I've had some success using Stars Without Number and would like to thinker with Diaspora a bit ("playing" systems with aspects shouldn't be too hard). Starforged is also written with solo play in mind.
I was going through the archives for systems to use in a space game and found this opinion, no one seemed to think it was wrong.
`My issues with it were that combat was fricking boring, the rules are so barebones, and that multiclass characters are objectively superior (except in the case of psychics, but multiclassing with psychic is an upgrade to the other classes), with expert being an actual waste of paper and losing next to nothing when multiclassing.
I will second this anon on expert being near useless when expert multiclass exists
Also the black sun codex seems to have taken every suggestion to nerf casters and applied them all simultaneously so be prepared to through any characters that use it a bone. Notably an expert has better hp and base attack bonus than any of the casters that aren't just a variation of the psychic`
Mothership and Stars Without Number are my go-to Sci-fi systems. They are both extremely easy and fast to run and to play.
Mothership also has my two favorite modules ever, Gradient Descent (pic related) and Dead Planet.
it's perfectly acceptable for a system to have classes with different power levels. If your players aren't having fun playing as experts, you're probably featuring too many monsters/combats in your content and are going easy on skill check consequences.
I'm running a game in Worlds Without Number right now, and a completely non-magical bard - literally just a lute player - has turned into the campaign's main character.
>Gradient Descent (pic related)
just read through it, cool shit
is the rest of Mothership stuff like this?
3 months ago
Anonymous
GD is the only one which is 100% maps, rooms, and encounters. The other modules also contain different kinds of content.
Gradient Descent = STALKER + Soma as a megadungeon
Dead Planet = Dead Space as a three-part non-linear survival adventure
Another Bug Hunt = Aliens+Prometheus as a straightforward story campaign
My party had TONS of fun with Dead Planet but it's not an easy campaign to run; there are many blanks that need to be filled in by the GM. The Red Tower dungeon at the end makes it all worth it.
Another Bug Hunt is very easy to run and is specifically designed for new GMs, but I found it to not be as exciting as the others.
3 months ago
Anonymous
Neat, thanks. Classic Traveller is my go-to sci fi rpg system, but I’ve never run a game this horror-themed in it before. Might have to give Mothership a go, I know my players really like these kinds of settings in video games and other media.
Got it into my head that I should run this as a one-shot: >open in media res with the crew thawing in the freezer >cryosleep causes temporary confusion/amnesia of course >”cut back” to boarding the Deep as the crew remembers how they got there >jump back and forth as necessary
3 months ago
Anonymous
oh, I wouldn't do anything fancy like that.
One-shots should be straightforward, they should jump right into the action, and they should (in my opinion) feature real-time countdown timers that launch the session into some kind of deadly end game after an 1:00 or 1:30 of play.
With that in mind, I endorse this method (which I have used before):
a great way to introduce a party to Mothership is to put them in an awful situation, gradually reveal that the situation is even worse than they thought, and then hunt them all down like mice.
3 months ago
Anonymous
Yeah it wouldn't work for a one-session operation, but I really like the atmosphere of both waking up in the freezer and the approach to the station / progression through the levels
Starting in the industrial layer misses the gradually escalating horror of the reception area
I'm a Classic guy myself, every other edition is good for stealing bits, but the skeleton of Classic is hard to beat. I've played about half of the various editions, and I always come back to CT. My group usually uses CT81, which is basically the second edition. The original CT77 has some neat differences like jump tapes, but mostly things were cleaned up and fixed in the 81 edition.
Cepheus Engine is also a fine choice, though, lots of cool third-party stuff for it. One of the guys in my group likes to use that when he runs a game now and then.
Hang on, I think I have the pdf from the Traveller threads around here.. Yeah, this is a pretty good overview.
>and that multiclass characters are objectively superior
I've never understood this, you lose the auto succeed abilities that each class has when you go for adventurer. Being able to auto hit or ignore a hit once per combat seems like a pretty useful thing, ditto the skill use the other class has.
apparently nobody has tried it 🙁
Most of Kevin Crawford's other games are pretty solo-friendly, and you could probably create a mash-up of SWN with Scarlet Heroes (his solo OSR game)
I've had some success using Stars Without Number and would like to thinker with Diaspora a bit ("playing" systems with aspects shouldn't be too hard). Starforged is also written with solo play in mind.
Is combat in that boring?
What? No. I just have little interest in it as a player and as player + GM in solo play like to indulge in faction as well as character play.
I was going through the archives for systems to use in a space game and found this opinion, no one seemed to think it was wrong.
`My issues with it were that combat was fricking boring, the rules are so barebones, and that multiclass characters are objectively superior (except in the case of psychics, but multiclassing with psychic is an upgrade to the other classes), with expert being an actual waste of paper and losing next to nothing when multiclassing.
