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Best Non-Fantasy RPG???

WyattWyatt
edited March 2013 in Role Playing Games
My local group is looking to start up a sci-fi or cyberpunk game. I'm looking to crowd source some ideas and opinions of non-fantasy systems that are out there. I hear Travelar, the new Star Wars RPG, Eclipse Phase and Rouge Trader are the best; but has anyone on the fourm played them?

Comments

  • onewildonewild
    I have played Traveller and it is a system with a lot of flex in it setting wise. However there is a risk, as happened in our game, that the gm can get so caught up in the trading mechanics that it ruins the flow of the game. So it can turn into -
    a)go to planet GM rolls the dice for goods available
    b) the trading characters negoiate to get the goods, while the other players stand around doing nothing
    c)go to next planet, repeat with a bit of story inbetween until you have the money to fix the ship/buy new equipment ect
  • ShaunShaun
    edited March 2013
    FreeMarket is probably the most interesting Sci-fi RPG out there. You could also look at Hamish Cameron's The Sprawl, which is a really good cyberpunk hack of Apocalypse World. Jason Morningstar's Durance is basically a game set in space Australia. If you want a challenge, you can get Burning Empires, which is an amazing game, but it can take a while to really grok the mechanics. If you want something that's very pass-the-stick story-gamey, you could try Joshua A.C. Newman's Shock: Social Science Fiction.

    When I'm not on my phone, I'll try to find good links for these.
    Post edited by Shaun on
  • Anthony HemanAnthony Heman
    All the super generic starter questions first:

    What are you guys trying to get out of the game?
    How many players, how frequently, expectations for campaign length?

    My most recent experiences are with Rogue Trader and Star Wars Saga Edition. I also have some random cyberpunk tri-stat games, Paranoia, Shadowrun, and others sitting around. Star Wars was the most like a fantasy game with a different setting. Paranoia is the best ice-breaker one-shot system, but serious long campaigns require a particular kind of group. Isn't there a new edition of Shadowrun to try out?
  • ShaunShaun
    Shadowrun 5th Edition is in the works.

    I love Shadowrun as a setting, but the mechanics are crap.
  • ApsupApsup
    Shadowrun 5th Edition is in the works.

    I love Shadowrun as a setting, but the mechanics are crap.
    My thoughts exactly. Shadowrun was my first rpg and I'd love to play or run it again, but I just can't bother to re learn the rules.

    Maybe I should get Apocalypse World and make a shadowrun hack for it. Or I could create shadowrun crunch for Solar System. Of course until I actually do something this is all shit talk, but the possibility that I actually do something is there.

  • ShaunShaun
    I have been shit-talking an AW/Shadowrun hack for a long time. I've got a stack of half-written playbooks sitting in my hard drive right now.
  • pencepence
    I have been shit-talking an AW/Shadowrun hack for a long time. I've got a stack of half-written playbooks sitting in my hard drive right now.
    As long as you run it on G+!

    My friends are planning to play Ghost in the Shell using Interface Zero 2.0 once the kickstarter pdfs start trickling in.
  • johndisjohndis
    Aliens Versus Predator Role Playing Game
  • AprecheApreche
    Maybe we can get Fantasy Flight to publish an Android RPG to go along with Netrunner. Would also play GitS RPG if someone made it (NOT USING BESM).
  • jabrams007jabrams007
    Maybe we can get Fantasy Flight to publish an Android RPG to go along with Netrunner. Would also play GitS RPG if someone made it (NOT USING BESM).
    *cough*

    Eclipse Phase
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    edited March 2013
    FreeMarket is probably the most interesting Sci-fi RPG out there. You could also look at Hamish Cameron's The Sprawl, which is a really good cyberpunk hack of Apocalypse World. Jason Morningstar's Durance is basically a game set in space Australia. If you want a challenge, you can get Burning Empires, which is an amazing game, but it can take a while to really grok the mechanics. If you want something that's very pass-the-stick story-gamey, you could try Joshua A.C. Newman's Shock: Social Science Fiction.

    When I'm not on my phone, I'll try to find good links for these.
    I have Human Contact, a focus of Shock - but it's not really well-optimized for our group size. We're talking a GM and 5 - 6 players.

    I've contemplated using Marvel Heroic Roleplaying in a science-fiction setting - possibly to run a Danger Patrol-esque game. Or maybe a different sort of science fiction heroic team game. MHR is pretty cool - it borrows from and emulates DP in may ways - but it has a very very specific feel to it. The characters also don't really evolve at all, so it's better suited to linked episodic games, rather than continuous campaigns.

