Frostpunk: The Board Game

Readiness

draft-ready (confidence=0.67, rules=0.65, fun=0.70). BGG rank: 376; year: 2022; weight: 4.40; playtime: 150 min

Core Loop

A cooperative city-survival game based on the videogame. Players collectively manage a frozen city around a central generator. Each round (a day), players take turns assigning citizen pawns to buildings (worker placement) to gather resources (coal, wood, food, steel), explore, build, and tend to citizens. After all assignments, an event card triggers (weather, disease, dissent), then night falls — the temperature drops and unfueled buildings/citizens suffer consequences. Citizens get sick, die, or rebel based on hope/discontent tracks.

Turn Structure and State

• No manual/BGA/transcript source is present; card relies on memory plus BGG context.
• BGG description anchor: In Frostpunk: The Board Game, up to four players will take on the role of leaders of a small colony of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world that was hit by a severe ice age. Their duty is to effectively manage both its infrastructure and citizens. The core gameplay will be brutal, challenging, and complex, but easy to learn. The citizens won’t just be speechless pieces on the board. Society members will [...]

Win Condition and Arc

Win by surviving the scenario's storm/duration. Lose if Hope hits zero, Discontent maxes out, the generator fails, or citizens revolt. Arc: brutal, escalating; weather worsens, resources tighten, moral compromises mount.

Decision Primitives

BGG mechanisms: Cooperative Game, Cube Tower, Events, Modular Board, Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game, Solo / Solitaire Game, Variable Player Powers, Worker Placement, Different Worker Types

Memory-derived primitives:

• Cooperative crisis management
• Worker placement (citizens with skills)
• Twin tracks: Hope (must stay above zero) and Discontent (must stay below max)
• Tech tree (research unlocks new buildings)
• Law system (passing harsh laws gives benefits but raises Discontent)
• Scenario-based campaigns

Why It Is Fun

The "I had to pass child labor laws to survive" emergent narrative is the heart. Heavy and grim; faithful to the videogame mood. Modular scenarios extend replay.

Friction and Failure Modes

• Treat Sonnet-memory edge rules as draft until confirmed by manual, BGA, or transcript.
• Needs at least one stronger rules authority before final extraction use.

Translation and Design Hooks

• Use this card to ask: which primitive carries the fun if theme/licensing is removed?
• For iOS, look for short-session compression, clear state visualization, and a digital-only twist.
• For new tabletop design, look for the tension source and decide whether to preserve or invert it.

Edge Rules and Gotchas

• Citizens have classes (workers, engineers, children) with restrictions on what jobs they can do.
• Hope/Discontent: each scenario has thresholds; passing certain laws or events shifts both. Passing brutal laws (child labor, public executions) helps short-term but tanks Hope.
• The generator at the city center radiates heat; building distance from generator affects warmth.
• Sickness: cold + overwork = sick citizens, who occupy hospital slots.
• Daily / nightly cycle: day = action phase, night = consequences phase (cold damage, food consumption).
• Tech tree: research workshops unlock new building blueprints.
• Scout teams: send teams off-map for one-time discoveries (refugees, supplies, story events).
• Loss conditions stack — often you lose to multiple causes at once.
• Note: I'm modestly confident on exact action structure; the survival-management gestalt is robust.

Sources Used

[
  {
    "kind": "llm_memory",
    "path": "data/llm_memory_sonnet/311988.md",
    "quality": 0.65,
    "note": "sonnet-self-rated-7"
  }
]