Rust Hulks (PBtA)
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Rust Hulks is a tabletop roleplaying game about playing space truckers in a grimy science-fiction future.
In Rust Hulks¸ you will play as the crew of a large¸ derelict spaceship. You will fly around the solar system picking up jobs¸ earning credits¸ scraping through hulks¸ improving your skills¸ and expanding your ship. On its face¸ it's simple; in practice¸ it gets messy fast: You're aboard a flying scrapheap halfway to Mars and three of your fuel canisters blow; the crew¸ while tentative friends¸ are mostly here for money-when things go real south¸ what will you do?
The game is¸ at its core¸ about going through highly tense and stressful situations as a group¸ and examining the relationships that form and break because of it.
Rust Hulks is like Alien . Or Firefly . Or some parts of Star Wars . Everything is used¸ rusty¸ and worn-down. Your ship is cannibalized from a dozen other ships and tweaked or patched with every piece of junk and scrap you can find. It's really less a singular ship than it is a collection of individual rooms¸ held together with shoestrings and chewing gum. There are no laser blasters¸ no energy shields¸ and no gleaming computers. Instead¸ there are wooden crates¸ canned rations¸ and radar scanners. Your computers are little more than fancy calculators¸ your ship is armored with scrap metal¸ and your guns spit hot lead.
The world is always dirty¸ usually decrepit¸ and often desperate.
As you play¸ you'll build and break relationships¸ run dangerous and risky jobs¸ modify and upgrade your ship¸ and slowly build up your supply of credits. The game is built to be fast and straightforward to run: after a quick character and ship creation¸ there are moves to get you into the action immediately. The focus is on a fluid¸ intense narrative rather than number-crunching or optimization. You can sit down to play Rust Hulks for the first time¸ and by the end of the session¸ you'll have characters¸ a ship¸ some messy relationships¸ and your first job under your belt.
Good luck out there¸ among the hulks. You'll need it.
Rust Hulks is a Powered by the Apocalypse game; to play¸ you'll need playbooks and movesheets¸ which you can download for free here: Rust Hulks Playbooks.