Waste Knights: Second Edition is a post-apocalyptic game of adventure and survival for 1-4 players inspired by cult classics of the post-apo cinema and set in dystopian Australia destroyed by experiments of a powerful corporation. Each player becomes a rugged hero of the land, travelling through the wasteland, facing unnatural weather and enemies forged in long-forgotten laboratories as well as experiencing adventures full of dramatic choices and disturbing characters.
Throughout the game players must manage their ever-dwindling Resources (Fuel, Ammo and Meds), repair their Gear and fulfill secret Achievements in order to gain Reputation needed to learn new Skills or powerful Benefits. Reputation is also necessary to reach certain places, use deadly weapons and armor of a bygone cybernetic age or tackle tasks reserved only for the most hardened veterans
of the Waste.
Players travel in their Vehicles around a modular board determined by a Mission Map, discovering new places, fighting Enemies and trying to survive hardships of the unforgiving land irradiated and contaminated by decades-old experiments gone wild. They must avoid suffering too much Wounds or Radiation, which becomes an arduous task as the Waster played by one of the rivals does their best to harm them.
Combat utilizing custom dice is both quick and deadly, so each Enemy encountered on the road forces players to carefully consider their options: whether to fight or escape, spend their scarce Ammo or risk closing in to fight a bloody melee. Whatever their choice, the Waster is there to ensure that they will pay dearly for it.
However, the heart of the game is adventure. Each playthrough is based on a Mission found in Book of Missions: either a Story Mission enabling players to follow a set narrative and write their own ending to it or a Sandbox Mission where players are thrown into a conflict or are given an impossible task to achieve. In the end, their victory depends only on their cunning, resourcefulness and ferocity. Some Missions require cooperation, others – fierce competition – but all of them test players’ will to survive no matter the odds.