The Great Whee Race! 2015

The Great Whee Race is a tabletop racing game set in an alternate prehistory where our Human ancestors – the Archaic Homo sapiens, or Ahs for short – rub elbows with Neanderthals, Dino sapiens (dinosaur men), Florz (small Ahs), & other species. Dinosaurs still roam the Earth & magic actually works! A sub-species of early Humans called Neuro-Evolutionary Rostral Developers (abbreviated as N.E.R.D.s) has recently evolved, & N.E.R.D.s have been busy inventing all sorts of amazing “cavepunk” stuff.

One of their most popular inventions is the downhill racer, popularly known as the Whee in Cave-Speak. Many different styles of Whees have been invented, & the N.E.R.D.s who invent them almost always claim their design is the best.

A bunch of prehistoric Clans have gotten together to test these claims. The Great Whee Race is about to begin! Each player chooses a Whee Racer, & then purchases a Crew & Cavepunk inventions. The racers then vie to be the first to cross the finish line in a race down a big hill. And just about anything goes in The Great Whee Race, so you’ll have to outmaneuver, outfight, & outwit your opponents in order to win!

The Great Whee Race is played on a track overlaid with a square grid. From 2 to 5 racers vie to make it to the finish line first. Each racer - called a Whee in Cave-Speak - is controlled by 1 player (or team of players), A variety of prehistoric-ish species serve as crew members, & give various bonuses. Whees can be outfitted with melee weapons, missile weapons, or both, as well as cavepunk inventions.

Once the downhill journey begins, a simple card-based simultaneous movement & action system is used so that players don’t know where anyone else is going when they choose their movement. This has 2 nice effects: players are all active throughout most of each turn, & perhaps more importantly, there are usually LOTS of collisions.

A unique “game mechanic” is used to resolve all actions: the Rok Draw. Every time they attempt an action or have a contest with another player, a player draws from a pool of tokens consisting of 3 kinds of Roks. Bonuses & penalties add to or subtract from the number of Roks drawn. Most actions have the same target for success, so they are resolved quickly. Players can use 1 of 6 pre-made Whees & crew, or can customize their own using a simple point build system. There’s another PDF included with track sections, templates, Whee Racer stat cards & models, & all the tokens you’ll need.