Operation Hard Case
A downloadable hex crawl
A one-shot 1-HP infiltration hex crawl for 1 or 2 players
Take control of a gutsy Operator and their watchful Mission Control, as the duo infiltrate a well-fortified enemy base.
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A tabletop ROGUELIKE with a hex grid 'dungeon' generated via D6 rolls
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Use STEALTH to move through hostile territory
or
Use FORCE to neutralize targets while exposed
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Concept, text, and visual design by Paolo Jose Cruz
All images sourced from Public Domain Vectors and Unsplash
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Requirements
- pencils or pen
- scrap paper for status tracking
- a pair of six-sided dice (2D6)
Optional but recommended
- hex grid paper - customize your own via Incompetech
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Influences
- Gameplay/mechanics
- Terran Defence Force by Lari Assmuth /Rocket Surgeon Games
- Powered By The Apocalypse system by Vincent and Meguey Baker
- Flavor/themes
- Metal Gear Solid by Hideo Kojima et al
- Global Frequency by Warren Ellis et al
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Supporting this game includes access to all future versions, including:
- print-to-play pamphlet edition
- revised layout
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Submitted to the One Hit Point jam in September 2019
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Updated June 2020:
- revised Dodge move; explained more clearly when it applies
- revised Hide move
- corrected typos
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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I really liked your game :)
I have just written a review of it on myblog : https://chezsoi.org/lucas/blog/ (in French)
I take the liberty to give you some feedback here.
I played with version 1.0, and I see that in v1.1 you've removed the mention of "Intel Report" that intrigued me :) However I don't see how you revised the Hide move, as mentioned in the release note ?
A couple of details on the rules clarity : at first we draw hexagons with sharp corners above & below, instead of on the sides, which makes the zone mapping instructions hard to follow ! I don't know if it's a detail worth mentioning. Also, it wasn't clear that the MC had to roll for RECON, so the first time the operator entered an adjacent zone the MC roled only SCAN & SIT REP, no RECON.
About difficulty balance & game strategies : the rule specifying that the Operator cannot HIDE again until all active threats in the zone are dealt with is nice, because it is "realistic", but it also increases the difficulty level and encourage the tactic to never enter zones with threats & just keep performing SNIPE & HIDE moves from adjacent, "cleared" zones. Also, BRAWL seems to be always better than DODGE as the target is taken out in case of 3-5 ! And finally, to me, advanced gear can be split between "very useful" (Autofire & Knockout Gas) & "not so useful", that should be kept to be dropped.
I may be missing a game strategy though, as I found the game quite hard to beat, even with those points in mind.
Finally, a few suggestions : on the agent tracker, a single checkbox for "used / dropped" could be enough and would make clearer that both cannot happen for advanced gear.
The SIT REP table is really nice, but I'd love it if there was a bit more details on threats to feed players imagination... Reading "Specialist" or "Commander" is less inspiring than a psychic with a gas mask or a ricochet genius colonel with a white mustache ;)
I think there would also be some space for another MC move dedicated to supporting the Operator. Maybe give the MC a choice after an area is cleared from inside, for example one of :
- provide some gear to the Operator
- identify the mission goal location (a single zone) or nature (NPC, item, sabotage...), knowing that both are needed
- get another tactical advantage ( 2 forward ? 1 in next zone for a move ?)
That's it ! Thank you very much for writing this game & releasing it here !