Space Piracy

A standard deck solo sci-fi adventure!

This rulebook contains five unique, solo

standard deck card games and a narrative driven
campaign that ties them all together.

The decisions you make and how well you play

through each game will impact your campaign score
and will have an effect on the subsequent games in
the campaign.

If you would like to skip the campaign and just

try out the games, please feel free to do so. You will
notice, however, that the Table of Contents does not
list the actual names of the games, but rather, refers
to them by number. This was a measure taken to
prevent accidental spoilers for folks that are playing
through the campaign.

Thank you for checking out Space Piracy! I hope

you enjoy the experience!

Written and Designed by Jake Krebs

 Welcome to the
Golden Age of Space Piracy!

If you would like to start a new campaign,

please proceed to the next page.

If you would like to skip the campaign and

warp to a specific game, please reference the
Table of Contents below.

Table of Contents

Campaign Setup………….8
Campaign Log………………9
Game #1 Rules…….……..…10
Game #2 Rules……………..17
Game #3 Rules…………….26
Game #4 Rules……………43
Game #5 Rules……………53

2
The year is 2446…

Humans have been living among the stars for

several centuries.

You happen to be one of these star dwellers

and for one reason or another you have
found yourself on the wrong side of the law.
Through your moxie and deft handling of
starships, many have come to call you
captain over the years.

Having recently pulled off the biggest job of

your career, you and your crew could easily
slip into early retirement.

However…

Something has been calling to you from the

inky abyss. Thoughts of a newly developed
star system on the outer rim of civilized space
continue to creep into your mind. Something
in your gut is telling you that opportunity
awaits.

Who knows, maybe that last job doesn’t have

to be the biggest one of your career…

3
The last job has left your wallet in great
condition, your spaceship less so.

You know that in order to make it to the

outer rim of civspace the damages your ship
sustained during that last job are going to
need repaired, so you pilot your ship over to
your go-to shipyard, Hawk Nest Hangar. The
owner, Clint Hawk, has always been fair to you
and your associates and you hope that trend
won’t end today.

As your ship approaches comms range,

you hear the familiar sound of an incoming
comm and see Clint’s disheveled hologram
appear on the small projector to the right of
your arm rest.

“Well, well, well… Fancy seeing you here. I guess

that last gig didn’t fall through after all,” Clint
says as he scratches the stubble of his
double-chin. “Hangar 4’s open, slide through.”

Not long after feeling the rough thud of your

ship touching down, you hear the gargantuan
bay doors screech closed behind you.

Several minutes later you see Clint enter the

hangar from the main catwalk trailed by what
appears to be four oddly dressed women.

4
Wait, these women aren’t just dressed
funny, they’re androids.
As the group draws near, you realize that
what you initially mistook for extravagant
accessories are actually various metallic
patches and wires coursing across their small
humanoid frames.

You look at Clint, failing to hide the shock

on your face at this extravagant display of
wealth.

“Now, now, I know what yer thinkin’, but

trust me, I ain’t won no Alliance Lotto, I’ve got
some new business partners that want me to
test the abilities of these fine women here,”
Clint says defensively. “You mind if they take a
look at yer rig for me?”

After a shockingly short amount of time

passes, the four women rhythmically make
their way back to where you and Clint have
been waiting.

“...Analysis, complete. Thrusters at less

than 46% capacity, warp engine core leak
detected, shield boosters irreparable…”, one of
the women drones on and on as your
attention slips away at the seemingly endless
list of problems.

5
The android doesn’t seem to take the
hint that you’ve heard enough.

At some point during the robotic

rambling, your lack of attention turns into a
surplus of annoyance, and this doesn’t go
unnoticed by Clint.

Waving his hand to make the android stop

talking, he turns to you and says, “Looks like
that job did a number to yer girl. That list of
repairs is as long as my memory. I think it
might be time to find a new dancing partner.
Why don’t we work out a deal?”

Clint ignores your skeptical looks as he

begins typing commands into his wrist
terminal until three spherical drones come
buzzing into the hangar.

“These metal gals standing next to me

specialize in the rapid production of these
fine vessels,” Clint says as the drones begin
projecting three unique holograms depicting
very large, very nice spaceships.

6
You feel a twinge of excitement but
don’t allow it to affect your skeptical
gaze.
A quick glance at your crew, who have
finally meandered out onto the hangar, shows
that they unfortunately have not prevented
the excitement from spreading to their faces.

“Look, just the cost of parts,” Clint begins.

“Let me breakdown yer old gal and that’ll
mostly cover even that! Honestly, you’d be
doing me a huge favor. Me and my business
partners gotta see what these chrome domes
can do. These plans are just prototypes, but
they are bleedin’ edge technology. You can
oversee the entire operation so you know
there ain’t no funny business. If the ship ain’t
up to snuff all said and done, I guarantee a
full refund.”

You look at the androids. They stare back

at you with a literal steely gaze. You turn your
head and look at your crew, they give you an
excited nod. Finally, you turn to a grinning
Clint and indicate your approval.

Clint slaps his hands together, rubs them

frantically, and shouts, “Alright, let's get this
show on the road!”

7
 Campaign Setup
1. Find the Campaign log on the next page.

2. Enter your name in the cell next to “Player

Name”.

3. Circle the difficulty you would like to

experience during the campaign. I
recommend “Normal” for your first
campaign.

4. Select which ship you would like to build.

● Prototype I is a well rounded ship,

balancing firepower and speed.

