Sci Fi RPG Suggestions?

[Chester]

Hello!

I've been playing 3.5 for several years. My group wants to try out something new (not abandoning 3.5, just expanding horizons.) Sci Fi was suggested.

We're all 30-40 somethings with kids, so we don't want something extremely complicated to learn.

I've played Rifts before, but I recall it having superfluous rules, skills, etc.

I vaguely remember Star Frontiers, and I'm open to that again.

I've also heard that Stars Without Number is good.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Sparx MacGyver]

Any particular setting?

Star Wars Saga Edition is good, and can be used for generic sci-fi as well. Hell, there's a fantasy conversion of it from the guys over at D20radio. Savage Worlds is pretty good too. I've heard Starfinder is supposed to be good, but I have zero experience with it, beyond looking at the SRD.

[Telok]

I've heard Starfinder is supposed to be good...

Not Starfinder unless you're looking for a odd modded Pathfinder/5e mashup that has level limited equipment and a weak add-on spaceship board game. Actually it does a comic book style Guardians of the Galaxy thing decently, with about as much science.

Classic Traveller is an option. I've been contemplating using a Paranoia edition to run a semi-serious (and less silly-lethal) game set on an interstellar generation ship, although I haven't decided if the players an characters will get to know that it's a ship.

[Delta]

SciFi is a really wide genre. If you like transhumanism and existential horror, then Eclipse Phase would be something to recommend very highly (if you watched Altered Carbon on Netflix, it's rather similar in the way the distinction between mind and body is being handled)

[hamlet]

The new version of Stars Without Number is great. I highly recommend it.

Alternity was and is a good bet since you can set it's "hardness" to however you like and the system is strong enough to do . . . well . . . most anything you need it to do. I've not read the new version, but the old one, if you dig up the books, is quite excellent.

[Anonymouswizard]

SciFi is a really wide genre. If you like transhumanism and existential horror, then Eclipse Phase would be something to recommend very highly (if you watched Altered Carbon on Netflix, it's rather similar in the way the distinction between mind and body is being handled)

Eclipse Phase is also heavy, I recommend people use the official Fate hack (which is really good, but is Fate and so might be a dealbreaker).

Mongoose Traveller is also a great option. It's an updated version of the most classic space opera RPG with some more modern stuff. 1e is by far the more complete, having rules for ship building in the actual main rulebook (kind of important for a Space Opera game, no Mongoose I'm not shelling out £40 for the 2e ship rules, when I can use 1e and just spend like £20 on High Guard for additional options), although 2e has a few more options for character creation. Spaceships are relatively good, reactionless drives are assumed to be standard and if you want to use reaction drives you'll need a lot of hydrogen tankage on ships, STL uses acceleration in gravities and a theoretical maximum of c for all ships, and remember that just because the rules say jumps last a week doesn't mean this has to be true.

Stars Without Number... suffers from being d20 based. That is characters start fairly squishy and end up fairly tough. Also, if you want hard spaceships it's certainly not for you (but then if you want hard spaceships you'd be playing GURPS Space). It does the old 'give spaceships speed' bull**** if I remember correctly, so get's a big disrecommendation based just on that.

[lightningcat]

SciFi is a bigger collection of genres then Fantasy is.

I have to mention Planet Mercenary. Which is based on the Shlock Mercenary webcomic, but requires no more knowledge of the universe then what is presented in the book. I let a freind look throuh my copy and and now he wants to run it. You play the commanders of a merc company (by default) and have a fireteam under each players command. Character death is a possibility, but making a new character is easy. And the Mayham deck is just fun.

You could go the Star Wars route. Each variety has its advantages and disadvantages. Revised d20 is very similar to 3.x, so you basically already know the game. Saga is likely a better game, but I haven't played that version.
Traveller is the old standard for scifi games, and for good reason. Although I have only got to make characters, and never got to play them. 😕
GURPS Space is a game for rocket scientists, I understand the math, but don't want to use it. Although GURPS can be used for scifi without going that deep into the physics, and can be a lot of fun.
There is the newest Star Trek game. Which is 2d20 based, and that is all I know of it.
Fragged Empires is a post-apocalytic far future scifi game, where humanity is dead, as are the heirs of humanity. The next generation of species are returning to space, and having to deal with each other, as well as the legacy of what came before.

