There are all sorts of important resources that you’ll have to manage in a survival situation. Most games simply aren’t built to handle survival issues. It just isn’t a primary focus of very many games. Maybe there is an easy system that can be dropped in, on top of any other system, to help generate that struggle for survival feeling. There should be ways to tie these mechanics into existing mechanics but since the focus of this article is to provide a non-system specific framework those will be left up to the reader’s imagination.

The Six Resources

There are six key resources for survival, in no particular order they are: Food, Water, Medicine, Shelter, Protection, and Tools. Each resource is important to your survival. You might have noticed that Food and Water are separate resources, while both could be considered the same thing (Nutrition) in order to help stress the survival aspect of this system they have been broken into two separate elements that need to be managed. The next question might be about the difference between Shelter and Protection. Shelter is the physical place you stay and the things we use to cover ourselves while Protection is the means of which you overcome hostile threats. Protection translates roughly into guns, swords, traps and any weaponry you can think of.

1) Food

Anything consumable that helps keep your body running. Most doctors agree that you can survive without food for around eight weeks as long as you have water. For the game resources you are only in trouble when you’re Food resource is at -50 (almost eight weeks), although the Game Master might change that number based on other factors such as physical exertion or lack of quality food. Running out of Food means your characters have all starved to death and the game is over.

2) Water

We aren’t just talking about the cool blue stuff we find in lakes and oceans, Water represents any liquids which provide us with needed nutrients. Again, most doctors agree that assuming you’re in reasonable shape, that your not subjected to extreme heat or cold, and not exerting yourself then a human can live for about 3 to 5 days without any water. For the game resources you are only in trouble when you’re Water resource is at -5, although the Game Master might change that number based on other factors such as extreme heat and cold or physical exertion. Running out of Water means your characters have all dehydrated and the game is over.

3) Medicine

Everyone gets hurt or sick eventually. Medicine is more than just antibiotics and band aids, its anything we use to help our bodies repair or heal itself. Cough syrup, splints, stitches, pain relievers, or even getting the proper amount of sleep fall under the Resource of Medicine. For the game resources you are in trouble when you’re out of Medicine.There is no grace period like with Food and Water because running out of Medicine isn’t a direct death sentence. When Medicine reaches zero the Game Master has two options, they can either increase the amount of time healing takes in the system or they can suspend it all together. This means character either stop or slow down regaining lost hit points, life tokens, or whatever generic health system your game uses.

4) Shelter

More than just a roof over your head, although that is important and a measured resource, Shelter also represents clothing and a certain level of physical comfort. Without proper storage and protection other resources dwindle faster than usual, including your characters. For the game resources you are in trouble when you’re out of Shelter. There is no grace period like with Food and Water because, like Medicine, running out of Shelter isn’t a direct death sentence. When Shelter reaches zero your other resources deplete faster. Again the final call is left to the Game Master and the depletion rates might change depending on the specific Resource. We suggest at least doubling the depletion rate for all resources although some (Food and Water primarily) might deplete faster than others (Tools and Protection primarily)

5) Protection

Eventually you’re going to be attacked by something hostile and physical. Protection is a measure of your resources to fight back with. Bullets, knives, poison, traps, and even having a dependable location all count towards Protection. Eventually the bullets run out or the swords break though. For the game resources you are in trouble when you’re out of Protection. There is no grace period like with Food and Water because running out of Protection isn’t a direct death sentence. When Protection reaches zero your Game Master is allowed to penalize your attack ability. This might mean being out of ammunition to shoot, having swords or knives break, a simple statistical reduction of any attack bonus you may have or a penalty towards any attacks you make. If you’re system doesn’t have a well-defined combat mechanics (really?) then running out of Protection might increase the power of your opponents in order to represent your lowered defenses.

6) Tools

Anything we need to use in order to built thing is a tool. Obvious examples are hammers, screwdrivers, or wrenches but Tools is also a catch-all for supplies that tools are used on. Wood, steel, cloth, fan belts, gears, and anything else not covered by the other Resource types. For the game resources you are in trouble when you’re out of Tools. There is no grace period like with Food and Water because running out of Tools isn’t a direct death sentence. When Tools reaches zero your Game Master is allowed to penalize your non-attack abilities. Similar to Protection this might mean not being able to repair and craft things or it may be a statistical reduction of any bonus you may have or a penalty towards any rolls you make. If you’re system doesn’t have well-defined mechanics then running out of Tools might increase the difficulty of what you’re doing in some other fashion.

Measurement

All resources are measured in how many more days they provide. For example, you might have 74 days of Food, 92 days of Water, 12 days of Medicine, 360 days of Shelter, 102 days of Protection, and 32 days of Tools. That doesn’t sound too bad, except for the 12 days of Medicine. This will also help you write your game, 12 days of Medicine means its time to go collect some Medicine resources. Resource management can help write the game for you Game Masters out there but just remember to make it an incentive not a roadblock.

Resource Depletion

Now we’ve talked about what we’re tracking and what happens when we run out but the question remains: How do we run out? The simple answer would be since every Resource is tracked in Days then when One Day passes all resources drop one point. Of course, your players are going to try to ration, save, and just plain argue to keep resources so a more complex answer can also be given. It is no mistake that there are six resources and the easiest die to find is a six-sided one. If you want a more abstract or dynamic system for resource completion you can use the following system.

Roll a single six-sided die. This is how many total days resources you’re going to deplete. If the result is a Six, then every resource depletes One Day. Any other result is decided by rolling another six-sided die. You can either roll to see what resource isn’t depletes (which is suggested on initial rolls of four or five) or roll to see what resource is depleted (which is suggested on initial rolls of one or two). No resource should deplete more than One per Day base on these rolls. If you’re shelter resource is gone then you should apply the Shelter penalty after you determine what resources are depleting. Lastly, if a Resource is already bottomed out and it is rolled to deplete the Game Master has two options. Either the group got lucky and that Resource is unaffected or they will have to roll for a different result.

Example: Greg is rolling for today’s resource depletion. His first roll is a four, meaning they are going to lose one day of resources from four different resources. Greg decides that instead of rolling four times to see what is going to deplete, he is just going to roll twice to see which two don’t deplete. Greg rolls and determine that Water and Protection will be the two resources that don’t deplete. Unfortunately their Shelter hit zero yesterday so this is going to really sting.

If you want your game to skip more than one day then you can roll a single six-sided die per resource per week to determine their depletion. This gives the players at least one free day but that seems fair in light of the abstract progression of time. It is not suggested to skip more time then could be measured with this weekly mechanic. This is going to be a survival game after all and if you’re skipping months or years then survival isn’t really a factor any longer.

Starting Resources

You know what you’re tracking and how it goes away but how do you get it to start with? There is no simple answer for this question. It is all highly dependent on the starting situation. In dire straits you may start the players with a single six-sided die roll per resource or if the situation is a little calmer you could multiply that out. Starting with lower resources prompts the players to begin with resource gathering while starting with higher implies a more stable situation where the players can focus on other efforts.

Regaining Resources

The next question is likely about how to rebuild lost resource pools. Again, there is no simple answer. Your Game Master might determine that performing some actions improve a Resource. You could spend Tools to rebuild Shelter for example. Maybe defeating the near-by looters will increase your Protection. Starting a farm would surely increase your Food while scavenging bottles of water could increase your Water. All of this, and the exact numbers, are left up to your Game Master to relay to you. It depends heavily on the feel of the game and how desperate this survival situation is.