Contents
Introduction ......................................................... 3
Setting................................................................ 3
Mars Pre-Collapse ............................................. 3
Turn Sequence ...................................................... 4
Team .................................................................. 5
Player Roles ..................................................... 5
Population ....................................................... 5
Team Board ......................................................... 5
Resource Track ............................................. 5
Stability Track............................................... 5
Resources Stations ........................................ 6
Resources ........................................................... 6
Survival Resources ........................................ 6
Production Resources ..................................... 6
Trade ......................................................... 6
Building & Production.............................................. 7
Technology & Research ....................................... 7
Stability .............................................................. 8
Map ................................................................... 8
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Provinces ........................................................ 8
Regions .......................................................... 9
Exploration ...................................................... 9
Landmarks....................................................... 9
Terraforming Status........................................... 9
Politics of Mars ................................................... 10
Founding a Government ..................................... 10
Joining a Government ....................................... 10
Government Ethics Tags .................................... 10
Legitimacy ..................................................... 11
Units, Movement & Combat ..................................... 11
Units ............................................................ 11
Movement...................................................... 11
Combat ......................................................... 12
Multiple Combatants ......................................... 12
Healing ......................................................... 12
Sieges .......................................................... 13
Credits ............................................................. 15
Introduction
Welcome all to Red Planet Rising, a 4X Inspired Megagame of Post-Apocalyptic Politics in the ruins of
Earth’s largest Martian colony. This handbook contains all of the rules required to play Red Planet
Rising and a brief overview of the background. A companion setting book will go over the larger
history of the setting. It is not necessary to read this background; however, it will help explain a few
details.
In Red Planet Rising you play as members of the leadership of a number of survivor factions, each of
whom have managed to successfully overcome the first century of survival on a hostile world, made
worse by the fallout of a grand conflict beyond the scope of any of the survivors.
The main conflict of the game is about the future of Mars’ governance and leadership- an increasingly
important question. Each of the major survivor factions have their own preference for how they want
to see Mars governed.

Setting
Prior to the collapse of civilisation, the disparate nation states of Earth had managed to begin
expanding into the solar system, setting up colonies on the Moon & Mars. The hope was that the
endless expanse of space and the possibilities it held would heal the divisions on Earth and lead to a
unification effort. Instead, it only served to further entrench political rivalries. The neutral colonies of
the Moon & Mars, a generation who had never set foot on Earth, began to enter adulthood and steadily
began to view themselves as politically separate from their mother planet,
The exact reason and moment that nuclear war began, targeting not only Earth, but its colonies as
well is not recorded. Theories abound to the exact details of the start of the war, but no proof has
been uncovered.
Mars Pre-Collapse
Before the collapse, the colonisation of Mars was only one of several great efforts to spread humanity
into the stars. On Mars, the main area of human settlement, was the UN backed colony of ‘Mariner
City’. Located in the centre of the Mariner Valley, Mariner City grew to a total of nearly five million
residents living within the growing metropolis and the various sub-settlements that were dotted
around it.
Despite being on another world, Mars was no longer the frontier. Only in forgotten corners would the
idea of an unsettled borderland be accurate. Martian lifestyle became little different from their
Earthbound peers. A bad day for an average Martian consists of the satellite signal from Earth being
patchy during the big game, rather than an oxygen filter breaking and hundreds of people dying of
suffocation.

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During this time, the Martian Expeditionary Force (a UN corps of engineers began working on a large-
scale civil engineering project) commenced the terraforming of Mars. Building a vast network of
stations across the surface of Mars, they hoped to turn Mars green within several generations. Since
the collapse, this project has remained in a holding pattern, the terraforming stations having been left
mostly abandoned, barely keeping what little atmosphere they managed to create from disappearing
into the void. The question of its survival is something that most survivors have forgotten about.

