I'm pretty sure the best fantasy, on this site at least, would be D&D hands down.  It would only be a question of which edition, perhaps.

But what about sci-fi?  Is it going to be Traveller (I'm guessing probably)?  Or is there some other choice?

What SF RPG do you think, of all those ever made, was the very best?  Note that this is across all SF genres, for 'overall best', it doesn't matter whether it was space opera or hard sf or whatever.  

Just for practicality's sake, let's assume Sci-fi here means "part of the setting is in outer space", so purely post-apocalyptic games don't count (unless its p-a in space!), nor do most 'cyberpunk' type games (again, unless its cyberpunk-in-space).

RPGPundit

Traveller specifically Classic Traveller and Mongoose Traveller which is effectively a modernized and cleaned up version of classic. Mongoose even returned Traveller back to its roots of a general sci-fi RPG rather than the RPG rules for the Third Imperium that the other editions come off as.

Beyond Traveller there are is a wealth of setting specific systems probably the best and more popular was WEGS D6 system for Star Wars the Roleplaying Game.

As for general Sci-fi there is Star Hero for Hero System, GURPS Space, TSR's Alternity which wasn't bad but was the wrong RPG at the wrong time. But all of these never achieved the lasting fame and durability of Traveller.

I'm going to nominate (or back) GURPS Space, though not because it's necessarily the best to play, but because GURPS Space is a sourcebook I'd recommend ANYONE doing multi-star system scifi games (or writing!) to buy.

Quote from: Will;801939I'm going to nominate (or back) GURPS Space, though not because it's necessarily the best to play, but because GURPS Space is a sourcebook I'd recommend ANYONE doing multi-star system scifi games (or writing!) to buy.

GURPS Spaceships is pretty nifty as well. It is a well designed modular system that is easy to use.

Traveller has some history in its favor... Other games potentially in the running for me would be WEG D6 Star Wars, either Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear or Jovian Chronicles, with maybe the crown going to the shockingly great Stars Without Number.

In the end, WEG D6 Star Wars is just Star Wars. The Dream Pod 9 games I still love, with Jovian Chronicles in particular easy to imagine minus the Mecha angle and adapted to other settings. I've come to prefer SWN over Traveller across the board. It can do Mecha Anime, it can do Cyberpunk, it can do Alien... SWN is just way more flexible than I originally imagined it would be and has tools to aid in the generation of your own kind of Sci-Fi setting in the way the other games do not (though Traveller comes closest).

For some reason, my mind rebels a bit at the idea of a game with a D&D chassis, classes and rolled attributes would be the best Sci-Fi game... but I guess I'm saying that the best Sci-Fi game is D&D.

I've actually been contemplating making a 5e D&D SciFi game, though I've put it on a back burner until I can ruminate over the system more.

Adventures on Dungeon Planet is really nifty and looks like it does its job really nicely.

Of course, all of this depends very very heavily on your tastes.

If I could have only one I'd probably go with Classic Traveller. I don't know what it is about those little black books but they just send my brain straight to that mindset where all sorts of classic scifi yarns start spinning themselves out and I'm sure I could play it till doomsday.
Double plus better if I can take the GURPS sourcebooks along as reference.

That said I doubt I'd play in the OTU... and go with my own, similarly flavored, homebrew instead.

It may be heresy but apparently I'm the only one who doesn't like the original Traveller. I purchased most, if not all of the books back in the early 80's and read through them but the game never excited me. It always seemed to be half of a game, like much was being left unsaid. The characters seemed limited, the adventures weren't too exciting. I spent a dozen hours going through the space ship design book and the best I could do came out 90% like one in another book, just overly complicated and restrictive.

I liked some of the ideas in Traveller, such as the way planets were described and laid out. The Imperium was huge and interesting. The Ancients were alright but the book detailing who and what they were ruined them for me, I just didn't like that final answer.

I kept trying with that game, I knew it was popular and got good press. I kept thinking one more book would bring it all together for me. But it never gelled correctly. Maybe someday I'll try a new version of it. Maybe.

Star Frontiers I had fun with. It's not perfect but it works. I gotta try new games.

I like the original Traveller, but at least back in the day as a kid, Star Frontiers was so much more fun to play.

Traveller is kind of dry as a setting. And as a game, your characters really only get worse rather than improve (since they age or go broke).

Buck Rogers (the first one, not the later adventure game) was basically D&D in space, with a d100% skill system where you'd multiple the skill by the difficulty (like 1/4 or 1/2 for difficult stuff, 2x for easy stuff).

But I'd really go with Star Wars d6.

MonTraveller or Stars Without Number.

For me, the best Sci-Fi RPG is Rifts, especially the Phase World setting. And when I think about it, I'm probably more comfortable with the Palladium system than the D20 system.

Classic and Mongoose Traveller for me.

Love old school (WEG D6) Star Wars, love Stars Without Number, played the hell out of GURPS Space and love the Eclipse Phase setting. But Traveller is slick as fuck.

Quote from: yabaziou;801962For me, the best Sci-Fi RPG is Rifts, especially the Phase World setting. And when I think about it, I'm probably more comfortable with the Palladium system than the D20 system.

Phase World's gonzo space opera does (United Warlock Worlds!) have its charm, though I'd be loath to call it SF.

And yeah, I too feel Palladium is easier to manage than d20, except for character creation.

I feel that Space Opera is more a subset of the Sci-fi genre that a separate genre, I will concurr that the biggest hurdle in the Palladium system is its character creation, something that could been easily improve with an exeample.

I also find Ashen Stars very interesting, even if I prefer Phase World. With the 1st two books, you can build a campaign that lasts a lifetime !

This is a tough one.

Classic Traveller is an easy but wrong answer. While it is still the definitive space opera RPG the Mongoose Traveller is simply best iteration of Traveller rules set. Rules are well written and easy to understand.

Universe by SPI is easily best Science fiction rules set ever done (if picked straight from the box). It perfectly captures the sense of popular science fiction of its era (strange planets and animals) and it is from rules standpoint both very complete set and it totally outdoes Classic Traveller in every level it covers. Unfortunately it would also require some rewriting for modern audiences (especially character creation) and it is also limited compared to Traveller in its default universe (or lack of it). If only SPI had written more Universe material...

Thus choice between Mongoose Traveller and SPI Universe is the real point of discussion here. In my view the Mongoose wins because I generally stress my sappy romance of the setting over rules completeness.

Traveller (Classic/Mongoose, then T4, and then the rest)

d6 WEG Star Wars(Revised & Expanded, Second Edition, and then the First)

Mekton(Zeta/II, and then the Original)

Of course, I'm biased.....