For Small Creatures Such As We

I started reading "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" recently and kept thinking how great it would be to play a solo game in that setting, and was DELIGHTED when I googled and discovered SOMEONE HAD ALREADY MADE THE GAME.  Snatched it up immediately and set about starting my campaign.  I have no idea where it's going, but I'm the only human on the crew of four and we can't go back to Windsong until we've helped 100 passengers, so it's gonna take awhile!  SO MUCH STORY POTENTIAL!  

Hi. First off, I have to say I love the game. I've played two campaigns, using my phone and Notion, and I think they're some of the longest RPG campaigns I've ever played. I wouldn't normally have gotten this far with any other game, but I really love FSCSAW.

But I have a question about how long they take. I quit my first campaign halfway through, and even then, it was a lot of entries. In my second campaign, which I'm still playing, it's more than double the length of the first (I've done about 9-10 missions, played for over 150 days, and even have a pet on my ship). However, to achieve my goal (Soldier), I only have 3 out of 30 promotions... I feel like the campaign will never end. It's not a problem, because I'm enjoying it, but... are they always this long? Am I doing something wrong? Are there ways to shorten them?

Thanks a million, I'm really looking forward to the next expansion. I wish the game would be released in Spanish!

Hello! So delighted about this so far. I have two questions.

One, are skills gained in your background (like Pilot for pilots) in addition to the 2 primary and 1 secondary for the captain in the skills section?

Second, would you be willing to put a .png of the race map in the downloads? I can find a scanner, but it'd be very helpful if it's not too much trouble. Thanks!

I don't like card based mechanics. It lacks a feeling of consistency for me.  I'm not too keen on journaling. Going forward, bear those first couple sentences in mind as you read this review. For Small Creatures Such As We uses all of these things and it's concept was still enticing enough for me to want to play the game. That means a lot, considering how many role playing games there for people to invest their time in. 

I went into FSCSAW looking for a game that gave me ways to interact with NPCs more dynamically than I was getting with tools such as UNE and Tricube Tales Solo Rules. That was the big pull. The science fiction future environment was the second pull. 

I got really bogged down in my initial game setup. Creating my character was quick. Creating my ship was a little longer, but still smooth. Creating my NPC crew slowed way, way down. This was the first sign of something lacking in FSCSAW. You pick or randomly generate a Skill, Role/Occupation, and a couple Alien-Race Traits. That's all the help you get. You don't know what they look like. What their personality is. What their aesthetic is. What kind of culture they come from. That is all left on the player to figure out ... and it is a lot. Creating my crew alone took 2-3 sessions. That was almost half the time I wound up playing FSCSAW. This, for me, was not a good thing. It could have gone a lot quicker if the game had some more tables to help with the generation of NPCs. 

This is a problem that persisted for me throughout my experience with FSCSAW. Missions were left too ambiguous and didn't give you tools for quickly fleshing them out. NPCs introduced through events and missions are a very, very basic concept. For example, in one mission I was tasked with transporting pilgrims to a world. This could be neat to interact with. However, there is no follow up. No racial, cultural, religious, or any other detail about these people, or tools to help you create that. You're left with all that to cover. The same extends to missions, races, cultures, planets, factions, and so forth throughout the game. You're left not just fleshing them out, but actually coming up with everything outside that small kernel of an idea. For me this is less helpful than most oracles used in solo roleplaying. Also, what I was really looking forward to in the game wasn't there. It didn't have tools that supported the dynamic NPC interactions I was hoping for.  You can have random events with your crew and passengers, but they're very basic prompts that didn't give me much to work with.

FSCSAW has a map, which gets expanded with Lust and Love. There are some named plants with reestablished flavor. It doesn't go deep, but they give you enough of an idea what the world is like that you can work out stories there. The map looks nice for what it is and each of the named worlds has some inspirational art, and events, to go with them.

FSCSAW mainly uses a deck of playing cards for it's mechanics. It's straight forward: draw cards, add up the total to overcome a difficulty number, which is usually set by drawing a set number of cards based on an event description of antagonist's abilities. Your character and crew skills or traits may enable you to draw more when relevant, or enable you to perform tasks you wouldn't otherwise be able to. Like an Engineer being able to repair a ship. Quick to learn. What took most of my time learning was the various procedures around mission types. There are a diverse range of missions, from theatrical performances as a entertainer troupe, to mining, or even scientific exploration. 

The most mechanical depths that comes to mind is the bounty hunting system. It walks you through generating a target, their crimes, whether they lure you into a trap, if they have allies, and combat itself. That was one of my favorite elements of the game, even though I only had one bounty during my seven or so sessions of play. This, coming from someone that doesn't have any special fondness for playing bounty hunter characters or stories about bounty hunting. 

As much as the premise called to me, FSCSAW isn't for me. If you are someone that likes smooth, steady, or quick game play with tools that help you ease the mental work load of acting as both player and game master, then FSCSAW isn't likely going to be for you. On the other hand, if you are someone that is alright stopping the flow of play, be given a prompt like "you encounter an exotic flower" with no further detail, and that is enough for you to run with and enjoy building an entire story around, then FSCSAW may be a good game for you. My personal enjoyment of the experience was low, but I can see that a healthy amount of work went into the game and the right kind of person could really enjoy this.

Please rate the game I need a community copy so bad :'(

i played it once upon a time with a friend, with some homebrew, so reading the true one, well, nostalgia hit so much haahaha

Thank you so much for the Free RPG Day gift, BlackwellWriter team!

This is a super cool sci fi RPG.

Hi! Are any more community copies available? Would love to play this, but I'm a bit tight on funds this month. :( I'd definitely leave a review, rating, and spread the word to my other solo rpg pals to show my support and gratitude!

hi there fabulous creator. Just curious if there’s any more community copies available? I really appreciate game creators like you who do generously offer these community copies to people going through a hard time. It really helps out.

Thank you in advance

This is a really great sci fi adventure worldbuilding TTRPG. 

Hi. Do you plan on putting up more community copies?

I haven't get a chance to play but I'm sure it is as good as your other works!!!

This looks awesome, BlackwellWriter team

I stumbled across FSCSAW today, and it was meant to be! I was immediately drawn in by the vibes and especially when I read the inspirations behind this RPG! I love Becky Chambers' books, the expansive Star Wars universe, and I'm a huge Firefly  fan! This looks absolutely amazing! I'm saving up for the digital version! Seeing the bundle of all the other amazing projects, Anna's creativity is incredible and inspiring.

Weirdly couldn’t find my way back to your stand at UKGE and struggling to walk on a busted foot or I would have ordered. Grabbed a pdf as soon as I saw the email though. Looks really good now I’ve finally been able to relax and read.

Love this game!

I've been playing this game since the early play test phase and it's quickly become my favourite RPG. The story I've created while playing it has taken turns I'd never have expected but what's come out of it is better than anything I could have imagined. 

It's a really fun journey through an imaginative and vivid world with enough gameplay to really keep you on your toes and throw you curveballs. I really feel like different players would have completely different story experiences depending on their own unigue styles, flavours, and takes on the prompts. Mines has turned into an epic but heartfelt stuggle of a pirate trying to turn her life around while I know others have been extremely cosy. Takes a wee bit of organisation to really keep track of the story but sooooo worth it!