Turn Sequence
Each turn will be 30 minutes long and will represent a month passing, with the entire game taking
place over a single year.
15:00 – 16:00 Welcome, Briefing & Tutorials
16:00 – 16:30 Turn 1
16:30 – 17:00 Turn 2
17:00 – 17:30 Turn 3
17:30 – 18:00 Turn 4
18:00 – 19:30 Lunch
18:30 – 19:00 Turn 5
19:00 – 19:30 Turn 6
19:30 – 20:00 Turn 7
20:00 – 20:30 Turn 8 (Dependent)
20:30 – 21:00 Game End & Debrief
Each turn is a split into three phases.
Phase Map Government Diplomacy & Trade
Phase 1 Movement Government Forming Diplomacy & Trade
(5 Minutes)
Phase 2 Action (Battles &
(5 Minutes) Claiming)
Phase 3 Movement
(5 Minutes)
Phase 4 Action (Battles &
(5 Minutes) Claiming)
Phase 5 (10 Team Time, Upkeep & Production
Minutes)

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Team
Each Team represents the leadership of a major faction of the survivors on Mars, this leadership is
unlikely to change during the game, with any mechanics that would allow this mentioned team
briefings.
Player Roles
Each Team is made up of three players, while each of these roles will be thematically named within
teams.
Team Leader Team Leader of their faction, and a figurehead on the world
stage, responsible for most of the diplomacy going on around the
Discord.
Map Lead Map Lead and your faction’s military leader, active on the
world map, directing their military units in any combats they are
involved in.
Resource Lead Resource Lead oversees maintaining their factions’ resource
stockpile, resource production and trade.
Population
Each Team has population units (“Pop”). Each Pop represents a section of your Team’s adult
population which can be used to claim territories external to your starting Province, or to activate
resource stations located on your Team’s board.
During the game, your population will remain relatively static. Only an incredibly small number of
exploration cards can increase a Team’s total Pop. However, the number of starting Pop varies
between Teams.

Team Board
Each team will have a board that shows important information regarding your team. In this online
version of the game, this board will be a unique spreadsheet which only you and control will be able to
edit.
Resource Track
Each team will have a resource track that covers each teams’ resource needs during a turn, some
teams will have a surplus of certain resources and a deficit in other areas. A team will need to meet
their resources needs each turn otherwise their stability track will decrease.
Stability Track
A tracker will be used to follow each team’s stability during the day. At low levels it will begin to affect
your team’s internal politics and may lead to collapse of your faction’s government.

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Resources Stations
Each team will have several stations, that represent the various production facilities that are located
within your teams’ base of operations. To work these stations requires you to use a population unit to
activate it, once activated the pop will remain on that station until the Upkeep Phase, where it can
remain in place for the following turn or be returned to the pop pool for use elsewhere.

1An example team board for Red Planet Rising on Google Sheets.

Resources
To survive on Mars requires a base amount of resources to keep your population fed, warm &
breathing. Along with these are raw resources used in production, referred as simply production
resources. As such these resources are split into Survival Resources, that are used each turn as part
of your teams’ upkeep or Production Resources that are used in production.
You have no limit to the amount of resources you can have at one time.
Survival Resources
❖ Food (Green Cubes) Food.
❖ Water (Blue Cubes) Liquid H2O.
❖ Oxygen (White Cubes) Breathable air.
❖ Energy (Yellow Cubes) Various types of fuel used to keep the lights on.
Production Resources
❖ Production Materials (Red Cubes) Heavy metals, electronics and various plastics used
to build military units & buildings for your faction.
Trade
While the collapse of Mars destroyed the modern idea of global commerce, the need to trade your
surplus goods for what is needed in the moment has remained in a simple barter economy. This works
in two ways, the first is between players, during any phase before team time, players being able to
trade resources freely with each other.

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The second is with the game itself, representing trade with the wider world of post-collapse Mars.
This is done with the trade track, at each position on the track there will be a number of resources of
each type, you trade for the furthest left resource of the type you want, with the cost for that type
being increased the further right up the track you go.

The trade board mid-game.

Example: The Station requires some Water to meet its survival needs, they have arrived at the trade
board towards the end of the turn and find most of the water has been traded, with a single water
resource costing 4 resources. If they had arrived earlier, it would have cost far less.

