Favorite Sci-Fi system/setting?

[Capn_Danger]

My two-year long Eberron campaign is wrapping up soon (Tsochari invasion, fun times), and I'd like to take a break from fantasy and get into some sci-fi.

I've considered hunting down Last Uincorn's Star Trek game as I've heard rave things about it, but I might decide to opt for a somewhat darker setting, maybe something with cybernetics, mega-corporations and galactic virtual reality nets (or similar shenanigans).

D20 future seems a little incomplete, and Star Wars doesn't get my motor runnin'. Do any of you folks have a favorite setting or system to recommend?

 

[smootrk]

Try Star Frontiers. You can get the whole game plus a lot of other great stuff here: www.starfrontiersman.com

other than that, I would suggest Savage Worlds where you can adapt any kind of setting you like.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Personally, I'm a HERO junkie. You can also do just as well with M&M.

However, for a pure sci-fi game/setting, Traveller (pick any edition- there are lots) is my fave.

Others have their merits, but to me, Traveller has it all.

That said, if you're looking for something a bit more familiar, try Dragonstar- a.k.a. D&D in SPAAAAaaaaaaaace.

Spaceship Zero has a nice "Buck Rodgers" feel to it.

Space: 1889 really captures the worlds of HG Wells & Jules Verne, but were I you, I'd run it in a different system.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I've heard good things about Dawning Star, and if you like the idea of using d20, it might be worth a look.

Traveller's a classic, yeah. Most seem to love or hate it.

SWSE doesn't appeal, then? There's plenty of that being played, and a lot of people swear by it.

True20 offers some nice sci-fi options, with another major one coming out soon, I think. And the True20 Companion (which will be inlcuded in the revised edition of the corebook) has some nifty rules and guidelines for sci-fi in general.

I'll also second M&M as a do-anything system of choice. It is my favourite, currently.

Fading Suns is a neat setting, but I don't go much on the rules, personally. Still, if you haven't seen it, maybe it'll be worth doing so.

 

[Darrin Drader]

True20 offers some nice sci-fi options, with another major one coming out soon, I think. And the True20 Companion (which will be inlcuded in the revised edition of the corebook) has some nifty rules and guidelines for sci-fi in general.

If you're open to True20 (it's my preferred system for Future and Modern games, which is why I design for it), and you're willing to wait until next month, Reign of Discordia will be out. What exactly is Reign of Discordia? It is a space opera setting for the True20 system. The easiest way to explain it is to think of the fall of Rome, in space, with aliens. It is a star spanning setting where the core rules provides you with over 50 core worlds, seven unique alien species (assuming you count humans), around twenty major organizations (all of which are loaded with adventure hooks) and tons of campaign models you could employ.

My philosophy when writing this was to provide a setting that was more about adventure than hard science fiction, although an attempt is made to explain complex technology like faster than light travel rather than simply hand waving it away. It also serves as kind of an everything and the kitchen sink type of setting. If you like Firefly and want to run a gritty game where your job is to get a job and get paid, you're covered. If you want to run something a little more military, you're covered. If you want to run something where you're battling a seemingly unstoppable force - yep, it has that too. There's even areas and reasons to do some classic dungeon delving with a scifi twist.

Finally, with regards to the art, I'm still waiting for it to come in, to be honest, but the idea behind it was to go retro-future. I'm really interested in using the type of scifi images that were popular back in the late 1970s rather than the CGI look of today. I come from a certain generation that was raised with science fiction that had a certain look, and I hope that this will come through in the final product.

One final note is that if you like the fluff but prefer D20 Modern and have D20 Future, there is absolutely no reason why the setting wouldn't convert straight over. Much of the chunky rules material in the core book was a conversion of the Future OGL to True20, altering things somewhat to match the setting.

Hope you check it out. The link to the press release is in my sig.

 

[Treebore]

If you're open to True20 (it's my preferred system for Future and Modern games, which is why I design for it), and you're willing to wait until next month, Reign of Discordia will be out. What exactly is Reign of Discordia? It is a space opera setting for the True20 system. The easiest way to explain it is to think of the fall of Rome, in space, with aliens. It is a star spanning setting where the core rules provides you with over 50 core worlds, seven unique alien species (assuming you count humans), around twenty major organizations (all of which are loaded with adventure hooks) and tons of campaign models you could employ.

My philosophy when writing this was to provide a setting that was more about adventure than hard science fiction, although an attempt is made to explain complex technology like faster than light travel rather than simply hand waving it away. It also serves as kind of an everything and the kitchen sink type of setting. If you like Firefly and want to run a gritty game where your job is to get a job and get paid, you're covered. If you want to run something a little more military, you're covered. If you want to run something where you're battling a seemingly unstoppable force - yep, it has that too. There's even areas and reasons to do some classic dungeon delving with a scifi twist.

Finally, with regards to the art, I'm still waiting for it to come in, to be honest, but the idea behind it was to go retro-future. I'm really interested in using the type of scifi images that were popular back in the late 1970s rather than the CGI look of today. I come from a certain generation that was raised with science fiction that had a certain look, and I hope that this will come through in the final product.

One final note is that if you like the fluff but prefer D20 Modern and have D20 Future, there is absolutely no reason why the setting wouldn't convert straight over. Much of the chunky rules material in the core book was a conversion of the Future OGL to True20, altering things somewhat to match the setting.

Hope you check it out. The link to the press release is in my sig.

Are you familiar with Traveller? It sounds like a lot of the "fluff" in this could definitely be lifted into a Traveller type game. So if your familiar with Traveller, in particular the Classic and MT versions, am I right? Also, how extensive are your equipment and ship sections?

 

[doghead]

general - sifi system setting.

Traveller has been mentioned. I also liked Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicals. We didn't get to play much, so my expeerience with it was limited. The system is fairly simple, but works well. The settings are interesting, if a bit two dimensional.

BTW, there was another thread along similar lines recently. It covered a fair bit of ground.

doghead
aka thotd

 

[Darrin Drader]

Are you familiar with Traveller? It sounds like a lot of the "fluff" in this could definitely be lifted into a Traveller type game. So if your familiar with Traveller, in particular the Classic and MT versions, am I right? Also, how extensive are your equipment and ship sections?

Nope. I don't own a copy of any of the versions of Traveller and I've never looked at any of the books. My strongest personal influences are Star Wars, Babylon 5, and Star and Frontiers with maybe a touch of that old classic cartoon Starblazers.

The ship system is a conversion of the D20 Future system with some optional rules added to make it more realistic, such as maneuverability and acceleration. Other tweaks were made to make the system more playable. The playtests went pretty smooth, considering that ship-to-ship combat is often a pain to run with most systems.

We covered the basics in terms of starships, but we are planning a book specifically devoted to more ships later on. The same is true for equipment and we're currently deciding whether we should combine that with the ships book or make it stand alone.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Stargate SG1 - d20 modern system, rich background.

Dark Hersy - Warhammer!

Star Wars

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Favorite Sci-Fi? Hmmmmm.... good question!

I love the Battletech universe (Inner Sphere/Clan War) so you could always locate a copy of Mechwarrior for that. It is easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the mech combat. Read a few of the novels to get an idea of what life is like in the universe outside of the battlefield.

Dark Heresy is great if you like the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Fantasy Flight games picked up the rights to produce roleplaying games for GW so the line WILL continue after Black Library puts out their last RPG book.

That is about it for me...