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Howdy AcadeManiacs, it’s your old friend Professor Crunch. I am thrilled to bring you a review of Death in Space, “a rules-light tabletop roleplaying game in a gritty science fiction setting” that was successfully funded on Kickstarter back in April 2021.
I reviewed a copy of the PDF kindly provided to the Academy by Free League Press.
The Kickstarter campaign was successfully funded by 2545% and let me tell you, the finished product deserves the hype indicated by its success ratio. I absolutely love this game. If you’re a fan of narrative-focused games, you’ll like these mechanics. If you’re a fan of grungy, edge-of-civilization survival sci-fi set against a backdrop of cosmic horror stories, you’ll like this setting.
Style
First and foremost, this book oozes with style. It’s gorgeous. The book is printed in sharp contrast with a light font on a dark background. The art is subtle but stunning, quickly demonstrating the strange, desperate mood of the setting. There’s also a holographic cover that is simply slick as all get out.
As a word of caution, some might find this visual presentation challenging. Many folks read digital material in a “night mode” setting nowadays, myself included, and this book comes with that setting already selected. I personally did not experience any additional eye strain when reading this book. But fair warning to anyone picking this up.
This book is expertly designed to draw readers into the intended mindset by the game creators. The game’s genre is nothing new, but the story of the game setting is injected with unique twists on core sci-fi and cosmic horror tropes. Every part of the book, from cover to cover, helps readers and players feel these unique story elements viscerally.
This same careful attention to style and prevention carries over into the support resources available to players. While character creation is quite simple (more on that later), an online character generator is available. It’s presented in 8-bit, old-school DOS-style graphics and serves as an easy tool to help players embody the mindset of the world and their characters. There’s also a glorious soundtrack that provides a perfect background for your game session. It’s moody and evocative.
All in all, every single detail of this game has been designed to put readers and players in the exact mental space that the creators intended.
Book Overview
The book is short, at just over 130 pages. But it is jam-packed with content and art. Every single page is visually appealing, full of art and details that deliver the theme and style of this game. The book is also very well organized, with information following (except for one odd exception) a logical flow.
After a short introduction to the game world, the book starts with character creation rules. Personally, I love this approach. Not everyone feels the same way, but I think that starting with character creation gives players the best foundation for gameplay. In this game, after creating characters the party creates a living space. That space is crucial for survival, so naturally the book takes readers there next.
Following both steps of pre-game creation, the book next shows us how to play the game. While the rules are relatively simple (more on these later), there are quite a few different things to keep track of during gameplay. But the explanations are easy to understand. They’re also very easy to reference during a game session.
The next section of the book is focused on lore and setting. We learn the history of the game world and interesting facts about the star system where the game takes place. Most of the information in this section is focused on The Ring, which is the primary location where most events in the game take place. And since there are elements of cosmic horror lurking in the background, we also learn about cults that are active in the game.
The rest of the book is devoted to tables of information necessary to play the game. Most of this is focused on equipment and items. But tables are found in every section of this book. The majority of these tables are numbered for selection by a random roll.
As mentioned earlier, there is one odd point of organization in the book. The very first thing seen in the book is a list of in-game items and their cost. While this is necessary information, it’s odd to read it first. I would think placing it at the end of the book with the rules cheat sheet would make more sense.
Character Creation
As a mostly rules-lite system, Death in Space has 6 steps of character creation. The whole process is simple and entertaining, especially when you roll on the random tables.
The first step is generating the 4 character abilities that define each player character. This is done by rolling 1d4 minus 1d4. That’s right. The abilities in Death in Space range from +3 to -3. If you haven’t guessed so far, the spooky space game with ‘death’ in the title is super lethal. To support this, PC hit points are defined by rolling 1d8. Once.
Additional steps include selecting an origin (which grants a choice of special abilities) and selecting or rolling for a variety of flavor-based character details and starting equipment.
The second part of pre-game creation is about creating a space for the PCs to live. The game calls this a Hub. The Hub can be either a spacecraft or space station. Each is defined by pre-set stats which come into play later when filling the Hub with equipment and supplies. The Hub is completed by selecting or rolling flavor details, just like with PCs.
Mechanics and Playing the Game
The core mechanic of Death in Space is an ability check of 1d20 plus the relevant ability, which can be negative. A result of 12 or higher is a success. For an opposed task, the same roll is made but the higher result wins. Combat is done with the same roll again, but in this case it’s compared to the defense rating of the target. A roll equal to or greater than the defense rating is a success.
Failure of an ability check is noted as generating “a complication or setback”, which I interpret as embracing the “fail forward” ideology. Given the setting and tone of the game, this feels exactly on-brand.
