Games with Robots, Androids, Cyborgs, AI

[Comet]

I've been looking into sci-fi games to play or run. There's plenty of stuff for spaceships and weird planets and some stuff on human augmentation in several games but I'm having a hard time finding a game that really lets you play as a robot or cyborg or other primarily mechanical entity.

Eclipse Phase and Transhuman Space kind of seem like they'd fit the bill, but they might be more about wetware and biomods and such rather than mechanical beings and artificial intelligences.

Do you know any games that would let you play as a robot?

[Anonymouswizard]

I've been looking into sci-fi games to play or run. There's plenty of stuff for spaceships and weird planets and some stuff on human augmentation in several games but I'm having a hard time finding a game that really lets you play as a robot or cyborg or other primarily mechanical entity.

Eclipse Phase and Transhuman Space kind of seem like they'd fit the bill, but they might be more about wetware and biomods and such rather than mechanical beings and artificial intelligences.

Do you know any games that would let you play as a robot?

Do you want to play a more specific genre? Say, Space Opera or Cyberpunk? (or Steampunk, I'm sure someone here can dig up a dedicated system)

I haven't read Transhuman Space, but Eclipse phase has both AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) and bot bodies as core character types. Synthmorphs (robot bodies) and AGI are looked down on in setting though, and a key part of the game is that you can switch bodies with a bit of preparation (or begin with several of them, I have plans for a character with 50-100CP of splicer* morphs spread throughout the solar system, inhabited by a bunch of Beta Forks. They'll swap with a fork whenever they need to travel somewhere else). You could play an AGI sleeved in an infomorph (no physical body), synthmorph (robotic body), pod (kind of a synth/bio mix), or biomorph (biological bodies). Less cyborg stuff though, although augmentation is just augmentation.

For universal games, both Fate and GURPS fit the bill. In Fate you can just take 'robotic lifeform' or 'heavily cybered' as an aspect, and get invokes and compels for it. In GURPS there's a machine meta-trait to let you play a robot, it includes things such as not having Fatigue Points but needing the occasional recharge.

* Splicers are my favourite morph, as they are pretty much everywhere as well as cheap and basic enough to allow you to tailor them to your needs.

[BWR]

Play a droid in any of the Star Wars editions.

[ImNotTrevor]

Artifice and Engine Heart are good bets.

In Artifice you play as AI's, in Engine Heart you llay as service robots in a post-human world.

I'll keep looking for more.

All of Engine Heart can be dowbloaded here: http://viralgamespublishing.com for free.


If you google "artifice rpg" you can get a 1d4chan page with a download link, but I am unsure of its legality so proceed with caution and try to find a legit source if you can.

[cobaltstarfire]

I haven't gotten to play engine heart (we never found a GM) but I made a couple of characters for it, and it's a pretty nice, simple, light weight system. It's also free.

[hamlet]

RIFTS and Alternity both have robot/droid type characters available, though they're older and tend to not make folks happy who cut their teeth on newer games.

[Magic Myrmidon]

Interface Zero 2.0 has rules for AI, cyborgs, androids, etc. It's a cyberpunk setting for the Savage Worlds system. I just started running a game for it, and it's my favorite book for the system so far. Has some great equipment, a detailed world, and a lot of room for customization, what with it being Savage Worlds.

[Rakaydos]

Myriad Song has a more pulp scifi setting, with some of the playable races being REALLY out there- and they do good job de-genericizing humans.

[JoeJ]

You can play a robot in Mutants & Masterminds. It's even one of the pregen archetypes.

[Knaight]

I've done this in Fudge. One of the fun things about the system is that it doesn't have any hardcoded attributes, so if you want to make a set that better fits robots (which I did) the system can handle it pretty well.

[ImNotTrevor]

I will put a disclaimer that mever really comes with generic systems, but that should be included every time:

Generic systems feel, well, generic. They can do anything pretty ok but they lack any form of internal aesthetic or any way to assist and inspire the aesthetic you want for your campaign. They can be converted into core mechanical systems for more specific purposes, but in general they will feel generic. (Like store brand vs actual brand.)

Some chafe at this assertion, but it's also pretty true. It takes a lot more GM effort to make Fudge or Fate fit the aesthetic of what they want to do than it is to make an already existing system dedicated to that aesthetic do the same.

