I just got around to reading the no-art X-Plorers game. It looks like its fast to roll up characters and fast to play, with not a lot of prep required.

Anyone actually run a campaign with it? Opinions?

I've wanted to, the author is a friend of mine and I think the game is awesome. I just haven't had a chance yet.

It was the first game I ran when I got back into RPG's about 3 years ago.  It was awesome.  

It was a mini-campaign of 5 sessions, each lasting about 6 hours.  I set it up as a sort of crash-land + hexcrawl where the players had to get to the other side of an island to the spaceport, investigating reports of illegal resource mining along the way.

I think the reason we had such a blast was I fully took advantage of the small equipment list, inventing all kinds of alien artifacts/ancient hi-tech weapons to be found along the way, and not even worrying about balance in the slightest.  

I also played fast and loose with the experience rules, saying characters levelled up to 1st after one session, to 2nd after the further sessions etc.

The four character classes (assuming that's still the same in this edition) worked fine to start with, but felt a bit limiting once replacement characters not from the main X-Plorers organisation joined up; so I just mixed n matched with the different skills from each class as need be.

One thing I can't comment on is the space battle rules (they never made it off world...), but they look simple but crunchy enough to give some "She won't go any faster, Cap'n" style tension.

Summary:  Great game if you're not too concerned about hankering after hard sci-fi realism.  It worked great for our lurid pulpy game.

What's the gist of "x-plorers"?

RPGPundit

D&D in Space

I think it's Grubman's game but there's another couple out there, heck I was a decent bit along on my own at one point.

Its more an Old School inspired Sci Fi game. It uses its own system not a "retroclone" one, and is fairly simple and easy to use. It isn't as mind boggling wonderful as Stars Without Number.

I think the main way it differs from straight D&D in space is it seems to assume that PC's will be working for a sort of vaguely defined "galactic troubleshooters" organisation rather than just being roaming picaresque types.

really amazing game, a worthy representative of my favorite RPG genre ...

As long as you and your group aren't averse to an old school style of rules I would definitely recommend the game.

I picked up the print edition (review here) and was very impressed with the game.  In many respects it seemed like a variant of Traveller for people who don't like a lot of math crunch and prefer the adventure elements.

*Has a odd vibe (IMHO) similar to Star Frontiers mixed with the old Gil Gerard Buck Rodgers TV show.

*No alien PCs in the core book but it's very easy to add them via houserules.

* Very simple. No fat. Play moves very fast.

I have not seen anything about X-plorers that would make me set aside Traveller or SWN. Am I missing something?

Quote from: Spinachcat;603861I have not seen anything about X-plorers that would make me set aside Traveller or SWN. Am I missing something?

If you are happy with how Traveller and Stars Without Number play then no, probably not.  X-plorers is a stripped down and simple D&D-inspired rules system for you to build upon.  If you're already satisfied with what those games do, X-plorers would only be of interest as a curiosity.

Quote from: Spinachcat;603861I have not seen anything about X-plorers that would make me set aside Traveller or SWN. Am I missing something?

The old school "lets create characters and play" within 10 minutes vibe is what impresses me about it.

Quote from: Lynn;604054The old school "lets create characters and play" within 10 minutes vibe is what impresses me about it.

That's always a plus.

RPGPundit