Sci-Fi based BRP game that is not dead?

[Mankcam]

As far as the original posting is concerned, setting vs toolkit, obviously both would be good, as BRP tends to attract GMs who are tinkerers. Perhaps a toolkit with a sample setting attached, or two very different sample settings attached to show off various features or interpretations of the toolkit.

But if I had to choose, then a setting is best. The setting can become a whole line of books if it is viable. As a GM, having a setting and some campaign scenarios is always a good start. Any GM worth his salt can fiddle with it or pull out various rules to put in a home brew if desired. Settings are also often what captures the eyes of new buyers as well, not so much a system, at least not for many players.

I second that Eclipse Phase is a good one for BRP players to check out, although it is good enough to play as is, and with having a core D100% skill mechanic it feels very BRP-ish, and probably is much better left to play as written than to take the time for a BRP conversion.

Personally I always wanted something that was a cross between Traveller and RuneQuest, its a wonder Chaosium hasn't done at least one official book along these lines in recent years. I never bought the BRP Worlds of Wonder box back in the '80s, so I never saw FutureWorld from that set, but in any case there were no expansions for it unfortunately.

Edited August 7, 2013 by Mankcam

[Gollum]

Yes. Did anyone play to FuturWorld or read it? What is it worth? And what about Ringworld, which is quoted in the Credits of the Big Golden Books ? Is it a good game too ? - if it has already been explained in this thread, just tell me on what page. Thanks in advance.

[wbcreighton]

You could take a look at Future World here:

Worlds of Wonder

[rust]

And what about Ringworld, which is quoted in the Credits of the Big Golden Books ? Is it a good game too ?

Yes, I think so, in fact I consider it the best science fiction game produced for

the d100 system so far. Its only problem is that it contains lots of information

about the Ringworld, but little useful material about the Known Space, becau-

se unfortunate licensing problems killed the line before a planned supplement

about the Known Space could be produced. So, if one wants to use the Ring-

world as a setting, the game is all one needs, but if one wants to use the en-

tire Known Space as the setting, one has to improvise a lot to add to the ma-

terial provided by the original boxed game and the one companion published.

[Ethereal]

Ran Future World once. A couple of players. One enjoyed it, the other didn't. Had 15mm miniatures and FASA's Adventure ship Vol. 1. An abandoned alien warship, disabled and drifting. The players had more than one character each. A small recovery ship from the original race arrived and contested their right to salvage.

All the Worlds Monsters Vol 3, (Chaosium) is available through Drive through All the Worlds' Monsters Vol. 3 - Chaosium | Legendary Roleplaying | DriveThruRPG.com

It has 1 to 3 ages of conversion notes for D & D to RQ. (My copy is in a box in the garage so I don't remember how many pages it really is) which has good examples on how to convert. It would be a good start for anyone wanting to convert games to BRP.

Judges Guild also has a Judges Guild Universal Game System, where they have a free download of their System (a 4 page article and charts). Judges Guild - Downloads

It has a chart that lists conversion from d6, 2d6, 3d6, d20 and d100. (A side note for those who like Judges Guild Wilderlands, they just published their largest supplement "City State of the Sea Kings". Paperbound only)

An interesting setting for those who like Science Fiction Adventure, I would reccomend Tri Tac Games Fringeworthy, A Stargate type Space Travelling RPG and FTL: 2448, Reminiscent of the 1980's and early 1990's science fiction adventures, theories and themes. (Blackhole, early starwars, etc.) Fringeworthy and FTL:2448 . They also have a game called Duck Troopers :-)

My all time favorite is Niall Shapiro's "Other Suns". If you should talk to him or connect with him online consider asking him to republish it. Niall is a fan of up to date Science and could possibly bring something out in that Genre.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Ethereal

[Lemnoc]

I consider it the best science fiction game produced for the d100 system so far

Agreed. Had an interesting focus on knowledge and research as central components to the game, and special game mechanics to handle each. I’m pretty sure it launched the BRP standard of consolidating skills into category groupings (Communications, Perception)... or at least the first to really make intelligent use of those categories as a means of extrapolating general knowledge.

The whole made it seem much more like a SF-RPG in its own right than a just a DnD port into a SF setting—an emphasis on learning and exploring, while somewhat glossing combat in a satisfying way by assuming one gun was pretty much like any other in terms of point-&-shoot. A very "smart" game.

