If you wanted to run a game campaign in the style of Firefly meets Star Wars' criminal underbelly where the crew is a ragtag group doing odd jobs to keep the ship flying and in hopes of one day earning enough credits to be able to retire rich, which game would you choose between the ones below? These are the games I've narrowed it down to.
Traveller 2nd. edition 2022 Update
Death in Space
FrontierSpace
Stars Wihout Number Revised
Quote from: Batjon on May 08, 2022, 02:59:10 PM
If you wanted to run a game campaign in the style of Firefly meets Star Wars' criminal underbelly where the crew is a ragtag group doing odd jobs to keep the ship flying and in hopes of one day earning enough credits to be able to retire rich, which game would you choose between the ones below? These are the games I've narrowed it down to.
Traveller 2nd. edition 2022 Update
Death in Space
FrontierSpace
Stars Wihout Number Revised
Traveller 2nd. edition 2022 Update
I . . . kind of hate to just immediately suggest another title but . . . one of the central premises of Free Spacer is that all Free Spacer's owe a massive debt to a Faction for their ship, their gear, and their status.
Their is a central mechanic where at the end of every session mission/job, each player works on their "retirement project" to see how they are doing towards squaring their debts, and earning a new position. The hope is that you'd gain an position of authority in a faction, maybe the one who originally sponsored you, maybe somewhere else. The rule book states that you can never personally earn enough to retire, it's more about favors and seeming like you'd be more useful elsewhere.
You don't usually worry about keeping your ship flying, though there are several resources that make your ship more capable and also . . . more costly to keep running at that level.
It's on it's first ever sale (third year anniversary) and you can get a copy here: https://composedreamgames.com/marketplace/free-spacer-soft (https://composedreamgames.com/marketplace/free-spacer-soft)
edit for clarity
Quote from: Batjon on May 08, 2022, 02:59:10 PM
If you wanted to run a game campaign in the style of Firefly meets Star Wars' criminal underbelly where the crew is a ragtag group doing odd jobs to keep the ship flying and in hopes of one day earning enough credits to be able to retire rich, which game would you choose between the ones below? These are the games I've narrowed it down to.
Traveller 2nd. edition 2022 Update
Death in Space
FrontierSpace
Stars Wihout Number Revised
Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition 2016. But if you're a pink, green, or blue haired strong waman, then get the 2022 update instead.
Quote from: Batjon on May 08, 2022, 02:59:10 PM
If you wanted to run a game campaign in the style of Firefly meets Star Wars' criminal underbelly where the crew is a ragtag group doing odd jobs to keep the ship flying and in hopes of one day earning enough credits to be able to retire rich, which game would you choose between the ones below? These are the games I've narrowed it down to.
Traveller 2nd. edition 2022 Update
Death in Space
FrontierSpace
Stars Wihout Number Revised
All good choices. From these 4 I'd pick Death in Space for the newness factor plus it looks really cool.
After looking around for something that fit the bill for a similar game and finding nothing that appealed to me, I wrote my own, which I called High Flyin' Bastards. It might see the light of day sometime. However, out of the four you've selected, I'd probably go with Death in Space.
I own 3 of the 4 titles, and I am currently running a Firefly-esque campaign using Stars Without number. I had tried Mongoose Traveller 2, but my players didn't take to it the same way. SWN is classic OSR, with a skill rules pretty much lifted from Traveller. IMO, it does everything MGT2 does, with the added options of adding in pretty much ANY OSR rules/gear/monsters or whatever you desire.
Death in Space IMO is not a good option. It goes for a VERY specific vibe and it too rules lite IMO to play in campaign mode. The game does ooze with its own dark early 80's sci-fi vibe and the book is a treat to look at. disrtegarding the over simplified rules Im not sure if it would be what your looking for based on feel.
Honestly, for faster game play, a simpler set of skills, and that seat of the pants adventuring style, my choice is Stars Without Number.
Good call! I am going to pull out my copy of SWN Revised and look through it again.
Quote from: Godsmonkey on May 09, 2022, 06:42:17 AM
I own 3 of the 4 titles, and I am currently running a Firefly-esque campaign using Stars Without number. I had tried Mongoose Traveller 2, but my players didn't take to it the same way. SWN is classic OSR, with a skill rules pretty much lifted from Traveller. IMO, it does everything MGT2 does, with the added options of adding in pretty much ANY OSR rules/gear/monsters or whatever you desire.
