Running on Empty: Tales from the Road

When roadies gather, they swap stories to pass along information, wow the populace, and scare the young ‘uns. These exaggerated road tales are often gruesome and never feature survivors. There's a kernel of truth to all of them, but following up with questions like “If no one survived, how did you hear about it?” will either get you a knowing wink or a beer bottle whipped at your head.

This collection will prompt stories in this vein: grim tales of desperate survival out in the Dark. Only mad men and children would accept every story as the gospel truth, but it is true that strange things happen out on the road. Draw the line for yourself after you've spent some time outside Citadel walls.

Enter the world of Running on Empty, where the sun has not been seen in generations and the desperate hope for humanity lies in the hands of roadies, those foolhardy individuals who team up and race from walled Citadel to Citadel, braving the long Dark in between. Tale from the Road are their ghost stories, cautionary tales about how brief life can be outside the halo of safety around humanity's last stand.

These scenarios are playable with Stephen Dewey's Ten Candles, and add vehicle quirks as additional traits for the table. When you're out there by yourselves, your ride is a member of the family, too. In Ten Candles, you tell a story doomed to fail, struggling against the impossible odds in the dark. The game is timed with tealight candles and one is blown out per scene until the games ends in darkness and death. But you can stall the inevitable by literally burning your traits and giving yourself another chance as you lean into your virtues, vices, and darkest moments. Though you will die, you must have hope. 

Photo by Christopher Rusev on Unsplash