Looking for a great sci-fi RPG

[timtao]

I'm trying to find an RPG rules system to run a home-brew space opera campaign. What rules set do you consider to be the best for sci-fi RPG and why?

 

[Halivar]

Last time I ran sci-fi, I used D&D 4E, with bow relabeled as guns. Before that, we used a hacked-up variant of Heavy Gear, which was a bit grittier. Have never used d20 future, but I bought the books and it looked promising.

 

[sjmiller]

I've said it before and I will say it again, the best Sci-Fi RPG is still the classic version of Traveller. It can do hard SF, it can do space opera, or just about any other style of gaming. Heck, at one point I created a Doctor Who RPG based on the Traveller rules.

Now,I know someone is going to bring up the old criticism "but you can die during character creation!" That has not been true since the SECOND printing of the game. That can be an option, but generally if you fail a Survival Roll in character creation you end your service on a short term with an injury (and a plot hook).

If there's anything else you would like to know about the game, let me know.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I'm a fan of the Cortex System (which includes BSG and Serenity).

It's simple, it provides a strong mechanical system for integrating character flaws and heroic acts, and it handles starships intuitively. It can be fairly lethal and gritty, or not. I'd say it's good for space opera.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Besides Traveller- #1 on my list- check out Alternity: Star*Drive, Fading Suns & StarHERO for space opera. GURPS should handle the genre as well.

In addition, there are other good games that are less flexible- Gamma World, Space:1889, Cyberpunk, Paranoia, MechWarrior, Spaceship Zero and more.

And actually, the last 2 are actually kind of space opera, but very narrowly focused on a particular subset of the genre.

 

[malcolypse]

Star Wars second edition or revised & expanded.

Both use the D6 system, which is simple enough to not get in the way of the story.

If you don't want to run a Star Wars game, just eliminate the force and rename a few alien species and you're golden.

The hardest part is finding copies of the books ( I just saw a second edition on ebay for $10 plus shipping), but if you look around they're out there. I think my FLGS has the second edition base book used for $12. If you get it, there are forums out there that have all kinds of ships, gear, and critters to populate your game with, that are available for free.

Also, it's a lot of fun to roll a pile of six-siders.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'm trying to find an RPG rules system to run a home-brew space opera campaign. What rules set do you consider to be the best for sci-fi RPG and why?

My Starguild OGL game. It uses True20 as a base, and extends the 'damage save' mechanism to cater for dramatic encounters and social conflicts as well as ordinary damage.

If you'd like to try it out, let me know and I'll email you a copy.

Cheers

 

[MerricB]

It depends greatly on the genre of the game. For running a Firefly-style campaign, I'd use Mongoose Traveller, as it handles the economy, ship travel and other interactions needed for that game. (It also feels like a more hard-sci-fi type game).

For lighter space opera, I'm very fond of the d6 Star Wars RPG from WEG. It allows heroic actions and has a reliable system.

I do not recommend the earlier versions of the Cortex system (such as Serenity) which are mechanically unreliable. (The Serenity RPG was great for character creation, but horrible for resolving character actions).

Cheers!

 

[Stormonu]

I'd go with Savage Worlds, Star Wars d6 (I prefer Revised & Expanded) or Cortex/Serenity.

 

[Treebore]

Traveller, CORTEX, the D6 system (now available as free PDF's), and a modified Alternity can handle "space soap opera" very well. Savage Worlds has a good supplement that could also handle it very well.