Building & Production

Each team during the game can build either new units, stations or upgrade existing stations using a
mix of Survival & Production resources. You can build during any Phase, before the Upkeep Phase,
where you will receive any unit, building or upgrade you built during your turn.
Each team will be on able to build and upgrade up to Tier II, certain factions will be able to build up to
higher tiers as stated in their faction briefings.
Technology & Research
During the time frame of the game, research into more advanced technology will not be possible.
However, the technological base of each team varies, this will result in access more powerful
technology for some teams. During the day, teams will be able to trade for more powerful technology
from other teams or will find technology in the ruins of Mariner City.
This technology is split into three tiers, the higher tiers representing the most advanced technology
still available on Mars.
❖ Tier I Improvised Cobbled together with what was available, the standard for
most independent survivors on Mars.
❖ Tier II Standard Before the fall this technology would have been the standard
for any new project.
❖ Tier III Advanced The most advanced technology available before the fall, a
minor miracle that it is still in working condition.

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In resource production, each tier produces a matching number of resources, e.g. a Tier I farm would
produce one food. On the overland Mars map, each province is equivalent to a Tier I station, producing
a single resource of a resource type.

Stability MODIFIER ACTION

Each team will have a stability track on +0 Survival Resources match resource track’s upkeep.
their board, representing how -1 For each Survival Resource short of the required
upkeep,
supportive and stable your team’s
+1 For every two Survival Resources above the required
population are of your management of
upkeep.
the factions. With each upkeep your -2 Entering the Upkeep Phase with the faction base
team will roll a D6 for your stability, under siege.
the total score being affected by +? Stability from Government Legitimacy/Aligned Ethics
various events that had occurred that +/-? Events occurring on the world map.
turn.
RESULT RESPONSE
Based on your position on the track, you 13<= Stability Score increases by 2pts
will either be given a reward for the 7-12 Stability Score increases by 1pt
high stability of your faction. Or will 1-6 No change to Stability Track
receive a negative due to low stability. -6-0 Stability Score decreases by 1pt
This will be indicated on the stability -7>= Stability Score decreases by 2pts
track.
SCORE ACTION
Depending on your current score, you Stable
4<=
may or not have a negative effect on 1-3 Instability is starting. Roll a D6, on a 1, you cannot use
your faction. While most scores will not one of your stations this turn due to strikes.
have an effect, it maybe worth keeping 0 Rioting. You cannot use 1 of your stations due to the
an eye out for it above zero. rioting. If it is less than 0 the following turn, contact
CONTROL.

Map
The map of Red Planet Rising covers the ruins of Mars largest colony, Mariner City, and the
surrounding area, split into two maps covering the Mariner Valley’s Melas & Condor Chasma. This map
being a google spreadsheet, spread over three sheets for each section of the map.
Provinces
Each map is sub-divided into provinces covering a section of the Chasma surface. Each province will
produce a single resource each turn of its indicated type, if worked by a pop. The resource type being
indicated by the coloured cube located on the map.

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To claim a province requires it to have been explored by one of your military units, adjacent to a
province you already control, one Production Materials, one Survival Resource & a single pop
counter. The pop counter remaining on that province while it is claimed by your team. In return,
during the upkeep phase, it will produce one of the indicated resources indicated on the province as
long as it is controlled by you.
At any time, a team can abandon a province, reclaiming the pop that is working the province, but not
the initial resources used to claim the province. If a province is occupied by another team, it will not
produce resources. An occupied province can be claimed by the team who occupies it, to claim an
occupied province they use the same mechanics as if it were unclaimed, the team who originally
occupies it treats this as if they were abandoning the province. At any point during an occupation, the
owners can abandon the province normally.
You cannot kill a pop of another team when you occupy one of their provinces.
Regions
Each province is located within a region, with several provinces making up a region. Units are located
within a region, rather than a single province. While movement is handled between provinces, the total
number of units is handled at a regional level.
Exploration
During a movement phase, if a military unit ends its movement in a region that has not has not
entered before, during the action phase it will draw an exploration card from the exploration deck and
resolve the event that occurs as the unit is exploring the province.
If the card is successfully resolved the province is successfully explored and the unexplored token is
removed from the province. Any actions on the card are resolved as stated on the card, unless
control states otherwise. If an exploration card results in a combat, which beats the explorers, the
province remains unexplored and the units that were discovered remain on the map.
Landmarks
A province may be a Landmark, a Landmark is a notable feature or structure located within the
province, replacing the normal production that province will have. Each landmark will provide either
contain a station that can be worked by a pop, or provide a larger bonus to the world at large,
depending on the type of Landmark it is.
Terraforming Status
The terraforming status is a tracker that measures the state of Mars’s terraforming process. Each
turn this status will decrease by four points, this is counteracted with each unworked Terraforming
Station increasing the track by one point.
If a Terraforming Station is worked, it may either produce a second point towards increasing the
terraforming track OR lower the Terraforming Track by four points in return for 1 resource of each

