Not everything everywhere is for us.
About the Absurde -not the absurdity- in space-exploration tabletop games.
Disclaimer for non-academic readers: this post is not intended to discuss what is “good” or “bad” in games, since those personal preferences are far for being the point of anything to be said in this discussion. Conversely, it aims to examine the characteristics of certain games within a specific and convenient framework relevant to the points being addressed. Furthermore, if you regard games purely as forms of entertainment beyond analysis or comparison, I would advise you to refrain from investing your time in reading this post below.
ABSTRACT
In the last several decades, numerous space exploration tabletop games have emerged. These games translate familiar tropes from other media into playable mechanics. However, despite the promise of offering an infinite amount of content, their repetitive loops often lead to predictable situations, and so they do not always succeed in conveying the sense of awe and wonder that should accompany the exploration of the unknown. On the other hand, science fiction drama driven games often relegate space exploration, conveniently focusing on dramatic conflicts where the cosmos merely serves as backstage. In this context, we examine whether space exploration games can effectively capture and convey the Absurd and the Sublime.
THE LAST FRONTIER
Herman Melville, in Moby Dick [1], spoke for wanderers in all epochs and meridians:
I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas.
The cosmos has consistently captivated human attention and dreams, from the earliest primitive observations to the gradual evolution of sophisticated models describing the movement of celestial bodies. This fascination has fueled vivid dreams of multiple Earth-like worlds [2-8], led to the historic first step on our nearest satellite [9-10], and driven the space race within our solar system [11-15]. Consequently, the untamed and marvellous sea above our heads has propelled the imagination of numerous authors to explore the implications of space exploration from diverse perspectives. Whereas in some works the cosmos serves merely as a backstage where humanity is mirrored along millions of light-years [3-4], or as a steering mechanism for certain topics to move towards uncharted cutting-edge points [15], some others delve into philosophical themes [16-25], speculating about new technologies [17,18], the nature of intelligence [17-24], and the possibilities of communication among rational beings [25-27]. Most importantly, contrary to the intuitive innertia to explore outward, they also provide insights into the limitations of human condition [25] and our place in the universe [28].
A matter of perspective
Beyond establishing vague and arbitrary distinctions, these works shape a particular analytical perspective on space exploration. The most notorious can be distinguished by the optimism and naïvety [3-4]. Conversely, in this work we focus on the other perspectives that question whether humanity’s true desire is not to explore (conquer) it, but to extend the known limits of Earth to other worlds [25]:
We don't want to conquer the cosmos, we simply want to extend the boundaries of Earth to the frontiers of the cosmos.
or if humanity is even suited for the cosmos [28]:
We have no use for the cosmos, and that is precisely why we will never give it up,
These perspectives are not excluding, since they both fit on a spectrum, painting a rich tapestry of sensations, covering from epic adventures across the stars [2-8], to existential dread and wonder in a other planets [16-25].
The philosophical undercurrents of those works are not constrained to novels, films, and videogames, but also seep into the very fabric of tabletop games [29, 30]. Players fulfill the promised fantasy of navigating an infinite expanse, they are not focused on the game rules, they may also engage the feeling of space exploration.
Thus, games become a microcosm [31] that mirrors the tropes of those science fiction works. Whereas the former perspective tends to convey into war, piracy, military virtues, and very large-scale action, large stakes, the latter one blends with the concepts of the Sublime, the Horror, and the Absurd.
The Horror, the Sublime & The Absurd
Horror, or more precisely, Cosmic horror, beyond just being a depiction of untold cosmical entities [32-35] or forgotten eerie stories [36-38], can also be understood on the lenses of staring the ineffable face-to-face and grappling with our own cosmically minuscule scale [39-51]. Cosmic Horror upends the entire concept of self, so far beyond scary sensations that loops back around to make them almost blissful ones.
Edmund Burke stated that the Beautiful is that which is well-formed and aesthetically pleasing, whereas the Sublime is that which has the power to compel and destroy us, and they both can be understood by means of their causal structures [42], i.e., matter, form, efficience, and purpose. Edmund Burke posits that the sublime differs fundamentally from beauty in its causal structure. He identifies its formal cause as the emotion of fear, particularly fear of mortality. The material cause resides in qualities of certain objects such as immense size, infinitude, and grandeur. The efficient cause is the effect on our nerves, inducing tension. Lastly, Burke suggests the final cause is rooted in the divine narrative of God's creation and the battle with Satan, as depicted in John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost.
