Help! What is a good Sci-Fi core system?
Help. Here is my problem: Scaldcrow Games is offering a new generic starship book. Since its part of their generic series it is being targeted for any game. I like Sci-Fi ok, but I'm a bigger fan of fantasy, and I love Scaldcrow Fantasy. I've heard some rumors that they are going to be expanding into some other genres as well as fantasy. I'm gonna get their AAR5-"Advantage" because I love their stuff but I don't play sci-fi right now. What sci-fi core system does everybody recommend? I like a game that is pretty fast paced but is strong on story telling. I like space opera stories and love me some science horror type stories. I don't like SW (I've just had to much of it crammed down my throat for one life-time). I'm pretty wide open for anything.
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Oh hey look, you did; fast work. ;-)
We played a cross-genre game using GURPS that spanned WWII, Sci Fi and Fantasy settings a while ago that seemed to work as well as anything, system-wise. Though some of the combat resolution seemed to get a bit over-technical with AoE weapons.
Way back I used to play Traveller - the old GDW version. That was fairly lightweight and fast-paced if you're looking for a rules-light game and can get hold of it on ebay or download. Has a very nice sci-fi 'Golden Age' feel to it as well if you like that kind of thing.
Anything sci-fi related, I use the newer d20 version Traveller. I'm not really interested in the hoopla it generated over not being "true to the Traveller canon" because I don't really care about stuff like that. I like the setting, like the system, and the rest is up to me. I like it because it's essentially 3.0 d20 and that's the system I prefer for everything.
A way back our group was talking about a d20 sci fi game and some preparatory noises were made but it never got off the ground. Maybe we'll give it a spin one day.
I was almost convinced into running a Dragonstar campaign at one point, right at the depths of my, "is anything really ever new" phase. I flipped though the books and saw that playing that game would only have confirmed my suspicions. LOL. It's exactly this; D&D...in space. And not in a cool Spelljammer sort of way. It's exactly D&D in space. Super lame.
I also like the stuff done for d20 Modern in the Future book they put out. Combined with d20 Past and d20 Apocalypse one could run a really decent time travel campaign, if one were so inclined. I've toyed with the idea of a time travelling campaign and have been making little notes about it in a small green notebook for the last...I don't know..10 years? When the notebook is full maybe something will happen with it.
Preparatory noises? That might be one of the funniest phrases I've ever come across...
I think that's what it sounds like when beardy old fellows like LG him and haw over something and poke it with their toe while scratching their chin.
Actually, they sounded something like this:
http://www.gamegrene.com/node/1251
;-)
Nicely done. I imagine yours were a lot nastier, though, given the beardy oldness factor. :P