Help me Veeky Forums your my only hope
Is there any tabletop rpg that blends science fiction and fantasy elements together? I have a setting for a game that I would really like to try and run, but I have no idea what system to use. I'm looking for something that seemlessly blends the melee action and magic of fantasy rpgs with the gunfighting and technology of science fiction, I can better describe the setting if anyone is interested but pic related gives a good idea of what I'm looking for
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Bumping with sci fi characters
Rifts might work. Maybe Shadowrun. And I'm pretty sure the guys over at Absolute Tabletop are releasing a science fantasy setting for D&D 5e called Harbringer.
You could try shadowrun. Or numenera. Or any of the warhammer 40k. Or any of the star wars rpg. Or gurps, since you already have a setting in mind.
Savage worlds has most of the tools for science fantasy, I've used it for it myself.
Main balancing point would be difficulties around auto-firing weapons, unless you make it super easy to stack toughness which brings its own problems.
Is shadowrun compatible with high magic? My setting revolves around science as the source of magic and from what I've seen shadowrun is limited to pretty simple in terms of spellcasting, "mages" in my setting can garner some pretty wild abilities and I don't want to have to downplay that
How does combat work in savage lands? I'm not familiar, but I've considered creating my own combat system that would balance automatic and high power weapons, but it is very math intensive and I don't want my pcs losing interest while we calculate whether or not his burst of laser fire hit the fleeing monster
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Oh noes, I'm out of containment.
GURPS. Head over to GURPSGEN and the first post picture is a PDF with a link to our repository. We're pretty friendly, and even that mean person will only insult you while helping you.
Anyways. GURPS is crunchy, and it can be a bit hard to get a grasp of if your head doesn't like the bend of it.
There's the old 3E Technomancer, which is The Magic Comes Back with the Trinity Event (Nuke Test). ANd has all sorts of spells in it about magic involving itself in tech and visa versa--Industrial Enchantment and Necromancy to bring back dead TV shows (tune to a dead channel, cast the spell, if it's not currently in reruns you get your show)
Anyways, I'm suggesting it because I'm out of containment, but also because of this post here: We have a whole book (Thaumathurgy) which is about designing magic systems, so you can do your tech fueled magic system, and stuff.
What kind of magic are we talking about? Can a wizard blow up a house with a massive fireball, teleport from one city to another, or fly through the sky?
Wow, I downloaded the thaumatology book, and even just skimming it seems to have a bunch if not all of what I want, are there any books based on combat system design? you've been a big help, thanks guy
So how magic works in my setting is that humanity has finally discovered the grand unified theory and through derivations of that, physicists, engineers, chemists etc can manipulate and alter the laws of physics. This allowed humanity to take to the stars and become a force in the galaxy. Scientists can warp gravity, imbue physical objects with properties that would otherwise defy physics, bend/call upon the elements, or genetically alter people/animals. So the scope of "magic" is limited only by the skill and intellect of the caster
So it's a high-magic space opera setting? That puts it beyond the scope of several suggestions. For the kind of power levels you're describing, I'd suggest Mage: the Ascension; it's got a magic system that's specifically designed for the "you are capable of anything as long as you can understand what you're doing" style of magic. You could also look into a superhero system; those tend to have rules for high-powered "generic" effects which can be customized to fit whatever concept you have in mind.
How much is an individual magician capable of? For example, would the average mage be able to conjure fire and water, create illusions, and transform into animals, or would he have to specialize in one specific type of magic to be effective?
What about non-mage characters? What sort of tech will they be expected to wield?
What other forces are present in the galaxy? What alien races are there, and how do they handle things?
Each "magician" is limited to a field of study, for example an engineer would study and understand how machines work in the universe, he would make steel stronger, engines more efficient, imbue a sword with magical properties, but wouldn't be able to conjure a fireball or levitate, whereas a physicist would be able to alter gravity (telekinesis) or create a singularity, but would be unable to make a potion or build a warp drive. Non magic characters have access to a wide variety of magical items (armor, weapons, ships) but still need to understand how to operate them. Aliens all have the same magical capacities, but may not consider it science.
