# Five Parsecs From Home tags: #game/wargame/five-parsecs ![[Five Parsecs From Home (cover).jpg]] ![[Five Parsecs From Home - Compendium (cover).jpg]] ![[Five Parsecs from Home - Tactics (cover).jpg]] If you've ever dreamt of managing a ragtag crew of spacefarers, meticulously tracking every credit, experience point, and potentially fatal injury, all while the dice gleefully dictate your fate, then **Five Parsecs From Home** is here to make those dreams a reality. This "adventure wargame" (a term for games that prioritize story and solo play over generic, competitive battles) plunges you into a universe where miniature figures are more than just faceless soldiers; they're _your_ crew, evolving through episodic campaigns that "feel more like a story or television show than a mere miniatures game". The game prides itself on rewarding your investment with an "exciting story" without requiring "hundreds of dollars of investment simply to play a game". At its core, **Five Parsecs From Home** embraces the glorious unpredictability of dice. Forget elegant, intuitive systems; this game prefers to throw a dizzying array of polyhedral dice at you, ensuring that almost every crucial decision, from moving your miniature to whether your ship spontaneously combusts, is left to the fickle whims of probability. The primary workhorses are the common six-sided dice ("D6") and the "less common" ten-sided dice ("D10"), readily available from "many hobby shops and game retailers". When rolling multiple dice (e.g., "2D6" or "2D10"), you typically add the results together, though **Five Parsecs From Home** will occasionally instruct you to take the higher or lower die result, just to keep you on your toes. For finding a random direction, simply roll a D10 and use its "raised tip". Character actions and combat resolutions are firmly rooted in these dice rolls. Each character is rated in five "ability scores": Reactions (for determining turn order), Speed (how far you can move), Combat Skill (added to attack rolls), Toughness (the damage threshold enemies must exceed), and Savvy (for out-of-battlefield aptitude). When a character is "Hit," you roll 1D6 and add the weapon's "Damage rating"; if the result "equals or exceeds the Toughness of the target or is a natural 6," the character becomes a "casualty and is removed from play". Even if a "Saving Throw" (often armor-based) negates the hit, the figure is typically left "Stunned". Enemies are controlled by simple "artificial intelligence" (AI) types like "Cautious," "Aggressive," or "Tactical," guiding their movements and actions. The game is famously miniature-agnostic, meaning you can use "any figures you enjoy". ### Editions and Expansions The current core game, **Five Parsecs From Home**, is the third edition of the game. For returning players, the creators acknowledge "many things may have changed" since previous editions, with an appendix detailing these updates. The new edition aimed to "improve the flow of the game, streamlined things where complexity didn’t add anything, and / or added new playable content and variation". Noteworthy terminology changes include "turns" now referring only to "campaign turns," while "turns within a battle" are "rounds," and "mechanical friends" are now called "Bots". Earlier versions might have lacked features like Luck or story points. The universe of **Five Parsecs From Home** has expanded significantly with two major compendiums: - **Five Parsecs From Home: Compendium**: This volume collects content from three prior PDF-only expansions (**Trailblazer’s Toolkit**, **Freelancer’s Handbook**, and **Fixer’s Guidebook**) into a single print book. It introduces new crew species (like Skulkers and Krag), psionics rules, new equipment, and additional game options such as progressive difficulty, player vs. player (PvP) battles, expanded co-op, AI variations, escalating battles, and even "No-Mini Combat Resolution" for those who prefer their battles without physical figures. It also integrates **Bug Hunt**, a military-themed variant of **Five Parsecs From Home**, allowing for character transfers between the two systems. - **Five Parsecs From Home: Tactics**: This is a "completely stand-alone scenario-driven variation" of the game, designed to "scale up your campaign" beyond small skirmishes to "multi-unit battles: Big tanks, big monsters, big events, and platoons of troops". While it uses the same core troop and weapon profiles as the original **Five Parsecs From Home**, it is "all about creativity" and making your own scenarios, playable solo, with friends, or with a Game Master. It allows for transferring characters and events from **Five Parsecs From Home** for a "fully featured space adventure". Unlike the standard game's focus on a fixed crew, **Tactics** is more about managing larger military forces and adapting the game to larger-scale conflicts. It specifically highlights a "gritty space opera" tone where "infantry standing aimlessly in the open will be shot to pieces," but "heroes (even those carrying swords) can make their mark". ## References - [Official product page for the game series - Modiphius Entertainment](https://modiphius.us/collections/five-parsecs-from-home) - [PDF versions of the game and its supplements - DriveThruRPG](https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/335892/Five-Parsecs-From-Home--Solo-Adventure-Wargaming) - [An exhaustive and glowing review of the core game - Goonhammer](https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.goonhammer.com/five-parsecs-from-home-a-review/) - [A concise review of the game's mechanics and feel - Wargamer](https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.wargamer.com/five-parsecs-from-home/review) - [A detailed review breaking down the gameplay loop - No Dice Unrolled](https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.nodiceunrolled.com/2021/09/27/five-parsecs-from-home-review/) - [User reviews, forums, and files for the game - BoardGameGeek](https://www.google.com/search?q=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/335892/five-parsecs-home-solo-adventure-wargaming)