Working Spacers
The setting belongs to people who repair, negotiate, improvise, and keep moving when systems fail.
A Crew-Survival Science-Fiction TTRPG
A crew. A ship. A job. The consequences follow you home.
Take dangerous work at the edge of civilization, hold a damaged ship together, and live with every bargain, failure, and desperate success that keeps the crew flying.
The GameLife Between JobsThe crew is the center of play; the ship is home, the job creates pressure, and every consequence changes what comes next.
The Crew Is Home
Survival matters because the people do.
Awake in the Black follows working spacers who take contracts, share a ship, and face the long consequences of decisions made under pressure. Between runs and between worlds, shipboard life turns the setting into something personal.
01
Build the Crew
Create the shared relationships, roles, history, and identity that make the group more than a list of characters.
02
Claim a Ship
Define the vessel that carries the crew, absorbs the damage, and becomes the campaign’s most important shared resource.
03
Take the Job
Accept contracts shaped by distance, scarcity, factions, imperfect information, and somebody else’s hidden agenda.
04
Live with It
Carry forward the heat, debt, damage, reputation, obligations, and changed relationships created by the last run.
Pressure Changes Everything
Competence is never the same as safety.
Characters are capable, but time, strain, scarcity, and consequence keep each problem dangerous. A successful job can still damage the ship, expose the crew, create enemies, or force a promise that must be paid later.
Persistent Strain
Injuries, stress, damaged systems, and limited resources create problems that last beyond a single scene.
Quiet Human Moments
Conversation, routine, humor, and friction between jobs give every risk a reason to matter.
Core LibraryRules, Crew, and Table ResourcesThe complete current rulebook set, printable records, crew support, and a spacer-name resource.
Start Here
First Session Kit
Players can begin with the Player Handbook and Digital Character Sheet. Build the crew together with the Crew Creation Guide; the Game Master should keep the Core Rulebook available for jobs, pressure, factions, and consequences.
Bundled files and tools open in a new tab. Digital tools store working data in the current browser.
AwakePDFBundled
Awake in the Black Core Rulebook
The complete rules for crew-based science-fiction survival, contracts, ship pressure, factions, and persistent consequences.
AwakePDFBundled
Player Handbook
Player-facing guidance for understanding the table experience, building a spacer, and joining the crew.
AwakePDFBundled
Crew Creation Guide
A focused collaborative guide for establishing the group’s shared identity, history, relationships, and campaign direction.
AwakePDFBundled
Spacer and Character Names
A ready reference for spacer identities, player-character names, non-player characters, and setting flavor.
CharacterPDFExternal
Printable Character Sheet
The printable record for approaches, role, abilities, traits, problems, strain, and loadout.
External file; opens in a new tab.
ShipPDFExternal
Printable Ship Sheet
A shared campaign record for the ship, systems, strain, upgrades, and lasting damage.
External file; opens in a new tab.
Table RecordPDFExternal
Printable Combo Sheet
A compact combined reference for groups that want key character and ship information together.
External file; opens in a new tab.
Digital SupportCharacter, Ship, and AI ToolsResponsive browser records for active play plus the official AI-assisted Game Master.
Character + CrewLive
Digital Character and Crew Sheet
Create, save, and run a spacer in a responsive browser workspace with crew support and active-play tools.
Ship ConsoleLive
Digital Ship Sheet
Track the crew’s shared ship, systems, strain, upgrades, damage, and campaign changes in a dedicated browser tool.
AI Play SupportLive
Official Awake in the Black GM
The official custom GPT for consequence-driven crew survival, ship-centered play, contracts, factions, and persistent campaign pressure.
Requires access to ChatGPT; opens in a new tab.
PublisherAn Apogee Games TitleAwake in the Black is an original tabletop roleplaying game created by Brandon Sligh.
Apogee Games
Built around the people who keep the ship flying.
Awake in the Black is an independent Apogee Games TTRPG created by Brandon Sligh.
The game centers group identity, capable working spacers, practical science-fiction pressure, and consequences that persist long enough to shape the campaign.
LegalCopyright and LicensesCopyright, attribution, and licensing notes remain attached to the current rulebook and release package.
Awake in the Black
Awake in the Black is an original Apogee Games tabletop roleplaying game created by Brandon Sligh. Full copyright, attribution, and licensing notes should remain with the current rulebook and any public release package.
ChangelogLatest Site UpdateThe dedicated Awake in the Black hub launches with the full resource set previously hosted on the main Apogee Games page.
Dedicated Resource Site Launch
Established the standalone Awake in the Black resource hub; bundled the current Core Rulebook, Player Handbook, Crew Creation Guide, spacer-name resource, Digital Character and Crew Sheet, and Digital Ship Sheet; preserved external printable character, ship, and combo sheets; and connected the official AI Game Master and main Apogee Games site.