See You, Space Cowboy
COWBOY BEBOP: THE ROLEPLAYING GAME
Designer: Don’t Panic Games | Publisher: Mana Project Studio
Cowboy Bebop is one of the most beloved anime series of all time, known for its stylish visuals, smooth jazz soundtrack and motley crew of bounty hunters aboard the spaceship Bebop. This TTRPG captures the spirit and tone of the original series with a flavourful - if messy - ruleset that prioritises slick storytelling over simulation.
Just like the show, Cowboy Bebop: The RPG is all about playing out the adventures of effortlessly cool bounty hunters in a setting created by blending a cyberpunk dystopia, spaghetti western and mob drama, then serving the resulting cocktail in a martini glass. It wants its players to put as much thought into their character’s clothes as their skills and operates on the assumption that everyone - whether they’re a player character or a bounty - has a tragic past they’re running from.
Importantly, it’s not a game about playing out any old adventure in the world of Bebop, but rather one that tries to capture the feeling of the ultracool anime series. As such, it truly has zero interest in simulation, realism, or even trying to ground the characters in a logical reality. The rules are always kept as abstract and fuzzy as possible, so that nothing as tedious as the survivability of a ten-story plunge gets in the way of the fiction.
Perhaps the best example of this is the game’s approach to money. The core concept of any campaign is that you’re a bunch of broke bounty hunters in dire need of cash, but the rulebook is very clear that the numbers listed on any target’s wanted poster are pure set-dressing. You never end a session by totting up the cash you earned and consulting an equipment list to pick out new guns or ship upgrades. By the time you next sit down at the table, all the money is gone and your team is desperately hunting for the next big payout.
Why? Because that’s what the genre demands. Bebop is a show (or a game) about the hunt, not the reward.
This fiction-heavy approach to things also influences the game’s rules, drawing heavily from Blades in the Dark and the countless other titles it’s inspired over the past decade. Rather than asking players to roll for, say, trying to sneak past some mafiosos guarding their HQ, every test instead contributes to filling up clocks that represent a more general kind of progress - for either good or ill. One might, for example, be “SNEAK INTO THE RED DRAGON HQ,” while the other is “GUARDS ALERTED.”
Cowboy Bebop’s abstract approach can be jarring if you’re used to more traditional ‘see problem, solve problem’ RPGs. Over time, though, it teaches players to focus on the direction of the story and less on trying to overcome individual challenges.
It’s a clever system. However, it’s also a perfect example that a fiction-first ruleset doesn’t always mean a game is easy to learn. Cowboy Bebop requires its players to juggle tallies of hits, shocks and risks, while also keeping an eye on which phase of the session they’re in (both the difficulty of tests and the rewards they offer change as the game approaches its climax) and whether it’s worth trading emotional damage for a better chance of success.
If that sounds too intimidating for your table, this may not be the game for you. If, however, you don’t mind keeping the rulebook open at the glossary for your first few sessions, this is a slick and stylish way to experience the world of Cowboy Bebop. Bang.
RICHARD JANSEN-PARKES
WE SAY
If you’re willing to handle some complexity, Cowboy Bebop: The RPG can deliver an experience just as slick as the anime.
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED BLADES IN THE DARK...
Less stealing, more bounty-hunting, but if you’re already familiar with the ruleset, Cowboy Bebop will be a delight.