Modiphius To Produce Homeworld RPG

In their ongoing quest to publish every game in the world, Modiphius has just announced that it is creating the official Homeworld: Revelations tabletop RPG.

Here's the full announcement:

Modiphius Entertainment are excited to announce that under licence from Gearbox Software LLC, they are creating a tabletop roleplaying game,HOMEWORLD: Revelations, based on the popular Homeworld video game franchise.

September 2019 marked the 20thanniversary of the 1999 award winning real-time strategy video game,Homeworld, originally developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Studios, now managed and owned by Gearbox Software LLC and developed by Blackbird Interactive.

Now with Homeworld 3 announced by Gearbox, Modiphius are excited to announce a new tabletop odyssey!

The original videogame followed the Kushan, an exiled people, who see their planet Kharak destroyed by the Taiidan Empire in response to them developing banned hyperspace technology. The survivors travel with their fleet, led by the Mothership, and fight a war against the Taiidan on an Exodus to reach their true home world, Hiigara. Their journey is one of hardship and discovery as they make allies, scramble for resources and destroy their enemies along the way.

Homeworld: Revelations will give fans of the original Homeworld game the exciting opportunity to view the universe through a new perspective, taking on the role of the crew aboard one of the Kushan fleet’s ships. Whether it’s joining the Mothership on its odyssey, or helping re-establish the Hiigaran homeworld, there will be endless adventures.

Homeworld: Revelations expands on what we know of the Kushan people and the games major factions, like the Kadesh and the Taiidan. Fans of the universe will learn that there are more incredible secrets hidden within the Guidestone which can be discovered through the roleplaying game. You can expect more detail on the people of the whirlpool galaxy so players can create their own stories of discovery and adventure, revisit locations from Homeworld to uncover their mysteries, and even explore the journey of the Exodus to find out what else the Kushan discovered, gained and lost on that famous journey.

Modiphius has employed the expertise of Martin Cirulis, one of the original writers ofHomeworld to consult on the setting and lore, along with Homeworld experts at Gearbox Software LLC and Blackbird Interactive. The Modiphius 2d20 roleplaying game system has been adapted and developed by head of RPGs Sam Webb and line manager Virginia Page from Star Trek Adventures (developed by Nathan Dowdell; Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, Mutant Chronicles), based on the original 2d20 system design by Jay Little (Mutant Chronicles, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire).

A fantastic team of dedicated writers, many long-standing fans of the Homeworld games, have been assembled to work on the roleplaying game, including Mike ‘Norsehound’ Ptak, Oz Mills, Jason Brick, Andy Peregrine, Marie Tokuda, John Kennedy and John Dodd. One of the original artists for the Homeworld video game, Aaron Kambeitz, has created the cover art for the roleplaying game and art director Katya Thomas (Star Trek Adventures, John Carter of Mars, Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of) is working to provide fantastic new artwork to bring Homeworld: Revelations to life!

More information about Homeworld: Revelations, including product line up and details will be coming in 2020. Developers diaries, taking about the development and features of the games will begin soon and can be found online at www.modiphius.com/homeworld

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[Aaron L]

Thanks. I am involved with four TTRPG games right now, but I haven't played any video games in years, I guess they just don't interest me anymore, last I bought was civ 5, which was weaker than c3c, imo. I'll see how popular this gets, maybe I'll buy into it.

I've also slowed down on my videogame playing lately, but there are strill a few I enjoy, Homeworld 1 and 2 among them. Play it if you think you'd like an RTS in space, with fleet management, resource gathering, combat, and the like. Otherwise you could probably just watch videos on YouTube to see the beauty of the graphics and music. In fact you might want to give that a try anyway to see what I'm talking about. The game is grandiose and epic.

 

[jeffh]

Is there an estimate on when this will be out? I didn't notice one in the article.

Also, is there a good, succinct, preferably free introduction to this apparently-controversial "2d20 system" somewhere? I've heard of it before but know nothing about it, including what makes opinions on it so varied.

 

[Aaron L]

Is there an estimate on when this will be out? I didn't notice one in the article.

Also, is there a good, succinct, preferably free introduction to this apparently-controversial "2d20 system" somewhere? I've heard of it before but know nothing about it, including what makes opinions on it so varied.

The link to the details page in the article says more info will be coming in 2020. Unfortunately I don't know anything about the 2D20 system. I just like Homeworld.

 

[darjr]

Here is the free Conan Quick start, note that's my affiliate link.

Robert E. Howards CONAN Roleplaying Game Quickstart - Modiphius | Free Products | CONAN | RPG Quickstarts | DriveThruRPG.com

 

[Troy70]

Cool, I enjoy the 2d20 system.

 

[5atbu]

Very cool concept, but it'll be yet another game line with a rulebook maybe a campaign book and very little adventure.

Gosh I yearn for a time when ttrpgs are published because the team have this incredible adventure campaign they just have to present to the world, a time where rules and setting comes decidedly second to lavish rpg adventure campaigns (like Enemy Within, Masks of Nyarlatothep, or Heirs to the Apocalypse)...

That the game likely will be using the 2d20 system is a bummer, though a bummer I could live with (or replace) if only there was a written campaign in that press release...

