Pioneer is a near future science fiction roleplaying game about the next decades of humanity versus space. Our solar system is just starting to be explored. Crews are small and missions are high risk – and expensive. There is a lot of real estate to visit, a lot of unknown environments to be mapped, and hopefully extractable resources and novel research to pay for it. Pioneers will have to manage air, comms, heat, water, SWAP (size, weight & power), lack of gravity, all in the face of unknown environments and unexpected challenges. Pioneer is first and foremost about missions focussed on humans versus environment. The model is ‘venture forth, survive, come home’, and success will increase the operational technology available for future explorations.
The Pioneer Core Rulebook starts in our current time and provides a guide to crew, ships, technology, and driving factors for missions, each of them a new target or mission ‘first’. The backdrop: space is a hostile environment, yet nation states and corporations vie to be the first to establish a presence there. Competition is high, yet cooperation occurs when it comes to spacefarer survival. While politicians argue about who can own space, most practitioners just want to get the job done. In the big picture, figuring out what is out there and what is worth claiming is essential. From risk-adverse established space agencies to scrappier new entrants in the new space movement alike, the goal is to try new technology, discover new things, and bring back something to justify the cost of the trip. If you have skills and no fear, space is waiting for you.
These are many different campaigns focuses you can choose for Pioneer.
First Steps: The Pioneers are the first explorers sent on missions in the new space movement as humanity starts to go beyond the ISS and Apollo heritage into both state-sponsored and private space exploration. Adventures are focused around accomplishing a listed mission and returning safely. It also includes the survival scenarios that can result from mishaps in space. Inspiration for this includes works such as The Martian, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kerbal Space Program, Stowaway, and Apollo 13, where each mission is the first to attempt something new and sets the stage for further missions to explore further. This is a great way to get started with your first Pioneer adventures, and can provide a sustaining campaign for years.
Space Race: A variant of First Steps, where each mission is new but there is an underlying backdrop of political tension and ‘one-upmanship’ on the Earth side. This campaign adds potential interaction with rivals, shifting mission objectives, and tension between military and civilian goals, as well as allowing for missions that embrace greater risk in the race to be first. Inspiration for this includes The Apollo Murders, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, For All Mankind, and Race to Mars.
The Disaster One-Shot: The premise here is simple: either a mission went wrong and the team is about to die, or Earth is in danger and an unlikely and atypical team is sent in a desperate attempt to save us all. Inspirations include When Worlds Collide, Project Hail Mary, and Deep Impact.
Settling Space: As years and decades pass, Earth’s space capability increases beyond exploration. With space stations, lunar outposts, and space commerce beginning to take hold, space is becoming a harsh yet habitable destination. The Pioneers are setting new milestones in space and expanding our exploration horizon past Earth/Moon/Mars, but there is a growing infrastructure to support them and potential international and corporate competition to be first. Pioneers are sent on missions, but also have the potential to work for multiple entities, build alliances, become stakeholders in experimental start-ups, and engage in speculative missions of their own choosing. Inspiration for this includes The Expanse, Outland, Space Sweepers, Surviving Mars, and Orbital Decay.
