Published retro futuristic rpgs

[tecnowraith]

Are there any published retro futuristic rpgs released or planned to be released? I know there is Rocketship Empires, Spaceship Zero and Secret Ziran (well almost). I'm thinking of a game set in far future from 2008 where the look and of 1930's to 1940's maybe 1950's having very high or ultra tech mixed with the style of the 40's. Blade Runner is close but most of the vehicles does not look like 19340's. Think take a 1930's car and add hightech parts to make it fly. That's the idea and look I am going for. Any suggestions of ideas,

Some say I can do this with pulp genre and if any pulp rpgs that can this setting?

Thanks

 

[jdrakeh]

Blood Shadows by WEG blends 1930s hard-boiled detective fiction tropes with far future tech and alien races.

 

[RandomCitizenX]

The Savage Worlds retro sci-fi setting Slip Stream was just released. I haven't seen it myself but I do know it is supposed to be heavily inspired by old pulp serials, like Flash Gordon. May be worth checking out.

 

[Staffan]

Blood Shadows by WEG blends 1930s hard-boiled detective fiction tropes with far future tech and alien races.

It does? Not the one I have on my shelf. Hard-boiled detective, yes. Future tech, no. Alien races, no, but instead various horror/urban fantasy critters (shapeshifters, vampires, demons, etc.). Plenty of magic.

I'm guessing it's kinda hard to find as well, given that 10-15 years and three or so WEG owners have passed since its release.

 

[jdrakeh]

It does? Not the one I have on my shelf. Hard-boiled detective, yes. Future tech, no. Alien races, no, but instead various horror/urban fantasy critters (shapeshifters, vampires, demons, etc.). Plenty of magic.

Maybe my memory is fuzzy (it's been about ten years since I've read the book, as it wasn't received very well by the consuming public and I could never find players for it). The copy I had took place on another planet (Marl) and, yes, it had future tech (albeit largely 'powered by magic' stuff). By 'alien races' I referred to the vampires and such, as that is how they were presented in my copy of the game. At any rate, you can get the most recent version (for the D6 System) here.

 

[dpetroc]

Slipstream is heavily influenced by Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers - jet packs and ray guns, rocket ships, Lion Men and clunky robots. An evil (yet beautiful) queen and her monstrous minions, etc. Definitely retro sci-fi pulp action - down to bubble helmets and air tablets. Physics? HA! Hard Science? Feh!

Played my first game in the 'stream this weekend and it was a great deal of fun - the rules even provide for 'dramatic interludes' and 'cliffhangers'. The plot point campaign is set up like a 'season' of serial adventures to enhance the feel. The rules for the pulp adventure limits (but does not preclude) character death (unless its dramatic!).

The setting is well thought out with enough variety to provide for a great deal of additional adventures outside of the plot point campaign, including a 'season generator'.

If you are looking for a set of rules to apply to your own pulp setting, savage worlds is easily adapted- but I might not buy Slipstream. If you are looking for a neat setting out of the box, this is a worthwhile purchase.

 

[Staffan]

Maybe my memory is fuzzy (it's been about ten years since I've read the book, as it wasn't received very well by the consuming public and I could never find players for it). The copy I had took place on another planet (Marl) and, yes, it had future tech (albeit largely 'powered by magic' stuff). By 'alien races' I referred to the vampires and such, as that is how they were presented in my copy of the game. At any rate, you can get the most recent version (for the D6 System) here.

The "other planet" thing was, to me, along the lines of Dark Sun being set on a planet named Athas, or Forgotten Realms on Al-Toril. The tech, as I recall, was mostly 30s with some things enhanced and/or powered by magic - you could buy rune bullets for your guns, for example, and there were cars powered by bound elementals. I especially recall the rune bullets, because they provided a reason for people to use revolvers instead of semi-auto pistols: being able to select what type of bullet to fire.

 

[Lizard]

Shameless plug -- Tales Of The Solar Patrol, for GURPS, is "retro future", based heavily on the SF of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, with a tone taken half from Flash Gordon and half from Heinlein's juveniles.

 

[Umbran]

Or, you want to go really retro, play Space: 1889.

 

[tecnowraith]

Thanks for the reply. For those who has read past posts the systems that be suggested know my grief about. Savage worlds, I do not like step-dice systems and GURPS is that do not like skill/feat/adavantage-based powers. I want to have magic and psi in my campaign. I like either spell list, effect-based or freefrom magic/power systems. With Hero System I am worried about the math issue during play since i am GMing and i am not good in math.

Also not wanting to do space travel for this campaign and I noticed a lot of settings deal with space travel. This gonna more global than anything else.