RPGaDay 2017 – Day 1

So this is a thing the folks at PRGBrigade put out.  It seemed like a fun exercise to try.  This is different from my normal blog posts, most of these will be shorter, but it will be more frequent.  I hope you enjoy my answers please feel free to give your own opinion.

So Day 1 What published RPG do you wish you were playing right now?

My answer at the moment is Coriolis: The Third Horizon by Modiphius and The Free League.

Coriolis is a Science Fiction RPG taking place in the galaxy of the Third Horizon.  It is described as Firefly meets Arabian Knights.  The universe seems rather cool and rich in ideas.  It is a setting where the gods (ICONs) are thought by most to be real and they are prayed to often.  It is a world that is a bit gritty and lived in and has a wondrous but also scary and depraved view.  It’s more a dystopian future but not everything is bad.  This is a space game where there aren’t large fleets, massive armies, a big bad enemy, or an oppressive empire to overcome.  Instead, you are just trying to make your way and survive.  You can be a hauling crew, a bounty hunting crew, a salvage crew, you name it the options only limited by the ideas at the table.

It’s an interesting take on this type of sci-fi a new sand box to play in, with rules I really like.  Coriolis is built on the back on the Mutant: Year Zero engine. But much like Tales from the Loop modified them to create a very Narrative game in the 80’s that never was, Coriolis makes great changes to the core to make a gritty sci-fi game with just the right amount of crunch.

I’m particularly impressed with the ship combat rules.  In Coriolis space ship combat is not something that happens with fleets against fleets anymore there are not that many ships around.  Instead, it is more cloak and dagger affairs as you second guess your adversaries plan to out maneuver them.  It is more like old school submarine combat. Hunt for Red October style.  It seems to play our more like combat in the Expanse or Honor Harrington than something like Star Wars or Star Trek.  Intense and interesting with rules that make sure everyone on the ship as a meaningful role.

I’ve not had the pleasure of playing in a game of Coriolis just yet or even running one (if I had I would or already wrote a Fan Friday about this game yet) but I really hope I can find the time to find a game to play in in the near future.