Deep Sky Ballad vs The Expanse Roleplaying Game

Compare Deep Sky Ballad and The Expanse Roleplaying Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Deep Sky Ballad	The Expanse Roleplaying Game
Genre	Scifi, Post-Apocalyptic	Scifi
Tags	Crunchy, Ship-Based, Tactical, Character-Driven, Drama, Pulp Action, Diceless	Licensed IP, Space Opera, Ship-Based, Crunchy, Social Combat, Investigation, Faction Play, Social Intrigue, Strong GM Support, Tactical
Core Mechanic	Blackjack System: each player and the GM draw from their own poker deck (cards 1–10 in each suit, no face cards). On a Challenge, draw two cards, then up to (Attribute) more, then remove up to (Skill) cards from the table. The remaining hand must reach the difficulty (Easy 16, Medium 18, Hard 19, Very Hard 20, Extreme 21) without exceeding 21. Hitting exactly 21 before the elimination phase is a Critical Success; busting over 21 is automatic failure regardless of the target. Aces count as 1 or 11. Emotional Bonds with crewmates can be spent during play to fuel near-superhuman cinematic abilities.	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	Diceless	3d6
Complexity	High	High
Accessibility	High	High
Runnability	Low	Very High
License	Proprietary	All Rights Reserved
Third-Party Publishing	Not yet researched	No verified route found
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	$$	$$
Publisher	Winged Lion Games	Green Ronin Publishing
Year	2023	2019
Best For	Groups who want a Space Western centered on cinematic crew drama and modular spaceship combat, with a card-based resolution that turns every challenge into a poker hand. Designed for a Posse of adventurers who share ownership of an interstellar ship and chase wealth across the wreckage of a fallen galaxy.	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	Card-based resolution gives players visible information about their hand before committing to a Challenge, turning each roll into a press-your-luck decision. Six-axis Hardboiled System tracks Loyalty/Rivalry, Affection/Hatred, and Trust/Grudge between Posse members at multiple stages, granting bond-fueled cinematic abilities tied to those relationships. Spaceship combat uses a hex-grid module map with simultaneous six-phase turns (Maneuvers, Movement, Shield, Mine Release, Fire, Resolution), requiring each crewmember to act from their assigned station. Modular ship construction lets the Posse design custom hulls under Energy and Charge limits and upgrade modules over the campaign.	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	Heavy mechanical load: separate subsystems track Vigor, Resources, Fatigue, Mental Fatigue, Emotional Bond stages and tokens, Wear, and Spaceship Conflict each with their own rules. Card-based resolution requires a full poker deck per player plus a separate GM deck (an official Discord bot exists as a substitute). Spaceship combat's simultaneous-phase structure expects every player to participate from a different ship module and slows considerably with larger crews. Designed specifically for Space Western themes within the New Frontier setting: not a generic engine for other genres.	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.