Solo Board Gaming with Lifeship

I have been playing board games and TTRPGs my whole life. My only real experience with solo board gaming, was when I was quite young and learned to play Chess. My dad taught me. I got good. Once I was good enough to beat him consistently, we stopped playing. I kept playing by myself, trying to imagine myself as two separate people playing the game. It never really worked, but I did manage to while away some hours. So I was a little surprised, when I began to engage with online board game communities, that not only did people play board games solo, but that there was a RABID fanbase dedicated to solo board game content. I mean, I own a ton of board games that say 1-4 players, but I always play with my wife, or my kids, or my friends. When I am solo, I play video games, or read books, or watch shows. All of this is to say, that early on in development of Lifeship, my eyes were opened to solo play.

Enter CEDALION. Other cooperative games solve the solo play conundrum by having players double hand, which I am informed is doable, but not ideal. I wanted to create a system where you could play by yourself, or even augment a team that was less than four players. Of course, the trick to this is, that CEDALION can't just be double handing by another name. It needs to actually take some of the work off of the solo player. I can confirm, it does! After a number of design changes and power tweaks, CEDALION now occupies a space that is fun, easy, and useful. This was no easy feat, as CEDALION needs to be useful enough without being overpowering.

Each turn, CEDALION reveals a card from its Action Deck, just like the enemies do. This deck is comprised of two Core Program cards, and five Specialist Cards, picked by the player(s) before the mission. CEDALION's cards have up to three abilities on them, and the player gets to choose how those abilities are actioned. The player may also opt to have CEDALION perform a basic action (Attack, Defend, Move, Salvage) instead of any listed ability box. CEDALION is designed to complement your character and class choices. So if you are playing a Healer, you can have CEDALION take on the tanking duties. If you are playing a Tank, you can have CEDALION be your healer, or your salvager. Whatever Specialist Type works with your build, you get to choose.

In multiplayer games with less than four players, we have found CEDALION to be an excellent team mate. CEDALION is also a decision-lite way for someone to engage with the game without having to have their own character and class. Perfect for someone who might be dropping in or out of the Legacy. CEDALION also gets upgrades throughout your run, so it scales with the difficulty of the game.

I am actually very excited about CEDALION and the solo board gamers I have spoken to were over the moon about the idea.

Stay tuned for more Lifeship shallow dives.

-Chris