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type. However, if the Terraforming Station is destroyed it will immediately decrease the track by ten
points and until repaired, no longer produce any points towards increasing the track.
On a high score, the terraforming status will provide bonus resources to factions as Mars becomes
more productive, however on a low score, sandstorms will start to appear resulting in some
provinces not producing any resources. This increase will be dependent on what stage of the track
you are on, with the track being shared amongst all teams.

Politics of Mars
As the lead survivor groups of Mars, any future government of Mars will sprout from your influence.
Any team(s) can proclaim that they are the official Martian Government, filling up the government
positions with your members. A government acts as an Alliance between teams, explicitly stating your
support for each other.
Founding a Government
During a turn, a team may found a provisional government for a cost of one of each survival
resource, this government will start out at two legitimacy, representing the basic support for the
recently created government.
There can be as many governments as teams.
Joining a Government
A team can join a government at any point during the game, if it has the permission of all of the
members of that government. Once permission is gained, they will inform the relevant control and
place the teams Name Tag below the Name Tag of the chosen government.
Leaving a government is possible, but doing so will cause the team to drop a level on the stability
track and lower the legitimacy of the government itself by two points. If a majority of teams within a
government vote for it, they can remove another team from the government, at the cost of lowering
the government’s legitimacy by one point but will have no effect on the ejected teams’ stability.
Government Ethics Tags
Each government on Mars needs to take a form, when you create a Ethos Authority
government, you will give it an Ethos & Authority type; each Frontier Democracy
describing an aspect of the type of government you hope to make the Green Authoritarian
rest of Mars. With each team, having preference for an Ethos & Socialist Anarchic
Authority, with a bonus to stability if you are part of a government Free-Market Technocracy
that matches these preferred tags. Alongside a malus for being part Liberal Corporate
of a government that matches neither of these tags.

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Legitimacy
Over the past century there have been several attempts to form a unified Martian Government within
the Mariner Valley. Each have failed due to various reasons, but the common factor of each failure,
was a lack of legitimacy in the eyes of their fellow survivors. Increasing your legitimacy, will increase
how stable your members are with a greater purpose behind your actions.
Each turn your legitimacy will naturally decrease by Legitimacy Score Stability Increase
two points each turn but will increase by one point for 0-5 +0
every team aligned with your government. If a 6-10 +1
government ends a turn with zero legitimacy, it will 11+ +2
until the end of the next turn to reach one legitimacy,
otherwise it will become defunct as it is no longer is seen as a legitimate form of government. A
defunct government loses all member teams, with each team losing two stability instead of one.
Example: The ‘Free Martian Republic’ has the support of three teams, as such each turn its legitimacy
will increase by One point. Increased by Three from each team aligned with the government,
decreased by Two from the natural decrease in legitimacy.
A team will equally, gain an increase to their stability Total Aligned Stability Increase
roll based on if the government they are a part of is Two +2
aligned with their own ethics. This is a fairly severe One +0
penalty on purpose. None -2

Units, Movement & Combat

Units
Units in Red Planet Rising are made up of three elements, Attack, Defence and Health. Attack
represents the total offensive capabilities, Defence its ability to withstand damage and Health being
the total amount of damage it can take before being destroyed.
While Defence and Health are a static number, Attack is given a dice and depending on the unit a
modifier. When in combat the dice is rolled, and any modifiers added.
Each team will have a number of units equal to half their faction’s population total, with each pop
being able to support ½ a unit.
Each region can only contain a MAX of 10 units. The only exception to this rule is that Team’s HQ. Any
excess units will be moved back to the nearest region with room by control and receive Damage
equal to the number of units over the limit, to each unit over the limit.
Movement
During Phase 1 & 3, a team map player can move any number of units under their control, up to a
single province from its starting location, unless it states otherwise on the unit’s counter. If they