Fading Suns, CthulhuTech (great setting, bad game), Warhammer 40k, and Starfinder are all sci-fantasy. So may be outside what you are looking for.

[Andor13]

Fading Suns, CthulhuTech (great setting, bad game), Warhammer 40k, and Starfinder are all sci-fantasy. So may be outside what you are looking for.

Well hell, if you're going to go that far into sci-fantasy I feel I have to mention Dungeons the Dragoning 40k, 7th edition (https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Dungeons:_the_Dragoning_40,000_7th_Edition). It's basically what happens if you pour Mass Effect, Planescape, WoD and 40k into a blender and somehow pour out awesome.

Let's see SF gaming recommendations.... If you have a favored system, pretty much everyone has taken a swing at it, so if you like D20 there is Alternity and Dragonstar and Starfinder. The generic systems such as GURPs and Hero handle SF ok. Or you can look for an IP you like, such as the several Star Wars systems, Battle Tech, Star Trek, several GURPs world books from the Vorkosigan saga to Planet Krishna. There is probably a Weberverse game to go along with the Saganami Island simulator, if not you could make one out of any of the mentioned systems. There is a Babylon 5 based game.

Or stand alone games intended to explore their own niche from Eclipse Phase to Shadowrun to Albedo to Expendables....

What sort of thing are you looking for?

[lightningcat]

Well hell, if you're going to go that far into sci-fantasy I feel I have to mention Dungeons the Dragoning 40k, 7th edition (https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Dungeons:_the_Dragoning_40,000_7th_Edition). It's basically what happens if you pour Mass Effect, Planescape, WoD and 40k into a blender and somehow pour out awesome.


I mentioned D:tD in the last recomation thread. I like to mix stuff up, not mention any one property too often.

But another choice is Cyberpunk. Very simple mechanics. Straight out of the 80s future feel.
The Cortex system has both Serenity and Firefly. Although buying either of them might be a challenge. As well as Battlestar Galatica.
There are several games based around time travel, from Doctor Who to TimeWatch and Continuum.
3:16 Carnage amoungst the Stars is the "murder the alien" rpg game.

[Anonymouswizard]

GURPS Space is a game for rocket scientists, I understand the math, but don't want to use it. Although GURPS can be used for scifi without going that deep into the physics, and can be a lot of fun.

GURPS Space is probably the best book out there for building your own Space Opera universe. Discussion of how to do a realistic space campaign, and a lot of discussion on how to break realism to go to the stars and the affects of such. For example it's discussion of FTL drives gets down to how being contactable during FTL changes a setting, as well as a bit of acknowledgement that the more ships require fuel the smaller the resulting empires will be.

I will also note that GURPS Spaceships makes designing spaceships so much easier. Pick your size category, plonk in 20 systems, work out how many engineers you need to keep it running (total of all systems), assign bridge crew. The actual rules make it possible for a 10km long vessel to be crewed entirely by five PCs, if you're willing to pay the cost of full automation.

[DataNinja]

Alternity was and is a good bet since you can set it's "hardness" to however you like and the system is strong enough to do . . . well . . . most anything you need it to do. I've not read the new version, but the old one, if you dig up the books, is quite excellent.

At the very least, if you can dig up the sourcebooks, they have dang good fleshed out settings. While I've never managed to get a game of Alternity going myself, I reference the Star*Drive manual a lot.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Mongoose Traveller is definitely classic-style, good, and fairly straightforward. I'd recommend it as a way to get some variety from D&D.

[Knaight]

Mongoose Traveller is definitely classic-style, good, and fairly straightforward. I'd recommend it as a way to get some variety from D&D.