Just some quick advice on that front. FATE and FUDGE and other such systems can do anything in a pinch, but pick a dedicated option when and if possible.

[Knaight]

Generic systems feel, well, generic. They can do anything pretty ok but they lack any form of internal aesthetic or any way to assist and inspire the aesthetic you want for your campaign. They can be converted into core mechanical systems for more specific purposes, but in general they will feel generic. (Like store brand vs actual brand.)

Putting aside the store brand comparison, I wouldn't say that generic systems tend to feel generic. It's just that they tend not to be attached to genre and setting so much as a style that applies to a number of genres. For instance, GURPS does detailed and grounded very well. It can do detailed and grounded fantasy, it can do detailed and realistic sci-fi, it can even do detailed and grounded super heroes. So, if you want something like that it can do a whole lot better than a game made for the genre you want but in a different fashion. Meanwhile, Fate and Savage Worlds are both very pulpy. They can be very pulpy for a wide number of settings, but they're going to be pulpy regardless. Still, if you're aiming for pulp-something it might be better than a game dedicated to the genre but not intended to be pulpy.

It takes a lot more GM effort to make Fudge or Fate fit the aesthetic of what they want to do than it is to make an already existing system dedicated to that aesthetic do the same.

If you have a dedicated system, and it hits the aesthetic in multiple respects, sure. There are a lot of cases, particularly with more esoteric games, where it's vastly easier finding a generic that works for the style you want and then getting the setting into it. A game outright focused on robots, androids, cyborgs, and AI? That might be one of those areas where there isn't anything dedicated that really works too well. A fantasy dungeon crawl? One of the five hundred dedicated options should work just fine.

[Anonymouswizard]

I've done this in Fudge. One of the fun things about the system is that it doesn't have any hardcoded attributes, so if you want to make a set that better fits robots (which I did) the system can handle it pretty well.

I've looked at FUDGE, and I'd personally recommend Fate over it. Or, to be specific, I'd recommend Fate for narrative games and FUDGE for more gamist games, and I just happen to prefer the former.

I will put a disclaimer that mever really comes with generic systems, but that should be included every time:

Generic systems feel, well, generic. They can do anything pretty ok but they lack any form of internal aesthetic or any way to assist and inspire the aesthetic you want for your campaign. They can be converted into core mechanical systems for more specific purposes, but in general they will feel generic. (Like store brand vs actual brand.)

Some chafe at this assertion, but it's also pretty true. It takes a lot more GM effort to make Fudge or Fate fit the aesthetic of what they want to do than it is to make an already existing system dedicated to that aesthetic do the same.

Just some quick advice on that front. FATE and FUDGE and other such systems can do anything in a pinch, but pick a dedicated option when and if possible.

Eh, the universal nature of generic systems is really overstated.
GURPS works really well for science heavy settings, as well as gritty games. It's ideal for characters who are essentially human, or at a pinch low powered supers, but can technically handle anything.
Savage Worlds is pulpy, and good for really action games, although I'm personally ambivalent towards it. It tends towards action heroes and low powered supers.
Fate is narrative, and works well for any genre. The characters are assumed to be competent individuals even in low powered settings. It's really adaptable to settings, more so than GURPS or SW, but if you don't like story focused games run away.
Mutants and Masterminds is a horrible system best suited to superhero level characters. I guess it's okay if you aren't willing to use the even more narrative Fate, but even the superpowers feel like a letdown compared to Fate's Venture City Stories book.

I will agree that it takes a lot more work to GM Fate than it does to run D&D. I mean, with D&D I only have to pick between umpteen fantasy aesthetics to use and then shoehorn in the magic system, while with Fate I can pick any genre (let's go out on a limb and say low fantasy), then I can look to see if a world is available for it, and then pick or create a magic system for it. In both cases I have to create a world if no suitable one exists. D&D can feel just as generic as Fate when run by a bad GM (when run by a good GM generic systems are awesome, as the GM will have made attempts to tweak the generic feeling away before the campaign starts).

[thedanster7000]

Want to play as *insert thing here*? GURPS.

[BayardSPSR]

I will put a disclaimer that mever really comes with generic systems, but that should be included every time:

Generic systems feel, well, generic. They can do anything pretty ok but they lack any form of internal aesthetic or any way to assist and inspire the aesthetic you want for your campaign. They can be converted into core mechanical systems for more specific purposes, but in general they will feel generic. (Like store brand vs actual brand.)

