Looking for sci-fi fantasy game system. I play and run 5e and love it

[Sir cryosin]

So I love Sci-Fi with space ships, guns be it ballistic or energy, love cool tech. But I also love magic and swords. I also love heavy character creation with choices​. But don't want a lot of math were I have a+5 weapon but being a space elf gives me a+2 then this ability x gives me +7 then I have ability k that adds +3 I rolled a 15 the enemy's AC is X but he has a +X to any attack that with x type of damage. He also has a+5 from X. and heavy rules were "you can only grapple if enemy x is away from enemy b. If enemy is away form b then you mush roll a strange check _______. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ but if your the third person in the initiative order then you can make the grapple.
I know some people like math word problems I don't. I just a list of abilitys I can choose. And no over complicated math. Is there any suggestions on systems.

[CharonsHelper]

I think there was a Kickstarter not long ago for a sci-fi 5e hack.

I also feel obligated to plug my system Space Dogs RPG: a swashbuckling space western. (still in beta testing - but the core mechanics are done) THE BEST GAME EVA Let me know if you're interested in the glorious honor of play-testing it.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Honestly, you might be interested in Numenera/The Strange. They're spinoffs of the D20 system that basically meld it with GUMSHOE, and throw the whole thing into a weird-fantasy/sci-fi blender. There's a bit of system, but it's largely designed around emphasizing narrative elements and featuring unique items with weird powers. Cool stuff, have a look.

[Sir cryosin]

Honestly, you might be interested in Numenera/The Strange. They're spinoffs of the D20 system that basically meld it with GUMSHOE, and throw the whole thing into a weird-fantasy/sci-fi blender. There's a bit of system, but it's largely designed around emphasizing narrative elements and featuring unique items with weird powers. Cool stuff, have a look.

I looked into Numenera and I want to like it but I don't. It's too much of a story telling system especially for me as the DM. I love telling stories but I also love running combats as a DM. I know I'm asking for a lot. I'm just looking to see if people know any systems my might have missed.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I wrote a sci-fi hack (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?268483-FATE-of-the-Stars-%28Space-opera-system-Based-on-FATE-The-Dresden-Files-RPG-PEACH%29) for the Dresden Files RPG edition of Fate. Mostly just crossing out "magic" and "supernatural beings" and writing in "psionics" and "cyborgs or aliens" in crayon-- you could certainly take or leave all of that-- but I did come up with some pretty solid rules of spaceship battles, which should be good for any version of Fate. The Dresden Files edition is a decent bit crunchier than, say, Core; you can significantly downplay the narrative stuff and be okay.

The basic idea there is that you build your ship sort of like a character, but then you lay the whole thing out on a grid, with weapons, sensors, and so on tucked filling individual boxes. When your ship takes damage, you check off random boxes to determine what got hit. If the box had some important pieces of gear. I tried to set it up so that different characters can do different things on the same ship, so you might have an engineer running around fixing battle damage, a pilot maneuvering, a sensor or EW tech creating aspects, one gunner shooting missiles while another fires lasers, that sort of thing.

[Thrudd]

If you love 5e, maybe you just want a setting that can you can adapt to 5e that has the flavor you want. Look at the 2e AD&D Spelljammer setting - it is D&D with magic-powered spaceships (called "spelljammers"). I bet the rules and stats for the actual spaceships could be converted into something useable in 5e, you can add some custom equipment or include some of the optional high-tech stuff from the 5e DMG.

[Eisenheim]

Star wars saga edition might be what you're looking for. I personally think it's one of the better d20 systems, and if you keep your book library small, it's complexity doesn't get out of hand. Get the core book and the one or two books most aimed at the game you're looking for and it will be good to go. It's got space magic, aliens, interesting choices, etc.

There are some scaling problems at the highest levels, but it runs pretty well from 1-15

[LibraryOgre]

So I love Sci-Fi with space ships, guns be it ballistic or energy, love cool tech. But I also love magic and swords. I also love heavy character creation with choices​. But don't want a lot of math were I have a+5 weapon but being a space elf gives me a+2 then this ability x gives me +7 then I have ability k that adds +3 I rolled a 15 the enemy's AC is X but he has a +X to any attack that with x type of damage. He also has a+5 from X. and heavy rules were "you can only grapple if enemy x is away from enemy b. If enemy is away form b then you mush roll a strange check _______. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ but if your the third person in the initiative order then you can make the grapple.
I know some people like math word problems I don't. I just a list of abilitys I can choose. And no over complicated math. Is there any suggestions on systems.