This friction of the Self, coupled with the acknowledgment of achievement in the consciousness of existence, whether amidst a senseless and meaningless society [43-45] or in the vastness of the cosmos [25-28, 46], ultimately leads to the Absurd. The philosophy of the Absurd states that universe is irrational and meaningless. In the words of Stanley Kubrick,
The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent. […]
Thus, trying to find meaning leads people into a conflict with the world. Absurdism claims that existence as a whole is absurd. But,
[…] if we can come to terms with this indifference, then our existence as a species can have genuine meaning. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.
Thus, the quesstion that is tackled down here is:
Can the Sublime be experienced through a space-exploration tabletop game?
MDA Framework
To answer that question, the MDA framework (Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics) [47] is used. Mechanics are the rules and systems that shape the gaming experience, the core langauge underpinning the structure of a game. Dynamics are the gameplay experiences that emerge from the interplay of mechanics. Aesthetics refer to the emotional reasons why players engage with such games. Concretely, space exploration games can be presented on the basis of the aesthetics pleasures of discovery (the urge to explore the cosmos) and expression (the urge to acknowledge the Self). Besides, aesthetics pleasures of Fantasy and Sensation have their own relevance. Through the suspension of disbelief, the players can immerse themselves in a “make-me-believe” game-fantasy of space-exploration, steered by memorable audio-visual effects, leaving a print on the memory that restructures the perception of the Self among the stars.
THE AESTHETICS OF SPACE GAMES
Now, it is discussed if space-exploration games can convey the profund themes and feelings of space-exploration itself. For this purpose, different aesthetics are analysed independenly. More importantly, a distinction within the considered aesthetics is made since, while not all science fiction games are focused on space exploration, all space exploration games are science fiction works.
Discovering the cosmos
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In the landscape of tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), Traveller [48] stands as a prominent example, allowing players to embark on interstellar adventures involving exploration, combat, and trade. The game is characterized by a game master (GM) or referee, who oversees the narrative and adjudicates the players' actions within a vast and detailed setting.
Another prominent example is Stars Without Number: Revised Edition [49] , an old-school-inspired science-fiction adventure game, built from the ground up to encourage sandbox play and simplify a game master’s job in providing it. Familiar mechanics are employed to forge new worlds and explore new possibilities, guidelines built on long experience used to help a group venture in entirely new directions.
In the solo/cooperative TTRPGS scene, Starforged [50] is a story-driven game that puts the character, a spaceborne hero sworn to undertake perilous quests, at the center of their quest-driven adventures. Players will explore uncharted space, unravel the secrets of a mysterious sector of the galaxy, and build bonds with those the character meets on their travels. Most importantly, it is expected that they swear iron vows and see them fulfilled—no matter the cost.
Perceptual uniqueness
A key challenge in the design of space-exploration themed games is maintaining player engagement, particularly throughout the chapters and sections devoted to content generation, including stars, planets, moons, stations, derelicts, settlements, cosmic bodies, among others categories.
Despite all the mathematical possibilities [51], a common pitfall for generated content is producing it in a way that, albeit unique on a technical level and following robust instructions, may fail to be perceptually interesting after a certain number of iterations. Perceptual uniqueness is amuch more difficult metric [51], since it will vary from player to player. For this issue, one commonly stated solution consists in creating an universe in the image of the players’ imaginations, to make their characters live in it, die in it, and along the way make the universe their own. However, in such a case, there is no much room for the sense of awe and wonder that should accompany the exploration of the unknown. Specially when those places resemble an ad-hoc and mirrored picture of the Earth.
Traveller, first published in 1977, envisions a distant future where societies exhibit a techno-feudalist structure reminiscent of novels like Dune or A Canticle for Leibowitz. In this universe, technological devices typical of the cyberpunk genre are generally rare. Trading plays a crucial role in sustaining societies across the stars, and tales of piracy are common. Within the vast expanse of the Third Imperium, humanity's anthropocentric perspective has extended to other worlds.
