Getting that Sci-Fi Feeling with Solo RPGs

What could ever be more fun than flying through the stars, fighting epic battles across new worlds and defeating enemies of unimaginable strength and cruelty? Whether you have a trusty blaster by your side, a robot friend, or space magic, you are there to save the day, the world, and maybe the whole galaxy, or at least put fuel in your ship for another day.

Do you have an itch for roleplaying in your favourite Sci-Fi universe but can’t quite get your gaming group together to do it? No worries! There are solo RPGs that can create the awesome feeling of your favourite sci-fi movies, games and TV shows.

While all these sci-fi franchises have licensed TTRPG games, I’ve included the below picks because they were created for solo play. Now don’t get me wrong, you can play those licensed games with a solo oracle like Mythic or One Page Solo Engine, but I like to highlight smaller indie games (especially if they are created for solo play) if I can.

I love sci-fi and love to play all sorts of sci-fi RPGs. Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 

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Do you like Star Wars?

What can be said about Star Wars that hasn’t already been said a million times in board posts, fan videos, TV shows, movies, comics, etc? It is an amazing property that has been making stories we love since the late 1970s, so it's obvious why you’d want to relive the experience of the Death Star trench run or blasting your way out of Mos Eisley.

You may like Starforged Ironsworn

If you’ve read this blog for more than a few minutes, you’ve probably seen me crow about Starforged: Ironsworn. It is a game that is, in my opinion, the best-made Solo RPG on the market today. It is also based in space and can easily create that Star Wars feel. While the setting the game originally is to create is a galaxy with little to no intelligent aliens, you could easily create a universe with the great diversity of life that Star Wars has.

Pick an asset (skill) like the Kinetic Path and use it to force push and shove your way around. Pick a utility bot and name him R6D2, and grab a snub fighter ship also while you are at it. Or play as someone with Diplomat or Bounty Hunter paths, for a completely different, but still very Star Wars experience.

I intend on running a campaign using Starforged placed in the Star Wars universe, so stay tuned!

Do you like Blade Runner?

Blade Runner and it's recent sequel Blade Runner 2049 are some of my favourite sci-fi movies of all time. I love the dystopian world of future LA, in its gritty vision of technology and what we can make from it. The core message of Blade Runner is ‘what is it to be human?’ Are the replicants any less human because they simply aren’t born? They just want to live normal lives. Are the humans of the story less humane because they seek profit and power by subjugating artificial beings? Such a great set of movies.

You may like Paranoid Android 

In this journaling RPG, you create a character who is being interrogated as a possible android sent to destroy a human space station. As you work through the prompts provided, you must wrestle with the question of whether you are a human or an Android seeking to destroy the very place where you live. As you go through the game, you as the player do not even know the truth of your origin. Flipping of a coin for every writing prompt eventually fills up your ‘Paranoid (human)’ or ‘Android’ score until you are one or the other. Then you must grapple with the story you’ve told and what you’ve seen. It’s a great experience that I highly recommend.

Do you like the Expanse?

Both the book series and the TV show are amazing examples of hard science fiction. The realistic portrayal of humans living throughout the solar system is something you shouldn't miss. There are no warp drives or hyperspace lanes here. If you want to get from the Moon to Mars, you got to burn hard, and that means pulling lots of Gs and getting the ‘juice’. But the Expanse isn’t just theoretical fusion drives and belter stations, there is a good amount of the unknown thrown in there for size.

You may like Dead Belt 

Based on the Carta SRD  (a solo ruleset that is great for creating experiences of discovery for players), The Dead Belt is a fantastic card-based space exploration and scavenging game. In a universe where governments throw their old spaceships into a black hole, only a few brave souls called ‘Belters’ are brave, or stupid, enough to jump on those ships and search for valuable salvage. Keep an eye on your oxygen and your fuel as you wander through dead ships, you never know when you’ll need to beat a quick escape.

The game does a fantastic job of recreating that feeling of desperation and the need to gamble with your life just to put food on the table for another day, just like the Belters of The Expanse.

While this game is extremely good, the creators, A Couple of Drakes are getting ready to kickstart an upgraded version with co-op play and other goodies added! Check it out. 

Do you like Alien(s)?

I remember watching the first Alien movie far too young and being seriously freaked out by it. As an adult, I’m still freaked out by it, but I’ve come to appreciate its combination of horror, thriller and sci-fi. The various planets, ships and space stations of the alien universe are cold, dark and lonely places. The monsters are deadly and far superior to humans in almost every way. The only way you can survive is by being smarter or luckier than the alien, a hard task to be sure.

You may like The Wretched 

You are the lone survivor of a ship that was attacked by a terrible alien creature. Somehow you defeated it but you are the only one left alive on the ship, named The Wretched. Or at least you think you are alone. Maybe you are not. Maybe the creature isn’t dead? Well, the ship is surely wrecked and every day will be a fight to keep yourself alive.

Wretched is a journaling or voice recording game that uses an innovative block tower mechanic to demonstrate the increasingly precarious position the lone survivor is in. Every game day you roll a D6 and pull that number of blocks from the tower until it collapses or you survive. Your character also has tasks to conduct to try to keep the ship running and keep the alien at bay…

The Wretched captures that feeling of being alone on a ship, hunted by a thing while you're trying to outsmart it and stay alive. Only for the brave.

It has also spawned a collection of games using the same block tower mechanic, so if you like The Wretched you’ll find a ton of games to play.

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There are a ton of other TV shows, Movies and Games to talk about and I intend on doing a list of fantasy, contemporary, and dystopian examples also. Which solo sci-fi franchise is your favourite and which solo RPG do you play to get that feel?

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If you'd like to check out more thoughts and opinions on solo RPGs, check out more here!

- Croaker