Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game vs Mothership
Compare Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game and Mothership side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Elite: Dangerous Role Playing Game | Mothership | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Scifi, Horror |
| Play Style | Space Opera, Licensed IP, Ship-Based, Sandbox, Skill-Based, Classless, Tactical, Cinematic, Random Tables, GM-Friendly, Exploration | Rules-Light, Deadly, One-Shot Friendly, Survival, Atmospheric, Low-Prep, Cinematic, Fast-Paced |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a d10 and add your Skill bonus (one-tenth of your skill score, rounded down) — equal or exceed the GM's difficulty number to succeed. A natural 1 always fails and a natural 10 always succeeds, within reason. The same roll plus a weapon's Accuracy bonus drives combat at all three scales (personal, vehicle, and spaceship) against a target's Defence score. | Roll d100 under stat/skill. Stress and panic mechanics escalate tension. |
| Dice | d10 | d100 |
| Complexity | Medium | Low |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Community | Low | Medium |
| License | Proprietary (Frontier Developments licensed IP) | 3rd Party License |
| Cost | $$ | $ |
| Publisher | Spidermind Games / Modiphius Entertainment | Tuesday Knight Games |
| Year | 2017 | 2022 |
| Best For | Groups who want to play freelance starship commanders trading, exploring, and dogfighting their way across the 34th-century Milky Way. Particularly suited to fans of the Elite: Dangerous video game who want to expand the experience with crewed ground missions and off-ship intrigue. | Terrifying sci-fi horror one-shots and short campaigns. Panic table creates unforgettable moments. |
| Highlights | Three integrated combat scales (personal, vehicle, and spaceship) share the same d10 resolution but each has scale-specific actions and damage rules. Spaceship combat uses a two-zone abstract flight system with zone-restricted actions — joust, dogfight, broadsides, ram, and others — so manoeuvre matters without a grid. Sixteen ships from the video game (Sidewinder through Anaconda) are statted with full component, weapon mount, and modification rules. The Random Generation System provides d10 tables for generating star systems, missions, encounters, and military objectives between or during sessions. | Rules-light, well-regarded module library, panic system creates mechanical tension |
| Considerations | Spaceship combat has more moving parts than personal-scale checks: shield recharge, equipment actions, floating bonuses, component criticals, and ammo all need tracking each round. The conversational prose style is approachable to read but slow to navigate when looking up a specific rule mid-session. Single-pilot ships are the default; running larger crewed vessels with multiple PCs at the same console takes GM adjustment. The setting is locked to the video game's 34th-century three-superpower politics, which constrains departures from established lore. | Panic table can cascade and end sessions abruptly, limited long-campaign support in core rules, stress mechanics can feel repetitive over extended play |