Courier
A downloadable TTRPG
Grab the latest version of Courier here!
Welcome to the Wasteland
Courier is a solo-RPG where you take control of a Courier—someone who travels the Wasteland delivering and trading cargo in exchange for REP, the currency of this post-apocalyptic future. As you explore the world around you, locations and factions are revealed and recorded on your map. Choose to take jobs for factions and build reputation to access new benefits all while becoming better at your job and earning new character perks.
You will continue to take on quests delivering, recovering, or scouting the map for one of the many factions populating the Wasteland. Every choice you make as a Courier will reflect how these factions view you and open new opportunities and bonuses as your standing increases, or decreases through a fame and infamy system. Choices will have you siding with a few select factions by the end of your game and seeing the world change for it.
Factions are not the only interactions. Companions can be found at many locations in the world and will adventure with you into the Wasteland. All companions are randomly generated by you and can grow into someone unique, using the perks system provided. These bonuses will help keep you safe and moving forward towards your ultimate goal, becoming a Legendary Wasteland Courier.
You will equip protective equipment, cargo rigs, exploration tools, and weapons, if you hope to stand a chance at surviving everything the Wasteland has to throw at you. All of your equipment can be upgraded over time to suit your needs and provide better bonuses. Unique and rare trinkets can be found in your travels, gaining even more passive boosts to your character.
This is just the start of what Courier has to offer, so jump into your journey as a new Courier in the Wasteland!
Reviews for COURIER:
SPAGOOLI DUDE
This is genuinely one of the most entertaining and enveloping Solo Rpgs I've played.
King Croaker
I bought the print copy a few months ago and forgot to review it. It is a wonderful game that has been beautifully put together, a must-have if you are into Solo Games!
frymynoodles
Oh, this was endlessly fun. I loved filling out the map and working with companions. Even getting my ass kicked in encounters was fun. I did eventually end up with a pretty good set up where I was sort of able to farm artefacts, so I think I'll start a new map sometime.
archillean
I've only hadCourier for less than 24 hours, and I'm already in love with the system <3 It's intuitive, quick-to-learn, and so much fun to get swept away with.
Courier has been featured on/in:
Tabletop Gaming Magazine
Dicebreaker.com
Playlist for Courier
Interested in Courier but not the price? A permanent 50% off coupon is available for those who need it: https://sleepysasquatch.itch.io/pebx98s7rw
Courier © 2021 by Sleepy Sasquatch Games is licensed under CC BY 4.0 Created and Published By Sleepy Sasquatch Games
| Status | Released |
| Category | Physical game |
| Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (76 total ratings) |
| Author | Sasquatch Games |
| Tags | death-stranding,fallout,mad-max,map-making,Post-apocalyptic,Singleplayer,solo,stalker,Tabletop role-playing game,zine |
Purchase
In order to download this TTRPG you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $2.49 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
Comments
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Hey, just a heads up thatAnomaly Effecttable (found on pdf page 43 of Courier v1-4 (Bookmarked).pdf) is absent in Courier - 2024 Layout Update (Pages).pdf - it should be on/around pdf page 41. Same for the spreads version. Sure it's just a mistake that can be fixed easily. In the mean time, players, those page references should help you out.
All good. Hope it's a quick fix or just issuing an errata.
A couple of extra points:
- This was my first solo TTRPG purchase (and my second overall, only Amazing Tales came before it to play with my kid)
- Easily, this is what got me into solo TTRPGs.
- I just bought Courier: Repacked after seeing the discount code on the site as I posted the original comment.
Hi again. Finally, after years, I had the opportunity to try the game with a friend, and honestly my sensations after hours of play aren't good.
One issue (there are many, but let's take just one): the 2024 book is fondamentally broken, 'cause it's missing pages (and rules),for example the Anomalies part. It's missing the rules to find them, it' s missing the consequences of being in them (DMG, etc.), how you actually get the Artifacts, the value etc.
I could say that youprobablyfixed the game with the new release but I can't be so optimist to risk to buy the game again, and then find something whobbly like this one.
