Need Recommendations for Deep, Campaign-Friendly Sci-Fi / Modern TTRPGs

[payn]

Traveller is the ‘big dog’ in sci-fi, and Pirates of Drinax is reckoned to be one of the best campaigns ever released, though I haven’t played them personally.

I second this, however I think Traveller will leave them disappointed in the "level 1-15" aspect. With that requirement in mind, Id point to Starfinder by Paizo.

 

[dbm]

I second this, however I think Traveller will leave them disappointed in the "level 1-15" aspect. With that requirement in mind, Id point to Starfinder by Paizo.

I suspect you are right - Traveller has notoriously ‘flat’ character development. I picked up Pirates a while back but when I run it I will be using Savage Worlds.

 

[payn]

I suspect you are right - Traveller has notoriously ‘flat’ character development. I picked up Pirates a while back but when I run it I will be using Savage Worlds.

PoD is a pretty rad sandbox. I have attempted to run it twice getting fairly into it. One group fell apart for IRL reasons, the other didn't dig the Traveller system and/or player driven sandbox campaigns.

 

[dragoner]

For 5eb adjacent there is Esper Genesis, though also I think Starfinder is hugely popular.

 

[caerus]

To clear one thing up, I meant to include a slash between d6 and fudge in my original post. Meaning, "It seems like most of the new options are d6/fudging systems that don't exactly have expansive player options and progression." So, less detailed and often not d20 systems.


Thank you for the suggestions so far. I'll look more into SWN and SWAD. They seem like they might be on the right track. I'll have to learn more about the combat since the group prefers the detail and options of something at least as complex as dnd. We have ruled out some general systems for hand waving away a lot of combat detail.

 

[dbm]

To clear one thing up, I meant to include a slash between d6 and fudge in my original post. Meaning, "It seems like most of the new options are d6/fudging systems that don't exactly have expansive player options and progression." So, less detailed and often not d20 systems.


Thank you for the suggestions so far. I'll look more into SWN and SWAD. They seem like they might be on the right track. I'll have to learn more about the combat since the group prefers the detail and options of something at least as complex as dnd. We have ruled out some general systems for hand waving away a lot of combat detail.

Savage Worlds has detailed combat options. It grew out of a war game (Great Rail Wars) set in the Deadlands world. Miniatures use is assumed, but not mandatory. Movement is expressed in table inches, and things like ganging up, surprise, called shots, wild attacks, all have mechanical weight in the system.

For me, it has enough detail without bogging down like some other systems can.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Hi fellow nerds.

In general I have a lot of experience with DnD and similar dungeon-crawl board games, but for whatever reason I have never really gone into anything outside of the fantasy genre. Now my group is interested in doing something with guns and vehicles and I haven't had much luck finding the right game for us.


It seems like most of the new options are d6 fudging systems that don't exactly have expansive player options and progression. That's what I'm looking for and that's the main reason we have been on DnD/PF for so long. Can you recommend anything that is comparable to a level 1-15+ dnd/pf campaign, but has a modern or sci-fi setting?

Thanks

Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed. Obviously geared to CoC in tone, but the system is a solid d100 system with support for everything from Victorian to near-future. Wonderful weapons support.

 

[John Dallman]

GURPS has huge amounts of source material for modern and SF games, and a character development system that lets you build almost anything as a character. However, it is not a "game in a can" but a toolkit for constructing your own game. If you want a pre-built setting, it's not the answer, but if you want to define your own, it's great.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I'm a heavy Savage Worlds fanboy and will of course recommend it for everything.

But as to modern settings, I must shout out to Everyday Heroes, a 5e based system aiming to be an updated version of the old 3.5e d20 Modern game. It's a very nice system with lots of nifty tweaks to classes etc for modern play.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I'm a heavy Savage Worlds fanboy and will of course recommend it for everything.

But as to modern settings, I must shout out to Everyday Heroes, a 5e based system aiming to be an updated version of the old 3.5e d20 Modern game. It's a very nice system with lots of nifty tweaks to classes etc for modern play.

Do not listen to this shout. EH is awful.

Never forget that Hobbits cannot ever be trusted. Do not let the bitter lessons of the LotR be lost.