Some chafe at this assertion, but it's also pretty true. It takes a lot more GM effort to make Fudge or Fate fit the aesthetic of what they want to do than it is to make an already existing system dedicated to that aesthetic do the same.

Just some quick advice on that front. FATE and FUDGE and other such systems can do anything in a pinch, but pick a dedicated option when and if possible.

On the other hand, if you like running or playing games across a diverse range of aesthetics, you're much better off investing time spent mastering a system into one that can be adapted to all the aesthetics you want to play with, rather than buying a new book and mastering a new set of rules every time you think "hey, [thing] would be cool." Especially if no one's written an RPG for that aesthetic that works well or suits your playstyle.

EDIT: I mean, ideally, we'd all write a whole new RPG from scratch to suit the aesthetics and playstyles we want in any given game, but that's comically time-consuming unless your playstyle happens to involve extremely rules-light systems.

[TeChameleon]

Shadowrun (at least 4th Edition) will allow you to play as an AI, and with a drone body (or set of drone bodies) you would qualify as a 'robot', I'm thinking... there's also options for brain-in-a-jar cyborg (which, from context, I'm assuming you mean when you say 'primarily mechanical entity' cyborg). Don't know if that's what you have in mind, but it is at least an option.

[ImNotTrevor]

On the other hand, if you like running or playing games across a diverse range of aesthetics, you're much better off investing time spent mastering a system into one that can be adapted to all the aesthetics you want to play with, rather than buying a new book and mastering a new set of rules every time you think "hey, [thing] would be cool." Especially if no one's written an RPG for that aesthetic that works well or suits your playstyle.

EDIT: I mean, ideally, we'd all write a whole new RPG from scratch to suit the aesthetics and playstyles we want in any given game, but that's comically time-consuming unless your playstyle happens to involve extremely rules-light systems.

The problem is that systems like FATE and FUDGE and GURPS already HAVE a built-in aesthetic, just ones that don't involve genres.

FATE is pulpy. Pretty much always. It's pulpy Fantasy or Pulpy Sci Fi or Pulpy Steampunk, but it's always pulpy.

GURPS is always simulationist.

FUDGE operates mostly how FATE does.

So like I said, it will be the Store Brand option for whatever you pick. Suitable, but not as good as a dedicated system. Most systems nowadays are only around 200 pages for the core ruleset since most people who play roleplaying games generally (outside this forum) actually don't feel the need to drown in rules and tables so they can sit down and have fun with their friends and eat cheetos while playing pretend with dice.

I learned Apocalypse World well enough to run it for the first time with 3 days of casual reading.

I learned Stars Without Number well enough to run it within about a week because it's layout is a bit terrible.

I figured out Shadowrun 4e in 2 weeks, but that largely has to do with being unusually busy and the 4e handbook having a truly awful layout. (It refers forward to later parts of the book almost constantly)

System MASTERY in the sense of having encyclopedic knowledge of an entire system the size of 3.5 takes years. And is entirely unnecessary for GMing or Playing a game.

If you're only allowed to GM systems you have absolutely mastered, then maybe 1% of current GMs should be GMing. The idea that you must Master a system to run it is ridiculous. You might be slow and halting for your first few sessions, but any reasonably forgiving group will be fine with it.

In other words, use rhe system you wanna use to fit the style you want. If you want to play FATE with the robots wallpaper on, then do that if it fits your needs. If you want something that gives you more explicit tools and more specific help, find a dedicated system.

[Knaight]

The problem is that systems like FATE and FUDGE and GURPS already HAVE a built-in aesthetic, just ones that don't involve genres.

Exactly. So if you're using that aesthetic anyways, you're good, and it can generally handle genres which don't have any real support.

FUDGE operates mostly how FATE does.

