Diaspora vs The Expanse Roleplaying Game
Compare Diaspora and The Expanse Roleplaying Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Diaspora | The Expanse Roleplaying Game | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Scifi |
| Tags | Worldbuilding, Collaborative, Tactical, Simulation, Toolkit, Sandbox, Tag-Based | Licensed IP, Space Opera, Ship-Based, Crunchy, Social Combat, Investigation, Faction Play, Social Intrigue, Strong GM Support, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 4dF (four Fudge dice, range -4 to +4) plus a Skill from the character's 15-skill pyramid, compared against a fixed difficulty or an opposed roll. Spend a fate point to invoke one of your Aspects for +2 or a reroll; the referee compels Aspects to push the story and pay fate points back. | 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 | 4dF (Fudge dice) | 3d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | OGL v1.0a | 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 | VSCA Publishing | Green Ronin Publishing |
| Year | 2010 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want to collaboratively build a six-to-ten-system star cluster at session zero, then play hard-SF interstellar campaigns where personal firefights, vector-based ship duels, social confrontations, and platoon-scale battles each run as their own dedicated mini-game. | 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 | Cluster generation rolls Technology, Environment, and Resources for each star system on a -4 to +4 scale, then the table maps slipstream links between systems before play: the setting is built collaboratively rather than handed to the players. Space combat collapses range and velocity onto a single -4 to +4 vector track, so a torpedo-heavy frigate trying to hold standoff range and a beam-armed cruiser trying to close create real positional tension without grids or hex maps. Personal, social, and platoon combat each run as separate mini-games sharing one fate-point economy, so debating a planetary council, leading marines into a city block, and a knife fight resolve in the same language while feeling mechanically distinct. | 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 | Built on the pre-Fate-Core 2009 version of the Fate engine: terminology, the aspect-invocation flow, and the older stunt design predate later refinements, so players coming from Fate Core or Fate Accelerated will need to relearn the conventions. Cluster creation, system linking, and the five-phase collaborative character generation are designed to fill a full first session before play begins, so the game does not support spontaneous one-shots or solo character prep. Vector-based space combat enforces momentum, fuel, and reaction-drive constraints, so ship scenes resolve as deliberate tactical exchanges rather than narrative-first cinematic dogfights. | 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. |