Mail Room: Voidrunner's Codex

I got the PDFs for the Voidrunner's Codex Kickstarter, and this is a fascinating game.

While the art may be average and depict a generic sci-fi universe, it's important to note that this doesn't detract from the game's potential. In fact, it leaves room for your imagination to fill in the blanks.

This is a "not Starfinder" game, sort of a 5E in space using the Level Up A5E engine powering the game. 5E and sci-fi are typically mediocre together. There were a few games that tried and one that kept going.

Ultramodern 5 is a heavily modified version of 5E that does its own thing. It is the most popular sci-fi 5E version right now. This game has a lot, almost too much, and covers scope and technology of almost Space Opera size. UM5 does a good job rebuilding 5E for modern and sci-fi characters, covering mechs and other gear and technology.

In look and feel, this game resembles the Mobius comics in the old Heavy Metal magazine. That is not bad, but this game has a LOT to sort through. It may overwhelm some with hundreds of pages of stuff and options.

Esper Genesis is the other. Although this game has fallen by the wayside, its Mass Effect art and presentation still make it one of my favorites regarding look and feel. EG5E does an excellent job presenting a unified theme, universe, and setting.

Starfinder feels too focused on characters. The ship combat and exploration here could be better, and the game focuses too much on adventure paths. There isn't a "starship economy" at all, and while it does an excellent job at character options and has fantastic art, everything else feels secondary. The game has "leveled weapons" to account for damage scaling. This is also not 5E, but it deserves mention as "d20 sci-fi." A new edition is coming soon, but I am no longer on the Pathfinder 2 train (for time reasons, not because I dislike the game).

Voidrunner does the best in starships, with its book devoted to starship construction, combat, and exploration. They have identified an enormous opening in 5E sci-fi gaming and jumped within with massive support for the "starship game." It makes sense since Level Up beats the pants off of both D&D and Tales of the Valiant in terms of exploration, and their sci-fi game leaning hard in this area is a clear win for the EN World team.

If you like the exploration pillar of play, forget D&D and Tales of the Valiant. Buy the Level Up books, and don't look back. 

EN World knows what it is doing and what audience it is appealing to. They are "hungry," which shows in their books and games.

The exploration here is better than Traveller, and it is much more science fantasy and "wow" with exploration encounters for starships, space monsters, and other threats on that scale. It destroys settings like Spelljammer because there are ship combat rules and many things you can do with your ships. Spelljammer deserved better than it got.

LUA5E-VR is the group's best 'generic' sci-fi game and far outshines the others regarding starships and having fun with them. It stays close to the original LU-A5E engine, so you can pull in classes, monsters, spells, backgrounds, and other items from the core Level Up rules. The fantastic selection of heritages, cultures, and backgrounds in A5E opens up a lot of interesting characters you can mix and match.

LUA5E-VR also feels more straightforward and malleable than the other bunch. Since it presents a generic universe, you can easily play Star Wars, Star Frontiers, Star Trek, or any other sci-fi setting in a 5E context. The other 5E sci-fi games are their own thing, and they can't be split from their settings as easily.

Also, LUA5E-VR does not do "leveled weapons" like in Starfinder. To increase damage output as your character goes up levels, it relies more on the 5E methods of extra attacks, bonus damage dice to attacks and other 5E conventions. That laser pistol stays the same anywhere in the galaxy, and there isn't a level 20 laser pistol out there in a high-tech treasure chest that does 20d4 damage. A weapon is a weapon, and how well the character uses it determines damage output.

The physical books ship in February of next year, and this is one I am looking forward to.