What would you use to run a near/far-future campaign?

[elessard]

I've been working on a Campaign in which the players are members of an agency similar to the FBI or the CIA and are responsible for resolving mysteries à-la X-Files.

The trick is, the campaign starts in 2020 (near-future), but it includes aliens that have mutations, spaceships, mental powers, futuristic weapons etc., so I'm not sure which rule system I should use.

I'm not familiar with Star Wars, so I'm not sure if it would work well for a near-future campaign.

SpyCraft seems good for near-future stuff, and since my players would be FBI/CIA agents, it seems to make a lot of sense, but I'm not sure it would work well with different races, psionics, mutations and other far-future elements.

Finally, there's d20 Modern. From what I know about it right now, it seems a little more "generic" that SC, so it might be better to deal with the far-future stuff. But since the final product is not out yet, it's hard to tell.

So which game system would you chose if you were to run such a campaign and didn't want to spend too much time tweaking the rules? I have mentioned SW, SC and d20M, but if you know of other good d20 systems that would work for that kind of campaign, I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[Lord_AO]

I use D20, everything I like stays, everything I dislike go's.

But for what you're planning to play, SpyCraft will do. Agents, spies, action die, lotta guns, cars planes and chases. All hardware, less fantasy and magic. Fast Pased and heroic.

 

[elessard]

And what would you do to deal with the far-future elements like mutations, psionics, weapons, armors, etc.? Would you create your own house-rules on top of SC, combine SC with something else (like SW or T20), ...?

In the beginning, I wanted to use Alternity cause it includes most of the things I need, but since I wanted to go with the d20 mechanics, I decided to forget that idea. Converting Alternity would be an option I guess, but I would rather use a d20 system (or a combination of d20 systems) that allows me to run my campaign without too much tweaking.

 

[Crothian]

I'd use spycraft. Mutations would be a few feats or a templat depending on how severe you want to make them. WEapons will advance some, but not too much in the next 20 years. So, it would be easy tyo just create a few new high end items. Weaposn that we use now will still be common. Armor, the same way. PSionics is simple. The psionic handbook with a little adaption will fit easily in a spycraft game. PSionics become it';s own class.

 

[elessard]

I actually had thought about using the Psionic HB in SC, but was kind of wondering if that would work well since SC uses VP/WP and the PsiHB uses HPs. Has anybody ever tried that before?

Also, using SC's weapons and armors in 2020 is okay, but what about alien weapons? Is there a book out there that I could use that would describe far-future weapons to use in a d20 game?

 

[bwgwl]

i'd use a mixture of d20 Modern and Star Wars d20.

in fact, this is what i'll do when i start on my Necromunda conversion in November.

 

[Siridar]

The PsiHB should be fairly easy to adapt. Just throw out the Psi combat and change HP dam to VP dam. As for using Psi powers their usage doesn't depend on HP so that shouldn't be a problem.

Note: I haven't actually tried any of the above so it's kinda theoretical.

The DMG has some futuristic weaponry in it. Also Dragonstar has plenty of far-future tech in it along with the pushed-back-but-eagerly-awaited-by-me Imperial Supply for the game.

 

[Crothian]

The differences between the HP system and the VP/WP system is meaningless to psionics. The two systems are so close that it matters little to anyone. Heck, I've switched from one system to the other mid campaign with zero problems.

 

[Wikidogre]

The differences between the HP system and the VP/WP system is meaningless to psionics. The two systems are so close that it matters little to anyone. Heck, I've switched from one system to the other mid campaign with zero problems.

WORD!

I agree, i have done this as well. very simple, smooth as a new borns arsh!

 

[Tonguez]

And what would you do to deal with the far-future elements like mutations, psionics, weapons, armors, etc.? Would you create your own house-rules on top of SC, combine SC with something else (like SW or T20), ...?

Spycraft already has psionics (and mystics) with the Shadowforce Archer setting. For Mutations I'd just use the MM and apply ECLs accordingly. Weapons and armour as is - add a GP value if you want to upgrade to a plasma rifle (for instance) and house rule effects