Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context RecycledInSpace / TabletopGames

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%%
4%%
5%%
6%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
7%%
8%%
9%%
10%%
11%%
12%%
13
14* The ''Agents of PSI'' setting for ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' is ''Franchise/JamesBond'' With PsychicPowers!
15* ''CAMELOT Trigger'', from FATE Worlds 2, is King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table [-IN SPACE! PILOTING MECHA!-]
16* ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'': At first glance most of the Successor States and other factions are expys of medieval or 16th-18th century nations, though they are written well enough to be unique states in their own right.
17** House Davion (Federated Suns): England / France [-IN SPACE-]
18** House Steiner (Lyran Commonwealth): (West) Germany, with Scottish & Irish elements [-IN SPACE-]
19** House Marik (Free Worlds League): [[DependingOnTheWriter Yugoslavia]] / Austro-Hungarian Empire [-IN SPACE-]
20** House Kurita (Draconis Combine): Shogunate Japan [-IN SPACE-]
21** House Liao (Capellan Confederation): Imperial/Communist China and Soviet Union [-IN SPACE-]
22*** St. Ives Compact: Taiwan [-IN SPACE-]
23** Comstar: the Medieval Church [-IN SPACE-]
24** Free Rasalhague Republic: Scandinavia [-IN SPACE-]
25** Magistracy of Canopus: Las Vegas [-IN SPACE-]
26** Outworlds Alliance: Amish / Mennonites [-IN SPACE-]
27** Marian Hegemony: Republican / Imperial Rome [-IN SPACE-] (by deliberate design of its founder)
28** Tortuga Dominions: Pirates of the Caribbean [-IN SPACE-]
29** Nueva Castile: Reconquista Spain [-IN SPACE-] (until Clan Goliath Scorpion takes over)
30** Hanseatic League: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin [-IN SPACE-]
31** Mostly averted with the Clans, which were deliberately designed as a new society (both in-universe and in real life), but they do use Mongol terminology and initially burst upon the Inner Sphere much as the Mongol horde did to medieval Europe.
32** The original version of the game, [=BattleDroids=] was a post-apocalyptic, ''Film/MadMax'' setting [-IN SPACE-] with HumongousMecha.
33* ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech'' is ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' [-IN THE FUTURE-]! Although not [-IN SPACE-]! as the Migou tend to blow up anything the NEG tries to keep up.
34** Creator/SteveJacksonGames has already done ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Cthulhupunk'', a sourcebook that puts Cthulhu [-IN CYBERPUNK-]!
35** And for the BRP system, there's licensed Creator/{{Chaosium}} product ''Cthulhu Rising'' - the original ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' [-IN THE FUTURE! AND IN SPACE! BATTLING DEEP ONES ON EUROPA! RUNNING FROM DIMENSIONAL SHAMBLERS ON GANYMEDE!-]
36* The board game ''Clank!'' (a dungeon crawling deck builder) was released as a rethemed version ''Clank! In! Space!''
37* ''TabletopGame/DungeonWorld'' is ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' [-[[UsefulNotes/PoweredByTheApocalypse POWERED BY THE APOCALYPSE]]!-]
38* ''d20 Future'' is ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' (which is ''Dungeons & Dragons'' [-IN THE MODERN WORLD-]!) [-IN THE FUTURE-]!... oh, all right: [-IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE-]!
39* ''d20 Past'' and ''d20 Apocalypse'' are ''Dungeons & Dragons'' [-IN THE LATE 1800s-] and [-{{AFTER THE END}}-] respectively. Both also have ''Urban Arcana'' style settings.
40* The ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' campaign setting is ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' [-FEATURING MAGITEK-]!
41* ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' is ''TabletopGame/DeltaGreen'' [-IN SPACE-].
42* ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld'' was ''already'' ''D&D'' [-{{AFTER THE END}}-]!
