Developer diary · Mark McKinnon · 15 March 2017
Welcome, wasteland warriors. I can see some new faces in the crowd—dusty, curious and ready to learn. I’m Mark, and I’ll be your guide through this world.
Building a world from the ruins
Where do you begin when creating a world? For me, the setting matters enormously. It draws you into the experience and makes the world feel alive around you.
I’ve always been drawn to post-apocalyptic stories: nature taking back the places people built, and grand structures swallowed by growth. It’s a landscape that feels recognisable, yet strange.
I chose not to explain exactly how the Wasteland came to be. With humanity struggling to survive, it seems unlikely anyone kept a record of the cause. Perhaps that’s a story for another time—if I ever work it out!
Instead, imagine a barren world without cities. The remains of civilisation are scattered stretches of road, often hidden beneath shifting sand, and the vehicles people rely on to stay alive. This isn’t one particular country; the disaster has reached across the world, leaving room for you to picture the details for yourself.
Salvage and survival
With civilisation gone, money no longer has much use. Travellers barter with what they discover, gathering salvage: fragments of lost technology that can make life in the Wasteland a little easier. Sometimes, the right piece of salvage can mean the difference between life and death.
People will fight over anything worth having, so they form groups—convoys of armed vehicles that look out for one another and improve their chances on the road. Choosing who to travel with matters, too. Vegans might not find life alongside cannibals especially comfortable!
That led me to think about the people who inhabit this world: what they want, what they fear, and what keeps them going. We’ll meet them next week.
Stay safe in the Wastes, and never travel alone.
Wreck and Ruin base game · £55.00