What is the D&D of Science Fiction RPGs...

[dglass]

I am going to have to chime in and vote Traveller as well.

 

[Umbran]

Anyone want to suggest WHY there has never been the grand champion of sci-fi games? I never really understood it.

Well, your thought that the sci-fi universe is somewhat more diverse than the fantasy one has some merit. It does lead to the necessity for many different sci-fi rules to cover the genre.

However, there may be a more basic explanation. There are only so many gamers. Each one only has so many hours to play. One must pick and choose. If so many are busy playing D&D, then no other game, no matter it's genre, is likely to come close to being a Big Boy.

 

[Mistwell]

Well since Lucas himself has said many times he copied the basic story and some of the characters from that movie, then yes, that is exactly what we're saying.

And the movie was called "The Hidden Fortress." It's by Japanese master director Akira Kurosawa. You should watch it sometime. It's really good.

I think you have that completely wrong. He said only that he was inspired by the film, not that he copied the basic story or characters. He was inspired by many other things as well, not the least of which was Joseph Campbell - who was inspired by every myth he could get his hands on.

It would be like saying that most modern fantasy copied its story and characters from Tolkien, rather than merely being inspired by him.

Inspiration is a far cry from copying story and characterization!

 

[Darius101]

Classic Traveller never died they just quit publishing books for it.
JTAS is still going strong and publishing material for it...and it's other incarnations.
In Fact I am part of a group that has been playing for 25+yrs in the same campaign. we have gone through retirements/deaths and the universe has grown.
Course we still play an occasional game of 1st ed AD&D as well but nothing is currently being published or kept up with that addition especially since 3rd ed came out.

Alternity is still a good system too. I have friends that still play that in the same campaign also. One friend loves that game better than anything else.

Traveller is still the grand champion in my opinion because of this longevity a devotion to the original rules. What other game published the original rules all in book form like traveller just did? That shows that there was somekind of following or they wouldn't have done it. Many of those old books are near impossible to find now except in the new reprints.

The difference here is that D&D never "died" - the people in charge just thought it was time for a new edition. That's also why I was uncertain about counting CT->Megatraveller as a death for Traveller.

Thanks for saying this-----
I hope this helps clear it up for you a little bit. Even D&D is not still publishing materials for old rules sets. Classic Traveller is still doing that despite the fact that:
1) GDW went out of business
2) There have been newer versions of the rules published.
3) The license was sold to other companies for publication.
These things are werein the difference is most apperent to me.

 

[Quixon]

I gotta vote for Spacemaster, I used Traveller and Alternity but always found Spacemaster the best for Sci-Fi.