Green Ronin has now hit Kickstarter with their take on the world of The Expanse by James S.A. Corey. The world has an immense book series and also a damn good TV show for you to get stuck into as well, and now you can become part of that world with a new role-playing book.

The new book will feature mechanics familiar to those who have delved into the AGE system before. You will get to take on the role of Belters, Martians and the people of Old Earth who are struggling for control of the galaxy with plenty of infighting and a threat of more out there in the darkness of space.

The AGE system is one that certainly rewards interesting role-playing but I have talked about my misgivings with the system as well. The Stunt system is great for new players as it gives them interesting options for your encounters but it somewhat hampers veterans, in my opinion anyway.

Here are some of the changes to the system...

• Fortune: Rather than Health, characters have a Fortune score that measures lucky near-misses, close scrapes, and trivial hits before the character takes serious harm. Fortune is also useful for modifying die rolls and offering players some narrative control but, watch out! Spend too much of it and your luck could run out when you get caught in a crossfire!
• Conditions: In addition to a running Fortune total, characters use various conditions to measure things like injuries and fatigue as well as tactical challenges like hindered movement or sensory abilities.
• Interludes: The interludes in between encounters are given their own treatment, allowing players to make use of their “down-time” (including long hauls between destinations in the System) to recover, do maintenance, build their connections with others, or pursue their own projects.
• Spaceships: The Expanse RPG features a system to model and create spaceships and its own system for space combat, including the assault on Thoth Station as an example of the system in action!
• The Churn: The Expanse also offers something for the Game Master with the Churn: A ticking counter that measures the crew’s progress through a story and just when things are going to suddenly go sideways and become even more complicated!

I have loved watching the TV series and I think that the ways of the Martians and the Belters, in particular, would be awesome to play out on the tabletop. So, I will be keeping an eye on this one.

What do you think?