This is just inaccurate. Fudge is a comparatively light system, but it shows its GURPS heritage. It's not averse to modifiers, the core mechanic involves a heavy curve that isn't easily mitigated (unlike Fate, which is built on the fate point economy and aspects), and it works just fine for games that aren't even a little bit pulpy. Fate may have blatantly ripped off parts of Fudge and then slowly erased all mentions that it did so, but it's the result of a series of systematic changes almost all of which make it pulpier. There's the way they extended the attribute ladder significantly, then put characters in a position to hit the highest levels on it routinely. There's Aspects and Stunts and what they do to the game. There's the way modifiers have been systematically purged, with negative modifiers for doing difficult things in particular vanishing. There's the breadth of the default skill lists in all Fate implementations compared to the example skills in Fudge. There's the Stress-Consequence system and how forgiving it is compared to the wound track.

So like I said, it will be the Store Brand option for whatever you pick. Suitable, but not as good as a dedicated system. Most systems nowadays are only around 200 pages for the core ruleset since most people who play roleplaying games generally (outside this forum) actually don't feel the need to drown in rules and tables so they can sit down and have fun with their friends and eat cheetos while playing pretend with dice.

200 pages is still significant, particularly when the whole group is supposed to know it. It's a lot less heavy than the D&D standard, and the 200 page standard is a large part of the reason that I can't take the claim that D&D 5e is a rules light game seriously, but it's far from nothing.

Also, system mastery is still valuable, as if you're learning the system you often have less mental energy for other types of experimenting. It's significantly more valuable if you either know a number of systems by heart, are really enamored with a particular genre and genre-implementation and know a system for that, or if you know a generic well enough to be able to do all sorts of bizarre esoteric stuff without struggle.

[goto124]

the 200 page standard is a large part of the reason that I can't take the claim that D&D 5e is a rules light game seriously,

5e is lite for a DnD edition

[ImNotTrevor]

Exactly. So if you're using that aesthetic anyways, you're good, and it can generally handle genres which don't have any real support.

Sure, but that's a big assumption.

This is just inaccurate. Fudge is a comparatively light system, but it shows its GURPS heritage. It's not averse to modifiers, the core mechanic involves a heavy curve that isn't easily mitigated (unlike Fate, which is built on the fate point economy and aspects), and it works just fine for games that aren't even a little bit pulpy. Fate may have blatantly ripped off parts of Fudge and then slowly erased all mentions that it did so, but it's the result of a series of systematic changes almost all of which make it pulpier. There's the way they extended the attribute ladder significantly, then put characters in a position to hit the highest levels on it routinely. There's Aspects and Stunts and what they do to the game. There's the way modifiers have been systematically purged, with negative modifiers for doing difficult things in particular vanishing. There's the breadth of the default skill lists in all Fate implementations compared to the example skills in Fudge. There's the Stress-Consequence system and how forgiving it is compared to the wound track.

I'll admit to having only been able to glamcr through FUDGE and I got a more pulpy vibe, but someone who has played more would obviously know more. But being GURPS-y doesn't really help.

200 pages is still significant, particularly when the whole group is supposed to know it. It's a lot less heavy than the D&D standard, and the 200 page standard is a large part of the reason that I can't take the claim that D&D 5e is a rules light game seriously, but it's far from nothing.

Also, system mastery is still valuable, as if you're learning the system you often have less mental energy for other types of experimenting. It's significantly more valuable if you either know a number of systems by heart, are really enamored with a particular genre and genre-implementation and know a system for that, or if you know a generic well enough to be able to do all sorts of bizarre esoteric stuff without struggle.

In modern games, the players rarely need to know all 200 pages worth of rules to play. (The average player can learn the core of Apocalypse World in 10 minutes and pretty much everything else in a single session.)

Learning other, similar systems takes a similar amount of time. The only exception is when the Character Creation minigame gets bloated and weird. Again, for any system that isn't terribly bloated it can be learned fast enough to have a go at it and figure out if it's a system you want to do more with. With free systems like Engine Heart, the worst possible outcome is you find out you don't like it.

Basically, as I said, if there happens to be a generic system that fits your needs and you can't find an existing system, just use/hack the generic. If there exists a system closer to what you envision, try it out. Unless the system costs 50 bucks and you would only ever use it once, you're probably not wrong to try something a bit more specific. Such systems (if they're half decent) will have GM resources more specific to your needs (something generic systems will usually lack entirely, seeing their flexibility as a replacement for good GM tools.)

[Anonymouswizard]

So like I said, it will be the Store Brand option for whatever you pick. Suitable, but not as good as a dedicated system.

And sometimes store brand is just as good as name brand. In fact, I rarely notice a difference.

