Mixing Genres: Sci-Fi Campaign using 5E Rules

CleverNickName · Mar 1, 2019

My main gaming group is halfway through Storm King's Thunder, and I've been a player in it for a couple of years (we get together to game about once a month, sometimes twice a month if the stars align). When we finish that adventure path up, sometime next year probably, we will all retire our characters and I will be taking a seat in the DM's chair once more.

I prefer to write my own adventures rather than use published adventure paths. And writing a complete adventure path for characters level 1 all the way to 20 can take me a while...so I'm starting now. I sent out a few e-mails to my group, asking them separately what kind of story they would like to tell and what kind of gaming setting they would like to play. I figured that would give me enough to start writing the story.

The results were almost unanimous: 5/6 players wanted to play a science-fiction setting. The Mass Effect games, the Alien movie franchise, and the Star Trek universe were cited as examples (and Dr. Who, but I'm not sure if that's sci-fi or alt-history). This was unexpected, because this gaming group has drawn a hard line on the rules we use, and it will be 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. Always. No exceptions. I think 4E and Pathfinder really left a bad taste in their mouths.

So they want to play a game with paladins, bards, spells, and dragons...in space. First, how awesome is that? (Very.)

Second, has anyone ever tried to run such a thing before? Do you have any advice? Do you know of any 5E resources that I might be able to use?

Satyrn · Mar 1, 2019

Esper Genesis is a 5e product.

I used to play Dragonstar in 3e, which was D&D in spaaace, but I don't really have any advice. It was a long time ago in a city far far away.

Edit: I ought to include a link to the free, basic rules of Esper Genesis

lowkey13 · Mar 1, 2019

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The Crimson Binome · Mar 1, 2019

Satyrn said:
Esper Genesis is a 5e product.

I used to play Dragonstar in 3e, which was D&D in spaaace, but I don't really have any advice. It was a long time ago in a city far far away.

Those were exactly the products I was going to reference.

Even if you don't want to play Esper Genesis, because it's not technically D&D by your standard, you could still use it as a reference for how to reflavor the fantasy stuff into sci-fi stuff. If what you want is really just fantasy with spaceships, then Dragonstar should have some ideas about how you do that.

Satyrn · Mar 1, 2019

Saelorn said:
Those were exactly the products I was going to reference.

Even if you don't want to play Esper Genesis, because it's not technically D&D by your standard, you could still use it as a reference for how to reflavor the fantasy stuff into sci-fi stuff. If what you want is really just fantasy with spaceships, then Dragonstar should have some ideas about how you do that.

And that's exactly how I ought to have suggested he use them.

jgsugden · Mar 1, 2019

For Sci-fi or Modern Settings I like to use the 4E D&D mechanics as a base.

However, I would give it a test run with the Starfinder materials from the Pathfinder folks. Even if you do not use it for the long run, you can mine it for ideas.

Satyrn · Mar 1, 2019

Oh. And Mage Hand Press is in the late stages of a Dark Matter kickstarter. They've done quite a bit of compelling 5e stuff.

They're offering a 30 page preview at that link ( just scroll down a little)

Swarmkeeper · Mar 1, 2019

@Capn Charlie created this coolness: "Fifth Age: A Hard(er) Science Fiction conversion for 5e DnD"

Free and right here on EN World, to boot. Nice.

Ed Laprade · Mar 1, 2019

jgsugden said:
However, I would give it a test run with the Starfinder materials from the Pathfinder folks. Even if you do not use it for the long run, you can mine it for ideas.

I was going to suggest looking at Starfinder as well. They had the entire rulebook up for free as a PDF. Not sure if they still do, but it is certainly worth checking out.

CleverNickName · Mar 1, 2019

Holy carp, everyone...thank you for the excellent suggestions!

[MENTION=6801204]Satyrn[/MENTION]: thank you for the link to Esper-Genesis, I had no idea that it even existed. I briefly looked it over, and it checks both boxes: it's 5th Edition rules, and it's science fiction. I am going to download it as soon as I get home and start tinkering with it. And from what you said about the Mage Hand Press kickstarter, I'll definitely be checking that out as well.

[MENTION=6799753]lowkey13[/MENTION]: Thank you for the list of source material. I am especially, incredibly, super-stoked about the Numinera 5E resource! I would really love to run a Numinera campaign one of these days, and this just might be the way to introduce my table (and myself) to that system. And it's nice to see an old vrusk like Star Frontiers getting some 5E love...I played that game like crazy back in high school.

[MENTION=6921763]DM Dave1[/MENTION], [MENTION=16046]Capn Charlie[/MENTION]: the ENWorld community is the best gaming community on the Internet, and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. Thank you for pointing me to the Fifth Age material...I'll add it to my list of materials to check out when I get home. It's looking like a long, awesome weekend of sci-fi and dice!

[MENTION=2629]jgsugden[/MENTION], [MENTION=6855281]Ed Laprade[/MENTION]: I picked up Starfinder as part of Paizo's most recent Humble Bundle (everybody else should, too.) The lore looks interesting, and probably wouldn't take a lot of work to bring it into any RPG system. But as far as the rules go, my gaming group made it very clear that we would be using 5th Edition rules only. (And given our past experience with Pathfinder's rigorous rules, I'm afraid they might revolt.)