Freejumper

This fun and social game accommodates any number of players, mixing elements of role-playing, sci-fi, and tabletop strategy. Each player designs a “freejumper” – a small, privately-owned multi-purpose, self-aware spaceship. The players then have “adventures” as they search for valuable cargoes to beg borrow or steal, alien artifacts, wrecks to salvage, or get hired as mercenaries in a variety of roles. Like a role-playing character, your ship can “learn” and grow if your adventures are successful. You can purchase new software and systems for it, upgrade weapons and defenses, and perhaps eventually sell it and buy a larger and better ship altogether. Along the way you will fight a variety of battles. Sometimes all of the players cooperate against a single threat. Sometimes the players divide into teams trying to complete tasks. And sometimes there is a free-for-all, as every freejumper is trying to get home with the most loot and goodies. Each ship is controlled with a single small “interface” no bigger than a poker card, and a hand of “system cards” that represent the ship’s various capabilities. Gameplay consists of playing cards to do various sorts of moves, attacks, and defenses, all the while trying to load up as much cargo as you can and get away without too much damage. A typical game lasts about one hour.