Mutant Chiron Games
2018
Complexity: 2
Hey there, do you like high-concept games? How about a game of space-trotting philosophers? Well that’s what you’ll get with Cosmic Pilgrims. It’s definitely odd, but odd in a different way from a lot of the other games I’ve reviewed.
Setting: 3/3 [+]
Cosmic Pilgrims is a game about “exceptional people,” so exceptional that they are beyond worldly desires and seek only to find “the most flawless philosophical path.” They do this by traveling from planet to planet and solving their world-wide problems. I’ll give it this, it’s definitely an original concept. It kinda feels like the idea they’re presenting you is “what does a character do once they’ve achieved all the goals they have in other games?” and that’s an interesting idea to look at.
Character Creation: N/A
Characters just have a basic concept and five “Capabilities,’ each of which are tied to a specific color--e.g. Compassion is white, Violence is red, etc--and all start at 2. So in terms of “character creation” there’s really nothing there, but in accordance with my convoluted scoring system that actually gets them a pass instead of a 0.
Mechanics: 2/5
I’ll just put this right here, I don’t like the mechanics in this game. I’m still going to explain them because that's how I do, but I am not a fan. Each character begins with a number of colored tokens equal to their Capabilities, the GM puts one of each colored token in a bag, then each player puts one of their tokens in the bag--which are removed from their pool until the next ‘Episode’--three tokens are then drawn to determine the planet where the adventure will take place--I actually like this part, and will discuss it further in the content section--then those tokens are returned to the bag with one additional token of each color drawn, and that’s just to start the game. For the most part there are no conflict resolution mechanics, as it’s assumed the characters are mighty enough to do whatever they want, mechanics only come into play during a “pivotal scene,” one whose outcome would have have significant effect on the story. In these cases, the bag comes out again, each player decides which of their Capabilities they want to try to use to solve the situation--no two players can choose the same Capability--and can place an additional token of that color in the bag--if they have one available. Then a token is picked from the bag and if it’s one of the colors corresponding to a Capability chosen by a player the situation goes their way by whatever means were selected, and that player gets to put that token in their “Pilgrimage” representing a philosophical revolution gained from the situation--and also reducing the character’s associated Capability by 1. Players can gain one token in their Pilgrimage per Episode, and when they get three they’ve completed their philosophy.
Now as I said, I don’t like this. For one thing, if you have five players you’re guaranteed success in every pivotal scene. Also it just seems like success would feel incredibly underwhelming, like I pick a color and maybe put a token in a bag, then that color is drawn and I can’t imagine being excited about that. Plus getting or making two tokens for each player in five different colors seems like an amount of hassle that the gameplay does not make worth it.
Writing: 2/3 [•]
Everything is well written and easy to understand, with frequent use of examples to help illustrate that key points of gameplay. Also I’m starting to remember why I originally had layout with writing, there’s not much to say about something that’s competently written.
Presentation: 3/5
The document is well put together, everything looks nice and professional. There’s some big decorative borders that I’m not really fond of, but they done ever get in the way of the actual text--because apparently that’s where the bar is now. The art is nice, but sparse and generally all for mood setting rather than illustration. The cover art is a little rough, but honestly it had a quality that I like, and it’s a whole lot better than just text over a stock photo of space--take that 80% of space-themed games! Overall it looks nice, but you do get that feeling of flipping through a series of near-identical pages.
Content: 2/3 [•]
Given the nature of the game, really the only thing you need is planets with conflicts for the players to solve. Fortunately they provide just that. Thirty-five planets are provided--one for each combination of three tokens--each with a description, problem to solve, and some possible situations to occur. The neat part is the idea that the planets and their problems are related to the associated Capabilities of their token colors--planets with red tokens have nove violence, planets with blue tokens have more technology, etc. Aside from the overall concept this is probably my favorite idea, I just wish there was a better game built around it.
Final Remarks
Is Cosmic Pilgrims a good game? No. Is it a bad game? Also no. It’s a game with some very interesting ideas, but just presents them in a very bland way.
Base Points: 5
Character Creation: N/A, Mechanics: 2/5, Presentation: 3/5
Adjustments: −2
Setting: +1, Writing: +0, Content: +0
Overall Score: 60% (6/10 Points)
[Some John Wayne quote featuring the word “pilgrim” modified to be about space and/or philosophy]
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