No problem boss. Even if you don't use GURPS as your system, it's a Generally Useful Role Playing Supplement.
And what do you mean by combat system design?
For combat styles there's the Martial Arts supplement.
But for changing how the system works....
Like, GURPS is HEAVILY simulationist, down to the stats, so trying to divorce from that is tricky as fuck.
As a result of being simulationist it's also really really deadly, you know, like real life is.
However, speaking as someone who has been playing with GURPS for more than a decade you can weld a new system on top of the basic one, and play around, so long as you keep to one second steps.
Here's combat examples from GURPS
Keep in mind I haven't extensively play tested this, but here's an alternat version I cooked up a while ago.
Players are moving around a 'circle' of 16 spots, they can move 1 forward for every .25 to their speed (normal person has speed 5, average combatant is 6-7)
Once they complete their circle they get actions equal to 1/2 their speed rounded down, but not all at once (usually).
So Bob completes his circuit and has 3 actions because he has speed 6.50. He readies his axe because it was unbalanced from his last swing.
Everyone moves forward on the wheel, this isn't a hassle and so goes fast.
Bob closes the distance
Everyone moves, George completes his circuit, he has 2 actions because his speed if 5.25. He can do a flying tackle of George and Renegade Interrupt.
Roll the combat. Bob and George start the circuit again.
Oh hey, check out the Powers and Supers books then!
Take mage, modify spheres to fit?
Ok, I think we are on the same page, I want my combat to be based on "action points" similar to what you described, but movement and attacks and abilities all draw from the same pool, where each character has a set number of ap per round, so if a warrior has 10 ap at the beginning of his turn he could A. Move 6 units and swing his 2 ap sword twice
B. Fire his 8 ap cannon once and move 2 units
C. Use an ability to buff defense for 4 ap, move 4 units and attack once with his sword
can GURPS accomdate this, or am I on my own?
>can GURPS accomdate this, or am I on my own?
*bites lip*
Maybe. In this example GURPS basically considers everything to take all your action points unless otherwise specified.
I suspect that GURPS would take rather well to this, Basic Speed being what it is and Double Attacks being a thing...
Keep in mind this will get REALLY DEADLY REALLY FAST. GURPS is famous for being deadly.
I would limit how many actions you can do to either speed or skill levels or both--So someone with Speed 5 can't shoot 5 times with a 1ap gun unless they have the skill to back it up. Or maybe just limit it to 2 actions, which GURPS can more than compensate for as it's in the system already.
Penalties, though not nearly as bad as GURPS does, for moving and attacking, or maybe needing to spend an extra AP to steady yourself.
I have a weak character, 8 ST when 10 is average. With a cutlass I am going to be doing 1-4 cutting damage when I hit. Assuming there's no armor? Cutting damage has a 1.5 multiplier. 2 damage turns to 3, 4 damage turns to 6.
Average HP is 10. I can kill someone in two hits
You make a good point, and other than the point of someone attacking 5 times in a turn, I've tried to factor in penalties for accuracy after movement or taking fire while charging with a melee weapon. The closest I've personally seen to what I'm trying to accomplish is the combat in the xcom video game series, mostly enemy within and xcom2. Weapons have a set damage spectrum and depending on the accuracy of your hit, your character will deal damage higher or lower on the scale. Then your opponent will, based on his armor and abilities, mitigate a certain amount of that damage based on his defensive roll. So if your pc charged with his cutlass and hit, the enemy would be able to either dodge or deflect a certain amount of that damage, creating more back and forth fighting while still hopefully remaining balanced. I guess I should explain that all attack and defense rolls are so far based on a D10 and a percentile die, to give a number out of 100, which accounts for accuracy and damage in the same roll
Okay then, be careful then with the GURPS values since the skills are based on 3d6.
Plenty of luck, and feel free to mine GURPS for data