Stargrave – Bold Endeavour

Four supplements in, and Joseph A. McCullough takes Stargrave again somewhere it has never gone before. Bold Endeavour, released in October 2023, started life as a large sprawling campaign and ended up as something considerably more interesting. While working on the ship rules he had originally planned as a side feature, McCullough found himself enjoying them so much that they became the centrepiece of the book. The result is the first Stargrave supplement that fills the space between scenarios rather than just adding to what happens on the table.

What is it about?

Every independent crew in the Ravaged Galaxy lives and dies by their ship. It is their home, their strategic headquarters, and in many of the genre's defining stories, practically a character in its own right. The Millennium Falcon limping out of Mos Eisley. Serenity held together by improvisation and stubbornness. The drive to keep your ship flying - whatever it takes, wherever you have to go to find the parts - is one of science fiction's most reliable narrative engines.

Bold Endeavour makes that part of the game. Between scenarios, crews now roll for space encounters: pirate ambushes, black holes, space krakens, derelict ships, first contact events, wormholes, wounded space whales. Each encounter draws on the new ship crew assignment rolls and can damage Structural Integrity, injure crewmembers, or deliver unexpected loot. Managing the ship – repairing it, upgrading it, deciding which systems to prioritise – becomes a campaign layer running parallel to everything else.

The five scenarios in the book are standalone and unconnected, designed to drop into any existing campaign rather than form their own narrative. For groups who want a complete campaign, this is a supplement about the infrastructure of play rather than a specific story.

First Impression

Consistent with the rest of the Stargrave line, Bold Endeavour was released as a 96-page softcover. The production notes a new illustrator, Helge C. Balzer, whose work lends the book a slightly different visual energy while remaining coherent with the setting.

The contents break down as follows:

• Chapter One: New Backgrounds and Powers (Time-Walker, Paladin, 6 new powers)
• Chapter Two: New Soldiers (Apprentice, Comtech, Exosuit, Expert, Quartermaster)
• Chapter Three: Advanced Astrogation (full ship rules, Spaceship Sheet, damage, maintenance)
• Chapter Four: Space Encounters (20 encounter types, full resolution rules)
• Chapter Five: Bold Endeavour Scenarios (5 standalone scenarios including one for solo play)
• Chapter Six: Advanced Technology, Alien Artefacts, and Ship Upgrades (3 new loot tables)
• Chapter Seven: Bestiary (8 new creatures)

What stands out immediately is how much of this book lives outside the game turn. The Spaceship Sheet, the encounter tables, the damage and repair economy – all of it operates between scenarios. For groups who enjoy the campaign management layer of Stargrave, Bold Endeavour effectively doubles it.

How does it play?

The Advanced Astrogation rules give every ship a Structural Integrity value starting at 1,000, which functions like a long-term health pool. Six crew positions must be filled before each campaign game – Pilot, Ship Gunnery, Navigation, Engineer, Science, Doctor – each drawing on the Will stat of the assigned crewmember, plus any relevant bonuses. When the ship takes damage, Critical Hit rolls can result in Crew Casualties, Cargo Destroyed, Quirks (minor persistent penalties like Sticky Controls or a Fuel Leak), or System Damage (major penalties costing 800–1,200 Credits to repair). The engineer can attempt field repairs after each game; anything more serious requires a repair shop.

The Space Encounter table generates events before or after each scenario on a D20 roll. Results range from straightforward (Asteroid Field, Comet) to genuinely threatening (Pirate Ambush, Space Kraken) to narratively interesting (First Contact, Space/Time Anomaly, Wounded Space Whale). Each draws on the crew's ship assignment rolls and may carry consequences into the next game. The overall effect is that the ship becomes something you are actively managing rather than a background assumption.

This kind of between-game economy will feel immediately familiar to anyone who has watched a crew spend an episode of Firefly scrambling for parts, or followed Qui-Gon's improvised solution to a hyperdrive problem on Tatooine. The ship as a source of ongoing narrative pressure – where are we going to get the credits for that repair, and what do we have to do to get them – is a reliable engine for exactly the kind of stories Stargrave tells well.

The two new backgrounds anchor the supplement's tonal range. The Time-Walker is a tinkerer and eccentric, using localized time manipulation to dodge hits and retry failed rolls. They wear light clothing festooned with the tools of their trade and are generally distrusted by anyone who understands what they can do. Mechanically, their core powers focus on probability, positioning, and recovery. The Paladin is the more unusual addition – and the only background in the game with genuine structural restrictions. Paladins can only be captains, never first mates. They cannot carry heavy firearms. They must donate 10% of all credits received to charity or their order. In return they get a shield bonus against shooting and a power set built around melee dominance and protection. On paper this might seem like a penalty-heavy option, but in practice the Paladin opens up crew concepts that Stargrave previously underserved. A Jedi analogue works here. A crusader-knight in the far future works here. It is a deliberately different kind of captain from the scoundrel and the space pirate, and that contrast is the point.

The five new soldiers all connect to the ship system. The Apprentice and Expert share an Area of Knowledge/Expertise framework that gives bonuses to specific crew positions – the difference being +2 versus +4 on the roll, and 20cr versus 100cr in recruitment cost. The Comtech can always activate in the Captain or First Mate Phase regardless of position, and provides +1 to all ship system rolls. The Quartermaster gives a passive +1 to all Engineer Rolls without needing to be assigned to any position. The Exosuit is the outlier – slow, expensive, cannot climb, but essentially unkillable in a cargo-hauling role with split stats for in-suit and out-of-suit operation.

The five scenarios are explicitly modular: no connecting narrative, no campaign requirement. Crystal Caves of Caveth, Psychic Screams, Elemental Sphere, Surface Waves, and the solo Plasmonic Hitchhikers each focus on exploration and unusual environments rather than survival and looting. For groups running long campaigns who want a change of pace, or for more casual players who are not committing to a full campaign arc, they slot in without friction.

What's next?

Bold Endeavour is the fifth of six supplements for Stargrave. The remaining title are:

• Dead or Alive – already covered here, with its major 2024 overhaul that significantly expanded the solo rules and added a dedicated solo campaign
• Death Vector – adding Terminator and Cyberpunk to the game.
• Accetable Losses – November 2026

We will get to Death Vector in due course and likely cover Accetable Losses once it is released.

Conclusion

Bold Endeavour is the most systems-focused supplement in the Stargrave line, and the one that most rewards groups invested in long-term campaign play. The ship rules and space encounter tables add a management layer that brings genuine narrative weight to the journeys between scenarios – the kind of weight that the genre's best stories have always found in the question of whether the ship will hold together long enough to get there.

The modular scenarios, the Paladin's distinctive restrictions, and the breadth of new loot options make this a supplement with something for different types of players. Those who want to run the full system will find it significantly expands what a Stargrave campaign can be. Those who just want to dip in for a scenario or two will find five standalone options that ask nothing of them beyond the core rulebook.

For 20 GBP (printed softcover) or 16 GBP (digital download) you get another almost 100 pages filled to the brim with content for Stargrave. No filler, but actually fitting content and the ship rules are such a characterful addition, that I can't argue against getting this supplement as well.

Stargrave is a brand of Osprey Games and North Star Miniatures.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.