About other points, some was asked before here in the comments, but there several details (and the Devil lose himself into the details 😁) that would benefit from better explanations and additional examples. For example: if my starting armor already gives me 1 DMG reduction, why there are rules like the Wasteland exploration results that inflict 1 DMG?
Why the Big Iron is still shown as 1DMG during character creation, and 2DMG on the weapons table?
Etc. Etc.
So, I don't have a good feeling about the creation of a new game "edition" while the actual one is in a bad state.
Thanks for the attention.
Hi Andrea,
Thank you for taking the time to play and provide feedback.
The 2024 version (Repacked) is a full re-write of the game to better represent, what I believe, are the most enjoyable parts of Courier - exploring, transporting, and the faction mechanics. Things like the anomalies are just not there because they didn't fit the game in a way I wanted. Thing like combat are fully re-vamped to use a modern system instead of my strange number-crunching mess. The inventory and stat system follows sensible conventions and consistent nomenclature and modifiers.
This version, the original, is absolutely rough and a mess. I was much more amateurish in the design, layout, and writing compared to today. Thousands of additional hours of reading, writing, and playing games across all genres does help me here! I don't want people to experience something that I don't believe is a fair representation of what is possible with the themes and "world of Courier", so I de-listed this version.
If you'd like a free copy of the new version, please shoot me an email - cody@sleepysasquatchgames.ca
I'd love for you and your friend to experience a much better game.
Sincerely,
- Cody
Played it yesterday for a couple hours while blasting Fallout OSTs (which I think improves the experience considerably). I had the weirdest streak of luck where I rolled the "lakes and rivers" encounter three times in a row and my map looked like a fucking swamp, which made it all the more endearing to me. It honestly felt like when you boot up Fallout 4 and mindlessly go around blasting in the best possible way.
- In Character Creation > Starting Equipment, Big Iron says it deals 1 DMG. But in the Weapon shop, the same weapon deals 2.
- In Companions, it says to roll 1d6 and "find the result in the companion table". I don't see this table anywhere, only the "Creating a Companion" rules.
- Maybe it's just my luck, but I didn't get to see any trinkets, and I got to over 160XP :( There could be a trait where you can forgo 1-2 encounter rewards in exchange for an increased chance of finding them.
- Faction rewards require entirely too much fame/infamy for my tastes, though to be fair, I got the bad luck of all my combats being raiders except two, so maybe it's easier if you get better rolls in combat encounters.
All in all, it was a good couple hours of fun, and it seems like an easy system to expand upon with more combat variability, new encounters, etc.
Thank you for the feedback! I'm glad to hear you had a great time with this rough game. A lot of what you mentioned is actively being fixed or completely re-written for Courier 2nd edition (Courier Repacked)!
Trinkets were very rare and required a lot of luck to get one. I like the idea of exchanging rewards for others. Good stuff!
The factions are super rough in this version. The amount of bookkeeping is very high and the rolls needed to get reputation gains is a bit much. I'm happy to say all of that is going to be fixed in the new versions.
I'm offering a 50% off for all owners of this version once the 2nd edition is released, so keep an eye out for that in the coming months.
Yep! The setup can be found on page 14 at the bottom.
"COURIER SAFEHOUSE
When starting the game, each player chooses any 1 cell as their initial location. Record a Courier Safehouse for that cell. This location has the same rules as a Safehouse and cannot be removed in any way from the game map."
Send me anemail if you have any other questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Playing the game for the first time and having an absolute BLAST. This is exactly the kind of solo RPG I was hoping to find and its given me so many cool fictional ideas already.
Quick rules question - I have the Friendship Band trinket that says "+1 influence when influence is gained with a companion". However I don't see anywhere to track "influence" - the only other place I see it referenced is in the text for a quest reward on page 29. However on the actual quest rewards I see "+ Fame". Is this another term for Influence? They seem to match up.
Hi Ryan,
I'm happy to hear that you are enjoying Courier.
Great question. This is an incorrect rule and should be the following:
Friendship Band- +1 Fame or Infamy when Fame or Infamy is gained for your current companion's Faction.
Influence was a system I had planned where you could increase the bond between you and your companions. This would open new perks and abilities to choose from but was changed at the last minute to just be XP gains that coordinate with the player character's XP gains.