It's also a bit hard to track down - which brings me to its own retroclone, Cepheus Engine, which is basically the same game and far easier to find. This represents the hard simulationist end pretty well, and if you drift towards narrativism there's a few other major options. I'd suggest looking at d6 Space, Blood in Space, Bulldogs, and Shock: Social Science Fiction.

[Wraith]

You're aged 30-40, so I think you might appreciate the themes and styles of SLA Industries.

It's a deliberately transparent mix of 1980's sci-fi - lots of references to Blade Runner, Aliens, Judge Dredd and the likes - and while it has a very dark sense of humour and a reasonable measure of grit, it is significantly less noire and more tongue-in-cheek than Cyberpunk 2020.
It was also reprinted in 2016, so getting a hold of it shouldn't be too much trouble.

I would also recommend Dark Heresy and it's various spin-offs, if you like a bit of "high Fantasy" sprinkled in with your dystopian sci-fi. It sounds like a weird mix, if you're not already familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe, but it works surprisingly well and is definitely a simple system to pick up.
Good luck finding a cheap copy of the book though; Dark Heresy itself has been abandoned and reprinted a couple of times, so depending on which version you find they tend to get treated like collector's items more than toys. Try somewhere DriveThru-RPG and get the .pdf to see what you think of it, before committing to a physical book! :smalltongue:

[CharonsHelper]

Saga is likely a better game [than Revised d20], but I haven't played that version.

Yes. Yes it is.

I've played both - and Saga is much better. If nothing else - the balance between Jedi and no-force is FAR FAR better. In pure combat Jedi are still near the top of the pack (just don't allow Skill Focus: Use the Force until level 7ish and they won't break the game early) but they're all in the same ballpark.

In Revised d20 the force users are just better than everyone else.

[Yue Ryong]

The new edition of Trinity Aeon is almost out - I'm a backer, and the raw text release Onyx Path did is already seeing a lot of play at my table.

[thorr-kan]

Yes. Yes it is.

I've played both - and Saga is much better. If nothing else - the balance between Jedi and no-force is FAR FAR better. In pure combat Jedi are still near the top of the pack (just don't allow Skill Focus: Use the Force until level 7ish and they won't break the game early) but they're all in the same ballpark.

In Revised d20 the force users are just better than everyone else.
You know, I liked the use of feats and skills for Force powers in d20 SW. It gave some real customization options to the different Force users.

But I've looked over Use the Force and the saga Force powers and traditions now. The more I think about it, the more I think Saga had a good approach.

Would you be willing to take part in a discussion about this, so we don't derail this thread?

[CharonsHelper]

You know, I liked the use of feats and skills for Force powers in d20 SW. It gave some real customization options to the different Force users.

But I've looked over Use the Force and the saga Force powers and traditions now. The more I think about it, the more I think Saga had a good approach.

Would you be willing to take part in a discussion about this, so we don't derail this thread?

Derailing threads is what the internet is for!

Though really - it's been nearly a decade since I've actually played Saga Edition (though I have re-read chunks as I've written my own game, especially as I think it did a great job on the intro being quick & accessible - something I've tried to emulate), and longer since I've played Revised.

The only major balance point is that Use the Force can be OP in the early levels if someone nabs Skill Focus on it, and that I was a big fan of how they got the fluff/crunch to mesh by basically saying that sure Jedi are better... because they're all PC classes! And to a Jedi Knight (vs Padawan) is at least level 7 - which is far higher than the general populace.

[Dynodragon]

Yes. Yes it is.

I've played both - and Saga is much better. If nothing else - the balance between Jedi and no-force is FAR FAR better. In pure combat Jedi are still near the top of the pack (just don't allow Skill Focus: Use the Force until level 7ish and they won't break the game early) but they're all in the same ballpark.

In Revised d20 the force users are just better than everyone else.

And the FFG version is best of all, it’s actually space opera and encourages role playing not just hack and slash power gaming. System itself is pretty simple and the concept of success/failure separation from advantage/threat opens up great story telling.

