The great d20 sci-fi bakeoff

[DaveTheMagicWeasel]

One thing no-ones mentioned is Dragonstar. I was a player in a game for the last year and it was quite enjoyable. Some of it doesn't fit in with the guidelines in the OP, but there's a fair amount of stuff to pick and choose from.

The vehicle rules are reasonably well done - in that they are simple enough to understand. The main problem we had was how to keep track of 3d combat on a 2d map, but thats going to be the case for most systems.

There's also quite a lot of supplemental material created by 'Neo' for free here (you'll need to scroll down).

In particular, the spaceship construction rules and the computer rules are worth looking at, and might well be what you're looking for.

 

[edemaitre]

D20 sci-fi bakeoff

I forgot another D20 book sitting on my science fiction shelf--Bulldogs. If not quite as generic as Blood & Space (which also has starship rules), it's fairly well-developed and got good reviews upon its release. Wasn't there a D20 version of Aeon/Trinity at one point?

I mentioned DragonStar in an earlier posting; the space opera/fantasy setting is O.K., but the previous poster does make a point about stripping out the useful rules. Part of your challenge as an SF Game Master is that most of games in this genre, including the D20 ones, are for large-scale, interstellar settings rather than the more plausible, near-future human colonization of the solar system.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I've just completed development of a sci-fi OGL RPG, which owes a lot to True20 in terms of mechanics, although they've been taken in some addition directions which I think are quite interesting.

If you'd be interested in checking out a copy and potentially playtesting it, just drop me an email (see my sig for details).

Regards,

 

[solomoncane]

My first instinct is to use T20 (or CT or Hard Nova 2 or Grim Tales/Future).

For the pure D&D crowd, I would probably just take Blood & Space One, add settings from pop-space-opera pastiche, and season to taste. If I wanted to add real grit, I would also use Grim-n-Gritty 4.0 which has Sci-Fi/energy weapon nastiness included.

 

[Azgulor]

Thanks again to all who responded.

I'll be going with d20 Modern/Future, at least in the short term. I sat down over the weekend and started tossing out character concepts between d20 Modern, d20 Future, and the Modern & Future's Players Companions there were very few, if any, concepts I couldn't build. Rounding it out with selected bits from Grim Tales, Blood & Guts, Blood & Space, & Spycraft 2.0 (dramatic conflicts and some combat rules) it seems like a pretty solid toolkit to build from. I'll be keeping an eye on Craft-Games to see what Farthest Star and Shatterpunk bring to the table if the campaign is successful.

The deciding factor was there were also few sci-fi campaign concepts that I felt I couldn't pull off using d20M/F.

I was surprised that few weighed in on starship combat.

Last thoughts: any other recommended 3rd-party products ?

Azgulor

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Last thoughts: any other recommended 3rd-party products ?

Azgulor

It hasn't been updated in awhile (shame on you, Phil), but there's a sticky thread at the top of this forum with links to tons of 3d-party products. What kinds of products are you looking for exactly? Setting material, adventures, rules supplements?

 

[Azgulor]

It hasn't been updated in awhile (shame on you, Phil), but there's a sticky thread at the top of this forum with links to tons of 3d-party products. What kinds of products are you looking for exactly? Setting material, adventures, rules supplements?

Yeah, I've seen the thread. I'm not looking for anything in particular, just wondered if there were any "must buys" out there - either on that list or otherwise. Primarily I'm looking for rules. I've got plenty of setting info, although I'll probably get around to picking up Dawning Star or Darwin's World to mine for ideas.

Thanks,

Azgulor

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Primarily I'm looking for rules. Thanks,

Azgulor

In that case, you should probably pick up the Future Player's Companion from the Game Mechanics. It's pretty well universally regarded as top-notch.

 

[kingpaul]

In that case, you should probably pick up the Future Player's Companion from the Game Mechanics. It's pretty well universally regarded as top-notch.

And since Justin didn't mention them (again ), let me reiterate that OQL and HR from the Dawning Star line are also sources of additional rules.

 

[Masada]

I love Dawning Star and Blood & Space. Both can be used in a wide spread of campaigns but each still has its own product strengths.

The Blood & Space 2 campaign setting is easy to pick up quickly and modify to use. DS (especially with the arm breaking Helios Rising) as a complete campaign setting ready to use where the decision will be more "what to leave out" rather than "where do I go with this".

You can even go back to the 1st edition of Blood & Space to have a complete sci-fi game setting with starship construction, starship combat and full 20-level class progressions.

These are just my impressions, but Blood & Space seems more focused on starships and being in space where Dawning Star focuses more planet side (on the 10 full planets it documents).