Pale Dot
A downloadable game
Have you ever stared into a starry night sky and felt a mixture of wonder and existential dread?
This is a game about that.
[Cover by Si Sweetman]
Pale Dot is a collaborative storytelling game for 2-5 players about a crew of dustlings, non-human cosmonauts journeying beyond their world in search of answers.
It is fantastical, surreal, and perhaps very unlike humanity’s own ventures in space exploration. Though one thing is universal: leaving home is terrifying, dangerous, humbling, and a catalyst for changing one’s perspective.
Pale Dot is a GM-less/GM-full game where players work together to create an alien setting and subsequently envelop it in cosmic mystery, embodying dustling cosmonauts in addition to one of the Elements, the narrative pillars of their adventure:
- The Cosmic Wilderness (strange creatures and environments)
- The Wondrous Endeavor (the space program and its tech)
- The Forgotten Ones (the ancient visitors)
- The Tides of Uncertainty (the mysterious forces)
- The Omnipresent Danger (exactly what it sounds like)
During their journey the cosmonauts can travel to 36 strange locations in their solar system, each with several vague evocative prompts for improvisational scenes. Each player will also have to manage the integrity of their cosmonaut and shared ship while avoiding space's many perils and using their traits to find answers to their cosmic mystery.
Inspirations: Outer Wilds, No Man’s Sky, Annihilation/The Southern Reach, Carl Sagan, Fall of Magic by Ross Cowman, Dream Askew by Avery Alder, staring into the night sky and feeling things.
The game is 60 full color pages with art by Si Sweetman, Gannon Reedy, Roque Romero, Lur Noise, Cait Russel, and Devin Nelson.
ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK by Devin Nelson
[The soundtrack is incomplete and being updated as it's produced]
DIGITAL SHEETS for online play.
Also available as a perfect bound book through Plus One Exp.
For more existential cosmic adventures check out the expansion, Dots Beyond, featuring 12 additional Cosmic Objects outside of the Mote system inspired by NASA imagery.
Featured on the Party of One (twice)!
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $15 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Exclusive content
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community Copies
If you can't afford a copy of the game, help yourself to a digital copy! Please consider supporting at a later date if you can.
Development log
- Pale Dot [Physical Version] Kickstarting Now!Mar 06, 2025
- Pale Dot Version 1.2 [Major layout update!!!]Dec 09, 2024
- Pale Dot Version 1.1Sep 12, 2024
- Introducing Dots Beyond, a Pale Dot expansion.May 30, 2024
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Really great game! I love the art and prompts.
Great game; excellent soundtrack. Kudos!
Hell yeah thanks! The 2nd edition is going to drop really soon. I'm putting the finishing touches on it at the moment!
Is there a chance to get a paged layout of the game?
Like singles rather than spreads?
If so I just added one!
Thank you VERY much. This is such a help to print.
Can you play with a GM? Or is it strictly GM-Less?
The game doesn't have mechanics for doing so specifically since the Settling Elements and game set up spread the world building amongst the table to make it more collaborative.
The closest you can get to playing the game with a GM would be to have the "GM" not make a cosmonaut character and choose specifically the Omnipresent Danger and whatever other Setting Elements didn't get picked by the other players.
Oh I think I'm in love with this game. I absolutely HAVE to find a chance to play it soon. I had a little trouble keeping track of the gameplay loop on first reading but I think it's presented clearly enough for me to untangle it and explain it to other players. And god, the vibes are stellar.
Thank you so much! If it helps the basic loop is:
1. Intro stuff (collaboratively create the setting, decide on the mission/mission target, choose setting elements, create cosmonauts, create the ship)
2. Launch scene + choose the first cosmic object , provoke the omnipresent danger and expend a ship feature to overcome it.
3. The person in charge of the setting element associated with the first cosmic object gives first impressions and then players set scenes in turn order. Any player can be involved in a scene. Each prompt will have an associated setting element and the person in charge of it can influence the scene with their element to gain a token. At any point a token can be spent to activate its effect. When it feels appropriate, the player in charge of the current scene can provoke the omnipresent danger to acquire a key or resource. The cosmonauts will have to expend a number of traits to overcome the danger.
4. Whenever they feel like it the cosmonauts move to the next cosmic object by provoking the omnipresent danger and expending a ship feature to overcome it. Rinse and repeat at the next cosmic object.
5. When the cosmonauts have a number of keys equal to the mission target, they can choose to start the Mission Complete sequence.
(You are also free to ignore rules at your leisure and just go with vibes)