Science Fiction RPGs

main page: Game Recommendations

This pages is intended to be a condensed list of Sci-Fi-suggestions, listing games

For the older page with more in-depth description of games, see Space and Beyond.

Broad-focused sci-fi
2300 AD – Originally released under the Traveller name, and now again. In between,
it was a hard sci-fi game intended to continue the setting of Twilight 2000.
Coriolis – Middle Eastern-inspired sci-fi setting, described as “Arabian Knights in
space”.
Diaspora – based on an older edition of Fate, won the gold ENnie for best rules in
2010. It contains a number of interesting approaches to sci-fi exploration play.
(Fate 3)
FrontierSpace is an action/adventure OSR-type game highly influenced by Star
Frontiers. (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Infinite Galaxies – broad focus system with a setting that "presents a positive and
engaging future state of the universe". (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Shadows Over Sol – Hard sci-fi horror set in our own solar system.
Star Frontiers – an early general sci-fi system from TSR.
Stars Without Number – an OSR sci-fi game built “to encourage sandbox play”.
Traveller – one of the earliest sci-fi games, has seen nearly a dozen different
versions, all of which still have their adherents. Some versions are famous for
cases where your character can die while being generated. The OGL portion of
Mongoose Traveller Version 1 is known as the Cepheus Engine.
Broad-focused transhumanist sci-fi
Eclipse Phase – a post-singularity game of transhuman horror. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Farflug – "about the ends of the universe, where nothing has been undone and
everything is permitted". (PbtA)
FreeMarket – a post-scarcity, transhumanist game set aboard a space station, asking
the question “what will you do with forever?”. The box set of this game is hard to
find.
Mindjammer – takes place in an award-winning far-future, transhumanist setting.
(Fate)
Nova Praxis – “a post-singularity sci-fi setting that explores transhumanism and
post-scarcity societies against a backdrop of action, adventure, conspiracy and
intrigue”. (Fate, Savage Worlds)
Broad-focused space opera
Archives of the Sky – “a tabletop story game of galactic scope and threatened
ideals” won a Judges’ Spotlight ENnie in 2019.
Baroque Space Opera – “Enter a fantastic universe beyond time and space… filled
with strange technology, stranger cultures, exotic locations, and incredible
danger.” (Fate)
Blood in Space – minimal rule set with a fully realized setting. (Fudge)
Fading Suns – a game of heavy combat, vicious politics, weird occultism, alien
secrets and artifacts, from the makers of Das Schwarze Auge. Recently kickstarted
second edition.
Faith is a space opera RPG “of epic adventures, where starfaring alien
civilizations race to explore a dangerous, unknown universe; while the Gods compete
for followers; and the Ravager threaten civilization as a whole”.
Hellas – a “fusion of high drama, action-adventure, romance, mythology-infused
space opera”
Rebel Scum – "a cinematic RPG about a war in the stars inspired by a deep love of
old school action figures and of punching Nazis in the face".
Space Opera – "an old school RPG including complete rules for character and planet
generation, human and alien races, skills and professions, starships, individual
and ship combat, etc.".
Thousand Suns – RPG that takes its inspiration from the classic literary "imperial"
science fiction of the '50s, '60s, and '70s. (OGL)
Tiny Frontiers – a “minimalist space opera” game based. (TinyD6)
Trinity Continuum: Æon – Psions in a Mass Effect-ish galaxy, in recovery 60 years
after a devastating war. Extrasolar colonies, aliens, space weirdness, jumpships.
(Storypath)
Uncharted Worlds – a wide-scope “space opera of discovery and adventure”. (PbtA)
Starship crew
Ashen Stars – Investigative game about freelance law enforcement on the fringe of
civilized space. Described aptly as the crew of Serenity tasked with the job of the
Enterprise. (Gumshoe)
Bulldogs! – is high action space adventure about a crew hauling cargo to the most
dangerous places in the galaxy. (Fate)
Burn Bryte – The galaxy is being consumed by the Burn, and the players along with
their living ship adventures across the galaxy. Exclusively available through
Roll20.
