As you know, I have a soft spot myself for both Warlock! and Warpstar! (although I only had a chance to run the latter once, as a one-shot).
I really like what Greg did with the setting. Perhaps similar to Warlock!, but even more noticeable in this Sci-Fi setting, you can pretty much pick & choose which setting elements you want to focus on, and which ones you want to ignore. I think Warpstar! would do just fine with regular Space Opera, especially with a Space Truckers sort of vibe. But you can also really lean into the 40k-ish aspects and play (or confront...) Space Marines.
It's too bad that Warlock!'s awesome opposed roll mechanic likely won't come into play as much in Warpstar!, as it only applies to melee attacks. I would imagine that the vast majority of attacks are going to involve ranged combat using various sorts of pistols, rifles, etc.
Totally agree on the setting — my bias here is finding a system that can support dedicated space marine action… but there are a ton of ways to engage with the very flexible ‘Chorus’ setting, as you suggest.
I’m of two minds on the ranged combat. First, it’s fine as-is. It might even reinforce the use of blasters and las-guns and such, which works well for the genre. Or… I could see taking a page from the little-known RPG Rangers of the Midden Vale. In that game even ranged combat is opposed… meaning the shooter might take damage if their target also has a ranged weapon and is in a position to shoot back. I’ll talk more about that game, and that idea, in an upcoming post…
Nice post!
As you know, I have a soft spot myself for both Warlock! and Warpstar! (although I only had a chance to run the latter once, as a one-shot).
I really like what Greg did with the setting. Perhaps similar to Warlock!, but even more noticeable in this Sci-Fi setting, you can pretty much pick & choose which setting elements you want to focus on, and which ones you want to ignore. I think Warpstar! would do just fine with regular Space Opera, especially with a Space Truckers sort of vibe. But you can also really lean into the 40k-ish aspects and play (or confront...) Space Marines.
It's too bad that Warlock!'s awesome opposed roll mechanic likely won't come into play as much in Warpstar!, as it only applies to melee attacks. I would imagine that the vast majority of attacks are going to involve ranged combat using various sorts of pistols, rifles, etc.
Aye, I was *in* that one shot, you’ll recall. ;)
Totally agree on the setting — my bias here is finding a system that can support dedicated space marine action… but there are a ton of ways to engage with the very flexible ‘Chorus’ setting, as you suggest.
I’m of two minds on the ranged combat. First, it’s fine as-is. It might even reinforce the use of blasters and las-guns and such, which works well for the genre. Or… I could see taking a page from the little-known RPG Rangers of the Midden Vale. In that game even ranged combat is opposed… meaning the shooter might take damage if their target also has a ranged weapon and is in a position to shoot back. I’ll talk more about that game, and that idea, in an upcoming post…
Oh, and BTW — I love the idea of the Nova Guard being the bad guys, and a squad of them representing quite the challenge for a group of un-armed PCs…