Space Tabletop Game with a fairly light setting

[Morithias]

I've been playing a lot of privateer lately and I'm debating about trying a space roleplaying game with my friends. I'm looking for something fairy light and happy. You know there's space pirates, space stations, etc, but there's no giant evil alien empire trying to kill you.

I'm debating about using star wars, but I hate the way someone always wants to play a sith or something, I'm looking for something more "White and Grey" where I can give them a ship, a basic plot and have them fly around fighting people and shipping cargo (although knowing my players having the ability to play pirates and crime lord would probably help).

Basically I'm looking for a space roleplaying game that isn't Warhammer 40k.

[Jack of Spades]

The Serenity RPG has a pretty good system. If you're a Browncoat, then I'd recommend it. If you're not, then... *Wanders off, contemplating implications*

But yeah, it'd be pretty easy to ignore all the story junk about the Alliance or just to re-fluff.

InSpectres has a space hack that's mainly meant for the Star Trek feel (going where no man has gone before and whatnot).

GURPS works for everything ever (as is the point), with varying success.

Other than WH40k, Star Wars and Star Trek (which probably has an RPG or five I don't know about), there's really not any space operas that have really taken off enough to have their own RPG's. I'm probably going to be watching this thread myself for that reason.

[Drglenn]

Serenity? Definitely gives stuff for space pirates and the alliance isn't necessarily evil, just an authority for the crew to avoid/fly right under the noses of/get work from

[Slylizard]

The Serenity RPG has a pretty good system. If you're a Browncoat, then I'd recommend it. If you're not, then... *Wanders off, contemplating implications*

But yeah, it'd be pretty easy to ignore all the story junk about the Alliance or just to re-fluff.

+1 to that suggestion. You can definitely have people flying around doing morally grey things quite easily.

[Gnomish Wanderer]

Traveller. It's like the original quintessential space opera roleplaying game. I'm surprised no one's beaten me to the punch. The char gen is fun, they can build their own ship, and the setting isn't very fleshed out in the core. I'd suggest going with Mongoose Traveller as the edition, that way you can't die during character creation. ^.^

[Killer Angel]

I've been playing a lot of privateer lately and I'm debating about trying a space roleplaying game with my friends. I'm looking for something fairy light and happy. You know there's space pirates, space stations, etc, but there's no giant evil alien empire trying to kill you.

Is "Tales from the floating vagabond" sufficiently light and happy?

Anyway, I take for good the "space pirates" part. Try to look at this...

[LibraryOgre]

Another option, if your group doesn't know/doesn't like Serenity would be to go with Mass Effect... simply set it in a time between, before, or after the Reapers. Sure, you can HAVE heavy politics and all that, but you can also do space pirates and biotics. And without the explicit "Sith" option, even your jerky characters don't feel mechanically rewarded for being jerks... and biotics are better defined than force powers.

I'm figuring to run a game set in the years between ME1 and ME2.

[snoopy13a]

In Star Wars, you don't have a giant evil alien empire trying to kill you. Instead, you have a giant evil human empire trying to kill you

[comicshorse]

Fading Suns

[Beleriphon]

d6 Space is basically a FREE space opera game. There's no default setting that I'm aware of for the game, although it is the engine that runs Mass Effect that Mark Hall mentioned.

[The Glyphstone]

In Star Wars, you don't have a giant evil alien empire trying to kill you. Instead, you have a giant evil human empire trying to kill you

In the 40K game Rogue Trader, you don't have a giant evil human empire trying to kill you. You have a giant evil human empire bankrolling you.

Eh, saw that 40K was already ruled out. Pity.

[Morithias]

In the 40K game Rogue Trader, you don't have a giant evil human empire trying to kill you. You have a giant evil human empire bankrolling you.

Eh, saw that 40K was already ruled out. Pity.

Well Rogue Trader does sound interesting. It was more that Warhammer 40k was going to be everyone's answer. I'm looking for something more "grey and grey" rather than "Black and black" if you get my drift.

Granted I've never played Warhammer 40k, but from what I've read on tvtropes, it's basically the blood war except it has dozens of sides and there's no heaven on the sidelines.

[The Glyphstone]

Well Rogue Trader does sound interesting. It was more that Warhammer 40k was going to be everyone's answer. I'm looking for something more "grey and grey" rather than "Black and black" if you get my drift.

Granted I've never played Warhammer 40k, but from what I've read on tvtropes, it's basically the blood war except it has dozens of sides and there's no heaven on the sidelines.

That might be a little simplistic, but there is a reason the setting's tagline is 'There Is Only War'.

The good part about Rogue Trader, though, is that you can for the most part ignore the setting if you want. It has space pirates, space stations, and exactly the sort of potential plots you want to be running - fighting people and shipping cargo - it's just that you're flying around in a kilometer-long space cathedral with the internal population of a small city, and going FTL means travelling through a hell-dimension that eats your souls if the shields malfunction. Beyond the basic setting ground rules (Psychic Powers Are Bad News, Aliens Are Worse News, 'Praise The Emperor' is always an acceptable response to questions, and Never Go Unarmed), the rest of the setting can be applied as thickly as you want it to be. Rogue Traders can be outright heroic people if there's a profit involved (and they're really, really good at finding profit in strange places), so if you don't have outright objections to the setting, it's definitely a game worth at least checking out.

[Silverbit]

May I recommend "Main Sequence", the d6 rpg? It's free, and very, very easy to understand without being too simplistic. Only 3 attributes. Also, there is no default setting. It is geared slightly towards Military Sci-Fi, but it would be easy to run the kind of game you want. It's based of Warrior, Rogue and Mage, the fantasy version. Link Here. I hope you find it helpful.

[Knaight]

If you go for an entirely implied setting, there are a few options. Starblazer Adventures, Bulldogs!, and Diaspora are all FATE based space games, which could work fairly well. Most generic systems can also handle this decently, which makes GURPS, Cortex, Fudge, FATE 2, Savage Worlds, and HERO all viable options, along with several other games. Then there are hacks, where you take a game that isn't space based and use it - I'd recommend looking into anything with an oceangoing focus, though if you want to focus on smaller craft you could look into something with light aircraft rules instead.

[TheThan]

Well there’s D20 modern-future. It doesn’t have its own setting, leaving you to generate your own. The rules are fairly solid, although wealth by level needs to be handled very carefully, as players can get outta control.

I’m actually planning on using Gamma World, mixed with elements of other D20 products (D20 modern-future, starwars saga etc). I’m hoping it works out well.

[Terumitsu]

An addendum to the mentioning of D20 modern is that if you grab the D20 Future book, get the Future Tech book as well given that it has all the rules for actually making ships, mechs, ect.

Also, be careful around gene mods. They can get really silly really quickly.