● Prototype II is an offensive focused

ship. Prioritizing firepower at the cost
of speed.

● Prototype III is an evasion focused

ship. Prioritizing speed over firepower.

5. Once you have made your ship selection,

proceed to the rules for Game #1 - “Build
the Mothership” on page 10.

8
 Campaign Log
Player Name:

Difficulty Setting (circle one below)

Normal Hard Insane

Ship Selection (circle one below)

Prototype I Prototype II Prototype III

Ship Name:

Game Score Notes

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Total Score

9
Game #1: Build the Mothership
How to Play Video: https://youtu.be/0UMXEukuutw

Setup

1. Take all of the Jacks and Kings from the deck and
arrange them so that they match the image below
that corresponds with the choice you made in the
Campaign Log. (You can also choose to make up your
own creative arrangement!)
Prototype I Prototype II Prototype III

● Story Note: This arrangement of cards represents the

spaceship you are going to be building.

2. Take the three Queens from the deck and place them in
front of you in four columns. You will want to make sure you
have a lot of space below the Queens and some space
above the Queens as well. I recommend placing these to
one side of your spaceship.

● Story Note: The Queens represent the four androids that will
be helping to build your ship.

3. Remove the Jokers from the deck. If you are playing on

Normal difficulty, remove all of the 9’s and 10’s from the
deck. If you chose Hard difficulty, remove only the 10’s. Keep
the 9’s and 10’s for Insane difficulty.

10
Game #1: Build the Mothership
Setup Continued

4. Shuffle all of the cards that you did not remove. Start
in the leftmost column and place a card. Work your
way to the rightmost column, placing one card per
column, until you have placed one card underneath
each Queen. Then, return to the left column and
repeat this process for each row until you have placed
all of the cards, forming the tableau.

5. The game should look like the following image when

setup is complete (for a Normal difficulty game):

Object of the Game

The object of the game is to build your ship by playing

all of the cards that start in the tableau under the Queens
onto the Jack and King cards that represent your new
spaceship. You will get a higher score for balancing the
stacks between Kings and Jacks (explained later).

11
Game #1: Build the Mothership
How To Play
1. The tableau manipulation in this game is similar in
many ways to the way you manipulate the tableau in
the solitaire game FreeCell. You can move cards from
one column to the bottom of another column if the
card you are moving is one value lower and is not the
same color as the card you are moving too.
You can move a stack of cards all at once in this
fashion so long as the highest card of the stack you
are moving satisfies the condition just stated and
other cards in the stack you are moving descend in
increments of one value and alternate color.
You can also move a card to an empty column, or
move a stack of cards to an empty column if the stack
satisfies the conditions for card stack movement
stated above.

2. You can move an Ace from the tableau onto a Jack of

the matching suit. You can move an 8 from the
tableau onto a King of the matching suit. For all of the
other cards in the tableau, you can move them onto a
card of the matching suit if it is within one value of the
a card already placed on the ship. In this fashion, you
will end up building piles of cards on the Jacks and
Kings until you no longer have cards in your tableau.
You cannot pick up a card that has been placed on a
Jack or King pile for the remainder of the game.

3. The Queens serve a very important function in

helping you access cards from your tableau. At any
time, you may put any card from your tableau on an
empty Queen of the matching suit. You may also place
a card from your tableau on another card that is
already placed on a Queen so long as it is the same
suit and is within one value of the card on the Queen.
In this fashion, you can build columns up or down on
a Queen. Cards on a Queen can be placed directly on
a King or Jack pile so long as they satisfy the
conditions previously specified. They can also be
moved back to the tableau.
12
Game #1: Build the Mothership
End of Game Scoring

1. After you have placed the last card from your tableau
on your ship, you have finished building your ship and
the game ends.

2. To calculate your score, count the number of cards

you added to each Jack and King pile individually. For
each pile, add the number of points specified to your
score:

● 4 cards = 10 points
● 3 or 5 cards = 8 points
● 2 or 6 cards = 6 points
● 1 or 7 cards = 4 points

3. After you have tallied all of the points for each Jack
and King pile, write the total score in your Campaign
Log under the “Score” column in the “Game #1” row.
You can then continue your campaign on page 14.

Losing the Game

1. If you are ever in a situation where you cannot make a
legal play to move a card in your tableau or from one
of the Queens, you lose the game.

2. If you have played all of the tableau cards onto your

ship and there are any Kings or Jacks with no cards
on them, you lose the game.

3. If you are playing in campaign mode and you lose the

game, you have also lost the campaign and must start
a new campaign from the beginning.

13
You are almost overwhelmed with
excitement as the androids approach
you one final time.
“...Vessel 011001 has been completed per
your requirements. How may we be of further
assistance today?” one of the Androids asks
in the least emotional tone imaginable.

You wave the androids away as you begin

to reflect on the project. The last couple weeks
have felt like months as you have been
intensely watching over the ceaseless work of
these androids and the horde of worker
drones they wield in a hive mind fashion.

You were surprised and more than a little

happy at the level of customization the
androids allowed you to make to your new
ship. Effortlessly guiding the worker drones to
incorporate every minute detail that tickled
your fancy.

While you have been busy with the

construction of your ship, your crew has been
out scouring the local cantinas and markets
to learn as much as they can about the
system you can’t seem to shake from your
mind. The system the Alliance categorically
named “C4841”, or as most people refer to it,
“Cabal”.

