Space Adventure RPGs

[Thomas Shey]

I think the generic sci-fi has just never took off like the fantasy genre has. SW has had some luck getting a little traction.

How is the white star system? 5E reskins are no go for me. They all end up feeling like D&D.

Its an OSR game so I'm pretty cynical about it not having the same problem.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Its an OSR game so I'm pretty cynical about it not having the same problem.

I found that "OSR" doesn't have to mean OD&D retro-clone. Often it's just applying the philosophy (albeit, a philosophy created in hindsight) to a game system. Mothership, for example, is more like a retro Call of Cthulhu mashed up with BX D&D, but is really its own thing.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I found that "OSR" doesn't have to mean OD&D retro-clone. Often it's just applying the philosophy (albeit, a philosophy created in hindsight) to a game system. Mothership, for example, is more like a retro Call of Cthulhu mashed up with BX D&D, but is really its own thing.

I doesn't have to--after all, Cepheus Engine and its kin are probably considered OSR games, and they're all Traveler derivatives--but my observation is its the way to bet.

 

[payn]

I doesn't have to--after all, Cepheus Engine and its kin are probably considered OSR games, and they're all Traveler derivatives--but my observation is its the way to bet.

Yeah im running Traveller on the foundry Cepheus module. I had to change like 4 things to make it Traveller. They are super close.

Speaking of which if folks have a good resource to point me to on editing character sheets Id love to crack the spaceship sheets in my module and make some adjustments.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah im running Traveller on the foundry Cepheus module. I had to change like 4 things to make it Traveller. They are super close.

My own preference among that familiy is Cepheus Deluxe which has drifted significantly there, but you can still see its origin clearly.

 

[aramis erak]

I doesn't have to--after all, Cepheus Engine and its kin are probably considered OSR games, and they're all Traveler derivatives--but my observation is its the way to bet.

The OSR sites I've seen tend to not consider CE to be OSR... nor even CT (Classic Traveller) as OS... but (as a couple regulars here show) outside the hard core OSR crowd, many of the non-OSR crowd and somme of OSR crowd do consider CT, CE, RQ 1E, T&T to be OS/OSR.

Someone wrote a diatribe about the OSR being summed up as something akin to "Roll some stats, then roll 1d20 for high to succeed, modified by the most appropriate stat and maybe a level modifier"...
and claiming I'd not read it when I pointed out the variety of non-D&D old school games.

To be blunt, the board in question rejects pretty much everything other than pseudoclones and retroclones of D&D+S1+S2+S3 or BX as "Not old school" and very much "Not OSR"... Not even T&T, which dates to 1975...

It's not atypical of the blogs and boards I've seen which strongly ID as OSR... hell, Starships and Spacemen wasn't "Old School" enough for the new owners... despite being late 1970's... so they wrenched it into a (IMO, poorly designed) system they'd done to fill the same space as Gamma World.... Brief splash. IMO, people are far better off buying the original in PDF or POD, and getting an actual Old School game.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The OSR sites I've seen tend to not consider CE to be OSR... nor even CT (Classic Traveller) as OS... but (as a couple regulars here show) outside the hard core OSR crowd, many of the non-OSR crowd and somme of OSR crowd do consider CT, CE, RQ 1E, T&T to be OS/OSR.

Someone wrote a diatribe about the OSR being summed up as something akin to "Roll some stats, then roll 1d20 for high to succeed, modified by the most appropriate stat and maybe a level modifier"...
and claiming I'd not read it when I pointed out the variety of non-D&D old school games.

Well, one thing for sure is that some self-identified Old School players are super soggy about considering anything but D&D (and probably their own specific edition of same) as Old School. I'm in a FB group that's about Old School gaming but covers a broader ground (it also will sometimes talk about old board or even computer games) and when a couple people got really insistent, the admin had to come in and tell them to either calm down or get out.

To be blunt, the board in question rejects pretty much everything other than pseudoclones and retroclones of D&D+S1+S2+S3 or BX as "Not old school" and very much "Not OSR"... Not even T&T, which dates to 1975...

Doesn't surprise me.

It's not atypical of the blogs and boards I've seen which strongly ID as OSR... hell, Starships and Spacemen wasn't "Old School" enough for the new owners... despite being late 1970's... so they wrenched it into a (IMO, poorly designed) system they'd done to fill the same space as Gamma World.... Brief splash. IMO, people are far better off buying the original in PDF or POD, and getting an actual Old School game.

Yeah, I actually bought that and was, well, underwhelmed.

 

[aramis erak]

Yeah, I actually bought that and was, well, underwhelmed.

They still sell the 1E PDF. Which, for others benefit, a bit of Starships & Spacemen history learned direct from Dr. Kanterman...
FGU was looking to make it an official Trek game, but couldn't afford the license. So they dialed it back a bit.

For 1E, It's about as close to STTOS in tone as The Orville is to STTNG. Yeah, clearly inspired, yeah, same core tropes, but "without the stick up its...." (quote from youtube comment)
The mechanics are simple... the key is that XP charts are separate for each class, so you advance by doing what you're supposed to.

2E is a mangy mutt of a game... sure, someone loves it...

 

[Thomas Shey]

I honestly thought by the time I hit it even S&S1e was, well, kind of primitive for its time (but again, keep in mind where I was coming from) but it at least was a game of its time.

 

[dragoner]

I've seen mgt1 back in g+ days said to be osr, though I think now days, the tag doesn't mean that much.