10 What science fiction
RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.
If you've been reading my
blog posts this month, or my blog regularly for any length of time,
you'll know the answer to this is Star Frontiers. The rules are just
simple enough, the setting just evocative enough, that I was able to
use it to run all sorts of sci fi themed adventures as a youth. Even
now, I've still got designs to eventually run both a straight-up game
in the Frontier Sector battling Sathar and exploring strange new
worlds, and also a game set in the post-Judgment Day Terminator
universe using a slightly modified version of the game (only human
PCs, modified weapons/equipment list, otherwise the same).
I've never played
Traveller in any form. Never played Twilight 2000, although I now
have it on .pdf. Never played the Aliens RPG, although I sure wanted
it in the late 80's. Some day... There are probably lots of other
classic sci fi games I've never played and just don't remember, or
have never heard of.
What other sci fi games
have I played?
WEG Star Wars – Killing
Machine and I played one or two sessions of this. I liked it, but
D&D and Star Frontiers were easier to run, and I tended to DM/GM
anyway. This was KM's game.
d20 Future – the
supplement to d20 Modern was well done, a good toolbox book that
catered to a fairly wide range of gaming styles. I ran a kick-ass
Aliens/Predator game with this for the Ebisu group.
Star Wars d20 – we
played a bit of this with the Toyama group over Yahoo Voice Messenger
IIRC right after I'd moved to Yamanashi. It was fun, but a bit
clunky for Star Wars style gaming.
Trinity – White Wolf's
low-powered supers in space game. Fun, evocative, and my only
experience besides rolling up a character for the Street Fighter RPG
with the White Wolf Storyteller system.
Stars Without Number –
free OSR game, basically Basic D&D with lasers and robots. I
like it a lot, obviously.
What I'm thinking about:
Some
day, after Chanbara is published, Flying Swordsmen is revised, and
Presidents of the Apocalypse is released, I'd like to work on a
retro-future style RPG, probably titled "Rockets vs. Saucers" since in
lots of old 40's~60's sci fi the humans flew rocket ships and the aliens
had flying saucers. Ray guns, heat beams, jet packs, bubble helmets,
shiny suits, all that jazz. I'm thinking it will be class/level based,
but in a twist there will be no "Fighter" class. Everyone will be
equally bad-ass (or equally piss poor, depending on if you're a half
full or half empty type) at combat. Classes would be based around
exploration of planets, space flight, science, and
contact/communication/socialization.
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