what's a good sci-fi rpg product and why?

[Jürgen Hubert]

GURPS supports SF pretty well. But you might want to pick up the new edition that comes out in August - or snap up the older stuff that's bound to be sold when the new versions arrive...

 

[Calico_Jack73]

In defense of Traveller: New Era I have to say that I liked it. Most of the people that I've talked to who didn't like it stated that they didn't like how it diverged from the Traveller story line. That is a campaign setting issue, not a system issue. Traveller: New Era is about rediscovering other worlds after a cataclysmic event (the birth of the VIRUS AI) destroyed computer networks throughout known space and rendered space travel impossible for some time. The Twilight:2000 system worked well and was easy to learn.

Still, T20 gets my primary vote. It is a d20 product and the core rulebook is very complete (it is jumbled around though in format). Being d20 means you can use almost anything else out there written for d20 products.

 

[Caspian Moon Prince]

If you are looking for something with mecha then Mekton Z from R. Talsorian Games may be a good book for you to check out. It uses the Fuzion system(the system is a free download from their site) and is quite customizable I have found. It could work without using the big robots, but that is its main focus.

 

[Psion]

In defense of Traveller: New Era I have to say that I liked it. Most of the people that I've talked to who didn't like it stated that they didn't like how it diverged from the Traveller story line. That is a campaign setting issue, not a system issue.

For the record: I disliked both.

 

[Psion]

Traveller is good if you like your gaming somewhere on the spectrum from Firefly to Alien (not Aliens).

Why not? I though Aliens was SO Traveller.

 

[Morte]

Why not? I though Aliens was SO Traveller.

Mooks. The aliens are mooks, apart from the queen. There are no mooks in traveller.

 

[PCD]

So far, I am pleased with HERO, TriStat dX, Mutants and Masterminds...all allow for Sci Fi. Though, folks are right T*20 is a fairly good book as it does a lot of the writes up you would need.

 

[Anime Kidd]

I would also mention Alterniy, but others have mentioned it already. Though it is OOP, you can still look at the fast-play rules in PDF. GMs PDF and the Players PDF. There aren't any rules for creating characters, but it does have a few examples in the back and a sample adventure in the GM's PDF. It should give a good overview of what the system is like.

 

[shouit]

I would have to agree with Morte. Those marines killed aliens like they were going out of style.

 

[Psion]

Mooks. The aliens are mooks, apart from the queen. There are no mooks in traveller.

Eh. If they were mooks in the classical sense, they wouldn't have aced 90% of the marines.

And anyone's fodder in Traveller if you have a gauss rifle and they don't. It doesn't make them mooks.

Not only do I think that an Aliens-like scenario is perfectly doable in Traveller, I have been part of several scenarios which are very close to it.

@Anime Kidd: The PDFs of the full manuals can actually be had for a small fee (like $5 each) on RPGnow or SVgames.