Suppose you've been playing D&D in one form or another for the last decade. Suppose your party is as sick of D&D and d20 as you are. Suppose you've finally moved them into SR, but you also want another game. Suppose there are just too many games out there.

We're lookign to get a new game for our group. We're looking for non-medieval fantasy or star faring sci-fi (no Star Wars, more like Battletech or Babylon 5 or the old Traveller).

It could be:

Earthdawn (1st or 2nd edition?)
Babylon 5 d20 (keep hearing good things about it, even though it's d20)
Anime d20
Tri Stat dX/BESM
Blue Planet

Some of us had in mind the Battletech/Mechwarrior combo, but not all the group is into bashing mechas.

What are your opinions? Are we forgetting any other good game?

Thanks!

Amber Diceless Role Playing, written by Erick Wujcik (writer of Palladium's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" role playing game), published by Phage Press, based of Roger Zelazny's Amber series.

Non-medieval fantasy? Got it. Star faring sci-fi? Got it. Sorcery? Conjuration? Strange, world shattering powers? Got 'em. High adventure? Low life scum? Cut throat family politics? Got them too. Heck when you consider all of Shadow is your playithing, it's got everything.

And the great thing is, is there is only one officially published supplement out there (Shadow Knight) and a ton of power variants out there on the web, so you are not having to sink a ton of money into the game just to get it "functional".

While I'm not always a fan of the system they use (very reminiscent of the D20 system) a lot of the series by Palladium Books have really interesting settings that mix a wide variety of genres in unique and interesting ways.

My personal favorite from their lineup is Nightbane which is a combination Conspiracy Theory/Monster Movie/Spy Film. The basic premise is that sometime in the early 2k (2006 or 2008) Earth was invaded and taken over by the occupants of a parallel dimension (think the evil twin of Earth, same landmarks and locations but entirely done up in a gothic/horror motif and ruled over by beings of pure evil).

The catch is that it was done by carefully replacing key figures in the government, media, military and business world with doppleganger'ish duplicates. The whole thing was done so quietly and covered up so well that most people consider it to be a myth assuming they're even aware of it (which perhaps 0.01% of the population is).

To further liven things up there's a heavy dose of mysticism/occult thrown in but again with a very dark and gothic feel to it. The technology is comparable to present day so it's very much not a sci-fi game. The characters can play anything from things resembling monsters, to psychics, to former members of the FBI(which as a note was dissolved and replaced with the NSB - National Security Bureau) who found out a little too much and were driven underground.

RIFTS is also one to check out, it's post apocalyptic, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc. etc. etc. It's absolutely huge (in excess of 40 core, source and location books, most of which are in the 200-400 page range). Very interesting setting on a whole but it can seem a bit overwhelming. Start with the core books and branch out as you see fit.

One important note!
To have a hope of getting any of the Palladium games to work you need to make certain that your group is at a comparable power level. Varying classes can range greatly in terms of ability and power. Read through the books first and get an idea of where everything sits on the overall power scale. Then decide with your group what end you'd prefer to play on and aim to get everyone at about the same level.

One final item I'd like to point out. Palladium Books has been doing pretty much everything they can to keep the costs of their books down. The quality has never been an issue (I've had one book for 15+ years and it's still in perfectly usable shape) but the cost per book will be on average 1/2 to 1/5th of what you'd pay for a comparable D&D book. Even when compared to SR you'll usually find their books a few dollars cheaper for a comparable amount of source material.

Anyway just my 2

TBO

Feh, I really hate Amber.

Anyway, take a look at the B5 d20 system. I was marginally impressed with the book when I skimmed it at the local hobby shop and if your crew has been playing d20 anyway, it won't be a massive switch.

Non-medieval fantasy covers a lot of ground:
Wierd West
Wierd WW2 (d20)
Deadlands
Call of Cthulhu
White Wolf, if you're into the Goth drama

Those are the most common and popular games out currently. If you're feeling creative, change the names of the SR mechanics and still play B5.

The Star Wars d6 system was nice, but the books are not easy to find anymore.

Spycraft is a well-written d20 series. If you like Stargate SG-1, the same company responsible for Spycraft has released a Stargate d20 game.

-Siege

Ugh, no World of Darkness for us. We're sick of it, probably because of the WoD crew in Montevideo.

Isn't there a Traveller d20? What about Fading Suns?

I think so, but I'm not a big fan of either Traveller or Fading Suns.

I think there is a d20 Traveller -- I'm not sure about the Fading Suns.

You might check your local game shop and skim the racks to see what jumps out at you and if you like the number system.

-Siege

Edit: d20 Traveller

And

d20 Fading Suns

Local shop? Where??? Maybe you know something about Montevideo that I don't.

