Looking For a New "Non-Fantasy" Ruleset

[Lhorgrim]

I finally have a gaming group for 4E, and we're really enjoying it so far.

That's fine for right now, but I'm looking for a system that will let me run other types of campaigns.

The main campaign I want to create right now is in the spirit of Alternity, Traveller, and the video game Mass Effect. What I'm looking for is something sci-fi that is more "hard science" than Star Wars, and a little less "hard science" than Traveller. If you are familiar with the tech in Mass Effect, that's about what I have in mind.

I have no idea what ruleset would be appropriate for this game.

I don't even know one Traveller edition from another anymore. I just didn't feel that Alternity's mechanics ran very smothly (plus the books are well OOP).
I'm considering GURPS and True 20. I have had very limited exposure to GURPS, and I find the mounds of material to be a bit intimidating. I also see that the core rules are now divided into two different volumes.

I have no exposure to True 20 at all, but I would be willing to give it a try if there are folks here who think it could give me what I'm seeking.

I'm open to any suggestions you might have.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Plenty of folks'll tell you True20 will do what you want. It seems to currently be the standard answer to anyone that wants to do something but not use D&D rules. I liked Blue Rose, but True20 left me flat. Maybe it plays better than it reads, but reading it didn't excite me so I didn't bother doing anything else.

I personally would go for Unisystem. There's 2 different flavors of it. "Classic" is what you'll get in the Witchcraft book. You can download it for free from here and see what you think of the system overall: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=692&it=1&filters=0_0_0&free=1

There's also the "Cinematic" version, which uses a slightly modified version of the same rules you find in Witchcraft. Cinematic Unisystem is what's used for the Buffy, Angel, and Army of Darkness games. If you're interested in it, I'd suggest getting the Angel book. Buffy is an earlier version, Angel is next, and then they used those rules to do the Revised version of Buffy.

The Angel rules come with some nifty bits for creating organizations which aren't in the Buffy rules, and then there's always the monster building. You can use just about any of the Unisystem books together with very little work.

So for the Sci-Fi thing, I'd go with Angel for the base rules, and pick up All Tomorrow's Zombies. It's explicitly for doing Sci-Fi.

The All Flesh Must be Eaten line is for horror/zombie stuff at it's base, but if you don't feel like doing zombies, you just don't do zombies. Pretty simple. Here's a link to All Tomorrow's Zombies in pdf form:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=27794&it=1

Eden has done a little book/mag called "Eden Studios Presents". Volume 1 has a setting called, "Spacefarers and Prairie folk" which basically will let you run a Firefly style game using Unisystem.

Sidenote: If you really groove on Unisystem, you can turn around and use it for doing Fantasy games too. Thanks to Dungeons & Zombies:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1645&it=1

The Buffy/Angel books aren't in print any longer, but it's not particularly difficult to find them. The only really hard to find Unisystem books are The Magic Box (magic supplement for Buffy), Armageddon (standalone Unisystem game), and the Mystery Codex (Witchcraft magic supplement).

 

[Eosin the Red]

Unisystem won't do wrong by you.

True20 is another good choice with lots of support.

Personally, I'd go with Hero System and Space Hero. If you are looking for specific premade equipment than neither GURPS nor Hero is going to leave you feeling fresh in the morning.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Plenty of folks'll tell you True20 will do what you want. It seems to currently be the standard answer to anyone that wants to do something but not use D&D rules. I liked Blue Rose, but True20 left me flat. Maybe it plays better than it reads, but reading it didn't excite me so I didn't bother doing anything else.

Here (on ENWorld), yes. On RPGnet, for example, it's staggering how many threads receive the 'Unisystem' answer, regardless. Sometimes GURPS too, maybe a bit of HERO, and one or two other things. True20, relatively rarely.

ENWorld is still pretty d20-heavy of course, so it's hardly surprising that True20 is one of 'our' most popular generic RPGs, at least some of the time.

And yeah, it can play better than it reads. Not for some folks, but for me and many others, yes. I actually prefer M&M, even for non-superhero campaigns, but still, True20 is likewise solid and easy to tailor.

Anyway, forum tendencies and anecdotal evidence aside, you'll probably find any good generic system can do most of it for you, and you'll just have to inject some flavour and perhaps house rules or customisations as you see fit.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Any well-done superhero game can be used to model just about any kind of genre setting because superheroic RPGs are designed to emulate superheroic comic books...which contain all kinds of heroic archetypes.

Look at almost any comic book line, and you'll find mutants and wizards, knights and cybersoldiers.

Thus, HERO and Mutants & Masterminds (my 2 favorite RPGs) would be my first choice. GURPS, while I dislike it, is equally flexible, and may be more your taste. In any case, each gives you a single toolbox to model an infinite number of worlds. Very cost effective. In addition, both HERO and GURPS have dedicated sourcebooks for sci-fi roleplaying (GURPS has several different ones).

