Elder Space

While sheep people of human worlds enjoy AI-generated virtual realities, advanced ecstasy-inducing substances, and erotic-fantasy brain implants, it is told that beyond the borders of the known universe, hostile powers gather. A scout must be sent to investigate the threat! You will have the most high-tech teleport at your service, to crawl through spatio-temporal rifts to the most remote corners of the cosmos – even to the parts from the very onset of time, known as the ELDER SPACE.

This is a solo dark space exploration game with minimalist rules, based on the innovative mechanics of DOOM PILGRIM. The mechanics were adjusted to fit this new grimdark future setting and bring the most evocative and immersive experience.

You play as an investigator sent to the most remote corners of the universe through spatio-temporal rifts: you are a Riftcrawler Inquisitor.

Apart from various gains and losses, you will also gather points of Failure on your journey, which you will weigh against points of Success to see if your people will take you back home or if they leave you far from your galaxy as expendable, a failed experiment. This way, danger lurks on every side, and you can't trust anyone.

The game is hard in its basic setting, but there are various options for making it easier, all listed in the rules printed on the hook box.

This hook box includes all you need to play (90 tarot cards) except from a pen and paper, which you will need to track your progress. You can also purchase a neoprene game mat for this game, but it is fully optional.

• Every turn you choose from three cards, seeing images only: one card to discard, one to put on the bottom of the deck, one to play.
• The played card is flipped, and you read where this step into the spatio-temporal rift has taken you. You make your choices and write eventual changes into your sheet, similarly as in a gamebook.
• This way, the game is a sort of roguelike gamebook with roguelite elements: the next game can be easier as you may remember what image hides what danger or benefit.
• The game has quite high replayability, because you take only 60 cards from the 90 total for each game, and also from these 60, around one-third is discarded unplayed. And even if you already know the cards, you still can play with them, with only the difference that the game changes from exploration more into planning and using a strategy.