I learned Stars Without Number well enough to run it within about a week because it's layout is a bit terrible.

Cool, too bad it looks like a horrible Sci-Fi system compared to GURPS (the only reason I didn't learn that in a week is lack of the second book).

[/QUOTE]In other words, use rhe system you wanna use to fit the style you want. If you want to play FATE with the robots wallpaper on, then do that if it fits your needs. If you want something that gives you more explicit tools and more specific help, find a dedicated system.[/QUOTE]

Cool, GURPS gives more explicit tools for playing a robot, is it a dedicated system?

5e is lite for a DnD edition

5e is less light and more trimmed down (specifically trimmed down by placing the explosives and hoping nobody notices the burn marks, while giving the cow armour).

[thedanster7000]

Cool, GURPS gives more explicit tools for playing a robot, is it a dedicated system?

In fact, I think GURPS has rules for robots in the Basic Set, no supplements required.

[Ashtagon]

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/reignsteel/

GURPS Reign of Steel is the book you want. If I were to describe it in a nutshell, it's the world of post-apocalypse Terminator movies but with the serial numbers removed.

[Anonymouswizard]

In fact, I think GURPS has rules for robots in the Basic Set, no supplements required.

Yep, the Machine meta-trait is in the Characters book, along with suggestions for additional advantages and disadvantages. GURPS is a brilliant generic science fiction game, able to switch between soft and hard but defaulting to relatively hard (for a game) except for spaceships.

[ImNotTrevor]

And sometimes store brand is just as good as name brand. In fact, I rarely notice a difference.

You've stretchef the analogy beyond its intended meaning, but ok good for you.

Cool, too bad it looks like a horrible Sci-Fi system compared to GURPS (the only reason I didn't learn that in a week is lack of the second book).

I'll take it you've never played it and are replying like this out of what I assume is butthurt at a game that actively claims to be Generic (what did you think the G stood for?) might end up feeling generic.

Cool, GURPS gives more explicit tools for playing a robot, is it a dedicated system?

I said Tools for GMs not Rules for Player Options. These are two different things. I'm not much involved with the Robot Dominion style of story, but it could easily include things like possible goals robotic villains might have with regards to other robots, ways that robots might interact and be unique as NPCs beyond being a nifty bundle of stats. Providing ways and means for the GM to formulate a response to unexpected PC choices by creating easily-used narrative-informing tools that the GM can call upon, and ones that are tailor made to the genre. I can't say I've studied up much on GURPS, but it strikes me as being much more about being able to Stat anything rather than tell any kind of story. (Sadly, an RPG capable of handling literally any form of narrative does not exist and probably never will. No system is perfect.)

for instance, the kinds of things that happen when playing World Wide Wrestling, a game about Wrestlers in which matches are often not combat in rounds because the outcome of the match is more important than what actually happens, and focuses more on the really fascinating business/persona side of the industry, will likely not be handled well by GURPS.

A story about an automated toaster, a road re-paver, and a walking ATM trying their best to perform their duties in the absence of their human masters may be more difficult in GURPS than in Engine Heart. Both could do it, but one is built for it from the ground up. The other is not.

A story of military and service androids struggling to find acceptance as individuals and come to terms with who and what they are, and perhaps the atrocities they commited while under the forced jnfluence of their programming, and having those narrative steps have more than superficial mechanical impact on the characters, probably not a thing GURPS is good at. (And frankly, this has "Future PbtA system" written all over it.)

A pretty standard RPG adventure except all the characters are robots now? Yeah, GURPS can do that just fine because that's what it's designed for: Doing fairly standard RPG "kill bad guys, save world" adventures with whatever flavor you want. It's practically written on the box. Of course, it will pretty much always be that. That isn't BAD, just GENERIC and obviously so. And its genericness will show. When you play generic systems, it feels like you are playing that same system with different paint on because YOU ARE. It's not a totally new experience every time, it's the same familiar experience but with whatever flavor you prefer put on it instead.

Don't get butthurt because the Generic Universal Roleplay System lives up to its name. (Or rather, that someone pointed out that it does exactly what it claims to do on the box. I don't get mad when someone points out that my Chia Pet is basically just a weirdly shaped plant pot. Because that means it is working as intended)

[goto124]

Don't get butthurt because the Generic Universal Roleplay System lives up to its name.

