Quick-Start Saturday: Space: 1999

Quick-starts are means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps too. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game for the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

—oOo—

What is it?
The Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide is the quick-start for Space: 1999 – The Roleplaying Game the post-disaster Science Fiction roleplaying game based on the British television series Space: 1999 which ran for two seasons between 1975 and 1977. Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, famous for their Supermarionation television series such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, Space: 1999 is a live action series which told the story of the men and women of Moonbase Alpha. Just as mankind was set to launch a manned probe to investigate a signal from deep space, disaster struck and the Moon was blasted out of Earth’s orbit and hurled into deep space. The series told of the encounters and challenges that the personnel of Moonbase Alpha would face as they were thrust into the cosmos. It includes a basic explanation of the setting, rules for action and combat, setting rules, the adventure, ‘Breakaway’, and six ready-to-play, Player Characters.

It is a fifty-one-page, 23.94 MB full colour PDF.

It needs a slight edit in places.

The quick-start is decently illustrated with a mix of stills from the television series and excellent artwork. (The reader should be warned that the colour palette matches that of the television series, and since it was made in the seventies, this involves a lot of orange and tan, though no avocado.)* The rules are clearly explained and are a less mechanically detailed version of the 2d20 System.

* No bathrooms appear in the Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide so there is no way to be certain.

How long will it take to play?
The Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide and its adventure, ‘Breakaway’, is designed to be played through in one session, two at most.

What else do you need to play?
The Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide requires at least two twenty-sided dice per player and two sets of different coloured tokens, one to represent Momentum, one to represent Threat.

Who do you play?
The six Player Characters in the Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide consist of a a Team Commander, an Operations Officer with a penchant for a ‘Nice Cup of Tea’, a Security Officer, a quiet and dedicated pilot, a hard-working Scientist, and a Doctor with experience of working on frontiers.

How is a Player Character defined?
A Player Character in the Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide—and thus the Space: 1999 – The Roleplaying Game—will look familiar to anyone who has played a 2d20 System roleplaying game. A Player Character has six Skills and six Attitudes. The six Skills are Command, Flight, Medicine, Science, security, and Technical. These also cover Charm, Athletics, Cool, Education, Strength and Perception, and Practical Intelligence and Dexterity. The six Attitudes are Bravery, Compassion, Dedication, Improvisation, Mystery, and Perseverance. Both skills and attitudes are rated between four and eight.

A Player Character will also have several focuses, plus Traits, Assets, and possibly, Complications. Focues, such as Charm, Observe, Stealth, Space Pilot, Dance, and Virology, grant grant an advantage in skill tests. Traits are describe aspects about the Player Character (and sometimes the environment); Assets are equipment or other items that can help a Player Character in a situation; and Complications are negative factors, such as the environment or an injury, that can hinder him. Lastly, a Player Character will have a Signature Asset, personal to him, that can be used once per session to gain Momentum.

How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, the Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide—and thus Space: 1999 – The Roleplaying Game—uses the 2d20 System seen in many of the roleplaying games published by Modiphius Entertainment, such as Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 or Dune – Adventures in the Imperium. To undertake an action in the 2d20 System in Space: 1999 – The Roleplaying Game, a character’s player rolls two twenty-sided dice, aiming to have both roll under the total of a Skill and an Attitude. Each roll under this total counts as a success, an average task requiring two successes, the aim being to generate a number of successes equal to, or greater, than the Difficulty Value. Rolls of one count as a critical success and create two successes, as does rolling under the value of the Skill when a Focus is involved. A roll of twenty adds a complication to the situation. Successes generated beyond the Difficulty value generate Momentum.

Momentum is a shared resource. It can be used to purchase extra twenty-sided dice to roll for an action, to create or remove a Trait, create an Asset, and to obtain information. The Player Characters have a maximum Momentum of six. If a Player Character has access to no Momentum, he can instead give the Game Master Threat to gain the same options as spending Momentum. Threat can also be generated in return for a Player Character ignoring a Complication, causing Escalation in a situation, being in Threatening Circumstances, and also for the Game Master rolling extra successes for an NPC. The Game Master can spend Threat to purchase extra twenty-sided dice for her to roll for an NPC, to increase the Difficulty of a skill test, to create or remove a Trait, create an Asset, to ignore a Complication affecting an NPC, and to trigger Environmental or Narrative Effects.

In addition to access to Momentum, a Player Character has his own resources to fall back on. One is Spirit, which is used to resist a defeat, to turn the result of one die into a ‘one’ or critical before the roll or reroll several dice after a roll. If a Player Character has no Spirit, he must rest, unable to do anything until he does and recovers some Spirit.

How does combat work?
Combat in the Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide is kept simple with a narrative outcome rather than than a mechanical one. A player declares what he wants his character to do, for example firing stun gun to stop a charging alien or persuading a crazed scientist not to open an airlock door and vent everyone into space. A typical Difficulty is two Successes. If the skill check generates enough Successes, the defendant has two choices. One is to accept defeat, the other is to expend Spirit in order to ignore the defeat.

What do you play?

‘Breakaway’ is set on the very day that the Moon is blown out of Earth’s orbit and into deep space. It enables the players and their characters to play out the events of the first episode of the television series and so set them up for the adventures to come made possible by the publication of Space: 1999 – The Roleplaying Game. When disaster strikes and the first explosions occur at the nuclear waste silos, the Player Characters are assigned to a survey Eagle and handle communications for the other Eagle crews assigned to move the canisters of nuclear waste before there is another exposition and the magnetic radiation grows too high. After their Eagle is forced to crash land, the Player Characters must make their way back to Moonbase Alpha where they find turmoil and uncertainty, panicking crewmen, and worse...

Is there anything missing?
No. The Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide includes everything that the Game Master and six players need to play through it.

Is it easy to prepare?
The core rules presented in the Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide are relatively easy to prepare. A Game Master who already run a 2d20 System roleplaying game will have no problem with this.

Is it worth it?
Yes, with minor caveats. The scenario, ‘Breakaway’, does follow the plot of the opening episode of the television series and will feel familiar t0 fans of Space: 1999. Also, Space: 1999 is not a well-known television series, being almost as old as Dungeons & Dragons! This has the benefit of the plot to ‘Breakaway’ not going to familiar to everyone, but the disadvantage of being seen as old and obscure by some. Nevertheless, the Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide showcases the setting and the rules in a solid session of Science Fiction survival

Where can you get it?
The Space: 1999 – Breakaway Quickstart Guide is available to download here (Coming Soon).