Savage Worlds is an obvious option... most actions are "Roll a dx and a d6. Choose the better roll. If it's better than 4, you win. If it's better than 4 by a multiple, you win better."

While I like Star Wars Saga, it does suffer from the "arrange your bonuses" problem.

[Sir cryosin]

If you love 5e, maybe you just want a setting that can you can adapt to 5e that has the flavor you want. Look at the 2e AD&D Spelljammer setting - it is D&D with magic-powered spaceships (called "spelljammers"). I bet the rules and stats for the actual spaceships could be converted into something useable in 5e, you can add some custom equipment or include some of the optional high-tech stuff from the 5e DMG.

I am running a game already that the setting is a few thousand years into our own future. All the different races and like elves and dwarfs and all that are just people who have genetically altered their bodies and then through generations have bread and become like that. Genetically altering creatures and mutation in evolution are a lot of things that pop up in my campaign setting. It's my way to explain an excuse why the party might be fighting a dragon or why the parties consists of an elf a Dragonborn and a tiefling. We don't have faster than light technology just yet so we've only expanded out and colonize Mars and Venus and Jupiter's moon called tight and a few other moons here and there couple asteroid mining facilities out in the asteroid belt. Thanks to a lot of a project called Greenhouse the Earth is now become overrun with flat life and it's become eco-friendly there's a lot of biochemistry biotechnology going on on Earth humans mixing with plants and other living organisms and stuff like that so it Earth is more green and primordial Savage kind of thing going on. We don't have countries anymore just thanks to plate tectonics the Earth all the countries have come back together to form a huge super continent. Since Venus is so hot we can't live on the surface we've constructed cities that flow up in the atmosphere of Venus and that's where a lot of the Mage Magetechs live. Mars is a highly technologically advanced world my inspiration for Mars is Neo Tokyo freaking I'm going to lose some nerd credit here but that plan it on and Star Wars where is a huge ass City. So I have my setting with possibilities to were there might be able to explore other solar systems.

The thing is I'm lazy and I been working on a lot of homebrew for sci-fi fantasy using 5e. I reworked ballistic and energy gun from the DMG. The DMG ones are just to op. We are kind of reflavoring magic items or other stuff. I've come up with a simple ship to ship battle rules. That give players a add sudclass for when they are on there ship. The sudclass only gives 3 abilitys while on the ship. The point though is I don't want to go and create all this stuff and then find a system very close to what I created.

[Anonymouswizard]

Fifth Age (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?459300-Fifth-Age-A-hard-science-fiction-5e-conversion) is an attempt to convert the 5e system to science fiction and is pretty neat, but has some differences (classes only reach level 10, at least at the moment). It's not for everyone and is different to the Hyperlanes thing (no replacement for magic for one).

Oh, for crunch seconding Savage Worlds as an option, it's simple but crunchy and mixes genres well with just the core book.


I also feel obligated to plug my system Space Dogs RPG: a swashbuckling space western. (still in beta testing - but the core mechanics are done) THE BEST GAME EVA Let me know if you're interested in the glorious honor of play-testing it.

Blashemy! It's my (recently restarted) hard space opera RPG that's the BEST GAME EVA!!!


I wrote a sci-fi hack (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?268483-FATE-of-the-Stars-%28Space-opera-system-Based-on-FATE-The-Dresden-Files-RPG-PEACH%29) for the Dresden Files RPG edition of Fate. Mostly just crossing out "magic" and "supernatural beings" and writing in "psionics" and "cyborgs or aliens" in crayon-- you could certainly take or leave all of that-- but I did come up with some pretty solid rules of spaceship battles, which should be good for any version of Fate. The Dresden Files edition is a decent bit crunchier than, say, Core; you can significantly downplay the narrative stuff and be okay.

