Which system should I use for scifi horror game?

[Wl0fer]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this but here it goes.

I have been thinking about running a scifi/horror/mystery game that happens on a spaceship. Kind of like the movies: Alien, Sunshine, Event Horizon, Pandorum (and maby a hint of) Moon.

But I'm not sure about the system I should run it. So does somebody know a suitable system? Maby not too complicated.

Me Myself and I have played D&D3.5 and 4. Pathfinder, Cthulhu, Wod, NWod, GURPS and dark heresy. GURPS could be the obvious choice, but I just think it's too complicated system for my needs... Maby I just need to study it more, I don't know. But any suggestion is welcome.

[Science Officer]

I'd say GURPS is the obvious choice as well. Good for gritty low-power sci-fi and all that, no?
It might be complex for you, the GM, but it doesn't need to be complex for your players (at least, beyond character creation, and you can help with that).

[Bang]

I'd go Unisystem.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten can be repurposed easily enough; it's crunchy enough to let the GM just point to the dice when a PC bites the dust; it's focused enough on the genre to do things like make damage really significant, to incorporate a fleshed-out morale system and to give splattery mechanics for things like injured body parts and vehicle crashes; and it's relatively light outside the genre-appropriate details.

Plus it has supplements to steer the action-horror elements into space, or Mad Max type settings or whatever. The only trick is to file the serial numbers off a few of the zombies.

[Coidzor]

I'm still learning it, but Eclipse Phase seems made for a certain kind of existential horror and is sci-fi.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

First question: do you want a system to resolve practical questions, or a system to drive the theme and story? If the former, GURPS or Savage Worlds are your best bet. Actually, New World of Darkness could also do well--it's a generic system that's very easy to tweak around, and it's one of the simplest to play and run. It also has a grimmer bit or two tagged on (the Morality system and derangements), which would fit this style of game well.

If it's the latter (driving the theme and the story via the system) that you want, you have a few interesting options. I'd recommend custom-brewing a Fiasco playset, for one, though that's a single-session game. Played seriously, though, it would do a great job of getting the paranoia and horror across. (In fact, I can't believe that it hasn't been done already...) I'd recommend starting with The Ice (a Playset in the rulebook) and tweaking everything to spaceship + alien.

[hiryuu]

I'm going to be weird and recommend SilCORE. It's a lethal system and it has a mechanic that divides skills into your level of training versus your actual talent: skills have a Rating and a Complexity, for example. Someone with Medicine 4/1 is BAWS at First Aid, but can't do surgery or field medicine. Someone with Medicine 2/4 can transplant organs. Tasks that have Complexity ratings cause you to gain bonuses when you do things below your Complexity; the aforementioned organ transplant surgeon will be as good or better than the guy with First Aid at doing basic First Aid.

Wounds are tracked as hashes: Flesh or Deep. Flesh wounds apply a light penalty to actions, Deep Wounds a heavier one. Two deep wounds even reduces your movement to a crawl. Flesh wounds can degenerate into deep wounds if left untreated (by like a hospital facility or antibiotics) and can reopen if closed.

[Wahrheit]

I used New World of Darkness, with a few tweaks, for the scifi horror game I ran a while back. It's extremely moddable and easy to adapt for just about anything, especially with the Armory and Armory: Reloaded books.

[BWS2K]

I don't have nearly the experience under my belt as some (most) others 'round here, but I've read through Eclipse Phase and very nearly almost played a few times - and I think it's definitely worth a look. It's free if you can find it, though it's done so well that a donation is definitely appropriate, and there are other supplements that flesh it out well. It's heavy on Transhumanism but there's lots of wiggle room for customization in that sense.

And I know from spending a few hours on the play-by-post forums last night that there's at least a couple folks looking for a game too.

~~BW

[Grinner]

I'd avoid using Eclipse Phase's system. The setting material is narrative gold, but the system itself is...complex, to say the least.

If you're comfortable with mixing games, you could set up a spectacular one by combining Eclipse Phase with Unisystem.

[Elvenoutrider]

I have personally used gurps and unisystem for horror sci fi games and both work wonderfully. You may have to do away with the healing rules however. Even at tl 11, healing wounds is a lengthy process in gurps

[Delwugor]

There always has to be a person recommending FATE so here I am.

Take a look at the Fate Core kickstarter with the preview pdf for $1 (you get the final when completed). Generic but extremely easy to put together a scifi horror game.

If you desire more crunch then look into Strands of Fate. One of my favorite system and my go-to when running games that doesn't with a specific system. That is also $1 for the pdf until the end of the year.

The key FATE concept for horror is that it handles mental/social conflict just as a physical one. Mental has a stress track (sort of equivalent to hit points) and both Physical/Mental stress has Consequences which turns wounds and freight into game affects.

[hiryuu]

There always has to be a person recommending FATE so here I am.

Take a look at the Fate Core kickstarter with the preview pdf for $1 (you get the final when completed). Generic but extremely easy to put together a scifi horror game.

If you desire more crunch then look into Strands of Fate. One of my favorite system and my go-to when running games that doesn't with a specific system. That is also $1 for the pdf until the end of the year.

The key FATE concept for horror is that it handles mental/social conflict just as a physical one. Mental has a stress track (sort of equivalent to hit points) and both Physical/Mental stress has Consequences which turns wounds and freight into game affects.

In my experience, FATE does not do horror very well.

Horror is all about having a situation where you are spiraling out of control to a point where you must expect the end, and FATE is about negotiating the scene with your table, and it kind of kills the mood for a high-strung horror game, unless you can make all choices equally terrible, but remember that anyone can bid new choices into place.

[Poison_Fish]

I've had great success running a sci-fi horror game with my party stuck on a space station using the Serenity system (otherwise known as not quite Cortex). Though I wouldn't say the system particularly lent itself well to a more horrific and powerless feeling for the players. Much of the premise is being "big damn heroes" after all (With power to influence the plot and so on). Though I suppose there is a bit of a horror factor when you are making the party dwindle in their resources, both equipment wise and the ability to influence the plot from a meta perspective.

Though now that I think about, cyber-cthullu could work for some influence? I'm not actually sure about that, and someone with better experience could speak more on it.

[IdleMuse]

Adding my vote to Eclipse Phase; the posthuman themes can add a whole lot of cosmic agoraphobia and existential horror, though you are cutting off your options for body horror. The system is only hard to stat for, in play it seems very fluid and easy. Just make sure you leave TIME and more TIME to generate characters.