The Expanse series focuses on the lives and adventures of the crew of the Rocinante, a repurposed military ship, as they become entangled with significant events in human history. It also takes in the sweep of events on a larger scale from the points of view of other characters in the solar system. Although The Expanse is “hard” science fiction in terms of extrapolating technology and dealing with the realities of orbital mechanics, space travel, and living in non-terrestrial environments, it also features epic science fiction speculation in terms of ancient alien artifacts which change the course of human history.
In the wake of the Eros incident, somebody is snatching up scientists connected to the LDSS Nauvoo, the Mormon generation ship that was intended for the Tau Ceti system before being repurposed into an asteroid-killing kinetic weapon. The players are a small time mercenary outfit, private investigation agency, or simply know the right people, and get offered a job by the Mormon Church to find out what's happened to their wayward researchers.
We'll be using Green Ronin's The Expanse RPG, which is based off the Adventure Game Engine (AGE). Rather than using the d20 and its small army of dice, it uses a roll of one to three d6s to resolve various checks. One of the dice is called the "stunt" die, and is used for using various special abilities/actions called, appropriately, stunts. On a table this one would be a different color than the others, but for here I think we'll just have the 3rd die in any 3d6 stand in for it.
I'm posting this to see if there's enough people (4-6) interested in playing a campaign here on the boards. We'll start with the To Sleep, Perchance to Dream module, and if that goes well, we'll continue on through the Abzu's Bounty adventure path. If you're interested but don't have your own copy of the Core Rulebook, don't worry, we can get that taken care of. If you're familiar with The Expanse series, this adventure will begin in between Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War (or about halfway through season 2 of the tv show).
If enough folks are in, I'll put up a recruitment thread and we'll go from there!
I'm halfway through watching season 1, have the game, and would be very interested. I think this system will work great for PbP... so count me in.
Ok, definitely in.
Looking forward to the recruitment thread with details on character generation. :)
Love the show...unfamiliar with the rpg, but like experiencing new systems...so count me interested..
I'm a big fan of the show and would be interested. I need to have a look at the system first though.
EDIT: I've read some of the materials and would be interested in joining.
Alright, looks like there's enough interest around here after all! I'm going take some time to re-familiarize myself with the rules and the adventure in question, but I expect to have the recruitment thread posted up next week.
Cool. I'll be on the lookout for it.
Cool. I'll be on the lookout for it.
Likewise. Looking forward to it.
Not interested, but I am wondering.
I saw the first two episodes before prime trial membership expired. Please tell me it gets better. Its all politics with overpopulation problems. Compared to Starwars, Startrek(any version) and Farscape, not nearly as great.
I'd be interested in this. I've read all the books and seen the show. I do not own the game though.
(Yes, DG, it gets better, although the political factions and survival themes are very consistent and drivers throughout. This is a story about the survival of humanity. Sometimes the threats are alien in nature, sometimes it's just having enough to eat, sometimes it's whether someone else will kill you for your food or air.)
That's okay, Tim. The RPG isn't as crunchy as Pathfinder, so it's the sort of thing we can take one step at a time.
DG, I would suggest either watching it through season 1, episode 4 ("CQB") or watching season 2, episode 2 ("Doors & Corners"). You could also give the books a try.
If neither of those catches your interest, then the series might just not be for you. Nothing wrong with that, Star Trek has never really been my thing either.
I was saying I did like Startrek, Starwars, and Farscape to clarify up the confusion. Anyway, if it gets better, okay, I have to renew at some point to finish up Farscape anyway and then that watching the next two episodes. Any sci-fi space series it comes close to?
Babylon 5, maybe? I haven't gotten around to watching that series but it's one I see comparisons made to a lot. Outside the genre, Game of Thrones is also a popular comparison point, in terms of scope, themes, and deep characterization.
One thing that's a bit fun about the series is that the first novel (and thereby the show, up through about halfway through season 2), are essentially an adaptation of a TTRPG campaign that was run by one of the co-authors. The characters who survive the Canterbury explosion all began as player characters at someone's gaming table.
I'm new here but I adore The Expanse and would love to try out the RPG!
There's a Bundle with Expanse stuff that will last for about 1 day if anyone's curious about the rpg version.
Otherwise, both ModernAge and the Expanse rpg have free quickstarts that one could get a free preview of the game mechanics. ;)