Science Fiction/Superheroes

[ShadowX]

I have mostly played fantasy RPGs in my long history of roleplaying with occasional dabbling in superheroes and I want to mix it up. I have M&M and it works very well. I am however interested in some sources for supers adventures, not necessarily for M&M.

I have also always had a hankering for a sci-fi game that is not Star Wars. I don't find the Star Wars setting compelling at all for roleplaying. So I am looking for a D20 setting/rules system for a sci-fi game. More importantly, I am not entirely sure what type of adventures compose a sci-fi RPG and would like some good examples.

Thank you.

 

[Capellan]

Hero Games have published a number of adventures for Champions that could be readily adapted to any supers system. They also publish some of the finest setting material for supers game in general.

As far as science fiction goes, a lot depends on what kind of game you want to run. "Science Fiction" can cover everything from John Carter to Robotech to Aliens to 2001.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I second HERO, not because of it being my favorite system, but because its mechanics are conceptually similar enough that you'll easily translate the concepts & character builds into M&M. And since its history dates back to the 1980s, you should be able to find adventures for it relatively cheaply. Over the history of the game, there have been teen hero adventures, noir adventures, 4-color golden age heroic, and classic Marvel or DC type adventures, including superteam-raids-the-BBEG's-island-fortress type stuff.

Palladium's Heroes Unlimited* and Villains & Vigilantes should also be a good source of adventures.

As for sci-fi, the great grandaddy sci-fi game is Traveller. In many ways, its the D&D of SFRPGs. Other great sci-fi games include Alternity, Space:1889, Amazing Engine, Star Hero and RIFTS*.

*Note on Heroes Unlimited and RIFTS- a lot of it can be used as source material for superheroic, sci-fi, or fantasy games. Do so- its a rich, imaginative setting. Just don't use the mechanics.

 

[Aussiegamer]

I am looking at doing super heroes as a module for my system...is there much interest in that genre?

I have done a full system for scifi gaming, but it is only up to beta testing stage. So if you want to be in on the ground floor to help design a RPG then come on over.

 

[Ranger REG]

So I am looking for a D20 setting/rules system for a sci-fi game. More importantly, I am not entirely sure what type of adventures compose a sci-fi RPG and would like some good examples.

Have you considered Dawning Star?

Star Wars/Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon = space serial fantasy.
Star Trek = soft sci-fi.
Alien(s) = sci-fi horror.
Buckaroo Banzai = campy sci-fi adventure.
Blade Runner = hard sci-fi.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Eh..thanks for pointing out the OP's condition that I missed, RR.

D20 sci fi games not listed above:

Dragon Star
Fading Suns D20
DragonMech
Traveller D20
D20 Modern with D20 Future and Dark*Matter supplements

Basic Sci-Fi tropes:

Space Opera: lots of alien races, possible mysticism (think of the Force of Star Wars or the Weirding Way of Dune), almost swashbuckler-like action.

Hard Sci-Fi: intelligent alien races rare or non-existent. Think of stories and novels like Ben Bova's "Grand Tour" novels, Sagan's Contact, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Asimov's Robots or his Nightfall story, Dickson's Dorsai, Saberhagen's Berserkers, Laumer's Bolos, Donalson's Gap, Martin's Sandkings, and the movies Outland, & 2001 A Space Oddysey

Current Day/Near future/CyberPunk: almost exclusively set on planet Earth, space travel may or may not exist. X-Files, Wild Palms, Lawnmower Man, Tron, Westworld, Niven's Dream Park novels, anything by William Gibson.

Pulp: an older form that helped give rise to the superhero, horror, and fantasy genres- sci-fi exemplars are things like Flash Gordon, Doc Samson

Time Travel: subgenre that may cross over with any of the above.

Dimension shifting: subgenre that may cross over with any of the above.

Utopian: a "what if" type of genre dealing with idealized visions of man's future achievements.

Distopic: a dark counterpoint to the utopian fiction, with many more quality exemplars- 1984, We, Brave New World, and THX-1138 are major.

Military Fiction: a sci-fi future serves mainly as a setting for military stories, like David Drake's Northworld and Hammer's Slammers books.

Alt History: The history we know gets fiddled with for a variety of effects- one major series is Turtledove's Colonization novels (in which aliens land on Earth in the late 1930's).

 

[Ranger REG]

Eh..thanks for pointing out the OP's condition that I missed, RR.

D20 sci fi games not listed above:

Dragon Star
Fading Suns D20
DragonMech
Traveller D20
D20 Modern with D20 Future and Dark*Matter supplements

I almost forgot. The mecha-themed Armageddon: 2089.

The Transformers-inspired (or Big Bot themed) Mechamorphosis.

 

[The_Gut]

Well, True20 has the LUX AETERNUM setting available, which is swashbuckling space opera style space adventures. Its interesting.

For a rules light superhero game, you can check out Truth & Justice. It has an interesting settings book (I can't remember the name though) where your superpowers are drawn from mythological gods - the Aztec/Mayan, Norse and Greek pantheons are stated out. So you could be a superhero drawing their power from Fenris, Medusa, Odin, Thor, etc. This isn't D20 in any shape size or form (And D20 would suck for superhero stuff anyway). I haven't yet played Truth & Justice, so I can't vouch for it playwise - but it reads interestingly.

I also haven't played, and its not D20, but there is the Serenity rpg, set in the Firefly universe. I've heard bad things about its rules however. I haven't even read it.... but anything associated with Firefly can't be all bad.

I'm really interested in D20 traveller myself, and its on my "to buy" short list.

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Thanks for the mention, but it sounds like Dawning Star might be right up your alley. There are a ton of Free Downloads on the site to give you a good idea of what the setting is all about. And, the best part, DS was designed to accommodate a number of sci-fi sub-genres: bug hunt, Space Western, alien relic hunting, political, etc. You'll find something in there that will speak to you. I guarantee it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Good catch...I forgot Armageddon even though its on my shelves.

In addition, there is Gama WorldD 20, and there is a D20 version of Prime Directive (classic Star Trek).

FWIW, there are also D20 sci-fi minigames that were published in Polyhedron, like Omega World.