I'm working on a design for a sci-fi OSR game and I'm wondering if alignment rules are that necessary. I can see them being useful in fantasy games with deities and the like being an ever present factor for the characters, but sci-fi doesn't dip into that pond so much. However, with dark and light themes being a thing (à la Star Wars) I can see where it can come in handy for gauging a character's allegiances.
Do you guys/gals use alignment that often during a session?
I've never used alignment anywhere but D&D with one exception. Although the Palladium system largely wasn't anything to write home about the alignment system from Palladium was a neat idea, a bit different from the gartner-ish Law/Chaos, Good/Evil of D&D. I grafted that onto Rolemaster for a game at one point.
Instead of the good/evil and law/chaos it has 7 basic personality types
Principled (essentially lawful good) - Boy scout types
Scrupulous (essentially chaotic good or neutral good) - Maverick with a heart of gold
Unprincipled (primarily self-serving) - Lovable rogue, e.g. Han Solo
Anarchist (self-serving) - Untrustworthy rogue, roughly equivalent to chaotic-neutral
Aberrant (honourable evil) - Likely violent and ruthless but honourable.
Miscreant (lawful evil) - Evil, manipulative, scheming, for example Littlefinger.
Diabolic (chaotic evil) - Violent psycho with little regard for consequences.
See here -
https://imgur.com/gallery/DmKvbBecause it views alignment as more of a personality trait rather than some abstract good-vs-evil concept it could be used outside of sword-and-sorcery without looking too much like D&D-in-space. I've never bothered with Alignments in sci-fi games but if you think it would add to the game something like the Palladium alignment system might work for you.