Stars Without Number: Revised Edition blends multiple genres into a techno-arcane transhumanist space opera, where psionics and magic coexist with technology beyond our current understanding. Transhuman-themed campaigns explore topics such as the singularity, adaptation to extreme environmental conditions, and body swapping. Alien societies, categorized by the game as “The Like” are often shaped in our image and likeness. Those incomprehensible to human understanding frequently become sources of conflict, as the game text notes:
The Others are generally avoided if at all possible, though at times “wars” break out when an Other species vents anger on humanity for reasons unknown.
Thus, even though these games are fully capable of providing distant worlds, after a few iterations, they vaguely convey the sense of facing the Absurd, since they expand the boundaries of our planet into other worlds. No “sublimation” of a cosmic scale dread can emerge facing a metaphor, an analogy of Earth on another planet, just a recreation of human history where Otherness [52, 53] lies on humanoid sentient species.
Not conveying narrative moves
In its extensive repertoire of over fifty moves [54], Starforged adeptly encapsulates procedural storytelling [51]. The player is suspended on the disbelief of fiction first attitude and their actions, when it is specified, trigger narrative moves that account for a combination of skills, circumstances, character momentum, and dice rolls. While these moves effectively propel the narrative forward, they are not designed to encapsulate the Absurd. Conversely, several initial questions help to align the cluster to be explored in the coordinates of our desires and expectations. Moreover, the final chapters include a series of comprehensive tables designed to generate fundamental large scale science fiction content. These examinations apply to both its solo and cooperative play modes (nota bene: although Starforged accommodates traditional gameplay with a GM, it is primarily written for solo or cooperative play).
Regarding the searching of the Sublime, the Iron Vows mechanic is a powerful tool that fosters a deep connection with the character in their quest, resonating with the pursuit of finding meaning and supplying their own light in the cosmos. Nevertheless, the fascination for discovery is notably absent in both solo and cooperative variant of Starforged, since they are constructed by the player, not found with awe through the generated content. The core mechanics of Starforged align more closely with space-opera narratives and aesthetics pleasures of epic adventures and challenges, particularly those involving cosmonauts (sailors of the cosmos). This alignment becomes more apparent as a new iteration of Starforged rules delve into pirate tales by the same author, under the title Sundered Isles. Thus, space itself serves as a sandbox where the player must find their own meaning, where there is exploration, but little discovery emerging from the rules themselves.
Expressnig the cosmos
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Eclipse Phase [55] is a post-apocalyptic game focused on conspiracy and horror. In a divided and enhanced humanity, advanced technology allows for the reshaping of bodies and minds but also poses risks of oppression and mass destruction. Players are part of Firewall, a cross-faction conspiracy aiming to protect transhumanity from various threats. They might search for valuable technology in a destroyed habitat, explore the ruined Earth, chase terrorists through militarized areas, or travel through Pandora Gates to distant stars and uncover alien secrets.
Archives of the Sky [56] s a tabletop storytelling game with an epic sci-fi backdrop and a focus on very human stories. No gamemaster or advanced preparation is required. The players will collaboratively create a great House, a group of interstellar wanderers with a set of strong core beliefs, and then, devise a conflict that pits those beliefs against each other.
24XX Glossolalia [57] puts the players in the smart, and yet elusive, uniform of an agent who works for the Bureau, a non-symmetric, horizontal organization that operates in the shadows to secure human life in First Contact scenarios. A rule-lite savoury game inspired in Solaris, Stalker, Fiasco, Alien, the SCP Foundation, The Swapper, Event Horizon and gatecrashing missions of Eclipse Phase.
Rules-Aesthetics missmatch
Despite Eclipse Phase's rich narrative backdrop of conspiracy, horror, and the profound implications of advanced technology on a divided humanity, the game's rules often fall short in fully integrating the aesthetic pleasure of expression into gameplay. While the setting teems with potential for deep psychological and ethical exploration of a dimmed transhumanity across the solar system and beyond, the mechanics predominantly emphasize on combat, skills, and sanity checks, glossing over the intricate existential threads, as a legacy of Call of Cthulhu [38] rules as written.
