Picking a system (Sci-Fi RPG)

[Rainshine]

I've been struck with inspiration for a new world/campaign area, and now that I've begun fleshing it out, I'm trying to figure out what system to run it in.
The basics of the main hub/universe in a sci-fi one; most of my test run will be taking place on a space station in orbit in our solar system. The players will be functionaries on the station -- security, technicians, scientists, etc. The best analogy I can think of would be DS9 sort of scenario. Ideally, there'd be provisions for going off-station as well, flying shuttles and the like, but I'm certainly not above houseruling/homebrewing my own skill sets into the system.
I'm leaning towards d20 Future, mostly because it's something we're familiar with and so much of it is SRD. I like the Warhammer 40k stuff, but a good chunk of it is pretty setting-dependent and would take a good amount of tweaking to bring it over.
Anyways, between your collective experiences, can you suggest a system to try to run the world in, maybe tell me a little bit about it?

[Turalisj]

A generalized system like FATE, GURPS, or MnM3e would work best. It would let you customize everything to your heart's desire. FATE is free, but the other two aren't.

[Autolykos]

If you can afford to wait a little, a SciFi module is actually the next thing I'm building for my own system (should come in a week or so). But if you've already got a specific idea where you want to go, just taking the basic rules as a guideline and extending them to your liking might be a better way.
(Detailed explanation can be found at the link in my sig).

[Delwugor]

Check out the recent discussion in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=256786).

[GolemsVoice]

A lot of stuff in W40k is setting dependent, yes, but the basic stuff, the combat rules, the weapons and all that can be easily transalted to almost any setting. That being said, the classes will need some work, and it's surely more work than just taking a general system and applying it to your campaign.

Might I suggest Savage Worlds? I always like it, it's not especially complicated, manages combat well and is fun&fast.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Serenity RPG. I would say Cortex, but Cortex Generic doesn't have good rules for ships.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I've heard Mongoose Traveler is good.

[holywhippet]

You could look at the old Star Trek system that Last Unicorn had: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_Role-playing_Game

Basically your characters are built using template. eg. your race adds certain skills, so does your career, so does the things you've done during your career.

[Kraynium]

Omega Connection would be what you are looking for

[EnglishKitsune]

Might I suggest a system designed by a friend of mine? It's fairly easy to pick up and play and can create some really awesome RP opportunities.

Called Rapture: End of Days

Not going to touch on the Theology Aspect of it. Needless to say it can easily be removed. Other than that it is a pretty realistic space RPG. It really depends on how RP capable your group is.


http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/89895/Rapture-The-End-of-Days---Theological-SciFi-Horror-Core-Rules

[Kadzar]

If you're familiar and comfortable with running d20 Future and/or you group prefers it, I'd say go with that (or another system if it meets those qualifications). But I'd still recommend picking up Stars Without Number (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/86467/Stars-Without-Number-Free-Edition)(which was mentioned in the other thread) as it's available for free and has methods for coming up with interesting worlds to visit, plotlines, and alien species, and running factions, all of which can be used with any system. And it has a few ideas that you might even want to incorporate into another system.

[Knaight]

Bulldogs could work pretty well for this. There is also d6 space - it's not a system I particularly like, but it is free, and it's vastly preferable to d20 modern.