Space Opera using 5e?

[Chernobyl]

Hi All,

Does anyone know of a sourcebook for 5e that enables a far-future space opera type of campaign? I'm thinking like Star Trek.

Thanks!

[Hitdice]

Sailing the Astral Flow by Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co. is in its early stages, but it might be what you're looking for. It even has not-transporters.

Sadly, I cannot link due to low posts.

[MrFahrenheit]

Does it have to be in space as we know it? If not, you could certainly do very well flying across the D&D multiverse on the astral sea.

[DontEatRawHagis]

Hi All,

Does anyone know of a sourcebook for 5e that enables a far-future space opera type of campaign? I'm thinking like Star Trek.

Thanks!

The DMG has some futuristic weapon rules in it. I'd say they are pretty good. Look into using the Unearthed Arcana classes as there are a couple of Modern Class variants to choose from. As for the setting aspects make it up as you go or steal from existing material.

I stole my SciFi game from Outlaw Star and it worked out perfectly. Wands became Caster Guns. Swords and other weapons are good for close combat and you can always reflavor Hand Crossbow, Short Bow, and Long Bow into Laser Pistol, Laser Rifle, and Laser Sniper.

[Knaight]

There's extremely patchy support for tiny segments of a space opera game. I'd recommend a different system entirely.

[Anonymouswizard]

Hi All,

Does anyone know of a sourcebook for 5e that enables a far-future space opera type of campaign? I'm thinking like Star Trek.

Thanks!

First off, I'd recommend not using 5e for anything other than a 'D&D-fantasy' type of game. That's mainly personal preference based on how the rules work, and I'm sure this forum can point you towards a number of dedicated sci-fi RPGs of the same level of complexity, and probably relatively cheaply.

I don't know any specific 5e books, but the 2e Spelljammer books might be useful if you don't want a serious game. May or May not be useful, I suggest doing research before buying them.

[kaoskonfety]

It can work - as long as you are fine with a sizable level of abstraction I'd even call it easy.

D&D would land much closer to Star Wars than Star Trek - there is magic (of a sort), personal weapons are not quite *zap* you are dust allowing the combat/HP mechanics to come into play. How does the hyperdrive work? Very well, thank you for asking. Yes we are fighting the lazer gun wielding driods with swords, its working GREAT.

For a lovely take along these lines I might recommend: http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0001.html - go to at least page 4, its a pretty big D&D joke early on and the trip takes like 2 minutes of read for a solid laugh.

A quick reskin of the classes and races as either professions or bloodlines (alien or otherwise) covers off some of the "aliens" and "Strange futures" work. The rules for suffocation and some light research help us deal with hard vacuum.

If you are looking for Hard Sci-fi theres just a lack of support that you will find for general realism in D&D - its just not there, you can stop looking. Some of the optional rules in the DMG get you alot closer (slow healing, very deadly supertech weapons etc.) but your milage will vary.

[hymer]

D&D would land much closer to Star Wars than Star Trek

This is quite an astute observation, at least if you discount the ST continuity reboot. 5e is mostly about combat, and ability- rather than skill driven. Star Trek ought to be the other way around, and deal very little with combat. But if you're happy with a more Star Wars feel, 5e should make a fine basic engine.

[Knaight]

This is quite true, at least if you discount the continuity reboot. 5e is mostly about combat, and ability- rather than skill driven. Star Trek ought to be the other way around, and deal very little with combat. But if you're happy with a more Star Wars feel, 5e should make a fine basic engine.

Given the space opera description, I figured Star Wars and the parts of Star Trek that best resemble it was exactly what was being talked about (not that Star Trek as a whole is hard sci-fi by any stretch of the imagination). The problem with 5e for it is everything built on that basic engine; the core mechanics should work fine, but you need a different set of races, classes, feats, skills, etc. Some of this is easy - new races are nothing, altering the skill system just means changing the skill list a bit. Classes are a bit of a bigger deal though, feats are yet bigger. Then there's the matter of space opera trappings that need to be made from near scratch. Take the rules for riding animals - they're a bit bare bones, which is fine, because that's not really all that big of a thing in fantasy. Vehicles in space opera are a lot more major, and that's a project that needs to be started from the ground up.

[DontEatRawHagis]

I feel like you could get a Firefly game out of what D&D does already.

The main issues you need to consider:

As a SciFi setting, you need Magic to exist in some way to explain Sorcerer/Warlock/Wizard. Or someway to refluff them as not magical, but SciFi like.
Fantasy Creatures need to exist in the SciFi world in some way. Either as mutants, aliens, etc...
Magical Weapons need to be explained in some way.


Remember Clark's Laws:

Clarke's first law
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
Clarke's second law
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Clarke's third law
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Also for the person who doesn't want to do Space Opera with 5e there are plenty of other systems but for me they are very hard to use in settings that aren't what they are written for.