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enter the action phase while sharing a province with another team’s units, they will enter combat,
unless both factions are allied or agree that they do not wish to fight.
If both units entered the province during the same phase, the unit who arrived in the province first is
counted as the one occupying it originally, any that arrive afterwards must either fight or retreat,
unless both parties agree to remain in the same region.
Combat
Combat in Red Planet Rising is designed to be quick and easy to complete, due to the possibility for a
team to be fighting several combats during an action phase.
1. Each player reveals the units that are taking part in the combat.
2. Each side totals up their Attack & Defence Scores, Damage is dealt by reducing the Attack
by the Defence score.

The Attack score is figured out by rolling all of the dice indicated on the unit tokens and
adding them up.
3. Damage is assigned equally across all units taking part.
4. At this point either player can decide to retreat from the battle. If neither player decides to
retreat, whoever received the most damage is forced to retreat from the battle.
Multiple Combatants
If more than one team is taking part in a combat. With two or more teams on the same side in a battle,
they combine Attack & Defence scores, with Damage being split equally among each team. With this
being repeated on both sides if each side, has multiple teams.
Example: Team A & B are fighting Team C in the same area; Team A’s Attack is 10 & B is 12. Adding
them together, you get the score total of 22, against a defence of 14, they will take 8 Damage.
In a situation where more than more than two teams are in a region, and each team wishes to fight
the other two or more teams. You will total up the Attack score as normal, then split the Attack
scores by the number of teams they are fighting, adding together these scores. Allowing you to
resolve damage as meant.
Example: Team A, B & C are all fighting in the same area, Team A’s Attack is 10 & B is 12. Due to two
hostile teams you will split this score in half, being 5 & 6. Giving an Attack score of 11, with Team C
having a Defence of 6, they will take 5 Damage.
Healing
Each unit heals 1 Health per turn, certain cards and stations will allow you to heal more. Certain units
cannot heal, it will state this on the unit’s counter, this is due to the technology required to fix the
damage not being available.

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Sieges
The location of each faction base is public knowledge, each sprawling structures built up over a
century of toil and sacrifice. If a fight between teams escalates to the point where a team decides to
attack a team’s HQ it will result in a simple siege.
To put a team’s base under siege the rules follow the following order.
1. The attacking team moves military units into the Province which contains the team’s base. Any
regular combat is resolved here as above. Any defending units, instead of retreating to
another province, can instead retreat inside their base, to join in the local defence of the base
if it is assaulted.
2. With the province secure, the attacker must wait until the next Action Phase before
commencing an assault if they wish. While under siege, the defending team will act as normal,
however they will take the negative stability role to being under siege as long as they are
under siege.
3. During the action phase, the defender will get a choice to sally out, attempting to break the
siege with force. In doing so a regular battle is carried out between the attackers and the
defenders.
4. If the defender wishes to remain in their base, the attacker will get a choice to assault the
base, attempting to fight their way in. If they do so, a regular battle is carried out, however
the defenders will be aided by an additional unit of base defenders.
5. If the attackers are successful in their assault, they receive resource cubes from the
defending team equal to 1/2th of the total their Attack is higher than their Defence score.

The defender will still control the base and the Siege will continue, as the assault is eventually
pushed out of the base. This is to prevent a team from being eliminated in this fashion, if such
an event comes to pass.
Each team will have a unit counter for their faction’s base, with an Attack and Defence score. In
defending a siege, it will add these scores to the defenders total scores, with it being treated as a unit
in regard for damage assigned. However, it does not have health and as such cannot be damaged or
destroyed.

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Credits
Red Planet Rising is a MegaGame that was designed and created by Andrew Shiel Dods with support
from True North MegaGames.

I would additionally like to thank the following people for their contributions in developing Red Planet
Rising.
The True North MegaGames Committee for providing support during development.
Seumas Bates
Carolina Patricio
Kyle Priapus Raymond
Ciaran O’Sullivan

Everyone Who Took Part in True North Symposium Breakout Sessions for their ideas and
suggestions that fixed problems I had.

NASA, you’ll get someone on Mars someday.

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