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Jeraa
2011-04-27, 11:01 PM
Besides Mongoose Publishings version of Traveller, are there currently any other science fiction rpgs currently in print? I don't care what rules system its for, it just has to still be in print.

Bang!
2011-04-27, 11:07 PM
Yes. Tons. Do you want to play any style of game in particular?

EDIT: There are over a hundred games on Wikipedia's scifi rpgs list, and even without probing, I can name about a dozen top-notch games they've left out. There's a lot of room for this to be narrowed down.

If you could toss out a couple names of movies/video games/books,/tv shows/pinball machines/whatever that resemble what you want in an rpg, it would be very helpful.

Jeraa
2011-04-27, 11:43 PM
Any kind of sci fi really. I do prefer something with space combat.

Yes, wikipedia lists a good number. However, I only want games that are currently in print, not older games. A lot of those are no longer in print.

Knaight
2011-04-28, 12:38 AM
Even of those currently in print there are a bunch.

Concerning space combat, do you want something closer to "dogfighting in space, with banking and such" or "ships blowing each other apart from way outside visual range, with the fight decided largely by who sees who first". For the first, there is much to be said for Starblazer Adventures, for the second, Diaspora.

king.com
2011-04-28, 01:44 AM
Rogue Trader, the warhammer 40,000 space exploration game is a lot of fun. Get the Core Rules and thats all thats absolutely necessary to own to be able to play, though Into the Storm is definitely a valuable purchase if you want lots of space combat.

Bang!
2011-04-28, 03:34 AM
I'll admit that the in-print limitation hits space battle games especially hard. This was something old-school rpgs and the Star Wars games were good at. A lot of really fantastic contemporary space games just handwave space dogfights as plot points.

Concerning space combat, do you want something closer to "dogfighting in space, with banking and such" or "ships blowing each other apart from way outside visual range, with the fight decided largely by who sees who first". For the first, there is much to be said for Starblazer Adventures, for the second, Diaspora.
I'm going to second these two for their respective positions, both because Fate is fun and because Diaspora is just amazing, even beyond Fate's standards. Here (http://www.vsca.ca/Diaspora/diaspora-srd.html)'s Diaspora's SRD, if you're interested.

Fires of Heaven is a specialized space opera dogfight game, but its rules are pretty intense. It does a pretty smooth job of tracking damage to specific parts of a spaceship, but it still means spending time tracking damage to specific parts of a spaceship. That's one of those wargamey things that I know some people really like, so I don't want to make it sound like it's Bad, but I really can't get into that stuff.

Spacefights are one place where some of the generic rules systems actually shine (partly because there are few specialized games that really stand out). GURPS and Savage Worlds do pretty good jobs of it. Unisystem and Cortex have frameworks for space battles, but some assembly is required. (It's pretty easy to fill in the blanks, I've run a couple Cortex games involving tactical space fights, and they worked out pretty well.)

EDIT: I just saw Jovian Chronicles is still in print. If you aren't opposed to mecha and certain other anime tropes getting in your space, it has pretty fast punchy space battles and it at least tries for a hard sf setting.

hamlet
2011-04-28, 07:08 AM
Stars Without Number is a relatively decent system. Based, essentially, on the old TSR Basic D&D days and you can get a free PDF of it out there.

The guy who runs Grognardia published a sci-fi system, or is about to, I've forgotten which. It's definatelly worth a look and is relatively inexpensive.

Savage Worlds can do Sci-Fi. GURPS can. Palladium has a sci-fi branch, though you have to slice it out of RIFTS and the Supers sections. I believe Evil Hat has one, but won't swear to it.

Off the top of my head. There are scads of them, really.

Why do you care about it being in print? Some of the better ones are out of print.

Weasel of Doom
2011-04-28, 07:13 AM
Rogue Trader, the warhammer 40,000 space exploration game is a lot of fun. Get the Core Rules and thats all thats absolutely necessary to own to be able to play, though Into the Storm is definitely a valuable purchase if you want lots of space combat.

Seconded

Although I think Battlefleet Koronus might be better for space combat, it's the supplement with rules for using attack craft and torpedoes.

I should note that RT is quite an unusual game. In many ways, including how space combat plays out, it resembles the Age of Sail or Discovery and because it's set in the warhammer 40k universe everything is over the top. The pcs are interstellar traders and explorers of incredible wealth who captain a ship several kilometres long with a crew of many thousands. This really changes the sort of adventures you go on since the party can acquire armies, fleets and even their own planets.

Erom
2011-04-28, 07:16 AM
I friggin love Diaspora. There aren't too many systems that can handle player combat, starship combat, and army/wargame combat while still remaining relatively rules light.

And the starship combat is just brilliant - it's all based on range and relative velocity rather than x and y coordinates, which is actually super fluid once you get used to it.

dsmiles
2011-04-28, 07:17 AM
RISUS can do sci-fi, and it's free. Shadowrun is future science-fantasy, but no space combat. Dark Heresy is sci-fi, I don't know if there's space combat or not, since I haven't played it. M&M can do sci-fi, RIFTS is sci-fi. There are sooooooo many systems out there, and I can't name them all.

king.com
2011-04-28, 06:55 PM
Seconded

Although I think Battlefleet Koronus might be better for space combat, it's the supplement with rules for using attack craft and torpedoes.

