Why Can't d20 Handle sci-fi?

[SSquirrel]

Which kind of sci fi...

...is what you want? You have hard, soft, cyberpunk, future fantastical, future retro, etc, etc. (yes some of these are my own terms) Do you want a game like Star Wars that focuses more on the what and not the how (ie. explaining jumping to lightspeed as the way ya pull the lever back) or do you want the nuts and bolts details of everything? (ala Star Trek)

From what I've seen of the current d20 future products, they all serve their setting decently well and why would they be striving to be the generic sci fi game? Some people don't want their sci fi game to even be in space, they want it all on planet. That would cut out a lot of the details and make a large portion of a book useless....kinda like buying a new White Wolf hardbound and having 60% or more of the book as reprinted rules from the other WW system you already own.

If someone wanted to make the Role Aids style generic sci fi and included all encompassing info for most all the different possibilities as mentioned in this thread then kickass. Sounds like Traveller is already doing a decent job in that regard so why not check it out?

 

[trancejeremy]

The reason we don't have one unified d20 SF game is the same reason we don't have one unified Witch class. Unless WOTC does something, companies will just do their own. While some companies will work together somewhat, the natural impetus is to work separately.

It's either a bad thing or a good thing, depending on what you want from a game system.

It's good because no one system will be right for everyone. Having lots of systems will make it more likely one if right for you.

The bad side, is you have to do a bit more conversion work. But it's only a bit of conversion, and it's generally only necessary to be exact for PCs.

 

[ced1106]

I think one reason that you don't (and probably won't) see a "unified sci-fi" D20 game is, unlike fantasy, science fiction doesn't have a commonly accepted basis.

Jedi doing backflips: Works.

Uplifted dolphins: Works.

Cyperpunk deckers: Works.

Some guy in a telephone booth: Works.

Vulcan half-breed: Works.

Uplifted Jedi Vulcan / dolphin half-breed with cyberdeck implants (and doing backflips) travelling via telephone booth: Not quite.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[Ranger REG]

While some people have tried modern d20 settings before, d20 Modern is going to be the baseline for that once it hits the shelves, especially considering that the d20 companies are already planning on releasing supplementary material for the book literally a day after its released.

With all due respect to Wizards, I believe that a few publishers have tried to a modern d20 settings. SPYCRAFT do comes to mind. Granted, it is geared toward espionage genre but it is nonetheless a modern-era type RPG.

If you haven't tried Spycraft then you don't know what you're missing.

Having said that, yes I will pick up d20 Modern because it is a generic rulebook for modern-era setting, and it varies by genres: horror, magic, psionics, and hopefully others like military, mystery, espionage, etc.

Now, will there be a d20 Future RPG? Maybe, but that depends on the success of d20 Modern and perhaps the status of the Star Wars RPG license (expiration date 2005).

As for a "unified d20 sci-fi game"? That depends on the network of publishers wanting to develop a standard set of rules used by them in a group. We've seen two companies that are trying to develop support for the OGL Interlink product line (can't recall the two companies).

 

[Voneth]

As for a "unified d20 sci-fi game"? That depends on the network of publishers wanting to develop a standard set of rules used by them in a group. We've seen two companies that are trying to develop support for the OGL Interlink product line (can't recall the two companies).

Pardigim Concepts and Green Ronin.

 

[Pinnocchio]

The problem with waiting for WotC to define the standards for a particular genre means that we're stuck with whatever the designers at WotC believe that particular genre should be.

What would they decide for sci-fi? And would it mesh with what I envision my particular setting to be? Most likely not.

For me, when 3E D&D came out, it was really cool and I was very excited. However, two years later it feels like a bad-fitting suit. I absolutely hate the magic system. I would much rather have WotC come out with a book of alternatives before they tried their hand at generic D20 sci fi. Alternate advancement methods, alternate magic systems, and other options for tweaking my settings to better represent other styles of fantasy. Fantasy does have the same problem as sci fi in terms of style and such. Taking the rules straight out of the three core books, I'd say that the game is designed for high power, high magic. You may not have it at the beginning levels, but once you get to the mid-levels it's there.

In many of the fantasy novels I've read (including many D&D novels), the conventions used within D&D just aren't there. The magic is extremely different, characters don't wander around festooned with magical accoutrements, and the characters don't go through such rapid spurts of advancement and growth.

Anyway, I think I wandered way off-topic there. So, to bring it back... I think, like fantasy, sci-fi needs options...and if WotC does do a sci-fi book, I would like to see options made available to cover a much wider array of sub-genres...much wider than they've done with D&D.

Marc aka Pinnocchio

 

[Desdichado]

I agree 100% with Pinocchio. What's the benefit of having a "unified" system? What I'd rather see are campaign settings, futuristic or not, compatible with d20 Modern, or tweaked for their own particular needs.

d20 is all about options from a common baseline, not highly regimented systems. It's the baseline that should be (and already is) common, not the specifics. Making the specifics common destroys everything that d20 is good at.

 

[KnowTheToe]

This just reminded me, I have to buy Traveller.

 

[Vigilance]

Well, as much as I hate to disagree with Joe, I think d20 handles scifi quite well, and I think my upcoming book, Blood and Space, will prove it.

I invite everyone to check out the PR thread about it in the Publisher's forum

Its a book of core classes, skills, feats, prestige classes, starship construction rules, and starship combat rules, designed to either enhance the scifi game you already play, or it can operate as a complete (UNIFIED ) system for your homebrew scifi game.

Take it all, take it piecemeal, d20 works great for scifi IMHO.

 

[Ketjak]

Off-topic

The Small Print: For custom campaign setting, click on the image above.

Joshua,

If the document's not ready, take the darn link out of your sig. All you're doing is "muddying the waters" - people who click once and get that aren't going to a) know when "a week" expires so they can click again and b) remember to visit unless they see your .sig again and overcome a).

- Ketjak