The Expanse Show as pbta

#1

The Expanse has some amazing moments that define scope, seem to read a lot like AW, and where you can practically see the moves.

S3E5 has a scene where a Martian sailor has the Roci’s crew at gunpoint. The sentiment is “you have until Amos arrives, and then you are dead”.

Which is great – we instantly and unquestionably establish that Amos is a killer. Again.

Bobby shows up instead. At which point everything shifts, as now Bobby is in charge of the situation. Unarmed, unarmored, with a gun pointed in her face. She does something real similar to read a sitch, and she rolls with Hard. She asks questions to the MC like:

  • Whose in control here? MC: You are, until Amos shows up.
  • What’s my best way to end this? MC: Ask for the gun. They want to give it to you.

Next episode, Bobby is in her combat armor being shot at by four people. She takes them out without breaking a sweat. This reads like Take Something by Force, but might be Assault A Secure Position. Or, it might be that while in combat armor Bobby doesn’t need to make a move against untrained individuals with guns. She seems not to take any harm, and she might have Not To Be Fucked With.

In the same episode, she fights something beyond her abilities. A monster of the protomolecule. Her guns do almost nothing, and she’s just keeping it distracted. She’s making moves like Bait a Trap, and Escape a Hunter, as she seemingly cannot make Take Something by Force.

I’m pretty sure Bobby is the Gunlugger. She might be the Quarantine, but I only think that due to the armor. That might even be 3-armor high-tech valuable.

What other moves, playbooks, and gameable situations do you see in The Expanse?

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#2

Every time I watch The Expanse I think about PBTA roleplaying. It really feels like a well played tabletop game (possibly because that’s how it started).

I have played PBTA in The Expanse many times because I am working on a game right now that is a serial sci-fi game. It works great, and really feels like the Expanse!

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#3

Our Veil game, run by my friend Jonah, was inspired by The Expanse. We stuck tightly to cities on Mars, but explored the role of corps, anti-Earth sentiment, and corporate co-opting of revolutions. The moves worked really well in bringing the setting to life in evocative ways, and the playbooks seemed to fit beautifully into a near-future (but not really cyberpunk?) setting.

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#4

I backed Green Ronin’s Kickstarter for The Expanse Role-Playing Game.

As a KS backer, I have the PDF already (print version will be out soon). This game uses the AGE system… which I’m kind of neutral about. It’s a bit too “crunchy” for my taste.

My group tried running a “hard sci-fi” game set in a variant of The Expanse universe using Uncharted Worlds, but we found that UW didn’t quite give us the feel we were looking for: That game is more about interstellar planetary exporation and trading than a hard sci-fi game set in the solar system.

Has anyone else run games in The Expanse uinverse using a PbtA system (either out-of-the-box or with a hack)? If so, what system and/or hack did you use?

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#5

If anyone is interested in trying out my system for Expanse let me know. It is a work in progress, but we are close to an open beta.

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#6

My group is about to start an Expanse-inspired game using mostly out-of-the-box Apocalypse World 2. We’ll be updating and tweaking things on the fly (gear, moves, etc.) but if you all have suggestions for custom moves, pointers to Expanse setting material (names, equipment lsts, etc.) I’d be glad to see them.

Also, my playbook lineup for the Rocinante crew would be:

Jim Holden - Battlebabe
Alex Kamal - Driver
Naomi Nagata - Savvyhead
Amos Burton - Faceless, maybe
Bobbie Draper - Gunlugger
Joe Miller - Brainer, maybe?

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#7

This is the one I’m never sure about. What’s Holden’s deal?

His first great action in Leviathan Wakes is to tell the whole system The Truth, unvarnished and without regard for political realities. He’s competent in a fight, but he’s no Bobby or Amos.

He cares about if he can trust people, and scrutinizes what he doesn’t trust. He turns every spaceship he’s in into a comm studio.

Holden might be The News.

If Amos is The Faceless, it’s a metaphor. As in, he’s got a past that no one knows and he’s kinda ashamed of it. He doesn’t know how to be a person, and knows it. He’s got to follow someone else to learn how to be a person.

Yeah, Amos might be The Faceless.

There are a few other super important characters, who I think of as PCs:

  • Christian Avasarala - Skinner, maybe. She can convince people to do any damn thing she wants.
  • Clarissa Mao - Child-Thing. I’m pretty sure.
#8

Battlebabe is my best fit for Holden, mainly because of the description “better at making trouble than getting out of it” and also because everyone knows his name. Admittedly, I’m not real familiar with the extended playbooks.

Fred Johnson and Drummer are the Hardholders of their OPA station and ship. Anderson Dawes is a Hocus, or perhaps a Chopper, if you count Belter ships as motorcycles.

Shed Garvey (RIP) was an Angel, and probably still is. Now they have a ship medical bay for the job.

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#9

Maybe also Prax Meng who, if not an Angel, is a Waterbearer (extended playbook). Agreed on the rest, except for Holden but hey. He’s a hard to define character, as he’s the jack of all and that doesn’t well fit AW.

Some of those hardhholders have “fucking boats to hold their fucking airplanes on”, and live in the golden age of legend while others live out in the apocalypse.

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#10

I love how well Apocalypse World fits. Everyone’s suggestions for what playbooks everyone is are really spot on!

I haven’t read Noir World but I imagine that might be a way to play the Expanse. Better fit than say uncharted worlds.

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