Science Fiction Games...that intrigue yooouu most?

[Supplement Four]

For me, it's Classic Traveller. It's insane how much that game appeals to me.

Other science fiction games that peak my interest?

D6 Star Wars because it soooo captures the feel of the movies when I first saw them.

2300 AD and by default, 2320. The setting of the early years of a star-spanning society. Love that stuff.

Fading Suns because Frank Herbert's Dune series is the only set of books that I've ever read that make me feel more intelligent than I really am. And, Fading Suns IS the Duneverse with a few twists to avoid copyright violation.

FASA's Star Trek because role playing with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty is too much to pass up. The adventures in this game are intelligent and definitely capture the feel of the original series.

High Colonies for the same reasons I like 2300 above.

Blue Planet because it such a damn cool premise that it really should be a series of scifi movies, a television series, or a series of books or something.



What about you? What are the SciFi games that grab you by the short hairs and apply a little torque when you peruse them?

 

[vertigo25]

Ditto on CT, of course.

D6 Star Wars was sooooo much fun. There were some very obvious mechanics problems, but it didn't matter. The rules really helped capture the fly by the seat of your pants feel of SW. Plus, WEG's supplemental material was amazing to say the least.

Fading suns has always intrigued me, but I've never read the rules. I, too, am a Dune fan. In fact, I actually see the Imperium society as somewhat Dune-esque (with the tech being Foundation-esque).

FASA's Star Trek games were okay. Using them, for me was more because I didn't have to convert anything to another rules system. Having said that; my best friend and I played a *ton* of Next Gen.

And... although I'll probably get pelted... I *loved* Star Frontiers. I'm thinking of drawing up some stuff for the alien races and ships to use in CT

I also really liked Cyberpunk back in the day... when it didn't seem like I was playing a historical game

Not an RPG, but I also really dug Battletech for a long time.

The graphics for Jovian Chronicles also always made me want to play the game, but I could never find anyone amongst my friends who would give it a try.

 

[Klaus]

Nope, Star Frontiers rocked.

D6 Star Wars ditto.

Spacemaster, despite the all the tables.

And Traveller, of course...

 

[Ishmael]

non rpg...WarpWar

 

[Spinward Scout]

Traveller - in the words of Stan Lee: 'Nuff Said

Trinity - for Psionics

FASA Star Trek - percentile dice makes a ton of sense

GURPS Space/Robots/Bio-Tech/Ultra-Tech I & II are interesting

Alternity for the same reason

and if you want even more detail...

FTL: 2448 - a ton of detail/tables, and easily converted to T20/d20 as well

 

[Psion]

MegaTraveller and T20 are my mainstays for OTU action.

I've been intrigued by Blue Planet, but never owned a copy.

Though I think the tech of Alternity is too fluffy, I like the chargen. It's a nice compromise between point buy and level based.

I like the GURPS:Space books for being a nice SF campaign building toolkit, but hate the GURPS system.

Spacemaster - though I find chargen intolerable, it has some really cool little tidbits, like the engineered human variants and the really cool spacecraft design system.

D20 Future - not my favorite (not for the least reason because it uses the same fluffy tech as alternity), but it has some great third party support.

 

[Timerover51]

Another thread resurrection, but no one mentioned the game that fascinates me the most, that being Metamorphosis Alpha, which predates Traveller by a year, and also Gamma World, both in their first editions.

I understand that some people view these two games as Dungeons and Dragons meets science-fiction, but I view that, especially for Metamorphosis Alpha, as more an issue of the 3D6 game mechanism than anything else. M-A has a range of fairly limited weapons when it comes to firearms and energy weapons, making a good blend of hand weaponry and advanced technology. A character with lower tech weaponry stands a good chance against a character with high-tech weaponry. The mutations and derivations of Terran animals and vegetation are great.

Gamma World has a highly used series of charts for figuring out the use of any artifacts found, which could be used for Traveller quite easily, especially when it comes to Ancient artifacts. It would also be useful for very high-tech characters to figure out how to use much lower tech equipment. Imagine a character with a Tech Level 15 home world trying to figure out how to operate a Tech Level 3 telegraph or semaphore.

I admit to liking somewhat quirky games, and these two fit the bill.

 

[Madmax]

I've always been curious about Metamorphosis Alpha, but have never gotten to see a copy, let alone play the game. I do however love the idea that (at least in concept) the players (or at least PCs) don't know they are on a space ship, and it comes as a huge shock when they realize it.

Meanwhile, I like almost all SciFi games I have encountered. I notice that the OP did not actually limit the discussion to RPGs, so I am going to mention my all time favorite SciFi game: "Master of Orion" (first edition). I still play it frequently. Yeah, the AI sucks, cheats like a dog, but the game is still challenging and still gives some surprises even after 26 years. To me all the subsequent 4X scifi games (including MOO II, III, etc.) just add a ton of chrome to the basic ideas of MOO, bogging play down, with no compensating improvement in fun or interest to the game.

Of course, for RPGs, my favorite is Traveller. I mix and match rules. For some parts I prefer CT, for others I prefer MegaT, for others MongooseT.
New Era is RIGHT OUT!

