🚀 Sci-Fi Special Issue 2024
In this issue, The Soloist is deploying its omni-directional scanners to survey solo and GM-less sci-fi tabletop RPGs. We’ve got deep dives into For Small Creatures Such as We from the creator of Apothecaria, and Across a Thousand Dead Worlds, a massive solo game about exploring ancient alien sites. You’ll also find 6 other sci-fi solo games, sci-fi highlights from the Itchio summer sale, and latest Inquiracle designer self-interviews.
Check out the 2023 sci-fi issue that looked at Traveller, Starforged, Stoneburner and more.
1. For Small Creatures Such As We
In For Small Creatures Such As We, you play a human captain in charge of a starship and its alien crew. You’ll develop relationships with them — learning about their cultures, biologies, and personalities — while working on missions for profit or purpose.
Designer: Anna Blackwell, creator of solo favorites Delve and Apothecaria
Prep is play: You start by creating your Captain’s backstory in 3 life stages to determine skills, benefits, and a starting goal. Then you’ll create your crewmates by rolling on tables for skills, traits, and their diet. Finally you’ll customize your ship using a limited budget to best support your crew and the types of missions you plan to undertake.
Game loop: Missions pay for fuel, food, docking fees, and upgrades to your ship. You’ll want to keep your crewmates healthy and happy. You can choose from over a dozen mission types — from shipping and mining to criminal and diplomatic. There are simple rule systems for actions like travel, combat, spacewalking, research, and tracking, that you might undertake during your travels. There are 11 planets to visit, each with unique events and services.
Emergent stories: During missions you use a deck of playing cards to generate events and questions that help you describe scenes and build the story about you and your crewmates.
3 expansions: Anna has 3 expansions coming soon: War! exploring a galactic conflict, Love & Lust with options for crew romance, and A Guide to Fauna, that dives into xeno-zoology.
I enjoyed exploring the galaxy with FSCSAW. It perfectly balances structured game mechanics with player-driven narration. And you can play a satisfying session in 30 minutes. Fans of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, especially The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, will feel an instant connection.
Want to see how it plays? Check out my gameplay recap in Solo Sessions.
2. Across a Thousand Dead Worlds
Across a Thousand Dead Worlds is a big (446 pages big!) horror space exploration RPG for solo and group play.
Designer: Alex T. is the person behind the solo RPGs from Blackoath Entertainment.
The setup: In the 22nd century, a fleet of alien ships has been found in the asteroid belt. Each is programed with navigation routes to hundreds of locations across the galaxy. You’ve been selected to search for alien tech at these sites. You’ll plunder ancient refineries, scientific outposts, abandoned research facilities, collapsing tombs, and more.
Game loop: First schedule a mission to explore a know destination (with fewer rewards) or a fresh site (with unknown risks). Then embark on a harrowing journey to the planet. Surive the hazards of exploring the site and return fo Karum Station to report findings, get paid, and recuperate for the next mission.
So many tables: Almost half of the book is dedicated tables for generating planets, NPCs, missions, and activities. These work well in-game and should be great for creating content for other sci-fi RPGs.
With its classic character stats and skills, experience points based on loot, tactical combat, lethal delves, and rich lore, Across a Thousand Worlds is made for fans of old-school sci-fi RPGs. Be prepared for some paperwork and page-flipping, but for me it’s worth it.
Go deeper:
Deep Space Solo: a 6-part actual play YouTube series
Expansion in development
Designer Alex T. says that the first expansion, Across a Thousand Hollow Vaults, will introduce a new character progression system, new enemies, new exploration and combat rules, and much more.
“It will take players to a completely new setting: the Corescape. Crash landing into this planet-sized artificial sphere, players will unravel the mysteries behind its construction, and attempt to escape it with the help of the strange AI known as “mother.”
Look for Across a Thousand Hollow Vaults towards the end of 2024.
3. A Galaxy of Solo
CHVLR
CHVLR is a solo journaling game about the cost of war and the scars it leaves on those who fight it. Using the Wretched & Alone system, you play as a teenager chosen to pilot a colossal bipedal robot known as a CHVLR. The 20-page rules use a standard deck of playing cards, a 6-sided die and a tumbling block tower (optional). The tower represents the condition of your CHVLR and your body and mind. As play progresses, blocks are moved and removed from the tower. If the tower falls, your CHVLR has a catastrophic failure resulting in your death. CHVLR is 25% off on itchio through July 12. It’s one of 5 finalists for the 2024 CRIT Awards’ Best Solo TTRPG.
HARDCASE 2.0
HARDCASE is a rules-lite, 24-page solo RPG set in a future where the solar system is controlled by Heliopause Heavy Industries. As a contractor for the mega-corp you’ll do whatever it takes to make ends meet — you might break down orbital mines for scrap or claim bounties on those who can’t pay rent. After a hard day’s work, sit back with an can of Apogee Cola and take in the dystopian vibes.