Firefly - Cortex System. Very setting specific.
Mekton Zeta - Very setting neutral. Mainly for Giant Robot fighting, but still works.
Battletech - never played
Red Dwarf - Simple, but meant for a light hearted take on Scifi. Not a serious game.
Star Wars - d20 or whatever the new one is. Very Star Wars focused.
Doctor Who - Licensed game that doesn't have a lot of wiggle room.
Ex Machina - Tri-Stat sytem. Very setting neutral, but doesn't have a lot of Ship vs Ship stuff but still fun.
Warhammer 40k - Very set in the Warhammer 40k universe. Rogue Trader is the closest to Star Trek, but its essentially High Fantasy set in space. But with insane weapons and lore that you need to keep track of, unless you figure out a way to make it less 40k. Which is highly not recommended.


The main problem is that most SciFi games were made after DnD hit it big and most were Licensed. Scifi settings by themselves aren't very standardized like High Fantasy.

[Anonymouswizard]

Also for the person who doesn't want to do Space Opera with 5e there are plenty of other systems but for me they are very hard to use in settings that aren't what they are written for.

Firefly - Cortex System. Very setting specific.
Mekton Zeta - Very setting neutral. Mainly for Giant Robot fighting, but still works.
Battletech - never played
Red Dwarf - Simple, but meant for a light hearted take on Scifi. Not a serious game.
Star Wars - d20 or whatever the new one is. Very Star Wars focused.
Doctor Who - Licensed game that doesn't have a lot of wiggle room.
Ex Machina - Tri-Stat sytem. Very setting neutral, but doesn't have a lot of Ship vs Ship stuff but still fun.
Warhammer 40k - Very set in the Warhammer 40k universe. Rogue Trader is the closest to Star Trek, but its essentially High Fantasy set in space. But with insane weapons and lore that you need to keep track of, unless you figure out a way to make it less 40k. Which is highly not recommended.


The main problem

I disagree on your '5e can do a Firefly game' statement, but I think that's mainly because I see 5e as much more limited than some people seem to.

d6 Space is a good generic Space Opera game. In fact, it's just a good generic sci-fi game, but it's best for Space Opera. It can go from hard Sci-Fi to soft relatively easily, and the metaphysics rules are good for psionics (although they are actually for Space Magic similar to the Force).

[Goober4473]

I happen to have made a conversion of 5e for space (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R7q_ZOABIATBD3aukbofH7GKl1tm-Hug063BOnR7ToY). It's literally D&D, but in space. So we're talking elves and wizards flying around in starships.

[mgshamster]

I happen to have made a conversion of 5e for space (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R7q_ZOABIATBD3aukbofH7GKl1tm-Hug063BOnR7ToY). It's literally D&D, but in space. So we're talking elves and wizards flying around in starships.

You produce some great works, you know that?

[Submortimer]

It can work - as long as you are fine with a sizable level of abstraction I'd even call it easy.

D&D would land much closer to Star Wars than Star Trek - there is magic (of a sort), personal weapons are not quite *zap* you are dust allowing the combat/HP mechanics to come into play. How does the hyperdrive work? Very well, thank you for asking. Yes we are fighting the lazer gun wielding driods with swords, its working GREAT.

For a lovely take along these lines I might recommend: http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0001.html - go to at least page 4, its a pretty big D&D joke early on and the trip takes like 2 minutes of read for a solid laugh.

A quick reskin of the classes and races as either professions or bloodlines (alien or otherwise) covers off some of the "aliens" and "Strange futures" work. The rules for suffocation and some light research help us deal with hard vacuum.

If you are looking for Hard Sci-fi theres just a lack of support that you will find for general realism in D&D - its just not there, you can stop looking. Some of the optional rules in the DMG get you alot closer (slow healing, very deadly supertech weapons etc.) but your milage will vary.

This. I'm currently running a rather enjoyable space 5e game, and it's great fun. I've had to come up with most of the ship rules and whatnot myself, but as long as you can put something together that your players find enjoyable, it'll be fine.

I'd actually say that, as opposed to Star Wars or Star Trek, my game comes off much more like Mass Effect: each of the races have their distinct "Thing", and parallel quite nicely with the mass effect ones.

[Submortimer]

Additional point: While I am running a space game, it is VERY spelljammer: the ships still (can) look and act much like classic Sci-Fi spaceships, but generally are powered y magic. The "Kaylee" of our ship is a bard (who also happens to be an anthropomorphic capuchin monkey) is a bard: his spells power the ship, and he can use his inspiration on it to increase the pilots checks and whatnot. In most cases, Magic replaces tech, but serves the same function: Blasters are simply crossbows that make their own ammunition out of hardened magical force (still piercing damage), astrogating from one system to another requires a Divination expert, etc. The only creatures that don't use this kind of power for their tech are the Gnomes, because of course THEY can build a proper hyperdrive.

[Vogonjeltz]

Hi All,

Does anyone know of a sourcebook for 5e that enables a far-future space opera type of campaign? I'm thinking like Star Trek.

Thanks!

Well, the DMG has concept ideas for futuristic campaigns, materials, weaponry and so forth.

And there are modern era spells/ideas in at least one Unearthed Arcana supplement published on the wizards of the coast web site.

Can you explain what particular thing it is that you're concerned about modeling for the campaign? I think you could easily just refluff anything and everything as some sci-fi futuristic version of itself otherwise.

(i.e. Plate armor is now power armor, leather armor is now some synthweave vest, etc..).