 | |
| Designers | Jim Dunnigan |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Avalon Hill |
| Publication | 1972 |
| Genres | Family |
Outdoor Survival is a board game published by Avalon Hill in 1972 that simulates wilderness survival.
| | |
| Designers | Jim Dunnigan |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Avalon Hill |
| Publication | 1972 |
| Genres | Family |
Outdoor Survival is a board game published by Avalon Hill in 1972 that simulates wilderness survival.
Outdoor Survival is a board game for 1 to 4 players (depending on the scenario chosen). The three-piece hex grid map [1] covers 13,200 square miles of wilderness with a variety of terrain. [2]
Each player has a set of six numbered counters that shows their character's current "life level", from full health (6) to immobile (1). In order to maintain a high life level, the character must find food and/or water each turn. Some hexes are special food sources, while hexes containing rivers and catch-basins are sources of water. [2]
Movement in clear terrain and on trails is only 1 point per hex, but woods and desert cost 2 per hex, mountains and forests cost 3, and swamps cost 4 per hex. A character's direction of movement on the map is determined by a die roll:
The game comes with four scenarios:
Outdoor Survival was designed by Jim Dunnigan, and published by Avalon Hill in 1972. It comes with three full-color interlocking, folding maps; some cards; and rules. The game became one of Avalon Hill's perennial bestsellers, with its success largely dependent on sales in outdoor gear stores, rather than traditional board game outlets. [1]
Gary Gygax made use of Outdoor Survival in Dungeons & Dragons , even listing the game on the "Equipment" list in Volume I of the original 1974 edition of Dungeons & Dragons . [1]
Jon Freeman suggested that Outdoor Survival inspired several design choices used by Gary Gygax when creating the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons , pointing out, "the game's 'life levels' seem to have inspired the experience levels used in D&D, and the wilderness mapboard was apparently used for overland adventures in early fantasy role-playing campaigns." [4]
In Issue 13 of the French games magazine Jeux & Stratégie, Michel Brassinne suggested "Don't get as close as possible to a space containing water or food, since it is likely on the following turn that a die roll will force you to abruptly change direction, meaning (by evening) you still haven't restocked." Although Brassinne rated the game 8 out of 10 for presentation and clarity of rules, the game only elicited a rating of 1 heart out of 4 from Brassinne, who called it "A pleasant game, nothing more." [3]
In a retrospective review of Outdoor Survival in Black Gate , John ONeill said "over time it became one of Avalon Hill's perennial bestsellers. Its success is attributed chiefly to the fact that it was sold outside regular channels — in outdoor equipment shops and the like — and because a whole generation of D&D players apparently thought of it as an essential component of any great wilderness adventure." [1]
