![]() ![]() I’m not sure how many people understand how hard it is to imagine aliens in a fantasy setting where players routinely battle sentient eyeball monsters and giant fire-breathing lizards with wings, but let me tell you: it isn’t easy. I’m always on the lookout for interesting ideas, and with my campaign setting slowly expanding beyond the prime world of the material plane (Terra), I’ve started trying to imagine what sortof life might exist beyond the stars. But it’s been two weeks, and I’m still sick, so lets save that for another time. So I was all set to write up a whole thing about the distinction between fantasy and Sci-fi, and why, even in DND, I consider myself a Science-fiction author. A good comparison is to the crews of the Nostromo in 1979’s Alien or the Serenity from 2002's Firefly - normal but skilled folks trying to get by and handle whatever comes their way in the vastness of space with only their wits, teamwork and a little technology to get them through it.Space! Aliens! Living Gas! I’m too sick to be Clever! Say Hello to the Auroros! Unlike Shadowrun or M&M, the characters you play in Traveller tend to be relatively average people just eking out a living rather than over-the-top heroes with a destiny. In contrast to the other games presented here, Traveller provides the most realistic and most “hard science fiction” experience, which also makes it the most distinct from D&D. Because Traveller has been around for so long, there are pages and pages of material for Game Masters to incorporate as they see fit. The Traveller setting, like D&D, isn’t tied to a specific universe, and it's versatile enough that you could easily strip out what you don’t want from the default campaign setting and use the rest as a homebrew creation. ![]() The premise is simple enough: get a ship, take jobs to pay for it and keep flying. Over the years, Traveller has gone through plenty of updates and edition changes, with the current (and arguably best) version of the game being released by Mongoose Publishing in 2016. Traveller is a science fiction adventure game that's been around almost as long as D&D has. Any setting in which the players are larger-than-life or remarkably powerful is a perfect fit. Players are given a pool of points and a massive list of potential superpowers and abilities to spend them on. You are only limited by your own creativity and the Game Master's guidance. Although intended ostensibly as a superhero game, M&M works just as well for sci-fi ideas like DOOM-style pulp action, time hopping historical adventure or something on a larger scale like Mechs vs. M&M is the most versatile system presented here, allowing your group to create any setting imaginable using its rules. The game still has charts and math, but there are few games that can boil down epic and complex heroics to a single die like M&M can. While Pathfinder kept 3.5E’s number crunch, Mutants & Masterminds keeps things relatively simple, using only d20 rolls to decide everything you need, replacing static defenses like armor class with opposed rolls and degrees of success to determine effect. Mutants & Masterminds is an open ended superhero RPG from Green Ronin created with the open source D20 system put forth in D&D 3.5E - the same system that led to the creation of Pathfinder. If you don’t mind a little extra density and if you appreciate a deep lore-filled setting, then definitely try a d6 system and give Shadowrun a look. Instead, players gain skill points to spend across all aspects of their character, leading to incredibly wide options to build that cybernetic street samurai you’ve always dreamed of. Unlike in D&D, characters in Shadowrun don’t have a specific class they level up in. RELATED: Dungeons & Dragons: Four Trap Styles to Challenge Your Players Your netrunning hacker might well fight side by side with elven shamans or dwarven riggers, and this insane diversity is part of Shadowrun's charm. Although the setting is Earth-based, the resurgence of magic, the creation of the matrix, several massive wars and the rise of monolithic Megacorps have transformed our planet into a dangerous and exciting place. ![]() Shadowrun combines a slew of ideas like altered reality, virtual reality, magic and cybernetics to create something truly strange and fun. If you enjoy the idea of playing a science-fantasy game but in a near-future cyberpunk setting, consider Shadowrun from Catalyst Game Labs.
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