Only Way Home

This is a preview page the Kickstarter going live on February 1st! For campaign notifications, please visit the Kickstarter Page! This page will be updated once the full game is available after the campaign backers have received their copy.

Only Way Home is a Solo Journaling TTRPG where you are an astronaut. Through various circumstances, you have been stranded on Mars and no one knows you are alive. Your mission now is to survive by staying healthy and sane. Upgrade and maintain your martian module to gather supplies. Explore the harsh environment of the red planet and reestablish communication. Make a plan with mission control back on Earth and escape the red planet. Sounds simple.

Only Way Home is about creative survival in isolation. Each mission and astronaut will have user generated details that will make each game unique experience. Every game is as much about the astronaut who was left behind, the rest of your crew, and the people back on Earth trying to get you home.

The game contains many simple dice challenges that players will have to achieve by assigning and rolling their dice pool. The game will take course over the process of many days... but will only take 1-3 hours for the player, depending on how detailed you want to record your results. A day in game has three parts:

1. 1. Assign the dice from your dice pool to sections on your martian module. This action is how you will unlock new sections of the martian module to gain upgrades. Roll the dice in each module. Use singular dice or combine them to get the numbers you want. Use items or your role's expertise to adjust dice by +/- 1. Keep any results that you want. Certain tasks might take multiple days to complete. 
2. 2. Make a Bad Luck roll with a d10. The d10 result determines which module's consequence is targeted. Reroll your dice pool. If you roll any 1s, that triggers the bad outcome that will affect your attempts to survive and escape.
3. 3. Write a log about your day. Eat 1 food or drink 1 water. It is important to keep a record of your wins and losses.

The games made by The Big Tabletop seek to combine compelling narratives with interesting mechanics. Without giving away any spoilers, players will enjoy the various dice challenges within this micro game. Speaking of...

Introducing the game - an 8.5" x 3.5" trifold pamphlet! This small and unassuming pamphlet has a lot of tabletop rpg and replayability packed into it:

• Generative question prompts to give your astronaut unique problems.
• Photo collage art typical of our type of game.
• Fun surprises!?

The pamphlet also has a small surprise that makes it perfect for the DIY nature of Zine Quest. The final page will be physically hidden and only unlocked once an astronaut reaches it. Designing a game this compact was a real challenge! 

I'm Joel Salda, the a solo astronaut floating through the crowdfunding space as The Big Tabletop. I have been running and designing tabletop rpgs and board games since I was 8 years old. Having run and played a lot of board games / TTRPGs / video games as well as consuming a lot of media, I like to produce games with compelling narratives and engaging mechanics to push what a TTRPG could be. 

I think I've gotten quite a bit better at designing since I was a kid. I won an ENNIE in 2021 for my game "Heavy is the Mask" featured in LEVEL 1 by 9th Level Games. I am a two time Kickstarter Zine Quest veteran - 2021's Yee-Paw: High Raccoon and 2022's Action Figure Rescue Squad. For more fun and weird games, please check out: https://thebigtabletop.itch.io/ and https://www.thebigtabletop.com/... a lot of which are free! I do all of the design, art, layout, and fulfillment myself - Only Way Home is no exception. I'll be working with Mixam as I have done with my past two projects to produce a higher quality paper product than I could myself. I'm really excited to return to crowdfunding and Kickstarter with this game. Thank you all for considering backing Only Way Home.