DayTrippers vs The Expanse Roleplaying Game
Compare DayTrippers and The Expanse Roleplaying Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| DayTrippers | The Expanse Roleplaying Game | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Scifi |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Skill-Based, Exploration, Weird, Collaborative, Ship-Based, Character-Driven, CC-Licensed Rules | Licensed IP, Space Opera, Ship-Based, Crunchy, Social Combat, Investigation, Faction Play, Social Intrigue, Strong GM Support, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a number of d6s equal to the relevant Stat score (1–6), keep the highest, and add any Skill and Item bonuses. Compare to a Difficulty Level (1–10) or an opposed roll. Results are interpreted narratively on a five-tier table: miss by more than 1 (No, And), miss by 1 (No, But), hit exactly (Yes, But), exceed by 1 (Yes), exceed by more than 1 (Yes, And). Progressive Character Generation lets players spend character points during play rather than all at creation. | Roll three six-sided dice, two matched and one differently colored Drama Die, and add an ability score plus a focus bonus of +2 if applicable. The total must equal or beat a target number set by the GM or an opponent's result. Rolling doubles generates stunt points spent on combat, exploration, or social effects. The Drama Die's value sets the degree of success. |
| Dice | d6 | 3d6 |
| Complexity | Low | High |
| Accessibility | Very High | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | CC BY-NC 3.0 | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | Free | $$ |
| Publisher | As If Productions | Green Ronin Publishing |
| Year | 2015 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want episodic surreal sci-fi adventures exploring dream worlds, alternate Earths, and pocket universes, with a fiction-first resolution system that rewards creative narration. | Groups who want a character-focused science fiction campaign of crew jobs, faction pressure, and danger across the Solar System. It suits tables that want structured action, investigation, and social encounters alongside ship travel. |
| Highlights | Five slip types (Cartesian, Paraterran, Temporal, Subjective, Compound) create wildly different mission structures from space travel to dream worlds. Progressive Character Generation reveals character details through play rather than front-loading backstory. LifeShaping system ties character motivations (beliefs, goals, relationships) directly into mechanical bonuses. SlipShip construction rules let players design their own interdimensional vehicles. | Backgrounds, professions, talents, and focuses build characters with mechanical ties to their lives before the campaign begins. Action, exploration, and social encounters each use dedicated stunts, giving different kinds of scenes procedures beyond a single skill roll. The Churn turns accumulated complications into escalating story events, giving the Game Master a structured way to introduce setbacks. |
| Considerations | 44-page core rulebook covers the essentials but leaves significant rulings to GM interpretation. Combat system is lightweight with limited tactical options. Surreal tone assumes GM comfort with improvising bizarre interdimensional encounters on the fly. GameMasters Guide sold separately for expanded tools and adventure generation. | Combat stunts are drawn from six separate category tables covering roughly sixty options, requiring both players and the GM to check charts mid-fight to keep pace. Ground and air vehicles receive no example statistics, leaving their combat rules almost entirely improvised. The forty-page setting guide summarizes the solar system's factions and history at a survey level, so groups wanting deeper political detail need outside reading of the novels. |