Will I ever hear a more Generic name ever again?

[ImNotTrevor]

Will I ever hear a more Generic name ever again?

Generic, the Passable at Most Things
From White Wolf or whatever they're called now

[thedanster7000]

Something people don't seem to understand about GURPS is that it's not a generic system as a generic system. It's not a d20 clone with weapons for any setting, it's got unique, realistic, and frankly brilliant combat systems, survival rules, etc. It's realistic (although there are rules for different feels of game) and that's what makes it work as a generic system. Being designed to be generic doesn't make it work less well than other settings, because it's designed well. GURPS combat has a whole different feel to say, D&D and the like, you don't roll against AC to stab the goblin in its hit points (although there are rules to play it that way if you want to), you aim for body parts, injure, cripple, etc. Its ridiculous amount of supplements and different rules options really mean that it doesn't feel the same in every setting, because it isn't.

[Anonymouswizard]

You've stretchef the analogy beyond its intended meaning, but ok good for you.

Now, don't act butthurt just because I used your exact words and applied them to the same situation. Maybe you notice a difference between Name Adventure System and Generic Adventure System, I do not.

I'll take it you've never played it and are replying like this out of what I assume is butthurt at a game that actively claims to be Generic (what did you think the G stood for?) might end up feeling generic.

No, I've never played SWN, because I've never needed to, GURPS can do all the Sci-Fi I want without PCs becoming able to shrug off a laser. Have you ever played GURPS? Because to me it feels no more generic than Unknown Armies except maybe in character creation, and that's just the fun of choosing magick in UA.

*words on how GURPS is simulationist and not narrative*

Yep, that's a legitimate complaint, but it doesn't make GURPS feel more generic, have you actually played the game?

A pretty standard RPG adventure except all the characters are robots now? Yeah, GURPS can do that just fine because that's what it's designed for: Doing fairly standard RPG "kill bad guys, save world" adventures with whatever flavor you want. It's practically written on the box. Of course, it will pretty much always be that. That isn't BAD, just GENERIC and obviously so. And its genericness will show. When you play generic systems, it feels like you are playing that same system with different paint on because YOU ARE. It's not a totally new experience every time, it's the same familiar experience but with whatever flavor you prefer put on it instead.

To be honest, I'll agree that GURPS needs a few more social systems, but it's not only good at 'kill bad guys, save world'. In general killing people is a bad idea in GURPS because of how fragile you are. Also again, have you played GURPS? The options are customisable enough that 'Roman Fantasy' and 'cyberpunk' feel different in play.

Man, I need to run more Roman Fantasy games, I'm considering making a more dedicated system called 'Patricians and Popularity', because it'll be fun to research and write it, as I can finally justify writing a new magic system for the setting.

Don't get butthurt because the Generic Universal Roleplay System lives up to its name. (Or rather, that someone pointed out that it does exactly what it claims to do on the box. I don't get mad when someone points out that my Chia Pet is basically just a weirdly shaped plant pot. Because that means it is working as intended)

Except you sound like you haven't played GURPS. In play it feels no more generic than D&D, World of Darkness, or Unknown Armies.

[ImNotTrevor]

Something people don't seem to understand about GURPS is that it's not a generic system as a generic system. It's not a d20 clone with weapons for any setting, it's got unique, realistic, and frankly brilliant combat systems, survival rules, etc. It's realistic (although there are rules for different feels of game) and that's what makes it work as a generic system. Being designed to be generic doesn't make it work less well than other settings, because it's designed well. GURPS combat has a whole different feel to say, D&D and the like, you don't roll against AC to stab the goblin in its hit points (although there are rules to play it that way if you want to), you aim for body parts, injure, cripple, etc. Its ridiculous amount of supplements and different rules options really mean that it doesn't feel the same in every setting, because it isn't.

So all of them feel realistic and gritty but with different rules attached according to the setting?

I'm not sure how that's any different from a Setting book in 3.5
Eberron introduces all kids of new things to the 3.5 framework. But at no point would you believe you weren't playing 3.5.
If (for some reason) Paizo publishing released a, say, Naruto campaign setting manual for Pathfinder, with all kinds of new rules for Naruto stuff, it would certainly feel different. But it wouldn't feel like suddenly you weren't playing Pathfinder anymore.

That's the thing I'm talking about.