Extraction Command Demo Release
Download a print and play solo wargame demo available now!
Welcome to the Glyph and Grok - A weekly blog-letter exploring design, execution, and culture relating to anything played on a tabletop. See other pieces from the Glyph and Grok here.
Introduction
Good day, dear reader! We are happy to announce we’ve finally released the free playable demo for Extraction Command - the solo tabletop wargame I’ve been developing - on Itch.io.
The demo consists of a “Locate and Extract” mission played on a pre-generate map which is provided in the download files. The mission objective hexes and the player’s infiltration hex are generated/chosen each time you play the mission and the enemy spawning is dice-based so there’s just so many ways it can play out, give it a try!
By the time you’re reading this the page to download is live and there’s even an full video featuring yours truly explaining a rules walkthrough and then completing a mission play through for your enjoyment.
Please read on!
The Thing
Download the demo here!: https://goofandgrump.itch.io/extraction-command-demo
Video rules explanation and playthrough:
As many will note, TTRPGs originate from wargames, and I somehow designed myself in this direction backwards after finding myself with this nagging feeling that there was a game somewhere in the aether of the analog multi-level hex grid map system I’ve been working on for my campaign setting. Extraction Command currently has more of a print and play board game feel at the moment, something more akin to what I imagine it is like utilizing the mass combat rules of old, but there is definitely a basic gameplay loop that I want to see what people think about.
The rulebook is already at 22-pages as is, but I have plans to develop this into a full zine/book game with a campaign system for the player to work their way across the planet surface deploying their own chosen squad of units to complete objectives, collect resources, and upgrade those units and their ship. I’m looking to add different mission types, enemy types and modifiers, hazards, damage types, and fully flesh out the Nixie map system to work with this game to allow the player to map out and discover the world they are battling across. Some of this will be awesome, some of it will need to be paired back, but I’m excited for the prospect.
I need your input and feedback, especially from you out there that enjoy a solo TTRPG - there’s even a little oracle in here for use with the game to help make decisions for the enemy when it’s questionable what they may do. I found this more satisfying than trying to come up with rules to cover literally every situation an enemy may find themselves - it is also more satisfying for the player! Please send your feedback after trying it to goof@goofandgrump.com.
How many points did you get?
How difficult/easy was the mission?
How’d your playthrough go?
What hexes were your mission objectives on?
let me know!
I gave myself quite the side quest in wanting the explainer video, but I wanted people to see first hand the intention behind the rules system so if I somehow wrote something that didn’t match, it would be pretty apparent. Setting up a multi-camera recording setup is more work than I thought it would be, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out functionally. I am thinking to use it for future solo play stuff.
Other Stuff
The Glyph and Grok has seen 100 posts published to it! THANK YOU to all those that support us, we truly appreciate you!
Note: I will move on from Extraction Command for a while and get back to my work on my own campaign setting and reading/reviewing more TTRPG books from my shelf.
Thank you, dear reader!
Please like, share, and comment your thoughts.
Till next time!
