Anyone know a good SciFi game?

[Ranger REG]

QuikLink Interactive is the publisher of T20: The Traveller's Handbook (under license from Far Future Enterprises).

If you want to order from their web site:

www.travellerrpg.com

While you are there, check out the free T20 Lite Rules.

 

[tjoneslo]

Anyone know who is putting out d20 Traveller? I can't find it on Buy.com (cheap and free shipping!)

http://www.travellerrpg.com/

You can order it from here, or find it in your FLGS.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Transhuman Space. This game is bloody brilliant.

It is a hard-SF setting that never leaves the solar system - and yet it has a larger number of player character species than most RPGs. (Though some of these templates aren't for character that you would call "living"... in the traditional sense, that is). It raises lots of philosophical questions, and yet has lots of room for action. Its equipment list alone is worth the price of admission if you want to play any SF game.

Oh yes, and I am personally responsible for keeping Switzerland out of the EU in that setting...

 

[Cergorach]

Aeon/Trinity by White Wolf www.white-wolf.com (I really like this one)
Heavy Gear by Dreampod 9 www.dp9.com (has excellent mini-warfare rules)
Inquisitor by Games Workshop (is actually a mini game, but could be used as rules for RPing)

 

[Kannik]

I would highly reccomend Jovian Chronicles, from Dream Pod 9. Hard SF-like with some Softer Giant-Mecha bits, it is a solar-system rife with possibilities, neat political units, and nifty mechanical designs. Its ruleset is also well done, with action from character all the way up to capital ship, and a construction system that lets you build ANYTHING (and I mean anything -- none of this 'pick a frame and see what you can stuff into its size).

Also from DP9, and using the same system with different flavour, is Heavy Gear. Set on a single planet (mostly), with an excellent background where neither of the main factions can be seen as good or evil (just different), its a lot of fun, and again full of possibilities.

HERO 5th edition makes for a good ruleset for, well, heroic SF (or other) settings, and Star Hero (the SF sourcebook) is currently being written.

I'd also reccomend LUG Trek if you're interested in the Star Trek end of things (though it's out of print, and I haven't tried the new CODA-based Trek from Decipher). Star Wars 2nd Ed I always enjoyed for the SW-side of things.

Albedo was a lot of fun, and somewhat hard-SF, though the ruleset could've used some work.

If you're looking for totally hard SF, that's a bit different. The silhouette system found in DP9's books would work, but otherwise you might be better off adapting Pheonix Command or something

Oh, I guess I could also mention Space Master -- haven't seen the latest edition, but the older ones were kinda interesting in that they had all vehicle and character combat/resolution rules so you weren't limited to what you did. The system was similar to Rolemaster (well, the same) and had some very fun crit damage tables, but not sure how it would work in practice...

Kannik

 

[Voneth]

Aeon/Trinity by White Wolf www.white-wolf.com (I really like this one)
Heavy Gear by Dreampod 9 www.dp9.com (has excellent mini-warfare rules)
Inquisitor by Games Workshop (is actually a mini game, but could be used as rules for RPing)

*whack!*

I am ashamed and forgot to mention Trinity. I was running a game of it only 3 months ago.

It's not a "White Wolf Depressing Game," and it does what good SF does, which is explore how society changes with new science.

Very tweakable so you could do anything from Aliens and The Thing to 2001 and Star Wars.

And the best part? The game ran quickly and smoothly, so you felt more like a SF movie than a SF "technology guide to XX franchise."

Not to hijack, but what is up with that?

In a SF novel or movie, characters never talk about the weight or barrel length of a "phaser." Yet SF RPG game books are rife with "detail overload."

 

[Gaius]

Shatterzone

Back in the heyday of West End Games, they managed to crank out a great little space-opera RPG called Shatterzone that most likely got covered up by their other little space-opera RPG called Star Wars. In any case, Shatterzone was a departrure from their d6 system and didn't gain quite the popularity that they probably hoped it would. Or that I hoped it would, for that matter.

Shatterzone was a great game (still is). It's set in a fairly generic sci-fi universe; an interstellar government known as the Consortium rules, made up of the Big Three alien races (Human, Glahn, Ishantra). It's a rather zenophobic government, allowing secondary status to a few other races, while the rest are the dregs of society. The Consortium is supported by Fleet, a galactic Navy that is rife with corruption and inefficiency. In addition, there are the megacorps that everyone knows and loves from a dozen other games. They're the true power behind the Consortium and money crimes often merit more attention than persons crimes.

At the edge of the universe is the Shatterzone, a cosmic array of dark matter and dangerous gravitational phenoms. It is a source of rich resources, awe, and wonder. From the other side of the Shatterzone, which no one really knows about, has come a flood of various alien races, collectively known as Bolters, who have braved the dangers of the Zone in their flight from an alien menace known as the Armagons. Little is known about the Armagons and worlds far from the Shatterzone dismiss them as little more than a myth. While the Armagons themselves are a mystery, their shocktroops the Reavers are not. These fearsome foes are just what a good GM needs to scare the snot out of his players.

Shatterzone manages to be archaic while still be futuristic. Travel is not instantaneous and moving from the Core Worlds to the Zone can take months, if not years. Travelers are placed in a cryogenic sleep while they traverse the space lanes. Communication is equally slow, often relying on unmanned messenger craft to deliver communique. This adds to the troubles facing a beleaguered Fleet. It also is what lets people fall through the cracks. Weaponry is wide and diverse, ranging from gas-blowback firearms to the advance Ripper guns of the Reavers.

Shatterzone is kind of grim and gritty, but was a great setting. More than just the brief synopsis I gave, it had a little bit of everything for everyone. The rules, in retrospect, are a bit clunky, but the flavor is just right. If you can find it kicking around in the corner of your game store, it's definately worth picking up.

Gaius

 

[Davelozzi]

Alternity (very slight spoilers)

Definately check out Alternity, especially the major two Star*Drive adventures, The Last Warhulk, a classic haunted ship/rogue AI tpye adventure and Planet of Darkness which always sort of reminded me of the Mars scenes from Total Recall. Both are excellent, as is the system.

 

[Victim]

Alternity is pretty good. I don't really like the ship rules very much though, but that shouldn't be too important for what your DM seems interested in.

HERO can do space, and provides a good system for building weird powers.

I've played Spacemaster, but our Dm had all the rules. The crits are pretty fun. There's nothing like getting a result that stuns the enemy crew for a rounds while their on collision course with an astroid. Or while fires rage on the enemy ship.

 

[Voneth]

HERO can do space, and provides a good system for building weird powers.

If you want to stretch the defination of sci fi, the Big Eyes Small Mouth has several sci fi anime settings (Dominon Tank Police), as well as there are several scifi powers in their more general BESM 2nd ed. book.

There is also the upcoming Muntants and Masterminds supers book put out by Green Ronin (known for The City of Freeport setting) this month.

Last month, there was Silver Age Sentinels and Silver Age Sentinels d20.

On the other hand, I don't suggest getting "The Foundation" d20 supers book.

Mayfair's version of DC heroes was good, as well as the TSR Marvel Super Heroe SAGA system, which was on the edge by using cards, not dice.