Game Concepts.
SPACESHIPS
This game is about Ships, space-faring craft carrying their crew
across the stars.
You decide how sentient your Ship is. Whether guided
by artificial intelligence or more mundane mechanisms,
each will possesses its own distinct character that
can be used as a lens to tell your story.
However, a Ship can't do much on its own.
CAPTAINS
Ships are flown by Captains and their crew.
Under their command the Ship travels across the galaxy, seeing
wondrous places and having grand adventures.
As you craft each Captain's story consider how they obtained
the Ship, what they achieve with it, how they change it and how
it changes them.
TIME & REST
Ships usually outlive even the luckiest of Captains.
Through death, obligation or retirement they vacate the cockpit
for the last time and your stint with them ends.
The Ship lies still, inert and waiting. It could be moments before
the engines are fired once more or it may languish for aeons—
slowly rusting as stars rise and fall.
Eventually, a new Captain will arrive.
TRAITS
Traits are characteristics describing a Ship.
These can be mechanical systems, battle scars, modifications,
facets of an increasingly wilful personality core—or just the way
the craft feels to fly.
CHANGE
As you play, the Ship changes, maturing from a factory fresh
stock model to a collection of fixed, found and fiddled-with
systems.
Each Captain modifies the Ship to suit their particular
preferences, admiring or admonishing those who came before,
while the passage of Time makes its own mark.
At various points, you are asked to change something about the
Ship. This usually means adding, removing or modifying one or
more of the following:
4  A Trait.
4  A detail about the physical appearance of the Ship.
4  A detail about something in your world.
4  A response to one of your Ship questions.
You can also make a change whenever you feel it’s appropriate,
even without being explicitly prompted.
Once you've made changes, you should reflect them in your
notes and drawing as appropriate.
 Game Structure.
ACTS
The game takes place over three Acts, forming
your Ship's story as your game progresses.
Each Act has its own set of Captains and Time
options to choose from.
RESOLVING A CAPTAIN
After choosing a Captain, complete these steps to tell their
story and explore how your Ship changes.
As you go, write a few paragraphs detailing your choices.
1. First, describe the Captain, providing their name and a few
striking details. Consider how they took command of your
Ship—was it provided, acquired or recovered?
2. Consider any notable crew or valuable assets.
3. Then answer the two questions or prompts under the
Captain’s heading.
4. Then choose a memorable event defining the Captain's
time with your Ship. If they achieved great things together,
choose from Love & Triumph. For less auspicious fates,
choose from Scum & Villainy.
5. As your Ship is shaped by its experiences, you may answer
one of your Ship Questions.
6. Finally, consider how the Captain and Ship's time together
ends. How do they lose or relinquish it?
RESOLVING A REST
As you await the next Captain to claim your Ship you’ll Rest
in darkness or with your eyes closed. As you pause, picture the
halted craft—the gently creaking hull, blinking electronics or
the signs of wildlife encroaching.
You can use the ambient soundtrack (bit.ly/bob-ost) or wait in
silence, listening to the sounds around you.
Don’t worry if your mind wanders—your Ship's mind wanders
too (if it truly has one). Eventually a new Captain will arrive and
break the long silence.
After completing your Rest, you may be asked to choose
something from a table if your wait was long.
If you want to explore or change the world around your Ship,
choose from Shifts & Currents. If you want to show how the
Ship itself changes, choose from Dust & Rust.
BREAKS
Between Captains, you might like to take a break.
If you end up writing a lot of detail for each Captain, consider
splitting your story over a few shorter sessions.
CHOOSING A NEW CAPTAIN
When you’re ready you’ll choose a new Captain.
Depending on how many Captains you've chosen, you’ll either
choose from the current or subsequent Act.
 Setup.
YOUR SHIP
Your Ship is a medium-sized freighter—something that could
just as easily haul legal freight or escort galactic nobility as
smuggle rebels through blockades or destroy a space station.
CREATE YOUR SHIP
To create your Ship, complete the Ship Creation section.
Describe the engineers that made your ship and add three Traits
to express its stock-model properties.
Draw the Ship, making your sketch large enough
to easily record changes as you play. Don’t worry
about making it beautiful—a rough layout &
silhouette is fine.
You'll answer Ship Questions later as you tell your story.
TAKE A BREATH
For the rest of this game you inhabit your Ship and perceive the
world through its cold, mechanical senses.
When questions in the game refer to ‘you’ they mean your Ship
and its unique perspective.
This Ship is your character for the rest of the game.
After completing the instructions and preparing to play, empty
your hands, close your eyes and take a moment to breathe.
Play.
YOUR FIRST CAPTAIN
Now open your eyes and choose the first person
to own you—your first Captain.
You’ll begin by choosing Captains from the first
Act: The High Era.
THE FINAL CAPTAIN
Eventually you’ll reach the end of the third & final Act. Having
resolved your final Captain, your Ship is wrecked or abandoned
forever in some backwater junkheap.
CONTINUING YOUR STORY
Instead of playing to this conclusion, you may decide to continue
the Ship's story in a different game under the command of your
table's characters.
As you introduce your Ship to this new game, don’t try to
explain every detail—leave it a mystery to unravel.
EPILOGUE
Regardless of where you conclude your story, it’s worth taking
some time to pause at the end of your game.
Take a final moment to sit silently in the dark. Consider how
your Ship is remembered, if at all, through tall tales told in
scuzzy bars or galactic records of your exploits.
Then turn the lights back on and stretch out as you leave your
Ship behind—concluding your time with this game.
Busted, rusted, set adrift, cloaked in cloth and grime.
This old ship lies still—a relic
from a different time.
Lift the dust sheets, one by one, pry the broken latch.
Up the ladder, flaking paint,
up towards the hatch.
Crank it open, hit the switch, dim lights flicker on.
Yellowed bulkheads, fraying wires—
captains, dead and gone.
In the cockpit, fire it up—engine’s thrumming roar.
Creaking, lurching up towards
shining stars once more.

CREDITS
Jack Harrison. writing, layout
Torben Bökemeyer. illustration
Luke Jordan. consulting design
Jarrett Crader & Fiona Maeve Geist (MRC). editing
Christopher Michael Roberts. soundtrack
Dizzy Ink. risograph printing
Inspired by The Skeletons by Jason Morningstar