From Introduction:
The rules in HardNova: Space Opera Adventures are designed to facilitate quick gaming for a single night's play, especially for those times when you need a quick fix or want to take a break from the tedium of extended campaigning. Within, you will find rules optimized for a fast-playing, movie-like experience with scenarios that can be played in a single session. It is assumed that at least one player has roleplaying experience.
Characters are created on a point-based system that allows you to design the type of character you want to play without restrictive classes and levels. As befits the concept, combat and action resolution is fast and everything in the game can be resolved with a single die roll of two or more dice. More advanced rules are also included if you wish to increase the level of detail. Additionally, HardNova comes complete with several game scenarios and a complete list of pre-generated and non-player characters that let you jump right into the action.
HardNova is predicated on the classic space opera epics found in movies, comics, television shows, and books from the last several decades. Characters can be found in interstellar adventures on quests for fame and fortune among the stars, bold explorers seeking out new worlds, space pirates plying the shipping lanes in search of easy prey, mystical psions with mental powers, or just about anything else that comes to mind. The rules in HardNova will allow you to explore all the possibilities of good space opera fantasy, either through the use of the included scenarios or of those you design on your own. So suit up, initiate the hyperdrive sequence, and take to the stars!