POCGamer is proud to announce Sojourner! Sojourner is a classic styled science fiction roleplaying game in the minimalist mode of, and inspired deeply by, the Classic Traveller series. Offering a semi-retro future feel, with an emphasis on ease of play, multiple story and mission format support in a diverse far future setting. The core book itself is largely setting agnostic, meaning that out of the box, it’s ready for you to create your own systems and worlds! Or you can use the Sojouner Guide to the Known Universe (still very much on scrap paper at this time) and kick start your campaign with a few systems, some star maps, and a baseline of lore. Watch for details on its progress and development on the POCGamer Twitter and Instagram under #SojournerRPG!
Genre: Science Fiction
Subgenres: Hard and Soft SciFi(?!), Military SciFi, Retro-Futurism (Cassette Futurism, Used Future)
Page Count: 120 in A5 size (estimated)
Dice Needed: 2d6
Estimated Release Date: Late 2020
Some may be wondering how Sojourner can be both Hard and Soft Science Fiction at once. That’s entirely reasonable! It’s both in the sense that it has that traditional “hard sci-fi” feel of games like Classic Traveller and T4 Traveller, or shows and films like Kill Joys (2015-19), Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), or Cargo (2009). However, like soft sci-fi, I’m not diving deep into the mechanics or real world science for everything. It’s an odd dichotomy, but one that works well in terms of promoting ease of play and reduction in time spent doing calculus to build and then use starships. Sojourner defintely trends hard away from being simulationist to be more approachable!
Getting Involved in Sojourner!
Want to get involved with Sojourner? Right on! Right now I’m looking for:
Financial Support
There will be a Kickstarter for this in 2020, but until then, donations to my Ko-Fi would be most appreciated, as they’ll help me afford to line up artists, an editor, and all the other things needed to make this great so that the Kickstarter can focus on polishing everything up.
Playtesting
In late 2019 and in 2020, I’m going to be looking for playtesters! If you’re interested, contact me on Twitter, where I’ll add your profile to my list of potential playtesters, or contact me through the contact information here and I’ll add you to the spreadsheet.
Future needs for Sojourner will include writers, sensitivity readers, editing services, and art. The ultimate goal is to produce a A5 sized black boxed set that contians everything you need to play Sojourner; dice, pencils, pads of sheets for characters, starships, vehicles, and aliens/robots… the lot. That’s to goal, and thanks for supporting it!