Eclipse Phase presents a richly detailed science fiction universe that probes the profound implications of technological advancement and existential threats. This intricate setting, forged from the catastrophic event known as the Fall, offers a multifaceted narrative landscape ripe for exploration and facing the Absurd through expression across the solar system, which is a complex tapestry of factions, each driven by distinct ideologies and objectives. The Planetary Consortium, with its capitalist and corporate ethos, dominates many of the inner planets, while the Jovian Republic espouses a conservative and isolationist stance, exerting stringent control over technological advancements. In contrast, the Titanians of Saturn's moon Titan champion individual freedom and democratic values, often standing in ideological opposition to the Consortium. Meanwhile, the Autonomists embrace decentralized, cooperative living arrangements, rejecting hierarchical structures. These factions, through their alliances and conflicts, weave the intricate political and social fabric that defines the game’s setting.
Nevertheless, character motivations and topics of interest receive only cursory attention in the character sheet and rules, which tend to focus more on the aforementioned mechanics than on fostering the intense role-playing opportunities that such a complex setting suggests. This dissonance make the urge of self-expression more demanding without guidance, and can leave players yearning for a more immersive and nuanced spaces to express themselves, where their characters struggle with the strageness of their existance in a solar system where death has become a rare disease.
24XX Glossolalia distinguishes itself with an evocative and meticulously crafted design, offering players an extensive array of twenty events, professions, each accompanied by a succinct yet flavourful depiction within a First Contact peer-to-peer horizontal organization. The game delves into philosophical paradigms on how to navigate a First Contact scenario and includes equipment that underscores the perilous nature of missions. Players and Game Masters alike are reminded that should calamity befall their characters, salvation is a rare commodity—if indeed a protracted agony does not proffer a fate more dreadful than death itself.
Character roles are articulated through specific appellations that imbue the narrative with an air of sacrosanct and enigmatic organization. Diplomats, for instance, are portrayed as the Knights of the Holy Contact, who receive inexplicably enigmatic yet benevolent gifts during character creation. Another example, the Gatecrashers of Ishtar, alludes to Gates that function as conduits to other systems, with these characters endowed with gate codes, thus paying homage to Sumerian history with a sense of devout reverence. Furthermore, the succinct descriptions of events, such as the rogue neutron star in Code-Event Bluebird or the cryptic ancient alien orbital station in Code-Event Hotel Sirat, conjure a vivid tableau that ignites the imagination and sets the stage for intricate scenarios where First Contact may transpire.
The political stances add another layer of characterisation, enriching the in-game expression of character ideologies on how to proceed. For instance, the Alexandrian stance posits that the paramount tragedy lies in the loss of knowledge. This stance, named to evoke the mythos of the Library of Alexandria, underscores not only the significance of preserving knowledge but also the profound tragedy inherent in its loss. Additionally, strains are categorized into six groups, each corresponding to a role within the Bureau, though their manifestation is subject to the randomness of dice rolls. For example, the Jelly999 strain, constrained by format limitations, is succinctly referenced through its source of inspiration and a brief flavour text, rather than a lengthy exposition as a potentially complex biological alien response.
Despite the rich narrative tapestry, the few written rules primarily emphasize military covert operations, which can overshadow the exploration of the aforementioned themes. The rules focus heavily on risk management and physical confrontations, often at the expense of engaging with the broader ethical dilemmas, the existential absurdity of the iterative mission process, and the sublime experience of encountering non-human Otherness. Consequently, this dissonance between the game's narrative intent and its mechanical execution can constrain the depth of the role-playing experience, leaving some players yearning for more profound and nuanced engagement with the ambiguous nature of the unknown. Moreover, the expression of these themes may prove challenging due to a lack of explicit references, demanding a more imaginative and interpretative approach from both the Game Master and the players.
What is left behind
The foundational backdrop of Archives of the Sky transports the players a vast million years ahead, into an era where humanity navigates the cosmos. The term "setting" here, while loosely defined, encompasses no specific environment and sparse intrinsic elements of fiction within the game's construct. Thus, the stories to be played may not take place in the space, but orbiting around the innermost ardent conflict between players. Instead, the portrayed characters are unified under the banner of a House, propelled by a grand overarching purpose and governed by broad, stringent principles. Each character, in turn, adheres to their own explicit set of principles. As they traverse this universe, they are confronted with circumstances that compel a scrutiny and reassessment of these guiding tenets.
