Solo All-Out Apocalypse: Vehicles Playtest 1
This post is a part of December's blog carnival: The End Times and After: December 2025 RPG Blog Carnival
Recently I wrote new vehicle rules for my All-Out Apocalypse game (some day I will nail down the specific styling for that title)! If you're unfamiliar with that rule set you can view it here: All-Out Apocalypse.
I have already done one trial run of the vehicle rules which went ok, but I'd like to run through it again and record my experience. Previously I tried two characters in a car vs three enemies across two vehicles. This time I'd like to try out adding in some combatants who aren't constrained to the vehicles to see how that feels.
I've come up with a few combatants and vehicles. For the "PCs" (I use quotes here because I'm playing everybody in this solo test session) I've randomly made the following characters and vehicles:
Stinky: 2 Toughness, 1 Manipulate, Intuit, Radioactive. Healing Serum (1), Wood glue (3), Rope (1), Blacklight(1), Leather jacket (1).
Burphold: 1 Senses, 1 Brawn, 1 Education, Hand-to-Hand, Sprinter. Healing Serum (1), Hunting Knife (4), Mace Spray (2).
Tilda: 1 Agility, 1 Manipulate, 1 Education, Driving, Explosives. Healing Serum (1), Motion Detector (3), Pistol (2).
PeaPod (a motorcycle with a sidecar): Engine (4), Sticky Bombs (1), Swivel Gun (2), Shielding (3).
The Cart (a pickup truck): All-Terrain, Engine (3), Armour (4), Rear Ramp (1).
Regarding enemies, I decided I wanted a mixture of vehicles and enemies who can fly and keep up with the chase. I settled on using the Autoglots from the bestiary, with the thought that the Hypnologist can probably drive a car. I settled on the following characters and vehicles:
Autoglot Drone.
Autoglot Thrall (makeshift tool interpreted as a steel pipe).
Autoglot Hypnologist.
Autoglot Environment Management Drone.
Sedan: Fast. Engine (4), Spikes (2), Nitros (2).
I'm imagining that the Hypnologist managed to hypnotize the car's original owner and now has them as a thrall. They are now capitalizing on the use of the vehicle to try to take down faster prey.
The scenario: A ferry sets sail at first light tomorrow, and the PCs are desperate to make it on time. Because it's already well past midnight and they are low on fuel they've made the inadvisable decision to cut through The City rather than take the long drive around. They hope to just move fast and avoid getting bogged down.
Marching order: Tilda is driving the The Cart. Stinky is driving the PeaPod with Burphold is riding in the sidecar.
This plan goes ok until they notice a blinking light in the sky above, following them at a distance. The sound of whirring propellors suggests it's a drone, but before they can draw further conclusions the party's attention is drawn to a more immediate threat: another vehicle comes screeching around the corner just behind the party, in hot pursuit! It is impossible to tell in this dark who is driving this new vehicle, but they do not seem friendly. The battle has begun!
Round 1
Initiative: All three PCs succeed!
NPC declarations:
- The drone is going to fly down and try to cut at Stinky's face with its rotors.
- The Hypnologist is going to try to ram its car's spikes into the Cart in order to set up an advantage for next round (hoping the thrall can use it to climb across)
- The Thrall is going to sit calmly for lack of anything useful to do right now.
Initiative winners declarations:
- Stinky is going to try to defend against the drone's propellors
- Tilda is going to try to defend against the incoming car attack by swerving out of the way
- Burphold is going to swat at the drone with his hunting knife.
The drone gets two successes but Stinky cancels one out with a success of his own. Stinky's leather jacket takes the remaining hit, and is shredded!
Burphold swings out with his hunting knife and chops the drone clean in half with three successes! Sparks flash as the drone clatters to the ground!
The Hypnologist floors it in an attempt to lodge the two vehicles together, taking advantage of the sedan's Fast trait to get a bonus die to get one success. However, it's not enough as Tilda swerves expertly out of the way with two successes.
The Thrall doesn't need to roll.
Round 2
Again, all three PCs succeed!
NPC declarations:
The drone is toast, so it declares only a few sad sparks.
The Hypnologist can see that Tilda is a skilled driver, and will instead try to ram the PeaPod using spikes and NoS!
The thrall continues to wait placidly.
Initiative winners declarations:
Tilda is going to pull out the pistol and take a pot-shot at the Hypnologist
Stinky is going to try to Defend against the incoming ram
Unable to attack anyone, Burphold is going to keep watch for obstacles up ahead (trying to Create an Advantage that Stinky or Tilda can use if they need to avoid obstacles next round).
With a roar of blue flames, the Hypnologist gets one success, but Stinky maneuvers expertly out of the way with two successes. The serrated spikes on the Hypnologist's car strike awkwardly, and snap off!
