Core Space exists because Colin and Wayne wanted to create a sandbox for their own tabletop adventures. From that grew the game that we all enjoy, along with a wide range of characters, locations, and campaigns. But if you ask him, Colin will tell you that Core Space is still first and foremost about letting you tell your own stories. That’s the beauty of tabletop gaming: unlike watching a TV show or playing video games, you can do whatever you want. Well, as long as you let the Wookie win that is.
That’s why we think it’s important to have tools that empower you to create your own scenarios and maps, invent new Classes, and to craft your own heroes. We want you to be able to make Core Space your own, so you can play out your own adventures.
Creating your own custom crew is a great example of this. Perhaps you want to add extra Traders to play games on a bigger map, or you have a unique idea for a crew that you want to bring to the table. Maybe you’re like me and you want to dust off some models from your pile of shame opportunity that you don’t get enough playtime. Whatever your reason is, creating custom Traders is simple. The rules are covered in the Core Space Deluxe rulebook and you can download the files for making custom Character boards from the website. To make it even easier, there is also a web tool you can access for free that walks you through the process.
Pettitoe’s Independent Traders
To give you a little inspiration, here’s my custom crew built for campaign play: the eternally optimistic crew of the Reliant.
Captain Kered ‘Quick Buck’ Pettitoe
Captain Pettitoe is going to make it big one day. He just needs to find the right plan, land the right contract, or meet the right contact. He knows it in his bones, and has known it since he invested his life savings into buying the Reliant 27 years ago. In the meantime, he just has to keep enough fuel in the tanks to stay one step ahead of his creditors and disappointed customers. He genuinely cares about his crew and wants them all to share in his inevitable success, but he has a knack for finding trouble or falling for half-baked schemes. His current crew have not yet been with him long enough to get sick of his promises of ‘don’t worry, we sure to make a quick buck’.
Hroda
Things broke a lot in Hroda’s childhood apartment. Like almost everyone living in her megacity neighbourhood, her family could only afford cheap or hand-me-down appliances. She learned early how to make do and mend to support her family and later discovered she had a knack for it. Soon she was fixing her neighbour’s equipment, then vehicles, and eventually selling her skills to refit small starships. It was a logical step to take a berth on one of them, and it ended up being the Reliant. It was a role she was made for. Her hacks and jury-rigged fixes are the only reason Captain Pettitoe can afford to keep the Reliant in the air at all. She has a kind heart that keeps Pettitoe on the right tack, her idealism steering him away from the more dubious jobs.
gladstone
The Reliant is the eighth ship that Gladstone has crewed, the others having been lost to enemy action, pirate attacks, accidents, and a memorable collision with a ship they were meant to be protecting. Gladstone is a generally competent crewman, but spacers are a superstitious lot and the Reliant is currently the only ship desperate enough to risk that his misfortune isn’t contagious. The crew have taken a shine to him (and TR1GR has removed him from its targeting list), but they are often frustrated by his long-winded stories.
tr1gr
TR1GR is a demilitarised war bot built for a forgotten conflict that took place on a backwater world. Its logic circuits were badly damaged in the war, and it had been repurposed for mundane street cleaning duties. Many of its parts have been replaced, and by the time it was discovered two decades ago in a junkyard almost no part of the original machine was left. An enterprising tech bought it as scrap, then outfitted the battered shell with new didactic modules to make the machine more versatile, and sold it on. Captain Pettitoe picked it up thirdhand for a bargain price on a recent trip, after an undisclosed incident forced the previous owner to sell it. It is a generally taciturn companion but it has the unnerving habit of verbally updating its kill count whenever it dispatches another foe. Its new programming has also crossed some wires and it has begun counting the number of bolts tightened (603), fried eggs it has flipped (4), the number of times Captain Pettitoe has promised the crew they can make a quick buck (18), along with other more mundane tasks that it has completed.
Examples from the Core Space community
Your creativity doesn’t need to stop with Traders, there are also rules for creating custom Civilians for your crew to encounter. You can even make your own adversaries – there’re no rules for that because you can make them as dangerous as you dare!
We’re always impressed by the creativity of Core Space players and the custom characters they have made are no different. Here are a handful of examples to spark your imagination:
Andy Jackson’s custom civilians look like they bring plenty of extra muscle to the game, although maybe a little less intellect.
Robert has created an Auxilliary Character that is sure to terrorise the ankles of the Purge.
I for one, don’t not want to face this gang of marauders created by Wolfgang!
Tom Janssens
March 20, 2025 at 4:14 pm
These are all great ideas and nice work. Is there a place for us fans to centralise all the new characters that we’ve made?
Also… it would be great it people who publish/upload something like this would also add where the miniature can be bought/found.