Oh, you know nothing of how Call of Cthulhu or WHFRP were developed, do you?

System came long before those campaigns.

However it seems like Homeworld is just one long self creating campaign if it's like the CRPG.

I like 2d20 a lot, it's a read RPG at core but with a lovely metagame Momentum mechanism that improves on Inspiration or Hero points or FATE points or Bennies.

YMMV

 

[CapnZapp]

System came long before those campaigns.

I know perfectly well that WFB preceded WFRP.

I'm saying Enemy Within keys to a number of core themes of the WFRP game and its world, so much so you get the feeling the game could have been created around the campaign. Where the campaign tours the game, as it were.

That's the kind of ttrpgs I love.

 

[darjr]

I know perfectly well that WFB preceded WFRP.

I'm saying Enemy Within keys to a number of core themes of the WFRP game and its world, so much so you get the feeling the game could have been created around the campaign. Where the campaign tours the game, as it were.

That's the kind of ttrpgs I love.

I know I’m picking nits, but warhammer first came out in the white box as a mass combat AND an RPG

owned it myself for a while

Warhammer (game) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Warhammer: The Mass Combat Fantasy Roleplaying Game (1st Edition)

Warhammer is the complete game system for fantasy adventuring and warfaring. Within the three volumes of this set, you will find all the information needed to play out fantastic battles and adventures using miniature figures and dice. Suitable whether you are a handful of adventurers facing...

boardgamegeek.com

 

[Charles Rampant]

Is there an estimate on when this will be out? I didn't notice one in the article.

Also, is there a good, succinct, preferably free introduction to this apparently-controversial "2d20 system" somewhere? I've heard of it before but know nothing about it, including what makes opinions on it so varied.

I think that it might be fair to call it a 'modern' system. This means that you have currencies, and using those currencies to control player power and guarantee success and suchlike, and the DM also uses the currency to create threat and introduce enemies. For example, in the Star Trek one the players would build something (Advantage?) for passing rolls, and could use that same resource to pass rolls and generate situational benefits, and could gain more of the resource by giving the GM their evil version of it, which they could then turn around and use in the next scene to harm the characters. It's quite distinct from the typical 'DM decides how many Orcs and maybe fudges the dice if they need' sort of approach to balancing, and I think that your view on it might depend primarily on whether you prefer old school 'roll some dice' mechanics or newer 'manage your currencies' mechanics.

I also found that the players didn't have many 'gadgets' to play with. This was the Star Trek version, and what I mean is that they didn't have discreet little blocks of rules to interact with, unlike Feats and Spells in D&D, or Advantages/Disadvantages and Disciplines in Vampire. You had a few key words, which worked like Fate ("I'm a Klingon so I can intimidate the Ferengi easily"), but that was more up to negotiation with the GM than anything written in black and white. So it is a much simpler game as a result, but the characters are mainly distinguished by numbers.

Just my view on the system, having run a couple sessions' worth of it.

 

[imagineGod]

So I am late to this party, sort of like you could say I was late to the table top party, since I just ventured into they hobby in the New Millennium (circa 2000 A.D.). So 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons and its d20 OGL spin-offs adopted by Third Party Publishers is my starting point on game engines. Sorry no GURPs for me.

Anyway, I truly wonder if game designers should even bother trying to please everyone these days. Like the new Stargate Role Playing Game will be powered by the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons ruleset. Some fans of Stargate already said "Hell no," before even trying the new Stargate D&D 5e beta test (which is ongoing as I write this).

With regards to the Modiphius 2d20 ruleset, I have run several games across various genres, so sword and sorcery of the Conan 2d20, and space opera with Star Trek 2d20, plus even planetary romance with John Carter 2d20. All these games are built on a simple roll-under mechanic. You just roll 2 dice and take the best result less than or equal to your "attribute + skill" value.

The other aspect of 2d20 system where you count "bennies" called Momentum, is where the rulebooks fail to explain things clearly. Really, the system is simply a roll under system lower or equal to your "attribute + skill" then tally your successful rolls. Compare the number of successes versus the difficulty value required by the GM, this is usually just Difficult 1 for most things, Difficulty 2 for complex things. Excess successes can be banked in what is called Momentum. That is it, the whole system. Other fiddly bits and tokens are added to offer more versatility in exploiting that banked Momentum to meta-game.

The system is then expanded for high level of play with Difficulty 3 up to a maximum of Difficulty 5. But since you only start with just 2d20 sets of dice, to get more dice, the meta-gaming mechanic of "bennies or momentum" exists to bribe the GM to gift you more dice (maximum of 5 total in hand). So you either pay the GM with "bennies or momentum" you have banked, or get indebted to the GM by taking dice on loan and paying interest with bad things called Doom/Threats, etc.

With regards to the limited number of skills or even no skills, the idea of 2d20 rules is not to focus too much on leveling up skills or even acquiring weapons and loot, especially in Star Trek, but more on telling stories with 2d20 helping to power them through some random risk in narrative outcomes based on dice rolls.

And finally, even other systems like the Edge of the Empire Genesys dice, also do not appeal to everyone either. Interestingly, the Star Wars narrative dice system was designed by Jay Little, the same designer for the Modiphius 2d20 system too.