2300 AD vs Lancer
Compare 2300 AD and Lancer side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| 2300 AD | Lancer | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Scifi |
| Tags | Career-Based, Skill-Based, Simulation, Combat-Heavy, Tactical, Crunchy, Ship-Based, Exploration, Random Tables, Strong GM Support | Tactical, Mecha, Character Building, Heroic, Crunchy |
| Core Mechanic | For a task, roll d10 and add modifiers from applicable skills and characteristics; meet a difficulty target from 2 for Simple to 18 for Impossible to succeed. A natural 1 fumbles, while failed checks use a separate roll to determine whether the character may retry or suffers a mishap. Hasty, hazardous, uncertain, and cooperative tasks modify time, failure risk, information, or group participation without changing the core check. | Narrative scenes use d20 roll-over (10+ succeeds), with backgrounds granting advantage and triggers adding flat bonuses. Mech combat is grid-based and tactical: no initiative, players and NPCs alternate turns. Pilots progress through License Levels (LL0–LL12), unlocking new chassis, weapons, and systems across five manufacturers with 30+ mech frames. |
| Dice | d10 | d20 + d6 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Lancer Third Party License |
| Third-Party Publishing | Noncommercial only — Mongoose Publishing Fair Use Policy | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | GDW | Massif Press |
| Year | 1988 | 2019 |
| Best For | Groups who want career-shaped crews exploring a politically divided interstellar frontier where starship operations and hard-science constraints drive missions. | Groups who want deep tactical mech combat with meaningful customization layered on top of accessible narrative play: giant robot enthusiasts seeking a modern alternative to BattleTech. |
| Highlights | Career terms turn pre-play service into skills and organizational ties, giving each crew member a practical history that feeds later missions. Space combat uses hex movement and signature-based detection, making maneuver and sensor discipline as important as weapon range. Linked world-generation and mapping procedures build planets down to regional terrain, giving exploration campaigns playable locations instead of setting prompts. | Free core PDF, extensive mech customization with 30+ frames, clean split between rules-light narrative and crunchy tactical combat, alternating activations remove initiative so both sides stay engaged |
| Considerations | Character creation can end when a turning-point roll fails, leaving a concept in its current career before the player intended. Combat routes each hit through location and damage-type tables, adding several lookups to a fight. The future history assumes a World War III and French hegemony, so campaigns are tied to a specific 1980s vision of the 24th century. | Mech combat dominates: narrative half feels thin by comparison, steep learning curve from sheer volume of mech options, genre-locked to sci-fi mech fiction, requires grid/VTT for combat |