Lancer vs Super Space Knights
Compare Lancer and Super Space Knights side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Lancer | Super Space Knights | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Scifi |
| Tags | Tactical, Mecha, Character Building, Heroic, Crunchy | CC-Licensed Rules, Combat-Heavy, Corruption, Fiction-First, Grimdark, Mission-Based, Playbook-Driven, Resource Management, Strong GM Support, Tag-Based |
| Core Mechanic | Narrative scenes use d20 roll-over (10+ succeeds), with backgrounds granting advantage and triggers adding flat bonuses. Mech combat is grid-based and tactical: no initiative, players and NPCs alternate turns. Pilots progress through License Levels (LL0–LL12), unlocking new chassis, weapons, and systems across five manufacturers with 30+ mech frames. | When a move's fictional trigger occurs, a player rolls 2d6 plus War, Faith, or Logistics. A 10 or higher succeeds, a 7 to 9 succeeds with a complication or price, and a 6 or lower fails with trouble to follow. |
| Dice | d20 + d6 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | Lancer Third Party License | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — CC BY 4.0 |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $$ | $ |
| Publisher | Massif Press | Gabriel Ciprés |
| Year | 2019 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups who want deep tactical mech combat with meaningful customization layered on top of accessible narrative play: giant robot enthusiasts seeking a modern alternative to BattleTech. | Groups who want military science-fiction campaigns at company scale, with shared worldbuilding and a corruption spiral that can turn victories into the Order's downfall. |
| Highlights | Free core PDF, extensive mech customization with 30+ frames, clean split between rules-light narrative and crunchy tactical combat, alternating activations remove initiative so both sides stay engaged | Players define the Order and its galactic context together, making the military empire and its enemies specific to their campaign. Damnation can produce powerful Darkness Taints or corrupt the Order itself, turning ruthless victories into a path toward collapse. Linked rules for companies, individual knights, and spaceships let missions shift scale while retaining the same fictional framework. |
| Considerations | Mech combat dominates: narrative half feels thin by comparison, steep learning curve from sheer volume of mech options, genre-locked to sci-fi mech fiction, requires grid/VTT for combat | Players usually control companies of dozens or hundreds of warriors, so individual characters receive less attention than the military unit. The premise centers an authoritarian human empire locked in perpetual war, and play repeatedly pressures companies toward violence and compromise. Conflicts between opponents at different scales resolve quickly in favor of the larger force, removing an underdog roll from those confrontations. |