However, like them though I do, sometimes, RPGs that are designed for a particular genre simply do it better than any toolbox RPG could. Conceits and tricks common to one genre might not be balanced against those in another, and a dedicated RPG doesn't have that balancing issue.

Just a suggestion on the sci-fi front: Traveller is pretty much the king. Even if you don't like the mechanics, don't let that dissuade you if you like other aspects of the game because it exists in a number of incarnations. Besides the original (in multiple reprint versions, including Mongoose's 2008 release), there is a HERO version, a D20 version and 2 GURPS versions

 

[ValhallaGH]

One more recommendation for True20.

 

[synistar]

...
I'm looking for a system that will let me run other types of campaigns.

The main campaign I want to create right now is in the spirit of Alternity, Traveller, and the video game Mass Effect. What I'm looking for is something sci-fi that is more "hard science" than Star Wars, and a little less "hard science" than Traveller. If you are familiar with the tech in Mass Effect, that's about what I have in mind.

There are a couple of approaches you can take. And which one you choose really depends on how you want to build your campaign. If you want to build everything from scratch (equipment, character archetypes, setting). I would go with
a superhero game system. This will allow you to build anything you want. Mutants and Masterminds would work well her
e or if you want a bit more detail and crunch then Hero would be a better fit.

If you would rather put together things from a list of options then I think that GURPS is your best choice. That is
why the books are so numerous. They basically are filled to the brim with lists of options. For a space campaign I w
ould grab 3 books (GURPS:Characters, GURPS:Space, and GURPS:Ultratech).

Characters gives all the rules you will need for creating any kind of character. It is a point based system that is designed in a similar fashion to the way feats work in d20. You pick from a (large) list of advantages to add abilit
ies to your character (but you're limited by their point costs). You can also add disadvantages to make you character more interesting and to get more points to use.

Space is a world and alien building book. It is for creating the setting and will cover any option you can think of using a science based approach to constructing the planet(s). It includes two world building toolkits (basic and adv
anced), an alien design toolkit, advice on creating civilizations and governments, advice on how travel and technology affects your campaign, and 15 character templates that cover the most common sci-fi archetypes (from astronaught to a jedi-like space knight).

Ultratech is a 256 page catalog of sci-fi gear. Everything you can think of from plain laser rifles to dissassembler nano. It also includes all kinds of vehicles, defensive gear, cyborg and robot templates for characters, and even some huge tech like dyson spheres and world ships.

The difference between the two is whether you can make due with putting stuff together from catalogs of stuff (GURPS) or want to design the stuff from scratch so that it is exactly how you envision it (Hero,M&M). (Although GURPS also has design rules for customizing powers like Hero does, that is just not its central focus like Hero).

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Here (on ENWorld), yes. On RPGnet, for example, it's staggering how many threads receive the 'Unisystem' answer, regardless. Sometimes GURPS too, maybe a bit of HERO, and one or two other things. True20, relatively rarely.

I think over there, part of the thing is that d20 stuff is all in it's own forum. d20 and other games based off the OGL. So where you wind up asking (and the direction the conversation goes) is going to tend to influence the type of responses.

RPG.net is full of system folks, so really you'll ask 3 people and get 8 recommendations.

Anyway, forum tendencies and anecdotal evidence aside, you'll probably find any good generic system can do most of it for you, and you'll just have to inject some flavour and perhaps house rules or customisations as you see fit.

Yeah, I really agree with this. I do happen to fall into the "system matters" camp, but most generic systems will be able to do this sort of thing with little trouble.

 

[Lhorgrim]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm at work right now so I have to be brief until I can get home.

I hadn't even considered Unisystem, just because it didn't cross my mind. I'll have to look into it.

Can somebody update me on the state of HERO system? When I played Champions back in the day we found the combat to be fun but slow. All those dice and knockback and such I guess.

I have heard that GURPS has been streamlined a bit. Anybody familiar? I'm going to download the free lite rules tonight and look them over.

About True 20. I'm not really familiar with OGL Vs. D20 differences. Is True 20 like playing D&D in a different skin, or is it simply the D20 resolution system? I'm looking on the GR site for a sneak peek version to get a feel for it tonight.

I'm confident that the generic systems can be made to do what I want, so I guess I'm trying to pick the best system for my gaming style. I know it's hard for you folks to make suggestions with as little info as I can give you about my style, but I'll do my best to elaborate tonight when I get home.

Thanks again.

 

[ragboy]

I'm confident that the generic systems can be made to do what I want, so I guess I'm trying to pick the best system for my gaming style. I know it's hard for you folks to make suggestions with as little info as I can give you about my style, but I'll do my best to elaborate tonight when I get home.

The Savage Worlds system is genre-less, and has bolt-on toolkits for sci-fi, supers, etc. If you're going for cinematic, you can't go wrong...