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[The Expanse] Has anyone played the official game?

Started by Kiero, August 26, 2018, 01:47:59 PM

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Kiero

I don't make much effort to keep current nowadays, but I discover there's an official RPG from Green Ronin for The Expanse.

Looks to be fully endorsed by the creators of the books and fully funded on Kickstarter too. Due November, apparently.

Has anyone played the Quickstart? Is it any good?
Currently running: Tyche\'s Favourites, a historical ACKS campaign set around Massalia in 300BC.

Our podcast site, In Sanity We Trust Productions.

Kyle Aaron

The story came from a Traveller campaign. So yes, I've played it. :D
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nope

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;1054158The story came from a Traveller campaign. So yes, I've played it. :D

I could have sworn I read that it originated as some frankensteined-up, heavily modified D20 Modern / Future campaign? Can't remember the source but I thought it was an interview with one of the writers of the show, who talked about having to gloss over and change a bunch of stuff / drastically alter some of the PCs over the course of 'translation' into the books.

Anywho, I've long thought of giving an Expanse-inspired campaign a solid go. I'd probably just use GURPS because I'm lazy (read: familiarity) and it would require little in the way of modification, maybe with some of the SWN faction tools for extra oomph.

jeff37923

Quote from: Kiero;1054116I don't make much effort to keep current nowadays, but I discover there's an official RPG from Green Ronin for The Expanse.

Looks to be fully endorsed by the creators of the books and fully funded on Kickstarter too. Due November, apparently.

Has anyone played the Quickstart? Is it any good?

I downloaded and read through the Quickstart. Immediately lost interest in playing the Green Ronin version. Traveller is a much better fit for setting.
"Meh."

Kiero

Does anyone have any experience with Green Ronin's AGE system?
Currently running: Tyche\'s Favourites, a historical ACKS campaign set around Massalia in 300BC.

Our podcast site, In Sanity We Trust Productions.

estar

Quote from: Kiero;1054219Does anyone have any experience with Green Ronin's AGE system?

Quite a bit, it is a very nice system. Easily modifiable, the stunt system works nice for criticals, and not all that complex as RPG goes about like the 5e PHB. The use of 3d6 makes for a different feel. The only issue is the glacial pace of Green Ronin's release schedule particularly for things like a monster manual and the lack of a 3PP program which alleviate the former. Fantasy AGE and Dragon Age suffer from hit point bloat but Modern Age address that effectively with several options of varying grittiness.

Shawn Driscoll

Quote from: Kiero;1054116Has anyone played the Quickstart? Is it any good?

Didn't care at all for the game mechanic. The Expanse is just a game setting anyway.

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Kiero

Look, I appreciate people have played Traveller, and you could apply The Expanse as a setting to any sci-fi system of your choice. But my question was much more specifically whether anyone had done it with the system this version is written for. It's a much easier sell to take a complete package to a group than having to homebrew or hack something to achieve that result.
Currently running: Tyche\'s Favourites, a historical ACKS campaign set around Massalia in 300BC.

Our podcast site, In Sanity We Trust Productions.

Llew ap Hywel

Quote from: Kiero;1054659Look, I appreciate people have played Traveller, and you could apply The Expanse as a setting to any sci-fi system of your choice. But my question was much more specifically whether anyone had done it with the system this version is written for. It's a much easier sell to take a complete package to a group than having to homebrew or hack something to achieve that result.

Honestly you've posted here long enough to expect more snark than answers in these threads.

I haven't played the expanse but the age system is very serviceable with a nice stunt mechanic to have it stand out from the usual beginners rule sets.

I'd google dragon age for some play examples of the system, fantasy age has its adherents but like all generic systems doesn't get much shout out. Blue Rose will depend on your tolerance of deviation into politics.

I know there not the setting your talking about but they should give you an idea of how the system runs.
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finarvyn

I also am one of those who downloaded the quickstart rules and didn't like what I saw. If this is any indication of what the full rules set is like, I'll probably give it a pass.

- - - - -

Not asked for by the OP, but to respond to some points made by others in this thread......