What resonates profoundly in this framework is its structured embrace of larger narrative arcs. Even in its most unbridled moments, the Scenes, meticulously kept brief, are anchored by probing queries intrinsic to game mechanics. Thus, while offering boundless creative latitude in setting creation, the game exerts meticulous control over narrative development and its execution.
Notably, amidst this structured narrative scaffolding, the setting at times feels ephemeral. Yet, the game's text, comprehensive in scope, not only outlines pivotal setting elements, but also proffers diverse alternate settings, underscoring its adaptability. This approach resembles another storytelling games as proccedures, for example Hillfolk, where the game happens in the conflict between characters, and the scenario is a mere settled scene.
Archives of the Sky presents a compelling framework centred on the Absurd and Sublime as consequential dynamics within its specified Dilemma structure. However, its emphasis diverges from space-exploration sense of Discovery aesthetics, focusing instead on a nuanced exposition of the Narrative aesthetic pillar [47]. In this context, the game excels through the dramatization of characters, wherein the potency of the Expression aesthetic hinges significantly on players' capacities not merely to engage in a gamified symposium, but to immerse themselves in the personae they embody.
Feeling the cosmos
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Examining videogames, the expression of Self through space exploration has been more successfully realised from multiple perspectives, i.e., different game rules.
In Outer Wilds [58] the player explores a non-scaled small solar system where a temporal loop takes place. It is a first-person puzzle game set in space, where the sensations of exploration are profoundly akin to genuine discovery. The player can take their spaceship and travel from one planet into another, in seconds, and as time passes by the planets (and consequently their puzzle sections) change. Thus, Outer Wilds presents an small open world scenario (hub world) that feels:
“an inch wide and a mile deep”. (Warren Spector)
This enables the fascination for discovering new places on each subsequential loop. When new information is acquired, new destinations are formulated on the brain of the player in a quest for solving an existential dread.
In Other Waters [59] offers a text-based adventure guiding players through the reefs of an oceanic planet. demonstrating that conveying the aesthetic pillars of space exploration does not necessitate a vast array of audio-visual elements, but rather meticulously chosen words. The player portray the role of an Artificial Intelligence guiding a stranded xenobiologist through a beautiful and mysterious alien ocean. It is presented as a non-violent sci-fi story that does not need to explore a myriad of worlds, but an unique one full of wonder, fear and vulnerability. The Absurd is faced on every step, and the Sublime is found in unraveling the history and ecology of that impossible planet, through unknown mysteries yet to be charted.
The Invincible [60], is a first-person video game inspired by Stanislaw Lem's eponymous novel. The player portrays the role of a highly qualified, sharp-witted astrobiologist named Yasna. Being entangled in a space race, she and her crew end up on the unexplored planet Regis III. The scientific journey quickly turns into a search mission for lost crewmates. The player is guided to follow their trails, but is warned to be fully aware that every decision they make can bring them closer to danger. The Invincible employs a distinctive retro-futuristic aesthetic, juxtaposing the comforting familiarity of a home-like environment (a rover, a landscape view, the interior of a spaceship) with the ochre and dark metallic hues that signify the enigmatic nature of Regis III. This contrasts significantly with the previous two games, making extensive use of audio-visual elements. Amidst that sense-pleasure delight, the player must uncover mind-boggling scientific phenomena in a cosmic, philosophical adventure set within eerie landscapes, discovering fragments of what’s lost and reporting to the Astrogator, whose voice guides Yasna through challenging times.
CAN EVERY TOPIC BE A GAME FOR US?
We have analysed that it is indeed feasible to create a tabletop game where exploration entails the generation of the constituents of a science fiction space setting, albeit the sense of wonder is not always achieved. Moreover, games that aim for a specific dramatic niche, particularly those emphasizing themes of character personification and self-expression through playable characters, often fall short. This shortfall arises from an densely profuse inspiring science fiction setting that is not reflected in the game mechanics, which could feasibly be set in any other non scenario, or due to a lack of in-game guidance to enhance the rules presented in a more literary fashion.