How would you feel about a player-made online, mobile-friendly character sheet & die-roller? And maybe a bit of a noob-card for the basic game loop, page references, etc.
(I haven’t made anything yet. KS backer, I finally started reading it tonight and started thinking about streamlining the record keeping)
(I also thought about map-handling, partly because I forgot to print a map sheet, but that would be a much bigger lift; would be a separate question later)
I mostly ask because it would include the equipment/perk/etc. tables, kinda like Datasworn & Dataforged, and I wouldn’t presume to release something like that without your blessing or a CC license)
Hey Ed,
I wouldn't mind any of this. There are a few things you mentioned, like the reference page and online-rules, that have been on my to-do list for well over a year now.
The license is CC by 4.0 on everything except the art, so have at it. You can send me an email, sleepysasquatchgames at gmail dot com, to discuss further if you want. I can provide better access to rules and documents for you this way as well!
Hey Ed,
If you are still interested in this project give me a shout via email. You can find my contact info here:sleepysasquatchgames.ca
Thanks!
I've created a bundle for you! Find it here:https://itch.io/s/99311/courier-and-glide-bundle
Easily worth the price! For folks who prefer to print a folded zine, you can convert the file here: convert to booklet Also, remember to print the character sheet and hex map before staple it :)
I bought a physical copy of this work via drivethru and I really love the layout.
For the game, it keeps me entertaint for many hours. But what I really appreciate is the hackability of it. It is very easy to change the game, difficulty, excitement to your liking by small bendings of the ruleset. For example if you stumbled upon the seventh deserted bunker surrounded by 36 tiles of wasteland. Just change some tiles into faction bases and take on some quests. WHO'S GONNA STOP ME?! :D
Awesome game is what it is with some great depth and space for story telling with the faction system and that stuff. Also the combat system is my favourite system ever because it is so fast and simple. Hit, miss, boom, over and out.
Thank you for the lovely review.
Glad you found the game easy to modify to your own liking. That was one of the core pillars to the rules. Finding the fun with the random, although sometimes it feels not-so random, generation is very important!
I hope to use a similar combat system in a future project but tighten up the rolls more. Encounter a large group is just too wild at the start of the game and turned a fair number of players off.
This is copied from my Rating of the game, pasted here for those debating on a purchase:
This is genuinely one of the most entertaining and enveloping Solo Rpgs I've played. The post-war wasteland setting is one that I already find intriguing, but what really draws me in is the system. Most solo rpgs I've experienced are mainly journaling games. While they have options for an "arcade" mode, those games still feel very empty without writing the story because the game mechanics aren't fleshed out enough to stand on their own.
Courier, however, is the very opposite and without the empty feeling. This game puts the mechanics first, creating a fun adventure with a very satisfying gameplay loop. It gives you a game to explore, allowing you to only worry about the numbers and system if that's what you want, while also giving those who want to also tell a deep story the details they need to flesh out their world.
I'm very fond of this game, and I am looking forward to playing this with some of my friends in the future. I got this for free thanks to Community copy offered by the creator but hear me when I say that if you want this game: purchase a copy. Support this creator. Their talent for game creation deserves it.
Fantastic work, Sleepy Sasquatch.
First time playing the game, started on an edge of the map. Find a Faction Location, take the "Handle with care" quest. Next Hex has a Large Bandit Camp... roll a 9. Die on the second round of combat. Quest fails. Courier outpost is now stranded because all tiles are a radioactive wasteland of whatever was inside that package. Can't move anywhere, die of starvation.
Welcome to the Zone. 10/10 will play again
btw how does the Lake + 1d6 Rivers work? It says you recover 1HP while in that zone but is that modified by the rivers? Do the rivers flow over to adjacent tiles? Also do Anomaly hexes just stay there indefinitely and can you keep going into them to get artifacts?
Sometimes the game is like a perma-death run in Fallout, and I really love it for that.
The +1d6 rules for rivers would, as you could expect, provide the 1HP recovery as they are attached to the lake. Rivers would technically only be placed in adjacent tiles that had not already been revealed. This doesn't stop you from replacing tiles. I left the rules vague there for the player to make a decision that they feel is the best.
