Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader

[Donovan Morningfire]

For a pretty fun sci-fi system that could be ported to other setting-types, might I suggest the Cortex-based Serenity RPG?

Although much of it is based around the TV show, from what I hear it's a pretty good system (may want to look for an updated copy of the Cortex rules, as it fixes a few elements that were allegedly a bit wonky in the Serenity version). But while based around the show, it's not overly reliant upon it the way that Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader would be. And I'm sure there are plenty of folks that have cooked up netbooks/webpages based around using alternate settings for that system that could be found with a Google search.

Another option would be Star Wars Saga Edition. While a good chunk of the material is married to the setting, it wouldn't be that hard to divorce it from such and run it as a more generic sci-fi type game, treating Force powers more as psionics (if they show up at all) and changing the names and appearances of the aliens to something else while keeping most of the various species traits.

 

[Gothmog]

I've played Dark Heresy for the past year, and have been reading my Collector's Edition of Rogue Trader I got in the mail last week.

Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader share a common system, percentile-based that is very fast and fluid in play. The rules don't get in the way of play, and even aids it strongly with the mechanics for warp corruption, insanity, critical hits, etc. Rogue Trader is a little higher-powered that Dark Heresy, but the characters are not superhumans by any stretch of the imagination. For a gritty, dark game Savage Worlds might work, but I've tried SW Saga and the Cortex systems for gritty games, and they just don't do it well.

Dark Heresy focuses on the Inquisition and hunting down heretics, demons, and mutants. Its very much an investigation, espionage, and stealth game with occasional frantic combats. Combat is very deadly, and should be avoided if possible. I haven't played Rogue Trader yet, but it looks to be much more about exploration, negotiation, and resource management as well as party cooperation as the crew of a rogue trader vessel. The starships design chapter in the book is very well done.

Where the 40k universe truly shines is the setting. Its the best gritty sci-fi setting out there, bar none. Hell, I think its the best sci-fi setting out there, period. If you check either of those games out, you won't be sorry. Most of it would probably port over decently well to another setting, barring some WH40K specific stuff like Navigators, Astropaths, etc. But the setting is almost exactly what you want if you want to replicate Alien, Doom, Event Horizon, etc.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

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.

Eclipse Phase has a great (if rather weird) setting, but the mechanics seem quite tied to the setting.

I am about halfway through reading Diaspora, and am very impressed by it. It uses, at its core, the Fate system from Spirit of the Century, but modified and streamlined to fit hard sci-fi. There's a thread on RPG.net discussing it, here.

 

[Andor]

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

Well it's not "Worst move seen in ages. -90 from pulled groin. Enemy stunned for 3 rounds laughing." but those are pretty good crits.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Well it's not "Worst move seen in ages. -90 from pulled groin. Enemy stunned for 3 rounds laughing." but those are pretty good crits.

Actually, some deaths are described as being "so horrific, all other targets around must roll a will save not to run away in terror," so it's got that.

Plus, if your dice are really hot and people are injured enough, you could technically have a CHAIN REACTION of BONE SHRAPNEL!

 

[Wik]

First off, I just wanna say. ENWorld is out to get me. Two bladerunner references in two threads. I'm gonna go into Nerd Overload.

Second, go for a generic system. It's just so much easier in the long run. Serenity is a great system, and I would love to get to play it... but really, you're better off using Savage Worlds for a science-fiction setting since you don't have to make any adaptations... SW can handle all sorts of crazy game worlds.

Consider the d6 System. It's probably my favourite system, and I pimp it every chance I get. It can handle weird campaign ideas, and is at least as flexible as Savage Worlds in what it can represent in a setting.

 

[Thanee]

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

All of them (there surely are more around, I just listed four, that I know well) are worth checking out, IMHO.

They all work very well and are quite different in approach.

Because you only need one book for them, I would recommend checking out the Savage Worlds (Explorer's Edition) and/or the Cortex System RPG (book comes with a download code for a free PDF rulebook).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Minicol]

Thanks all for the advice, I will definitely check these all out in my next shopping run.

 

[CharlesRyan]

It so happens I played my first session of a new Dark Heresy campaign last night. I'm a complete neophyte to both system and setting; outside of the odd game of Blood Bowl and Space Hulk, I've never really played any Games Workshop games.*

I haven't completely grokked the system yet, but it seems very, very tied to the the core ethos of the game's universe. Characters advance along paths that are very closely tied to the colour of the game. (You have a lot of latitude in character advancement, but within a framework closely tied to the character class's role in the universe.)

Now, that said, you could probably ditch a lot of canon backstory and use the system for game with a similar ethos. That might be worth it, if you're looking for a dark and gritty SF setting. Cause let me tell you, you're not going to find anything much darker or grittier (without slipping into the realm of parody, like HOL). It's like Paranoia without the humour, and the despair turned up to 11. And a lot more grit. And, um, fewer of those pretty colours.

(* I lie: I played a lot of CoC 3rd ed, which as I recall was copublished by GW. But that's not what most of us think of when we think of a GW game. . . .)

 

[Obryn]

Actually, some deaths are described as being "so horrific, all other targets around must roll a will save not to run away in terror," so it's got that.

But are there any critical fumbles involving tripping over an invisible, dead turtle?

Because that's the mark of genius, IMO.

-O