See You, Space Cowboy... vs ShenaniGoblins
Compare See You, Space Cowboy... and ShenaniGoblins side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| See You, Space Cowboy... | ShenaniGoblins | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Fantasy |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Anime, Noir, Player-Only Rolls, One-Shot Friendly, Mission-Based, Character-Driven | Comedy, Rules-Light, One-Shot Friendly, Beginner-Friendly, Low-Prep, Tag-Based, Player-Only Rolls, Freeform Magic, Character-Driven, CC-Licensed Rules |
| Core Mechanic | When attempting a Break (a discrete action like a fistfight, hack, persuasion, or repair), the player rolls a single Trait die (a d6, d8, d10, or d12 assigned to that Trait at character creation) against fixed thresholds: 4 or below fails, 5–9 partially succeeds, 10 or above fully succeeds. If the player has a relevant Talent (an open-ended specialty written by the player, like 'Picking Pockets' or 'Plays Drums'), they add a d4 to the roll. Failing a Break grants Juice, a token that can be spent to reroll all dice on a future Break (partial successes become failures on rerolls); rolling the maximum on the unmodified Trait die also grants Juice. The Bandleader (GM) never rolls dice: they choose the stat and thresholds, then narrate outcomes. | To Do The Thing, roll one d6 for each Trait the Goblin Master agrees would help. Add one die for a helpful item in the goblin's Pockets, two when the goblin often does this task as part of its Job, and one per helper, then remove one die per character trying to stop the goblin. Each 5 or 6 is a Hit, and the goblin succeeds when the Hits equal or exceed the Goblin Master's difficulty of 1 to 5. Dice hit on 4+ when the action directly serves the goblin's Dream or the player spends 2 Sparks, and only on 6 when the player takes 1 XP for a hindering Trait. Two or more dice showing the same number also trigger Chaos Magic, adding Something Bad on a match of 1–3 or Something Good on a match of 4–6 on top of the roll's result. |
| Dice | d4–d12 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Very Low | Very Low |
| Availability | Paid | Free core rules |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | Book tools not listed |
| License | Proprietary | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Noncommercial only — Open license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Tidal Wave Games | Jon Pessin |
| Year | 2022 | 2025 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want a fast, cinematic bounty-hunter game in the vein of Cowboy Bebop or Outlaw Star, tuned for one-shots and short 'season-length' campaigns. Best for tables that enjoy improvising scenes and sharing director-style narrative authority with the GM. | Groups who want a silly, low-prep fantasy one-shot about incompetent minions, where arguing a goblin's quirks into the dice pool is part of the fun. |
| Highlights | The Bandleader (GM) never rolls dice: players' Trait rolls resolve every contested moment while the GM chooses the stat, sets thresholds, and narrates outcomes. Talents are open-ended specialties players invent at character creation (e.g., 'Yeet', 'Picking Pockets', 'Plays Drums'), each adding a d4 to relevant Breaks for one of the four Traits. Required Bonds, Debts, and Regrets at character creation give every Outlaw a personal arc: clearing a Debt permanently upgrades the Talent die from d4 to d6, and resolving a Regret grants a once-per-session auto-success on a chosen Break. Procedural bounty generation pulls from tables for Threat Level, Charges, Demeanour, Modus Operandi, Specialized Gear, Appearance, Hideout, and Complications, supporting pickup play and improvised scenarios. | Matching dice add a Chaos Magic event on top of the roll's result, so even a successful roll can bring Something Bad. Damage marks off Traits that cannot be rolled until they recover, so an injured goblin loses dice instead of hit points. Fulfilling a goblin's Dream grants an immediate Level and a new Trait, and the player then sets an even more grandiose Dream. |
| Considerations | Mechanically minimal: no character classes, no skill list, no advancement track beyond clearing a Debt or resolving a Regret. Pacing assumes one-shots or short season-length campaigns; long-term progression is not structured by the rules. The Bandleader-rolls-nothing approach puts improvisational load on the GM to interpret narrative outcomes for every Break, since opposed-roll resolution does not apply. Setting is anchored to a specific 23rd-century solar system with 1990s-era consumer technology and no alien species; using a different backdrop requires reskinning the planet writeups, bounty charges table, and name tables. | Spark-powered magic has no spell list or cost table, so the Goblin Master judges how many Sparks each change costs. Any pool of seven or more dice is certain to contain a matching pair, which guarantees a Chaos Magic event. The rules include no character death: a goblin with every Trait marked is Out until one recovers. |