TTRPG Roll 23-26 – Rocking Tango or Jazzy Blues? Looking for the bebop in Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game (Mana Project Studio, 2023)

Few anime shows are known in pop culture as well as Cowboy Bebop. The animated series from the late 1990’s has shown tremendous staying power and even spawned a (not so popular) live-action movie.

It actually surprises me that in the intervening 20-odd years that there has not been an official tabletop roleplaying game. That is until 2023 with the release of Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game funded through a Kickstarter campaign by Mana Project Studio.

My feelings towards this new roleplaying game are…complicated. On one hand I really want to like the game. After all, this is Cowboy Bebop! During the Kickstarter campaign—which I admittedly didn’t follow that closely—I saw the basics of the game but didn’t dig deeper, even when a free Quickstart was offered. Alas, now that I have the core rulebook for Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game in hand I find myself a bit lost. I mean, the rules live up to my expectations in capturing the essence of Cowboy Bebop, but at the end of the day the writers take the game in a direction that doesn’t interest me.

Composition

Even before the Kickstarter campaign kicked off, Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game sounded very simple, and interesting, in concept:

Play your own stories of bounty hunters in space, in this jazzy universe blending Western, Film Noir and buddy cop movies.
Get rich quick but be ready to face retribution, because that will be the real lesson!
All you need to play is a character sheet called a Bounty Hunter Cluster and some d6s of two different colors.

Mana Project Studio (pre-Kickstarter posting)

The Kickstarter campaign added additional insight into the themes behind a game of Cowboy Bebop:

Cowboy Bebop is a Japanese animated television series, movie, and other media. Set in 2071 and centered on the adventures of a gang of bounty hunters in space, the story delves into the unresolved issues of the protagonists’ past, exploring concepts such as existentialism, boredom, loneliness, and the influence of the past.

Kickstarter

In hindsight, I should have seen the warning signs here. I don’t play roleplaying game to explore existentialism, boredom, and loneliness. Yet, other parts of the Kickstarter ad copy for Cowboy Bebop sounded exciting. I could see myself playing this game. I wanted to play this game so much I backed the Kickstarter:

All players (except one) take the role of a Bounty Hunter: each of them will have a Character sheet describing their character and a set of game rules specific to that character. Players will use these rules to play the game, making decisions about how their characters act, think and feel. Will your characters capture the bounty, or will they take their side? That’s for the Bounty Hunter to decide.

One player takes the role of the Big Shot: in charge of the setting, the environment, and of every character other than the ones of the players. While the Bounty Hunters should show bring their characters to life through actions and decisions, the Big Shot should set these decisions up presenting interesting situations with difficult choices. The bounty can be a merciless killer or an oppressed victim seeking revenge: it’s the Big Shot’s job to make them into exciting characters.

Kickstarter

Even before the KIckstarter campaign, the writers of Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game proved they understand the messages of the anime series as proven in their discussion of Themes:

Bounty hunters such as the characters must collect rewards to survive, yet they are not all devoid of conscience: even jaded idealists like Spike Spiegel sometimes decline to collect the millions of Woolongs a bounty could bring them. A wanted man is more than just a face on a poster: their tragic stories are revealed before the eyes of our protagonists, who then find themselves having to make moral choices based on what they have discovered.

In this game, therefore, a Bounty is both someone to hunt down and an excuse to tell a story. In this, the narrator is helped by a Cluster that, together with the Session Cluster, allows them to keep track of what the Characters have discovered, what the media say about the Bounty, and, ultimately, what choices they will have to face.

Press Kit (pre-Kickstarter)

After the Kickstarter campaign fulfilled and I got the core rulebook for Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game in hand, I found the discussion on mechanics really exciting me. This game is akin to an action movie!

Drive Your Character Like a Stolen Car In An Action Movie
Players should not pull their punches; characters take risks, and enjoy the thrill of not taking the safest, most logical route but the most dangerous and exciting one. Put the petal to the metal, nobody cares about a few scratches!