Space, an immense void where celestial bodies are occasionally found, may diminish interest in exploring every single entity given the universe's vast expanse. Only those celestial bodies with unique characteristics of interest to humanity, such as potential habitability or scientific value, would likely sustain engagement. This implies that space exploration, despite its initial fascination, could become as monotonous as current public or private transportation once space travel becomes possible. This observation leads us to the core issue: the primary objective of a game is to be entertaining, surpassing the mere provision of a robust and functional procedure or a toy that relies on the user's imagination.
Is it possible to translate any experience into a game?
More specifically, addressing the matter at hand:
Is it possible to translate the idealized fascination of space
exploration, as a perpetual quest for meaning, into a game?
Discovery as an expression of the Self
There are few examples of how this can be achieved:
BEYOND THE CHIRON GATE
Beyond the Chiron Gate [61] is a text-based space exploration roguelike. Within its expansive confines, adventurers embark upon an odyssey through an infinite cosmos habited with barren and exotic planets, enigmatic life forms, and vestiges of ancient civilizations. Commanding a cadre of intrepid spacefarers, the player is asked to diligently enhance their vessel with state-of-the-art technology, navigating perilous worlds in pursuit of invaluable data requisite for penetrating the enigmatic home system of the Gatebuilders.
In this text-based game, exploration is a mandatory loop, but also an intricately woven tapestry of interactive narrative, where exploration transcends the mere routine becoming a crucial decission in itself, a palpable allure of uncharted discoveries awaiting. Central to evoking this immersive feeling of not only exploration, but discovery, lies a meticulously crafted procedural text generator, which carefully crafts a combination of boundaries for each celestial body encountered.
Furthermore, while the game's narrative framework eschews overt in-character role-playing, decisions pertaining to the actions of each crew member serve as poignant expressions of existential Absurdism—an ongoing confrontation with the profound uncertainties inherent to cosmic exploration. Anchored by a clearly delineated quest from its inception, players discover a profound sense of purpose amidst the cosmic expanse, wherein the pursuit of knowledge and the quest for meaning intertwine in a rogue-like experience among the stars.
FOR SMALL CREATURES SUCH AS WE
For Small Creatures Such as We [62] is a 256-page solo/co-op tabletop role-playing game in which the player assumes the role of a human captain entrusted with an alien crew. The game unfolds as an odyssey of exploration, not merely across the vast expanse of the galaxy, but also through the intricacies of bonding with the diverse alien beings who populate the player's starship.
Throughout the gameplay, a deck of playing cards serves as the catalyst for generating pivotal story events, scenes artfully weaving together to construct a narrative interwoven with the lives of the alien crewmates. Beyond the initial establishment of these extraterrestrial characters, the game ingeniously facilitates organic exploration into their biologies, cultures, personalities, and histories. In moments of camaraderie, the player may share jovial exchanges over sci-fi cinema, discovering how these beings perceived aliens prior to their encounters.
Thus, For Small Creatures Such as We is a magnificent testament of how Absurd and Sublime can be also presented, can manifest without succumbing to fatalistic gravitas characteristic of Cosmic Horror fiction [25-28, 32-51].
CONCLUSIONS
We have discussed the use of content generators in so-called space-exploration tabletop games to create an expansive array of planets, stars, moons, satellites, and other celestial bodies. However, there is a notable absence when it comes to instilling a sense of awe and contemplation that arises from confronting the Absurd and casting one's own light upon the cosmos. Conversely, when the pursuit of the Absurd and the Sublime occurs either through the game's setting, whether extensive or patchwork, or via solid storytelling mechanics, there can be a mismatch between the mechanics and the aesthetics, or the setting itself may play a secondary role compared to a robust procedure for dramatization.
Notwithstanding, the perceptual allure of exploring the cosmos and its corners has been achievable in video games. Noteworthy, a grand display of audio-visual effects is not necessary; rather, the essence of uniqueness and discovery can be conveyed across different formats and media.
Thus, to address whether it is feasible to translate the idealized fascination of space exploration, as an enduring quest for meaning, into a tabletop game three elements must be certain.
(1) The mechanics must nurture the intrinsic desire for exploration,
(2) the content must evoke a sense of wonder and uniqueness,
(3) and the setting must be intertwined with a space-exploration oriented game design.
Therefore, amidst the vasteness of tabletop games that exist to be played and enjoyed, the conclussion motivates further research in the design of space-exploration games that convey the aesthetic pillar of Expression through the lenses of Discovery.
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