Dinosaur Riders In Space is a mini RPG, where players team up as Dinosaurs and Riders to play as arrogant and scaly outlaws on the fringes of the galaxy, staging daring missions for fame and fortune!

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DINOSAUR RIDERS IN SPACE

IN THE FAR FUTURE, THE GALAXY IS A THRIVING MASS OF CONNECTED COLONIES. THE GALACTIC IMPERIUM CONTROLS AND SANCTIONS SHIPPING, MINING, AND TRADE. THE INNER HELIX OF PLANETS IS A HIGH-COST, ELITIST, AND HEAVILY POLICED REGION. IN THE FURTHEST REACHES, THERE IS CHAOS – OR AT LEAST THAT’S WHAT THE IMPERIUM WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE. THE RIOTOUS SWIRLING OF THE VOID BEYOND PROVIDES A BEAUTIFUL, MELTING, AND DANGEROUS BACKDROP AS DINOSAUR-RIDING PIRATES CRUISE BETWEEN ABANDONED WORLDS, CRUMBLING SPACE HULKS, AND OVERPOPULATED SPACE STATIONS WHICH HOUSE THE MOST DIVERSE AND COLOURFUL EXAMPLES OF THE GALACTIC POPULATION.

Dinosaur Riders In Space is a game of uninhibited interstellar action, sexy space lasers, attaining adoration and glory, and making sweet, sweet cash at any cost.

Make enemies, make friends, make love, but most of all, make a name for yourselves. Only the greatest of outlaws go down in history and fortune favours the brave.

ASSEMBLE YOUR TEAM

Dinosaur Riders In Space is best played with groups of Teams, where one Team comprises of a player controlling a RIDER and a player controlling a DINOSAUR. If you wish, however, you can divide up characters so that each player controls a TEAM of a RIDER and a DINOSAUR.

Your RIDER is the face – the money maker – the smooth talker, the deal broker, and the pistol spinning sharp shooter.

Your DINOSAUR is the muscle – the heavy hitter – the laser cannon-firing, hard-hitting, one with the saddlebag that says BAD MOTHERFRACKER on it.

RIDERS generally err on the more subtle side, but they can hold their own in a fight. RIDERS can talk to humanoids, hold a pistol, put on their own shoes and use complex interfaces on control panels.

DINOSAURS are far from subtle, but always ready for action. DINOSAURS can talk to non-humanoids, fire laser cannons mounted on their backs, breathe in space, and smash their way through doors.

 

DINOSAUR	BOND	ACTION	SUBTLE
Stegosaurus	D8	D10	D6
Dienonychus	D6	D10	D8
Iguanodon	D8	D8	D8
Tyrannosaurus	D6	D12	D6
Brachiosaurus	D10	D8	D6

RIDER	BOND	ACTION	SUBTLE
Bounty Hunter	D6	D10	D8
Rogue	D8	D6	D10
Rascal	D10	D6	D8
Vagabond	D8	D8	D8
Smuggler	D6	D6	D12

 

WHEELHOUSE

Your WHEELHOUSE is what you’re particularly good at. When you roll within your WHEELHOUSE, roll the appropriate dice twice and pick the highest. Roll on the table to determine your WHEELHOUSE.

DINOSAUR	D6	RIDER
Tracking	1	Gamble
Carnage	2	Marketplace
Intimidation	3	Sexy
High Speed	4	Bareknuckle
Blast Off	5	Hacking
Scavenge	6	Repurpose

HOW TO PLAY

Whenever you attempt something where the outcome is in doubt, roll the current dice for your stat. If only the RIDER is making the attempt, roll RIDER. If only the DINOSAUR is making the attempt, roll DINOSAUR. If you’re working together, roll both RIDER and DINOSAUR and add the totals together.

When you attempt something brash, wild, or out of this world, roll ACTION.

When you attempt something underhand, sneaky, or that might raise suspicion, roll SUBTLE.

When you attempt to win someone over, inspire someone, break a heart, or trade your valuables, roll BOND.

When you roll only RIDER or only DINOSAUR, a roll of 6 or higher is a SUCCESS. When you roll both RIDER and DINOSAUR, a roll of 12 or higher is a SUCCESS. A roll below these numbers is a FAILURE.

On a SUCCESS, the intention of your attempt is realised. On A FAILURE, there’s something standing in your way, a sacrifice to be made, or quarter to be given.