14
 You learn that Cabal was first settled by
six high ranking leaders of the allied
corporations of CLB and Le’Spaud. These
leaders are apparently collectively referred to
as the “monarchs”.

It seems that CLB and Le’Spaud (or LS for

short) had a vested interest in finding an area
of space that operated outside of the usual
heavily regulated trade routes, but there is
only speculation as to the reason why.

In any case, things seemed to be going

smoothly for the first couple of years until the
Alliance-affiliated Dia’Mund corporation
moved in.

Dia’Mund is well known for operating well

within the law and maintains their favorable
standing with the Alliance by being a “nark” of
sorts on corporations that skirt the edicts set
forth by the Alliance.
 If the monarchs’ are feeling pressure from
the presence of Dia’Mund in the system, their
very lucrative operations have surely slowed
to a crawl, as there is no way CLB and LS
would ever openly break Alliance law.

Fortunately, you don’t have such qualms

and if there’s one thing you have learned over
the course of your career it’s that
corporations will pay handsomely for
someone else to dirty their hands so their
own hands can appear clean.

You call your crew to their stations and

set your warp coordinates to the outskirts of
the Cabal system.

As you undock from Hawk Nest, you type

at your captain terminal until you have
finished transferring credits to Clint’s account.

You think through your plan as you hear

the brand new warp engines firing up for their
first time: explore Cabal, make contact with
the monarchs, and deal with any Dia’Mund
that make the mistake of thinking you’re
unprepared.
Game #2: Explore the System
How to Play Video: https://youtu.be/AywvEkzR2_4

Setup

1. First build the player hand by collecting all of the

Aces, 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s of the following suits: Spades,
Clubs, and Diamonds. Set this pile near the player.

2. Next, set up the player’s health tracker. To do this, find

the 2 through 10 of Hearts and the Ace of Hearts. Build
the player tracker by placing the Ace down first face
up, then the 2 on top face up, and then continue
incrementing by one until you have a stack of 10 cards
with the 10 of Hearts on top descending down to the
Ace of Hearts on bottom, all facing upwards. Set this
pile near the player.

3. Next build the player’s resource pool. To do this, find

the King, Queen, and Jack of Hearts and place those
face down near the player and near one another.

4. Finally, set up the space tiles. To do this you are going

to be building a 5 x 5 grid of cards. First, find the 6 of
Spades and one of the Jokers. The 6 of Spades will be
the Row 1, Column 1 card and it will be face up, so
place it in the top left corner of your play area
horizontally, going forward a horizontal card will be
referred to as a “tapped” card in this rulebook. Take
the Joker and set it vertically (“untapped”) on top of
the 6 of spades. The other Joker will be the Row 5,
Column 5 card so place it in the bottom right corner
of the play area face up and tapped. Now, fill in all of
the rows and columns between the 6 of Spades and
the tapped Joker so that there are 25 cards in a 5 x 5
grid. See the next page for an image of the finished
setup.

17
Game #2: Explore the System
Setup Continued

Object of the Game

Game #2: Explore the System
How to Play

Player Actions

1. The player will take actions by playing cards from

their hand. The following sections will outline the
different ways the player can play their cards to
perform various actions.

Player Action: Moving

1. You can move to different cards by playing two cards

in your hand at the same time into your discard pile.
One card must specify the row of the card you want to
move to and the other card must specify the column.
For example, if you play an Ace and a Three from your
hand, you could move to the card located in the first
row and third column, or the card in the third row and
the first column. The suits of the cards you play do not
matter when performing movement.

2. If the card you move to is facedown, you must turn it

face up.

3. If the card you move to is a Spade, you have the

option to refuel (see Player Action: Refueling). If the
card is a Club, you have the option to trade (see
Player Action: Trading). If the card is a Diamond, you
must battle it, you do not have a choice (see Player
Action: Combat).

4. The untapped Joker is used to keep track of where

your ship is currently located. Always be sure to move
the untapped Joker to each location you move to.

19
Game #2: Explore the System
How to Play Continued
Game #2: Explore the System
How to Play Continued

Player Action: Combat

1. As soon as you enter a location of a Diamond card,

you must perform a combat. To do this, you must take
damage for every value represented by the Diamond
card. Jacks are worth 11, Queens are worth 12, Kings
are worth 13, and the non face cards are worth the
number printed on the card.

2. You can decrease this damage by playing any number

of Diamond cards from your hand into your discard
pile. Each Diamond card you play in this way will
reduce the incoming damage by the total value of the
printed numbers on the cards.

3. After playing any Diamonds that you wish to play, you

must reduce your life tracker by the difference
between the incoming damage and the Diamonds you
played. To reduce your life tracker take the top card of
the tracker and move it to the bottom of the tracker
and repeat this for each point of damage you are
receiving.

4. Nonface Diamond cards do not untap after combat

and if you for some reason were to move back to this
location you would have to repeat the combat. If you
manage to stop all of the incoming damage from a
Jack, Queen, or King card, untap that card. If you were
to move to an untapped Diamond face card for some
reason, they will not attack you again. However, if they
are still tapped you must repeat the combat.
Untapping Diamond face cards is not a game
objective.

21
Game #2: Explore the System
Campaign Adjustments
If playing through the campaign, go through the following sections
and make any adjustments that pertain to you.

