(Crowdfund Quest) Shadow in the Stars: A Solo Tabletop Roleplaying Game

Crowdfund Quest is a daily column that takes us on an expedition into tabletop crowdfunding with a look at a current project in the tabletop gaming world.

Solo RPGs and Journalling Games have been getting pretty popular over the last year or three. Every week sees new games released and Solo gaming has a growing number of communities and websites dedicated to them. Shadows in the Stars is a new Solo TTRPG that sees you take on the role of a starfighter pilot on a mission to destroy the enemy home world. But you have a problem. You have no memories and you have no idea who you’re attacking or why.

Your star fighter screams through swarms of enemy vessels, firing a barrage of missiles the alien fighters explode into fireballs. Before you have time to relax, another starfighter appears and a voice crackles through the intercom, pleading for you to surrender. And the voice is… your own?

Shadow in the Stars is heavily inspired by the box art, and gaming expeirnces, of old Atari games. The covers, often expertly painted and emotionally evocative, were a contrast to the games ccontained within - that were usually pretty bare bones with their pixel graphics.

Who were the determined people on the cover? Why were the little sprites in the game fighting monsters or blasting away at nuclear reactors? If you didn’t have a manual, you’d have to use your imagination to fill in the gapos. In Shadows in the Stars you explore the gap between the game and story, creating a story as you play.

In order to play the game you’ll need several six-sided dice, a deck of standard playing cards, a printed sector map (which is included with the game), a few tokens, and the Shadow in the Star’s Pilot’s Manual (aka the game rule book). During the game you’ll face a series of deadly hazards, enemy defenses, and challenging bosses at increaingly difficulty until you can finally destroy the enemy home world.

A Morally Grey Mission: You’re tasked with literally ending billions of lives and you’re not sure why. Put together the pieces as you attempt to complete the mission. Is your cause just? Or are you a puppet of evil masters?
Tough Choices: Do you launch a missile and increase your stress or play it safe with a regular laser attack? Do you use that last drone to repair your nearly depleted hull or heal yourself? Do you sacrifice health for a major bonus to an attack? These are the kind of tough choices you face while playing.
Jouralling: At the end of each stage jot down notes in a mission log to capture and reflect on the often bizarre things you’ve seen and the revelations you have.
Scoring Points: Earn a high score and try and beat it! Better yet, submit your score to get on the Table Cat Games leaderboard and see where you rankamong other players across te globe!
Rogue Like Gameplay: You’ll likely die in a number of horrific ways as you fight your way through waves of enemies, but it’s easy and quick to pick right back up and try again.

HOW TO PLAY

The Event Row: You travel through enemy territory in a series of five stages. Each stage is represented by the event row that increases in difficulty.
To travel through the Event Row you flip a card, resolve it, then move onto the next (if you survive). Once you're through more minor obstacles you face one or more bosses. The boss battles are a difficult dance between you and the enemy.
After dealing with the Event Row you're faced with a High Value Target or the Enemy Home World depending on what stage you're on. Destroying them is critical for your high score and to keep your Stress levels manageable.
You use a d6 system to handle skill checks where scoring a 5 or 6 is a success. You get two to three d6 to roll on the skill check, but you can choose to use your Stress to roll additional dice. Be careful, rolling a 1 on your Stress die increases your stress even more, threatening your link to the starship!
The Sector Map: The sectors of enemy space carry different hazards (penalties) that apply while you're traveling through them. The sector map also have some helpful bonus drones that you can collect, but there's an added danger...
The Nemesis Starfighter: There's another starfighter stalking in the darkness of space that moves when you do. They may destroy the bonus drones before you get a chance to grab them. You might also face off against the nemesis in a deadly confrontation.