[Gollum]

Wow! Thank you very much for these very quick and interesting answers.

[seneschal]

Stray thought: Many settings (e.g. Star Trek) depict the 23rd century as a golden age when mankind solves its problems at home and explores the stars. But Buck Rogers in the 25th Century depicts an Earth recovering from global apocalypse (caused by war and conquest) a mere 200 years later, a disaster so thorough that folks don't remember what came before.

So what happened? And would The Fall make an interesting campaign setting?

[Ethereal]

Stray thought: Many settings (e.g. Star Trek) depict the 23rd century as a golden age when mankind solves its problems at home and explores the stars. But Buck Rogers in the 25th Century depicts an Earth recovering from global apocalypse (caused by war and conquest) a mere 200 years later, a disaster so thorough that folks don't remember what came before.

So what happened? And would The Fall make an interesting campaign setting?

The Original title for Buck Rogers is Armageddon: 2419 A.D. By Phillip Francis Nowlan. And is available free from Project Gutenberg for download. It was originally two Novella's “The Airlords of Han” and “Armageddon: 2419”. Both were combined into a single novel titled “Armageddon: 2419”.

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/n#a31334

The time frame from Han conquest of America to Rogers awakening was three hundred ten years, 2109 to 2419 AD. Buck Rogers himself was asleep for 492 years, 1927 to 2419 AD. The gangs as they are called do remember the Fall and the events in the story or revolution are called the “Second Revolutionary War”. This novel and Andre' Nortons “Starman's Son” were the first two Apocalyptic novels I ever read. I have also read them both several times over the last 50 years. Shows my age doesn't it?

Andre Nortons “Starman's Son” takes place 200 years after the Fall and people do not remember why, but they do blame computers. First Published as “Daybreak: 2250 AD” in 1952, a few years before computers began to proliferate. When it came to computers she did seem to have an unusually high disregard for them helping, rather seeing them as a hindrance.

If you are interested in a D100 Percentile skill Apocalyptic game system, I recommend “Morrow Project” by TimeLine LTD, Timeline Ltd. . I played it again at “Gamestorm” in Vancouver, Wa., this last March. (Originally played in 1985). Timeline was playtesting their 4th ed., and one of their representatives ran the game. The premise involves an organization expecting the “Fall”. In the game you take on the role of an ordinary person (along with other team members) that has been specially trained to help rebuild the US after WWIII. Placed in Suspended/Cryo Sleep you wake up anywhere from a few years after the Fall to hundreds of years later. It is a small company and most of their updates are on their facebook and google pages. There are about 13+ modules and supplements for the game.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Ethereal

[Gwaithador]

You can find copies of Worlds Beyond at Noble Knight Games, but they are expensive.

[TrippyHippy]

Another series of games that pops into mind as not being BRP, but being percentile is the Warhammer 40KRP games.

Thematically, one could also argue that they are linked or at least influenced by iconic BRP games like RuneQuest, Stormbringer and call of Cthulhu, so possibly it could be what people are after too. They are very heavily setting-based games though, and the 'science' aspects of the setting could be debatable.

[Atgxtg]

Another series of games that pops into mind as not being BRP, but being percentile is the Warhammer 40KRP games.

Thematically, one could also argue that they are linked or at least influenced by iconic BRP games like RuneQuest, Stormbringer and call of Cthulhu, so possibly it could be what people are after too. They are very heavily setting-based games though, and the 'science' aspects of the setting could be debatable.

Plus a lot of things can be ported over from similar systems. Most skill-based (as opposed to level-based) RPGs have enough similarities that porting over certain rules, sub-systems and tech is not only possible but fairly easy.

For example, it would be fairly simple to port over most of the old FASA Star Trek RPG into BRP. The biggest sticking points would be from the % stats in FASA Trek and CoC7 helps to solve that. And FASA Trek acts as a gateway to porting over stuff from other Trek RPGs. So some very diverse and non-BRPish stuff could be ported over to BRP to make a BRP Star Trek campaign.

And that's just one example.

The only real drawbacks are that it's work for the GM to port all that stuff over.