Anomalies stay indefinitely. I didn't provide rules for closing them as the risk and reward of going into them was fun to experience. If you feel like your luck is running too high, just place an X over the anomaly location to indicate that it is empty. Anomalies are just metaphysical oddities, so the infinite providing of artefacts is feasible in the world of Courier.
You can get a physical copy (print on demand) from DriveThruRPG here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/373721/Courier
The physical copy also includes all digital items.
Hi. I'm reading the book, and I find it interesting. I hope I'll have a chance to play it in the future.
In the meanwhile, I suggest you to gather all the interesting request for errata, clarifications etc. in the comments below, and turn them into a single (maybe living) errata/FAQs file to help everyone playing.
PS: while reading, I found this one, and I'm not sure if it's an error or not:
Thanks in advance 🧡
Thanks for the request! I've done an errata/FAQ for my other game, GLIDE, and should really do one for Courier. I will add that to my list and have one by the end of this month.
As for your question... This is actually an error. It should read 'connected'. Thanks for pointing this out!
Hope you get around to playing one day. I appreciate your support and feedback!
- Cody
Glad to hear you are enjoying it so far!
When moving through multiple cells, you shouldexplore both. If you get a combat on the first cell, and then another on the second, third, etc., skip the additional combats and re-draw the location until it's not a combat location. This was agotchamomentin playtest, and often lead to players being defeated, which is not always fun.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Enjoying a physical copy I picked up at Four Rogues! :) I had one question from a problem I've come across: Some quests require deliveries to locations 10+ cells away, but the main hexmap doesn't allow for distances that far if you start your delivery near the center of the map. Is the thought to lay down another map to increase the explore distance required, or have I just misinterpreted something? Any guidance appreciated! :D
Great question. 10+ cells is really too far from the center, if counting directly from the center. The idea was counting steps from the location you take the quest, so moving 1 hex was 1 cell, 2 hexes would be 2, and so on. Once you reached 10, you could place the new location, or deliver the quest. Sorry that it wasn't very clear!
I will provide an additional maps in the downloads for more options and a larger overall play area.
Thank-you! That explanation clears it up - and thank-you for uploading additional hexmaps, they should be especially useful for increased player counts! I'll try it out again with a bigger one. :D
Something I noticed while playing last night is that if you get your DMG RES high enough, you can essentially become invincible once you get the number of combatants low enough (they simply can't do enough damage to hurt you). I'm going to try a simple hack on DMG RES, where instead of automatically blocking the hits, you roll a D6 for each blockable damage, on a 2+, the hit is blocked (on a 1 you still take damage).
Example: Raiders roll 6 D6, 5 are odd. My DMG RES is 3. I automatically take 2 hits, then roll 3 D6 for the remainder as I have 3 DMG RES. I roll a 1, 4, and 3. I take 1 additional DMG and block the other 2.
My thought for when you take less hits than your total DMG RES, you would only roll as many "DMG RES checks" as hits they have against you.
Example: Raiders roll 3 D6, 2 are odd. My DMG RES is 3. I roll 2 D6 (to attempt to block the 2 hits), I roll a 1 and a 5. I take 1 DMG.
This of course will balance the game more against the player, but I felt it might be a fun hack to keep the challenge up, and keep you cursing the dice, even after you've whittled the enemies down to a point they normally can no longer damage you. 😁
Great idea! The core design was to create a power fantasy, after a while, for the player essentially making some encounters a complete mess for the NPCs. It felt a nice balance with the beginning of the game where you feel endangered by many encounters.
Your house rule makes sense and seems great if you don't mind rolling more dice!
Thanks for sharing, Melv!
I enjoyed your video a lot. You mentioned it was a "perfect starting point for solo role-playing games", which is interesting to hear. I put a lot of different systems into play with Courier, and honestly though it might be overwhelming for newcomers. I'm a big appreciator of "roll-and-write" games that provide you a world to explore beyond just the title it belonged to, and tried to emulate that feeling in Courier's design. Glad you saw the potential there!
