When it comes to TTRPGs based on licensed properties, there are some weird examples out there. Just recently there was a crowdfunded set of books based on the original Planet of the Apes movies, I was surprised in February by the announcement of a Tomb Raider RPG, and going back to the hobby’s early days you can find such oddities as games based on Dallas and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.
Still, the latest announcement from publisher Modiphius is definitely the most obscure I’ve seen this year. Space: 1999 is based on the TV show of the same name, a UK sci-fi series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (of Thunderbirds fame) that ran for two seasons in the ’70s, and will use the 2d20 system (which you might know from the Fallout TTRPG) to enable adventures on Moonbase Alpha in the far future of, er, 25 years ago.
The show followed a group of scientists and space pilots sent on a succession of surreal adventures after a nuclear waste dump on the other side of the Moon exploded and sent them hurtling into the void. (Apologies, UK schools only started teaching physics in 2004.) Along the way, they met various aliens and strange civilisations, travelled in time, and encountered other supernatural phenomena.
“Players can choose to be an adventurous pilot, a stalwart security guard, a bold commander, an audacious medic or any one of the 311 inhabitants of the base,” says Modiphius. “Whatever you choose, each mission puts the future of Moonbase Alpha in your hands. What will you do to rise to the challenge on the frontier of space?”
Hmm. There probably is fun to be had in a sci-fi tabletop campaign with the campy, free-wheeling tone of old British TV, but if you asked me to round up four players who’ve actually seen a single episode of Space: 1999, I think I’d struggle. It was a big, expensive production for the time, and did even make its way to the US, but in terms of enduring popularity I’d probably rank it somewhere below Sapphire & Steel and Blake’s 7. Maybe above The Omega Factor. It’s no Doctor Who, that’s for sure.
Given Modiphius usually deals in major properties such as Dune and Star Trek, reviving something so niche does seem an odd move from them. I’ll tell you one thing: I never expected to see the ITV studios logo on a role-playing book. But there is at least some timing to it—2025 will be the 50th anniversary of the show. It’s certainly being done properly, too, with Anderson Entertainment partnering on the project and even releasing the “Space: 1999 Moonbase Alpha Technical Operations Manual” as a companion book offering a comprehensive guide to the setting.
If you fall into the middle of the extremely specific venn diagram of “passionate tabletop role-players” and “people still carrying a torch for Space: 1999”, then I offer you my heartfelt congratulations: your time is now. Do go ahead and sign up for updates on the project ahead of its launch “later this year”. Everyone else, feel free to join me in the middle of the venn diagram of “bemused” and “faintly baffled”.