 

[Timerover51]

I've always been curious about Metamorphosis Alpha, but have never gotten to see a copy, let alone play the game. I do however love the idea that (at least in concept) the players (or at least PCs) don't know they are on a space ship, and it comes as a huge shock when they realize it.
. . . .

If you want, you can get a copy of the 1st Edition at DriveThru, just search for Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition by WardCo. It will cost you $5.99. I would recommend that over the later editions where they have changed the game system quite drastically, and for the worse in my opinion. Yes, I have a digital copy. There is also a set of the 1st Edition rules bundled with Jim Ward's articles in the Dragon on the game. I picked it up at a convention considerably less than the $80 for the copy I found online. It you can find it for less than that, it is worth getting. I have a hard copy, and there is a lot of good stuff in it.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Out of so many SFRPGs that I had books for... besides Traveller... would be SPI's Universe. A close second would be FTL: 2448.

 

[whartung]

I only really glanced at Gamma World, but it seemed more post apocalyptic with outrageous equipment and mutated beasts.

In stark contrast to the "1980s projected forward" world of Traveller. GW seemed borderline fantasy to me at the time, one reason I didn't really latch on to it.

To me, what cemented Traveller was the Book 4 Ironmongery, showing the evolution of arms and equipment over time, and the ship construction rules in Book 5.

 

[mike wightman]

Fading Suns - I never did find out why the suns were fading

Blue Planet - there could have been more gates to new planets, the gate builders themselves are a bit of intrigue

Transhuman Space - just what exactly are you supposed to do as a player character

 

[Fovean]

Star Frontiers - in 1984 we were building cars and hover bikes with computers, comms, videoscreens... so much fun

Gamma World - because we finally wrapped our heads around what factions are and what they could be in a game - plus figuring out all that cool tech

Non-RPG: Starship Troopers from Avalon Hill

 

[Gray Lensman]

Battletech!! Not the Mechwarrior RPG ... The actual miniatures game. Don't know how much I spent on mechs/time spent painting them/time and money spent on a 4x8 sheet of plywood with styro and balsa terrain features

 

[Timerover51]

I know that I have Starship Troopers somewhere, and I am pretty sure that I have Universe too. I likely will find them while doing more cleaning.

 

[Timerover51]

For those interested in Metamorphosis Alpha, the 1st Edition which is on DriveThru includes a section of official Errata by Jim Ward, and also a starting adventure which also presents a bit of a different view of the computers on the ship.

 

[aramis]

I only really glanced at Gamma World, but it seemed more post apocalyptic with outrageous equipment and mutated beasts.

In stark contrast to the "1980s projected forward" world of Traveller. GW seemed borderline fantasy to me at the time, one reason I didn't really latch on to it.

Borderline? From the first time I saw GW, I realized it was saturday morning cartoon level fantasy... on par with Thundar the Barbarian. Or the later Masters of the Universe (He-Man & She-Ra; A Cortex Prime version of the MotU setting is due out soon).

To me, what cemented Traveller was the Book 4 Ironmongery, showing the evolution of arms and equipment over time, and the ship construction rules in Book 5.

Largely, those, too, for me... but once I found Striker, Book 4 was only for colour text.

 

[Condottiere]

It gave a structure to the military in the Imperium, and a flavour to the likely combat encountered.

Book Five seems a lot drier.

Striker came across as Pournellisque.

 

[whartung]

It gave a structure to the military in the Imperium, and a flavour to the likely combat encountered.

Book Five seems a lot drier.

Striker came across as Pournellisque.

What I liked about the Ironmongery was simply what seemed (to me) to be the logical progression of small arms. You could see how the Gauss Rifle developed over time, how the PGMP evolved in to the FGMP, while getting smaller and more efficient, etc.

Simply, they weren't just pulling blasters out of thin air, they had a foundation and worked from that.

Did you know you can buy gyro stabilized binoculars today?

As a side note, for some reason I'm fascinated by DP9s "Heavy Gear". I think it's just the richness of the tactical system, plus the build system. I have a bunch of the books, just never played it. But it's not really "high tech" beyond having walkers.

Traveller is high tech.

 

[aramis]

What I liked about the Ironmongery was simply what seemed (to me) to be the logical progression of small arms. You could see how the Gauss Rifle developed over time, how the PGMP evolved in to the FGMP, while getting smaller and more efficient, etc.

Simply, they weren't just pulling blasters out of thin air, they had a foundation and worked from that.

Did you know you can buy gyro stabilized binoculars today?

As a side note, for some reason I'm fascinated by DP9s "Heavy Gear". I think it's just the richness of the tactical system, plus the build system. I have a bunch of the books, just never played it. But it's not really "high tech" beyond having walkers.

Traveller is high tech.

Heavy Gear has FTL, Plasma weapons, and artificial gravity. It is, tech-wise, about Traveller TL 10 to 12. (I've not gotten past CGen and a couple test combats, but I have read most of the system for both HG and Jovian Chronicles.)