(Ok, I lied. There are a couple fo game shops here, but their RPG quality is... pathetic).

1) One only brings old Spanish stuff (and I mean Old).

2) The second one is more of a CCG/PS2 shop. It only brings RPGs that fancy the owner, if and only if they're from the Spanish market. Not a wise decision from where I see it.

3) The third one is the one I used to get my BBB, SR3Comp and MitS. They have a huge book of previews from the US hobby market, and RPGs are one of the things they can get. The problem is that they charge DOUBLE price.

Yes, that means my BBB was $60, and the other two books were $30 each (cries after remembering it).

Ouch.

-Siege

I second Siege's recommendation of Deadlands.

You seem very interested in the sci-fi genre, so I recommend HERO System 5th edition with the Space Hero setting material.

Palladium's System's Failure is great fun. Not a whole ton you can do with it, but very, very fun.

I'm sure many (and I can almost guarentee Adam) will agree with me when I put for the suggestion of Unknown Armies.

I'll say it again in case you missed it the first time.

Unknown Armies.

The setting is brilliant (modern occult), the system is absolutly art (percentile based, beautifully KISS), and the writing is incredible. I could never in my life write that well, and I'm honing my RPG writing skills fairly damn hard these days.

But don't take my word for it. Take the word of the entire Sentry Box (ginourmous gaming store here in Calgary). When I held up a copy of Earthdawn (I'll have to eventually, considering how much of an SR geek I am) and a copy of UA and (not loudly) asked my friend which he thought I should get, the entire staff, store wide, and several of the customers *shouted*, in unison, Unknown Armies. And they were right.

I posted over in the B-Tech thread, but I'll repost here JongWK.

My suggestion is the Heavy Gear line, or one of its siblings. The new editions (rd Edition for Heavy Gear) are all dual stated. Which means you can either purchase the CORE Silouhette rulebook, then the other books to play, or you can just purchase the Heavy Gear books and play with the d20 rules.

Here is the Heavy Gear RPG site. You can order directly from Dream Pod 9 if you like. They also have a tactical system for the game as well. The apparent beauty of the Silouhette engine is that the RPG and Tactical systems are seamless. And you don't really need both to play in the universe. I have the 2nd Ed book, and from what I can gather, the Tactical Game is simply a more refined and extensive version of the Silouhette engine for table top gaming. So you can play the RPG, and still have vehicle combat. And the Silouhette system seems fast.

Nobilis.

Silver Age Sentinels.

BESM.

TORG.

WitchCraft.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

Delta Green.

Just a few more games to consider.

Arcana Unearthed
In Nomine
Alternity
Just more suggestions, all fun.

Never run a palladium system game. The mechanics are clunky.

Dig out the old games:

Twilight 2000, more realism and mercenaries than you can handle. Post WW3 radiation.

Paranoia, not a campaign but it is fun to watch the players screw each other over. Those wo think fast on their feet are the last clone standing.

Legend of the Five Rings, exploding d10. Fantasy Japan, surprisingly similar to SR. Easy to learn, hard to roleplay.

Hah...good luck trying to find Delta Green, it's nigh impossible to find.

The best thing about Deadlands is that you can buy most any of the books in PDF form off of www.rpgnow.com for 5 dollars each. Instant delivery, incredibly cheap, the only problem is getting it printed off...

Call of Cthulhu is good, but very heavy.

I just got recently Rifts and Earthdawn and I've flipped through Rifts, am reading Earthdawn. I love the feel of Earthdawn, it's low magic, high mana. Meaning that the power of the magic is pretty low (compared to D&D) but there's magic in everything. Rifts looks really interesting, but needs a decent editor.

If you really want something out there...Feng Shui is good to find. Really quick mechanics, fast, hyper, Hong Kong movie roleplaying.

I'll side with all that says Deadlands, that is a good and fun game.

You might want to check out Transhuman Space, just got it and i'm blown away by it.

You might want to try SpyCraft, although it's D20, it's also not really D20.

Aeon/Trinity is also very good if you can find it, uses WoD rules, but not the universe.

Someone mentioned Fading Suns, it's kewl and you don't even have to use the D20 rules set (it álso has it's own rules set).

Wow, so much feedback... thanks

We're going to evaluate what's available here before ordering, but I'll be probably be ordering some Shadowrun stuff for myself (maybe it's about time to update my Rigger Black Book )

I gotta agree the Transhuman Space will blow you away. You could play a person who does menial labor and the game would still be fun because the culture in the game is so strange.

