What System For...?

[Shardstone]

Just for fun: propose a setting and/or campaign concept and let other posters suggest a rules system for it.

Example: I have always liked the idea of (but have never run) a fantasy campaign in.which the world's moon is home to.a technological civilization (no magic). Due to their own excesses, the imperial powers of the moon have rendered it uninhabitable and now the high tech civilization is trying to conquer the fantasy world.

What system would work for this game? I would probably run it with Savage Worlds since that is my go-to, but I am curious what other folks would suggest.

Do you have a cool idea that you aren't sure what system would work best?

Worlds Without Number is pretty perfect for this. It's a Dying Earth-style game that has enough dials to create the exact feel you're looking for. It's created by Sines Nomine I believe, which is who produces Stars Without Number as well.

 

[Shardstone]

Since most of the games I run are more in the vein of an action movie or pulp fiction, that system would be Savage Worlds for me.

I'd like to run a survival horror game in space. The main influences for this setting would be movies like Alien, Outland (1981 Sean Connery movie), Event Horizon and video games like Dead Space, System Shock 2, and Alien: Isolation. What system should I use?

Seconding Mothership. It's literally designed for you. Also, the Free League Alien game is also very, very good, and is designed to run more types of monsters then just xenomorphs. Either way, both should sing with your inspirations.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd like to run a survival horror game in space. The main influences for this setting would be movies like Alien, Outland (1981 Sean Connery movie), Event Horizon and video games like Dead Space, System Shock 2, and Alien: Isolation. What system should I use?

I’d pick a “hard” sci-fi game and beef up an alien race to model your foes until you hit the appropriate level of toughness and dangerousness.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Now, what would people use for the setting of James Schmitz's Hub series of stories? Telzey Amberdon is probably the best known protag, and whatever system used will need robust and versatile psionics rules on top of the usual space opera tropes. That said, psi isn't commonplace either and shouldn't utterly dominate things. Traveller/Cepheus seems like an obvious choice but requires dumping a some major tech assumptions. GURPS is maybe a better base, but a bit crunchier than I like these days. Other suggestions?

I’m only passingly aware of those works. What I know of it would fill a thimble.

I’d probably use something like one of the D20 Modern variants (Dark Matter?), or the Babylon 5 RPG.

 

[MGibster]

I’d pick a “hard” sci-fi game and beef up an alien race to model your foes until you hit the appropriate level of toughness and dangerousness.

In the spirit of the thread, you gotta recommend a system for me to use! No pickle for you!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In the spirit of the thread, you gotta recommend a system for me to use! No pickle for you!

Traveller & Starfinder spring to mind. But if I did Starfinder, I’d use the D20 version so I could easily yoink critters from any D20 game out there.

 

[Ulfgeir]

I think a hack of Eclipse Phase 2e might work.

Edit: treat the different bodies you switch into as being the VR experience


Edit 2: huh, I appearently mixed up the op with something else.

 

[MGibster]

Traveller & Starfinder spring to mind. But if I did Starfinder, I’d use the D20 version so I could easily yoink critters from any D20 game out there.

You may have you pickle now.

 

[GrimCo]

But one of my favorite go-to horror RPGs is All Flesh Must Be Eaten by Eden Studios. It says it is a zombie game but what it really is is a huge toolbox for making any kind of survival horror you can imagine. The zombie creation rules are extremely broad and can create essentially any monster you can think of, and Unisystem is a clean, relatively low crunch system.

All flesh must be eaten is awesome game, but i feel it's largely forgotten and IMHO really underappreciated. I ran it quite a lot few years ago, with campaign based on Garth Ennis comic Crossed.

Back to topic. Let's exclude GURPS from the get go ( since to all the post in the thread, GURPS would be one of the answers by default).
I was thinking about running military themed campaign, centered around group of WW1 stormtroopers. Setting is WW1 but conflict didn't really ended, so much as it stalled, with trenches, acres of no mans land with landmines, occasional offensives and counterofensives. Let's just say that someone figured out that status quo forever war is good for global elites to retain their power. So the war kind of goes on ad infinitum. It would be mostly be mission based - as in- one session, one mission. Trench raids, railroad sabotages, outpost raids, outpost defense, that sort of things. So, system that has solid firearms combat mechanics, maybe some decent rules for mass combat, but easy enough to make starting character in 30 min.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Worlds Without Number is pretty perfect for this. It's a Dying Earth-style game that has enough dials to create the exact feel you're looking for.

It is? Dying Earth like Pelgrane Dying Earth, or Dying Earth like Dungeon Crawl Classics, or some other thing that's eluding me (Numenera, maybe)? From what I thought I knew of WWN I didn't think any of those were very close. Maybe i need to go listen to some reviews or APs of it.

I’m only passingly aware of those works. What I know of it would fill a thimble.

If you like medium-soft scifi (it's got a lot of psionics in the mix, which were more in fashion when they were written) I heartily recommend everything James Schmitz wrote - although the one book you tend to see recommended as his best (Witches of Karres) would be toward the end of my personal rec list, didn't find that one as engaging as most folks seem to, and I borderline hated the modern sequel Wizard of Karres that Lackey and Flint wrote. He's really something of an overlooked gem, and deserves another reprint cycle IMO.

The guy got an alien into Wayne Barlowe's Guide Guide To Extraterrestrials (another thing that do with a reprint - or sequel) back in the day, that's got to count for something, right? Mind you, the Old Galactics are probably the least visually interesting species in the whole body of Schmitz's work, but I guess even Wayne phoned it in sometimes. He probably needed a break from drawing that Velantian.

You do remind me that Alternity might be a decent fit for the job. It's pretty generic scifi and the tech and psi assumptions are reasonably close.

All flesh must be eaten is awesome game, but i feel it's largely forgotten and IMHO really underappreciated.

On an irrelevant side note, George Vasilakos owns the major FLGS. Haven't been in in a few months, but the last time I saw him he was recovering well from the stroke he had a while back. I should really get over there soon and see how things are going.