Impulse Drive – focused on a ship crew “making a living on the fringe of civilized
space”. (CC BY-SA 3.0, PbtA)
Lasers & Feelings – a free one-page game about a starship crew, is about as rules-
light as you can get, and has spawned literally hundreds of hacks to different
genres. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Offworlders – as "owners of a small starship", a group of "adventurers, outlaws,
and guns for hire make their fortune on the rough end of the galaxy". (CC BY 3.0
US, PbtA)
Rust Hulks – a game about “playing space truckers in a grimy science-fiction
future.” (PbtA)
Scum and Villainy – a game ”about a spaceship crew trying to make ends meet under
the iron-fisted rule of the Galactic Hegemony”. (FitD)
Thematic approaches
3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars – a simple, low-prep campaign game about wiping out
alien threats.
Blue Planet – “offers hard sci fi adventure on the ecologically wild,
sociopolitically contentious frontier of Earth's first extrasolar colony world: a
distant waterworld named Poseidon”.
Cosmic Patrol – built to be more "golden age scifi”, using a simple rule-set. (Cue,
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Exilium – a game of “of science fiction adventure and intrigue set against a
backdrop of post-human loss and redemption”. (Mini Six)
Flatline – “a near-future dystopian roleplaying game about armed EMTs who execute
intensive medical ops to protect the richest clients”. (Fate)
Hello World – set in a digital utopia where only memory is in short supply. (FitD)
Hostile – “a gritty, near future roleplaying setting for the 2D6 Cepheus Engine
rules… inspired by movies like Outland and _Alien_”. (Cepheus Engine)
Hunt the Wicked – focusing on “bounty Hunters: peacekeepers, gunslingers, saviors,
and assassins, the heroes and mercenaries that go after the bad guys”.
Mothership – “a sci-fi horror roleplaying game where you and your crew try to
survive in the most inhospitable environment in the universe: outer space”.
Never Tell Me the Odds – a “space-scoundrel RPG about risking it all”.
Obsidian: the Age of Judgement – in 2299, “a desperate humanity wages war against
the manifested legions of Hell itself”.
ORUN, Post-Apotheosis Space Opera RPG – A rich and fully realized, and immersive
Afrocentric science fiction setting in the Post- Apotheosis Age
Paranoia – As a Troubleshooter, an elite force, you're tasked with finding trouble
and shooting it, you will be hunting mutants, terrorists, traitors, [CLASSIFIED],
secret societies and renegade bots. You look worried, citizen. Relax! It’s still
Paranoia. The year is still 214. You still have six clones and a laser pistol. The
Computer is still your friend.
Predation – A desparate future uses time-travel to build a colony 66 million years
in the past, stranding them there. High tech meets dinosaurs. (Cypher)
Shock: Social Science Fiction – a “fiction game of culture and future shock.
Inspired by the works of Bruce Sterling, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ursula K. LeGuin,
and Philip K. Dick, the game pushes the players to make stories that matter to them
— stories about politics, philosophy, love, and death.” A variation of it, Shock:
Human Contact is pretty much the Star Trek Federation with the serial numbers filed
off.
Star World – intends to emulate Star Trek and “includes PC playbooks, ship
playbooks and a special set of ship moves for interstellar combat and maneuvers”.
(PbtA)
Sufficiently Advanced – a distant-future, somewhat optimistic game. The most recent
edition uses a diceless system.
Synthicide – makes use of tactical grid combat, in a grim semi-cyberpunk setting
where the machines have taken over.
The Void – a “hard sci-fi survival horror setting with Lovecraftian elements”.
Mechs
ArCS – “try and outrun debt collectors, fight space battles, and try to destabilize
warring corporations for pay… all from the cockpit of a giant robot”. (PbtA)
Beam Saber – a “game about the pilots of powerful machines in a war that dominates
every facet of life”. (CC BY 3.0, FitD)
Firebrands – is a casual game about pilots in the universe of the lego mech
fighting game Mobile Frame Zero. (PbtA)
Lancer RPG – centered on shared narratives, customizable mechs, and the pilots who
crew them in the future.
Mecha – designed specifically to emulate both the combat and the drama of mecha
anime. Core book contains three different settings, and advice on building your
own.
