Don't Let It Die
Lightning strikes a nearby tree. Fire! Your group of Neanderthals must now endure Mother Nature and work together to keep the fire going long enough to learn its mysterious powers and destructive capabilities. You have 14 days to uncover its secrets before a massive flood drowns the valley and extinguishes humanity’s one chance at becoming the apex predator and escaping extinction.
Don't Let It Die is a cooperative survival game based on early humanity's struggles to cement their place at the top of the food chain. You will gather resources & food, fight deadly predators, and learn the mysteries of fire. Your task is a difficult one, but no matter what happens, remember: you and the fire must survive...
Your tribe consists of 4 characters, all taking turns to search for resources, fight off dangerous animals, unlock new discoveries, and working together to keep the fire alive!
Designed from the ground up to offer a re-playable, interactive, strategic cooperative experience for 1-4 players. The key to victory lies in your group's ability to adapt to the ever-present and always changing threats of prehistoric life. Should you focus on hunting and foraging to feed your starving tribe? Or should you be more concerned with supplying the dwindling fire with more wood? Perhaps constructing a weapon or tool might ease the stress of gathering resources...
These choices and more await you in what will surely be the ultimate test of survival.
Number of players: 1 - 4
Game duration: 46 mn
Complexity: 2 / 5
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Play Don't Let It Die and 1194 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
Overview
Don't Let It Die is essentially "RPG Skill Tree: The Game". As a team of four cavepeople, you must gather resources to stay alive--food, weapons, craftable items--while keeping the fire alive. The fire is how you gain FKP (fire knowledge points) or skill points that you use to improve your abilities, grow stronger, and survive. You have fifteen days to learn how to start your own fire, but if you die before then or the fire goes out due to lack of wood, the game is over.
Phases
Like most co-op games, the game alternates between "player actions" (day phase) and "bad things happen" (night phase).
Day Phase
Each character spends their turn taking actions, which cost stamina points. These are the basic actions. Some characters may have additional skills or abilities that alter actions.
| Action | Stamina cost | Requirements | Description | Objective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gather | 2 | None | Draw a card from the Outskirts. | Deck of 8 cards: 2x wood, 2x rock, nothing, 2x danger-1, danger-2. |
| Forage | 2 | None | Draw a card from the Meadow. | Deck of 8 cards: 3x berry, 2x fiber, nothing, danger-1, danger-2 |
| Harvest | 3 | Equipped tool | Draw a card from the Forest. | Deck of 9 cards: wood-2, wood-3, wood-4, rock-2, rock-3, nothing, danger-1, 2x danger-2 |
| Hunt | 3 | Equipped weapon | Draw a card from the Watering Hole. | Deck of 12 cards: meat-1, meat-2, meat-3, bone-1, bone-2, hide-1, hide-2, danger-1, 2x danger-2, 2x danger-3 |
| Investigate Fire | 3 | None | Roll the fire dice | Gain the number of fire icons on the dice (0-3) in Fire Knowledge Points |
| Eat Food | None | Food resources (berries or meat) | Consume food resources to regain HP |
|
| Add Wood | None | Wood resources | Consume wood resources | Increase the wood pile on the fire to make the fire last longer |
| Spend FKP | None | FKPs | Spend Fire Knowledge Points on the skill tree | To gain new abilities and skills |
| Cook Food | 1 | Skill unlocked | Convert raw food to cooked food | Cooked food uses fewer resources and adds more HP |
| Trade Resources | 1 | 3+ of any 1 resource | Exchange 3 of any resource for 1 of any resource | You cannot trade cooked food. You can trade FKP. |
| Craft | 3 | Skill unlocked | Use resources to build weapons and tools | These add benefits to your character(s). Crafted items can be traded between characters. Each character can have only 1 weapon and 1 tool. Only 1 building can be created per game. |
| Explore (Hindrance expansion) | 4 | None | Draw an Explore card | Gain Dino Eggs, Medicinal Herbs, Gemstones, etc. |
Danger! Cards
When performing any actions that require drawing a card, there is a risk of drawing a Danger! card that represents wildlife trying to kill you. When encountered, the following rules are applied:
- If your character has no weapon OR a weapon with less damage than the card's Life number, lose HP equal to the Damage number.
- If your character has a weapon with damage equal or greater than the Life number...
- If the weapon has Range 1, lose 1 HP and gain Meat equal to the Life number.
- If the weapon has Range 2, gain Meat equal to the Life number (lose no HP).
If a character has 0 HP, they are Incapacitated and cannot take any actions. Another character must use 3 cooked Meat to revive them (even if the character cannot eat Meat). The revived character will gain 3 HP and full stamina at end of the next morning phase.
Night Phase
After all players have taken their turn, a Night Event card is drawn. These cards usually have a negative effect, such as losing resources or dealing with obstacles.
Morning Phase
After the Night Phase, the following actions are taken in order:
- Wood is removed from the wood pile by the fire (based on the day track). If the wood pile ever has 0, the game ends in defeat.
- Day counter increases by 1
- All characters lose 1 HP
- All characters regain their stamina points
- Players may trade weapons and tools with each other
- The "first player" token is moved to the next character in sequence
After this, a new Day Phase begins.
Game End
If you unlock the Fire Starter skill on the Fire Knowledge Tree before 15 days have passed, you win.
You lose if, at anytime...
- There is 0 wood in the wood pile for the fire.
- All members are incapacitated
- The Night Phase for Day 14 comes without having unlocked the Fire Starter Skill
Hindrance (Variant)
A physical hindrance is acquired from events or when taking damage from combat.
There is a max of 3 physical hindrances and 1 mental hindrance.
If a character has a maximum number of physical hindrances, the next draw will will be a mental hindrance (unless maxed) and all physical hindrances will be removed.
Physical hindrances can be removed by spending a stamina and Medical Herb