Failure of an ability check or attack roll also grants PCs a Void Point, which is a really fun resource for players. These points are related to Cosmic Mutations, which essentially super powers that PCs can gain through a variety of methods. This is where the cosmic horror vibe really kicks in. These Mutations grant useful powers but bring a risk of triggering a Void Corruption. Triggering a Corruption injects crazy horror elements into the game.
As fun as this is, the Cosmic Mutations are the one small gripe I have with this game. They are defined vaguely, which is deliberate and gives players the opportunity to use them creatively. The rules state that a player has to spend a Void Point to activate a Mutation, but many of them are defined as seemingly on-going abilities. This obstacle can be easily overcome with a good session zero and clear ongoing communication. But I do think this could be a challenge for new players who may feel less confident with sharing narrative control.
There are also rules for traveling, fighting, and surviving in space. Given the lethality of this game and setting, these are none too forgiving. This is also where the rules slide slightly towards being more crunchy than rules-lite. Tracking things like fuel and oxygen are not tricky, but they’re not easy.
There are plenty of other rules that help flesh out the game world, from carrying capacity to the extra wild things that can happen when a PC dies. A unique and well-executed rule is Morale. Enemies and NPCs have this rating. Depending on how combat goes, a Morale roll can lead to an enemy trying to flee or surrender. While this is a relatively simple rule, it’s one that is missing from many other games. And in this case, it helps reinforce the desperate nature of survival inherent to Death in Space and adds a level of realism to the role play. Enemies are trying to survive themselves, and will not fight to the death when they could escape and try to recover.
Another crunchy element is the condition and repair of gear. There are quite a few rules about when and how items break and how difficult it is to repair them. Survival in this game is very dependent on having the right gear and making sure it is functional. This is a key component of Death in Space.
Setting
As noted above, maintaining gear is a big part of the game setting. A primary principle of Death in Space is “Nothing is New”. The game is set in the Tenebris system, which has been plagued by war that hasn’t ever quite ended. Communication is difficult. Travel is even harder. There are no new resources to be found, so everything is in a constant state of disrepair. Thus, PCs tend to be focused on making sure what they own and use daily will function as needed when needed.
There is quite a bit of information about the Tenebris system itself, including planets and different celestial bodies. But space travel is expensive and difficult in this game, so it will probably be rare that players will see all these locations. PCs will spend most of their time in The Ring, one of the last inhabitable places in the system. The majority of the setting details in the book are focused on The Ring, ranging from elements of the physical location to the intricacies of its political organization.
Also included in this section are resources for things like terrifying creatures, environmental dangers, and random tables that help outline every element of a game session.
Overall, this setting is focused on the desperation of survival. It’s not easy to live in this setting, let alone thrive. The book leaves enough room for players to add in whatever story elements they prefer, but the foundation it delivers reinforces how difficult it is to exist in this game.
Conclusion
Death in Space is an excellent game. It delivers exactly what it promises with a dark, moody, survival experience set against a backdrop of grungy sci-fi meets cosmic horror. The tropes of the game are not unique, but the game does use them in a fresh and engaging way.
The mechanics walk the fine line of crunch and provide a rules-lite, narrative-focused game that has just enough structure to support the more complicated details of the setting. Most importantly, the rules support the style and tone of the setting and help players experience their characters’ desperate efforts to survive.
Every element of this game is designed with style and care. This is not the right sci-fi game for every player and every story. If you plan on running this for your group, make sure you have a thorough session zero and get everyone on the same page when it comes to the horror and survival elements that are a core part of this game. Also be sure to keep lines of communication open during the game, as events can take a drastic turn suddenly.
One of my favorite elements of the game are all the random tables included in the book. Rolling randomly adds to the unexpected and dangerous nature of both the sci-fi and cosmic horror genres. But also, simply reading all of the possible outcomes helps both players and narrators understand the true nature of the setting, which leads to better, more informed role playing. By providing these details about the game world, the game designers have helped players act with confidence.
As a fan of rules-lite games and the sci-fi and cosmic horror genres, I highly recommend this game. It’s quick to set up and easy to run. The book’s style and design elements set the game’s intended tone right from the start, and that tone is further supported by extra game resources that are available for free. Every bit of this game helps players understand and embody their characters, and that makes for an excellent game experience. Death in Space was created to fit a very specific tabletop gaming niche, and it does it perfectly.
MY RATING:
Overall I’d rate this game as an A-
Follow Death in Space on Twitter ( @DeathInSpace1 )
Visit DeathInSpace.Com
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