Astroprisma Session 0
Any good tabletop game deserves a session 0. It's good to get your bearings, prep up what you need, get a idea of what everyone is looking for, lines and veils, and typically character gen. It's feels slightly weird to put that logic to a solo ttrpg like this one but I feel like it's better to do it then not. I'm journal-ing all of this for two reasons. The first is so other people can see and explore these kinds of spaces for themselves. A lot of the time people want to see something in action so they themselves can get a idea if they want to do it to. Plus it's a great way to practice writing and story telling so all the more reason to. The second reason is because I need a distraction from the world. Everything is on fire as is and being able to just dive into a game to take my mind off things is nice. Plus if it's a big public thing I feel like I'm more likely to keep up with it. So lets get into it! Starting off with the game of choice. Astroprisma!
So whats the deal with Astroprisma? It's meant to be a solo adventure based game. The story goes you're in a ship in space exploring a 'post-apocalyptic retro futuristic' solar systems. Doing everything you can to survive and live to see your next location. There are different factions that can either help or hinder you depending on your luck and rolls. Space pirates that could come and scrap you and your ship. And a variety of worlds, space stations, or events that could leave you in ruin or riches. I'm a sucker for this kind of vapor wave 80's/90's anime aesthetic. It's got such a good feel to it. If i'm understanding it properly you have a couple ways to play. The end goal, is to explore the whole system and help one of the factions reach their 'final event'. I guess there's where the re-playable value is. There are 5 factions so 5 events you can try to achieve.
Which given the size of the map certainly sounds doable on paper. But we're going to see how it goes. There are a couple modes of play you can choose from. Standard Mode, which is for quicker styles of play where you want to focus on the action and the results. From how it reads this feels like a choose your own adventure style route. But I still think it'd take you some time to get through the whole system. The next mode, and the one I'm going to be using for this little...whatever this is. Is the Journal Mode. Take everything from Standard Mode and now add narratives, which can range from the good to the bad, to your characters last words. If you're asking yourself 'but I'm the narrator how can my character die?' well there are a lot of different tables you can roll on, and your character still has a sheet. Which includes HP. So yes you can absolutely fudge the rolls if you want. This is a solo game and you get the final say, but wheres the fun in that? We have two other rolls that go along with the normal two mentioned above. We've got campaign mode, which takes you to multiple systems. And multiplayer mode....which....just turns this entire thing into one big normal ttrpg...huh. If you like the concept and want to get your friends together I guess that's a thing you can do. Which is awesome in my opinion. Let's get down to character creation to see what we got going on.
There are no form editable sheets as of right now, so I've got a physical copy prepped. I've got two full sets of dice. Some standard note taking stuff. With all this combined I think we're ready to build a character. Maybe. Probably. We're doin in blind y'all. To start off the character building journey we have to pick a Origin. Which I believe is a mix of background and class. At least that's how I'm reading it. Glitchblade reads like the stealth option, Desperado gives me Cowboy Bebop vibes, Wirehead is your tech junky with drones and robots, Chromeskin is your 'typical' cyberpunk 2077/Edge character. Astromancer has the vibes of a wizard. And the Ecoterrorist is...I think they're suppose to be your survivalist? Its got the protagonist backstory. For the sake of this play through lets go Astromancer. What better way to get into a system then go full bore into their spell list. Let's see...armor, stats, start with 20 HP and 20 Energy...you only regen Energy when you're at max health. Good to know. I start with 2 Health Packs, 2 Energy Packs (From my Origin), 2 Hacks (From my Origin), and 2 Star Ship Parts. Neat. Exp is used to get upgrades for myself and my ship. Speaking of I need to build my ship. Let's look at that next.
.....Uuuuh...oh they mean that literally.
On the one hand? That is super awesome. But I am the verbally inclined not the artistically inclined. Game I honestly need a little help here. cltr-f save me! Oh thank funk. They do have prebuilt ships that you can 'purchase' later in the game. But 4 of them are perfect stock for game start.
There she is, funnily enough their example ship is in fact one of the ships you can get at the start. So that's fun. My own little peace of home in space. All that's left is some map prep and getting my skills down on my paper. This is going to be fun I think. Maybe. We're gonna find out. Thank you everyone who's read this far. See you next time with a character introduction and what our world is going to look like!