Also, despite your dislike of White Wolf (WOD) type of stuff, I'd suggest you try Abberant or Trinity, although Trinity resembles a WoD game in the way it has splats, the setting is far more optimistic and slightly over the top for the psionic future. Abberant on the other hand is in the near future, and is probubly the best concept for a Superhero game I could have ever imagined, like traditional supervillians don't exist, because why do something illegal when you could make as much money by just having superpowers?

Finally, I'd say Orpheus, because it's everything the WoD should originally have been.

Fringeworthy!

~J

Disclaimer: while Fringeworthy is a wonderfully amusing game, it's kinda like a B-grade movie; it's more fun to make fun of the rules than it is to actually play. Do not take as a particularly serious suggestion.

I'd recommend Deadlands; it's just a wonderful game.

As for generic games, Pinnacle's savage worlds is also not too shabby. I'm running that for my group here. If you want to know what it's about, check out the pinnacle site at this address, for the test-drive rules. http://www.peginc.com/Downloads/SavageWorl...Drive(v3.0).pdf
There's all kinds of stuff being converted or created for the game; it's interesting.

It's a nice system and requires a lot of player thought. I'd also recommend it, as the system mantra is all you need is the core book + a setting book. It's a great idea for those who don't want to lug around duffel bags of books (not that I'm complaining about my box of 2nd and 3rd ed Shadowrun stuff or 1&2 ed L5R).

Don

another option is darwin's world. it is a d20 system, but has no magic. it does have a psionic system which is feat based rather than the standard magic system. the mutation system is also pretty cool. the only book you need is d20 modern(you only need like 10 pages out of it), and the main rule book which is 35-40 bucks. the book is over 300 pages, and you have the option of buying it in pdf format for less. if you decide to get the hardcover edition you only have to pay the difference between the 2. the web support is also really good. with radiation storms, mutant critters, and zombie plagues floating around, it makes for a fun waste of time. worth a look see.

T20 (traveller d20) is actualy amazing and for the most part I hate d20... Although if you want to play in the official universe you better dust off some old books or go buy the GURPS ones. Its not much more than how to run generic space game and create universes guide. T20 is basicly one big GM rule book with a couple chapters at the begining for PC. Character creation is some of the hairiest Ive seen in awhile.
Starwars d20 or d6 isnt bad but you locked in the star wars universe
Obsidian is my sugestion for a darker game.
SLA can be fun but too similar to shadowrun to be running both at the same time.
Any old traveller game is good to if you can find it.
That does it for sci-fi now on to fantasy...
Riddle of Steel is the best fantasy game to date IMO. Though Im not overly fond of the world the system simulates fencing very well. If you want an online free fantasy world and make your own rules Khoras and Agyris are worth looking into.

I loved the Stargate RPG from AEG. But I am a Stargate fan, so what can I say?

Though it's sort of medieval fantasy, I have to suggest Exalted. It's White Wolf, but it's really, really good at what it does. Quite possibly the best game they've put out.

I also liked Aberrant (never played Trinity).

Oh, and for just about anything, you might want to check out the HERO system. It's complicated, but it's a pretty good system for superhero games. You can use it for fantasy or sci-fi, as well, with little additional work (beyond what you have to do to begin with).

If you can get your hands on it, and enjoy over-the-top swashbuckling/pirate craziness, AEGs Roll and Keep 7th Sea. I don't personally recommend the d20 stuff though.

And I can't believe no one's mentioned:Ars Magica has without a doubt THE best magic system ever devised for a RPG, though it is "tradition" specific. Besides its free!

http://www.atlas-games.com/arsmagica/free/index.html

I throw more support in for Heavy Gear. The Terra Nova, and Earth sourcebooks are now out for 3rd Ed, and the TN one is fantastic. Don't play it with the D20 version though. Levels and classes really don't work for it, the same way as Shadowrun.

For mad Hong Kong action flick fun, in all HK movie settings (it makes sense within the setting description ), Feng Shui (pronounce how you feel like), is good fun and only needs 2D6 per player.

Well, I'm a fan of Godlike.

Godlike Home Page

The scenario is that paranormal talents start manifesting themselves in a small fraction of the population near the start of World War II. Naturally, they get drafted in to help the fight.

The mechanics are pretty simple to pick up, but a little funky (everything you do during a combat phase, everything, is handled with one roll). They tend to work out, though. And the background for the game is amazing, probably my favorite as far as that goes. Additionally, you can start playing without any trouble using just the core book, so it doesn't require a particularly steep financial commitment.

It's not great for plot arcs longer than a related series of missions, and it doesn't tend to be very heavy in terms of the player's background. There's a lot of possibility for roleplaying while still being very combat heavy.

The creators of it are currently in the process of expanding it into a general superhero system called Wild Talents, due out at some point, which also looks pretty exciting.