Teladi Gain (Working Title) is a pen-and-paper roleplay game, set in the X-Universe by Egosoft. While I am employed by Egosoft, this is my personal project and in no way to be considered an official game. However, the game as it stands, is released as CC BY, so feel free to use it for what you want.

I have already had feedback on the initial rule set, before publishing this post. As I am unsure which feedback to work into the rules, at least until after some play testing, I shall leave this post as-is, including the "old" rules. This is not as a slight to those who have provided feedback, which is very much appreciated, it is just to stop me from going mad, juggling different rulesets in my head while writing it. This therefore is about the initial (v0.1.1) rules, and things may or may not change in future.

The idea behind the creation of this game is that no game systems feel like they are fully compatible with the lore and feel of the X-Universe. However, it would probably result in being entirely unused if it required consuming an unwieldy tome to understand how to play. The idea therefore is that the core set of rules can be presented in a single A4 tri-fold leaflet. This was also chosen for stylistic purposes, as a black/white leaflet like this feels like something that would have been distributed by friends photocopying it in the past.

In order to condense a game system to such a small amount of space on the paper, some decisions had to be made. Firstly, personal combat would be omitted - this isn't possible within any of the X games to date, so it could be argued that it is in keeping with the game. Secondly, ship to ship combat will also be omitted, while this is a large part of the X games, creating a comprehensive one would overshoot the budget. However, these could be re-added with expansions.

One of the ideas that I really wanted to work on is to make this modular. The core rules should be enough for a party to visit the universe and sightsee, do some missions etc, but expansions should be able to add things such as combat systems back in, and should, ideally be able to be added to a game in progress. It should not require the group to start again, just because they decided to start allowing ship combat. The core rules however are intended to be enough to immerse a group in the X Universe, and be able to craft stories while they are there.

When it came to considering stats, and how saving roles would work, a few different systems were considered but as X4 already has a 5-star system for characters, it seemed fitting to reuse this. Therefore, in most situations the rolls work by establishing a difficulty on a scale of 0-10. This does not need to be a whole number. The player then rolls a D6, and adds the relevant stat, which is a number, usually from 0-5 (but can in rare cases be negative). If this combined total is greater than the difficulty, then the roll was successful. If the total was lower than the difficulty, but higher than the "difficulty floor" (ie the "whole" part of the difficulty) then the roll was a partial success. This system should allow for some very hard rolls, requiring a skilled character (eg difficulty 9-10) but also allow some nuance in the character's build, as even having 0.2 more skill in a certain area might be the difference between survival and abject failure.

It also seemed quite important to have some difference between the players' characters, and for there to be some reason for choosing faction over another. The factions therefore do affect the base status a little, meaning it is more beneficial to be Terran, if you're making a pilot, or a Split if you're wanting to get into combat more. Additionally, the characters then get a role that they play on the ship, captain, pilot, engineer, quartermaster and marine. These boost stats in addition, so it is possible to create a well rounded character, or one that exceeds in only one area. Advancement was considered, but it felt too complex to build in a level up mechanic into the core rules. This is contrary to X4 itself, where NPCs can be trained, either on the job, or via seminars. It is possible that this would be added in with a later expansion or rewriting of the rules.

Crew roles also had a perk that they could use. This was usually to work in synergy with the preferred stat for that role. For example, a captain is expected to have fairly high morale, so can choose to take morale rolls for his subordinates (by "bullying" them into succeeding the roll). Additional perks might be added later.

As the player advancement is not an important part of the game, then a sense of progress or success needs to be found elsewhere. As this is the X Universe, the obvious answer is trade. Trading works in a slightly different way to other rolls. A base price is given by the game master, which will be able to be sourced from trade tables (tbd), and then players can roll to negotiate. It is possible for a player with low management skill to fail so badly that the price increases (or decreases when trying to sell) however it is likely that the crew will have someone skilled enough at negotiating, such that they get a good deal.

This led to a bit of a dilemma whought. If the players are buying and selling bulk goods, such as shipping energy cells across Argon Prime, who pays for that, and who pockets the profit? If it's a shared pool, would players feel enough connection to this to care about the number going up? What if they want to buy equipment for themselves. A system was therefore added, that the group/ship/company would have its own "account" and all bulk purchases would be made from there and sales get transferred back. Additionally all mission rewards would get paid into the shared account. At that point, players can discuss what they feel as a fair split, whether this is an even split, or someone feels like they deserve more for the work they have done. They also should consider leaving more money in the shared account so they can continue to buy in future. If there is a disagreement, a vote is cast. The voting is done by each player rolling with their morale, and the final value being the value of their vote. It is therefore possible for someone with high morale, eg the captain, to overrule the rest of the crew. This may lead to disagreements, but this is then left to the players to sort out. Mutiny is always an option.

To be clear, I am definitely not suggesting that anyone play this - the rules are untested, so I cannot guarantee any kind of fun. Feedback is always welcome however, but I'm not sure how that can be done, as I don't have any kind of commenting system here and, as I have moved away from using github, issues are not possible either. I will look into solutions and update here.

You can follow the project here and download the latest PDF here.