Ashen Stars vs Impulse Drive
Compare Ashen Stars and Impulse Drive side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Ashen Stars | Impulse Drive | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Investigation, Mystery, Mission-Based, Ship-Based, Space Opera, Resource Management, Character-Driven, Strong GM Support, Skill-Based, Crunchy | Space Opera, Ship-Based, Playbook-Driven, Fiction-First, Character-Driven, Mission-Based, Strong GM Support, Improvisation, Hackable, CC-Licensed Rules |
| Core Mechanic | Ordinary tests roll a d6 plus ability-pool points spent before rolling, succeeding by meeting or beating the difficulty. Investigative abilities work differently: a core clue is simply given when the right ability is used, no roll needed, with point spends buying extra benefits. | When a Move tells you to roll, roll 2d6 and add the modifier it names, usually one of five Approaches (Volatile, Calculating, Slick, Stalwart, Alien) rated from -3 to +3. A 10+ is a full success, a 7–9 is usually a success with a cost or fewer choices, and a 6 or lower marks XP while the Space Master makes a Call. Advantage means rolling 3d6 and keeping the two highest dice, and Disadvantage keeps the two lowest. The two cancel each other out and never stack. |
| Dice | d6 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Free core rules |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 3 of 5 book tools |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — GUMSHOE Community on DriveThruRPG | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Pelgrane Press | Adrian Thoen |
| Year | 2011 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want episodic space mysteries with a shared ship and recurring personal subplots. Cases put the crew's pursuit of justice in tension with its need to earn a living. | Groups who want an episodic, TV-style space opera about a broke crew taking contracts aboard a ship they build together, where each character's flaws drive both trouble and advancement. |
| Highlights | Automatic core clues keep missed information rolls from blocking a case. Reputation changes the wait between contracts, connecting ethical choices to the crew's upkeep bill. Ship combat assigns different attack modes to crew stations, spreading decisive actions across specialists. | Applying a Hook when it complicates a scene gives Disadvantage, so playing to a character's flaws drives advancement. Money is never tracked literally: completing a Contract triggers the ship's Payment Move, and a standard result lets the crew pick only two spends such as maintenance or an upgrade. Harm can always be converted into Stress, and a full Stress track forces a permanent Calamity that changes the character for good. |
| Considerations | Investigative pools normally refresh only when a case ends, making extra benefits a case-long budget. The rules assume a working Laser crew; fugitive campaigns require changes to that framework. Ship battles use abstract goal-point races rather than positional movement on a tactical map. | There is no setting chapter, so the galaxy and its factions are invented by the group during character creation, ship creation and the first session. Money is abstracted and the crew is deliberately kept broke, so groups who enjoy tracking prices and trade margins get tiered gear lists and cargo categories instead. There is no separate ship-combat resolution engine: crews apply the personal Universal Moves through the ship at ship-scale ranges, dealing Damage instead of Harm. |