I will second this anon on expert being near useless when expert multiclass exists
Also the black sun codex seems to have taken every suggestion to nerf casters and applied them all simultaneously so be prepared to through any characters that use it a bone. Notably an expert has better hp and base attack bonus than any of the casters that aren't just a variation of the psychic`
What makes you have low interest?
Mothership and Stars Without Number are my go-to Sci-fi systems. They are both extremely easy and fast to run and to play.
Mothership also has my two favorite modules ever, Gradient Descent (pic related) and Dead Planet.
it's perfectly acceptable for a system to have classes with different power levels. If your players aren't having fun playing as experts, you're probably featuring too many monsters/combats in your content and are going easy on skill check consequences.
I'm running a game in Worlds Without Number right now, and a completely non-magical bard - literally just a lute player - has turned into the campaign's main character.
>Gradient Descent (pic related)
just read through it, cool shit
is the rest of Mothership stuff like this?
GD is the only one which is 100% maps, rooms, and encounters. The other modules also contain different kinds of content.
Gradient Descent = STALKER + Soma as a megadungeon
Dead Planet = Dead Space as a three-part non-linear survival adventure
Another Bug Hunt = Aliens+Prometheus as a straightforward story campaign
My party had TONS of fun with Dead Planet but it's not an easy campaign to run; there are many blanks that need to be filled in by the GM. The Red Tower dungeon at the end makes it all worth it.
Another Bug Hunt is very easy to run and is specifically designed for new GMs, but I found it to not be as exciting as the others.
Neat, thanks. Classic Traveller is my go-to sci fi rpg system, but I’ve never run a game this horror-themed in it before. Might have to give Mothership a go, I know my players really like these kinds of settings in video games and other media.
Got it into my head that I should run this as a one-shot:
>open in media res with the crew thawing in the freezer
>cryosleep causes temporary confusion/amnesia of course
>”cut back” to boarding the Deep as the crew remembers how they got there
>jump back and forth as necessary
oh, I wouldn't do anything fancy like that.
One-shots should be straightforward, they should jump right into the action, and they should (in my opinion) feature real-time countdown timers that launch the session into some kind of deadly end game after an 1:00 or 1:30 of play.
With that in mind, I endorse this method (which I have used before):
a great way to introduce a party to Mothership is to put them in an awful situation, gradually reveal that the situation is even worse than they thought, and then hunt them all down like mice.
Yeah it wouldn't work for a one-session operation, but I really like the atmosphere of both waking up in the freezer and the approach to the station / progression through the levels
Starting in the industrial layer misses the gradually escalating horror of the reception area
Traveller (particularly its current indie incarnation, Cepheus Engine) has extensive solo rules out there.
SWN's weakest part is its classes.
Whats the best ruleset for traveller?
I'm a Classic guy myself, every other edition is good for stealing bits, but the skeleton of Classic is hard to beat. I've played about half of the various editions, and I always come back to CT. My group usually uses CT81, which is basically the second edition. The original CT77 has some neat differences like jump tapes, but mostly things were cleaned up and fixed in the 81 edition.
Cepheus Engine is also a fine choice, though, lots of cool third-party stuff for it. One of the guys in my group likes to use that when he runs a game now and then.
Hang on, I think I have the pdf from the Traveller threads around here.. Yeah, this is a pretty good overview.
cool, gratiz
>and that multiclass characters are objectively superior
I've never understood this, you lose the auto succeed abilities that each class has when you go for adventurer. Being able to auto hit or ignore a hit once per combat seems like a pretty useful thing, ditto the skill use the other class has.
d100 Space
Mothership has a solo version from a third party.
Should be in the NuOSR trove, or their currently finished Kickstarter.
"Lonestar" is the name of the solo module, if memory serves me correct.
Some refueling.
Refueling.
If you're looking for a sci-fi game based around solo play, can't go wrong with Star Drifter.
How is Stars Without Number for solo?
apparently nobody has tried it 🙁
Most of Kevin Crawford's other games are pretty solo-friendly, and you could probably create a mash-up of SWN with Scarlet Heroes (his solo OSR game)
theres Stellar Hero which is bout that
nice
I've played it solo a few times, almost always Suns of Gold, being a space merchant is very easy to do solo.
I just saw google has maps of other celestial bodies now
Yeah I found that out a couple months back when I was trying to figure out good areas to put Lunar settlement sites in my setting. It's pretty neat.
Some fuel.
What content can you steal for SWN? Classes? The spell section said you could take spells
Diminishing fuel.
monitoring sensors
Still monitoring, still nothing on sensors... are they on?
Thread's over, go home.