The faction system was a bit of a letdown for myself as I really wanted to do more. Your solution of a "tension system" was really cool. I will keep that idea in mind for future games and any potential expansions to Courier. It easily emulates the control shift of factions that I really was aiming for but didn't achieve and you explain in in such simplicity that I'm sold on it!
Very happy that you could homebrew some rules to keep things going smoothly and resolve any logic issues, such as 2 trading posts directly beside each other counting as a single location, so that you can't just go between them and make a fortune in a small amount of time.
Appreciate all your kind words and feedback.
- Cody
Glad you enjoyed it! Coming from the Board game hobby, I value Solo RPG that is first of all a self contained game before adding any stat check or RPG mechanism as it is the core gameplay loop that keeps players interested. So having more system is welcomed as it is there to keep new comers engaged instead of asking them to use their imagination to drive story forward!
Regarding Factions, I can definitely see the intention ! It is one of the best part of New Vegas but can be tricky to handle! If you are interested, I recommend checking out Mutant Year Zero RPG to see how it manages both base development and faction wars in a gamified way. I think it can be adopted with some simplification and make the faction tension even more flash out!
Thanks for the feedback! I don't have any immediate plans for an expansion as people would likely want a print run and the game launched over a year ago, so the excitement for it is likely very low.
The physical copy looks identical to the digital. I've attached an image for your reference (all the extra stuff is included, minus the meeple):
If you are interested in a physical copy, please contact me atsleepysasquatchgames@gmail.comand I'll arrange a discount if you already purchased a digital copy!
- Cody
Hi. If a hex is a faction location and I roll raiders how is this handled? I can’t interact like other factions. Should I make it a raider camp? If so small or large? Or maybe its a one off combat? If so when I cross the hex again am I re-rolling the faction? I’m proper confused! Also the table is on p.23 not p.24 as written.
Looks like a cool game. Can’t wait to start after my initial stall!
Hey!
Thanks for the questions. Combat should not be possible in a faction location unless it is the faction that that location belongs to. This is a problem I've been asked about before and need to include in the errata. You could treat this as a one-off combat encounter as well, your choice. It should be assumed that each hex is larger than just the location inside, so encountering Raiders is highly possible as they would be out-and-about doing their thing.
As the game stands, Raiders cannot take over faction locations. There are some unique rules in the game that will change faction ownership but never for the Raiders. It is briefly mentioned, in my scrapped ideas section of the game, that I wanted to include Raiders moving across the map and taking over locations but didn't include it.
Every time I revisit Courier I see another issue that I wish I could go back and resolve for the printed copies. :)
As always, let me know if you have any more questions.
- Cody
Thanks for the swift reply :-) So to summarise: If you enter a blank hex and roll raiders there is no official ruling. Until there is you may conduct a one off combat then roll the faction again (ignoring raiders, unless you are a glutton for punishment!) or ignore the raider result entirely and roll again.
Great! I can begin my game as that hex was my very first move.
I picked this up from Four Rogues recently, and it's had a permanent set-up on my table for the last week. It's been so much fun, and now that I've fully explored (and exploited) my current wasteland, I think my courier might cross the 'Great Divide' into unknown territory, so I can play on a new map with new factions!
Just wanted to mention, spotted a small typo on page 7. I'm guessing its meant to be "House rules are always acceptable and encouraged." (Missing the d) not a big deal, just wanted to let you know :)
(Also on page 33, for the Jack, the failure section is missing a "w" in "now". Page 38 next to ex-ranger, it says "Gain 1 additional Player Attack phase on the". Page 39 in description, "grabbing on is not" should probably be "grabbing one is not". Page 40, it's should be its (couriers comet description, also burnt toast))
Sorry if this is annoying, once I get started looking for typos I have a hard time stopping. I can delete the comment if you want :)
It may not seem like it, but I've really been enjoying this rpg. It's really well put together, and definitely one I'll be making a friend or two play with me :)
I appreciate the feedback! I wrote a lot of the project in my layout program, which doesn't have intuitive spell checking, plus my editor missed a lot (more than you have listed)! I will add your finds to my list of edits to do.
Glad you are enjoying it! Let me know how the multiplayer goes for you if you get around to it.
