Lets Talk Genres #7 - The One's That Resonate - Sci Fi #6

Before the Summer slips away, I did want to touch on the Sci Fi games that get me excited to play. There are alot that I would like to play, but these are my favs. 

Favorites

Star Frontiers - A true Classic. When I grew up you either played Star Frontiers or Traveller. One was cinematic, a little silly, and good good fun. And the other was way more serious. Yeah, the first one is Star Frontiers. And yeah, that was my Sci Fi of choice. In the Workshop of Doom post for Let's Talk Genres #3, I go into Star Frontiers a bit. Please have a look for some more commentary on a classic sci fi game.

White Star - When all of the retro clone goodness was just hitting its stride, I was looking for something to play that was dead easy for me and the players. I looked hard at the next three games on this list. Each offered great things and rules for sci fi play. But for my group and the simplicity of the OD&D (Original D&D) system, its general familiarity with the group, and the amount of support out there made White Star a fun and easy choice. White Star familiar 6 stats, hit points, AC, and combat mechanics make it an easy play for those who play D&D. It is a fun, pulpy, overlay of Sci Fi on the system. Its easy to see why it caught on, especially when you look at much more complex alternatives available like Starfinder. It remains one of my favorite Sci Fi RPG's. 

Stars without Number - Kevin Crawfords masterpiece. I love this game, as much for the back half as for the front half. The game is a retro clone with some twists that make it fit better for modern/sci fi genre. It is fun, but more complex on the character build side of things. Not overly so, but more than White Star. That complexity comes from options in character creation and development of the type of character you want to create. Simple but has way more options. The pure gold here is the section for the GM. Mr Crawford is a dyed in the wool Sandbox proponent. He approaches his games with GM as worldbuilder. And then gives you all the tools to build them, make them live, and help do things with minimal to no game prep through this tables and charts (my fav) for everything from system builders, to planet builders, to faction builders, adventure, monster and alien builders, and encounter builders. An unbelievable set of resources for any Sci Fi GM. Great Game!

Frontier Space - Frontier Space is Bill Logan's, of DwD Studios and Star Frontiersman fame, reimagining of Star Frontiers updated and expanded. A clear labor of love (as can be seen from Bill's work on the Star Frontiersman Zine), the game has two volumes, a players handbook and a referees handbook. It has 6 abilities (Strength, Agility, Coordination (cause there is a lot of shooting), Perception, Intelligence, Willpower), Skills that give bonuses to checks, advantage/disadvantage, Destiny (Luck) and Destiny Pools. Dice are 10-sided, and either percentile or straight roll. Plenty of player races, and fun equipment and tech. It has Gyrojet weapons, so that alone keeps me interested. Ships and ship combat are included. The referees book has a great section on running the game, and a section on more equipment and tech, and a really great section on generating creatures, aliens, missions, facilities, villains, star systems, and planets. It incorporates one of my favorite GM tools for sci fi which is Mr. Logans Adventure Idea Factory. A Sci Fi GM could do almost endless work the sections in this book and the sandbox generators in Stars Without Numbers for their world building and adventure building. 

Pure Nostalgia

These games are pure nostalgia for me. I owned big swathes of each of the original lines of these games. Read more than I played, but got in enough games to enjoy them both.

Paranoia - An absolute riot. The best Sci Fi premise for an RPG maybe ever. being helpless and conniving at the same time is fun. Looking back, it was Squid Games before Squid Games. And the building of paranoia in game is real and palpable. So much fun. The new version is great. But I prefer the Jim Holloway illustrated first edition of the game.

Shadowrun - A really great premise. A great background and line of sourcebooks too. A managebale system that was more complicated than needed. Shadowrun caught my imagination like wildfire when it first came out. Mixing Science Fiction and Fantasy with a Cyberpunk Science Fiction being the baseline is a twist on the genre that aligned with my interests. The game design was more difficult than it needed to be in retrospect but was still fun to play. 

Gotta Play

These games are on my play list. I will get to them eventually. Some sooner than others. Cant wait. 

Cities without Number - Kevin Crawfords latest Kickstartered game. Built on the framework of his other works, Cities Without Number is his take on the Cyberpunk genre. The same familiar OSR retroclone game with all the cyberpunk chrome you want and need. And of course all of the sandbox and world building tools are here as well. Kevin continues to hit it out of the park. Cant wait to wade in. 

Mothership - Sci Fi Horror. I'm in. I found the Mothership game when it was edition 0. A great game that needed further development. And that is exactly what happened. While I am still waiting on the box set to finish fulfilment on Kickstarter, the pdfs have been delivered and everything looks great. I am waiting to delve further in once the physical books get delivered.

Cyberpunk RED - The modern incarnation of a complex game. I have never played the Cyberpunk RPG. But this version has gotten good reviews. Its worth a look. This has trickled down the list with the release of Cities Without Number.

Wrap It Up

With the summers end, we will be going full on into fantasy at the Workshop of Doom. But there are some great Sci Fi games that I want to explore and continue to play. Excelsior.

Lead Addict