Ship Choice

1. If you chose the Prototype I ship, make no changes.

2. If you chose the Prototype II ship, you add 1 to every

Diamond card you play during combat, but you must
also remove one of the facedown resource cards for
the entire duration of the game.

3. If you chose the Prototype III ship, you must take the
ten of Hearts from the top of the health tracker and
add it facedown and untapped to your resource pool.
You will have four resources for the duration of the
game and a maximum health of nine.

Difficulty

1. If playing on Normal, make no changes.

2. If playing on Hard, instead of starting with a Joker in

Row 5, Column 5 shuffle it in with the other cards. You
now have to successfully find the Joker before you can
end the game. When you initially find the Joker, you
may choose whether you want to end the game or
continue playing. If you choose to continue playing,
you must return to the Joker later to end the game
per the normal rules.

3. If playing on Insane, make the same changes as Hard

mode. Also, all Spade location cards now untap after
you interact with them and you cannot interact with
them again for the remainder of the game.

22
Game #2: Explore the System
Campaign Adjustments Continued

Miscellaneous

1. If you scored 70 or more points in Game #1, make no

changes.

2. If you scored 60-69 points in Game #1, start with one

resource tapped.

3. If you scored 59 or fewer points in Game #1, start with

two resources tapped.

Ending the Game

1. When the player moves to the untapped Joker located
in Row 5, Column 5 the game immediately ends and
the player can move to the scoring phase.

2. The player immediately loses the game if they ever

take more damage than what is shown on their health
tracker or if they are ever unable to perform an
action. If the player is playing through the campaign,
the campaign ends in failure and must be repeated
from the beginning.

Scoring and Campaign Notes

1. After the game ends, if the player did not lose, tally
the final score by counting the total number of
untapped Spade and Club face cards and multiplying
that number by 10. If playing through the campaign,
write this total in the Game #2 Score column of the
Campaign Log.

2. If playing through the campaign, for each Jack,

Queen, and/or King that is not face up and untapped,
write that card card down under Game #2 Notes (be
sure to include the rank and the suit for each one).
23
After some close run-ins with the
Dia’Mund and a thorough exploration
of the Cabal system, you finally feel like
you’ve found your bearings.
You managed to locate and make
introductions with members of this system’s
“monarchy”. Your efforts did not go
unrewarded and you are content in knowing
that your hunch was right on the mark.

Through somewhat brief introductory

conversations with the monarchs, they were
almost too eager to request your services. It
seems tales of your exploits have travelled
even to the edges of civspace.

They divulge to you that their primary

motive for settling this far out in space was to
setup up a very important and lucrative
weapons development and distribution
pipeline that could circumvent some of the
more heavily taxed trade routes they would
typically have to navigate.

Reading between the lines a little, you

know that keeping cutting edge weaponry
hidden from the prying eyes of their
staunchest corporate competitors is also a
significant boon.

24
It seems like everyday the Dia’Mund
creep closer to discovering the
monarchs’ secret operations.

Constantly feeling like they are on the

back foot has made the monarchs feel like
continuing operations in Cabal is a costly
losing battle. They are ready to cut their
losses and look for a new sector of space to
setup their operations.

However, there are still a lot of expensive

weapons (not to mention data) that are
tucked away in private manufacturing
facilities around Cabal that the Dia’Mund
would love to get their hands on.

The monarchs have offered to pay you

very well if you can manage to smuggle as
many of these important assets as possible
out from the manufacturing facilities and into
their respective private armories.

Smuggling may not be the most

awe-inspiring facet of your skillset, but
pickup-and-delivery quests like this provide
their own type of excitement. Let’s just hope
the Dia’Mund aren’t better at this than you
are.

Unlikely.

25
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
Warning: This game is complex. I highly recommend
watching the How to Play video!
How to Play Video: https://youtu.be/Q4OX-mycB0g

Setup

1. Separate all of the face cards from the deck and set
them aside for now.

2. Separate the 2 through 10 of Hearts and the Ace of

Hearts and shuffle them together. Then, place that
stack near the player face down. This will be the
player’s starting deck.

3. Next, prepare the enemy deck by taking the 2 through

10 of Diamonds and shuffling them together. Place this
deck facedown off to the side for now.

4. Set the Ace of Diamonds and one Joker off to the side
for now. You will not use the other Joker for this game.

5. Find the Ace of Clubs and the Ace of Spades. If you

are playing through the campaign, refer to the
Campaign Adjustments section to determine whether
you need to add either of these Aces to the player
deck.

6. Next, prepare the “facilities” deck by taking all of the

remaining cards and shuffling them together. Then,
take this deck and create a 3 x 3 grid of face up
vertical cards.

7. Take the set aside face cards and separate out the
Club and Spade cards. Shuffle these cards and
randomly place one card per row along the left side of
the grid. Then, randomly place one card per column
along the top of the grid.

26
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
Setup Continued

8. Then, take the three Diamond face cards, shuffle them,

and randomly place one per row along the right side
of the grid.

9. Then, take the three Heart face cards and set them
side by side face up at the top of the play area. These
are your time tracking cards.

10. Now it’s time to determine the player ship’s starting

position. When determining ship placement, ignore
the face cards and only use the 3 x 3 grid. To use the
enemy deck to determine the placement of the player
ship, you must draw the top card of the enemy deck
and count the number of spaces correlating to the
number printed on the card starting in the top
leftmost card (ignoring face cards) and going left to
right through the rows and columns until you get to
the target number. Place the Joker on this space. The
Joker will represent the player ship for the duration of
the game. Reference the image below for help
understanding the grid locations (Note: there is no
Ace in the deck and the grid only has nine cards, so
the 10 of Diamonds actually represents the top
leftmost position in the grid). Place the drawn enemy
deck card face up and vertically to the right of the
enemy deck to form the enemy discard pile.

