Alone Among the Stars with Finnley
Previously on: Owen and his group of volunteers come across ruined parts of town and mysterious pockets of frozen time. Owen is unprepared and scared about how they can possibly fix these issues. Finnley is tired of Owen's unsatisfactory leadership. Owen suggests a team building and trust exercise. His idea is to play a volleyball game, but Finnley doesn't understand why their volunteer project to help this wrecked town has anything to do with volleyball. Owen, who had a vision that the future of the town needed to have a festival to bring prosperity back, knows that a volleyball court and net posts were included in the vision. In response to Finnley asking what their mission has to do with volleyball, he says βTo be honest, maybe everything.β
What game I'm playing: Alone Among the Stars
In this game, you use dice and playing cards to explore outer space planet by planet.
Which character I'm playing: Finnley (he/him)
Let's take a journey back to find out about Finnley's backstory... in outer space!
Finnley wasn't from Earth, but no one on Earth knew that, not even his now treasured human companion, Gwyn. Before he landed here, he used to wander through the darkness of space, looking for problems and things to fix. His home planet had reached perfection by the time he became an adult, which, to be honest, had left Finnley with nothing to do. He liked to tinker with mechanics, figure out how things work, and then fix them when they didn't work as intended. Back home, technology had advanced so far that civilization no longer had any reason for real people to do any fixing. Instead, everything was perfectly presented to them by technological magic. Finnley could only stand it for a few years before he finally built himself a rocket and took off in search of a new home.
Roll a six-sided die to find a new planet and potential discoveries: 6, place down 6 playing cards to represent the discoveries
Roll a six-sided die to determine how to find one of the discoveries: 2, which means it's arduous to get to
Flip over the card and check the suit and rank tables to determine what the discovery is: Ace of Hearts β Ruins in a field taller than you
Finnley had seen ruins like the ones in the town he now resided in with Gwyn, Owen, and Roan before. Back then, he could see them from the sky as he descended in his spaceship; piles of collapsed houses, broken parts, discarded everyday items that no longer worked. The ruins were haphazardly arranged in strange shapes that caused the field plants and crops to grow around them in such a way that, from space, the shapes seemed to almost be there on purpose. From high in the atmosphere, he at first wondered if the fields were spelling out a message in a language he didn't understand. As he got closer, he realized that it was all meaningless. He couldn't land his spaceship among the ruins, so he had to land outside of the fields. He wanted to inspect the discarded items though, in case there was something there he could fix or use to fix something else. He stood outside of the field of unruly plants that had grown so much higher than him and rubbed his chin, deep in thought. He could remember what the shapes looked like from up above, but trying to find those shapes from the ground proved difficult. He had to wander his way through the tall plants and crops he was unfamiliar with, stuck in a maze for hours until he finally came across a broken, forgotten house. He would search the wreckage for a while, then start the journey through the field again to find a different spot. The plants were not friendly, as they had grown up around the wreckage and tried to swallow anything that ventured into them. But Finnley was a problem solver, and he soon figured out how to pay attention to which way the wind was blowing to help him keep track of his direction and orientation. When he finally had his fill of searching, he would climb to the highest point of a wreckage, usually the edge of a caved in roof, and look around above the tall plants for which direction his ship was in. Wiping sweat from his brow, he would then make the trek back to the ship with any useful parts filling his backpack.
Roll a six-sided die to determine how to find one of the discoveries: 5, which means you spot it as you are resting
Flip over the next card and check the suit and rank tables to determine what the discovery is: Ace of Clubs β Plants and immobile forms of life in a field taller than you
He took a rest in the middle of the field on his way back, and was surprised to see a twisted tree growing at the oddest angle he had ever seen. He liked how gnarly it was. For the first time in his life, he was able to appreciate something imperfect without feeling the need to fix it.
Roll a six-sided die to determine how to find one of the discoveries: 2, which means it is arduous to get to
Flip over the next card and check the suit and rank tables to determine what the discovery is: 2 of Hearts β Ruins under the light of the moon(s)
The sky darkened as he continued to make his way back, which gave him the opportunity to see the planet in a new way. The moon had appeared and was full, casting light and creating creepy shadows. He had to rely more on sound to find his way in the shadowy areas. He tripped and fell several times. He finally came across another set of ruins, and this time they looked different. He discovered that a lot of the ruins glowed in the dark, thanks to bioluminescent microbes that now made the ruins their home.
Roll a six-sided die to determine how to find one of the discoveries: 6, which means you spot it when you are resting
Flip over the card and check the suit and rank tables to determine what the discovery is: 8 of Hearts β Ruins on a glacier
After returning to his ship, he wanted to see what the glowing ruins looked like from above. He flew back up into the atmosphere and put on autopilot so he could rest while watching the amazing planet's surface below. He found more ruins of a castle, and he was astonished to realize that the castle was crumbling on top of a glacier. He could see from how the castle was almost tearing itself in half that one part of it was off the glacier and the other part was on it. As the glacier moved, however slowly, that part of the castle moved with it. Since there were no more people here, nature continued moving the castle uninterrupted.
Roll a six-sided die to determine how to find one of the discoveries: 3, which means you come upon it suddenly
Flip over the card and check the suit and rank tables to determine what the discovery is: Queen of Clubs β Plants and other immobile forms of life in deep water
While he was distracted by the castle on the glacier, the autopilot suddenly malfunctioned and swerved through the air. Of course he built himself a ship that had the ability to malfunction. Luckily, he was able to plunge into water instead of into the side of a mountain. The ship changed into a submarine, so he was fine. He stared in wonder as he discovered intricate structures of life under the sea, like seaweed forests and anemones hosting even more bioluminescent microbes.
Roll a six-sided die to determine how to find one of the discoveries: 5, which means you spot it as you are resting
Flip over the card and check the suit and rank tables to determine what the discovery is: Jack of Clubs β Plants and other immobile forms of life in the desert
When he reemerged from the water, he let the ship float and drift down a deep river for a little while. As he coasted, he was able to fix the malfunctioning parts of the ship with the parts he found in the ruins. During his next break, he watched as the river surprisingly lead to a desert oasis full of trees like the one he had seen earlier, but less gnarly. Even here life continued on, but he could see that in the distance the desert also contained more ruins. There were still no people anywhere. He knew that there was no way he could help this planet all by himself, but he could also see where maybe it didn't need his help. In its way, it had actually helped him avoid a malfunctioning ship in deep space. It helped him fix something, and for that, he felt deeply grateful.
What he had learned on that planet was that nature could find its way back eventually, even if the inhabitants had thought it impossible and left it for dead. A planet once thought to be dead could be useful. When he found Earth and saw that it was perhaps on the same route as this other planet, he felt like he had finally found his purpose. He wanted to help the people on this planet avoid the same fate by helping them understand that problems could be fixed, materials could be used again, and nature could bounce back. That's how he found himself here, right now, about to play a sport he knew nothing about with a human he could barely stand. He sighed heavily as Owen beamed at him with a thumbs up. He still didn't understand what they were doing and why, but maybe this human would surprise him like that planet too.
Thanks for reading! To be continued...