Looking for a Sci-Fi RPG

[Burgi]

Hi fellow gamers and GMs. I am looking for a good rpg-system for scifi.

We've played during the last 7 month a westmarch-like fantasy campaign in pathfinder and is was a blast having three DMs and nearly fifteen players. Unfortunatly the story is coming to an end and we are planning to move on.
This time it is going to be a scifi campaign. Basically we are discussing something like Battlestar Galactica but without cylons. A small fleet of survivors searching a habitable planet, but the universe should be a little more densly populated. It would be great If it would include some spacebattles with there feasable rules and many diffrent alien races, or classical 'fantasy' races.

Thanks for any suggestions. Burgi

 

[Bluenose]

Traveller seems like an obvious place to start looking. I don't think there are any existing adventures that tackle the subject, but there are certainly rules that could handle it (colonisation rules appear most recently in the Tools for Frontier Living from the 2300AD line by Mongoose, but there are older versions). Space battles are certainly manageable, unless they get very large. If you use the OTU (Official Traveller Universe) then there are plenty of places or time-periods when it wouldn't be hard to imagine refugee fleets - there are canon examples. It's also not hard to set up your own campaign/setting, and various websites (Zhodani Base, Freelance Traveller, and others) have advice on campaign creation or random map generators if you want to try that.

 

[Sir Brennen]

There’s a setting and campaign for Savage Worlds called Seven Worlds that’s more like the very beginning of the Cylon War. I don’t know of anything either that’s more “post galactic apocalypse” like you’re suggesting. Might need to just pick a rule system/setting and tweak it yourself. Especially with that many players.

 

[mcmillan]

The Ashen Stars book using the Gumshoe system might be worth looking at. Characters have roles for both ship-based encounters and ground adventures that can be more or less independent. Settingwise it's a bit different but could be adapted to your scenario pretty easily - basically it assumes the not-Federation was losing to not-the-Borg and basically abandoned more distance colonies, with the main assumption of the book being you're a crew of a small ship that travels between the colonies to help with problems that crop up.

 

[aramis erak]

Traveller will tend to generate a universe full of inhabited spacefaring worlds unless you tweak heavily the world gen. Also, Traveller assumes ships can resupply every 4 weeks and refuel every other.

Personally, my choices of system would be

• Cortex Plus/Cortex Prime - starting with a base of Firefly. Still, no world gen, so problem there.
• d6 Space + it's Space Ships supplement. No world gen, tho'.
• Alien. hasa a decent world gen, but not a system placement mechanic.Doesn't have adequate ship design at present. Otherwise, as good a choice as Traveller.
  • Coriolis has a better ship system and is same core rules
• Any of the following universals have adequate tools to do it except for world gen:
  • GURPS + G:V +G:Space (has world gen)
  • CORPS + VDS
  • EABA 1E
  • Savage Worlds (including the Science Fiction Companion)
• Any of the following genre engines:
  • Alternity 1E (good world gen, decent ship system)
  • Spacemaster (actually has really good ship design in 1E and 2E, and good world gen)
  • Shatterzone (a sci-fi precursor to MasterBook, and successor to Torg)
  • Mekton Zeta (which, despite being mechan anime focused is really a general SF genre game.)
  • Mekton II + Mekton Empires (for the ship rules)

 

[Argyle King]

You could try FFG Star Wars, but just play it as not Star Wars.

...or maybe it is, and the PCs were a mixed group of Rebels & Imperials sucked into some sort of interdimensional phenomenon which transported them somewhere far-far away from a galaxy far far away.

Basically: Star Trek Voyager's story, but using a Star Wars ship (and races,) and putting it all in a universe where you can make up whatever you want without regard to sticking to established story lines or canon.

I'd start with Edge of the Empire (because it has the least amount of Jedi/Sith stuff and would be easiest to refluff to a different universe.) Age of Rebellion can be added if you want some more ship options or pilot/ship-based careers (classes); Force and Destiny can be added if you want to explore force powers more (but I think that would be least relevant to the game you've explained).

 

[aramis erak]

I'd start with Edge of the Empire (because it has the least amount of Jedi/Sith stuff and would be easiest to refluff to a different universe.) Age of Rebellion can be added if you want some more ship options or pilot/ship-based careers (classes); Force and Destiny can be added if you want to explore force powers more (but I think that would be least relevant to the game you've explained).

Disagree - if he's doing fleet stuff, Age of Rebellion is pretty much the best choice. It has the same amount of force stuff as Edge, and has the rules for big ships which aren't in Edge.
More importantly, if following the BSG modality (PC's/Main Cast being military), the needed specializations and talents are in Age, not in Edge.
Plus, if only getting one, Duty feels more appropriate than obligation. I'd suggest both, to be honest. If not using Duty nor Obligation, going with Genesys (same core engine) is better still, as it eliminates the talent trees.

 

[John R Davis]

Stars Without Numbers is what you need

 

[Argyle King]

Disagree - if he's doing fleet stuff, Age of Rebellion is pretty much the best choice. It has the same amount of force stuff as Edge, and has the rules for big ships which aren't in Edge.
More importantly, if following the BSG modality (PC's/Main Cast being military), the needed specializations and talents are in Age, not in Edge.
Plus, if only getting one, Duty feels more appropriate than obligation. I'd suggest both, to be honest. If not using Duty nor Obligation, going with Genesys (same core engine) is better still, as it eliminates the talent trees.

I could agree with that. Age does have more ship stuff. It depends upon the focus of the game.

 

[moriantumr]

Stars Without Numbers is what you need

Can confirm, added bonus for the rules being very accessible.