11. After placing the player ship, it is now time to

determine the enemy ship's objective card. To do this,
draw the top card of the enemy deck and place it face
up and horizontally to the left of the enemy deck.
(Note: By keeping this card to the left of the deck and
making it horizontal, it will help prevent confusing it
with the enemy deck discard pile.)

27
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
Setup Continued
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
Object of the Game

1. The object of the game is to smuggle as many

weapons from the facilities (represented by the cards
in the central 3 x 3 grid) into the hands of the
appropriate monarchs (represented by the Spade and
Club face cards on the top and left borders of the 3 x
3 grid.) While you are attempting to make your
deliveries, a rival ship (represented by the Ace of
Diamonds) will actively be working against you by
making deliveries of its own.

How to Play

Round Sequence

1. The game plays out over a series of phases that are

continuously repeated until an end game condition is
met. The phases are:
a. Player Phase
b. Enemy Phase
c. Ship Placement Phase

Player Phase

1. The player phase begins with the player drawing

cards from their deck until they have 5 in hand. Then,
the player can take actions by playing cards from
their hand. The player does not draw any cards
during their turn or at the end of their turn. The
player also does not discard their hand at the end of
their turn. The only way to get cards out of their hand
is to play them. Once the player runs out of cards or
chooses to not play anymore cards, the player phase
ends and the enemy phase begins.

29
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
How to Play Continued

Player Actions: Moving

1. The player can move their ship one card up or down

by playing one or more cards from their hand to their
discard pile such that the sum of the value of the
cards played results in an odd number.

2. The player can move their ship one card left or one
card right by playing one or more cards from their
hand to their discard pile such that the sum of the
value of the cards played results in an even number.

3. The player can move to any of the 3 x 3 grid cards and

onto any of the Spade or Club face cards but may not
move onto the Diamond face cards.

4. The player may not move from one Spade or Club

face card directly to another Spade or Club face card.
If they are currently on a Spade or Club face card and
they want to travel to another Spade or Club face
card, they must first reenter the 3 x 3 grid and then
travel to the desired destination.

5. After the player moves, if there are no cards in the

space that the player moved from, draw one from the
top of the facilities deck and place it in that space. If
there are no cards left in the facilities deck when you
need to fill an empty space, do nothing. The player
and enemy ships can still move onto a space that
does not have a card. Use the face cards on the
borders of the 3 x 3 grid to help determine where
spaces are located if the board starts to become very
empty.

30
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
How to Play Continued
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
How to Play Continued

Player Actions: Attacking the Enemy

1. The player can attack the enemy ship by moving to

the enemies location and playing an Ace card from
their hand to their discard pile. The enemy ship will
then be removed from the board until the Ship
Placement Phase.

2. If the player ever occupies the same location as the

enemy ship and they do not have an Ace in their hand
to play, the player’s ship will instead be removed from
the board until the Ship Placement Phase and you
must flip over one of your face up time tracking cards.
(Note: The time tracking cards are the Heart face
cards that you set face up at the beginning of the
game). If there are no face up time tracking cards
available for you to flip facedown, end the game and
proceed to scoring.

Enemy Phase

1. The enemy phase always starts by playing a card from

the top of the enemy deck. Note: This card may be
referenced multiple times throughout the enemy
phase. If the enemy deck is empty when you need to
draw a card, shuffle the enemy discard pile to form a
new deck (ignoring the current objective card). Then,
flip one of the face up time tracking cards face down.
If there are no face up time tracking cards, end the
game and proceed to scoring.

2. If the enemy is on the board, they will try to complete

their current objective. First, check whether the enemy
ship is currently in possession of a card (the card
would be on top of the enemy ship card).

32
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
How to Play Continued

Enemy Phase Continued

3. If they are in possession of a card and the value of the

card is 2-4, their objective is the Jack of Diamonds, if
the value of the card is 5-7, their objective is the
Queen of Diamonds, if the value is 8-10, their objective
is the King of Diamonds.

4. If they are not in possession of a card, check the value

of the current objective card. If there is a card located
in the 3 x 3 grid with the same value, that is the
enemy’s objective. If there is not, the enemy’s objective
is the player ship’s location. If the player’s ship is also
not on the board, the enemy does not have an
objective this round and will not perform any actions.

5. If the enemy ship has an objective, they will move

toward it. In a standard game, the enemy will move
one space if the card that was played from the enemy
deck has a value of 5 or less, or they will move two
spaces if the card has a value of 6 or more. If you are
playing through the campaign refer to the “Campaign
Adjustments” to find how many spaces enemies will
move for your game.

6. If the enemy ship ever enters the location of the

player, the player must play an Ace from their hand to
their discard pile to win the combat, sending the
enemy ship off the board until the Ship Placement
Phase. Note: This is the only way the player can play
any cards during the enemy phase. If the player does
not have an Ace in their hand to play in this situation,
their ship will instead be sent off the board until the
Ship Placement Phase.

33
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
How to Play Continued
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
How to Play Continued

Enemy Phase Continued

11. If the enemy has remaining movement after taking

possession of their objective card, the enemy will then
use the rest of their movement toward the new
Diamond face card objective that correlates to the
value of the objective card as described above.