Mecha Aces – a more minimalist, generic approach to mech gaming. The book includes
four different settings. (Fudge)
The Mecha Hack – a standalone game “of titanic warmachines and their intrepid
pilots, made with The Black Hack.”
Mecha vs Kaiju – Mechs vs giant monsters, both for Fate Core and Cypher.
Mechwarrior: Destiny – the latest in a line of (very different) games for role-
playing in the BattleTech universe. (Cue)
Mekton Zeta – “enter a world of high adventure and mechanized combat”.
Too Good to Be True – A one-shot/short campaign game of “mercenary combat in a
gritty future”, also known as 2G2BT. Still in beta.
The Anime wiki page lists some other mech-related titles
Cyberpunk
Adrenaline – a crew-based heist game with “optional rules for cyber, bio, and
pharmaceutical augmentations”. (FitD)
Aetherium – a d10 pool system, set in a cyberpunk world that puts heavy emphasis on
virtual reality.
Altered State – a cyberpunk supplement for the Index Card RPG which brings
cyberpunk to that system.
Axon Punk – “Hip hop inspired cyberpunk in the megacities of 2085”.
Black Code – a transhuman cyberpunk game “set in a future where humanity and
technology are intermingled so closely we don’t know where we are going next”,
using a toolkit approach.
Bleeding Edge – create characters “with the limitless potential of next-gen
technology, yet weighted down with the legacy of greed, lies, and hate”. (OGL)
Blood Chrome Neon – a “relatively lightweight” game that is “pretty straightforward
to hack”.
Carbon 2185 – uses a class-based approach, and a better than average visual
aesthetic. (5e OGL)
CBR+PNK – designed for one-shot sessions, where a crew makes their last run. (FitD)
Chrome Shells & Neon Streets – a two-page rpg “inspired by popular cyberpunk
fiction”. (Tricube Tales)
Corporation – leans into the megacorp notion, to the point that nations no longer
exist.
Cyberblues City – “offers a lighter take on the cyberpunk genre, both in terms of
system and tone” and supplies a number of free adventures. (Fudge)
CyberFUDGE – cyberpunk meets fantasy meets post-apocalypse. Author claims “it
sucked”. (Fudge)
Cyberpunk RED – the latest version of the early Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., advancing the
timeline to the year 2045.
CYBER//PUNK – a Lasers & Feelings hack.
Cyberspace – an early cyberpunk game. Like many Iron Crown Enterprises games, never
took off the way its contemporaries did.
d20 Cyberscape – the (perhaps inevitable) WotC d20 Modern expansion for cyberpunk
play. (OGL)
Daring Tales of the Sprawl – a somewhat generic cyberpunk setting. (Savage Worlds)
Ex Machina – contained a trio of quite nice cyberpunk settings for the now-defunct
Tri-Stat dX.
Hack the Planet – has particular focus on arcologies and environmental activism.
(FitD)
IDENTICO – brings classes, levels, and hit locations to 2099.
Interface Zero – a well supported cyberpunk setting that has gone through a number
of systems. The current version is a setting using a Savage Worlds license. (Savage
Worlds)
Neon Black – anticapitalist game about “a community of poor people fighting back
against tyrannical corporations and the indifference of the rich”. (FitD)
Neon City Outlaws – presents an alternate setting for Dusk City Outlaws, “a
dystopian cyberpunk city where the crew takes on Jobs targeting the monolithic
corporations and the execs that run them”.
Neon City Overdrive – uses a simple d6 pool system, where all rolls are player-
facing, and a setting driven by random tables.
Polychrome – a setting bringing cyberpunk elements to Stars Without Number.
Remember Tomorrow – rules-lite and GM-less.
Shadow of the Beanstalk – a cyberpunk setting built around a space elevator and
link to the Android board and card games. (Genesys)
SIGMATA: This Signal Kills Fascists – a cyberpunk RPG about ethical insurgency
against a fascist regime, taking place in a dystopian vision of 1980's America.
The Sprawl – turns up the mission-based, genre-simulation dials. (PbtA)
System Shutdown – a one-page one-shot, features a burned cyberoperative trying to
extract vengeance before his implants fail.
