The Pioneer RPG: Explore the Solar System

by Mongoose Publishing

Pioneer – a new RPG set 10–20 years into the future as humanity explores the Solar System, based on the popular Traveller rules.

Set 10–20 years from today’s world, the Pioneer tabletop RPG provides players with a grounded framework to explore the inner solar system.

You will be the first to build a Moon base, the first to mine an asteroid, and the first to walk on the surface of Mars. Closer to Earth, you will conduct rescues in Low Earth Orbit, launch or repair important satellites, and conduct scientific experiments that boost our understanding of the universe.

If you are an avid fan of films and TV like Gravity, The Martian, or For All Mankind, this is the RPG for you!

Download the 90-page Pioneer Preview for free right HERE. You will be able to create your own Pioneers and play through the included Rescue in Low Earth Orbit mission!

The Pioneer Core Rulebook is a standalone RPG containing everything you need to explore the Solar System. Based on the celebrated Traveller mechanics, you will be able to create your own Pioneers, configure spacecraft for specific missions, explore new worlds and brave the extreme hazards of space as technology evolves – likely based upon your own discoveries!

Mission Control contains at least a dozen missions ready for your Pioneers to embark upon and push humanity’s understanding of the cosmos. Engage in disputes over Lunar territory, contend with fouled launches, investigate an extra-solar object… and begin the first steps in building the first permanent base on the Moon!

This is the big one – are your Pioneers ready to embark on the first crewed mission to Mars? Ares Ascendant is the first full-length campaign for Pioneer, ready for extended gaming sessions. Your Pioneers will have to make sure they are well-prepared before launch, for there is literally no going back. After a fraught transit to the Red Planet, they will have to touch down, conduct experiments… and work hard to ensure they can return to Earth.

The universe holds many secrets. As a Referee, keep yours hidden from the Pioneers until they are ready with this handy thick-cardstock screen that puts all the important tables and rules necessary for Pioneer at your fingertips.

Pioneer was written by software architect Dr. Sandy Antunes, whose space-science experience with NASA, the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and several universities makes Pioneer authentic and realistic. The project was further developed by Traveller veterans Chris Griffen and Geir Lanesskog.

In our own world, we stand on the verge of a new golden age of space travel as both governments and private enterprises work to further explore our Solar System. Pioneer winds the clock forward a few years where space travel beyond Low Earth Orbit is becoming more common. It is a game of firsts, where your Pioneers will undertake huge risks to make ground-breaking discoveries in space and the nearby bodies that, right now, hang tantalisingly beyond our reach.

Pioneer is ‘Traveller-adjacent’ but comes as a brand-new and self-contained Core Rulebook. Existing Traveller players will find much they recognise as they choose careers and create their Pioneers, make skill checks, and deal with the hazards of radiation, zero-gravity, and the cold vacuum of space.

Newcomers will find these Traveller-based rules extremely easy to get to grips with. The core mechanic rolls two six-sided dice, adds a modifier or two (such as a skill level) and if you get 8 or more, you have probably succeeded in your task! We have boiled down the complexities of orbital mechanics and planetary exploration to maintain the fidelity of space travel without requiring a degree in astrophysics – you will feel like you are plotting complex orbital changes without actually plotting complex orbital changes!

Pioneer focuses on the business of long-duration space travel, dealing with disaster while days, weeks, or months away from Earth, and exploring environments that are inherently hostile to humans.

The opening mission (included in the Pioneer Preview right HERE) gives you a taste of what Pioneer has to offer, launching your Pioneers on an emergency rescue mission in Low Earth Orbit. They must think quickly and make tough decisions to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances while working under a tight time limit if lives are to be saved!

Estimated Shipping Date : August 2026

Kickstarter Link : The Pioneer RPG: Explore the Solar System