See You, Space Cowboy... vs Tenra Bansho Zero
Compare See You, Space Cowboy... and Tenra Bansho Zero side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| See You, Space Cowboy... | Tenra Bansho Zero | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Fantasy, Scifi |
| Tags | Rules-Light, Anime, Noir, Player-Only Rolls, One-Shot Friendly, Mission-Based, Character-Driven | Drama, Character-Driven, Roleplay-Heavy, Corruption, One-Shot Friendly, Anime, Mecha, Cinematic, High-Power, Strong GM Support |
| 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. | Roll a number of d6 equal to an attribute. Each die showing the skill level or lower counts as a success. The GM announces how many successes are needed, usually between 1 and 6, before the roll. In an opposed roll, the defender's successes set the number the attacker must beat. Kiai points can add dice or raise a general skill before a roll, or buy extra successes after it. |
| Dice | d4–d12 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | Very Low | High |
| Availability | Paid | Paid |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Tidal Wave Games | Kotodama Heavy Industries |
| Year | 2022 | 2013 |
| Languages | English | English, Japanese, Spanish |
| 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 complete anime-style drama of samurai, sorcerers and mecha pilots in one long session, with the whole table rewarding memorable performances. |
| 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. | Aiki chits awarded by the table for memorable in-character play convert into the Kiai that buys dice and successes. Spent Kiai builds up as Karma, which players pay down by rewriting or sublimating their character's Fates. The Zero Act gives each character an opening scene and a GM-assigned Destiny, setting up a story meant to finish in one 4 to 6 hour session. |
| 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. | A character whose Karma is still above 108 at the end of an intermission normally becomes a GM-controlled Asura and leaves play. The book has no dedicated army-scale battle rules, though individual combat and Strategy rolls can still matter within a war. Scenes usually include only two or three PCs, so players spend much of the session as the audience or voicing NPCs. |