Meanwhile, Tilda squeezes the trigger. She got no successes, but opted to burn her point in Agility to ensure the shot connects. The robot's chrome chestplate crumples somewhat, and it turns its hateful red eyes upon its attacker!
Burphold squints into the darkness ahead, ready to call out any obstacles, getting one success.
Round 3
Indeed, Burphold has spotted something up ahead! It's time for an obstacle, I think. I'll roll to determine the severity: 4. That's moderately severe, so we'll say there's an underpass ahead, cluttered with ruined cars. A narrow gap is visible, but it may take some careful driving to navigate.
"Eyes up front, Stinky! Aim for that gap!"
Initiative: Tilda fails! She must declare first.
Initiative losers declarations:
- Tilda will focus on avoiding the incoming obstacles.
NPC declatations:
The Hypnologist is going to take the opportunity to try to ram Tilda's car again, seeing as she's not able to focus on defending.
The Thrall will stand up and reach upwards, awaiting pickup from...
An Environment Management Drone (EMD) appears from over the rooftops! Glittering black in the dark sky, trailing thick tentacles, it will swoop down to pick up the Thrall and try to deposit it onto the Cart!
Initiative winners declarations:
Burphold will turn the swivel gun (which I forgot existed until this moment) towards the Thrall and try to shoot it out of the sky!
Stinky will try to avoid the incoming obstacles as well, taking advantage of the bonus die from Burphold's keen eye last round.
Stinky is rattled by the appearance of the EMD above, and by the sudden boom of the swivel gun, and gets no successes. Nor, unfortunately, does Burphold. His shot goes wide as the PeaPod goes over a big bump.
Tilda gets two successes to avoid obstacles (we'll see how that compares to the incoming damage in a second), but she's unable to avoid a strike from the Hypnologist's car for one point. The Cart's armour will take that blow.
The EMD grabs the Thrall roughly by the arm and drops it into the bed of the Cart.
Normally I'd say that the EMD could just fly above the overpass and ignore obstacles, because I said it was a choked overpass / underpass and the EMD is directly interfacing with the vehicles, I will apply any incoming damage to it as well. Speaking of which...
Three points of damage!! Tilda's expert driving mitigates two of that, and the Cart's armour absorbs the rest. The sedan caromes off of a concrete pillar and is very nearly obliterated. Smoke and flames pour out of it. The PeaPod smashes roughly into the side of a bus and its shielding is fully destroyed, exposing the ramshackle mechanics within. The EMD punches clean through the same bus, front to back, and comes out without its gunmetal grey cowling, and missing a few internal components to boot.
Round 4
Initiative: Only Stinky succeeds!
Initiative losers declarations:
Tilda hears the thump of the Thrall landing in the bed of her pickup truck and aims her pistol out the back window at it.
Burphold is going to lob a sticky bomb at the Hypnologist's sedan.
NPC declarations:
The Hypnologist will use the NoS to try to dodge the incoming bomb.
The Thrall is going to try to club Tilda with their metal pipe, using their Utter Lack of Self-Preservation as a bonus.
The EMD is going to attack Burphold with its sharp and powerful tentacles.
Initiative winners declarations:
- Stinky, seeing this enormous robot coming after his defenceless friend, is going to pre-emptively stab Burphold in the neck with his Healing Serum.
Tilda fires, but her shot goes wide as the Thrall swings savagely with their metal pipe for two points of damage. Tilda screams out in pain and the Cart swerves dangerously across the roadway.
Burphold lights and lobs the sticky bomb. The Hypnologist tries to maneuver out of the way but is too slow, and the bomb slaps wetly in place on the car's hood. After a second the bomb explodes, and the sedan is destroyed! It spins wildly out of control and crashes into an embankment!
Burphold's victory is overshadowed by the EMD's lashing tentacles! Their swipes deal two damage, but luckily for Burphold, Stinky's injection of healing serum immediately clots up the wounds!
Round 5
Initiative: Burphold fails!
Initiative losers declarations:
- Burphold thinks Tilda will be ok as he knows she has a healing serum, so he draws his knife and will set it against the EMD while it's close!
NPC declarations:
The Thrall will continue its assault on Tilda.
The EMD will continue lashing at Burphold who seems to be the biggest threat at the moment (robots are great at threat assessment).
Initiative winners declarations:
Tilda is definitely going to use that serum to recover a few hit points.
Stinky is at a loss, so he maneuvers the PeaPod behind the Cart, trying to create an advantage for next round in case he wants to drive the PeaPod up the ramp of the Cart into its bed.
The Thrall swings again, connecting for another two points of damage, but Tilda has already jammed the healing serum into the meat of her thigh. It heals three hit points, cancelling out the damage from this attack, and recovering one hit point, bringing her back up to two hit points.