[CharonsHelper]

And the FFG version is best of all, it’s actually space opera and encourages role playing not just hack and slash power gaming. System itself is pretty simple and the concept of success/failure separation from advantage/threat opens up great story telling.

I don't think that there's a direct better/worse between Saga & FFG. They have very different feels.

Saga > Revised because they both come at things from a similar d20 perspective, but Saga is far more balanced, has more character depth & smoother play.

FFG is a different beast entirely. (I'm not a huge fan of the custom dice schtick - but it seems fine.)

I haven't played it - but there are those who still swear that the old WEG d6 system is superior to all three.

[thorr-kan]

Derailing threads is what the internet is for!
Nah, the Internet's for...you know what? Never mind.


Though really - it's been nearly a decade since I've actually played Saga Edition (though I have re-read chunks as I've written my own game, especially as I think it did a great job on the intro being quick & accessible - something I've tried to emulate), and longer since I've played Revised.
No worries; I'll take decade old recollections.


The only major balance point is that Use the Force can be OP in the early levels if someone nabs Skill Focus on it, and that I was a big fan of how they got the fluff/crunch to mesh by basically saying that sure Jedi are better... because they're all PC classes! And to a Jedi Knight (vs Padawan) is at least level 7 - which is far higher than the general populace.
Interesting.

If you're willing, I started a new topic here:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?560942-How-well-does-the-Use-the-Force-skill-work-in-Star-Wars-Saga&p=23136326#post23136326

[JoeJ]

It's also a bit hard to track down - which brings me to its own retroclone, Cepheus Engine, which is basically the same game and far easier to find. This represents the hard simulationist end pretty well, and if you drift towards narrativism there's a few other major options. I'd suggest looking at d6 Space, Blood in Space, Bulldogs, and Shock: Social Science Fiction.

Mongoose Traveller is not hard to find at all. Both 1st and 2nd editions are available at DTRPG (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/45/Mongoose?filters=10134_0_0_0_0&test_epoch=0&page=1&sort=4a). (Dead tree editions can be gotten from Amazon.)

[Pleh]

Hello!

I've been playing 3.5 for several years. My group wants to try out something new (not abandoning 3.5, just expanding horizons.) Sci Fi was suggested.

I give a strong recommendation to Star Wars Saga edition. It plays out very similar to 3.5 (even has most of the same rules) and will feel very familiar.

The one thing to watch for being Jedi (they have some very distinct flavors). Jedi can be taken out of the game if you're looking for more vanilla sci fi, or they can be refluffed as generic psionic characters (a bit like mass effect).

[Corsair14]

WEG D6 Star wars is awesome and every book is available for free and FF is reprinting the book at some point. Very easy to learn, completely customizable, classless, 100s of races(or make your own), 100s of ships, vehicles and planets. You can run your campaign however you want, be Rebels, be Imperials, work for both sides or neither. I think its maybe the best most fluid RPG in existence. And its classless :)

[Arutema]

Hello!

I've been playing 3.5 for several years. My group wants to try out something new (not abandoning 3.5, just expanding horizons.) Sci Fi was suggested.


Well, if your group's familiar with 3.5, Starfinder will not be hard to learn. Whether it will sufficiently expand your horizons is another question. If you do try it, note the changes in certain action types. (5' step is now a move action, full-round actions now eat your swift as well.) Also, be sure to be up on FAQ fixes (http://paizo.com/starfinder/faq#v5748eaic9w55) to the broken Starship combat DCs.

I've seen complaints about the item level system. Remember that, like the enemy CR system, it's meant as a suggestion for GMs, and helps simplify answering "how much of my WBL can be spent on one item?" that always comes up in 3.5 derivatives.

Paizo has a short adventure coming out Saturday as part of Free RPG Day. You may want to see if any of your local stores are offering it to give Starfinder a try.

[Rakaydos]

Let me throw an off the wall suggestion for Myriad Song. It balances "PCs and major villians are exceptional" and "everyone uses the same creation system" remarkably well, with a fast combat resoulution that gives heros and major villians an explicit 1/session plot armor to get out of a bad hit.

