Stefano Buonocore
This is our review of Death in Space, a minimalistic roleplay game (a modernization of the OSR genre) in which you can live a deep space horror experience.
First of all we want to thank Free League for sending us a digital copy. The two authors of the Stockholm Kartell (Christian Plogfors and Carl Niblaeus) in fact publish under Free League Workshop, the label that the Swedish publishing house reserves for independent game designers. If the Stockholm Kartell sounds familiar to you, it is because we are talking about the creators of Mörk Borg. One of the most revolutionary phenomena in the world of tabletop RPGs in recent years. If you don’t know what we are talking about, you can read the our review. A little spoiler: saying that we just liked it would be an understatement.
If after this review you want to try Death in Space, or if you blindly trust Stockholm Kartell and Free League, you can find this manual on Free League store at a cost of 298 crowns, just over € 24.
Review of the Death in Space Manual
Like all of Free League products, the quality of Death in Space is very high. A solid and compact volume, 136 pages with a valuable bookmark that underlines the attention to detail that the publishing house has accustomed us to. As for aesthetics, we are on a even higher level. Anyone who has browsed through Mörk Borg or its rich supplements knows how important graphic construction is for Stockholm Kartell. Important but never pointless: each page has a well-kept aesthetic to be perfectly functional to the game.
Browsing Death in Space means immersing yourself completely in its setting just at a glance, even before reading. A minimal graphic style, black pages with white text and each chapter with a bright color to replace the bold font, dosed with extreme care. The result is easily readable, with all the advantages of a minimal style; but the impact is absolute, and the feeling of getting lost in the dark page is somewhat reminiscent of that of those who look out into the void of space.
The illustrations are not many, but perfectly functional to the game. Mostly they resemble blueprints of spaceships and space stations. Some of them portray PNGs, some creatures of the deep space. The fundamental concept, however, is that what is presented in Death in Space must be imagined, but not fully understood. The effectiveness of the narrative is thus maximized: we could hardly depict the horrors of the Cosmic Void with the same effectiveness with which we would imagine them.
Review of the Death in Space Setting
The setting of Death in Space is very rough; a deliberate choice, it is evident. You will find game ideas rather than a real well-articulated setting. What the authors particularly care about is defining the mood of the game and the atmospheres and themes to be explored in the game.
The setting is obviously the remote space. In the Tenebris system, which still suffers from the effects of the 20-year Gem War, a drifting humanity tries to survive as best it can. Smugglers, explorers, miners, cultists. Everyone is looking for something that allows them to improve their standard of living a little. Getting your hands on a huge amount of Gems, fundamental material for the advanced technologies that allow humanity to dominate the galaxy, is certainly the easiest way.
Short-distance travels are carried out aboard spacecraft. Long-distance ones, on the other hand, take place thanks to a technology that humanity has found in space, which allows jumps from one structure to another, located at distances otherwise insuperable even with cryogenic sleep. Human beings gather in more or less cohesive communities. Survival is not just an individual matter, but a social one. Whether in colonies, man-made stations, trading towns or mines, human communities are few and with the looming feeling of the Void ready to devour them.
The Basics of the Game
The game we are talking about is very close to the OSR, the Old School Reinassance games, and maintains many fixed points of the genre. Many random tables to carry the game forward, high mortality, extremely concise rules. The claustrophobic atmospheres certainly contribute to reinforce this impression. Death in Space, however, also winks at more modern mechanics. In particular, the mutations caused by the cosmic void give a particular flavor to the game.
You can also fully manage your own hub. Whether it’s a space station or a spaceship, the rules allow you to customize it to your liking. And possibly also face a space battle, with precise rules of engagement over various distances. Obviously, every new option or maneuver requires energy, so this becomes a crucial element of Death in Space. To have a hub capable of making a difference, energy supply is essential.
It is clear that we are talking about a game with extremely harsh rules. In true OSR philosophy, the dice rolls are few and the math very basic. A 20-sided die is added to the score of the relevant characteristic: Body, Dexterity, Savvy or Technology. Particularly favorable (or unfavorable) situations are resolved with the advantage (or disadvantage). An increasingly popular mechanic, which allows you to roll two dice and choosing the best (or worst) result.
What to Expect from the Game System
As expected, Death in Space is very rich in tables for random effects for many different circumstances. Traps that can be found in clusters of space wrecks, for example; or effects that cosmic void can have on characters. In true OSR style, even character can be created randomly. And with surprising results.
As anticipated, the basic mechanics are deliberately skinny. They are enriched by the hub management system, the rules for space travel and those for spacecraft combat. Resource management becomes a fundamental factor at play. Consequently, the focus is on survival and exploration.
The game world is outlined in a very thin way, we have already said this. But there are enough references to reconstruct its history. Very useful are the references to the main factions that you can meet during your travels. Extreme philosophies and religions, often with disturbing features, manage to make even more overwhelming your sessions of Death in Space.
Welcome to the Ring
As an addendum to Death in Space there’s a introductory adventure. The characters here enter the Ring, a cluster of hubs that has become a human outpost. People of all kinds frequent the Ring and aggregate into factions of all kinds.
The party is introduced into an already partially evolved situation. Our reviews avoid spoilers, but we can tell you that the sector of the Ring in which they go is disputed between two factions. Each manages resources that are useful for both the sector and the characters. The adventure does not follow a predefined event pattern. Indeed, more than adventure, it would be correct to call it a scenario. The characters become new actors on the stage. How all the elements made available to the game master will evolve will depend on their choices.
Conclusions of the Review of Death in Space
At first glance, Death in Space is striking because of its style; thanks to its format, its graphic and its layout. It is a small volume that is clamoring for a place in our bookcase. A nice collector’s item and Stockholm Kartell has accustomed us to this kind of works, after all. But in addition to the brilliant idea, there is a solid development behind it. While maintaining a minimal ruleset and setting, the style of Death in Space is not limited to aesthetics, but is reflected in the gaming experience too.
However it is not suitable for everyone, certainly. First make sure your players have no problems with claustrophobic atmospheres or with a sense of dejection in front of something too much bigger than them. But if this kind of rolistic anguish is what they want, you can’t miss this work!
