Offworlders is a role playing game written and published by Chris Wolf and is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
The supplement is available as a 33-page PDF for free from DriveThruRPG. It is also available in a softcover print on demand book for $6.59. The PDF is the version reviewed. One page is the front cover, one the front matter and one the table of contents.
Welcome to Offworlders explains that this is a science fiction game about adventurers, outlaws and guns for hire in the rough part of the galaxy. They own a small starship taking on dangerous jobs and hopefully making a profit.
Playing the Game starts with what’s needed; the rules, 2-4 other people, d6s, pencils, paper and character sheets. It then explains that the game is a conversation in which the GM describes the scene and the players respond explaining what their characters do. There are no formal turns.
Basic Terms has some terminology, all pretty standard for RPGs.
Rolling the Dice explains this is done when facing something dangerous, uncertain or contested. The player describes what they want to do, the most appropriate attribute is picked, potential outcomes on failure are discussed, then 2d6 are rolled and added to the attribute. 10 or higher is success, 7-9 is success with complication and 6 is failure. Two 6s is a critical success. Dice shouldn’t be rolled for something that can reasonably be done without trouble and rolling the dice always causes something to happen.
Attributes covers the four of these; Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Willpower. All are self-explanatory. Each has a rating between +2 and +3.
Skills covers several different skills. A character either has them or doesn’t. If they have a relevant skill when dice or rolled, one may be re-rolled, but the second result has to be accepted.
Abilities are special abilities that characters have. They start with two and may gain more.
Making an Offworlder is a six-step process; picking a class, choosing two skills, assigning attributes from an array of +2, +2, 0 and -1, recording Health, getting gear and finally naming and describing. There are details on how to customise classes and it explains there are no specific rules on aliens; anything related to them can be decided. Following this are four sample characters.
The four classes are then covered. There is a brief description followed by six class abilities. The classes are Geek, who are doctors, scientists and technicians, Outlaws, who are smugglers, scoundrels and jacks-of-all-trades, Psychics, who have mental abilities, and Warriors, who are soldiers and bounty hunters.
Fighting & Damage looks at taking damage and combat. It explains how characters can inflict damage to NPCs and how enemies and hazards inflict damage to characters, which is done in the same way. When an NPC reaches 0 Health, they are out of action. A player character is in serious trouble and must roll to see what the effects are, using Willpower as an add; 10+ is will make a full recovery, 7-9 means they lose a body part and 6 or less is doomed, though they may get to do one last thing before they die. Armour reduces damage and Health can be recovered through first aid and rest.
Money, Weapons and Gear explains tracking every single thing isn’t necessary. Most equipment is covered by the abstract Supply and the basic currency unit it the Credit, and one Credit is a relatively substantial amount of money. There is a list of things that cost one Credit, some more expensive items and Supply which is an abstract of tools and useful items that starts at 3 and 1 Supply can be spent for various items, either those listed or similar ones. Some items are heavy and make moving more difficult. Some more gear is then listed; armour, weapons and ship items.
The Ship covers the characters’ ship. This covers the basic starting ship and then various upgrades; two are selected to start. The characters’ ship is a small starship, such as a light freighter, frigate or corvette. How to control the ship is covered, and when it reaches Hull 0 it is disabled. Travelling to other systems uses fuel and Hull damage can be repaired at spaceports.
Character Advancement looks at how XP is earned, from rolling misses, end of session questions and during long trips. It then covers how this XP can be spent.
The Game Master is the GM’s section, though it can be read by players. It starts by explaining the goals of the GM and what they should do; there is nothing truly original here and the concepts should be familiar to anyone who has GM’d before.
The Die of Fate is a d6 the GM rolls when they don’t want to make a binary decision themself; a high roll is positive for the players, a low one negative.
Jobs: A Framework for Your Session essentially covers the game’s adventures, which are comparatively simple. There will be events, NPCs and questions, and a sample job is given.
Cash Rewards covers the rewards for jobs.
Non-Player Characters explains that it’s easy to come up with NPCs and creatures on the fly, although some are given.
Non-Player Starships is a brief list of starships to encounter.
The Long Game: The Star Map, Factions and Timelines is on expanding the game’s universe by drawing a star map, coming up with factions, timelines of events for a campaign setting and how the star map and timelines grow and change.
Inspirational Tables is a series of d6 tables; each has six columns and six results in them. They cover world types, themes, objects in space, cargo and names.
Following this are the character and ship sheets.
Break this Game is a brief paragraph on changing and hacking it.
Offworlders in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with the major sections linked. The table of contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked. Navigation is decent. The text maintains a three-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a variety of black and white illustrations, up to full page in size. Presentation is decent.
This is a comparatively lightweight game and there are some descriptions of games that inspired it; Apocalypse World Engine is quite noticeable. This is therefore a game that is more narrative based than crunch based, though it does have some crunch. It also has plenty of places in which the game could be expanded, should this be desired. It could be used as a one-shot but could also be used to create a growing universe; the more the game is played, the more details can be added to the setting and the more options. Offworlders is an interesting little game and it can be downloaded for free by clicking here.
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