With the holidays on us, I am back into gaming as a good distractor and creative outlet.
Sci-Fi TTRPG’s have always been a favourite, but I tend to get stuck on rules sets.
M-Space is a D100, Mythras Imperative spin-off that really puts me in the right head space (so to speak), but it is a building block generic and hard edged game, less Star Wars (maybe a little Andor), more early Trek, Alien or Interstellar, so most games tend to lean towards dystopian futures, darker themes. I used to collect Sci-Fi art books in the 80’s like Trevor Webb or John Berley or the more recent scandi works by Simon Stalenhag and this reminds me of those (Clarence Redd, the author being one of those).
Mothership takes M-Space style gaming into an even darker space. The system is also D100 but simpler and the game more a one-shot or short campaign style. It is Alien with licence filed off, deadly, disheartening and highly xenophobic, ideal for what it is, if just a little limited in scope. Regardless of the system chosen, the scenarios available are excellent and highly adaptable.
Savage Worlds (Sci-Fi Companion). This one bothers me as it was meant to be “the one”, the pulpy Sci-Fi fix-all with direct connection to the SW system tree, but it has fallen away a little. I think that is down to me forgetting why I bought the companions in the first place.
Originally I only bought the companions to add to the core for things like kids-on-bikes, supers or supernatural pickup games that needed more…… stuff, but I now feel swamped by the weight of it all. It is a great, flexible and fun system and it and M-Space effectively cover the whole gamut of genre and styles, but neither add any specific theme.
I also have a fan based Star Wars hack, worth a look.
Traveller (2022 revision). This one is an old favourite in a well liked form*, a game I have owned every single version of except for Marc Millers T5, which looks more like a science reference book. The big thing that held me back was a lack of AI and robots without buying the specific book for them, but I guess in hind sight, that may be a good thing.
One tension I find hard to reconcile in Sci-Fi RPG’s and fiction is the continued ascendency of humanity over AI. Even now, that seems unlikely unless we as a race choose to retain control for no other reason than to protect our own relevance.
Using robots and computers as human controlled tools only, the Traveller core book champions biological races over AI in a homage to past SF tropes. The Robots book can add more options, but I am not keen on going down that rabbit hole ($100au+ per book, lots of books). The reality for our own world is already much less bio-autonomous.
I am reminded of the religious level tech rejection of Dune and the ascendency of the Human spirit mantra or the quaintly clumsy semi-sentient Droids in Star Wars**.
Traveller (2008 1e). I have a soft spot for this clunky, unpolished 80’s homage to the “little black box” OG version. The line drawings, the overall feel and layout all take me back and in some ways it is actually a little bit better than the new version, such as Robots and Drones actually getting a mention, basic rules even. The mechanics are crude when compared to the latest 2e print, but they work ok.
Star Wars (d6 WEG version probably ReUp). I have the anniversary original and ReUp pdf and some other bits for this. Might play it for fun, especially after seeing Bad Batch and Rebels.
BRP for a Dark Tower, Shadow of the Torturer style far future Earth fallen game. This has been boiling away for years, bringing together all the legacy D100 game styles (Hawkmoon, Elric, Future Earth etc) and anything else I want to add. BRP Creatures is on the way soon-ish, which may well cement this one.
Frontier Space, a D00 lite game is of some interest, but I feel the number of games before it will deny it seeing daylight.
Star Trek Adventures; Captains Log, is a solo adventure generator for the STA game and for me a gentle toe dip into a game that scares me, because I could very easily get eyeballs deep in this one. The 2d20 system does not appeal greatly, but the scenario generator does excite and it looks to be, at least in part, fairly system agnostic. I could also add the Core book for deeper mechanics, but I know where that could lead.
Things I do not have (yet).
Cortex Prime (on order). This is possibly the best generic game for Sci-Fi, offering both systemic and thematic flexibility as well as rounding out my Marvel Heroic RPG system (which lacks char-gen rules). This is a clever system that hits a sweet spot for me of being highly narrative, but at the same time mechanically sound and you basically build the game parameters as you go.
Scum and Villainy, is a Firefly, Star Wars, Dark Matter-like rogues in space game that appeals on many levels. Based on the Blades in the Dark, Forged in Darkness system, a game I have avoided so far, wishing to keep my system choices tight, it has hit a sweet spot for me with their SF and Military version Band of Blades, so maybe it’s a thing and unlike STA, it is contained.
Tales from the Loop/Electric State are Year Zero Engine systems that I do not have in any form, both based on firm favourite books I do own (with others). I feel M-Space/BRP/Cortex can do the hard, but grounded SF they are based on, no need to get the game books, just use the originals for inspiration and eye candy. I might get Electric State as a one-shot game generator and it has the easiest system in the series to grok. The reality of these is the original works of fiction (and others) are enough to get me going.
Alien, also using the YZE system from above, is effectively the same as Mothership and I do not need two versions of the same thing, even if the mechanics do look cool. Unfortunately I left my run a little late and it looks like the “Evolved” edition has lost some of the original’s clarity.
Games that will not be looked at;
Star Finder and Stars Without Number, are basically DnD in space so no interest here.
Anything else, because this is enough!
*
From here, it looks like M-Space or Cortex will be used for some grounded games (The Loop etc), Traveller 1e for a space cowboy sandbox in true ‘80’s SciFi style (with Drynax maybe) and Savage Worlds for a pulpier version, more Guardians of the Galaxy.
*It may be because I had the original “little black box”, but to me Traveller needs to be self contained, something they lost in the 2016 version, which I have since gifted. The 2022 revision is better in many ways and feels complete again, except for basically zero robot or drone rules (but I have pdf’s of the 2016 books).
**My take is the second Empire fell when biologicals rebelled against sentient AI (maybe the last Emperor was an AI and decided humanity was a servant race or surplus to requirements?), so after a protracted war and the collapse of all things civilised, the AI were beaten (a massive computer Virus maybe or something more kinetic) and humanity turned its back on all things non-biologically sentient, even limiting or banning cybernetic implants.
Robots are seen as tools only if allowed (anything in human guise is highly sensitive), computers have to be human controlled and non sentient/humanoid in nature and are heavy policed, with massive stigma and paranoia common and overt enforcement of these rules, some parts of the fractured Empire even going further.
This has resulted in a loosely cobbled together “Empire” limited to TL12, with slow, cautious advancement without the aide of AI. Any tech higher than this is preciously guarded and mysterious with little scope to repair or improve on it as the tech is too advanced to trust.
Ancient AI may be a good protagonist, rarities and story drivers, maybe even an AI enemy re-emerging from the depths (2nd Empire strikes back)?