snowrunner custom rules – Survivor Incognito

🔧 Day Four: Meet Red. Trust Frank.

I start the day by hopping into Scout. There’s a vehicle icon on the map and, well, you know I’m not ignoring that. Turns out it’s the Scout 800—a compact little powerhouse with AWD pre-installed and Diff Lock always on. Sure, the fuel tank’s smaller, but it’s got heart.

Naturally, I drive it back to the garage and give it a proper makeover. New tyres, fresh coat of paint… and a name: Red.

Taken before Red’s fresh coat of paint

Red gets a test run with a little exploring and even discovers a watchtower near the Mountain Bridge task. The bridge needs metal beams and concrete blocks, which means it’s time to call in the only truck I trust for a job like this: Frank.

Frank, ladies and gentlemen, is built different. He doesn’t need fancy tyres (though he’ll get them one day). Mud? Optional. Gravity? Merely a suggestion.

First, he hauls the metal beams to the bridge—zero issues. Then he climbs the mountain to Red’s position four times. Twice empty, twice with concrete blocks. Two blocks go to the Mountain Bridge (task complete), and the other two finish off the Fallen Powerline.

After finishing the bridge, I roll down the newly opened road a little farther and discover the Road Block task. I accept it immediately—because of course I do. Frank’s momentum waits for no one.

You’d think SnowRunner would be the calm one.

No wolves. No starvation. No sanity meter. Just trucks, mud, and the occasional fallen powerline. And yet, when I started playing, I realized something important:

I had the perfect canvas for portable permadeath chaos.
I just needed a few extra rules (and a slightly reckless imagination).

🎮 Why Permadeath?

Honestly? For the drama. The stakes. The thrill of knowing that if I lose a truck, it’s gone. It turns every route into a calculated risk, every muddy hill into a potential obituary.

Normal SnowRunner is about problem solving. Permadeath SnowRunner is about character. I named my trucks. I argued with myself about whether I could save one stuck in a ditch. And somehow, that made it all feel more alive.

📋 How I Fine-Tuned the Rules

Permadeath in a driving game isn’t exactly a toggle, so I had to make it work manually. A few highlights from the rulebook:

No selling dead trucks for profit. You’re not a junkyard, you’re a survivor.
Every truck gets one life—unless it’s truly recoverable later (aka, it’s not a ghost story).
Upgrades? Optional. Some may say I’m making things harder. Others say I’m making them funnier.

🚛 Meet the Cast

So far the crew includes:

Scout – plucky, chaotic energy.
Mac (GMC) – the dependable workhorse.
Frank (Fleetstar) – big, bold, and stuck somewhere inconvenient.

Yes, I name my trucks. No, I won’t apologize.

🧭 What’s Next?

More entries for The Permagear Diaries, of course. I’m stacking up posts behind the scenes before I start the full series rollout—but this chaotic convoy is very much in motion.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear:

If you had to permadeath one of your favourite games… which would it be, and how much therapy would you need after?

Tag: snowrunner custom rules

Snowrunner Survival: The Permagear Diaries – Day Four

🔧 Day Four: Meet Red. Trust Frank.