43* Parodied with Greg Stolze's free rpg [[http://www.gregstolze.com/downloads.html In Spaaaaaaace!]], which is billed as a generic space opera...IN SPAAAAAACE! [[spoiler:Yes, generic space operas are ''already'' in spaaaaaaace. That is, of course, the joke.]]
44* ''TabletopGame/MetamorphosisAlpha'': Is pretty literally [-''D&D'' ON A SPACESHIP!-]
45* TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}. Dear LORD, Monopoly. There's Monopoly WITH SPONGEBOB! Monopoly WITH DISNEY!! Monopoly WITH LORD OF THE RINGS!! Just check Google Images. Or any store that sells classic games.
46** And, of course, IN SPAAAAAACE! as well. [[http://zappa.brainiac.com/spaceship/MiltonBradley/us-space-monopoly.html In]] [[http://gamerant.com/mass-effect-monopoly-hold-123385/ multiple]] [[http://www.squakenet.com/download/star-wars-monopoly/15014/ flavors,]] [[http://usaopoly.com/blog/monopoly-doctor-who-villains-edition-game-has-arrived at that.]]
47** Also TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}}opoly, although for whatever reason they didn't portmanteau it and marketed it as Pokemon Monopoly.
48* Star ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'': "Kill the monsters. Grab the treasure. Stab your buddy [-IN SPACE-]!" [[http://wargames.com.hk/oscommerce/images/res/starmun_91_130.jpg]]
49** It should go without saying that the other Munchkins are merely Munchkin [-WITH PIRATES-], [-WITH KUNG FU-], [-IN THE [[TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness WORLD OF DARKNESS]]-], [-WITH ZOMBIES-], [-WITH CTHULHU-] and so forth.
50* ''TabletopGame/RenegadeLegion'' pits The Roman Empire [-IN SPACE-] against the United Kingdom [-IN SPACE-].
51* Spacemaster is TabletopGame/{{Rolemaster}}... In space!
52* ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' is literally ''Dungeons & Dragons'' [-IN SPACE-]! It was largely unpopular, but it has a significant cult following.
53* ''TabletopGame/{{Space 1889}}'': despite the name, this game, as a whole, averts the trope, being one of the earliest examples of steampunk. Making a role-playing game based on late 19th century science fiction and historical late 19th century was a new idea, not an existing idea put in space. However the adventure "Twenty Thousand Leagues Through Martian Skies" in Challenge #74 is Jules Verne's ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea" recycled in the Martian atmosphere.
54* ''TabletopGame/{{Star Realms}}'' is ''TabletopGame/{{Dominion}}'' meets ''[[TabletopGame/{{MagicTheGathering}} Magic: The Gathering]]'' [-IN SPACE!-]
55* ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}'' is, of course, ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}''...[-IN SPAAAAACE!-]
56* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': ''TabletopGame/AKlingonChallenge'' has much the same gameplay mechanics and presentation as ''TabletopGame/{{Atmosfear}}'', the first VCR board game to be a real hit. That said, ''A Klingon Challenge'' actually includes several gameplay mechanics that would later find their way into the first major ''Atmosfear'' overhaul, ''The Harbingers''.
57* ''TabletopGame/StarsWithoutNumber'' is so much ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' [-IN SPAAAAACE-], the rules are explicitly intended to be compatible with reskinned D&D second edition modules.
58* TabletopGame/{{Traveller}} ''Interstellar Wars'' is the Greco-Persian wars in space, all the way from Marathon through Alexander's conquest.
59* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' began as ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' [-IN SPACE-]! but is now pretty much its own entity; it still, however, has goblins in space, orcs in space, elves in space, ogres in space, the ChurchMilitant in space, vikings in space, communists in space and Chaos Gods in space. [[UnPerson The earliest versions]] also had dwarfs in space until c. 1993, reintroducing them in 2022.