Mechanics, p. 7

I also like how the writer’s use different musical genres to define game mechanisms. This is best exemplified by the five different Approaches used in Tests. Similar genre theming is also used for Traits and Sessions:

If you want to show your character…

…withstanding something overwhelming, that’s a Rock Approach.

…being the unstoppable force, that’s a Dance Approach.

…facing inner feelings, that’s a Blues Approach.

…influencing other people, that’s a Tango Approach.

…understanding the environment, blending in and being smart, that’s a Jazz Approach.

Choose the Approach, p. 16

But…as I read on I hit a major stumbling block. The writers let us know what other games inspired them and how that makes Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game the game it is:

This game is heavily influenced by the design of Monsterhearts by Avery Alder, Blades in the Dark by John Harper and Wicked Ones by Nielson/Rea/Costa: their subversion of gaming tropes and of refined gaming structures are a milestone for modern tabletop roleplaying games. We used all of this inspiration to craft you a unique engine that will let you enter the groove of characters looking for a Bounty, and finding themselves instead.

Inspiration and Special Thanks, p. 7

There it is: Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game isn’t really about being a bounty hunter. This is a game about players exploring the inner selves of their characters. That is true to the series theme…but not what I was expecting. Still, given the game is so visually appealing and a rich compilation of Cowboy Bebop lore, isn’t there something in here for me?

Refrain

I read the core rulebook of Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game several times. The unique game system is centered on a dice pool for Tests and a more narratives approach to character generation and roleplaying. I can see it working at the gaming table. Even with as much goodness as I find, there are still some parts that put me off.

No better example of the game driven imperative to explore the inner character exists that the rules for Shock. Shock is the negative outcome of a Test. When a Test results in Shock, it can be removed by wounding a Trait (making it unavailable for further use) or by marking a Bullet on the character sheet. When the last Bullet is marked (there are only six), the character must face their past.

Characters will get to explore Memories, important moments from their past that they haven’t resolved yet and that they will have to face over the course of the story. Facing a Memory and coming to terms with it will make the Characters ready to bear the Consequences of their actions and will reveal sides of them that had remained hidden until then.

THE PAST WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU, p. 6

When a character marks their last bullet, the current Session Tab ends in an automatic failure and the next session must be a Personal Session focused on that character. Interestingly, for a game that is seemingly focused on finding oneself character-wise, in doing so the writers give greater agency to the other players: “In this kind of [Personal] Session, the BH [Bounty Hunters] can lose control of their character and the Big Shot can lose some control over the framing of the story. This is a chance to use different viewpoints to reveal the unexpected, and make something new through collaboration” (p. 42).

Uh…no thank you?

Trouble Clef

I’ll go ahead and say it plainly: Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game ain’t my gig. Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game is certainly a game to be admired. The artwork in the book is wonderful and shows the advantages of close collaboration between a publishing studio and IP holder. The background material and theme of the game, as shown on the pages of the core rulebook and through the game mechanisms, are a true love letter to the series.

If you are a huge fan of Cowboy Bebop and well-steeped in the lore, this roleplaying game will probably be to your liking. If you are an RPG player who wants to play games that let you explore your “inner character” and their deep feelings, motivations, and secrets, then Cowboy Bebop: The Roleplaying Game is likely for you. But, if you are looking for an exciting, action-packed roleplaying game of bounty hunters taking down their target across the solar system, this game might not be the right fit. While the game system certainly allows players to chase bounties, in return it asks some for some deep personal retrospectives. For myself, I have no desire to create and play a character focused on existentialism, boredom, loneliness, and the past. I was forced to (depressingly) ponder that enough in real life during COVID and I don’t need want more of it at my gaming table today.

See You Space Cowboy…

Usual title card at end of most episodes

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Feature image courtesy blackshirtsworld.com

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