The Wasteland is home to 3 different tribes: Mystics, Warriors, and Shadow.

On the night, each of these will be run by a friend you've pre-arranged. Their mission is to amass 10 keys by recruiting members and working together on challenges.

Note: If you've got 12-15 players in your party, then just play with 2 tribes so the teams are larger.

When players arrive, they'll start by choosing a character to play as. This selects their starting lives, starting cash, as well as giving them a mini-mission to complete.

The High Priest of the Order of Dead Gods will be the one welcoming each player as they arrive and helping them choose a character.

These are challenges that players can attempt to complete. If they do, they visit Vigo's Chop Shop and collect the Bounty listed on the poster.

When someone attacks another player a Death Duel is declared. The attacking player gets to choose which duel they'll do. 

Once complete, both players head to Vigo's where the winner will receive the bounty listed on the Death Duel and the other player will lose a life. (An easy way to track lives is to mark them off on your left wrist using a marker)

These theming posters add an aggressive splash to your world. The Tribal banners also help make a home base for each Tribe.

In this challenge, both players are trying to grab the 'bomb' when the music stops.
You can use anything for the bomb, like the cardboard inner tube from a roll of kitchen paper or even a plastic cup.

The winner of the first battle then faces the last remaining tribe.

5 challengers from each Tribe will need to unleash their most fearsome war chant.

Make sure to announce this challenge at the end of the previous Tribal Battle to give teams a chance to prepare.

If Zoolander was in the Wasteland they'd be dropping style in this all-out catwalk of death.

Each Tribe can bring forth 1-2 challengers to strut their stuff. The winner will be judged by Vigo based on how epic their costume is as well as how well they embody/act their character.

This is a battle between the Max's and Tribal Leaders. After all, their goal in the game is sweet, sweet revenge. Since Max's can't join a tribe it's also their chance to participate in a larger challenge.

Start this challenge with one of the Max's standing back to back with a tribal leader. They'll each have a Nerf gun with 1 bullet in it. Count out 5 steps and then pause to build some anticipation.....

Yell out FIRE!

Anyone hit by a bullet loses a life (including not-so-innocent bystanders).

Then, move onto the next Max and next Tribal Leader until all done.

This one's a 3-vs-3 tug of war. Pretty simple stuff.

Grab a large bed sheet or an actual rope.

After this Tribal Battle, announce that the game will be ending in 30 minutes sharp. Time to get some killing done!

The game ends after 3 hours or when a Tribe amasses 10 keys - whichever comes first. The 3 hour limit prevents the game from dragging on.

Announce the game has finished and celebrate the winners by showering them in the blood of their enemies. Or you could pour a round of shots. Up to you.

If the vibe is right, there's an achievements poster you can fill out as a group. This is a great way to wrap up the evening while ending on a high. Make sure to shout out each achievement and let people shout back who they feel should earn it. Write their name on the poster as a way of immortalizing their moment. This way, any players who put heaps into the game get to be celebrated, even if their tribe didn't win.

There are 3 Tribes in the Wasteland:

  • Warriors, run by the powerful Warlord
  • Shadow, run by the ominous Doom
  • Mystics, run by the alluring Empress

You'll want to select the leader of each tribe before the party, as they're the key that makes the whole game run. Choose those from your crew who are the most confident, competitive, and fits the vibe of the tribe

If you have enough space, make a home base for each faction and put up the Tribal banner to denote it as theirs.

There are 6 base characters in the Wasteland. 1 of these is the optional Siren and is part of the R-Rated expansion. If you feel this character wouldn't fit your crew just don't print those cards.

Each player chooses their character upon arrival.

(This is the PG version of the Siren, but if this is too 'touchy-feely' for your group, then just leave it out).

Vigo is the mostly-mad and always useful shopkeeper of the Wasteland. They give out players starting loot, and sell knives, guns, bullets, and lives. They also have the most amazing Lucky dip - It's really really good, or really really not good!

You might want to play the character of Vigo yourself since you'll know the most about the game world. Alternatively, choose a friend before the night and explain how the character works.

You'll set up a table/shop which will have all of Vigo's loot. Throughout the night players will come to the Chop Shop for:

  • Collecting starting loot and getting lives marked on their left wrist using a marker.
  • Buying weapons, lives, and keys
  • Collecting bounties from Contracts & Death Duels
  • Getting a life marked off when one is lost in a death duel

The first person that players will meet when they arrive will be the High Priest of the Order of Dead Gods. Ideally, you should set up a small shrine where the High Priest can look mystical.

There, players will be guided through choosing a character and a Wasteland name.

After this, players will want to visit Vigo's Chop Shop to get their starting loot and lives.

The Shrine can be a simple table near the front door, or you can go all out and make a meditation spot with flickering candles and gruesome 'offerings'.

All that's really required are the character cards, the Avatar explanation poster, and the Choose your name poster:

The High Priest is one of the most involved characters in the game,  so you should select someone to play as them before the day of the party. This is because there's a little to explain and you want to select someone that's charismatic and can think on their feet.

