The Quick and Dirty Guide to Writing Wasteland Deck Events

Step 1 – Ideas.

This can be anything. Think of all the zany stuff you have read about in books, videos, TV, or just
something that pops into your head. I would recommend staying away from obvious pop culture
references. These events are should be singular in nature and only involve one model who is exploring
the wasteland. Such events including meeting merchants, fighting critters, random objects falling from
the heavens, finding a corpse, or whatever. The most import part is the player has to have a choice in
how their model is abused. You can’t just have them fall in a hole automatically, but you can entice
them into crawling into the hole. Players should be able to ignore the event, but the reward should be
worth the risk

Step 2 – Rules

Now you have your idea. Next you need to think about rule mechanics to make it work. This could
include; resolve a close combat attack (or other Opposed test), roll on a table, or make a Stat test of
some variety (Agility, Smarts, Survival, etc.) See page 19 of the rules to see the test options. Also, feel
free to come up with your own resolution mechanic.

Step 3 – Difficulty

Most tests are set to Target Number 10, but you can go to 11 or 12 if the reward is great. I would save
those for the higher face cards such as Aces and Jokers. Jacks and Queens tend to be the easiest, but
nothing should be lower than 8. For opposed tests, set the stat of the opposition to an average number
of 4 or 5 or whatever a rank and file may have. Again, for a more difficult cards this could be higher.

Step 4 – Rewards

Not all encounters need to be high value, but generally drawing a face card is considered the equivalent
of drawing a 9 or higher. I tend to use the following values

Jack – 30 BS
Queen – 40 BS
King – 50 BS
Ace – 60 BS
Joker – 60 or higher

Note the values are approximate and I do not use them at all times. Think of them as a guideline. I also
tend to mix up and not use set values. Instead of giving 30 BS I would say 3D10+15 BS. You can also
hand out equipment, upgrade warband abilities (extra elite or relic slots), allow access to models from
other warbands, gain freelancers, etc. When a player ignores the event, I tend to set the value at 1/3 of
the value of the good reward.

Step 5 – Risks

Players have to suffer come consequence for taking the risk and failing, but we do not want to
overpunish them. Some punishments could be rolling on the Survival Table, suffer a Strength hit, suffer
a penalty next game, missing the next game, or costing the warband money. Sometimes it is enough
they gain nothing for their trouble. Generally the higher value the reward the higher the risk.

So that’s it. I hope it helps folks with designing their own chaos.

Joey McGuire

World’s End Publishing