When you roll a SUCCESS, if you roll well above your target (9 or above for a solo roll, 18 or above when you roll together), then something awesome happens – it’s your lucky day, get ready for some good times to start rolling!

When you roll a FAILURE, if you roll well below your target (3 or below for a solo roll, 6 or below when you roll together) , then something goes wrong – the world turns upside-down, the shit hits the fan, blood is getting spilt!

CONFIDENCE & SHAME

The edge of the Galaxy is tough. Here, a name means something and you’ve gotta earn it!

Whenever you roll a SUCCESS when attempting something, mark CONFIDENCE in the stat which was tested.

If only the RIDER or only the DINOSAUR rolled, mark CONFIDENCE for the appropriate Team Member. If both RIDER and DINOSAUR rolled together, then mark CONFIDENCE for each Team Member.

Whenever you stop in a populated area, if you have 6 CONFIDENCE in a stat, you can tell the story of your latest great achievements, cash in CONFIDENCE, and go up a dice. D6 goes up to D8, D8 to D10 and so on. D12 is the highest a stat can be. Once you tell the story and take your new dice, your CONFIDENCE in that stat goes back to 0.

For a RIDER, this might be in a bar, a public market, or whilst cooling off in the cells. For a DINOSAUR, this might be in the landing bay, the stables, or the holo-generated waiting environment.

Whenever you roll a FAILURE, mark SHAME in that stat. If only the RIDER or only the DINOSAUR rolled, mark SHAME for the appropriate Team Member. If both RIDER and DINOSAUR rolled together, then mark SHAME for each Team Member.

When you have 6 SHAME in a stat, no matter where you are, your CONFIDENCE IS KNOCKED. You lose all your current CONFIDENCE in that Stat. If you have no CONFIDENCE to lose, then you go down a dice. D12 goes down to D10, D10 to D8 and so on. D6 is the lowest a stat can be.

FAKE IT TO MAKE IT

Talk The Talk long enough and people will assume that the way you’re walking is The Walk.

A RIDER or DINOSAUR can attempt to lie about their exploits whenever they are in a position where they would be able to cash in CONFIDENCE to raise the level of a stat.

No matter what level of CONFIDENCE you currently have in a stat. Choose the stat you wish to improve and tell a huge, outrageous lie about the success of a recent exploit.

When you do this, roll d6 vs the level of CONFIDENCE you currently have in that stat. If you roll equal to or below the current level of CONFIDENCE, then the bluff succeeds and you gain the next level of dice as outlined in CONFIDENCE & SHAME.

If you roll higher than your current CONFIDENCE, then the bluff fails. People know you’re lying and tear you a new one. You’re the laughingstock of the station. You lose any CONFIDENCE you had in the stat and you go down a dice as if you had earnt 6 SHAME

TRUST ME I’M A PRO

If you wanna be successful, you gotta act successful.

When you attempt something where the outcome is in doubt, you can cash in all your current CONFIDENCE in that stat to add a +1 for every mark of CONFIDENCE to your roll. You must declare this before you make your roll. If you had 4 CONFIDENCE, you would add +4 to your roll.

Once you cash in your CONFIDENCE in this way, your CONFIDENCE in that stat returns to 0.

RUNNING A GAME – For GMs

A little something first about the world – make it colourful, make it sexy, make it OUT OF THIS WORLD.

For SPACE STATIONS, think Mos Eisley having a sex party with Ceres Station, Deep Space 9 and Bladerunner’s Chinatown. Give your players a chance to get down and dirty, haggle, hustle and steal.

For SPACE HULKS think USCSS Nostromo, with add-ons in the style of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal with a pinch of Red Dwarf and a dash of Millennium Falcon. Make them dark, jagged, twisting and scary.

THE VOID BEYOND is chaotic, maddening, amorphous and confusing. Anything can happen here and what goes in isn’t always what comes out. Only the most foolish dare to enter and only the bravest return!

For OLD FORGOTTEN WORLDS, go wild. These could have the ruins of ancient civilisations, be desolate mineral-rich deserted vistas, or teeming with intelligent (or unintelligent) lifeforms. Speaking of…

For CREATURES, remember that your players might be limited – RIDERS can talk to humanoids, DINOSAURS can talk to non-humanoids – but your NPCs are not! This is the edge of The Galaxy, intelligent life comes in all shapes and sizes, amorphous blobs, rays of light, a smell. Give all of your players a chance to shine, interact and get involved with the creatures you meet.

Your RIDERS are considered humanoid, but they are not necessarily humans – ask them what they look like and where they’re from.