The basic idea there is that you build your ship sort of like a character, but then you lay the whole thing out on a grid, with weapons, sensors, and so on tucked filling individual boxes. When your ship takes damage, you check off random boxes to determine what got hit. If the box had some important pieces of gear. I tried to set it up so that different characters can do different things on the same ship, so you might have an engineer running around fixing battle damage, a pilot maneuvering, a sensor or EW tech creating aspects, one gunner shooting missiles while another fires lasers, that sort of thing.

Fate Core actually has some science fiction stuff and one science fantasy thing now, it's pretty interesting. Ships (including submarines in Deep Dark Blue) are generally described as characters, but take damage either via consequences, or via Conditions being linked to the systems (so the ship's owner can chose what to use, this version is the Deep Dark Blue system).


I am running a game already that the setting is a few thousand years into our own future. All the different races and like elves and dwarfs and all that are just people who have genetically altered their bodies and then through generations have bread and become like that. Genetically altering creatures and mutation in evolution are a lot of things that pop up in my campaign setting. It's my way to explain an excuse why the party might be fighting a dragon or why the parties consists of an elf a Dragonborn and a tiefling. We don't have faster than light technology just yet so we've only expanded out and colonize Mars and Venus and Jupiter's moon called tight and a few other moons here and there couple asteroid mining facilities out in the asteroid belt. Thanks to a lot of a project called Greenhouse the Earth is now become overrun with flat life and it's become eco-friendly there's a lot of biochemistry biotechnology going on on Earth humans mixing with plants and other living organisms and stuff like that so it Earth is more green and primordial Savage kind of thing going on. We don't have countries anymore just thanks to plate tectonics the Earth all the countries have come back together to form a huge super continent. Since Venus is so hot we can't live on the surface we've constructed cities that flow up in the atmosphere of Venus and that's where a lot of the Mage Magetechs live. Mars is a highly technologically advanced world my inspiration for Mars is Neo Tokyo freaking I'm going to lose some nerd credit here but that plan it on and Star Wars where is a huge ass City. So I have my setting with possibilities to were there might be able to explore other solar systems.

The thing is I'm lazy and I been working on a lot of homebrew for sci-fi fantasy using 5e. I reworked ballistic and energy gun from the DMG. The DMG ones are just to op. We are kind of reflavoring magic items or other stuff. I've come up with a simple ship to ship battle rules. That give players a add sudclass for when they are on there ship. The sudclass only gives 3 abilitys while on the ship. The point though is I don't want to go and create all this stuff and then find a system very close to what I created.

Sounds interesting, I'm just confused as to where the magic comes in. Is it magic from technology, or is magic a separate thing?

[Thrudd]

Your setting sounds like enough of a grab bag that you aren't going to find a system that does exactly that. GURPS could totally do what you want, there are rules for all levels of past and future/science fiction technology, and magic and fantasy stuff. The work you'd need to do would be going through all the books looking for exactly which skills and equipment and rules you'd want to include in your setting, but all the rules are there already, you don't need to homebrew much.

D6 system is generic enough to do that, too. Pick and choose the stuff you want to include from D6 space, D6 fantasy, and D6 adventure, and D6 Star Wars if you can get your hands on it. It might require homebrew on your part if you want an extensive collection of complicated magic spells like D&D, but the rules do tell you how to design your own magic spells. But between all the books, you'll have options for more appropriate systems of magic/psionics/force powers for your setting than D&D does, probably.

[LibraryOgre]

On the topic of Grab Bag Savage Worlds Settings... (https://www.peginc.com/product-category/rifts/)

I am a fan of D6, mind, and it's free (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/29204/D6-Core-Set-BUNDLE?it=1), so you should probably own it anyway.

[Sir cryosin]

Fifth Age (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?459300-Fifth-Age-A-hard-science-fiction-5e-conversion) is an attempt to convert the 5e system to science fiction and is pretty neat, but has some differences (classes only reach level 10, at least at the moment). It's not for everyone and is different to the Hyperlanes thing (no replacement for magic for one).

Oh, for crunch seconding Savage Worlds as an option, it's simple but crunchy and mixes genres well with just the core book.



Blashemy! It's my (recently restarted) hard space opera RPG that's the BEST GAME EVA!!!