    I've been looking into both Apocalypse World (I don't know why I don't already own it) and FATE. I've heard good things about FATE, but I've never had a chance to play any games that use it.

    We're not totally sure what we're after yet, beyond "group-oriented cooperative science fiction." We're leaning in an exploratory direction, I think, but we're not all totally sure.
    Maybe we can get Fantasy Flight to publish an Android RPG to go along with Netrunner. Would also play GitS RPG if someone made it (NOT USING BESM).
    *cough*

    Eclipse Phase
    Jon, your Eclipse Phase boner has lasted way longer than 4 hours.
    Post edited by TheWhaleShark on
  • jabrams007jabrams007
    FreeMarket is probably the most interesting Sci-fi RPG out there. You could also look at Hamish Cameron's The Sprawl, which is a really good cyberpunk hack of Apocalypse World. Jason Morningstar's Durance is basically a game set in space Australia. If you want a challenge, you can get Burning Empires, which is an amazing game, but it can take a while to really grok the mechanics. If you want something that's very pass-the-stick story-gamey, you could try Joshua A.C. Newman's Shock: Social Science Fiction.

    When I'm not on my phone, I'll try to find good links for these.
    I have Human Contact, a focus of Shock - but it's not really well-optimized for our group size. We're talking a GM and 5 - 6 players.

    I've contemplated using Marvel Heroic Roleplaying in a science-fiction setting - possibly to run a Danger Patrol-esque game. Or maybe a different sort of science fiction heroic team game. MHR is pretty cool - it borrows from and emulates DP in may ways - but it has a very very specific feel to it. The characters also don't really evolve at all, so it's better suited to linked episodic games, rather than continuous campaigns.

    I've been looking into both Apocalypse World (I don't know why I don't already own it) and FATE. I've heard good things about FATE, but I've never had a chance to play any games that use it.

    We're not totally sure what we're after yet, beyond "group-oriented cooperative science fiction." We're leaning in an exploratory direction, I think, but we're not all totally sure.
    Maybe we can get Fantasy Flight to publish an Android RPG to go along with Netrunner. Would also play GitS RPG if someone made it (NOT USING BESM).
    *cough*

    Eclipse Phase
    Jon, your Eclipse Phase boner has lasted way longer than 4 hours.
    More like closer to 2.5 years, Pete. I should probably go see a doctor one of these days...
  • ShaunShaun
    Fate is good. I find that I tend to grind against the mechanics, but I've been really really spoiled by Burning Wheel, so that's not necessarily an issue with the system.

    I own, but haven't played MHR. It looks good on a read-through, and a lot of people whose opinions I respect say it's good. You could look at getting the Cortex+ Hacker's Guide and use that to base a cyberpunk game on.
  • MATATATMATATAT
    edited March 2013
    Jared Sorensen's Lacuna game seems pretty cool. I haven't played it yet though.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • WyattWyatt
    @Shaun: You have a crazy amount of knowlege of this topic, and I'm glad I asked the question. Do you happen to live near Albany NY? I forgot about Free Market. I wouldn't adapt BE. I've got the Burning Sand book and I'd play DUNE rpg instead.

    @CrSt: Mostly for fun weekly social interactions with friends and some creative expression.
    5-6ppl weekly for a 4hr game &I play with Pete.

    The Sprawl reminds me so much of Cyberpunk 2020. It's freaky, but I like it.
    AW looks sick and I may buy it tonight.
    The dice mechanic in FATE is weird. I can't say much more.
  • AprecheApreche
    @Shaun: You have a crazy amount of knowlege of this topic, and I'm glad I asked the question. Do you happen to live near Albany NY? I forgot about Free Market. I wouldn't adapt BE. I've got the Burning Sand book and I'd play DUNE rpg instead.

    @CrSt: Mostly for fun weekly social interactions with friends and some creative expression.
    5-6ppl weekly for a 4hr game &I play with Pete.

    The Sprawl reminds me so much of Cyberpunk 2020. It's freaky, but I like it.
    AW looks sick and I may buy it tonight.
    The dice mechanic in FATE is weird. I can't say much more.
    He lives about as far from Albany as can be.
  • ShaunShaun
    edited March 2013
    Scott is correct. I'm out in California. Which is weirdly about the ass-end of RPG culture, it seems.
    Post edited by Shaun on
  • pencepence
    Scott is correct. I'm out in California. Which is weirdly about the ass-end of RPG culture, it seems.
    Everyone from Seattle was at Burning Con last year. That's like, almost the same place!
  • ShaunShaun
    Yeah. I keep wanting to make it out to BC, but with our business, kid, and schedule it's just never worked out.
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