A great little space opera game with lite rules, tight zine layout, and evocative artwork

Prologue

JP Coovert has written a wonderful little “Borg” game. It attempts to mimic the core trilogy of a certain space opera that many of you have seen in movie theaters or on streaming. Personally, I thought $30 was very reasonable for print and pdf copies of a game that I assume will be blasted out of existence by the lawyers of NYSE: DI$ as soon as they find it.

I won’t go through the mechanics and rolls from my campaign and character setup. Nor will I for session 1. I’ll mostly talk about this in the first person from the perspective of the main character. The solo rules provide a bit of plot armor here for solo players, so I avoided death — this time.

Here are my notes from the session. I sat at the dining room table after dinner and played for probably 1.5 - 2 hours. It’s easy to loose track of time doing this kind of thing, especially when you are learning the rules and where they are located in the 3 zines.

The New Empire’s Gods

Episode 1: A Flight Plot Home

Opening Scene: Home

No response. For years, my only companion and friend had been Three-Four. The outside of its slick, moulded case said 3/4 but I had always grown up knowing him as Three-Four. Strange to call a machine “him.” But it was an artificial personality locked in a box. It ran our home.

Our home was a base, once, for many people. But over the years Three-Four had shut off more and more parts of the enclosure (or the hatches had malfunctioned). The skeletons of the people who used to occupy it were hidden away between those doors. Even my parents. One day, they were both alive, and the next Three Four informed me they had “expired.”

I guess it’s wrong to say Three-Four was the only friend I had. There’s also my pet space lizard Blix. But Blix doesn’t look so good these days. He’s now sickly with some of his scales turning white. I guess now that Three-Four cannot provide food and whatever additives Blix needs, he is “expiring” too.

There’s also RY-64, a bipedal protocol droid. I call him “Rye.” He’s limited to just the cantina by his restraining bolt. He’s pretty useless. Most of his Imperial conditioning was laid on after the Republic fell apart and his original memory was wiped. Rye doesn’t know why he got assigned to this base on a far away habitable moon.

Sartun III (our moon) is pretty big (so I’ve been told). Though Sartun proper looms large in the night sky. I’ve never been outside of our base. But now, there’s a bright red indicator light next to Three-Four that reminds me that the outer hatch is open for the first time in years. Probably as a fail safe, the outer hatch opened after Three-Four’s circuits shut down.

The cantina is free from leftovers. No further food is getting prepared. Somewhere in the bowels of this base, there’s a conveyor, and a set of synthesized proteins and whatever else is used to gin up my food. But since Three-Four died, none of that is working.

I’m pretty handy, and I think I could fix it, if only Three-Four were able to pull up the schematics to show me how it is supposed to work. Without him, I guess I’ll “expire” too unless I do something.

I’ve gathered my gear. I’ve got some bits of Imperial currency my parents left behind in the living quarters. I’ve got my techno harp and I have been pretty good at accompanying Three-Four when the mood struck us to play together. I’ve also got the hilt of a Blazer Sword my father left me. He said it had never caused him anything but trouble. But maybe it will do me some good. I guess I’ll find out. Because it is time to leave.

Scene 2: Unexpected Obstacle

“Come on Blix, we’re going.” The lizard climbed only my shoulder. I opened the first door to the parts room. I threw a few of my favorite tools in a canvas tool bag along with some spare parts. I was thinking, vaguely, that I might be able to put together something useful if I could find a wave modulator. Satisfied there was nothing else worth scrounging, I headed to the cantina.

Rye was there, as always. “Master Harper, would you like me to prepare your meal?”

“Three-Four is still out of action Rye. There won’t be any more meals here.”

I picked my way across the room headed for the vault.

“Where are you going?”

“To the vault, Rye.”

“But sir, there is nothing in there that can be of any benefit to you?”

“I’m leaving, Rye. And I can’t take you with me. I’ll try to come back for you after I get help.”

Somewhere, deep in RY-64’s programming, a new routine must have been activated. Rye moved to intercept me with alarming speed.

“It is forbidden to leave the moon base.”

One thing about Rye was he had a bit of a trick knee. Long ago I was punished for knocking his lower leg out of joint. Since then, I’d seen the bot lose his footing when trying to clean up or rearrange the cantina. I felt badly, but I gave Rye a firm shove as he came close to me.

Rye was too fast, his hand snatched my arm to stabilize himself and nearly tumbled me over with him. The crazy bot started singing a childhood lullaby to me.

Long ago, my father had taught me several “katas” which included one to throw an opponent. My mother — a trained dancer — called them “positions.” Regardless, I spun and shoved my hip toward the bot, toppling him in one swift countermove. The surprise freed me from his grip as he tried to catch himself and prevent damage.

“I’m sorry Rye!” I called as I punched in the code to the vault door. By the time Rye wobbled back onto his feet, I had already resealed the door. It was fast, like a blast door.

Scene 3: Leaving Home

The vault was filled with heavy military-grade cases, each with sealed cargo. There was no manifest I could consult without Three-Four. And I knew, instinctively, that many of the cases contained something hazardous. Nevertheless, I gave the vault a quick survey and found nothing to aid me. So I located the ventilation shaft, disabled the baffle, and squeezed into it. I knew that this was the only remaining way to reach the outer hatch. I wriggled my way forward and into the old lounge.

I had not been in this room since I was much, much younger. Perhaps there were once others here who played with me when my parents were alive. But the memories were hazy. I did remember that there was a small anteroom for more parts just off the lounge. But first, I combed the lounge looking for anything else useful.

I did find a few interesting baubles and emptied one of my pockets of bits. Then I thought better of it and left the baubles behind. But I got distracted watching Blix as he hunted around the room for insects and rodents. I guess that is how I got confused and mislaid some of my currency.

