Solo Exploring the Final Frontier

Like everyone else, I am in lock down and the only prospect of a game is a solo one.

Being a big fan of Star Trek and having some Star Trek figures, I wanted to have a Star Trek game. Unlike other franchises and genres, Star Trek has predominantly been more about exploring and problem solving then out-and-out combat. So how to replicate this on the tabletop? My current favourite rules are the Fistful of Lead (FoL) family, so anything I came up with had to work with those rules - specifically Galactic Heroes.

So I came up with a set of solo exploration rules. I freely admit that these are inspired by a couple of games, notably, Pulp Alley (Plot Points, Perils, Rewards), Five Parsecs - Salvage Crew (Hazards, Obstacles, Discovery) and  FoL Wasteland Warriors (for the variety of creature contacts). As mentioned above, these have been design for use with Fistful of Lead and Galactic Heroes, but could be used for other games. If using with FoL, I strongly recommend getting Wasteland Warriors for the sheer variety of creatures documented in it.

As per any normal game of FoL or Galactic Heroes, you draw cards for your figures and activate accordingly. However, the difference being you're now exploring the tabletop, seeking out new life and new civilizations!

Set-up:

Place 1 Encounter marker in every quarter of the table, close to the centre of that table quarter. Also, place 1 Encounter marker in the centre of the table, for a total of 5 on the table. I use a 3' v 3' table, so there's a minimum of 9 inches (ca. 23 cm) between each marker.

Then select a table edge to start from.

Encounters:

Encounters can be investigated automatically when a character ends their turn within 1” and line of sight of the marker. Roll 1D10 and consult the table below. Add +1 for every Encounter already revealed, e.g. 3 revealed encounters equals +3 to the roll.

Roll	Revelation Notes
1-4	Unknown Risk (booby trap, insect bite, allergic reaction etc) - The revealing character takes 1 Wound hit and the marker is then removed from play.
5-6	Obstruction (a problem to be solved) - A character can attempt to overcome the Obstruction by moving into contact and taking a Non-Combat Action. Roll for a medium task. If the attempt is failed twice, the Obstruction cannot be overcome. Success offers 1 RP and a Discovery.
7-8	Discovery - A character moving into contact with the marker may add a Discovery to the crew total. After the game you will roll to determine what each Discovery turned out to be.
9-10	Contact - Place a Contact marker and move it 10” directly away from the spotting character. If it was resolved immediately in this location, make the roll right away.

Contact markers

Every time a crew character takes their turn, once they have finished all actions you must check if any Contact markers will be resolved.

Markers are resolved if they are within 10” of any crew member and in the open or within 5” and inside a terrain feature. Line of sight is not required. For each eligible Contact marker, roll 1D10 on the table below:

Roll	Contact Effect
1-2	False alarm. Remove the marker.
3-5	What was that? Move the marker another 1D8” directly away from the spotting character. If it was eligible to be resolved in its new position, roll on this table again and apply the result to the new position.
6-10	Hostiles! You have a fight on your hands!

Hostiles

Roll	Opposition	Numbers	Weapons/Traits
1	Swarm	3	Regenerate, Unstoppable
2	Giant Bugs	1	Armoured Hide, Fangs & Claws
3	Killer Plant	1	Poison, Tentacles
4	Monster of the Week	1	Various
5	Blood Worm	1	Tunneller, Huge, Gaping Maw, Godlike
6 -7	Primitive Aliens	Leader and 4 Regulars	Swords, Bows
8 - 9	Robots	3	Various
10	Other Landing Party	1-5 Klingons 6-9 Romulans 10 Borg Leader, Specialist and 3 Regulars. 3 Borg Regulars.	Various

Once revealed, Hostiles are controlled by the solo rules published by Wiley Games.

Discovery

Roll	Discovery
1 – 5	1RP
6 – 9	2RP
10	3RP or Mission Clue