Setting wise, it evokes a psych rock aestetic- you might say they're trying too hard to be like Guardians of the Galaxy, except it was published back in 2013. Space magic uses the music skill, there's FTL but no written rules for starship combat, and all the conflicting factions have a mix of all the alien races working for them, so working for one organization or another doesnt restrict character options.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/118669/MYRIAD-SONG--RolePlay-Adventure-of-Ten-Thousand-Worlds

[Mutazoia]

So...just a few mentions off the top of my head (trying to avoid anything already mentioned):


Star Frontiers - TSR's first real foray into the Sci-Fi genera, unless you count:
Gamma World
Alternity - TSR's second foray into Sci- Fi...or possibly the third, because around that time they also did:
Buck Rogers in the 25th century
Warhammer 40K
Pick a version of the Star Trek RPG
The Ring World RPG - based off of Niven's books, obviously.
The Dune RPG - based of of...duh!
The Aliens RPG - Be a Space Marine and try not to get your face hugged.
Pick a version of the Dr. Who RPG (FASA did it first)
Teenagers from Outter Space - if you want something more light hearted and silly
Albedo - Anthro's in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE
Chuthonian Stars - CoC in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

[Nifft]

From the stuff mentioned in the thread so far, I've had good experiences with:

- 3:16 Carnage Among the Stars - Simple & quick, surprisingly robust resolution mechanism, surprisingly deep metaplot.

- Shadowrun - Can be absolute hell to DM thanks to astral + cyberspace + meatspace combat going on in parallel, and due to the wonky dysfunction of the huge number of subsystems, but really fun when you homebrew a solid working set of mechanics. Some editions might need less homebrew to function; some might need a lot more.

- Eclipse Phase - Promised a lot, then delivered on it. Character creation is a lot more complicated than play, unless you swap morphs several times per session (which I think would be very unusual -- we never swapped morphs even once in most sessions).

- Paranoia - The computer is your friend. This game is fun if you've got players that don't take PvP personally, or if they do but for some reason you want to toss a nuclear hand grenade into your group dynamics. Fun is mandatory. Seriously you need a group who can embrace the insanity. Have you taken your medication today?

[JoeJ]

The Cortex system has both Serenity and Firefly. Although buying either of them might be a challenge. As well as Battlestar Galatica.

I can't help you with Serenity or Battlestar Galactica, but Firefly is easy to find (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/128012/Firefly-RolePlaying-Game-Corebook?manufacturers_id=116). It's also at the very top of my list of games I've never played but want to.

[thorr-kan]

I can't help you with Serenity of Battlestar Galactica, but Firefly is easy to find (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/128012/Firefly-RolePlaying-Game-Corebook?manufacturers_id=116). It's also at the very top of my list of games I've never played but want to.
You know, I'd pay cash money for a system that statted out 70s Buck Rogers with 70s Battlestar Galactica. So much shiny...

[Anonymouswizard]

It's also a bit hard to track down - which brings me to its own retroclone, Cepheus Engine, which is basically the same game and far easier to find. This represents the hard simulationist end pretty well, and if you drift towards narrativism there's a few other major options. I'd suggest looking at d6 Space, Blood in Space, Bulldogs, and Shock: Social Science Fiction.

This is an important point, a simulationist game like Traveller or GURPS Space will result in a very different game to a more 'out there' game.

For that matter, you've got Earth-based SF as well as space-based SF, and space-based SF can be split into the ones that stay within our solar system and ones where you're travelling the stars (and for both of those we can go anywhere from realistic to pulpy).

I quite like Science Fiction that stays within one place. One of my settings rips off the Lighthuggers from Revelation space in order to convince PCs to stay in one solar system as much as possible, as travelling between inhabited star systems can take subjective years. Another just doesn't let the PCs get outside Earth Orbit, with all the interesting stuff happening at ground level anyway. You can do a lot with jut advanced technology and potentially psionics on Earth, if you're willing to do more into police/crime stories (one of the campaigns I really want to run is a Transhuman Space EU special police game).