Fate Core actually has some science fiction stuff and one science fantasy thing now, it's pretty interesting. Ships (including submarines in Deep Dark Blue) are generally described as characters, but take damage either via consequences, or via Conditions being linked to the systems (so the ship's owner can chose what to use, this version is the Deep Dark Blue system).



Sounds interesting, I'm just confused as to where the magic comes in. Is it magic from technology, or is magic a separate thing?

Magic uses have devices and nanobots in there blood. That allow them to manipulate matter.

[Knaight]

You could splice the various ORE games together, although there really isn't a whole lot in terms of science fiction there (fantasy to modern plus superheroes is well covered, and there's some sci-fi mixed in with the superheroes). Beyond that there's the usual selection of generics. Which generic will fit you depends on what exactly you mean by "list of abilities". If it means something like a skill list, take a look at GURPS, Fudge, and d6 Open. If you want a list of powers take a look at HERO and Savage Worlds.

[Mutazoia]

Hmm....

Well you could always go old school. TSR had it's share of Sci-Fi games back in the day, most notably Star Frontiers, which is kept alive and kicking by fans at Starfrontiers.com. That and Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century. Both are pre D20 though, so keep that in mind.

Open D6 has been mentioned a few times, and I'll add another +1 to that suggestion. It's a very easy system to learn and run.

You could also give the original Star Wars D20 a try (was never a big fan of Saga myself).

Also, for that matter, there are quite a few versions of Star Trek floating around. FASA's version had pretty detailed character generation...you actually had to roll your Starfleet Academy history before the game began. The last version I looked up was the Decipher version...seemed decent enough, but I've yet to play that one.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Magic uses have devices and nanobots in there blood. That allow them to manipulate matter.
Oh. Well. If you're going that route, just refluff the default equipment list as sci-fi stuff (bows become laser guns, swords become lightsabers...), fiddle with the skill list and find/write some naval combat rules.

[Knaight]

The thing is I'm lazy and I been working on a lot of homebrew for sci-fi fantasy using 5e. I reworked ballistic and energy gun from the DMG. The DMG ones are just to op. We are kind of reflavoring magic items or other stuff. I've come up with a simple ship to ship battle rules. That give players a add sudclass for when they are on there ship. The sudclass only gives 3 abilitys while on the ship. The point though is I don't want to go and create all this stuff and then find a system very close to what I created.

How attached to your setting are you? There's a fair amount of it that looks like it's only there because you're using D&D, and if that part is flexible there are better games for this - not least the generic systems.

[Lord Torath]

If you love 5e, maybe you just want a setting that can you can adapt to 5e that has the flavor you want. Look at the 2e AD&D Spelljammer setting - it is D&D with magic-powered spaceships (called "spelljammers"). I bet the rules and stats for the actual spaceships could be converted into something useable in 5e, you can add some custom equipment or include some of the optional high-tech stuff from the 5e DMG.While much of the setting itself is incompatible with your game, you might be able to use the Ship-to-Ship combat engine from Spelljammer. You'd ignore the various magical power sources (helms, furnaces, etc.), and create your own ships (and propulsion systems) from scratch. Refluff the ballastae/catapults as ballistic weapons and create some beam weapons. You may need to adjust the scale (1 hex = 500 yards in Spelljammer, resulting in weapon ranges from 1/3 of a mile to not quite two miles) and the time scale (1 minute rounds results in ship speeds from 17 to 170 mph), but the basic engine may be usable.

Aerotech (sister game to Battletech) had fairly detailed rules for ship-to-ship combat, including things like fuel burn, gravity wells, and heat dissipation. It depends on how detailed you want your combat, and what you're willing to hand-wave away.

[Anonymouswizard]

Magic uses have devices and nanobots in there blood. That allow them to manipulate matter.

Alright, as has been said, how much of the setting do you want to keep?

If you're willing to focus on the science fiction aspects (and potentially swap out the magic for powerful psionics) then d6 systems might be the way to go. Heck, for what you have I'd take d6 Space and hack in the races and potentially magic rules from d6 Fantasy. They're both free on DriveThruRPG, so I recommend taking a look.

