Character generator.

A rules-light tabletop roleplaying game in a gritty science fiction setting.

Engage in power struggles and build your crew’s reputation. Salvage and steal to survive and endure a ruthless universe. And above all, do anything you can to get that next job.

This sci-fi tabletop roleplaying game takes you to the grimy blue-collar future of a universe filled with risk, but also opportunity. DEATH IN SPACE presents a vision of space where technology is broken and dirty, and society is harsh and desperate. The player characters make up a crew with their own spacecraft or station, and take on the jobs they can find, in order to earn some well-needed bucks and get ahead in the power struggles of the stellar system.

Death in Space is a table-top roleplaying game about the salvagers, miners, drillers and other workers stuck in the war-ravaged Tenebris system, just waiting for the next big score. They’re hungry for contracts and adventure, and take the jobs they can get from anonymous corporations and those few who have carved out seats of power in this harsh place.

And as if war wasn’t enough, rumor has it that the Universe is dying, accelerating towards a future big crunch. And the rate is increasing, sped up by the blackness of space itself. The void corrupts and infects, whispering strange words through an omnipresent white noise that grows more intense every day.

DEATH IN SPACE has its roots in the OSR scene, and follows similar design principles. In terms of setting and tone, inspiration comes primarily from the gritty science fiction of films like Outland and Prospect, classic westerns and the grimy future of early 80’s science fiction movies.

It is a game about adventure and uncertain journeys out into the darkness of space, it is about you and your crew making a home of your spacecraft or station, in tough competition with everyone else, and most of all, it is about enduring in an abandoned frontier system where your only hope of surviving is to take any contract you can find, sometimes having to put your fate in your enemies' hands.

Inspiration
There are a lot of great and inspiring games out there. In terms of rules and approach, we have found inspiration in some form, large or small, in for example the following games (alphabetically listed): Coriolis, Into the Odd, Knave, Mothership, Mutant Year Zero, MÖRK BORG, Offworlders, Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells, Mutant (1989 edition), Traveller. Out of these, MÖRK BORG, Knave and Coriolis deserve a special mention.

Most of the inspiration for the tone and feel comes from movies and series. Some of these, that have inspired elements of the setting in one way or another, are (alphabetically listed): 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Fistful of Dollars, Alien, Blade Runner, Escape from New York, The Expanse, Firefly, IO, Moon, Outland, Prospect, Sunshine, Total Recall, The Warriors.

0Visually, much of the inspiration comes from abstract geometric art and design, and old computer interfaces and manuals.

The Rules
The rules of DEATH IN SPACE are intended to be easy to use and hack but also to support and introduce the setting through the rules. While inspired by OSR games, the primary intent is not to be fully compatible with the rulesets and modules of old, but rather to try to capture the quickness and simplicity of these rulesets, tweak them according to our preferences and add some setting flavor (however, the rules are still close enough to other OSR rulesets that material should be possible to use with some simple conversions).

The basic rule when you try to accomplish something, say force open an airlock, or resist the effects of strange radiation, is to roll a d20 modified by one of four ability values, the ability determined by the nature of the task. If you roll over a fixed difficulty, you succeed. Failing checks gives you void points that you can use to increase your chances the next time you attempt something. Beware of saving up too many though, that might result in some nasty consequences. Void points are also used to activate cosmic mutations, strange powers from the void.

The player characters are all part of a crew with their own spacecraft or space-station, their sanctuary in a dangerous universe. Characters are generated in a quick randomized fashion, making it quick to make a new one when (not if) your character suffers an accident. With a list of 60+ modules that provide new possibilities, the players can successively customize their ship or station and really make it their home and base of their adventures. If your ship or gear should break, you can repair it as soon as you collect the necessary spare parts. In case you encounter rivals on your travels, the rules for spacecraft confrontations determine the outcome and whether you can avoid being boarded.

The Tenebris system
DEATH IN SPACE focuses on the Tenebris system—a system of planets and objects revolving around the star Tenebris. It is a stellar system ravaged by war and strife, where a greed-fueled mining for precious gems ended in a conflict that laid waste to the intricate trade networks that ensured technological production. With no new parts to find, almost every single object built today, from weapon to spacecraft, is put together from discarded, salvaged or stolen parts. Nothing is new.

As if rebuilding the system after the war was not enough, there are reports from stargazing cosmologists that the universe has stopped expanding, and that it has instead begun collapsing at an accelerating rate. The news that civilization is at its end have created a sense of hopelessness and disorder, and in many sectors of the system former vassals have taken this chance to seize control from distant rulers.

In the heart of the Tenebris system is the Iron Ring—a huge, ring-like structure surrounding the moon Inauro like a belt of metal. This is the center of activity in the Tenebris system, and here miners and salvagers huddle in cramped living quarters, waiting for their next contract and a chance to earn some much needed money. In other parts of the Ring, far from the bustling market-places and common areas, there are dark, empty sectors, where shady types hide from attention.

Among the people of the Iron Ring, cryptic rumors are spreading about a void accelerating the collapse. A void that whispers strange sentences to the unlucky through the ever present thick static noise that grows stronger and stronger as you travel towards the edge of civilization. A void that infects and corrupts and imbues their bodies with odd powers.

In the middle of all this are the player characters: hard-working explorers and laborers hoping for a big score.

The core rulebook contains everything you need to start playing immediately:
* Light-weight rules, intended to be easy to use and quick to learn
* A system for quickly generating player characters and their spacecraft or space-station
* 60+ different modules to make the spacecraft or space-station your own
* An introduction to the default setting, the Tenebris stellar system, its main locations and history (with many pieces of the puzzle left for you to fill in)
* A system for repairs, where you collect spare parts to repair your stuff
* 20 cosmic mutations, representing physical manifestations of the void through your body
* A system for spacecraft confrontations and boarding
* An introductory scenario to jumpstart your campaign
* 40+ tables and generators packed with setting flavor

By Christian Plogfors and Carl Niblaeus of Stockholm Kartell.