Five Parsecs From Home - Solo Adventure Wargaming

by Ivan Sorensen

Five Parsecs From Home is an rpg-lite solo adventure wargame where you assemble a ragtag crew of galactic trailblazers and head out to explore the stars, pick up jobs, and every now and then — engage in some action-packed, sci-fi combat!

Battles are procedurally generated with huge combinations of enemies, weapons, battlefield circumstances and objectives whether fighting rivals or carrying out jobs.

With each encounter you earn experience and loot, progressing your crew and story as you send your crew to look for contacts, trade, explore the colony, recruit replacements or train up their skills.

The game is playable with any miniatures you have on hand and requires only a small number to get started, making it ideal for both experienced and new science fiction gamers. All you need is a few six-sided dice and a couple of ten-sided dice.

* 184 page PDF packed full of full-colour art
* A fast-moving system, built for solo gaming from the ground up.
* RPG-lite adventure wargame experience with miniatures.
* Create a wide range of characters whether human, alien or robot.*
* Miniatures agnostic - use whatever you have
* After each battle, your crew may die from their injuries or level up and find new items and information.
* Upgrade your starship with expansion modules *
* Procedurally generate a huge array of possible missions, with more than 50 enemy types.
* Random tables for towns, trade, character events and starship travel.
* 5 difficulty settings and super-hard Black and Red Zone jobs*
* Extensive options for Game Mastering scenarios, allowing complex RPG-like campaigns to be played with connected scenario plots, environmental hazards and factional conflict.*
* 7 stage narrative solo campaign*

This is a full retail edition of the community favourite solo sci-fi wargame by Ivan Sorensen of Nordic Weasel games and comes with lots of new content (noted with a * above), full graphic layout design and lots of stunning full-colour art throughout.

Keep an eye on the official home for the living FAQ and bonus content and blogs!

Genres: Role Playing Games, Gaming, Science Fiction

182 pages, ebook

First published May 27, 2021

Reviews

[Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic system. A really nice balance of procedurally generated events, flavour, progression/peeks character building, alongside a bunch of super varied and interesting tabletop battles that you can use literally anything you want with. There's a whole variety of campaigns, quests and difficulties that can self generate any number of cool twists and turns.

I'm halfway through my first campaign, having never really done solo tabletop (or much wargaming at all for that matter) before, and it's already paid for itself.

Very clever, RNG heavy but super fun XCOM-meets-Mass Effect campaigns in a fun, gritty setting. Love it!

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I AM SOOOO EXCITED TO PLAY THIS GAME!

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great rules set to use with miniatures you already own! Now, to see if it plays as well as it reads.

Clearly written, one of the first rule books I've been able to pick up and read fairly quickly. Lots of play charts, maybe taking up 35% of the book, and lots of examples of play within each section of the rules.

Time to head Five Parsecs from Home . . .

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting and very basic war game with a solitaire system that is compelling. Something to toy with for a while and see what randomness brings. I find it to be a clever system with some surprises.

[Steven Poore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rather fun solo system, with excellent art and overall presentation.

[Tobias Lindqvist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid and inspiring piece of rules. Looking forward to test them.