Note: The enemy ship and enemy face cards do not care
about suits when making deliveries, they only care about
the value listed on the card.

12. If the enemy successfully delivers a card to a Diamond

face card following the previously listed rules, take the
card they delivered and place it underneath the face
card they delivered it to. This card will count as
negative points to the player at the end of the game.
Then, remove the enemy ship from the board until the
Ship Placement Phase.

13. After the enemy moves, if there are no cards in the

space that the enemy moved from, fill in the space
following the same method and rules outlined in the
player movement section.

35
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
How to Play Continued

Ship Placement Phase

1. If the player ship is not on the board during the Ship

Placement Phase, use the enemy deck to place the
player ship following the same method as during
setup. If the enemy deck is out of cards, shuffle the
enemy discard pile to form a new enemy deck and
then flip over one of the face up time tracking cards
as described previously, then draw a card from the
top of the enemy deck.

2. If the enemy ship is not on the board during the Ship

Placement Phase, discard the current enemy objective
card. Then, draw a new enemy objective card. Then,
use the enemy deck to place the enemy ship following
the same method as during setup.

3. Remember, if you ever need to draw a card from the

enemy deck and it is empty, flip over one of the face
up time tracking cards and then shuffle the enemy
deck discard pile to form a new enemy deck. If there
are no face up time tracking cards when you are
required to flip one over, end the game and proceed
to scoring.

Campaign Adjustments

1. If playing through the campaign, go through the

following sections and make any adjustments that
pertain to you.

36
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
Campaign Adjustments Continued
Game #3: Smuggle the Goods
Campaign Adjustments Continued

Miscellaneous

1. For each Spade and Club face card listed in the Game
#2 Notes column of the Campaign log, flip the
corresponding face card facedown. You cannot make
deliveries to that monarch for the duration of the
game.

Scoring and Campaign Notes

1. Add up the values of all the cards underneath the

Spade and Club face cards at the end of the game.
Then, subtract the sum of all the values of the cards
underneath the Diamond face cards. The difference is
your total score for the game. If playing through the
campaign, record that number in the Game #3 Score
column of the Campaign Log.

38
 You manage to extract quite a few
weapons and quite a bit of data from the
manufacturing facilities and are able to
deliver it to the private armories of the
monarchs.

However…

Why wasn’t Dia’Mund destroying the

weapons they got their hands on? That is
Alliance law, any other action is a direct
violation of that law. Is the Dia’Mund
corporation not in the Alliance’s back pocket
after all?

This question plagued you while carrying

out your smuggling runs. So you did
something about it. You sent one of your crew
out in a stealth ship to tail the Dia’Mund to
see where they were taking the weapons they
extracted.

Maybe they were just taking them

somewhere else to destroy them. You’ll know
soon enough, an alert on your captain
terminal informs you that the stealth ship you
sent out has just docked.
A wide-eyed stealth pilot walks into
your control room.
“I… they… c-c-cache…” the pilot struggles to
form coherent words.

You hit the pilot with a look that inspires

instant composure and they start over, much
more coherently this time.

“Cap’n, I tailed the Dia ship as you

ordered! They got a cache o’ weapons the
likes I ain’t ever seen! Bunch o’ floatin’
treasure chests jus’ sittin’ there!” the pilot
blurts out. “Surrounded by a downright sea o’
Dias though…”

After asking a few questions to make sure

you understand the scope, location, and
probable contents of this cache, you come to
a realization.

The monarchs were in a much worse

situation then they let on.

The Dia’Mund already have their hands

on more than enough hard evidence against
CLB and LS for the Alliance.

The monarchs surely knew this when they

hired you and probably intended to
underplay the severity of the situation so that
you wouldn’t squeeze them for more pay.
40
The monarchs must have reached the
same conclusion you have.

They have to know that the lack of

response from the Alliance means the
Dia’Mund have not reported what they have
found. Dia’Mund is obviously taking
advantage of the situation to amass their own
arsenal out here in deep space, allowing the
monarchs to do all the hard work for them.

Wait! Does that mean the monarchs know

about the cache? You surmise that they must
suspect that one exists, where else would their
weapons be going if they aren’t being
reported and destroyed? They probably just
haven’t managed to find the cache’s location
yet.

Hmm… How to use this information to

reach the most lucrative outcome?

Got it! If you can incite some sort of

skirmish between the monarchs and the
Dia’Mund, that should draw the bulk of the
Dia’Mund forces away from the cache,
allowing you to send in a strike and extraction
team to collect as many assets as possible
before the Dia’Mund can make it back in time
to stop you.

41
You inform your crew of the new plan.
Good thing the androids listened when
you told them you needed that black market
comms impersonation tech installed that you
scored from your last job.

Using said technology, you allow an

intentionally low quality and staticky comm to
get intercepted by Dia’Mund ships that make
it sound like a weapons laden CLB transport
ship was going to be staging for quite some
time at some very specific out of the way
coordinates while waiting for an armored
escort to arrive.

You also allow some monarch ships to

intercept an uncannily similar comm, except
of course the transport ship belongs to the
Dia’Mund in this one.

You wait with baited breath for around ten

minutes before you hear the sound of an
incoming comm.

An excited stealth pilot voice screeches

out of the speaker “They bought it! Go, go, go!”

