Nomadic - Explore, Document, Survive
The Game
Nomadic is a tragic solo tabletop role-playing game focused on exploration and survival. Inspired by No Man’s Sky and the eponymous song by Ben Prunty, this game is simultaneously harsh, hopeless, and beautiful. Based on the Breathless system, you navigate the harshness of space, study dangerous worlds, gather resources, and move on to the next planet, all in the hope of finding a new home for humankind. The catch is that you never actually find it.
Throughout the game, you use oracles when things are uncertain, perform dangerous actions, and strive to take care of your mind, equipment, and spaceship.
Creator: René-Pier Deshaies of Fari RPGs
Illustrator: Galen Pejeau of Nightjar Games
Come talk about Nomadic on our forum and on Discord.
Features
This game includes
- A beautifully laid out PDF which includes the lore, the mechanics, the tables and the character sheet.
- A survival-based system where every action brings you ever close to dramatic complications.
- A gameplay loop that will let you explore and document dozens of worlds.
- Numerous rolling tables to generate over 50,000 types of planets.
- Versatile oracles to guide your journey.
- and more...
Alone, Together
While Nomadic is a solo game, it doesn't mean you have to play by yourself. The game revolves around beaming recordings and messages to other Nomads, so find yourself a pen pal and explore the universe, together.
Playlist
While playing Nomadic, be sure to check out the official game's playlist on spotify!
Media Coverage
Purchase
In order to download this tabletop rpg you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $6 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Community Copies
Support this tabletop rpg at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Grab a Community Copy
If you can't justify spending money on the game right now for whatever reason, feel free to claim a community copy.
If you do so, please consider leaving a comment on the game's page to help spread the word, it would mean the world to me.
Enjoy!
Development log
- Nomadic Remastered Edition is Out!Sep 26, 2023
- Our Last Stand — Nomadic Prequel in the WorkAug 22, 2022
- Clarifications on Using ResourcesJul 11, 2022
- More TyposJul 09, 2022
- 200 Community Copies!Jul 08, 2022
- The Futility of NomadicJul 06, 2022
- Fixing TyposJul 02, 2022
- Nomadic is out!Jun 29, 2022
Comments
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looks very cool! Two small typo notes: one of the Flora Detector tables is labeled “Weather” and the Mind table is labeled with a d6, should be d8
Thank you for the kind words ❤️ I also went ahead and fixed the typos. The updated PDF has been uploaded to itch. Thanks for notifying me about those, really appreciate it.
Loved this game. Check out my review of Breathless here
https://croakerrpgcorner.blogspot.com/2022/10/nomadic-review-explore-document-su...
Are we supposed to roll Complication on a failed Check? It doesn't state that under Check, but there's a reference to it on Resource Tracks (page 3).
Right, so when a check results in a 1-4, there's a complication. There is also a complication when you refocus.
That being said, you don't need to roll for complication, necessarily. The complication rolling tables are suggestions. What's important is that you tick a resource track and that you explain in the fiction what was the cost of your action.
Hope that clears things up!
It does, thanks!
Is there any suggestion or tips to add mechanical detriments with complications?
What do you mean exactly, can you elaborate?
Like for example if you roll on body complication and get sprained ankle is there any system or suggestion to maybe subtract one less to your roll. Or you find an item that could add an add a point to your roll. Specific resources to build upon or heal certain tracks. IDK I could just be putting random ideas out there because I've really enjoyed playing what you have made so far. Breathless system is one of the coolest systems ive played. Or kinda like with Stoneburner roll die on a sheet of paper to make landmarks you find on the planet with an oracle
Ah I see what you mean. I decided to take that information and write a blog post about it to help you and others in the future. Cheers!
https://farirpgs.com/posts/using-the-fiction-to-influence-checks-in-breathless-g...
This is so good.
Thank you so much 🥰 !!
this seems like a really novel and creative use of the Breathless system, and the whole presentation is really impressive. I’m excited to try it out!
Oh my, thank you so much! I really hope your journey across the star is as beautiful as your comments on this game ^^ !
I’m so excited to give this a look. I love solo, I love space, and I love your work!
I'm super glad to hear that, enjoy the game, and please tell me how it goes!!!
It's not surprising that the guy who wrote Breathless was able to turn the concept into a perfectly executed solo game, but I'm still absolutely blown away not only by how good the mechanics are, but by how beautiful this book is. RP has a gift for graphic design, which syncs up well with his gift for game design!
Definitely gonna give this game a play through soon!
Oh, and five stars, duh.
This comment totally made my day.
Thank you so much, I don't know what else to say 💞
Hi!! I love universe world and This system looks so fun! I want to play this with my friend! Could I translate to Japanese on Youtube live?
Love your work!
Hi! I'm so happy you like the game 💞
Could you reach out to me here to talk more about your translation initiative? I'm very curious!
This was so much fun! The breathless system is unique to itself and shows a lot of strengths and versatility. I loved exploring a planet all of my own the my feathered Amphibian friend on Almora IV. This would be a fun letter game with each friend exploring their own planet and sending the logs to each other as "Transmissions".
I was able to catch the end of your stream, and it was a blast! Also, I agree, this as a letter game would be so cool. There would not be a lot to change considering you always beam your logs at the end of each journey on a planet...
Ok, now I want to play it like this!
Been meaning to try the Breathless system. This concept interests me of late so I thought why not! Space seems to be big this year. Once I get done trying "Welcome aboard Captain!", I'll be able to dive into this one.
I'd love to hear your thoughts when you play the game! And, thank you so much for your interest in this game!
I enjoyed it. I like the game cycles and how it flows. I also see that entropy always wins in the end...which is okay because that's the point. The only thing missing is sentient creatures to run into. I have thought about expanding the creature chart myself, to include other alien travelers. Not being able to communicate with them fully would still lend to the lonely nature of the game. Besides most likely they would be enemies. Great Game...look forward to my next session.