Looking to recreate the feel of Firefly, The Outer Worlds, The Expanse, or similar, in a ttrpg that is somewhat leaning to the hard sci fi side. Any thoughts?
I’ve been poking Traveller but it’s hard to tell what the definitive versions are. Also Stars Without Number looks interesting.
I’m particularly looking for ship based stuff – where the ship is statted and you can have ship to ship combat.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the expanse rpg. Link
I like Green Ronin, in general, and love The Expanse as a setting. However, I want to be in a homebrew setting rather than in The Expanse. I suppose I should have said that in the original post.
The Expanse started as an RPG setting, which is an interesting bit of trivia :)
Stars Without Number is a fun system. Traveller can be a bit complex but the character generation is the best.
Questions since you seem to have experience :)
Stars Without Number looks interesting – been poking the free basic ruleset PDF. I don’t like the focus on psionics and teleportation and other sci fi tropes that are not as hard. If one were to run a zero-psi game, would the system still work?
Which “edition” of traveller have you used, and how do you even pick an edition? Are there inter-edition and inter-publisher compatibility?
From my limited investigations, I think the modern version from Mongoose is the one to go with
The character generation system is amazing but from my POV its a bit Star Trek instead of Star Wars or the expanse, if that makes sense?
My only experience of it is listening to bits of it on the Glass Cannon so I may have a skewed perspective
Psionics is the reason there is FTL in the default setting, and also why it’s a post-apocalyptic setting. You don’t need psionics to travel, like in 40k, but I reckon removing psionics from the setting is taking away some of its flavor.
But from a gameplay point of view, I really don’t think it’s a problem. You could probably search the Reddit sub for Kevin’s word on it, but from what I recall, it’s a non issue, because it’s OSR and the game isn’t “calibrated” for a particular party, like say DnD3.5. You could always leave psionics in the background, something dreadful and not known to the public, like in Babylon 5 or Firefly. Even in SWN itself, like I said, psionics is the reason for the whole mess the universe is in, so they’re definitely not omnipresent, and more likely to be a trouble magnet, if present in the party.
I did something like this with Fate because I had specific ideas about my setting and the aliens, corporations, and organizations I wanted in it. I added some of my own mechanics for ships and stuff, giving them their own attribute tracks and letting players make rolls during space battles based on their position in the crew. It worked well enough for what I wanted, which was more of an action, space opera feel, like Outlaw Star. It won’t have a lot rules for all the hard sci-fi stuff you may be looking for if you prefer crunch.
Although recommending a generic system like Fate makes me feel like the kind of guy who suggests GURPs every time a question on a recommended system pops up lol.
So, have you tried using GURPS? Hey at least no one has recommended d20 Future yet ;)
I appreciate the recommendation nevertheless. Sometimes it does feel better to roll your own with a basic framework. In so many RPGs, the system and setting are inextricably linked, and disentangling them becomes far to tiresome. (Try playing D&D5e in a non-forgotten realms setting – as much as you try to avoid references…) Rolling your own lets you start entangled, but in a way that fits your universe.
What’re the odds you have some favourite details on what you did that made it feel right for you?
If you like The Expanse because of the hard sci-fi and you don’t know about GURPS Transhuman Space, you absolutely need to check it out. It will blow your mind. Even if since then, the transhuman sci-fi movement has evolved, it’s still choke-full of inspiration, imho.
I dream of combining that setting with Stars Without Number…Interesting. I’ll check it out. Google is getting worse for finding things, so discussions like this become more important. Appreciate the rec. :)
I’ve been enjoying Starforged since it came out. The PDFs are available of course, but it sounds like they’re also getting another reprint here in a month or two.
Ah, yet another PbtA sci fi game. Between it and Impulse Drive (from another comment), I have some reading to do. Appreciate the recommendation :)
Jovian Chronicles has a good base system that you can divorce from the setting pretty easily. (The same system is used in a planet-bound SF game—Heavy Gear—and an apocalyptic fantasy game—Tribe 8.) It has a pretty simple system for making vehicles which scratches your “statted ships with ship to ship combat” itch.