I also recall reading somewhere that Expanse started as some sort of d20 Future campaign and not Traveller. Not sure where I got my info, but it does match Antiquation's recollection. And I agree that it's a setting that would seem to scream "Traveller" or maybe "Starfinder." (I mention Starfinder because it's a current system that seems to be pretty popular, fits the d20 style of the original campaign, and it didn't suck the times I played it.)

I still find it amusing that a setting would go from an RPG to a book to a TV series to an RPG ... and the RPG being published isn't the one it started off from. Weird.
Marv / Finarvyn
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I'm pretty much responsible for the S&W WB rules.
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GameDaddy

If I wanted to play The Expanse, I would use Traveller. Don't need a whole new rules set just to recreate the hard science in the sci-fi. Traveller was built for that, anyway. Same deal for any of the novels by John Scalzi. Traveller is a great RPG for recreating the exact feel of the novels.
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Gruntfuttock

I can't believe we have got to the second page without anyone being angered by the "Roll 1D6: 1-2 male, 3-5 female, 6 fluid gender" rule for NPCs. Come on Grognards - you ain't trying!

Personally, I thought it looked like an interesting ruleset (from what I can see from the Quickstart) and the scenario wasn't totally rubbish - as most Quickstart scenarios are. Perhaps because I've barely played Traveller, it didn't seem bad to me.

So thanks from me to Kiero for his post. I might reskin the scenario the next time I run my BoL Firefly game.
"It was all going so well until the first disembowelment."

Kiero

Quote from: finarvyn;1054854I also am one of those who downloaded the quickstart rules and didn't like what I saw. If this is any indication of what the full rules set is like, I'll probably give it a pass.

- - - - -

Not asked for by the OP, but to respond to some points made by others in this thread......

I also recall reading somewhere that Expanse started as some sort of d20 Future campaign and not Traveller. Not sure where I got my info, but it does match Antiquation's recollection. And I agree that it's a setting that would seem to scream "Traveller" or maybe "Starfinder." (I mention Starfinder because it's a current system that seems to be pretty popular, fits the d20 style of the original campaign, and it didn't suck the times I played it.)

I still find it amusing that a setting would go from an RPG to a book to a TV series to an RPG ... and the RPG being published isn't the one it started off from. Weird.

Traveller doesn't appeal to me in the slightest, from what I've seen of various incarnations over the years. The all-random chargen puts me right off, even if the lifepaths thing seems interesting.

What is this Starfinder?

Quote from: Gruntfuttock;1054882I can't believe we have got to the second page without anyone being angered by the "Roll 1D6: 1-2 male, 3-5 female, 6 fluid gender" rule for NPCs. Come on Grognards - you ain't trying!

Personally, I thought it looked like an interesting ruleset (from what I can see from the Quickstart) and the scenario wasn't totally rubbish - as most Quickstart scenarios are. Perhaps because I've barely played Traveller, it didn't seem bad to me.

So thanks from me to Kiero for his post. I might reskin the scenario the next time I run my BoL Firefly game.

I didn't read that much of it, besides a quick scan. Sounds like a tedious bit of virtue signalling, hopefully that sort of nonsense doesn't permeate the whole thing.
Currently running: Tyche\'s Favourites, a historical ACKS campaign set around Massalia in 300BC.

Our podcast site, In Sanity We Trust Productions.

finarvyn

Quote from: Kiero;1054887What is this Starfinder?
When D&D 3E moved onto 4E, a company called Paizio created a 3E-clone called Pathfinder for fantasy adventures. A year or so ago they created Starfinder, which is a scifi equivalent of Pathfinder but (I think) better. Starfinder comes with its own races and solar system setting, but it's the "D&D in space" feel that I liked the best. I played a half dozen sessions run by guys in the game store and enjoyed the game. I bought a bunch of stuff for Starfinder but haven't found the time to do much with it, unfortunately. I feel like it could capture the feel of The Expanse as they emphasize exploration and stuff like that instead of all-combat.
Marv / Finarvyn
Kingmaker of Amber
I'm pretty much responsible for the S&W WB rules.
Amber Diceless Player since 1993
OD&D Player since 1975