Optional game variant: Rise of the Dead God

As an optional extra, the High Priest can also play as the Dead God who will rise, create their own faction, and try to win the night.

They'll keep their true identity hidden until they have resurrected enough followers to take on the other tribes.

Here's how 'resurrection' will work:
Every time a player loses their last life they become a ghost. Ghosts can't talk with anyone except the High Priest. Somehow this mystical being seems to be able to not just talk to the dead, but also bring them back to life!

There's a catch though... in order to be resurrected, players must complete a challenge for the High Priest. For example:

  • Beat the High Priest in Jenga
  • Say the alphabet backwards
  • Make the High Priest a cocktail

But more importantly, the player must vow allegiance to the Dead God when they return. When the High Priest explains this to each dead player, it's up to them to decide how much they reveal (the High Priest essentially gets to decide whether or not to keep players in the dark). Here's a few examples of what the High Priest could say:

"When the Dead God rises, you must come to their side and champion their cause". This makes it sound like they're just being thematic, when in reality, players are getting their life back at the cost of betraying their tribe later on.

or

"The Dead God will rise in 30 minutes. I need you to head back to your Tribe and start offering to be the bank that holds people's money. When the Dead God rises, you'll defect from your tribe and join the Dead God's tribe and bring all the loot you've been storing." In this case, the High Priest is being very clear about what's going on.

This is a unique Max character, and they're extra vengeful!

The High Priest should keep this card hidden and give it to a player who chooses a Max card. It's an upgrade that gives the player huge amounts of loot which they'll use to seek revenge on one of the Tribal Leaders.

One of the characters is the seductive Siren. They'll steal your heart, your loot, and perhaps even your life while offering players a lapdance.

The character is totally optional so only print the cards out if you feel it fits your crew.

(Or, just use the PG version of the character card)

If you use the siren, remember to get a pile of 10 dice ready, since Vigo will need to give one to each Siren as part of their starting loot.

Don't worry, if your crew doesn't gel with R-rated fun, then you can run this PG version of the Siren instead:

There are 2 contract posters that should be stuck up side-by-side somewhere in a communal area.

There's also the optional R-Rated contracts if your crew's a little naughtly... If they're your vibe place these up next to the other contract posters.

Place all 3 Death Duel posters in a prominent place. The first one explains to players how they work.

  • Get out Jenga, Connect 4, or some other easy to play party game you have in the cupboard. Place on a table somewhere so it's easy to find.
  • 2x Nerf guns for duels. Vigo will have many of these but keep two aside as loaner guns for duels.
  • 2x Blindfolds. These can just be large dishcloths or towels.

Players with no lives become ghosts and cannot talk or play the game. 

However, they can speak with the High Priest of the Order of Dead Gods. Somehow this mystical being seems to be able to not just talk to the dead, but also bring them back to life. With a catch...

To give Wasteland its dramatic look and feel you'll need to add some gritty fonts to your computer.

This is super easy. Just follow the video or these steps:
   1) Click into the Designers Kit folder
   2) Click into the Fonts folder
   3) Unzip each font by double-clicking it
   4) Install each font by double-clicking then 'Install Font'

Inside the Designers Kit folder, you'll find editable PowerPoint files for all the game elements. To change these, simply open the file and start clicking and dragging anything you'd like to change.

It's as easy as killing someone in the Wasteland!

Once you're happy with your DIY edits it's time to export the PowerPoint file as images. This will make printing significantly easier.

To to this, click on File -> Export -> And choose JPEG as the export type. You'll want to increase the export size to keep the quality up, so increase the dimensions to 2900 along the longest side. This is about as large as PowerPoint will export.

The 2 big costs in printing are the paper size and paper type (such as gloss or luster paper).

If you choose a large paper size AND glossy paper you could end up spending $10-$20 per poster. That's a lot!

Instead, just ask them to print on normal paper and no larger than Ledger/A3. This is great if you're on a budget since you can print the entire survival game for less than $25.

However, if you'd like to go all out, and you have the budget, then printing on larger formats like ANSI D or A2 does look awesome. We've used this size for the posters in the example party. Even in this case, however, just go for standard paper. (As the posters have a 'gritty' pattern that doesn't work well with glossy paper)

Vigo's Chop Shop is the source of all things deadly in the Wasteland. Stock it up with:

8 Nerf guns. The mini Nerf guns are great since players only need one shot.

Keep 2 of these guns set aside to loan to players doing one of the death duels. For these, you could use larger Nerf guns for dramatic effect.

You'll also want some bullets. Since players may bring their own as part of their costume it's good to mark each of Vigo's bullets using a permanent marker or spray paint. Otherwise it breaks the game balancing.

If you love theming your party then grab some spray cans and mod the guns with some rusty goodness.

The other way players can start a Death Duel is to stab a player with a fake knife. You can use or make these using props from around the house.

For example, we've used large popsicle sticks covered in spray paint to make ours. Or you can use plain old kitchen knives.

If you'd like something more 'real', here's some fun fake knives to get fancy.