[1337 b4k4]

You might take a look at Stars Without Number, which is basically OSR style D&D in space.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/86467/Stars-Without-Number-Free-Edition?

[Mutazoia]

Magic uses have devices and nanobots in there blood. That allow them to manipulate matter.

If that's the issue...this is just fluff. You can use any system you like and change the fluff to suit your needs. As I've just said in a different thread: "It doesn't matter HOW stuff works. Unless there's a way for the PC's to break it or shut it off, don't bother explaing how it works." More or less.

[Knaight]

If that's the issue...this is just fluff. You can use any system you like and change the fluff to suit your needs. As I've just said in a different thread: "It doesn't matter HOW stuff works. Unless there's a way for the PC's to break it or shut it off, don't bother explaing how it works." More or less.

Up to a point, yes. Some mechanics tie much better to some fluff than other fluff though, and while this sounds like a science fantasy setting built to the D&D system anyways there are elements that don't transfer well. Take vehicles - there's nothing that refluffs well for science fiction vehicles, because fantasy just doesn't need them.

[Sir cryosin]

I think I'll just keep working on my homebrew.

[Knaight]

I think I'll just keep working on my homebrew.

Given how D&D like the setting is that's probably a good option. With that said, if you're looking for reference materials as well as entire systems the field broadens dramatically. Equipment lists that can be borrowed, vehicle rules to reference, planet generators, all that sort of stuff is pretty easy to find.

[Max_Killjoy]

If that's the issue...this is just fluff. You can use any system you like and change the fluff to suit your needs. As I've just said in a different thread: "It doesn't matter HOW stuff works. Unless there's a way for the PC's to break it or shut it off, don't bother explaing how it works." More or less.


Up to a point, yes. Some mechanics tie much better to some fluff than other fluff though, and while this sounds like a science fantasy setting built to the D&D system anyways there are elements that don't transfer well. Take vehicles - there's nothing that refluffs well for science fiction vehicles, because fantasy just doesn't need them.

Game mechanics have a "feel", and absolutely need to sync at least well enough with the setting and tone of the game that they don't generate dissonance. A gritty tone in a realistic setting won't be well-served by cartoon-like mechanics that produce wacky results.

IMO, it's the job of the mechanics to faithfully represent the characters, the setting, and the aesthetics... and "It's just fluff" is looking at things just about backwards.

[Max_Killjoy]

OP, you might want to check this out -- http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?525411-The-Planet-Mercenary-RPG-quot-Schlock-Mercenary-The-Roleplaying-Game-quot.

I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but it's worth a look and can always be mined for ideas.

[Sir cryosin]

Thanks for all the post

[Mutazoia]

IMO, it's the job of the mechanics to faithfully represent the characters, the setting, and the aesthetics... and "It's just fluff" is looking at things just about backwards.

Eh.

"Magic is just nanites in the blood" or "Magic is a mystical energy force" are not that different. Can you set up an EMP field to block the nanites? Can you cast an Anti-Magic field to block the mystical energy force? Same action, same effect, just different wording (fluff).

You can run any setting, with any rule set, if you are willing to put in enough work. Usually, however, it's just easier to find a rule set that has done all the work for you. If you are dependent solely on mechanics to represent aesthetics, that's all on you. Quite a few people are having run playing an RPG that uses a standard deck of playing cards for the mechanics, I don't hear them complaining about a lack of aesthetics.


I think I'll just keep working on my homebrew.

If you want to stick to 5e, you could track down a copy of the old "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (https://www.google.com/search?q=buck+rogers+in+the+25th+century+rpg+pdf&oq=buck+rogers+in+the+25th+century+RPG&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57.8511j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)" RPG by TSR. It uses a lot of the old 2nd ed D&D mechanics, which could be converted with a little work, to function within the 5e framework (namely the sci-fi weapons and space ship stats/mechanics). Or, hell...even go with the old Star Frontiers system (http://www.starfrontiers.com/) (I think I may have already suggested these) and crib heavily from that.

[Katrina]

One of my players was looking at a 5E third party modification called Amethyst I think it was. It was the 5E system but in a Sci Fi setting. I don't know what direction/flavor of Sci Fi it was, but I remember guns and power Armor being discussed.