Science fiction RPGs - Dumpshock Forums

Science fiction RPGs, Classics and/or current favorites

Tanegar View Member Profile	Nov 27 2006, 05:40 AM Post #1
Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,655 Joined: 29-October 06 Member No.: 9,731	I have several Trinity books (including an original spiral-bound, plastic-cover Æon core book; yes, you may eat your hearts out :P ), and of course, Shadowrun. What else should I be looking at? What should I avoid?

Grinder View Member Profile	Nov 27 2006, 09:59 AM Post #2
Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698	GURPS: Transhuman Space is pretty cool. Set in 2100, humanity has reached a new level of wealth (in some parts of the Earth) and established bases on many planets of th solar system. People can upload their brain into a computer or robot, or they can "improve" their bodies by genetical treatments. There's a lot more, but I don't have the time yet to write it down, sorry.

RunnerPaul

Nov 27 2006, 11:29 AM

Post #3

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QUOTE (Tanegar)

(including an original spiral-bound, plastic-cover Æon core book; yes, you may eat your hearts out :P )

Ah, but do you have the envelope that White Wolf sent out to the retailers, including a set of stickers and a letter explaining their settlement with Viacom, and that one of the terms of the settlement required them to request that the retailers apply the enclosed "Trinity" stickers over the AEon logos on the outer covers of any AEon books they still had on the shelves?

Yes, the owner of my FLGS loved me as a customer.

nezumi View Member Profile	Nov 27 2006, 04:23 PM Post #4
Incertum est quo loco te mors expectet; Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,546 Joined: 24-October 03 From: DeeCee, U.S. Member No.: 5,760	The old Cyberpunk 2020 books are cool, but most of the new stuff is trash (unfortunately). The newest edition got some very bad reviews, and they have some book whose name I forgot which sets the PCs are kids after some terrible plague. Just stick to the original 2020 books and pick up the chrome books.

Tanegar

Nov 27 2006, 04:33 PM

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QUOTE (RunnerPaul)

QUOTE (Tanegar @ Nov 27 2006, 12:40 AM)

(including an original spiral-bound, plastic-cover Æon core book; yes, you may eat your hearts out :P )

Ah, but do you have the envelope that White Wolf sent out to the retailers, including a set of stickers and a letter explaining their settlement with Viacom, and that one of the terms of the settlement required them to request that the retailers apply the enclosed "Trinity" stickers over the AEon logos on the outer covers of any AEon books they still had on the shelves?

Yes, the owner of my FLGS loved me as a customer.

Alas, I do not possess such an envelope. While we're on the subject of the title change, I still think it was profoundly petty and mean-spirited of the people at Viacom to sue White Wolf, when even the most cursory examination would reveal that Æon has nothing to do with Aeon Flux.

BTW, what does FLGS stand for?

Grinder

Nov 27 2006, 04:55 PM

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QUOTE (Tanegar)

BTW, what does FLGS stand for?

Friendly Local Gaming Store.

RunnerPaul

Nov 27 2006, 10:17 PM

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QUOTE (Tanegar)

While we're on the subject of the title change, I still think it was profoundly petty and mean-spirited of the people at Viacom to sue White Wolf, when even the most cursory examination would reveal that Æon has nothing to do with Aeon Flux.

I also suspect it may have been something of a publicity stunt engineered by White Wolf. While I have no proof of this, I suspect that they wanted to name the game Trinity all along, but put up a facade of naming it AEon. They did the initial marketing under that name, and then sat back and waited for Viacom's legal department to get in touch with them with a request for additional information.

Then, in response to Viacom's queries, they put together a package of information about what the game was like that made the game seem a lot closer in theme and tone to AEon Flux than it actually was. Viacom, who was pretty sue-happy at the time as far as corporations go, responded as expected, and White Wolf's own legal team settled quickly, because they only cared about the AEon name for the free press the controversy could get them.

Like I said, I have no proof of this, but it goes along very well with publicity stunts that they pulled for later game launches, such as the infamous "White Wolf Has Been Sold!" announcement that launched Hunter: the Reckoning, and their website for a fictitious Baptist Church in Florida denouncing their release of Demon: the Fallen.

eidolon View Member Profile	Nov 28 2006, 03:02 PM Post #8
ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333	I'm a big fan of Alternity. It was one of TSR's last hurrahs. It's an interesting system mechanically, and is meant to be somewhat universal while promoting a sci-fi theme. The core books support anything from "now" to "far future", and the first campaign setting was far future, called Star Drive. There's a setting called Dark Matter as well, which I highly recommend for anyone that's a fan of the X-files. (I actually ran a short story arc that was loosely based off of the Purity Control story.)

MYST1C

Nov 28 2006, 04:45 PM

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QUOTE (eidolon)

There's a setting called Dark Matter as well, which I highly recommend for anyone that's a fan of the X-files.

Dark Matter was recently re-released as a campaign supplement for d20 Modern.

I'd love to see Star*Drive re-released, too...

eidolon View Member Profile	Nov 28 2006, 07:12 PM Post #10
ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333	Dammit Mystic, you just made me throw up all over my keyboard.

MYST1C

Nov 28 2006, 09:17 PM

Post #11

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QUOTE (eidolon)

Dammit Mystic, you just made me throw up all over my keyboard.

Well, I'm not exactly a fan of d20...

But it would be nice to see the material in stores again.

eidolon View Member Profile	Nov 28 2006, 09:36 PM Post #12
ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333	Maybe. If they were to keep the fluff 100% beyond any possible confusion separate from the mechanics. Then I might buy the fluff. If it was as good as the original, which is doubtful, but that's because I'm a pessimist.

Jame J View Member Profile	Nov 29 2006, 01:19 PM Post #13
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 170 Joined: 23-March 06 From: Drowning in the pollution of Mass Bay Member No.: 8,401	I like the original WEG D6 version of the Star Wars RPG. The D20 isn't really as good.

eidolon View Member Profile	Nov 29 2006, 02:37 PM Post #14
ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333	I've been trying to get copies of the 2nd edition of the WEG SW. They were pretty pricey last time I was actively looking.

MYST1C View Member Profile	Nov 29 2006, 03:04 PM Post #15
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 858 Joined: 25-August 03 From: Braunschweig, North German League, Allied German States Member No.: 5,537	I've only dabbled in it a few times but a friend of mine is a big fan of the classic Traveller, although he prefers the GURPS Traveller variant because of the supposedly superior rules. In addition to different rules GT differs from the "main" Traveller universe in an important historical fact: the assassination of the emperor (IIRC), a major plot-point in the T universe, never happened in the GT universe resulting in a different ingame history from this point onwards.

eidolon View Member Profile	Nov 29 2006, 04:26 PM Post #16
ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333	I've never done the Traveller thing, but I've always thought the Transhuman Space thing looked cool. Trouble is I can't get anyone to want to try GURPS. (Heck, I'm not even sure I want to try it, but the setting looks cool.)

Jame J View Member Profile	Nov 29 2006, 07:41 PM Post #17
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 170 Joined: 23-March 06 From: Drowning in the pollution of Mass Bay Member No.: 8,401	Oh yeah! I've been playing the Traveller rpg (a house rules variant) for several years now.

Grinder View Member Profile	Nov 29 2006, 11:46 PM Post #18
Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698	Transhuman Space is a cool setting, but I don't like the GURPS rules too, so I wuold try to convert it to SR rules.

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