Hostile Solo
Hostile Solo is set in a gritty future inspired by movies like Outland and Alien/s. You play a group of blue-collar workers facing challenges in deep-space. You’ll steer them through a career such as asteroid mining, exploration, freight and salvage, and military service. While Hostile Solo, at 230 pages, is a stand-alone game, players wanting additional depth in rules can explore dozens of supplements and rules published by Zozer Games. Zozer also publishes SOLO, the best-selling solo rule set for the Cepheus Engine which is derived from the Open Game Content version of Classic Traveller.
Entity
In Entity, you play a synthetic astronaut stranded in mysterious alien ruins. You must traverse the landscape and unravel the mysters of an ancient civilization. Entity has a variety of oracle tables to randomly generate environments and stage scenes. It provides a roadmap on how to manage your story’s progression through a series of multi-part missions. The game’s designer recently released Advanced Storytelling, a supplement which provides tools and tips for Entity.
HUNDREDS
HUNDREDS is a random table resource for Mothership and other sci-fi systems. It currently offers three d100 tables: contraband, non-regulation patches, and contractors — with more in the works. HUNDREDS costs $3 now and as more tables are added, the price will go up. The PDF will be updated for free for anyone that owns it. So early buyers get the best deal.
ECO MOFOS!! Adventures
ECO MOFOS!! Adventure Bundle: The creator of ECO MOFOS!!, a rules-lite weird and hopeful RPG, has pulled together the core game, 5 adventures, and a set of solo rules into a $10 bundle.
4. Itch.io Summer Sale
The indie game marketplace Itchio is running their Summer Sale. Most games listed below are on sale until July 12. Some of our favorite creators have deals on great sci-fi games:
Mousehole Press: Jack Harrison has one of my favorite sci-fi journaling RPGs, Bucket of Bolts, and others on sale for 30% off.
Sleepy Sasquatch: The Dune-inspired solo RPG Glide and its expansions are on sale for 50% off.
Cezar Capacle: The solo game designer has 30 games, including a bunch of sci-fi games, 30% off sale.
Not Writing Games: Michael has a bunch of games on sale including Rig, his mech RPG, and One Trillion Years, a map-drawing game set in humanity’s far future.
Alfred Valley: Thousand Empty Light, Alfred’s solo adventure for Mothership, is on sale.
5. The Inquiracle
The Inquiracle is The Soloist’s self-interview microgame for creators. The creator rolls a 20-sided die twice to determine a “theme” and a “subject” to make a question that they answer.
Anna Blackwell: Designer, For Small Creatures Such As We
Theme: (11) Experimental | Subject: (1) Project
Q: What has been the most experimental project you’ve worked on?
“Back in 2021, I released a short-lived game called The Dig. It was a solo-journalling RPG about being the leader of a paleontological dig with some eldritch horror thrown in for good measure. You played it over the course of 21 days but unlike other solo RPGS, it was played on an A3 scratch-card poster where you had to actually unveil your prompts. Sadly, scratch card foil has a shelf life which I didn’t know and ended up having to bin the unsold stock only a few months after release. I’d love to revisit the concept but I imagine it’ll need crowdfunding so the copies can be sold before printing.”
Alex T.: Designer, Across a Thousand Dead Worlds
Theme: (20) Future | Subject: (9) Criticism
Q: What would the future you think you should have done differently?
“Probably the fact that I’m spreading myself too thin among many different projects, instead of focusing on what works. I have the tendency to jump from one project to the next one purely based on what I want to work on, instead of doing the responsible and professional thing and focus on what works for me as a publisher. I need to learn to be less impulsive with my business decisions.”
Susanah Grace: Designer, CHVLR
Theme: (2) Challenging | Subject: (17) Artwork
Q: What has been the most challenging piece of artwork that you've made in your career?
“Honestly, it was the cover of CHVLR. My usual style is quite realistic and painterly, so stripping everything back to precise shapes and not being able to obfuscate my weak areas in brushstrokes was a real challenge for me. I had to spend a lot of time really studying the style and bashing out some really dodgy sketches before I settled on something I really loved and that was right for the project. I'm very glad I did it, I think it's changed my work for the better!”
Shawn Tomkin: Designer, Ironsworn and Starforged
Theme: (2) Challenging | Subject: (6) Failure
Q: Do you have a tip for managing failure in a solo TTRPG?
“It’s often helpful to envision failure as a result of an external force or complication. This avoids depicting your character as bumbling or incomptent, and can add drama and surprises to your story!”
Peter Eijk: Designer, Hiria - the Eternal City
Theme: (5) Inspirational | Subject: (19) Experience
Q: Can you tell about an inspirational experience that influenced your games?
“When playing on stream with Spencer Campbell as GM for his game Nova, in the first scene Spencer turned to me and asked me as a player to describe how a certain building looked. As someone who played mostly trad games in which the GM determines everything, this blew everything wide open!”
6. Last Roll 🎲
I’m a huge fan of Evlyn Moreau’s whimsical illustrations and have been using the artist’s set of sci-fi characters, ships, and aliens in a Mothership campaign. They would also make excellent additions to a solo RPG journal. As a member of Evlyn’s Patreon, I get access to a growing art collection that can be used in personal or commercial projects. You should check it out!
Another good post. Imma check out Hostile!
As a Gundam fan growing up, I loved doing a solo run of CHVLR! Just queue up the Gundam Wing soundtrack and go to town!