I picked up the print version of The Sol Survivor a few months ago and finally got around to playing. This is a new title by prolific indy RPG designer W.H. Arthur, whom you may know from Tales of the Heisty Vixens or B'Town Beak Detectives.
The very first thing this book does is just sum up in two sentences what it is about:
To alleviate the drought, the emperor ordered an archer to shoot down the ten suns. As the last surviving sun, you wake up on earth wounded and confused. Can you find a way back to the heavens?
In The Sol Survivor you use a regular deck of cards to guide an emergent, collaborative story and gather a cast of supporting characters - common folk, mystical weirdos, fantastic creatures, etc. You need at least three people to play, one playing the part of the narrator, one the ally, and one the sun. There's a balancing act throughout with meeting the sun's Needs and Goals, not losing Faith (tracked by a d6), and gaining Companions. When all is said and done, it is possible for the sun to return to the sky... but maybe they can and maybe they cannot. I think the story would be compelling either way.
I'm a little isolated from gaming groups during the pandemic, so I ran this as a mock session. It's not the same however as I think this game really shines as an interaction between friends.
Interesting features:
One of the most interesting things about this game is that you rotate these roles every round. I am not sure how that affects the way the story is perceived. I like to think that not having stable roles would detach or "twist off" the story from the players, making it more of a thing in itself. This differentiates it from traditional RPGs where you are largely limited to your own individual character.
Another is that the sun is fairly helpless and acts mainly through their ally. This is another advantage of the rotating roles. If the same player was expected to come up with a new ally or narrator story every round, it would likely be fatiguing. But every third round it is probably refreshing. The creative juices get time to simmer a bit.
One of the emergent choices that comes up is between playing a card high enough to win the round and playing one of the suit that recruits the ally as a companion. Sometimes you can do one, neither, or both. If your sun still has a lot of Faith left, it might be worthwhile to "throw" a scene just to bag another Companion.
There is a convenient index in the back of the book to keep track of which creature goes with each card, but since each player only handles one at a time, it is usually not an issue. I'd love to see a card deck made for this game however. Maybe if enough of you buy it this will magically come true.
I had a little difficulty coming up with needs and goals for the sun. I honestly wasn't sure what they meant by human needs at first. Don't they have all of them? Fortunately examples are given later in the book that clarify this - apparently it is one need, like thirst or space, that is emblematic of who they are. I'm guessing it is up to the group to say whether the sun has other basic human needs than that.
Conclusion
To sum up, The Sol Survivor is a collaborative story session guided by card draws and enhanced by emergent choices, creative prompts, and deliberate strategies. It's a deeper game than you would suspect and would be ideal for a small group of very creative friends who want to build a story that escapes the bonds of the individuals telling it.
You can get it at Itch.io or in print at DriveThruRPG.
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