Hot on the Heels of BD Games’ Xplorers Quick Start guide is the Centaur Class and optional rule set for Brave Halfling’s Xplorers rpg.
At this point it seems certain that BD Games have taken the reins of the Xplorers franchise out of Brave Halfling’s hands, much in the same way that White Wolf took over Ravenloft with 3.5 of Dungeons & Dragons. For me I now don’t have a clue as to were I stand in the grand scheme of things. I have two Xplorers projects on the burners and had outlines for several more in the near future.
Wait and see I suppose.
As for the Centaur Class and Optional Rules Supplement:
The centaur class is okay but to me far more suited to a cyberpunk style game than Xplorers. The backstory for the class is interesting reading and the mechanics are quite well put together. Still, not something I would use in an Xplorers game outside of an NPC class or such.
The optional rules deal with space and space combat. Truthfully I was a tad bit worried when I first saw this because the space combat rules in the original edition are genius in their simplicity. Lucky, I have nothing to worry about as the rules deal with less lethal crit tables, gravity on planets and asteroids and mines (the explodey kind).
The Asteroid/Mines rules are interesting and fun in their random and are rather intuitive. This is something I was plotting (somewhat differently) for Miracles of Science but may adjust to fit these new rules. As for the new space combat rules … I hate psychics so I wouldn’t use them but psychic round, if successful give the players a bonus to initiative.
So is BD Games second entry into the Xplorers franchise worth picking up? Yes, yes it is for, if nothing else, the optional space combat, tables and asteroid/mines section. The Centataur class is fun but not my cup of tea.
Centaur Class and Optional Rules for Xplorers available at Drivethrurpg.com for $0.99.
2 thoughts on “Quick Note – X-Plorers’ Centaur Class by BD Games”
Comments are closed.
X-Plorers is a game I have long loved but never played. Just seems like the scifi genre is rarely explored much, which I find sad.
Science Fantasy seems more approachable I guess given the nature of the hobby and its lean toward fantasy. I will also say though that it is sometimes hard to do a proper space-based sci-fi game given the idea of the captain's chair and what it would mean.
Stars without Number's Skyward Steel is great, but I often wonder how that would work outside of theory … I may have to attempt an online game of that at some point.