TechNoir – correctly dubs itself as “high-tech, hard-boiled roleplaying”, with
unusual mechanics to match.
Uprising – explores the tradeoff of freedom for technology. (Fate)
The Veil – focuses more on character emotional drives and the impact of secondary
realities (AR, VR, etc.). (PbtA)
vs. MIRRORSHADES – a fast-playing game that uses standard playing cards. (vsM)
Wired Neon Cities – “minimalist cyberpunk roleplaying” in five pages.
Cyberpunk plus…
Cyberpunk worlds with fantastical elements, without quite reaching “science
fantasy”.

Ascendancy – “psychic cyborgs, identity, and finding yourself through fighting for
what you believe in”, based on the same engine as The Spire
Corporia – a genre-bending game where reborn Knights of the Round Table struggle
against oppressive mega-corporations.
Cybergeneration – a spinoff of Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. that includes superhero elements.
Entromancy is a cyberpunk/magic fusion setting. (5e OGL)
Halcyon – contains a number of cyberpunk elements, but also some post-apocalypse
and magic.
Headspace – claims to be “shared consciousness cyberpunk”. (PbtA)
Psi-Punk – A psionic cyberpunk game. (Fudge)
Retropunk – “in which the players embody characters in a futuristic hybrid reality—
where the digital and physical have merged.”
Shadowrun – the 400-pound gorilla in the “cyberpunk plus magic” genre. Known for
having a lot of hacks to move the setting to other systems, including:
Shadowrun: Anarchy is an official “lighter rules” version. (Cue)
Leverage 2072 provides some quick details to run in the setting using Leverage.
(Cortex)
Nuyen Stories – a seven-page system based on Dime Stories.
Pink Mohawks. (Fiasco)
Runners in the Shadows. (FitD)
Running in New Orleans. (PbtA)
The Savage World of Shadowrun. (Savage Worlds)
shadow-hack. (Old School Hack)
ShadowCore – in German. (Fate)
ShadowFate. (Fate)
ShadowGuard – John Harper’s never-to-be-finished light hack of Mouse Guard.
Shadowrun Genesys v2. (Genesys)
Shadowrun in Cypher System. (Cypher)
Shadowrun in the Sprawl. (PbtA)
Sixth World. (PbtA)
World of Shadows – a minimalist approach. (PbtA)
A blog post discusses how to use the setting with InSpectres.
SLA Industries – takes place in a cyberpunk world with the horror elements turned
up.
The Spire – doesn't bill itself as a cyberpunk game, but has a definite cyberpunk
vibe, as your drow revolutionaries resist the high elf establishment that runs a
mile tall tower-city.
Toonpunk – “cartoons have come to life in the dystopian 24th century”.
Trinity Continuum: Anima – upcoming cyberpunk/litRPG setting a handful of years
after a devastating war. (Storypath)
Vurt – takes place in a cyberpunk setting that adds travel into parallel worlds.
(Cypher)
Science Fantasy
Adventures on Dungeon Planet – a science fantasy supplement for Dungeon World. (CC
BY-NC-SA 3.0, PbtA)
Cryptomancer - The inevitable Age of Information which magick would bring to a
Tolkienesque high-fantasy setting. "Made by hackers, for hackers."
Gatecrasher – Light-hearted mash-up of science fiction and fantasy set in the 24th
century.
Numenera – Set a billion years in our future, it's a game of exploration and
discovery. Abilities and artifacts of the past seems like sci-fi, magic, or both,
depending on how you look at it. (Cypher)
Otherworlds – a “future fantasy” game, which aims to provide lots of variability
without overcomplicating.
Space Wurm vs Moonicorn – “Space Wurm and Moonicorn are rivals, fighting over the
future of galactic civilization.” Two players play them, while others play
characters caught in their web, while GM is tasked with undermining them all. (CC
BY-SA 4.0, PbtA)
Starfinder is a “science fantasy adventure” game derived from the Pathfinder rule
set. (OGL)
Titansgrave – a setting inspired by Heavy Metal, The Land of the Lost, Akira, and
Thundarr. (AGE)
Troika – science-fantasy universe in the spirit of works such as Dying Earth,
Viriconium, and Book of the New Sun.
