Red Planet Solstice

Mars. Maintenace. Survival

The terraforming project on Mars is in crisis. Your colony, New Hope, is powered by the massive, unstable Solstice Reactor, an antique relic that requires a manual, high-risk calibration every two years during a brief orbital window.

That window is open, and a catastrophic Global Dust Storm has just been declared.

You are the Emergency Calibration Team (ECT). You have 48 hours to pilot your fragile Rover, the Iron Lung, across 300km of un-terraformed, hostile Martian terrain to the isolated bunker housing the Reactor core.

• Genre: Hard Sci-Fi Survival / Resource Management
• Time: 1-2 hours
• System: Simple d6 pool, focusing on risk-reward.

Key Features

• Pulp Tension, Hard Scars: Experience the claustrophobia and mechanical danger of a high-pressure mission, where every d6 roll is a life-or-death calculation.
• The Clock is Ticking: Manage the critical Delay mechanic—every failure brings you closer to missing the Solstice window and condemning the colony.
• Brutal Resource Management: Track your Power, Water, and Oxygen. In the middle of a global dust storm, the journey drains your supply, and depletion means immediate mechanical failure.
• Character Roles: Choose between the Navigator, Mechanic, or Survivalist, each offering unique expertise to keep the mission alive.

The Solstice Reactor is failing. Get to the core, or freeze to death.

Part of my 2025 Advent Calendar!