Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader

[Minicol]

Hiya all !

Say, I'm more of a fantasy freak, and I don't particularly like Games Workshop world (or even their accursed low sculpting quality expensive minis), but I am looking for a sci-fi RPG for a change, PREFERABLY one whose system could be ported to other universes. Such as ALIENS ! Or BATTLEST ... Or DOOM ... Or ...

So, what gives ? What do you think about it, especially about Rogue Trader which appeals to me a lot more than Dark Heresies ?

Thanks in advance, and no flamewars please.

 

[Andor]

I flipped through Dark Heresy and was greatly impressed. It really made me want to play a game. I haven't seen Rogue Trader yet so I can't comment.

If you're really looking for portability however you may want a more general S-F game or a generic system like GURPS or Hero. I know the GURPS: Vorkosigan Saga was just released and I'm itching to get my hands on a copy.

If you want a system that really captured the feel of it's dark, gritty world, then go for Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader. Otherwise I'd look elsewhere.

 

[Minicol]

If you want a system that really captured the feel of it's dark, gritty world, then go for Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader. Otherwise I'd look elsewhere.

Dark and Gritty is the epitome of sci-fi for me !
Talk Blade Runner to me !

Maybe that's not entirely enough, though. What makes RG/DH UNIQUE ?

 

[Thanee]

I played Rogue Trader on the Free RPG Day, and while it's kinda fun, I wasn't exactly impressed by it.

If you want a system, that ports well into different settings, why not take one of the great generic systems out there?

Cortex System
GURPS
HERO
Savage Worlds

Bye
Thanee

 

[Minicol]

If you want a system, that ports well into different settings, why not take one of the great generic systems out there?

Quite possibly, I don't know enough about them !

But aside from that, I am also looking at universe / published adventures issues. I don't mind adapting an adventure for another system. If I have to rewrite the entire plot, that's a whole another issue.

Currently, I have just bought Traveller D20, and some Babylon 5 D20. And I pre-ordered from Sinister.

I have yet to read them seriously, but I am looking for something where I can explore the main sci-fi classics themes, without too much hassle/reworking/ ...

Rogue Trader looked appealing for me from a Han solo prospect for instance.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I'd say Dark Heresy is rather setting heavy, so I dunno how easily you could transfer it to others.

That said, it has, bar none, the best critical tables in the history of the world.

 

[Mercurius]

If I were to play a scifi RPG right now I'd go with Eclipse Phase, which I believe is available for free as a (beautiful) PDF somewhere online (and legally). Other recent noteworthy scifi games includes Diaspora and Thousand Suns, but Eclipse Phase seems to be the current darling of the RPG community, at least on RPG.Net. Not sure how portable it is.

 

[Andor]

I'd say Dark Heresy is rather setting heavy, so I dunno how easily you could transfer it to others.

That said, it has, bar none, the best critical tables in the history of the world.

Better than Rolemaster? Because unless it has electrical criticals that can fry your nervous system killing you instantly and 'providing a fine light show' I have to disagree. Or the classic moving fumble "You trip over unseen, imaginary, deceased turtle. You are very confused."

The Warhammer 40k Universe is very much it's own place. It's an oppressive dark gothic universe where the bad guys are horrific alien mostrosities like the Genestealers or literal Demon-Gods of chaos seeking to twist all reality to thier own image. It's a world where the good guys don't hesitate to incinerate cities, or even whole planets, to get their prey. It's a world of fanatics, genetically engineered super soldiers, tech-cultists praying to machines they no longer understand, half-sane Espers sifting the minds of the inhabitants of giant hive-cities and normal men simply trying to get by in a hostile universe.

If that's not what you are looking for then seperating the system from the world will be more work than it's worth, they are tightly integrated.

Mind you it's a big universe, with 10s of thousands of inhabited worlds, fleets, space stations, alien species, etc. You can find a place to tell most any story you want, but it will always have chaos lurking in the background and fleets of murderous fanatics waiting to strike down heretics even if your PCs are currently vacationing on a paradise planet.

If you want a generic system and prefer normal human level PCs I'd suggest GURPs I think you can dl a quickstart rules set from the SJ games website if you want a look at it. However I find the GURPS system kinda breaksdown at higher power levels. If you're going to want a higher power level like cyber-soldiers, super powered aliens and mech combat I'd go with the Hero system or an older SF system like Mekton.

BTW GURPs is usually considered to have the finest supplements in gaming and several of them are for SF settings from Krishna to Transhuman space.

 

[Bold or Stupid]

If I were to play a scifi RPG right now I'd go with Eclipse Phase, which I believe is available for free as a (beautiful) PDF somewhere online (and legally). Other recent noteworthy scifi games includes Diaspora and Thousand Suns, but Eclipse Phase seems to be the current darling of the RPG community, at least on RPG.Net. Not sure how portable it is.

I'll second this, Eclipse Phase is an excellent game and should port to any similar tech level setting (post cyberpunk, post humanism).

Click here for a copy

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Better than Rolemaster? Because unless it has electrical criticals that can fry your nervous system killing you instantly and 'providing a fine light show' I have to disagree. Or the classic moving fumble "You trip over unseen, imaginary, deceased turtle. You are very confused."

For Rending Critical Effects - Head:

9: With a sound not unlike a wet sponge being torn in half, the target's head flies free of it's body and sails through the air, landing harmlessly 2d10 metres away with a soggy thud. The target is instantly slain.

10+: As above, except the target's neck spews blood in a torrent, drenching all those nearby and forcing them to take an Agility Test. Anyone who fails the Test, suffers a -10 penalty to his Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill Tests for 1 Round as gore fills his eyes or fouls his visor


Other ones cause your body to explode and paint the ground so thoroughly that moving through them requires an Agility Test not to slip in it, or it severs your arm which incidentally spasms and begins shooting wildly in all directions. Or it turns your bones into shrapnel against everyone around you.