Feeling adrenaline kick in, it’s time for you

to take on the role of commander. You’ve got
nine of your best pilots and a tight time
window. This is a delicate operation that will
require precision and skill. Time to shine.
42
 Game #4: Raid the Cache
How to Play Video: https://youtu.be/ds5yoDdj8Cw

Setup

1. Take the 7s, 8s, and 9s of Spades, Clubs, and Hearts

and shuffle them up. Randomly place them into a 3 x 3
grid facedown. I recommend placing them horizontally
because this can help to make them distinct from the
cards that will go on top of them.

2. Take the 2 through 10 of Diamonds and shuffle them.

Then, randomly place one of them face up on each of
the 9 cards in the 3 x 3 grid. I recommend placing
these vertically if you placed the first set of cards
horizontally.

3. Take the Jacks, Queens, and Kings of Clubs, Spades

and Hearts and place them face up and within reach.

4. You will not be playing with the Ace, King, Queen, or

Jack of Diamonds for this game. You also will not be
playing with the Jokers for this game. Return all of
these cards back to the deck box.

5. Take all of the remaining cards and shuffle them

together to form the player deck. The player deck
should consist of the 2s through 6s, Aces, and 10s of
Spades, Clubs, and Hearts. Place the player deck near
the player. Then, the player draws a starting hand of
five cards.

43
 Game #4: Raid the Cache
Setup Continued
 Game #4: Raid the Cache
Object of the Game

1. The object of the game is to collect as many of the

resources underneath the Diamond cards as possible.
Each Diamond card represents the meager defense
force of the enemy that you must first destroy in order
to gain access to the resource card they are
protecting.

How To Play

1. The player will be selecting the face up face cards one

at a time and playing cards from their hand that
match the suit of the selected face card until they
have either destroyed every enemy and collected
every resource, or they can no longer play any cards
from their hand.

Player Actions: Selecting a Fighter Ship

1. The player can select the current fighter ship they

would like to control by taking one of the face up
face cards and moving it to the left of the player
deck. If there is already a fighter ship selected
when performing this action, just place the new
fighter ship card on top of the old one.

45
 Game #4: Raid the Cache
How To Play Continued

Player Actions: Selecting a Fighter Ship Continued

2. The current selected fighter will impact the way

the player can play their cards. The player can
only play cards from their hand that match the
suit of the selected fighter. Also, each rank of
fighter has a different impact on the cards that
the player plays. See the breakdown below:

a. Jacks: Give minus one to the value of every

card that is played
b. Queens: Do not change the values of the
cards that are played and do not provide any
other effect.
c. Kings: Give plus one to the value of each card
played, but you must remove each card from
the game the moment it is played while a King
is the active fighter ship. I recommend placing
cards that are removed this way underneath
the stack of fighter ships in order to keep
them separated from the discard pile while
still allowing easy access to reference what
you have removed from your deck later.

46
 Game #4: Raid the Cache
How To Play Continued
 Game #4: Raid the Cache
How To Play Continued
 Game #4: Raid the Cache
Campaign Adjustments

1. If playing through the campaign, go through the

following sections and make any adjustments that
pertain to you.

Ship Choice

1. If you chose Prototype I, make no changes to the

values of cards you play.

2. If you chose Prototype II, when attacking a Diamond

card, add 1 to the overall total when playing a group
of cards. (Note: Do not add 1 to each card, just add 1
to the overall total after applying any modifiers
provided by the currently selected fighter ship).

3. If you chose Prototype III, when extracting a resource,

add 1 to the overall total when playing a group of
cards. (Note: Do not add 1 to each card, just add 1 to
the overall total after applying any modifiers provided
by the currently selected fighter ship).

Difficulty

1. If playing on Normal, make no changes.

2. If playing on Hard, make the following Diamond swaps:

a. The 2 of Diamonds with the Jack of Diamonds.

b. The 3 of Diamonds with the Queen of Diamonds.
c. The 4 of Diamonds with the King of Diamonds.

3. To defeat a Jack you must have a total value of 11, 12

for a Queen, and 13 for a King.

4. If playing on Insane, make the same changes as Hard

mode. Also, your max hand size is now only 4 cards.

49
 Game #4: Raid the Cache
Ending the Game

Scoring and Campaign Notes

You breathe for what seems like the
first time in the last 20 minutes.

It was tough directing the correct ships at

the correct targets at the correct times, but
you were able to secure enough assets to
make it more than worth it, and then some.

You see your strike team in the distance

rapidly returning so you can make your
escape.

Just as you begin warming up your warp

drive in anticipation of their return, your
captain terminal sounds off with a proximity
sensor alert.

“Cap’n we are completely surroun…” the

engineer is cut off by a loud BOOM from the
rear of the ship.

“Cap’n we’ve lost the warp drive! Some sort

of EMP weapon! I’m gonna have to get back
there to get it back online!” the engineer
shouts as she runs to adorn her pilot suit.

You are barely able to focus on the

engineer’s report as you see your strike team
getting cut off from you by hordes of
Dia’Mund and, wait, are those HART
corporation ships?!

51
This is gonna be tough.

You’ve got two fighter pilots left that

weren’t part of your strike team.

They aren’t your best pilots. Your best

pilots are still out there on the other side of
that horde trying to make their way back to
their mothership. Back to you.

You’ve got an engineer jumping into a

repair ship to get your warp engines back
online, which is the only way you survive this
situation.

