Historical and Realistic Future RPGs

[Gligarman2]

Guys, I have two requests. I like mutants and masterminds, but I have the urge to kill those damn Natzys with guns, not fantasy. So, NO MAGIC, NO DRAGONS, NO PSIONICS. I just want to shoot Nazi's and Romans and Greeks or whatever.
Secondly, I would like a game that potrays different tech levels and possible futures accurately. D20 Future? That game says we'll find magic gravity controller things and lasers. Come on. I want multiple futures, that are accurate. Mass Drivers and Drones, yes. Super Death Laser Human-bots, no.

To Recap:

1) A historical RPG with no fantasy or supernatural elements. Potentially in many different settings.

2) A realistic future RPG.

Come on, guys, there's gotta be something!

[Yora]

I think GURPS is used a lot for modern games. d20 Future has content for a wide range of technological levels, but d20 Modern isn't such a great game to begin with. I prefer Star Wars Saga without Jedi.

[Delwugor]

I would recommend Mutants and Masterminds! It's not exactly a generic or universal system but its core can be used for one.

3E is pretty clear that "powers" is not magic or super, they are effects. For supers you put them together add super hero descriptions and you have super powers. But you can also put them together and add other description to make them whatever you want.

Enhanced Strength, Enhanced Agility and Enhanced Speed could be an extremely well trained martial artist (Trained description), a chemically induced soldier (Chemical description) or a guy in a zoot suit (Equipment description).

Replace the term "Power Level" with "Technical Level" and combine with equipment.
For example equipment with Flight and Blast to make a fighter plane/ship.
TL 4 - WWI fighter
TL 5 - Mustang
TL 6 - Mig or Tomcat
TL 7 - Stealth fighter
TL 10 - Viper

Favor "Descriptors" that fit into the tech setting you want add in some creativity and most of the core rules will work.

[Manateee]

Am I right in inferring that you're looking for a rules-heavy that explicitly addresses these different settings (as opposed to something like Wushu)?

Because that's going to be the difference between having a huge list of options and a fairly short and specific one.

[Storm Bringer]

Guys, I have two requests. I like mutants and masterminds, but I have the urge to kill those damn Natzys with guns, not fantasy. So, NO MAGIC, NO DRAGONS, NO PSIONICS. I just want to shoot Nazi's and Romans and Greeks or whatever.
Secondly, I would like a game that potrays different tech levels and possible futures accurately. D20 Future? That game says we'll find magic gravity controller things and lasers. Come on. I want multiple futures, that are accurate. Mass Drivers and Drones, yes. Super Death Laser Human-bots, no.

To Recap:

1) A historical RPG with no fantasy or supernatural elements. Potentially in many different settings.

2) A realistic future RPG.

Come on, guys, there's gotta be something!

have you looked into Traveller, the game where your pc might turn up in a space ship, and be greeted by a stone age local seeking protection against those jackboot Aslan in thier tanks?

that this sort of thing happens all the bloody time?

mongoose are making it these days, and you to can enjoy the thrills of fleeing on a flying car, shooting a guass rifle at ww1 vintage biplanes while you escape with the princess!

[Gligarman2]

Thanks about M&M.

I didn't like travelers because I got sick of rolling dice and the DM has to do so much.

I want something rules heavy.

[LibraryOgre]

Define "rules heavy".

We've been playing GURPS, and it's got a huge ruleset but boils down to a pretty simple mechanic. It does fantasy or reality pretty well, using various supplements to get specific about an era.

If you're looking for pretty crunchy hard science fiction, you might try Eclipse Phase. It's married to a particular setting (a solar system in which Earth is contaminated), but it's been released under CC license, so the PDF is available free. It has a lot of elements of the "new cyberpunk" in it... cortical stacks, body switching, etc., but is backed up by some solid science. The section on habitats in Panopticon was written by a friend of mine (in fact, our GURPS GM), who actually works for NASA as an engineer, with a passion for space habitats.

[GenericGuy]

I second the recommendation GURPS (specifically Transhuman Space) and especially Eclipse Phase for your realistic future RPG needs (transhumanism is probably going to lead to a very :smalleek: but also :smallcool: future and Eclipse Phase does a good job of portraying the possibilities).

[Tyndmyr]

Guys, I have two requests. I like mutants and masterminds, but I have the urge to kill those damn Natzys with guns, not fantasy. So, NO MAGIC, NO DRAGONS, NO PSIONICS. I just want to shoot Nazi's and Romans and Greeks or whatever.
Secondly, I would like a game that potrays different tech levels and possible futures accurately. D20 Future? That game says we'll find magic gravity controller things and lasers. Come on. I want multiple futures, that are accurate. Mass Drivers and Drones, yes. Super Death Laser Human-bots, no.

To Recap:

1) A historical RPG with no fantasy or supernatural elements. Potentially in many different settings.

2) A realistic future RPG.

Come on, guys, there's gotta be something!

Well...if D20 Past/Modern/Future isn't good enough...(and it does have it's problems), and you hate magic/fantasy elements and Traveller, your options are quite limited. Mostly, you take existing systems and carve out the bits you don't like. Gurps is an option for this(frankly, gurps is ALWAYS on option for this, since that's what gurps does), but I, personally, dislike the going through to sort out what I don't want.

