A downloadable game

Stranded is a social card game for 3-6 players, inspired by some of our favorite "lost on a deserted island" stories. The game is simple: keep yourself alive while foraging for supplies in the hopes of coming across an Epiphany: a constructed means of escape!

The game has been play-tested, but not thoroughly! Please feel free to come up with House Rules and share them with me in the comments!



Types of Cards:

  • Weapon cards are used attack or defend against attack. Whoever wins a battle may steal an item from the loser. Multiple attack cards may be played in the same turn. Attacking and defending costs 1 stamina but does NOT end your turn
  • Food cards are used to replenish stamina. Some food may be... Questionable, offering less reward for consumption but better than dying!
    Flip a coin and call it. If you get it right, gain the happy face effects! Get it wrong, get the sad face effects.
  • Equipment cards provide unique abilities, and can provide a strong tactical edge
  • Material cards are used for crafting purposes. These are essential for escape and defense, and as such make great bartering tools!
  • Walls are placed in front of items at your campsite. Your wall can be destroyed by enemy weapons or defended with weapons of your own!
  • Epiphany or Escape cards are the rarest cards in the deck, with only three available cards. 

Actions available during a turn:

  • Barter with other players. Swap as many cards as you like. Honor your agreements or don't. Once a card is in your hand, it's yours. Be trustworthy or betray!
  • Attack another player. Use a weapon card and spend one stamina point to attempt to rob a player. The defending player may also choose to spend a stamina point to fight back. If you play the same card, nobody robs anybody. If your card wins, select one card from your opponents hand or camp and take it for your own.
  • Build a wall or a means of escape. Walls can be used to protect inventions or the most treasured item in your camp. If you want to steal it, you'll have to break the wall first! Build as many walls as you can, but don't forget you need those same supplies to build your escape!
  • Forage for supplies. This ends your turn, but gains crucial materials and food, and gets you one step closer to escape
  • Eat food. Nutrition is key! Eating food replenishes stamina but ends your turn without gaining supplies.

Your turn is over if:

  • You eat food
  • You foraged for supplies
  • You ran out of stamina

When your stamina runs out:

  • You have until your next turn to eat. Barter like your life depends on it!
  • If you do not eat, you are removed from the game. Place all your cards face up in your camp.
  • The camp of a dead player is available for foraging. You may draw from these face-up cards instead of the face-down deck.

Win Conditions:

Depending on the number of players, you may want to wrap up the game or let it linger.  Any player may place an epiphany card along with the necessary materials to build it. This must be defended until their next turn via walls and weapons.

  • With more players (5 or 6), I recommend playing to define the winner. There are enough possible attackers to destroy your escape means with ease, so it's best to speed up the end a little
  • With less players (3 or 4), playing to define the loser works well. Last player on the island is a tasty snack for the local wildlife!

Please note: All art and card design was done very quickly for prototype purposes. If I choose to refine the project, all art will be updated.

If you'd like to program a digital version to play online with friends please let me know, I'd love to collaborate.

Download

Download
Stranded_Prototype.zip 251 MB

Install instructions

To play: 

  1. Print out all of the card sheets and at least one sheet of wall cards and cut them. (Print the "cardback" pages on the reverse side, and use thick card stock paper for best effect)
  2. Select an item (such as coins) to use as stamina markers. Each player should place five stamina markers in front of themselves.
  3. Place the deck face down in the center of the play space, place your walls alongside it and leave room for a discard pile
  4. Each player may draw 3-5 cards to hold in their hand (this is a good spot for house rules. 5 card games go quicker, 3 card draws encourage more interaction and stress). These should not be shown to opponents unless otherwise noted on the card
    1. Any additional cards must be placed face up. This area of face up cards is known as your "camp". Choose which 5 cards you hide carefully!
  5.  A players turn is ended when they choose to make no moves or when they forage for supplies (draw from the deck).  A player may draw one or two cards when they forage (again, good time for "house rules"). Foraging will forcefully end your turn and cost one stamina marker
  6. A player who has no stamina to forage may not act, and if they don't receive food by their next turn they will die and are out of the game! Be nice to them, maybe they will reward you?

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