I know one of these recent sci-fi shows actually DID start as a Traveller campaign. I don't remember if it was The Expanse, or Killjoys, or something else.

Quote from: finarvyn;1054891When D&D 3E moved onto 4E, a company called Paizio created a 3E-clone called Pathfinder for fantasy adventures. A year or so ago they created Starfinder, which is a scifi equivalent of Pathfinder but (I think) better. Starfinder comes with its own races and solar system setting, but it's the "D&D in space" feel that I liked the best. I played a half dozen sessions run by guys in the game store and enjoyed the game. I bought a bunch of stuff for Starfinder but haven't found the time to do much with it, unfortunately. I feel like it could capture the feel of The Expanse as they emphasize exploration and stuff like that instead of all-combat.

Oh. The last time I saw "D&D in space", it was the original D20 Star Wars game, and it was terrible. Saga Edition was better, though still retained enough D20 to be a haphazard fit at best.

I must admit, that sounds even less appealing than Traveller, at least that's a system designed with sci-fi in mind and has a long heritage.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1055101I know one of these recent sci-fi shows actually DID start as a Traveller campaign. I don't remember if it was The Expanse, or Killjoys, or something else.

Well the writers of the Expanse say it was based on a D20 Modern conversation thingy. Believe it was going to be an MMORPG and the game was going to help develop the Universe.

Been playing The Expanse since 1977. We always called it Traveller. It is interesting that it was originally created from a game based on d20 Moderns (and I read the Interview by the two authors, by the way), and d20 Modern was the D&D version of Traveller done right, a game I really enjoy but don't have opportunities to play or run much. I actually wrote (with help)  a Java based d20 Modern encounter generator with a dentist back in 2002, which would be perfectly suitable for either of these games.

The Expanse is Traveller, just as Serenity is Traveller. Both are based on hard science, and were originally created as part of an RPG, which makes them very attractive for me.

Just ordered the 3rd season DvD's of The Expanse from Amazon, and am looking forward to the 4th season, thank to Jeff Bezos, who bought the Ip outright and funded the entire 4th season becuase he likes the show too.

Confirmation of the 4th season for the Expanse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5RVBIcXjUo

There was a kickstarter for a pilot show https://www.facebook.com/SpinwardTrav
eller/ the crew looks they used the gender table from The Expanse QS.

I would not be surprised, in the full rules,  if they try to one up Piazo and make it mandatory that all pcs and npcs be diverse. Probably something like 70% female, 60% black (60% of which must be dark complexion), 33% LGBTIA+, 25% other POC and 20% differently abled.

Quote from: Kiero;1055117Oh. The last time I saw "D&D in space", it was the original D20 Star Wars game, and it was terrible. Saga Edition was better, though still retained enough D20 to be a haphazard fit at best.

I must admit, that sounds even less appealing than Traveller, at least that's a system designed with sci-fi in mind and has a long heritage.

Well, I'm not really here to act as a champion for Pathfinder, because it does have its issues like most RPGs do, but I have to think that my "D&D in space" comment must have touched the wrong buttons somehow. You can play elves and dwarves, sure, but they also have a bunch of new alien races and whatnot. The tech ranges from ancient swords through modern guns and into future laser pistols. There are extensive ship combat rules which are kind of neat, as each character plays a role (pilot, gunner, captain, engineer) and dice rolls from each affect the battle's outcome. There is a lot of good content there above and beyond "D&D in space."

I used the D&D analogy to reflect the origins of the game and to give a lot of info in a short space -- they have the familiar 6 attributes from D&D, they use d20 rolls to attack, there are classes and levels, there are spell lists, and so on. They really did put a lot of work into the system, it plays better than Pathfinder, and its a pretty good game overall.

The downside is:
(1) It's based on Pathfinder, which is based on D&D 3E, which has a lot more detail than I would like. I would have been a lot happier with "5E in space."
(2) It has its own setting, which is not The Expanse. (And thus less useful to someone who wants The Expanse as their campaign.)

Quote from: finarvyn;1055204Well, I'm not really here to act as a champion for Pathfinder, because it does have its issues like most RPGs do, but I have to think that my "D&D in space" comment must have touched the wrong buttons somehow. You can play elves and dwarves, sure, but they also have a bunch of new alien races and whatnot. The tech ranges from ancient swords through modern guns and into future laser pistols. There are extensive ship combat rules which are kind of neat, as each character plays a role (pilot, gunner, captain, engineer) and dice rolls from each affect the battle's outcome. There is a lot of good content there above and beyond "D&D in space."

