Steampunk superheroes
You are a Cosmic.
The solar system you call home is mostly filled with aether, a mysterious substance that provides breathable air, efficiently transfers heat, and allows faster-than-normal space travel. Chiefly, though, aether allows (and even fosters) the transmission of the cosmic energies created by celestial objects. This “Aetherspace,” as it is called, fills much of the solar system.
The great amount of time you have spent flitting about Aetherspace has made you sensitive to these energies. You draw upon them, infuse your body with them, and channel them into fantastic effects.
With that introduction there certainly is no other way for me to look at the Cosmic Corsairs roleplaying game (RPG) than as a kind of steampunk superhero setting. Frankly, the steampunk-like superhero genre is not really my thing but I went ahead and picked up the Quick Start Guide to sample given my previous experience with Nerdburger Games; specifically Code Warriors (2022) which I enjoy. What I found is a rules-lite game system (Roll Track) that encourages fast play.
Cosmic characters
Characters in Cosmic Corsairs are easy to create and play thanks to a very streamlined character generation process. In terms of narrative versus crunch game mechanisms, Cosmic Corsairs comes down—for characters—more on the narrative side. Personally, I am not sure just how much a superhero in Aetherspace needs to worry about their Sexual Orientation or their Gender Presentation but, well, if that is important to your gaming group then more power to you.
You cannot have a superhero RPG without superpowers and in Cosmic Corsairs those powers are called Affinities. The linkage of Affinities to Celestial Bodies is a nice nod to Victorian science that tends to be the default for steampunk settings. The nods in Cosmic Corsairs are tastefully done.
Cosmic triplets
The core game mechanism in Cosmic Corsairs, like Code Warriors before it, is the Tri-Track System Roll Track System. The core game elements in Cosmic Corsairs is depicted using three Tracks: Spirit, Nova, and Reroll. When making a Trait Check, players describe their action and pick an appropriate Trait. They then roll a number of d10 equal to that Trait against a Target Number (difficulty) set by the GameMaster (GM). In order to succeed at least one die must beat the Target Number; any that equal or exceed are considered hits. Those hits are recorded on the Spirit and Nova Tracks whereas non-hits are recorded on the Reroll Track.
Taken as a whole, the Roll Track System plays well with Cosmic Corsairs characters and creates somewhat rules-lite, slightly narrative gameplay with just enough “crunch” that allows players to easily see the results of their actions.
Out in the Aether
As I already alluded to, steampunk superheroes is not my preferred RPG genre. Cosmic Corsairs is a fine game and I am tempted to late pledge to the Kickstarter campaign (whoops, too late!) For $40 and delivery projected for May 2026 one can get a hardcover book and the pdf. That is not bad for a RPG that is rules lite with a basic setting that is easy to grasp making it a highly suitable one-shot adventure game.
Feature image courtesy Nerdburger Games Cosmic Corsairs Kickstarter
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