D&D 5E The Call is Out: D&D SciFi Should Be The Next Campaign Setting / Expansion

[Azzy]

I could get behind an actual SF game built on the 5e chassis, but not "D&D in Spaaaaaace!" unlike Starfinder (such a disappointment to me).

Then again, I've created a space opera setting the uses a modified version of R. Talsorian's Interlock system, so I'm not worried if WotC doesn't go the distance.

 

[Stormonu]

I could get behind an actual SF game built on the 5e chassis, but not "D&D in Spaaaaaace!" unlike Starfinder (such a disappointment to me).

Then again, I've created a space opera setting the uses a modified version of R. Talsorian's Interlock system, so I'm not worried if WotC doesn't go the distance.

Yeah, I bought the core Starfinder thinking it would be a system for generic sci-fi and was a bit bummed that it was "D&D in Spaaaaace!". Not what I was really expecting.

Add me to the list for a good, generic 5E sci-fi system based off of 5E.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

A few years back Mike Mearls suggested that there could be 5E versions of old games like Gamma World. I know for a fact that if 5E Gamma World were released my players would DEMAND that I run it.

D&D 5E - 5e Compatible Gamma World

So I recently (past year) finished my conversion of Gamma World to 5th edition. I know a few exist but they are of the more recent D&D 4th edition version which, while I liked it in some ways, was not my favorite. I preferred the actually 4th edition published in 1992 (I think). It was pre 3rd...

www.enworld.org

Gamma world can be done.

And imagine if it was done by professionals!

Sort of. Before he got blacklisted and disappeared from social media and his Twitch shows, he had talked about making 5E conversions of both Gamma World and Star Frontiers and had run them at conventions. I have no clue if anyone lurking around here ever got to play in any of those games, but it would be interesting to hear how they went. So yes, a professional already did his own unofficial version.

 

[Blue Orange]

Hasbro owns Transformers and GI Joe...

I'm looking forward to playing an Decepticon Warlock of Unicron. I'm serious.

 

[jmartkdr2]

(And Star Wars d20, if they file the serial numbers off )

Speaking of which, there were two things I did not like about that system when we actually played it that I would hope are resolved or avoided in a 5e-based sci-fi system:

1. 5 ft square grids are not helpful for blaster-based combat. When you need to know where peoplke are who are 300 feet away, 5 feet is not a helpful increment. I'd still want something that has the mechanical precision of the grids (ie not too much but enough that I don't need to ask the dm where I can move at the beginning of each turn) while working at longer ranges. The grid's supposed to be optional, so a second option would be nice.

Especially since firefights involve a lot of waiting, aiming, dashing and spotting - rolling all of that into a to-hit roll will make it feel really flat and not very much like a blaster battle.

2. Don't make piloting spaceships an optional skill. You either need everyone to commit to picking a specific set of options, or you have some players weaker in some encounters just so they can have fun options in others. Basically, if you didn't pick the piloting skill and a bunch of piloting feats1, you'd be relegated to just making basic attacks in space battles. But if you did pick those options, you got fewer non-spaceship stuff. Given how 5e didn't fall into this trap too hard with mounted combat I'd expect this to be handled well, but it was a major drag in the game.

 

[Stormonu]

Hasbro owns Transformers and GI Joe...

I know! WHY IS THERE NO GI JOE RPG?

GI Joe screams heroic action vs. mobs of nameless goons leading up to a showdown with named villains. And everyone gets a pet!

MLP Rant time...

Spoiler

And why did they sublet My Little Pony to River Horse instead of doing the game in house. Don't get me wrong, I think the actual RPG is well-designed and I had a blast with the MLP campaign I ran about two years ago, but why that didn't come from in-house is mind-boggling!

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I know! WHY IS THERE NO GI JOE RPG?

GI Joe screams heroic action vs. mobs of nameless goons leading up to a showdown with named villains. And everyone gets a pet!

MLP Rant time...

Spoiler

And why did they sublet My Little Pony to River Horse instead of doing the game in house. Don't get me wrong, I think the actual RPG is well-designed and I had a blast with the MLP campaign I ran about two years ago, but why that didn't come from in-house is mind-boggling!

This was reported on here last year, but here is an article about this talking about the game company planning on making a few RPGs based on Hasbro games:

Every Hasbro Series Getting A D&D-Based Tabletop RPG System

New games up Renegade Studios' sleeve.

screenrant.com

This is from Sept of last year and I cannot find any new info about them, but they should still be getting made.

 

[Peter BOSCO'S]

I demand space goggles!

View attachment 134304

Goggles over eyes = advantage on saves vs blindness.

Goggles on forehead = advantage on Persuasion checks (1/long rest) because you're just so cool.

 

[LordEntrails]

The problem I have with this is that I don't really want, "Dungeons & Dragons ... IN SPACE!" which I believe is inevitably what would happen. I don't see it as realistic for WOTC to commit to creating a product that doesn't draw upon established D&D tropes and the IP-specific elements. Simultaneously, if the setting is just Space Humans, Space Elves, Space Dwarves, Space Dragons, etc. it's retreading the same old ground and won't really provide any of the actual elements of science fiction that I find appealing.

Star Frontiers is NOT D&D in Space. It's a looong way from it. Talk about the exploration and social pillars, they are very strong in the game. Or at least they are much easier to make strong and the adventures often focus on them a whole lot more than they do combat. Plus, the races are (for the time) original, and not elves and dwarves.

Check out the Frontier Explorer. A fanzine that is still active. It should give you some sense of what the game and setting is like; Frontier Explorer

Don't forget about Star*Drive, too. (And Star Wars d20, if they file the serial numbers off )

I'd like to see the 5E equivalent of d20 modern, I think it would be much better than the 3E/3.5E version, which completely fell apart around 10th level. If they could put together a generic Sci-Fi system that can handle Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Starship Troopers, Robotech, Star Blazers (2199), Warhammer 40K, Gamma World, Metamorphosis Alpha, Mass Effect, Star*Drive, Star Frontiers, Planet of the Apes and Dune - that's the type of system we need.

I don't think so.

5E hasn't been a success because it has tried to cater to the extremists among us (I don't mean that in a bad way, far from it in fact.) but because it has catered to the casual gamer. Easy to pick up. Easy to understand relative to common social tropes and conventions. More 'soap' or social than science or crunch.

A Sci-Fi game should follow in the same vein. Their is no need for it to do everything, it just needs to do itself well. Doing all those types of games would do exactly what caused TSR/WotC problems before, it would split the fan-base. They just need one solid sci-fi system to run in a single setting. Sure, people can run it in a thousand settings (just like D&D), but 99 out of a 100 people are just going to play it in the default setting in the default way. that's the way to have a market success.

 

[Samloyal23]

The d20 Future book had some great campaign ideas. I would love to see an update of From The Dark Heart Of Space, I never got to play in that setting but I love some horror in my sci-fi. Give me a space ship and a mystic warrior with a tohar shelahl to fight the Horrors From Beyond, and I will be a happy man. The other settings in the book were pretty cool, too. I would not mind hunting bugs in space or hopping dimensions to save reality. That book was a gold mine and I don't think an update would be that hard to swing.