I should note that RT is quite an unusual game. In many ways, including how space combat plays out, it resembles the Age of Sail or Discovery and because it's set in the warhammer 40k universe everything is over the top. The pcs are interstellar traders and explorers of incredible wealth who captain a ship several kilometres long with a crew of many thousands. This really changes the sort of adventures you go on since the party can acquire armies, fleets and even their own planets.

Oh thats absolutely out now isn't it...now I have to go and get my hands on it. Though I still recommend Into the Storm. Every Rogue Trader game is improved by having an ork in the party:smallbiggrin:

Jeraa
2011-04-29, 12:50 AM
I'll admit that the in-print limitation hits space battle games especially hard.

That is actually part of the point. I should of been clearer. I'm not looking for a system to play, I'm just trying to find all sci-fi rpgs that are currently being published and supported. Though I do prefer space battles, I am also looking for other types as well.

LibraryOgre
2011-04-29, 01:51 PM
Besides Mongoose Publishings version of Traveller, are there currently any other science fiction rpgs currently in print? I don't care what rules system its for, it just has to still be in print.

A few off the top of my head:

1) Palladium, specifically Rifts: Phase World. The new "Thundercloud Galaxy" sourcebook just came out, by my friend Braden Campbell. Rifts does it all, and is a fairly mutable game system, but also somewhat old-fashioned. Getting into it will be semi-expensive in terms of books... you can get by with just the Rifts and Phase World books, but there's a lot of sourcebooks, and it's all compatible, including...

2) Robotech, also by Palladium; the main book is a tie-in to the Shadow Chronicles movie which came out last decade. They've been a bit slow about releasing sourcebooks for this, but they've got several, and it's compatible with the stuff that came out in the 80s and 90s, though some of the numbers are different. Plus, you know, Robotech. You're gonna be blowing stuff up in space with any bit of effort. Again, I know the principal writer of this one (Jason Marker), who was with Palladium before he went freelance (and now, IIRC, is working on Dark Heresy stuff).

3) Eclipse Phase. Bright side of this one is it is free (though you can buy the book, and I suggest doing so). A much harder sci-fi than the previous two, and also with a degree of cyberpunk and transhumanism. Again, I know one of the authors here... he's freelancing for them, writing stuff on Space Habitats around his job at NASA (we were supposed to game this weekend, but everyone flaked out). The game we were supposed to play is...

4) d6 Space. Not in print, since WEG went belly-up, but free. It's also pretty setting-less... we're playing in a more human-centric variant of Eclipse Phase, but the system is solid and fun. It's also largely compatible with old d6 Star Wars products, which are AWESOME. Amazingly, the first one on the list where I cannot claim to have had drinks with any of the authors.

5) Fading Suns, now by Redbrick Games. I don't recall a lot of space combat, but that's because I became enchanted with the feudalism amongst the stars aspect. Originally developed by Holistic Games, it bears some marks of being made by those refugees from White Wolf.

6) 3:16, Carnage Amongst the Stars. Fairly mindlessly violent game that is nevertheless a lot of fun. Easily adaptable to space combat.

My choice? If you're looking for fun and flexible, go with d6 Space. I have some mechanical disagreements with Palladium that mostly disappear with d6 Space, and the availability of a wide array of Star Wars stuff makes it attractive. I don't think you'd go terribly wrong with Palladium, mind... just that it's not necessarily the best choice, unless you want a lot of gonzo.

Erom
2011-04-29, 05:12 PM
3) Eclipse Phase. Bright side of this one is it is free (though you can buy the book, and I suggest doing so).
"Free" is always enough for me to want to at least take a look at a new system (especially one that sounds so awesome) but I can't actually find a way to grab it - are you just talking about the Quick Start rules, or is there some way to get a digital copy of the actual rulebook?

LibraryOgre
2011-04-29, 08:14 PM
"Free" is always enough for me to want to at least take a look at a new system (especially one that sounds so awesome) but I can't actually find a way to grab it - are you just talking about the Quick Start rules, or is there some way to get a digital copy of the actual rulebook?

I'm sorry, I appear to be incorrect.

The book is released under a creative commons license (http://www.eclipsephase.com/cclicense), so you could theoretically download it for free (specifically mentioned in the link), but they don't seem to provide links to do so, anymore.

Thane of Fife
2011-04-29, 10:33 PM
ICAR (http://www.icar.co.uk/) is a space opera (supposedly - I'd call it more soft sci-fi, personally) which definitely has rules for space combat. The game has a pretty distinct look and setting, though I've never actually played it, and I wonder how elegant the mechanics are....
It's free, though, so worth looking into, and it is fairly frequently updated.

It does appear to require a LOT of sheets, though.