Durance

On a remote prison planet, convicts and guards struggle to survive in a brutal hierarchy. It is most worth a look when your group wants the game's specific table experience, not just another entry in the same broad genre.

Should your table play Durance?

Play Durance if the pitch matches what your players actually want to do at the table: make choices in that tone, accept the game's level of structure, and let its procedures shape the session instead of treating them as background flavor.

It is strongest for groups that want durance's premise to shape the whole session, tables comparing games by tone, prep, and rules weight before committing, and players who want a clear alternative to more generic fantasy or sci-fi systems.

What it is

On a remote planet far from civilization, the worst criminal scum from a dozen star systems have been dumped, charged with building new lives under the watchful eye of Authority. Within a brutal hierarchy of savagery and servility, convicts and guards alike must make hard choices.

Theme and Setting

Durance uses a modified version of the Fiasco system adapted for survival storytelling. Players establish relationships, needs, and locations through collaborative setup, then play out scenes that escalate tensions.

How Play Feels

The game includes specific mechanics for the brutal prison environment and shifting power dynamics. The prison planet setting creates natural tension between survival and morality.

What Makes It Distinct

Every colonist has their own code of conduct and aspirations that come at the expense of others. The game forces players to navigate impossible choices in a world too small for everyone to succeed.

Where It May Not Fit

You want a very light rules load You mainly want short standalone sessions with minimal carryover.

What play feels like

The useful question is not only what Durance is about, but what it asks the table to repeat scene after scene. Look at the core loop, how quickly characters get into trouble, how much the GM prepares, and whether the game rewards cautious problem solving, dramatic roleplay, tactical choices, or fast improvisation.

For 3-5 players, the table should decide up front whether it wants a focused sample session, a short arc, or a longer commitment. It expects a GM, so the facilitator should be comfortable keeping the premise moving and making the game's pressure visible. Its listed complexity is 4/5, so compare it against your group's appetite for rules, lookups, and character options.

Complexity and prep

Prep is best treated as low rather than ignored; the first session will go better if the table knows what kind of situations, tools, or reference material should be ready. If your group is coming from a more familiar system, pay special attention to what this game makes easier, what it makes more demanding, and which habits it asks players to leave behind.

The best first session usually comes from choosing one clear situation that demonstrates the game's promise. Do not start by trying to show off every subsystem; start with the kind of decision, risk, or relationship the game is supposed to make interesting.

Campaign fit

Durance can work best when the group chooses a scope before starting. If you only want to sample the premise, keep the first session focused and concrete. If you want a campaign, make sure the game has enough advancement, relationship pressure, setting movement, or scenario support to keep decisions meaningful after the novelty wears off.

For longer play, ask whether the game gives the GM and players reliable ways to create new problems. Strong campaign fit usually comes from evolving characters, escalating consequences, factions or fronts, travel and downtime, or a setting that changes because of player choices.

What may not work

Avoid it if you want a very light rules load, you mainly want short standalone sessions with minimal carryover, and you want the system to stay almost invisible at the table.

This is also the wrong pick if your players are interested in the surface premise but not the actual table behavior underneath it. A good match should make the group excited about how sessions will run, not only what the back-cover description promises.

Games to compare it with

Before choosing, compare Durance with The Wretched, Stay Frosty, and Zombie World. Those nearby games can clarify whether your table wants this exact tone and rules shape or a different route into the same broad territory.

Bottom line

Durance deserves consideration if its premise, rules weight, and table demands line up with the kind of night your group wants. Use the fit notes, player-count details, and related games on this page to decide whether it is the right next game for your table.