Constellation Crafting: Chaos Mode is a fast-paced rules-light TTRPG created by Taylor Navarro as part of the Weave Games Super Chill Game Jam. In this game, you, and up to eight other friends, work together to create an entirely new constellation.
The game itself lasts 10 minutes, but it is a delightful easy to pick up game that encourages quickfire creativity and has lots of replay value.
Constellation Crafting: Chaos Mode is available on Taylor’s itch.io page at just $2, though as an independent creator, tips are always appreciated!
Taylor’s artwork invites you to take on the role of a celestial architect.
The Setup
The whole game is presented on a single page, making it easy to get familiar with the rules. The artwork with its dark sky, its shining stars and bright text, also does a beautiful job of setting the scene.
The premise is that you are an astral creature charged with creating a new zodiac within the next 176 years. That sounds like a lot of time, until you realize that each second you experience represents a year on Earth! This means you have a total of 2 minutes and 56 seconds to forge the stars needed for your constellation.
The game gives you a set amount of dice to roll to create your stars. Rolling a dice at its highest value (for example an eight on a d8) means you have successfully created a star.
When you reach a certain amount of stars, you will trigger a Convergence Event. Here, the timer is paused and you will be prompted to decide on an aspect of this new constellation with your fellow players. Once you have done this, the timer will resume and you can get back to forging more stars.
By the end of the game, whether you have succeeded in completing your zodiac or not, you will need to decide what the legacy of your creation effort is.
Figuring out the story behind our constellation.
Playing the Game
I appreciated how easy the game was to pick up. I was able to go from reading the instructions to playing the game in not much time at all. As well as the core instructions, there are also dyslexic and printer friendly instructions that are very easy to read and don’t use up much ink to print.
The star crafting mode is quite simple and easy to get into. However, you are at the mercy of the randomness of the dice for your success.
Where the game got really interesting was when we triggered Convergence Events. It was such a great creative exercise to follow the prompts to create our own zodiac complete with its own legend, backstory and influence.
We ended up coming up with this giant astral octopus called Hartholme who provides refuge to weary travelers. We even used the dice that had become stars to map out Hartholme’s constellation as we played. This is something I’d highly recommend to other players.
In the end, we were unsuccessful in completing Hartholme’s zodiac. However, it was fun to play out the legacy of this attempted Zodiac and the legend that Hartholme left.
Working together, our Zodiac starts to take shape!
Replayability and World Building
Although the game length is generally 10 minutes, it seemed to have lots of replay value. I ended up wondering what kind of zodiacs I’d create with different groups of friends. It could even get to the stage where we could create interlinking stories between all our constellations!
I’d suggest this game as a good entry level game for players wanting to exercise creativity. It could also be a great creative companion for GMs in their world building. Deciding on the constellations that inhabitants in your world see can be a great way of building their beliefs and social structure. I could easily imagine the legend of Hartholme inspiring all kinds of traditions, especially in nomadic societies.
These fine folks were involved in playtesting and helped shape it into its final form.
Constellation Crafting: Chaos Mode was reviewed with a review copy provided by the game’s designer, Taylor Navarro.