I used the D&D analogy to reflect the origins of the game and to give a lot of info in a short space -- they have the familiar 6 attributes from D&D, they use d20 rolls to attack, there are classes and levels, there are spell lists, and so on. They really did put a lot of work into the system, it plays better than Pathfinder, and its a pretty good game overall.

The downside is:
(1) It's based on Pathfinder, which is based on D&D 3E, which has a lot more detail than I would like. I would have been a lot happier with "5E in space."
(2) It has its own setting, which is not The Expanse. (And thus less useful to someone who wants The Expanse as their campaign.)

The nerve you touched is that I don't like D20/3.x or anything similar. That was the fundamental problem SWD20 had, that it cleaved too closely to being a D20 game and had all the same problems of the original system. I don't find it fun. Even the prospect of finding a way to manipulate the chargen system in Traveller is more promising to me than having to deal with all the usual problems of D20.

In the past two years I been play a lot of AGE and variant AGE of my own and my friends design. It can absolutely handle science fiction even before they made the gritty options in the recently released Modern AGE.

The elements that make AGE what it is are

• 3d6 roll high vs target number for task/skill/combat resolution
• A critical result if doubles (or triples) are rolled on 3d6.
• An off color dice that represent the degree of the critical. Commonly used as is to generate a number of stunt points.
• Skill are tied to an specific attribute and are called focuses.
• Focuses confer a bonus typically +2.
• Character are further customized through the use of Talents which work like D20 feats but in a more generic sense.
• Some AGE RPGs have broad character classes
• So far every AGE RPG has had level.
• Some talents and talent like class feature are gained at specific levels.
• Age character have hit point called fortune in the Expanse.*
• Armor reduces damage.
• Healing is somewhat easy*

*Hit point bloat and plentiful healing was an issue in Dragon AGE, Fantasy AGE, and Blue Rose. Modern AGE has options that can used to adjust to taste. So this has been addressed. The Expanse RPG appears to be built on top of Modern AGE so will likely reflect those options.

In the end what makes AGE good is that it is a RPG about as complex as D&D 5e Basic but with enough of a different take to make it into its own thing.

Thanks for the summary of AGE, estar.

How broad are the classes we've seen so far? The Quickstart implies there are quite a few, though I don't know how restrictive they are. Is it a "one class for life" approach, or does it do "multiclassing"? How much can you branch out into elements of other classes, or how rigidly are niches enforced?

How granular are levels? How many of them are there?

What do the "gritty" rules add/change?


For those people who want to talk Traveller, what are the major differences beween the Cepheus system and the Mongoose one? The latter looked a little D&D-ish from what I saw of it, is that a false impression?

What house rules/hacks have people come up with for getting less random chargen, without resorting to the tedium of point buy? I don't mind a little variety in what comes out, but having played with some of the online character generators, having almost no choice in how my character turns out is not my idea of fun (the Mongoose system was better in this respect). Not to mention that basically encouraging people to keep at the mini-game, repeatedly making characters until they get something they can live with seems like a waste of time and enthusiasm to me.

Quote from: Gagarth;1055165There was a kickstarter for a pilot show https://www.facebook.com/SpinwardTrav
eller/ the crew looks they used the gender table from The Expanse QS.

Just as a heads up, that Kickstarter was the project of TTRPG Con Artist Ken Whitman, whose projects should be avoided at all costs.

The Expanse was based on a d20 Modern/d20 Future game, but it does fit into Traveller a lot better. Firefly was based off of Joss Whedon's Traveller campaign (although that won't ever be admitted due to legal reasons). Killjoys could be done using Traveller easily, but I don't know if it started as a game or not.

Quote from: middenface;1055120Well the writers of the Expanse say it was based on a D20 Modern conversation thingy. Believe it was going to be an MMORPG and the game was going to help develop the Universe.

Huh. Maybe that was what I heard, or maybe I was thinking of some other show?

Quote from: RPGPundit;1055787Huh. Maybe that was what I heard, or maybe I was thinking of some other show?

I think you're thinking of Firefly/Serenity. If I'm remembering correctly, that was based on a Traveller campaign Joss Whedon played in/reffed.

Quote from: spon;1055957I think you're thinking of Firefly/Serenity. If I'm remembering correctly, that was based on a Traveller campaign Joss Whedon played in/reffed.

Hmm, no. It was something newer than that. At least, I thought so.