“Come on Blix, we have to get moving.” I snatched him up and again perched him on my shoulder.

I thought the anteroom would not be worth the bother. The light was malfunctioning and all of the parts were for finely tuned medical and chemical tech beyond my reach in sealed off portions of the base. “I suppose some of the connectors could be of use,” I mused opening a plastic tray. “Hey wait a minute!” By a stroke of luck I found some bits. Though they were the older Republican currency, at first glance (and with a little modification) they might pass for Imperial. I pocketed them. I am not a dishonest person, but value is sometimes in the eye of the beholder.

Beyond the anteroom was a short corridor leading to the open hatch. As I approached it, there was a humid, loamy smell. Even without the proper words to put to this experience, the smells awakened some ancestral memory. I strode forward, ready to break into the open.

That’s when I felt it . . . the goosebumps and my hair standing on end. I halted dead in my tracks. There was something lurking just outside the hatch, and it was watching me.

I stared hard for a few minutes and caught a glimpse of it creeping through the verdant flora. It was a Slurn!

Three-Four had warned me repeatedly about this native predator. “It creeps forward, low to the ground. It uses its claws to grab its prey. It has fangs that it can sink deep into your belly and gut you. But the Slurn’s most dangerous weapon is its prehensile tail which has a poison stinger. The poison is strong enough to kill a man, but if your body survives the first two minutes the compound will quickly metabolize and become inert.”

Even as these words ran through my skull, the Slurn was already bounding forward. It cleared the hatch and was most of the way down the corridor before I could decide what to do. I grabbed my techno harp, hoping to strike fear into the beast with a wall of discordant screeching. Unfortunately, as I turned the volume knob to the maximum setting I broke it off — I suppose adrenaline must have amped up my own strength.

The Slurn was on me, ripping the instrument away with the swipe of one paw, then biting me under one arm. With its other paw, it raked me with its claws, ripping my clothing. I passed out.

Scene 4: Awakening

I awoke looking at the ceiling. My back was wet. My cloak and vestment had soaked themselves in my blood. The Slurn was gone. The hatch was closed. Blix was at my side, lapping up an unexpected meal.

I propped myself up for a moment, then lay back down exhausted. I am not sure how long I slept there. When I awoke again, I looked about. The techno harp was in ruin, but one piece was salvageable: the wave modulator. With it, I was able to construct a device that would hopefully cloak me from any future encounter. This took time.

Hunger and thirst were my companions, along with Blix. He, at least, seemed satiated and a bit more of his old self. But his color was still wrong.

I suspect, that some kind of anti-intruder system must have triggered. There was a fine powder covering much of the corridor that had a quickly fading, but unpleasant, aroma. I suppose it made me unpalatable as well as I was covered with the stuff from head to toe. Blix had managed to clean himself though and the powder did not seem to trouble him.

With trepidation, I mashed the button to once again open the outer hatch. I was relieved that the button worked as expected. The way forward was into the great wilderness outside of the base.

The sun was rising. Nearby, there was a great deal of ground vegetation and trees. Though the foliage was thick, I did spy mountain peaks in all directions. Our base was apparently in some pass or hidden valley. Without any further information to guide me, I set off in the direction most likely to lead to water. So my trek was ever downward, toward low ground.

It was after finding a watercourse (and bathing and drinking my fill) that I was able to press on. Downstream seemed best. It was well toward sunset when I met the first “person” I had seen in a long, long time.

He was scaly, and yellow-brown in color: a Lacertian. I approached cautiously. I believed him to be armed, but it was merely an impression. I did not see a weapon. He was dressed quite conservatively, in an all purpose space jumpsuit. I raised my hands to indicate I meant him no harm. I return, he raised one of his indicating the same. As I came even closer he fixed his gaze on Blix.

It seems that my having won the trust of some smaller lizard like Blix gave the Lacertian confidence to let down his guard.

“I am Rishu” he said, lisping out the words in Galactic Common.

“I am Harper.”

“Well met. I travel to Van-derg.”

I stared blankly.

“It is a settlement.”

“This is your lucky day Rishu. I am also going to Van-derg!”

On the journey, Rishu told me a little bit about his world, and what he knew of Van-derg. We both intended to find a ship and leave the Sartun system. We became fast friends.

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Epilogue

That seems like a great place to break for session #1 even though I got a bit further. I hope you enjoyed this small adventure. I really see the potential in this game system. The rolls are easy to understand, there are just enough things in the Oracular tables to keep things moving, and there is definitely a great vibe to how things panned out.

Exploring and departing the “base” was done using the Solo zine pp. 18-19. The combat rules are in the Rebel Handbook p. 20. Ability tests, destiny points, crits, blunders, etc. are explained in the Rebel Handbook on pp. 16-17. The Slurn(TM) was a name that just popped into my head. I guess I’ll trademark it (thanks Griff). But the stats were mostly from the GM guide p. 14 “Alien Beast.” RY-64 was a bit of a mash-up of the Legionary War Bot (p. 7 GM Guide) and the “Bot” class on pp. 4-5 of the Rebel Handbook. Rishu was fleshed out using the NPCs table on p. 15 of the Solo Rules zine. The wilderness and space travel is covered on p. 14 of the Solo zine. Failing forward (i.e. plot armor) is also covered in that zine on p. 2.

My parting thoughts, for now, are that this is a great game for somebody who has used another solo system like Ironsworn and is used to thumbing back and forth looking for the appropriate tables and rules. All told, the three zines are 65 pages of content. With more solo experience I think I can run this at the table for a group of players without boring them to tears while I hunt for the right table or rule.

In short, it’s a lot of fun, give Star Borg a try!

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Originally published on Substack on March 12, 2026.