Your DINOSAURS are like a souped-up mega beasts, but they’re still recognisable as the Dinosaurs you imagined when you were a kid, except they have laser cannons now.

DETERMINING ADVENTURES

Your players will be rolling dice, but you’ll be drawing cards. Grab a standard deck of cards, leave in The Joker, and get ready to shuffle some fast and loose Space Action.

When you’re trying to decide on the catalyst for an adventure, shuffle the deck and draw one card. This will determine your adventure.

First, check the Suit, this will be your location.

HEARTS – A Bustling Space Station

CLUBS – A Broken Space Hulk

DIAMONDS – An Old Forgotten World

SPADES – The Deep Expanse Of The Void Beyond

If you draw the JOKER, draw again, but throw in the following twist based on the card you draw.

HEARTS – An Old Flame Is Back

CLUBS – Someone’s Looking For A Fight

DIAMONDS – Someone’s Been Paid Off

SPADES – You’ll Have To Dig Deeper To Find The Real Truth

Second, check the number or letter on the card. This is your push point, your drive, your catalyst.

A – A Chance For Wealth

2 – A Shot At The Big Time

3 – A Deal Worth Making

4 – A Chance For Redemption

5 – A Run In With The Law

6 – A ‘Routine’ Supply Run

7 – A Salvage Operation

8 – An Potential Ally

9 – A Former Partner

10 – A Rescue Mission

J – Something That Should Not Be

Q – Some Unusual Scanner Readings

K – A Distress Call

TAKING OFF AND LANDING

This is the only time I’ll tell you that this has an absolute, down the line, this is the stat you roll when doing this thing.

It’s Bond.

Taking off and landing is dangerous! You’re a falling ball of DINOSAUR and RIDER and you’ve been hurtling through space and Blork knows what speed. If a Team is attempting to take off from, or land on, a Planet, Space Station, Space Hulk or otherwise, they MUST roll BOND. If they FAIL within the threshold outlined in HOW TO PLAY, then they just take the SHAME and look a bit foolish. Maybe the DINOSAUR poops a bit or the RIDER loses their hat, maybe they stumble, but they make it out into Space.

If they roll well below, as outlined in HOW TO PLAY, then shuffle the deck and ask them to draw one card.

Compare the result below:

A – Everything’s OK. Nothing extra happens.

2 – Everything’s OK, but it’s really embarrassing – take 1 extra SHAME each.

3 – You Lose Something Valuable To You

4 – Someone You Were Friends With Wont Talk To You Now

5 – You’re Feeling Sick – RIDER and DINOSAUR take -1 to their next roll

6 – You’re Spotted By The Authorities – A chase begins

7 – Ongoing Knock To Your Confidence – Next time you each take SHAME, take 1 extra.

8 – You’re Knocked Off Course – It Takes Longer To Reach Your Destination

9 – You’re Not Hurt, But Your Pride Is – Lose 1 CONFIDENCE. If you have no CONFIDENCE to lose, then go down a Dice.

10 – You’re Not Hurt, But Your Pride Really Is – Lose 2 CONFIDENCE. If you have no CONFIDENCE to lose, then go down a Dice.

J – You’re Hurt – Take a permanent -1 to any Dice Roll. You can no longer use CONFIDENCE to give yourself bonuses as described in TRUST ME, I’M A PRO.

Q – You’re Hurt Bad – Take a permanent -2 to any Dice Roll. You can no longer use CONFIDENCE to give yourself bonuses as described in TRUST ME, I’M A PRO

K – You’re Hurt REAL Bad – Take a permanent -3 to any Dice Roll. You can no longer use CONFIDENCE to give yourself bonuses as described in TRUST ME, I’M A PRO

JOKER – You are killed! Make a new TEAM and rejoin the crew.

When a DINOSAUR and RIDER is Hurt, Hurt Bad, or Hurt REAL Bad, when they stop in a populated area, they can cash in their CONFIDENCE across ALL of their stats to remove any negative effects on them. Their confidence in each stat goes down to 0 and they recover from their injuries.

OH, AND BEFORE YOU GO…

Never tell anyone why there are intelligent Dinosaurs able to survive without protection in space who can fire laser cannons mounted on their backs and team up with Space Pirates. That’s just not on. Don’t even let them ask. In fact. Why are you asking? Back the Fun Bus the fuck up and get that question right out of your brainspace. Leave it behind. Step away. Good. Now let’s play!