To win the game, each team is trying to amass 10 keys. These cost $500 each from Vigo and can be won by successfully winning a Tribal Battle. Good news is you can get a giant bag for $10.  

On the night, you'll want around 30 on-hand.

The entire Wasteland has been fun-tested and balanced to run on an economy. It's what helps players work out what to do and what's valuable in the world.

The easiest way to do this is with a poker set. You'll just need the 10, 50, 100 chips. If you can't borrow one from a friend they're only around $15.

Tribal Challenges are tribe-vs-tribe battles to test their crews' metal. Two of such challenges will need some simple props from around the home:

  • Bomb Speed Grab: This challenge involves players both trying to grab the 'bomb' when the music stops. You can use anything for the bomb, like the cardboard inner tube from a roll of kitchen paper or even a plastic cup.
  • Tug of war: a large bed sheet will work great for this. If you want to go all out you can grab an actual rope as well.

Two of the Contracts give players the chance to express their creative side while also making the Wasteland look even more epic. They're also very popular with more introverted/shy players by giving them space to participate in the Wasteland without needing to be overly social.

The first of these is a challenge to make a sign for your Tribe. To set this up make an Art Station with a bunch of markers and cardboard boxes cut up into squares.

The second art Contract is body tattooing. Liquid eyeliner works best for this but you can use whatever markers and pens you have around the home.

One of the Death Duels is to defeat a player in Jenga, Connect 4, or other game. You'll probably have one of these around the house, or you could borrow from a friend.

A dice is rolled each time a Siren gives someone a lap dance. It could be good for the receiver. It could be deadly. That's the fun! Collect about 6 dice. 1 for each Siren in your game. We used these big bouncy ones.

Set up a table/station near the front entrance for the High Priest to welcome people, answer some questions, and help people choose their character.

At the station, you'll want to place the player cards, Avatar poster, and Choosing a name poster, and a few markers to write their name on their cards.

You can optionally have a pot for collecting offerings to the Dead God. While most players will think that this is a terrible idea, the High Priest can keep an eye on who makes an offering and perhaps help them out later in the night with a free resurrection.

If your space is large enough, each tribe will want a home base. Place the tribal poster in each area.

If you'd like to make the bases more thematic, here are some optional ideas for theming each area:

  • Warriors: as rugged as you can make it! For example, choose an outdoor firepit or deck area, or if you only have indoor areas you could try the kitchen. Grab some spare firewood or 'junk' from the shed and pile it up in the area.

  • Mystics: sensual and elegant with a splash of grit thrown in. A living room with some mood lighting or a red velvet cloth stapled to the wall work well. If you're playing outside then carry a few couches out of the house and set up a few lamps.

  • Shadow: the darkest and most decayed area of your world. Use some chalk to draw arcane symbols on the ground or spray paint some signs about the forthcoming end times.

Set up a table that Vigo can stand behind. On the table you'll want:

  • A vault full of poker chips. This can be a simple box but look around your house for the most vault-like thing you have.
  • All of the keys.
  • Stash of Nerf guns and bullets.
  • Stash of knives.
  • Vigo's Chop Shop prices poster.
  • Markers to give/take people's lives.
  • Lucky dip: cut out the lucky dip notes and place them all in a container. 
  • Optional: dice to give out to Sirens if you're playing the R-Rated expansion

Parties need matching music like fine food needs matching wine. So, kick up the stereo and get this custom Wasteland music playlist going. Turn shuffle off and let it play in order so the vibe builds over the course of the night.

The last 5 songs make epic mood music for Tribal Battles and Death Duels, so we recommend switching to them during the fashion show, dance-offs, Bomb Speed grab etc... These higher energy tribal beats always boost the energy to 11!

P.s. tap the follow button and the list will appear in your playlists so you'll have it handy all night.

Setting up Contracts and Death Duels is a simple matter of placing the posters in an open spot and you're 95% done. There are a few of these that require a few props around the house:

  • Place 2 bullets in a small box under your couch. One of the escape room puzzle contracts directs players to look there. First one gets the loot!
  • Place $300 in a red box somewhere in the game area. Make it fairly obvious. This is the goal for the other escape room style puzzle that reads 'Find Vigo's secret red stash of coins'.

If you're playing with the R-Rated contracts you'll also want:

  • Wax play candles. These are special candles for dripping wax on someone's body. It feels amazing! If this is too much preparation simply edit the game and change the wax play contract.
  • Some rope to tie someone up. Great alternatives are handcuffs.

Set up a table/station with the following gear so players can enjoy the art-based contracts:

  • Cardboard boxes cut out as a base for signs. Cereal boxes cut into squares work well too since the inside is brown. Alternatively, you can use paper sheets but the cardboard is better for that 'End of the world is nigh' sign vibe.
  • Markers to make Tribal posters on the cardboard. The wider the tip the better. If you have an outdoor area you can go all out and grab spray cans but you'll need good ventilation and a splashback (but it would be dope).
  • Liquid eyeliner or markers for players to do body tattoos on each other.