[ZenoForce88]

I saw someone mention Teenagers From Outerspace, you could also look into Star Riders, by the same people. It's more Outlaw Star, and less Highschool.

Then of course everyone brings out Revised, Saga, and WEG Star Wars. But I happen to think Fantasy Flight Games trilogy(edge of the empire, age of rebellion, force and destiny)are the best. Once you get the handle on the proprietary dice.

Though lately I've had a preference for Tenra Bansho Zero. It seems more fantasy on the surface, but you have everything from your classic warrior Monk weaponizing ki, to hyperfast meat grinder robots, cyberized solders, and field dominating mecha, all rolled into one system and setting. Not unlike say Trigun, except Feudal Japan instead of the wild west.

[Breashios]

If someone mentioned it I didn't see Mechwarrior II.

I would not recommend any of the more recent roleplaying options for Battletech, but Mechwarrior II is actually more adaptable to non-mech adventuring than you'd think at first. I've been in campaigns where we were the standard mercenary mechwarriors, pilots, medics and techs, but I've also played in bug-hunt campaigns that had us patrolling the sewers on foot and clearing starships of alien infestations. I've run a very successful "Mission Impossible" style campaign where each session or two the team gets a new assignment where they get to change the course of distant future history. Added bonus to this type of campaign is players CAN play a different character with a diferent set of skills if they want to fit the needs of the mission and then return to original characters to advance their abilities.

I'd recommend the game master create their own universe, using the same technologies, but his own political backdrop and personalities to add flexibility to get into story elements he or she wants to explore more easily, but within any background the numerous adventure books can be placed easily, if you need prepared stories to play.

I think the three versons of Traveler I've played each has the same potential. I just personally don't have as much adventure material written and ready to go in Traveler terms. If you've got it, though, I can speak just as favorably for that.

For space, I think Traveler does what GURPS does, but GURPS would be a little more tedious to put together and in play. I love GURPS for realism in ancient and current-ish settings, but havn't been able to get a group excited about it in years.

Finally, I have a lot of experience with WEG Star Wars. I love the stories we've cooperatively created from playing those campaigns, but I don't think D6 Space adds anything. Like its been said, its free to download, so it might be worth a look. If the Game Master has some strong inspiration and enthusiasm for it, could be the answer.

[telwyn]

I'd add my vote for Alternity, a bit hard to get the rulebooks for the original edition although the free play rules are still around for a taster - it's an agnostic system so plenty of scope for radically different styles of game (Space Opera, post-apocalyptic, modern-day conspiracy etc). I've not tried the new edition yet, although I've read some criticism that it's too combat-focused - combat was something to be avoided in the original as it can be deadly.

I'm also currently reading up about Spacemaster, never played but I'm a big Rolemaster fan and have somehow not managed to try the Sci Fi version of this ruleset before...

[Rhedyn]

Hello!

I've been playing 3.5 for several years. My group wants to try out something new (not abandoning 3.5, just expanding horizons.) Sci Fi was suggested.

We're all 30-40 somethings with kids, so we don't want something extremely complicated to learn.

I've played Rifts before, but I recall it having superfluous rules, skills, etc.

I vaguely remember Star Frontiers, and I'm open to that again.

I've also heard that Stars Without Number is good.

Does anyone have any recommendations?
You should give Savage Worlds a shot, they even have an official Rifts conversion if you liked Rifts, but not the system.

Nova Praxis is a transhumanism setting for both Savage Worlds and Fate. It's compared to Eclipse Phase with Eclipse Phase being known as a more Posthuman setting.

Interface Zero is a pretty generic cyberpunk setting

The Sci-fi companion by itself can run many ideas.

There are a lot of other Savage Worlds settings for Sci-fi but I don't personally own them.

[JoeJ]

Green Ronin is doing an Expanse game using the Modern AGE system. The full game isn't available yet, but there's a free Quickstart (https://greenronin.com/expanse/) you can look at.