I'm working on a D10 system what'll solve this, but it probably won't be ready for playtesting until summer. I'd be happy to add you to the list of testers, but it doesn't solve the problem right now, I'm afraid.

[Gligarman2]

Thanks, I'll look into Eclipse Phase.

[hamlet]

Alternity. Just ignore the Psionics, FX, and mutant rules (which are hardly neccessary for play) and you're in like flint.

[horseboy]

Spacemaster: Privateers. It's got a partical physicist in the credits. You may want to cut out the aliens.
The problem with "hard" sci-fi is that it dates itself VERY quickly. For the love of ASCII Traveller's standard computer is a Trash 80 that's the size of a Baltimore row home, because that's how big they were when the game was made. Then Moore's Law kicked in and it's just laughable.

[Ashtagon]

I didn't like travelers because I got sick of rolling dice and the DM has to do so much.

I want something rules heavy.

These two goals are not compatible.

[Kenneth]

wow.. people posting in a thread about a WWII killing nazis rpg but not watnng fireballs or unrelaistic future technology Honestly if you had said we be landing on the moon and have the internet 85 years peopel would say that was unrelasitic.. I don't know how one can NOT think we would have hyperjump or as the OP put it
Super Death Laser Human-bots and seriusly just look how far the human race has came int eh last 60 years. now imagine what we can do in 600...everybody is just saying GURPS ( i have to admit their WWII setting is pretty good) and traveler..


and NOT ONE PERSON has mentioned RECON DELUXE or IN HARM'S WAY

GODLIKE is awesome if you forget about 'talents' and

teh best system of all is GEAR KREIG (just ignore the mechs or if ya want use the mech and pretend its the future)

Like for real.. try these ones out or at least look up and read a couple reviews on them, don't just dive into the big RPGs look for the littel diamonds in the rough.

EDIT:: my mistake i got recond deluxe and gear krieg semi mixed up in my mind.. Recon Deluxe is the best system about war, super realistic and very very gritty. though what I said about gear kreig still stands ignore the mech and it a super crazy awesome game.

[Tyndmyr]

Actually...now that I think about it, the request for a realistic game that allows shooting romans with guns, that is rules heavy but doesn't involve much dice or DM doing things...comes across a bit like a troll. As does "multiple futures...that are accurate".

Everything has trade-offs. Some things are just not really possible, and you need to better define what you actually want, and what you're willing to give up to get that.

[eepop]

Actually...now that I think about it, the request for a realistic game that allows shooting romans with guns, that is rules heavy but doesn't involve much dice or DM doing things...comes across a bit like a troll. As does "multiple futures...that are accurate".

Everything has trade-offs. Some things are just not really possible, and you need to better define what you actually want, and what you're willing to give up to get that.

1) He was asking for different games. One historical, and another realistic future.
2) You can have "rules heavy" without being crushed by the rules. D&D 3E, 4E, and GURPS could all be considered pretty rules heavy, but they don't have to be overly burdensome for a DM. He would have probably been better off giving a target complexity though.

[fusilier]

GURPS meets your requirements for both games -- World books are available for everything you describe (Roman, Greek, WW2, Cliffhanger), although for sci-fi you might need to work out some details yourself. You can get bogged down in combat in GURPS, it can get very detailed -- practice is probably the key to keeping it running smoothly with all options available.

If you are into world building, GURPS provides a fair amount of background data (weapon lists, equipment lists, etc.) in some sourcebooks to help.

Good luck.

[Gligarman2]

These two goals are not compatible.

Right. I am sorry I was kinda roundabout. I meant to say that I would like a game that is more GM fiat to Rules fiat, but has set-in-stone rules for much. If it could preserve drama, that is a nessecity. Like, as an example, I would like a few realistic checks to pilot a plane, but I don't have to roll tons of dice to make every town, like in travelers, or use overly complex formulae. I am usually able to make rules up on the fly, if that helps. In summary, Realism, rules, but not drama killing game slowing long dice roll chains.

[Gligarman2]

Am I right in inferring that you're looking for a rules-heavy that explicitly addresses these different settings (as opposed to something like Wushu)?

Because that's going to be the difference between having a huge list of options and a fairly short and specific one.


YES! Thanks!

[Gligarman2]

Define "rules heavy".

We've been playing GURPS, and it's got a huge ruleset but boils down to a pretty simple mechanic. It does fantasy or reality pretty well, using various supplements to get specific about an era.

If you're looking for pretty crunchy hard science fiction, you might try Eclipse Phase. It's married to a particular setting (a solar system in which Earth is contaminated), but it's been released under CC license, so the PDF is available free. It has a lot of elements of the "new cyberpunk" in it... cortical stacks, body switching, etc., but is backed up by some solid science. The section on habitats in Panopticon was written by a friend of mine (in fact, our GURPS GM), who actually works for NASA as an engineer, with a passion for space habitats.


Gurps sounds good.

[Gligarman2]

just a point, I meant Viable tech, not possible tech. Sure, we could make mechs, but they are expensive, can be toppled, are dangerous to the user, and could easily be replaced by much cheaper tanks.