succeeds. If it seems unlikely, the GM declares that the character must sacrifice
something to succeed. Perhaps they sacrifice a point of hope, or resources. If the
character is in a tense negotiation, perhaps they wind up in debt to the other side of the
argument.
A character should never die in the WALK phase without the player’s express desire
for that outcome. That sort of action and risk should be reserved for the DRIVE phase.
PARTING WORDS
Once you’ve got your characters, and you understand the flow of gameplay, you’re
ready to play! The Game Master sets the scene for your party, describing the world around
you, and play begins. Good luck out there on the wastes. You’re gonna need it.
Keep in mind: the game is meant to played TOGETHER. As a player, you can strike
off on your own, but you will be at extreme disadvantages, and the story you’re telling won’t
be one the rules necessarily support. If you’re having fun, go for it. Just don’t expect the
rules to support a solitary journey. What’s more, this game is intended for campaigns
lasting three or four sessions. Characters don’t have many options for long term
advancement, but that may change in possible future supplements. Keep eyes out!
Finally, a few thank you’s.
First, to my Patrons, especially Greg, Carol, and Morgan! Thanks so much for your support.
It honors me, and I hope you enjoy.
Next, to Kat, who supports me in a thousand ways. I could not imagine doing this without
you.
Last, to you, dear reader! I hope you enjoy this game, seek and find adventure with it, and
have fun!