Getting Dangerous With The Elite: Dangerous Role-Playing Game

Some RPGs are suited to telling a tight story, and some work best in a sandbox where players can explore and adventure as they please. The Elite: Dangerous RPG definitely falls into the latter category.

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That makes sense, though, as the original Elite is arguably the granddaddy of open-world videogames. Despite coming on cassette tape and taking up considerably less memory than this web page, it allowed players to explore an entire galaxy of starbases, pirate bases and asteroid fields, and the tabletop version from Spidermind sets out to emulate the same feel of freedom and exploration.
Unlike its digital ancestors, however, the Elite: Dangerous RPG isn't designed around a lone-wolf star pilot but rather a whole party of them. Or possibly the term is 'squadron', as every player is expected to have their own ship, whether it's a single-seat fighter or a cruiser teeming with laser cannons.

It still sets out with the aim that any character can achieve any role they want though, and as such there's nothing even slightly resembling classes or even archetypes in the rulebook. Instead, you build your character by picking a number of background options that can determine everything from your childhood to your career. For example, if you decide that your character used to be an engineer they get extra points in their repair skill, while a brief foray into politics boosts their social skills.

The sheer range of options is staggering - apparently cheerleading at high school is worth +20 points in athletics - and set the scene for Elite as a whole. The entire game seems based around giving you choices to upgrade and tweak your character, their gear and their ship. Sometimes this could mean investing in a fresh rack of missiles, while others could involve dying your skin an attractive shade of blue for a bonus to social encounters.

In terms of crunch, therefore, the game is incredibly broad but not particularly deep. Everything from charming a contact to firing a chaingun is settled with the same core mechanic of trying to hit a target number by rolling a d10 with a skill bonus on top. Every ten points you have in a skill you gets you a +1, with early-game characters maxing out at around a +4 and only the greatest of pilots ever reaching the heights of a perfect +10.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing though, and for a game that looks so intimidating at first glance Elite: Dangerous is surprisingly quick to pick up, with the only truly complicated part of the rules being those for space combat. Even then, most players should be fairly comfortable with their options once they get a couple of encounters under their belt.

It's the kind of system that rewards players who like to tinker with their character and enjoy looking over weapon tables and lists of cybernetic enhancements, imagining how they'll use them in the next encounter. At the same time, it doesn't need them to spend hours on a single turn as they activate buffs and roll on endless tables.

The biggest flaw, perhaps, is in the universe itself. Elite has always been about the tales players made up for themselves rather than those presented in the fiction, and as sci-fi settings go the one presented in the Elite: Dangerous RPG is incredibly generic. Between the corporate-run Federation, feudalistic Empire and democratic but anarchic Alliance all the tropes you'd expect are well-represented, and at times it feels as though the game is calling out for some unique twist that shakes things up a little.

Appropriately enough then, it's up to the players to write the stories that make their galaxy come alive, and the Elite: Dangerous RPG certainly provides the tools for them to do that.

contributed by Richard Jansen-Parkes

 

[lyle.spade]

I played what I believe was the original version, on 5.25" floppy disks, in the late 80s on my Apple IIc. I remember the space stations were all d20s and the dogfighting and trading made for a really interesting, immersive game. In retrospect, it was way ahead of its time, and was amazingly playable given (what we now consider to be) the limitations of the technology.

The RPG, based on the free Quickstart I read, looks pretty generic, with a system that seems, mechanically, to be almost a close of R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk:2020. I'd love to read a review and feedback from someone who owns and has played it.

Any takers? I ask because I am in search of a good science fiction system, preferably with an interesting world. Note: I've played FFG's Star Wars and grew tired of the dice system. Traveller, although it has major nostalgia value for me, is ultimately based on a really clunky, old system. Starfinder is Pathfinder and we hates the Baggins too-crunchy Pathfinder forever. So now you have context.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Some RPGs are suited to telling a tight story, and some work best in a sandbox where players can explore and adventure as they please.

