Best d20 for a sci-fi game?

[Takei]

Blood and Space link

And thanks to Takei for the link! (And I've just noticed you live in Sweden, Takei. You lucky, lucky thing. I was there for only a week in January - officially my Favourite Country Ever!)

cheers,
David

No problem David. And yes, Sweden is a great country to live in. Well most of the time anyway

I've not got Blood and Space but there are some freebies here;
http://www.rpgobjects.com/bs/

 

[C. Baize]

The BNS freebies are a great idea, I certainly recommend checking those out. I have BNS in PDF and Print, and one of the really nice things about it is that it is strictly a toolkit. As such, it contains several tools to enhance your Sci-Fi game, or create your own homebrew. As a Sci-Fi toolkit, the bulk of the classes are obviously for use on some sort of starship... whether a military cruiser, or a single manned armed craft, or a tug...
On the other hand, as to the claim that all the classes are starship occupations, I would point to a few that Psion listed.

Doctor, Marine, Mercenary, Scientist.
Of the nine listed classes, 4 of them are quite useful in situations other than on a starship. Nearly half of them.
This certainly isn't to say that they are NOT useful on a starship, but the flexibility to use these classes in places other than a starship is a fact. In the end, it is (of course) your decision. You might even decide to go with both (I'm using Blood and Space to supplement Star Wars, as well as getting ready to create a homebrew campaign based on BNS).
Some things about Blood and Space, even taken by themselves without the rest of the book, are worth the price of it:
The feats. Well written, and incredibly useful.
The Space Combat rules. The first ones I've found that are actually usable.
The Classes. Starship or ground bound, or a mix... take your pick...
Starship Construction rules. What can I say? They quite simply rock...

Now... I'm not going to bash T20. I'm not even going to say BNS is better than T20. I don't HAVE T20, and thus I am not able to make that determination, in good conscience (though I won't speak for any other posters). I honestly see no reason to get it, though. BNS fulfills my D20 Sci-Fi wants.

I hope these posts have been useful to you.

 

[Psion]

The T20 book is a pretty nice book, but character creation is very confusing

The thing you need to realize in T20 chargen is that careers follow class, not vice-versa. Once you realize that, it's all downhill.

 

[Benedict]

This morning I read this discussion. This afternoon I went to my local hobby store and bought Blood and Space.

I'll report back after I've given it a read.

benedict

 

[Psion]

As a Sci-Fi toolkit, the bulk of the classes are obviously for use on some sort of starship...

Which is all I was saying. So you agree then?

The reason I like the T20 classes is you can make other things... journalists, adminitrators, criminals, policemen, etc. This helps you people your setting and create other types of characters who might fall into adventures.

 

[PosterBoy]

Just wanted to note that BNS is a "Starship" toolkit. Its only goal was to cover starship related game elements. It's not a general, end all, Sci-Fi toolkit by any means (and does claim to be). So keep that in mind when making any decisions.

I'm the publisher, so I'll stay out of the which game is better discussion. I own T20 and it's a fine product (and at 400+ pages, also makes a good weapon!).

For personal gaming, I use BNS with Dragonstar, Star Wars, and Farscape (which lacks any Starship rules oddly enough).

Also PJ Reed is doing a Space based d20 game using BNS. There's a 11 page preview on the site:

http://www.staracerpg.com/

We included that preview in the BNS print edition.

Happy gaming with whatever you use!

 

[C. Baize]

Which is all I was saying. So you agree then?

Well... this didn't QUITE look like what you were saying, so I'll chalk it up as miscommunication.

The reason I like the T20 classes is you can make other things... journalists, adminitrators, criminals, policemen, etc. This helps you people your setting and create other types of characters who might fall into adventures.

Sounds like it would be a great supplement to BNS.

 

[C. Baize]

This morning I read this discussion. This afternoon I went to my local hobby store and bought Blood and Space.

I'll report back after I've given it a read.

benedict

Cool! I hope you find it as useful as I do!

 

[Shadowdancer]

The BNS freebies are a great idea, I certainly recommend checking those out. I have BNS in PDF and Print, and one of the really nice things about it is that it is strictly a toolkit. As such, it contains several tools to enhance your Sci-Fi game, or create your own homebrew.

<snip>

Some things about Blood and Space, even taken by themselves without the rest of the book, are worth the price of it:
The feats. Well written, and incredibly useful.
The Space Combat rules. The first ones I've found that are actually usable.
The Classes. Starship or ground bound, or a mix... take your pick...
Starship Construction rules. What can I say? They quite simply rock...

T20 is the same: It's a toolkit, and can be used in the same way. It has rules for creating star systems and planets, creating starships, vehicles, computers and other items -- even creating new animals -- which can be used in other games. If you want to use the Traveller setting, you can. If you want to create your own setting, it will handle that as well. It is a very flexible system. The character generation system can handle any character concept you need for a sci-fi game.

 

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Best d20 for a sci-fi game?

A red one. With sparkly bits.

Now where'd I leave my hat?