Quote from: Spike;805477Ahh... once upon a time I had that supplement/module.  I wonder what happened to it?

In retrospect: Its a remarkably clever way to put some Post-Apocalyptic gameplay into your setting without your setting actually needing to be PA.

I used to run lots of Spacemaster and I had Cyberspace as well.
I used the Spacemaster rules with Cyberspace and I even ran a Death Valley free Prison campaign for a while.
Good fun, but deadly.

Of all time? Geez... Hard question. I'll have to punk out and give three.

1st Ed. WEG Star Wars, maybe the best written and easiest to learn RPG in my experience (tied with Ghostbusters 1st Ed.). as much fun to read as to play, beautifully illustrated and full of flavor.  Loads of fun. That's my sci-fantasy game of choice and probably always will be.

FASA Trek   Super fun character generation via "life path." captures the Star Trek feel, at least for the original series (only one I care about). Well supported. Lots of fun to play. Easy to learn.  

Original Traveller.  Highly adaptable.  Well presented. My go-to for "hard" or "retro" sci fi.

Buck Rogers XXVc, obviously.  Although I really like what I've read of River of Heaven thus far.

I'm curious to find out how many of the answers given here are informed by 'first RPG, or First Sci-Fi RPG played'. I'm certain more than a few are boosted due to general fandom.

Take for example all the people boosting WEG Star Wars.  I've always considered that particular game to be a somewhat crapular game system, coupled with absolutely fantastic, non-game, fluff for a very fun and awesome setting... or at least a potentially fun and awesome setting if you ignore the worst examples of Canon... as WEG seemed competent at doing.

But then: By the time I tried it I had gone through two editions of AD&D, GURPS, Shadowrun and a handful of others that mostly escape me (except Synnibar... that one never leaves you... ever...). I was quite familiar with what would become the Masterbook Games (also WEG, as I recall), from TORG and Shatterzone.

In other words, I was somewhat more jaded about game systems, and very familiar with working designs, both good and bad.

Thus I am always somewhat surprised to hear all the praise and desire from gamers for more WEG Starwars type rules, the D6 Space and whatnot.






Of course, it could just be a matter of taste.  Maybe I need ketchup to enjoy my WEG Starwars more...

Given that the original Star Wars RPG is actually one of the best designs ever, calling it "crapular" makes me wonder where you're coming from. I've taught it to new players in under 5 minutes, literally, and it works like a charm in practice. What an easily understandable, intuitive system. Now if you are referring to later revisions that overcomplicated the skill lists and had "exploding dice," then I am with you as they took a great system and shat all over it just like they with the changes from Ghostbusters to Ghostbusters International. Yuck.

And if you strip out the Force and rename a skill or two, you can use it for any number of settings. I have done so with great success. Still long to play a Sam
Jones Flash Gordon game with 1st Ed. WEG Star Wars, seems like a great fit, maybe consider some of Ming's mind control or torture stuff to be similar tithe Force. What fun.

First sci fi game I ever played was Star Frontiers, which was all right.

I like the wild die.

But to the other point, I started playing WEG Star Wars 25 or 30 years after I started roleplaying. It was the 4th Sci-Fi system I played. So my love of the system owes nothing to a nostalgia or first love effect.

Best of all time...

I keep reading on many of these types of threads D6 StarWars. I picked up D6Space but I can't understand how it works. I need to play a game with experienced players as it seems I am missing out on something great.

Traveller and Star Frontiers have had a huge following.

But for sheer fun and getting out there and having a blast I've been won over by  Barbarians of the Void. It is a Barbarians of Lemuria hack and it is excellent. Easy to put your own setting in. Easy to port setting generation material such as that found in SWN. Easy to run. Easy to transition to and from starship battles.

I've played alot of sci-fi rpgs over the decades. This one is new and works for me! It hit all the good points I like in rpgs and dropped the ones I don't care for and did it very well. So while it isn't well know, it is my Best of all Time pick based on my experiences.

Barbarians of the Void

Here are a few play reports from a gamin I'm running.

Play Reports

Quote from: Bren;805710But to the other point, I started playing WEG Star Wars 25 or 30 years after I started roleplaying. It was the 4th Sci-Fi system I played. So my love of the system owes nothing to a nostalgia or first love effect.

Same here. I had a couple of the sourcebooks but never played until a couple years ago.
Actually, I didn't much enjoy those games of Star Wars because the GM was kindasorta suck but did get to see how nicely the system worked. Simple and fast and not gimmicky. I'd happily play/run it... just not with that group (or hardcore Star Wars fans).

My love of Traveller MIGHT be partly due to my mindset when I first read it... the people I played it with. I'm not sure if I'd react to those LBBs the same way if I first saw them today... but that goes for most everything, games and otherwise. I'm not sure if that's 'nostalgia'.

Quote from: Matt;805664Given that the original Star Wars RPG is actually one of the best designs ever, calling it "crapular" makes me wonder where you're coming from. I've taught it to new players in under 5 minutes, literally, and it works like a charm in practice. What an easily understandable, intuitive system.

I didn't say it was hard to learn or use.  

QuoteAnd if you strip out the Force and rename a skill or two, you can use it for any number of settings. I have done so with great success

I find that true of most game systems. In general it isn't what yo uhave to remove to make the game fit a new setting, but what you have to add.



If you want an off the top of my head list of 'problem areas' I can provide one, but it won't be very detailed, and ultimately uninformative.

Quote from: Angelman;805447For me it is Fading Suns. That's the only SciFi setting I've ever encountered that works 100% for me.

Huh. I thought the setting concept was really interesting, but I never really liked the system.

The problem with Fading Suns is that the system really needs to match the premise, which is that the road to power is the ultimate corruption of the individual.  You can't just bolt on BRP and get that to work right.  You also need shields that make swords the favored military weapon.  Admittedly you can build all these effects in GURPS or HERO but somehow that defeats the very purpose.

I'm sure someone will point at Sorcerer or Dogs in the Vineyard and there's probably some validity in that but I think the complication of the different paths of power derail games of that sort where the economy is corruption for power.

I think a d6 variant might be the best option, with dark side point accumulation tying into the various fatal flaws.

Quote from: David Johansen;806377The problem with Fading Suns is that the system really needs to match the premise, which is that the road to power is the ultimate corruption of the individual.

Don't get me wrong here, but while I certainly see that corruption and power are both elements of Fading Suns, I really don't see how you decided that this was THE premise of Fading Suns.

Is this a Third Edition thing?

Go read the Hubris chart in second edition and then ask yourself why the suns are fading in the first place.

My favorite SF games would happen to be Robotech and  any Rifts Phase world  etc setting.    I suppose Im jaded I dont Care Much For DnD either.   Played it alot when I was in the military but not since then.   Gurps  is also a Decent game.

Quote from: Spike;805663I'm curious to find out how many of the answers given here are informed by 'first RPG, or First Sci-Fi RPG played'. I'm certain more than a few are boosted due to general fandom.

My first Scifi RPG experience was Traveller, which I didn't particularly enjoy.
Actually, it turned me off Scifi RPGs for a while and it wasn't until I got Spacemaster a few years later (I'd been playing and running Rolemaster for some years already)  that I tried Scifi RPGs again and Spacemaster really hit the spot with me and my players.