I'm still trying to figure this out. How are some RPGs more suited to sandboxing? Is it simply because players can travel to any one of numerous star systems, "jumping" from one to the next, or is it a reference to something deeper?

 

[Winghorn]

I'm still trying to figure this out. How are some RPGs more suited to sandboxing? Is it simply because players can travel to any one of numerous star systems, "jumping" from one to the next, or is it a reference to something deeper?

There are some that work best with fairly tight stories, and others that are better when people can freely roam.

Off the top of my head, mystery games like Tales From the Loop and ​Call of Cthulhu are examples of systems where the GM is unlikely to just drop you in a world and let you get on with it. There will generally be a pre-defined goal or weird thing for you to investigate.

With Elite and other sandbox-ey games, you can create an enjoyable campaign by giving your players a gentle slap on the bum to get them out of the gates, and then allowing them to drive where the narrative is going.

 

[aramis erak]

I played what I believe was the original version, on 5.25" floppy disks, in the late 80s on my Apple IIc. I remember the space stations were all d20s and the dogfighting and trading made for a really interesting, immersive game. In retrospect, it was way ahead of its time, and was amazingly playable given (what we now consider to be) the limitations of the technology.

The RPG, based on the free Quickstart I read, looks pretty generic, with a system that seems, mechanically, to be almost a close of R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk:2020. I'd love to read a review and feedback from someone who owns and has played it.

The Apple II version was a port from the original.

 

[Fandabidozi]

My experience with Elite is repeatedly flying head first into the side of the hanger bay or being paralysed with doubt over what to buy and sell.

 

[Guest 6801328]

There are some that work best with fairly tight stories, and others that are better when people can freely roam.

You keep saying this as if it's obvious, or common knowledge, but the claim needs to be substantiated.

Off the top of my head, mystery games like Tales From the Loop and ​Call of Cthulhu are examples of systems where the GM is unlikely to just drop you in a world and let you get on with it. There will generally be a pre-defined goal or weird thing for you to investigate.

With Elite and other sandbox-ey games, you can create an enjoyable campaign by giving your players a gentle slap on the bum to get them out of the gates, and then allowing them to drive where the narrative is going.

Um...ok.

But how are the games actually different? Let's say you're right about Call of Cthulhu: Why is that the case? Is it the mechanics of the game? The example adventures? The genre? The type of people who want to play Lovecraftian horror? Because a sandbox would simply be too terrifying for mortals?

For that matter, I don't see why a game of CoC couldn't be a sandbox, even though I've never played it that way. (Disclaimer: I've only played a couple of standalone adventures of CoC, in the late 80's I think.)

 

[Winghorn]

You keep saying this as if it's obvious, or common knowledge, but the claim needs to be substantiated.

I wouldn’t expect it to be particularly controversial to say that different systems work better with different types of campaign.

The core concept of CoC is that the party are investigators - they are a group of folks trying to make sense of weird events cause by cultists and horrors from beyond etc etc etc.

This shapes both the narrative and the mechanics, with plenty of rules for searching out clues and a system for determining whether the characters crack under the mental strain caused by the horrors they face.

You certainly could just drop the players in s fleshed our city where spooky things are waiting to be uncovered, but what if the players decide they want to become bank robbers and ignore the creepy things?

At that point you either spring creepy things on them anyway and force them into a more typical investigation, or you’re playing a game where half the rules are wasted and the others are having to be tinkered with in order to fit the new direction.

If you’re running a sandbox game of Elite, however, you’re unlikely to run into this problem. As the review says, both the narrative conceit (you’re space adventurers! Go adventure!) and the mechanics (character and equipment flexibility, broad application of rules for different situations) lend themselves to a game where the players can genuinely go where they want and do what they want.

One of the great things about tabletop RPGs is that you can generally use them to run any kind of story you want. But just because it can work, doesn’t mean it’s the best choice.

If I had to drive across the country I’d pick a big ol’ German saloon over a smart car, even though both would eventually get me there. And in the same way, if I was running a sandbox game I’d pick Elite over CoC.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I wouldn’t expect it to be particularly controversial to say that different systems work better with different types of campaign.

