Good 'Space' D20 system?

[Hecatæus]

What do any of you think of any of the available or upcoming D20 game systems involving space travel?

I know there is Traveller d20, of which I know nothing of; and Star Wars which has a rich history, and some innovating rule add ons, but, from what I have heard, it has poor ship to ship combat rules and whatnot.

What do you think?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

The pre-Revised version of Star Wars has bad Ship combat...BUT, the Revised edition, which has been out for a year now, has great Ship combat. Its just like normal combat with a few additions.

 

[shurai]

Have you considered moving outside the d20 system? I think the d20 system is uniquely poor for space & sci fi roleplaying . . . Jovian Chronicles, of course, being my preference.

http://www.dp9.com/Worlds/jc.htm

(Note that with very little work you can avoid big robots, if you don't like big robots.)

My biggest gripe with the d20 system with regards to space RP is combat: having a single base attack bonus for all combats, space and otherwise, just doesn't make sense when the arenas of conflict are as diverse as getting in a barfight and shooting laser-guided rockets at a star cruiser.

They should be completely separate, but in d20 they're not, they're practically the same. I spose other people might disagree with me; I'm also willing to admit that I'm misinformed about how d20 space games work, but that's how Star Wars was, last time I looked.

-S

 

[pogre]

No, I don't, but I would like to hear suggestions as well. I like Traveller for space, but I have not tried Traveller D20.

 

[Centaur]

I'm waiting to see what the Babylon 5 D20 system from Mongoose Publishing Looks like.

 

[Agamon]

Dragonstar seems pretty cool, but I know nothing about its ship-to-ship combat.

 

[Kesh]

Dragonstar rocks. However, it's really thin on rules for constructing your own starships.

Star Wars d20 Revised has some great stuff too. And the new Babylon 5 d20 game supposedly has an excellent starship system.

Personally, I have the first two and plan to snatch up the third. Mix 'n match, baby.

 

[s/LaSH]

If the preview is anything to go by, Babylon 5 is using a modified version of Dragonstar's ship system.

I picked up Blood And Space as a PDF. It's got support for space opera and realistic science, a whole lot of interesting maneuvers (like brinksmanship along the edge of a planetary atmosphere), and some new classes, plus a crew-to-crew combat system and some other stuff that could be quite neat. I think it's more Star Trek than Star Wars, but that's just me. It could be worth a look.

 

[trancejeremy]

I own Traveller d20, Fading Suns, Blood & Space, and Dragonstar. I basically combined them all together, the parts I liked from each and omitting the parts I disliked.

Blood & Space is the only one whose space combat I've used, and it works okay, but it's sort of board-game-ish

 

[Hecatæus]

I have noted, whilst searching reviews, that D20 Future is in the works...it's a year away *sob* Any hidden news of this beyond what is available on EnWorld?

getting d20 modern and Blood & Space together might be useful, but it would be more costly than getting the very tempting Traveller alone.

Perhaps they will reintroduce Star Frontiers!