Welcome to the far future universe of...
February, the traditionally emotionally charged month of utter chaos for me was emotionally charged and filled with utter chaos this year. Who could have predicted this? Who I ask you?!?
Anyway, now that that's over...
Space Ship Story is a Japanese Space Opera TRPG written by game designer 'Hatta' (obviously a pen name) and distributed by Dato Honpo, a small, independent publisher. In an unusual move by a Japanese TRPG company, Dato Honpo made both a Physical Version and a PDF/Electronic Version available upon release. I was so intrigued by the ad copy for this game that I bought the PDF back in 2021 when it was on sale on Conos (the Japanese equivalent of DriveThruRPG). .
Unfortunately, I had neither the ability nor time to dedicate myself to fully translating the game and having so many side projects (as I always do), Space Ship Story fell by the wayside. Recently, thanks to improved access to Japanese language translation programs, helpful native speakers, and Japanese websites where they transcribe 'actual play' sessions, I have been able to get a mostly complete understanding of this very neat little RPG.
Here's a rundown...
Setting
At some point in the distant future Humanity had spread out into space and colonized numerous planets. Eventually, an all-powerful Galactic Empire was founded that controlled countless worlds with its tyrannical outlook and fantastic technology. It was the victim of its own hubris however when its scientists invented and tested a Time Machine. The activation of this device twisted and snapped the Time/Space Continuum, causing bizarre anomalies and making FTL travel nearly impossible for centuries. The Galactic Empire collapsed as a result.
Now, a literally unknown number of years later when time and memory finally had meaning once again, interstellar commerce, law enforcement, and many other interactions between the various peoples of the stars are handled by the Galactic Trade Association.
Emblem for the Galactic Trade Association by me.
Although the GTA began restoring major trade routes, there are still unexplored areas of space on the outskirts facing attacks by pirates, invading aliens, and remaining Imperial holdouts. In order to investigate these regions of danger, the Galactic Trade Association sought a daredevil new profession, the Adventurer! Adventurers are beings willing to brave the long lost and unexplored planets of Outer Space in hopes of bringing peace and prosperity to the cosmos.
Mechanics
The game works as follows: Judgement rolls are made by rolling two
6-sided dice (2D6), adding a character’s relevant Ability Score to an appropriate Skill and adding any modification from Equipment or Location (see below). The goal is to meet or beat a
Target Number determined by the difficulty of the action as determined by the
Gamemaster. Pretty simple and classic RPG faire, right?
A natural roll of a 7 indicates a Critical effect (referred to in the rules as Critical 7). If the total of the roll beats the Target Number you have a Critical Success on your hands. If you don't meet the target difficulty it becomes a Critical Failure.
PCs have a resource called Singularity, which works as a sort of 'Hero Point'. Spending a Singularity turns any roll into a Critical Success! Every Player Character starts each session with 1 and can be awarded additional Singularity points during play.
Characters
There are eight Character Classes: Fighter (Close Combat), Gunner (Ranged Combat), Tank (Able to take a lot of damage), Scout (A sort of Rogue/Ninja type), Tech (Engineer/Mad Scientist), Officer (Leader/Coordinator), Psycho (A being with Psychic Powers), and Neighbor (a Non-Human. An Alien or Robot PC).
Fighter, Gunner, Tank, Scout.
The player picks two Classes and combines the Ability Scores on the Class 'Template' to get their final Ability Score Set. You can also choose the same Class twice and double down on your character type is you desire. In addition to Ability Scores, each Class gives the PC a Class 'Special Skill' and access to a variety of Class Skills that you can pick from, most of which aren't really skills so much as special talents or feats. You may also take skills from a collection of general Support Skills (available to everyone regardless of Class).
Neighbor (Robot), Tech, Officer, Psycho, and Neighbor (Alien).
The whole concept is both really easy and pretty intuitive. Want to make a Jedi Knight? Fighter + Psycho. Starfleet Engineer? Maybe Officer + Tech. A friend of mine used Tech + Neighbor to create an R2-D2/Astromech type robot.
In addition to your two Specialty Skills (one for each Class chosen) you pick 5 additional skills which, as mentioned above, which are comprised of a combination of Class and Support Skills. You must have at least one Class Skill and one Support Skill but other than that, any combo is allowed.
For example, you could have:
After getting your skills together, the PC grabs some Equipment. Equipment comes in three forms: Items, Weapons, and Armor. A PC may have as many Items as their Intelligence Score and as much Weapons and Armor as their Body +2.
Let's jump over to the game's namesake element...
Spaceships
In the tradition of many prior Space Opera TRPGs, your group's Spaceship is their home, means of travel, best weapon and defense, and heck, practically a member of the family.
Each player gets to decide on two components that are installed on their crew's Spaceship. These items are derived from a list of 16 'parts' that give benefits/bonuses to the PCs when on board or when fighting ship-to-ship battles. You can have things like a Medical Pod that can restore Body and Mental Power or a Prison/Brig capable of holding a captured Space Pirate or Monster. Other choices include Dining Room/Mess Hall, Library, and a Virtual Theatre.
As an aside, FTL Travel is achieved in an interesting way in the Space Ship Story 'setting'; a big tube on the front of your vessel (reminiscent of the Wave Motion Gun from Space Battleship Yamato), known as a Devastator Cannon, fires a beam so powerful it tears a whole in Space/Time. How's that for epic? The starship then travels through the wormhole it created and fires again to re-enter our reality.
Crew, Followers, and other NPCs
NPCs and how they are handled in the game is an element I find particularly interesting. During an interview with the game's creator, Mr. Hatta, he mentioned that one of the key inspirations for the game was an idea he had for 'One Piece in Space'. In each Space Ship Story scenario you are expected to meet at least one NPC that becomes or is revealed to be an enemy, an ally, a old acquaintance, or even a new crew member. Think about that last one. It means that not only are the PCs likely to be picking up NPC followers along the way but this concept creates a built in way to add new players to your campaign with relative ease.
Gamemaster Tools
There are some really intriguing bits here but I haven't completely finished translating this section. There are pages covering scenario and villain design, as well a really neat idea called Master Points.
These points, based on the number of PCs and their overall experience level, can be spent by the GM to perform certain 'cheat code' actions. It seems a little like Threat from Star Trek Adventures [and other 2D20 system games]. Examples include spending 1 MP to re-roll an NPC's Judgement Roll or to create a 'Singularity' Critical Success.
In closing...
Space Ship Story feels like something I myself might have created. While all the parts fit together like a well made Gunpla model, its really an expertly assembled kitbash. The individual parts seem to have come from a bunch of other kits and then reworked to form a cohesive new product.
The Character Creation rules resemble the Templates of Last Unicorn Games' Star Trek RPG (the ICON System). The basic die mechanic is essentially classic Traveller. The Master Points remind me of Threat from Star Trek Adventures as noted above. It has a Drama/Hero Point mechanic, albeit with a twist.
I am honestly loving this game. It just works. It's fun. The combination of one of my favorite approaches to Character Creation with the really cool way the game treats the Spaceship has totally won me over. I also see it having a lot of potential to work with other genres. For example, this approach to Classes would make for much more enticing Fantasy Characters, at least for me.
That's all for now. More to come...
AD
Barking Alien
I would like to acknowledge the passing of the immeasurably talented and influential Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dr. Slump, Dragonball, and Dragonball Z. Mr. Toriyama died on March 1st at the age of 68.
Rest in Peace.