Mana Project and Don’t Panic Games have released free to download playtest rules for the official カウボーイビバップ TTRPG. That’s the Cowboy Bebop RPG.
Set in the chaotic future of 2071, the anime follows a gang of bounty hunters who take up dangerous and sometimes surreal missions to pay their way through life. Really, though, we’re digging into the character’s past and the unresolved issues there.
We’re expecting a Kickstarter or crowdfunding campaign for the RPG later, Mana and Don’t Panic’s usual and wise modus operandi. The two are also working with the Italian RPG Not The End authors.
Cowboy Bebop won’t be Don’t Panic’s only anime franchise; they’ve also done games for Tokyo Ghoul, Naruto, Attack on Titan and even another Cowboy Bebop before.
The download offers up;
- The Playtest Document
- Character Sheet
- Pregenned characters
- Session Sheet
- Ship Sheet
The playtest document is nearly 40 pages long and looks stunning.
The Solar System of Cowboy Bebop is a multicutlural frontier land, at the same time reminiscent of some Western movies and San Francisco in the 70s, but it is also a Solar System where bounty hunters move around using the Gates, after an accident destroyed the Moon and forced humanity to almost completely abandon the Earth’s surface.
We can see glimpses of Mars, Venus, Jupiter’s moons and the many space stations, but we will never have a complete view of what it means to inhabit this Solar System in 2071.
For this reason, storytellers have at their disposal a series of cues and tools, including specially made clusters, to build and describe their own places: questionable bars, glitzy casinos, Red Dragon buildings, ISSP stations.
It’s worth noting that these playtest rules are early versions and might well change significantly between now and release.
It’s also worth noting that the game tackles adult themes but is never morbid or “photographic about violence”. Nicely, it uses the Lines and Veils safety technique.
Quick Links
- Free to Download: Cowboy Bebop RPG
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