In some cases, no. It's the specific claim that some work better in sandboxy campaigns that struck me as odd.

The core concept of CoC is that the party are investigators - they are a group of folks trying to make sense of weird events cause by cultists and horrors from beyond etc etc etc.

(snip)

If you’re running a sandbox game of Elite, however, you’re unlikely to run into this problem. As the review says, both the narrative conceit (you’re space adventurers! Go adventure!) and the mechanics (character and equipment flexibility, broad application of rules for different situations) lend themselves to a game where the players can genuinely go where they want and do what they want.

Ok, so in CoC you're a group of "investigators" and in Elite you're a group of "adventurers". That's a rather slim distinction. Especially because in CoC the name "investigator" is only a game conceit: not every PC is a trained investigator. They can be surgeons or journalists or mobsters or whatever. Really they are (drumroll) "adventurers" in the rpg sense.

As I acknowledged, the published CoC adventures I've seen are kinda linear, but I think (hope) you're saying something more profound than that.

One of the great things about tabletop RPGs is that you can generally use them to run any kind of story you want. But just because it can work, doesn’t mean it’s the best choice.

If I had to drive across the country I’d pick a big ol’ German saloon over a smart car, even though both would eventually get me there. And in the same way, if I was running a sandbox game I’d pick Elite over CoC.

But is that because a game of exploring star systems is inherently more sandboxy than a game of investigating eldritch horrors? If so, then what you should have written was "If I were running a sandbox game I'd pick a space exploration game over a Lovecraftian horror game."

So are you claiming that Elite is better than, say, Traveler at sandbox? How about Edge of Empire? (This is why I originally asked if the difference is just the genre.)

To extend your car example, if I asked you, "Why the big 850iL?" you would not (I hope) just repeat "Because it's better for cross country trips!" You'd be able to say, "Because it has a lot more leg room, it has a better sound system, and it's both quieter and more stable at Interstate speeds."

What is it about Elite that makes it better for sandboxes?

 

[5ekyu]

I wouldn’t expect it to be particularly controversial to say that different systems work better with different types of campaign.

The core concept of CoC is that the party are investigators - they are a group of folks trying to make sense of weird events cause by cultists and horrors from beyond etc etc etc.

This shapes both the narrative and the mechanics, with plenty of rules for searching out clues and a system for determining whether the characters crack under the mental strain caused by the horrors they face.

You certainly could just drop the players in s fleshed our city where spooky things are waiting to be uncovered, but what if the players decide they want to become bank robbers and ignore the creepy things?

At that point you either spring creepy things on them anyway and force them into a more typical investigation, or you’re playing a game where half the rules are wasted and the others are having to be tinkered with in order to fit the new direction.

If you’re running a sandbox game of Elite, however, you’re unlikely to run into this problem. As the review says, both the narrative conceit (you’re space adventurers! Go adventure!) and the mechanics (character and equipment flexibility, broad application of rules for different situations) lend themselves to a game where the players can genuinely go where they want and do what they want.

One of the great things about tabletop RPGs is that you can generally use them to run any kind of story you want. But just because it can work, doesn’t mean it’s the best choice.

If I had to drive across the country I’d pick a big ol’ German saloon over a smart car, even though both would eventually get me there. And in the same way, if I was running a sandbox game I’d pick Elite over CoC.

"You certainly could just drop the players in s fleshed our city where spooky things are waiting to be uncovered, but what if the players decide they want to become bank robbers and ignore the creepy things?"

What would you do in Elite if the characters decided to settle on one planet, no space travel? Force them on starships to new worlds so all those space rules got used?

The answer to your question above is " they become bankrobbers *and* the creepy stuff advances as it would within the world cuz ssndbox does not mean the world outside of the characters perception stands still." If it is lovecraftian, that does make it likely creepy stuff sooner or later hits their crime spree.

If its truly lovecraftian, its likely something they steal is a key to some nefarious ritual - with a prophesy linked to it and who possesses it.