OneDice Abney Park’s Airship Pirates vs The Expanse Roleplaying Game
Compare OneDice Abney Park’s Airship Pirates and The Expanse Roleplaying Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| OneDice Abney Park’s Airship Pirates | The Expanse Roleplaying Game | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi | Scifi |
| Tags | Pirates, Ship-Based, Licensed IP, Skill-Based, Cinematic, Pulp Action, Random Tables | Licensed IP, Space Opera, Ship-Based, Crunchy, Social Combat, Investigation, Faction Play, Social Intrigue, Strong GM Support, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 1d6 plus one relevant ability and an applicable skill if any, then meet or beat the Gamekeeper’s target number. Opposed checks compare totals, while Doubloons can secure non-combat success, turn a hit into a miss, or power swashbuckling stunts. | 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 | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | 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 | Cakebread & Walton | Green Ronin Publishing |
| Year | 2014 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want fast, cinematic campaigns about a shared airship crew, with boarding actions and procedurally generated Skyloft destinations. | 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 | Doubloons refresh each session and turn danger into player choices by averting harm or enabling cinematic stunts. Airship combat uses abstract range bands to structure chases and boarding actions for the whole crew. Random Skyloft tables generate aerial settlements with distinct economies and local customs. | 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 | The Gamekeeper sets target numbers and many situational modifiers, so table consistency depends on shared expectations. Player pirates reduced to zero Health by lethal damage die unless Medicine succeeds within three combat rounds; a Doubloon instead leaves them unconscious. The setting includes authoritarian oppression and slavery. | 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. |