Stinky gets no successes. Driving a motorcycle with a sidecar is hard enough even when you don't have a giant flying robot attacking you.
Burphold and the EMD flail at each other, both landing two successes (Burphold spent his point in Brawn to get the second one). Knowing he has a serum in his pocket, Burphold decides to not cancel out the incoming attacks, instead letting all the damage connect. Blood and oil fill the air.
Round 6
Initiative: Everyone fails!! I also realized that I rolled too many dice for Tilda last round, but oh well.
Initiative losers declarations:
Tilda needs help badly, so she's going to pull the lever to lower the back ramp (CLANG!) and then try to drive straight, lending two dice (one from the Cart's ramp and one from her driving skill) to Stinky who she can see lining up behind her.
Stinky is going to try to drive the PeaPod up the the ramp, using the dice from Tilda as well as one usage of the PeaPod's engine.
Burphold is going to stick himself with a healing serum.
NPC declarations:
The Thrall will continue its assault on Tilda using its metal pipe.
The EMD is going to try to abduct Stinky, carrying him off in its tentacles!
Stinky takes a deep breath and guns the engine. The PeaPod barely fits, but this isn't the first time they've pulled this maneuver and the boarding goes perfectly!
Burphold feels new strength course through his body as he jabs their last syringe of serum into his belly, recovering all of his hit points.
The Thrall winds up to swing with its pipe, but the sudden appearance of the PeaPod knocks it off balance and its pipe clatters over the side!
The EMD reaches down and plucks Stinky up from the bike! It begins lifting him into the air, struggling against its damaged tentacles!
Round 7
Initaitve: Tilda fails!
Initiative losers declarations:
- Tilda, seeing the Thrall unarmed, is going to spend the round defending against incoming attacks. She'd rather not kill the Thrall, knowing that it's just some poor sod hypnotized by the Autoglots. Maybe once Stinky is saved they can subdue the Thrall...
NPC declarations:
Single mindedly, the Thrall is going to reach through the back window of the pickup truck and try to strangle Tilda.
The EMD is going to try to fly off with Stinky.
Initiative winners declarations:
Stinky has a rope, and tosses one end of it down to Burphold.
Burphold is going to grab the other end and attempt to haul Stinky out of the robot's clutches! We'll say that Burphold can make the test, using the rope from Stinky for a bonus die.
The Thrall attempts to grab Tilda with one success, but she defends herself with two successes, driving off the grasping hands.
The EMD is weakened and its tentacles are badly damaged. It pulls mightily, but against the combined efforts of Stinky and Burphold it fails; metal screeches as the tentacle tears away, and Stinky falls back into the bed of the Cart unharmed!
Round 8
Initiative: Only Tilda succeeds!
Initiative losers declarations:
Burphold is going to spray mace into the Thrall's face, hoping to subdue it.
Stinky will attempt to grapple the Thrall.
NPC declarations:
The Thrall will try to hit Tilda again.
The EMD, recognizing that it is badly damaged, will forfeit and retreat to check on the well-being of the Hypnologist.
Initiative winner declarations:
- Tilda will again try to defend herself from damage.
Burphold and Stinky converge on the Thrall with a success each, subduing it, but not before it makes a savage swing at Tilda with two successes. She defends herself with one success, and allows the cab of the Cart to absorb the remaining damage.
Denouement
The party all escaped with their lives! They have used all their syringes and have depleted their supplies, but that is a small price to pay. They have also captured an Autoglot Thrall. Perhaps they can rig up some kind of deprogramming machine using Stinky's black light? Who knows! Certainly not us, since this is where I will leave this story for the time being.
Review
This was a tough battle, with an equal number of HP on both sides. As usual, this game's mechanics chew through inventory items quickly, and I think the vehicle mechanics draw the battle out longer than most characters' ranged weapon inventory will support. I may play with reducing the overall number of usage points on vehicles. Make them slightly more fragile so players aren't so willing to just hide behind whatever armour it provides.
Or maybe that's fine? When I think about Mad Max, it's hard to imagine someone unloading their pistol at the War Rig and disabling it. Those vehicles take a ton of punishment.
I will playtest with more people and see how that feels.
Another thing I need to consider: what does falling out of your vehicle entail? And what about being run over?
Finally: car crashes. When the Hypnologist's car was disabled, it felt immediately obvious that the car ought to flip over and crash. I think I will adjust the rules to enforce this. Car crashes are an important part of every car chase, and we should see them happen fairly often, I think.
Maybe if the engine is dealt damage in excess to its remaining usage points (instead of hitting it exactly) then the vehicle crashes spectacularly. Something like that. And there need to be rules for how much damage the people inside take. Maybe they all take damage equal to that excess damage as well. I'll play with this.