Being honest, I miss instructions on how to actually play this. I’m playing solo as mission control — should I be journaling my side of the conversation, or literally speaking out loud to an empty room? The doc says “no gamemaster” and that mission control specialists are the only players, so it’s not fully clear who or what is on the other end even conceptually, let alone what I’m supposed to do to “keep talking” to them. A line early on spelling out the expected physical action (speak aloud, write it down, etc.) would remove a lot of hesitation before starting the clock.
The scoring table at the end has the same problem — I don’t know how I’m supposed to use it for solo game. Things like “brought up personal details” or “connected with the astronaut personally” imply I should be tracking that as I go, but there’s no prompt during the checklist steps reminding me to do it, and no guidance on whether I’m self-scoring live or reconstructing it from memory afterward.
What would get me to actually play it: a clear statement of what solo play looks like in practice, a note on when/how to use the scoring table, and either simplified checklists or a mechanic that rewards improvising through a stumble, so the human/emotional side has real support at the table, not just intent in the framing text.