tactical, class-based sci-fi RPG
TraVerse was originally concepted because nobody made the scifi game we wanted to play.
All the science fiction options for tabletop were either too science-fantasy or too rules light.
The only viable option for us was Traveller, and while it has excellent character creation, a large skill list, and a wide variety of equipment, it was missing a few critical elements we were looking for – impactful class abilities, satisfying character progression, and tactical combat.
TraVerse was born from this need; a gap in our TRPG lexicon that, for us, demanded to be filled.
core pillars
The core narrative and design pillars for TraVerse were set early in its development, guiding every aspect of the game’s design, from its setting and tone, to its rules and creatures.
We also set a series of more specific secondary design goals that were referenced whenever we needed to make a decision or implement a new game system, assuring we were working towards our overall design vision.
narrative pillars
Because players in TraVerse can acquire a starship to travel the galaxy, characters can find themselves in a variety of environments, each with a distinct tone of play, enabling GM’s to mix and match a variety of scifi settings.
We chose to focus on what we considered the five most iconic elements of scifi. The rules, characters, setting, and creatures of TraVerse were then built from the ground-up to support adventures using these themes.
design pillars
There are many fantastic things the d20 tradition of D&D has innovated over the years, with each edition bringing something new to the table.
- 3rd edition’s character customization and skills.
- 4th edition’s tactical combat and monster design.
- 5th edition’s bounded accuracy and ease-of-use.
guiding principles
With all the science-fantasy TRPGs available, we wanted to assure we were putting the SCIENCE in science fiction.
We knew we wanted to create a believable, grounded tone with our game, one anchored in real history, biology, and physics. Everything would be plausible, and have an internal logic that made sense.
We also wanted to present characters built for tactical combat in a straightforward way with abilities that were easy to understand, fun to use, and that felt impactful.
From these principles, a list of secondary goals emerged that guided the specifics of what we were trying to achieve.
scifi hardness
When creating a sci-fi property, all franchises have to grapple with the concept of “hardness,” even if they do not consciously do so.
Scifi hardness is not an exact science, but rather a general sense of how close to reality a scifi universe is, determined by a combination of a setting’s narrative tone and technology level.
A setting’s scifi hardness influences what its technology can do, so must be determined early on in a game’s development so it can inform the design process, especially in a game like TraVerse that prominently features weaponry, equipment, tech abilities, psionic abilities, vehicles, and starships.
The Hardness Scale
We have provided a Sci-Fi Hardness Scale in the chart below that includes a variety of popular science fiction franchises.
TraVerse is roughly a 7.5 on this scale.
What this means, is that if a GM wants to use the TraVerse game engine to run a game in a scifi universe within the green dotted lines, they can likely do so with a relative minimum of conversion work. Anything outside this “splash zone” would require a significantly higher amount of conversion work, making a more targeted TRPG a likely better option.
