Serenity RPG vs The Expanse Roleplaying Game

Compare Serenity RPG and The Expanse Roleplaying Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Serenity RPG	The Expanse Roleplaying Game
Genre	Scifi	Scifi
Tags	Licensed IP, Ship-Based, Cinematic, Narrative, Character-Driven, Classless, Skill-Based, Character Building, Tactical, Strong GM Support	Licensed IP, Space Opera, Ship-Based, Crunchy, Social Combat, Investigation, Faction Play, Social Intrigue, Strong GM Support, Tactical
Core Mechanic	Roll an Attribute die and a relevant Skill die and add their results to meet a difficulty or beat an opposing roll. Ratings use d2–d12 and add extra dice above d12. The Game Master chooses the Attribute paired with each Skill. Personal modifiers change die sizes; outside conditions change the difficulty. Plot Points buy bonus dice before a roll or add +1 per point afterward.	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	d2–d12	3d6
Complexity	Medium	High
Accessibility	Very Low	High
Runnability	Low	Very High
License	All Rights Reserved	All Rights Reserved
Third-Party Publishing	No verified route found	No verified route found
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Cost	Unavailable	$$
Publisher	Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.	Green Ronin Publishing
Year	2005	2019
Languages	English	English
Best For	Groups who want to play a working-class spaceship crew taking risky jobs on a Western-flavored frontier. It suits tables that like a light core roll, dangerous gunfights, and characters defined as much by their flaws as by their skills.	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	Playing up a mandatory Complication earns Plot Points, so a character's flaws fund the bonus dice and damage reduction they need in a crisis. Plot Points buy GM-approved story facts on a priced scale from inconsequential to major, giving players a measured say in the plot. The crew's ship has its own Attributes, Traits, and Skills, giving its condition and quirks a mechanical role in play.	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	Severe Wounds penalize every Attribute die and can require surgery followed by days of recovery. Owning a ship adds monthly bookkeeping: a maintenance roll sets the bill, and each month of skipped upkeep lowers the ship's Vitality toward a breakdown. Social conflict uses ordinary Influence rolls with no dedicated procedure for arguments, negotiation, or deception.	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.