This is meant to be a non-exhaustive list, in stream-of-consciousness alphabetical order.
Dedicated systems
- 2300 AD (now a setting for Traveller)
- 3:16: Carnage Amongst the Stars
- Apocalypse World
- BattleTech: A time of war
- Coyote & Crow
- Cyberpunk (2013, 2020, V3.0, Red)
- Eclipse Phase
- Lancer
- Paranoia
- Shadowrun
- SLA Industries
- Star Wars roleplaying (different games by different publishers: WEG d6, d20, FFG NDS)
- Traveller (in its many incarnations throughout the past nearly 50 years and derivatives such as Cepheus, Hostile, Kosmic)
- Warhammer 40K
FATE based systems
- Atomic Robo
- Bulldogs!
- Diaspora
- Mindjammer
- Nova Praxis
OSR/d20 based systems
- CY_BORG
- Mothership
- Starfinder
- Stars/Cities/Ashes Without Number
Year Zero
- Alien: The RPG
- Blade Runner: The RPG
- Coriolis – The Third Horizon
- Mutant: Year Zero
GURPS
A host of modules and supplements named after the subgenre, GURPS-style. GURPS Transhuman Space, Cyberpunk, etc.
Other systems
- BattleTech: Mechwarrior: Destiny (Cue)
- Black Star (d6)
- Dune: Adventures in the Imperium (Modiphius 2d20)
- Fading Suns (VPS)
- Neon City Overdrive (d6)
- Rifts (Palladium)
- Robotech (Palladium)
- Salvage Union (Quest RPG)
- Scum and Villainy (FitD/PbtA)
- Star Trek Adventures (Modiphius 2d20)
- The Expanse RPG (Modern AGE)
Solo friendly
- Hostile (Cepheus/Traveller)
- Ironsworn: Starforged (PbtA)
- Stoneburner
Out of print/No longer developed
- Albedo
- Battlestar Galactica RPG (Cortex Classic)
- Blue Planet
- CORPS
- Firefly RPG (Cortex Plus)
- Gamma World (D&D)
- HARP SF
- Heavy Gear
- High Colonies
- Jovian Chronicles
- Judge Dredd RPG
- Justifiers
- Living Steel
- Metamorphosis Alpha
- Mutant Chronicle
- Other Suns
- Ringworld
- Serenity RPG (Cortex Classic)
- Space Master
- Space Opera
- Star Frontiers
- Universe
Have a suggestion to improve this? Your favorite game missing? Leave a comment.
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https://greenroninstore.com/collections/the-expanse-rpg
Based on the Modern AGE ruleset.
The irony is that The Expanse was first conceived as an online RPG setting. They couldn’t get funding, so they played it “mail in” style on a forum. This became the basis of the first book. The book series was, in turn, turned into an tabletop RPG. We’ve almost gone full circle.
Thank you, added it!
The Battletech franchise has two current-ish systems:
The very crunchy “Mechwarrior” series has been replaced by A Time of War.
A more narrative system has been added, called Destiny.
I see Mothership in the OP. I’ve played the Another Bug Hunt module with my crew, and it’s very fun. It’s dangerous and creepy.
Added, thank you!
Thank you for putting this together!
My pleasure!
Other system
Mutant Year Zero/Elysium/BioLab
Coriolis and the 2nd edition : Coriolis the Great Dark (same system as Mutant Year Zero above)
OSR Cities (Cyberpunk) and Ashes(post apo) Without Numbers
Out of Print Mutant chronicle 1st and 2nd edition
Also there’s a lot of Judge Dredd TTRPG
Eclipse Phase and the Year Zeros were already in, added the rest. Thank you!
You might add Metamorphosis Alpha (from TSR, 1976) to the Out of Print section. It was the first (or perhaps second) Sci-fi RPG produced and the conceptual precurser to Gamma World. I’d heard rumors that Steve Jackson Games had secured the right to publish the old Metamorphosis Alpha material, but I think it is still unpublished.
The game is a Sci-fi RPG set on a generation ship that has been traveling in outer space for an unknown length of time. It was struck in the distant past by some unknown disaster and the survivors no longer even remember they are on a ship at all. Radiation leaks had created mutant people, plants, and animals, etc.
The game is based on the 1958 novel Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss.
Edit to include link
Nice! Thank you, added.
Blue Planet is getting an update - Blue Planet: Recontact
The Kickstarter closed some time ago, and several beta PDFs have been provided.
Getting an update since 2017 (IIRC)
Thanks! Added and alphabetized the list.
Are we counting splatbooks like Fabula Ultima: Techno Fantasy
Not really, no, just full fledged settings with rules. Trying to keep a concise list. You’re welcome to start a post for those, though. It would definitely fit the community.
I’m enjoying this blades in the dark adaptation quite a lot
For solo players, Ironsworn: Starforged is a must.
Strong recommend for Stars Without Number. It’s a great hard sci-fi system if you leave out the optional psychic stuff.
What makes it interesting is that it’s very lethal. A level 5 party can easily get murdered by a group of level 1s if they get trapped or ambushed.
It makes for games where players think hard before committing to combat.
I used it to run a game set in Alastair Reynolds‘ “Revelation Space” universe and it worked well. I chose it because it does not force a very specific sci-fi universe on you. Super happy.
Sounds like you’d like Hostile by Zozer Games. They have a solo version too where you control a crew.
There is a new version of Robotech from after Paladium Games lost the license, but I have not looked at, or played it.
And there is the old d6 system for Star Wars from West End Games, and the new books use I think the
FATEEDGE system. There was also the short lived d20 system from WoTC.Rifts is a classic, but also a very strange animal. And for some reason I thought Robotech was a minis game (must be confusing with something else).
Star Wars is already listed. I know those are technically different games, but I’m trying to keep the list as concise as possible (grouping the multiple versions of the same setting under one entry). I don’t know much about the history of star wars RPG though. How would you summarize it?
(WEG d6, d20, Fate)?And for some reason I thought Robotech was a minis game (must be confusing with something else).
There was a Robotech minis game, that was a huge debacle, and why Paladium games lost the license. But you are likely thinking of BattleTech, which is historically a mini game but also has an TTRPG version initially called MechWarrior, but I think it has a new name now.
How would you summarize it?
(WEG d6, d20, Fate)?Yes. They all play totally differently, and the newer stuff has newer source books. But the last time I looked the community had taken the newer stuff and adapted it to work with WEGd6.
And despite something being listed, I think if there are multiple versions (not just different editions, but these are totally different games set in the same universe. But to keep the list concise, a note that there are different versions from different publishers.
Another I just remembered, is there is a Firefly RPG, I forget the publisher (possibly Lost Unicorn Games) I will look it up later.
BattleTech! That’s the one. Didn’t know they made an RPG out of it.
Firefly is an out of print Cortex Plus game by Margaret Weis Productions. It’s in the list as well as Serenity (the Cortex Classic game by MWP, isn’t IP licensing fun?).