Franchises
Games officially based on existing science fiction franchises.

Alien – brings the universe of the Alien franchise to life, “a universe of body
horror and corporate brinkmanship, where synthetic people play god while space
truckers and marines serve host to newborn ghoulish creatures”. (Year Zero)
Altered Carbon – aims for the neo-noir, bod-swapping feel of the TV series.
Dune: Adventures in the Emperium – “a journey through the storied worlds of Frank
Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece”. (2d20)
Elite Dangerous – brings the world of the popular MMO to the gaming table.
The Expanse – brings the setting of James S.A. Corey’s bestselling fiction series
to your table. (AGE)
Farscape is a d20 system that can still be purchased, but is no longer supported.
(OGL)
Flash Gordon – “Do you have what it takes to join the Freemen, defy the rule of
Ming the Merciless, and become the savior of the universe?” (Savage Worlds)
The Gaean Reach – based on the “legendary cycle of science fiction classics” by
Jack Vance. (Gumshoe)
John Carter of Mars – created “under license and with the cooperation of the estate
of Edgar Rice Burroughs”. (2d20)
Star Trek
Star Trek Adventures – the latest in a long line of official Star Trek games.
(2d20)
Prime Directive has a contract with Paramount, but can’t actually use the phrase
“Star Trek”. (OGL, GURPS)
Games listed above that directly emulate Star Trek include: Shock: Human Contact,
Star World
Star Wars
Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (WEG)(1987) – the original D6-based game, which in
2019 got a reprint
Star Wars Roleplaying Game(2012) (Fantasy Flight Games, 2012) – Uses a unique dice
system for determining outcome. The dice system was later adopted as the core for
the universal Genesys RPG.
Games listed above that directly emulate Star Wars include: Never Tell Me the Odds,
Rebel Scum, Scum and Villainy.
Stargate SG-1 Roleplaying Game – Free Beta rules available, full release in Summer
2021. (5e OGL)
The Starship Troopers line contained over a dozen titles, but is no longer
supported. (OGL)
The Terminator RPG – Kickstarter funded in 2021, quick start has been released.
(S5S)
Vorkosigan Saga offers the science-fiction stories of Lois McMaster Bujold. (GURPS)
Adaptive approaches
main page: Generic & Universal RPGs

Some generic systems offer sci-fi-specific variations or guidebooks:

Cortex Prime contains some serviceable advice for running "starship crew" style
games in that system. Cortex excels at ensemble mission-driven play and was used to
drive the Firefly and Serenity games, when they were still available.
D6 Space – uses the OpenD6 to approach many different types of science fiction.
This is the same system that powered West End’s Star Wars game.
Genesys – Grew out of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game by Fantasy Flight Games and
offers the Shadow of the Beanstalk setting book for cyberpunk adventures in the
Android setting.
GURPS
GURPS Cyberpunk – a line of books provide a toolkit for cyberpunk play in that
generic system. It also has a somewhat infamous history.
GURPS Space – a whole line of books for bringing GURPS to space.
GURPS Tech – a whole line of books for bringing technology to GURPS.
N.E.W. is the future-focused component of the What’s Old is New system (W.O.I.N), a
generic system.
The Science Fiction Companion tunes the Savage Worlds system for science fiction,
as do settings like The Last Parsec and Slipstream.
The Stars Are Fire – Extends and optimizes the Cypher System for science fiction.
Ultramodern5 – a toolbox which brings various genres of sci-fi to the 5e ruleset.
(5e OGL)
See Also
Space and Beyond – longer review/descriptions of sci-fi games.(ovelaps with this
page)
Non-Eurocentric Games & Settings
Anime-inspired list contains many sci-fi & Mecha-themed RPGs
Post-Apocalyptic – many of these have heavy sci-fi elements
-Punk – more obscure sci-fi adjecent genres like Biopunk, Solarpunk, Dieselpunk and
Atompunk
Urban Fantasy – many of these contain both fantasy and sci-fi elements
Superhero – many superhero games have a dash of mad scientist/sci-fi in them