While I can only speak from my own experiences, I think it plays quite well. There is a core gameplay loop, but it being “swear vow > work at vow > pick up other vows (optional) > work more at vows > complete some vows > repeat” might feel better than S&V’s “downtime > mission > downtime ^ nebulous freeplay that encompasses everything” loop. For more details with it in play, I recommend taking a look at Doyce’s and my solo games. Certainly won’t be a 1:1 comparison between solo play and a traditional GM play, but it should at least give you some ideas.
I 100% agree with this, though I have found that playing this has lead to my GM prep in all games since then being less “prepare encounters and scenarios” and more "write down questions about the PCs that interest me (for instance, using our Masks game as an example “what is Joey willing to give up to return to be a normal kid”) and then using the rolls to insert those questions into the game where they make sense (“Joey rolled a miss and must face a startling revelation? Sounds like a cool place to insert my question in some form!”).
Let’s break out a couple of these moves and figure that out (these are going to look very familiar to anyone who knows Ironsworn, but I’m doing this more for folks like Dave who don’t know Ironsworn as well). When undertaking that journey, Starforged uses either the move Set a Course (if we’re undertaking a known route, which we will setup a couple during the beginning of the game and make more as we progress) or Undertake an Expedition (if we’re out making our own way)…
SET A COURSE
When you follow a known route through perilous space or across hazardous terrain, roll +supply.
On a strong hit, you reach your destination and the situation there favors you. Take +1 momentum.
On a weak hit, you arrive, but face a cost or complication. Choose one:
- Suffer costs en route: Make a suffer move (-2), or two suffer moves (-1).
- Face a complication at the destination: Envision what you encounter (Ask the Oracle if unsure).
On a miss, you are waylaid by a threat along the way, and must Pay the Price. If you survive, you may push on safely to your destination.
UNDERTAKE AN EXPEDITION
When you trailblaze a route through perilous space, journey over unexplored terrain, or survey a mysterious site, give the expedition a name and rank.
Then, for each segment of the expedition, envision your approach. If you…
- Move at speed: Roll +edge
- Keep under the radar: Roll +shadow
- Stay vigilant: Roll +wits
On a strong hit, you reach a waypoint. Envision it (Ask the Oracle if unsure) and mark progress per the rank of your expedition.
On a weak hit, you reach a waypoint and mark progress, but must also choose one.
- Suffer costs en route: Make a suffer move (-2), or two suffer moves (-1).
- Face a complication at the waypoint: Envision what you encounter (Ask the
Oracle if unsure).On a miss, you are waylaid by a crisis, or arrive at a waypoint to confront a dire threat. Do not mark progress, and Pay the Price.
If we’re Undertaking an Expedition, we’re doing the whole Progress Track to see how far we are on our journey. Once we decide to see if we’ve made it to our destination (could be we’re only at 4/10 progress marked or 8/10), we use the Finish the Expedition move:
FINISH AN EXPEDITION
Progress Move
When your expedition comes to an end, roll the challenge dice and compare to your progress. Momentum is ignored on this roll.
On a strong hit, you reach your destination or complete your survey. Mark a reward on your discoveries legacy track per expedition’s rank: troublesome=1 tick; dangerous=2 ticks; formidable=1 box; extreme=2 boxes; epic=3 boxes.
On a weak hit, as above, but you face an unforeseen complication at the end of your expedition. Make the legacy reward one rank lower, and envision what you find (Ask the Oracle if unsure).
On a miss, your destination is lost to you, or you come to understand the true nature or cost of the expedition. If you recommit to the expedition, clear all but one progress box, and raise the rank by one (if not already epic).
So looking at the Finish the Expedition move, I can see that being interpreted as "you fail, so the princess is in another castle” but it could mean a lot more. Could be that you’ve reached a point in space where your jump drive would be dangerous so you have make the final leg at subluminal speeds (meaning you’re recommitting to the expedition). Could also mean that you reach your destination and it is surrounded by an orbital blockade (meaning you’ve come to understand the true nature or cost of the expedition) and so you have arrived but cannot reach your destination until you figure out what to do about the blockade (which doesn’t necessarily mean more Exploration). All are questions of context and what’s most interesting at the time.
The moves are slightly different in places (no Turn the Tide combat move anymore, none of the delve, rarity, failure, or threat moves have explicitly been ported over, but a lot of folks are using them regardless in the playtest because they add a lot to the game). That being said, there are a lot of moves (8 pages with an index in the playtest packet). Luckily, much like PbtA, this is certainly a game where if you forget a move exists in the moment, the game fails gracefully (meaning you could probably play like 80% of the game off of just Face Danger and still have fun).
There is a custom Starforged character sheet that’s been added to Roll20. I don’t think it’s been made public yet, but I have access to it.
With this many players, no I would not recommend doing this GM-less. Having a GM to facilitate gameplay, replace the envision and Ask the Oracle, and keep track of all the moves is probably the best here. That being said, I don’t think I’ve explicitly said I wouldn’t mind running this for a while to see what folks think (though I think I implied it), but I will now.