Death in Space IMO is not a good option. It goes for a VERY specific vibe and it too rules lite IMO to play in campaign mode. The game does ooze with its own dark early 80's sci-fi vibe and the book is a treat to look at. disrtegarding the over simplified rules Im not sure if it would be what your looking for based on feel.
Honestly, for faster game play, a simpler set of skills, and that seat of the pants adventuring style, my choice is Stars Without Number.
I once GMed a Firefly-type Star Wars D6 campaign that was based on a Star Frontiers module.
http://starwarsclub.org/independents/traders/gullwind/ (this page is about twenty years old).
SWN also has the Suns of Gold book (for the original edition, but it should be compatible enough), which is all about merchant campaigns.
Since Firefly was based on Traveller, I'd use some version of that. Either Classic (probably) or Mongoose (if I wanted a more modern, less "buggy" approach).
SWN is my favorite choice among the list given, but Traveller has been doing Firefly style campaigns long before Firefly ever existed so it's a good choice, too.
I bought a copy of GF9's Firefly board game and kept the board but got rid of most of the rest. The board is divided into zones and it's easy to track travel from one place to another by assuming they move from one zone to the next. I tend to do random encounter rolls each time they move from one zone to the next.
Then there are things like "Five Parsecs from Home" if you want to do more skirmish than trade.
Quote from: Greentongue on May 10, 2022, 01:57:52 PM
Then there are things like "Five Parsecs from Home" if you want to do more skirmish than trade.
I've had a couple of people now suggest this one to me from other forums but this is a solo wargame and not an RPG. Why would I use that for an RPG?
Have any of you looked at FrontierSpace by DWD Studios?
It is awesome and is a love lovetter to Star Frontiers but with modern mechanics and better rules. Lightweight to boot!
Quote from: Batjon on May 10, 2022, 07:22:14 PM
Have any of you looked at FrontierSpace by DWD Studios?
It is awesome and is a love lovetter to Star Frontiers but with modern mechanics and better rules. Lightweight to boot!
I have not, but will. I haven't played Star Frontiers since the mid 80's, but had fun with it.
One more selling point for Stars Without Number is it has some of the best sets of campaign aids ever published.
Quote from: Godsmonkey on May 10, 2022, 09:16:36 PM
Quote from: Batjon on May 10, 2022, 07:22:14 PM
Have any of you looked at FrontierSpace by DWD Studios?
It is awesome and is a love lovetter to Star Frontiers but with modern mechanics and better rules. Lightweight to boot!
Campaign tools contained within the book?
I have not, but will. I haven't played Star Frontiers since the mid 80's, but had fun with it.
One more selling point for Stars Without Number is it has some of the best sets of campaign aids ever published.
Quote
One more selling point for Stars Without Number is it has some of the best sets of campaign aids ever published.
Quote from: Batjon on May 11, 2022, 01:20:02 AM
Campaign tools contained within the book?
Kevin Crawford is well known for his OSR GM sections in his books. There are sections tables for creating scenarios, encounters, factions, and even star sectors. A handfull of dice, and a little creative interpretation from the GM, and you have more sessions than you could ever hope to play. Crawford is one of the very best game designers in the OSR today IME.
He's so good in fact, he gives the game away for FREE. the free version has everything included except some advanced rules (Space magic, AIs, high powered PCS and such. Nothing you would probably need to replicate Firefly.)
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/230009/Stars-Without-Number-Revised-Edition-Free-Version
Quote from: Batjon on May 10, 2022, 02:21:42 PM
Quote from: Greentongue on May 10, 2022, 01:57:52 PM
Then there are things like "Five Parsecs from Home" if you want to do more skirmish than trade.
I've had a couple of people now suggest this one to me from other forums but this is a solo wargame and not an RPG. Why would I use that for an RPG?
Often people to engage in your game are hard to come by so, a game that generates the story during play and can be played co-op is more useful than a full RPG that never actually gets past the "I'd like to play this" stage.
Role Play is what players do. Specific rules are not required to Role Play. So, rules that make the GMs job easier are nice.
Stars Without Number or Traveller.