I am planning on running a futuristic 5E adventure that mixes magic and technology in a way similar to Starfinder. (I would actually use Starfinder but I am currently playing in a SF campaign and after the sanity of 5E math I just can't with the SF numbers.)
I know there are a couple relatively high profile 5E sci-fi games -- Esper Genesis and UltraModern5 I think -- but I don't know anything about them. I am looking for one that slides most easily into the existing 5E rules without having to make a bunch of changes that are hard to keep track of, but also have a distinctly sci-fi feel (beam weapons and power armor and cybernetics, oh my).
Thanks!
EDIT: Also, I have my own setting and adventure in mind so I need something that leans more toolkit than setting.
I hate to say it, but
Dark Matter by
Mage Hand Press might be the book you're looking for. It is basically a 5e take on StarFinder, though the setting is completely original, - which is what gives me Buyer's remorse about it - it has the same cartoony feel. (Cartoony in the sense of the descriptions and some of the mechanics rather than art itself).
I think they took a page out of MCU's Thor, insofar as magic and technology are considered the same, or at least interchangeable... Or at least that's what the book says. The truth is that high-tech items that might be used in place of magic items in standard D&D are considered magical, and so are the kind of magic items you might find in the Dungeon Master's Guide. So an alien ray gun with batteries and circuitry answers could answer to all of the same rules as, say, a wand of Fireball.
It isn't a case of magic "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," as per Clarke's third law, as there are parts of the universe (or the " 'Verse") where magic can't be used called "Dead Magic Zones," where
some technology is still usable, but as so much of it relies on magic as a power source its basically up the DM's discretion as what works and what doesn't. (I guess DMZs are fluff that can be easily avoided by DMs who intend to use a homebrew galaxy setting).
All of the D&D races are accounted for in terms of the setting's lore, and it adds a few of its own. It has its own technological class (Gadgeteer) and extra subclasses for most of the core classes... And a few classes made by MHP you'll have to either dig up on their website, or pay for on DriveThruRPG, such as their gunslinger class, because the book offers subclass options for it such as
'Space Cowboy' (which doesn't have the Cowboy Bebop feel the name demands).
If that doesn't sound like something you'd be interested in then
Esper Genesis, which you mentioned, is great! They've reskinned magic as a combination of technology and psionic abilities in a way that doesn't feel forced. The setting is all original too, so you wouldn't have to worry about learning a whole bunch of lore; you'd be on the same page as your players and anything and all of the really pertinent things (such as where people get their powers) are explained in the core book. The only problem is that they only have about 6 classes, most of which are (essentially) re-textured versions of 5e ones, with some of the mechanics tweaked to fit a sci-fi setting.
The similarities to some of its inspiration material (mass effect, star wars, etc) should be quite obvious without feeling too much like a rip-off. (Which is a selling point to me, but reading that back, I think I can see how some people might see it as a negative?)
When people talk about how D&D mechanics are only suitable for a fantasy setting world, my first thought is always,
"Have you even looked at Esper Genesis?"