[Gwaithador]

While not original, I've decided to port over Leading Edge's Aliens to BRP. I know somebody already worked out alien stats and there's a xeno stat block in the rulebook. I recently worked on a Word doc character sheet too. The one thing I haven't decided on is whether to group guns into broad categories or make them distinct and separate; such as "pulse rifle", "sniper rifle" vs. "small arms". I'm also using hit locations, fatigue and sanity. I think there's a case for post traumatic stress, phobias, etc. in the alien universe. Aside from the aliens, I think the setting as whole is a gritty, sci-fi background that could feature a number of different types of sci-fi stories. I ran two alien stories usig leading edge's system and while it worked well enough, I think BRP is a better game system, and certainly more intuitive for my players.

[nclarke]

You really need to get a copy of John Ossoway's Cthulhu Rising if you are going to do Alien or any of it's progeny. It works extremely well and has the right amount of crunch for a military tech game if you pick the marines chargen thing from his CR website which has a ton more background and some adventures. If you want to go more investigation then use one of the other chargen routes available.

[Gwaithador]

I'll check that out. Thanks.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

I think John's old CR website is no more, it looks like there may be some OQ-powered CR on the way: http://d101games.com/books/cthulhu-rising/

[seneschal]

You might also see if they have any left here:

http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=637

http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=1289

[Dracopol]

Now there is a SF RPG similar to Basic RolePlaying rules, and it is called M-SPACE by Clarence Redd (FrostByte Books, 2020).  Enjoy!

[g33k]

(n.b. this is a VERY necromantic thread!)

On 2/19/2022 at 11:20 PM, Dracopol said:

Now there is a SF RPG similar to Basic RolePlaying rules, and it is called M-SPACE by Clarence Redd (FrostByte Books, 2020).  Enjoy!

For anyone unfamiliar, M-Space uses the TDM "Mythras" engine  (there's a subforum on this very board! plus, TDM maintains their own forum).  It's an evolution of (& commercially-polished version of) Mr. Redd's prior "BRP-Space" fan-project.

There's a distinct "Traveller" vibe to it, but it's clearly a BRP-heritage game; the original design intent was to be able to model Star Trek, Asimov's Foundation, or most other sci-fi.  M-Space itself is a largely setting-free "toolkit".   Different settings are available, and of course one or more of those (and other sources) might be raided for a roll-your-own setting.

Edited February 22, 2022 by g33k
necro-notice

[AndreJarosch]

12 hours ago, g33k said:

(n.b. this is a VERY necromantic thread!)

For anyone unfamiliar, M-Space uses the TDM "Mythras" engine  (there's a subforum on this very board! plus, TDM maintains their own forum).  It's an evolution of (& commercially-polished version of) Mr. Redd's prior "BRP-Space" fan-project.

There's a distinct "Traveller" vibe to it, but it's clearly a BRP-heritage game; the original design intent was to be able to model Star Trek, Asimov's Foundation, or most other sci-fi.  M-Space itself is a largely setting-free "toolkit".   Different settings are available, and of course one or more of those (and other sources) might be raided for a roll-your-own setting.

+ there is the "M-Space Companion" that includes rules for Computer and Hacking, Cyberware, Roberts and Droids (and playing Robot characters!)

Originaly intended to be able to play a d100 Traveller, now you can emulate: 
- Traveller
- Space marines (Starship Troopers, Aliens, Space Above and Beyond...)
- Space Exploration (Star Trek, Orville...)
- Science Fantasy (Star Wars, John Carter, Flash Gordon...)
- Cyberpunk
- Shadowrun

For some settings you might need to add the Mythras Corebook and/or After the Vampire Wars. 

[Belphegor]

On 11/18/2013 at 3:39 PM, Vile Traveller said:

I think John's old CR website is no more, it looks like there may be some OQ-powered CR on the way: http://d101games.com/books/cthulhu-rising/

John's new site is here https://www.ragingtrifle.com/jn/

Cthulhu Rising core book is available as a monograph (https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Rising-Roleplaying-Century-monograph/dp/1568822634) with its sourcebook called Jovian Nightmares (https://www.amazon.com/Jovian-Nightmares-John-Ossoway/dp/1568822952/)

Fan base stuff for CR can be found here https://gitlab.com/NHcthulhu/NewHorizon
John has written a new SciFi rpg fully compatible with the BRP system https://openquestrpg.com/river-of-heaven/

M-Space is also compatible with the BRP system https://www.frostbytebooks.com/m-space

 

 

[Mike M]

John Ossoway with Penda Tomlinson have created a new sci-fi setting for Call of Cthulhu, which is in development. It's a ways off, but coming.