You see the notification on your captain

terminal that two fighters and one repair ship
have undocked.

You’ve got to make sure that every

command you give them is perfect.

Good luck.

52
Game #5: Protect the Mothership

How to Play Video: https://youtu.be/ikBr79fiNNQ

Setup

1. Create a player deck consisting of the 2s through 10s

of Spades and Clubs and the Ace of Clubs.

2. Place the Ace of Spades near the player, this card

represents the player’s mothership. Place the Jack of
Spades on the left side of this Ace, the King of Spades
on the right side of this Ace and the Queen of Spades
above this Ace.

3. Create an enemy deck using the 2s through 10s and

Aces of Diamonds and Hearts.

4. Take the enemy deck and create 2 rows of three

columns of face up tapped (horizontal) cards that line
up with the three columns of cards created by setting
up the player ships.

5. Set the Kings of Hearts and Clubs at the top left of the
play area face up. Set the Queens of Hearts and Clubs
face up at the top right of the play area.

6. Remaining cards which should include the Jacks of

Hearts and Clubs, the Jokers, and the King, Queen,
and Jack of Diamonds, should all be removed from
the game.

53
Game #5: Protect the Mothership
Object of the Game

How to Play
Game #5: Protect the Mothership
How to Play Continued
Game #5: Protect the Mothership
How to Play Continued

Player Action: Attacking the Enemy Ships Continued

3. Then, the player plays a card from their hand to their

discard pile to perform the attack.

a. If the player selected the Jack and the card they

played is equal to or less than the value printed
on the enemy ship in the bottom row of their
column, the enemy ship is destroyed and must be
placed in the enemy deck discard pile.
b. If the player selected the King and the card they
played is equal to or greater than the value
printed on the enemy ship in the bottom row of
their column, the enemy ship is destroyed and
must be placed in the enemy deck discard pile.

Note: Enemy ships in the top row of the enemy grid cannot
be targeted and destroyed.

Player Action: Repairing the Warp Drive

1. If the Queen of Spades is in the position at the bottom

of the mothership, the player can play a heart from
their hand onto the mothership if the card’s printed
value is one greater than the value printed on the
mothership’s topmost card.

56
Game #5: Protect the Mothership
How to Play Continued
Game #5: Protect the Mothership
How to Play Continued

Enemy Phase Continued

5. If at any time you need to draw a card from the enemy

deck and cannot because it is empty, you must check
the Kings located in the top left of the play area to see
if any of them are still face up. If any are, you must
turn one of them facedown. If you cannot, you have
been overwhelmed by enemy forces and lose the
game. Then, shuffle the enemy discard pile to form a
new enemy deck.

Campaign Adjustments

Ship Choice

1. If you chose Prototype I, add one Joker to the

player deck.

2. If you chose Prototype II, when you attack with

your Jack helper ship, subtract one from the value
of the card you play to perform the attack. When
you attack with your King helper ship, add one
value to the card you play to perform the attack.

3. If you chose Prototype III, add two Jokers to the

player deck. Whenever you attack with your Jack
helper ship, the value of the card you play must be
lower than the printed value of the enemy ship you
are attacking, it cannot be the same
value.Whenever you attack with your King helper
ship, the value of the card you play must be
greater than the printed value of the enemy ship
you are attacking, it cannot be the same value.

58
Game #5: Protect the Mothership
Campaign Adjustments Continued
Game #5: Protect the Mothership
Ending the Game

1. The game ends in victory the moment the player plays

the 10 of Spades from their hand onto the mothership,
following the rules outlined above. Then, proceed to
scoring.

2. The game ends in defeat if the player is ever required

to turn a King or Queen tracking card face down and
cannot do so. If playing through the campaign, you
have lost the campaign and must start from the
beginning.

Scoring and Campaign Notes

1. If playing through the campaign, congratulations! You

have won Space Piracy!

2. To tally your score for this game, multiply the number

of face up King and Queen tracking cards by 10 and
add that value to the Game #5 Score column of the
Campaign Log.

3. To tally your score for the entire campaign, add up all

of the values from the score column and write the
total in the Score column of the Total Score row at the
bottom of the Campaign Log.

60
Hawk Nest Hanger drifts into view. A
sight for sore eyes.
A comm comes through showing a
familiar face “How was Cabal? Wait, you don’t
need to say nothin’, I can see yer ship.”

Clint opens hangar four and your ship

comes in for a soft landing.

Somehow… Somehow you made it out. How

did the Dia’Mund make it back so quickly?
Had you lost track of time? Unlikely.

With the HART corporation padding the

numbers of that horde, it’s only a guess, but
perhaps they were hiding not too far away
and were able to tip off the Dia’Mund the
moment you warped into position on that
cache.

You flip through the cameras on your

captain terminal until you find the one you
are looking for. A bird’s eye view of your hull.

This is the biggest haul of your career.

There are enough cutting edge weapons in
there to pay for several lifetimes worth of
retirement. Your data banks are full with data
on how to manufacture these never before
seen weapons that could shift the entire
power balance of the galaxy. The Alliance
could even be knocked down a few pegs.
61
 You close your eyes and bask in the
satisfaction of a job well done.

You open your eyes, already feeling

that satisfaction slip away.

Already feeling the slow creep of

anxiety filling in the void left by not
having an objective. Something to vie
for. Something to test yourself against.

One day, two days tops before that

old friend starts calling.

The great wide wonder.

The inky abyss.

62