60** Many armies invoke a flavor of actual historical armies, albeit in space. Catachan regiments are the Vietnam-era US Army, the Armageddon Steel Legion is WWII Germany, the Death Korps of Krieg is the entire Western front of WWI but made much more grim, Space Wolves are Space Vikings, Dark Angels are Arthurian Knights, Black Templars are Teutonic Knights, and so on.
61** And even individual characters can often be spaced-up versions of historical figures. Lord Solar Macharius is Alexander the Great IN SPACE. Creed is Winston Churchill IN SPACE. The Emperor himself is variously portrayed as either Jesus or God the Father or even Hitler IN SPACE, with his Primarchs ranging from Space Octavian (Roboute Guilliman), King Arthur (Lion El'Jonson), Batman (Konrad Curze), and Thor (Leman Russ) to Space Genghis Khan (Jaghatai Khan) and Spartacus (Alpharius Omegon and Angron).
62** The backstory for the Imperium, the, Literature/HorusHeresy, is Literature/ParadiseLost [-IN SPACE-]
63** Ironically, many fans consider Fantasy Battle's successor, ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'', to be Warhammer 40000...[-IN FANTASY-], complete with multiple worlds, a God-Emp... err sorry, God-King of Mankind and an order of holy warriors engineered by this God-King to be humanity's leading army.
64* Creator/WhiteWolf has a bizarre relationship with this trope, {{Retcon}}, and SpiritualSuccessor.
65** ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' was originally conceived as the medieval RPG, ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'', [-IN THE MODERN DAY-]! -- but then begat not only ''Mage: The Sorcerers' Crusade'' (''[=MtA=]'' [-IN THE RENAISSANCE-]!), but, once Creator/WhiteWolf sold the rights to TabletopGame/ArsMagica itself, ''Dark Ages: Mage''.
66** ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', in turn, was supposed to be the original ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' [-IN PREHISTORY-]! -- but then came ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'', self-described as ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': [-IN THE MODERN WORLD WITH ANCIENT MYTHS ON TOP-]! (Though ''Scion'' doesn't necessarily match that description.)
67*** With ''Shards of the Exalted Dream'', ''Exalted'' has two different variants of ''Exalted'' [-IN SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!-] No, seriously. The cover even has the Scarlet Empress doing her best impression of [[Franchise/MassEffect a certain Spectre]], plus another version who's a space barbarian queen with [[ChainsawGood autoklaves]] behind her throne. The two variants are Heaven's Reach, which plays space for grandeur and size, and [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Gunstar Autochthonia]], which is a lot more claustrophobic. ''Shards'' also includes The Modern Age, ''Exalted'' in a modern setting, and Burn Legend, which is basically ''Exalted'' as a video fighting game.
68*** ''Scion'' itself has a couple of alternate settings: the campaign in ''Scion: Ragnarok'' takes place in a setting where only Myth/NorseMythology is true, as opposed to the basic ''Scion'' setting where AllMythsAreTrue, and ''Scion Companion'' offers a historical setting in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
69** Less problematic are the other historical games set in the ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'': ''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Vampire:]] [-THE DARK AGES-]!'', ''[[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse Werewolf:]] [-THE WILD WEST-]!'', ''et al.''
70** There are also the settings in different cultures. Best known is the ''Year of the Lotus'' event which gave Asian treatments of every gameline, the flagship title being ''TabletopGame/KindredOfTheEast''.
71** The ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' has two types of alternate setting: one, nicknamed "Shards", translates the NWOD into alternate genre-settings, such as ''Bleeding Edge'', which is NWOD {{cyberpunk}}, and ''Infinite Macabre'', which is the NWOD [-IN SPACE-]! The other is historical settings for the various gamelines, such as ''Requiem for Rome'', which is ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' in the dying days of the Roman Empire, and ''Victorian Lost'', which is ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' in Victorian Britain. ''Mage Noir'' manages to pull off a two-for-one, being ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' in the [[FantasticNoir noir genre]], set in post-World War II America.

Top