LFG to discuss a homebrew sci fi space western....?

Joss Weeden anybody? haha So, let's cut to the chase. I'm a busy man, but with a mostly light Saturday night. *sometimes* I do have people over my house to actually game in real life (Scandal!) but generally Saturdays would be when this game would be. I operate off of eastern timezone. I prefer, because I would have sleeping children late at night, that I only use text, but feel free to use voice. I can still hear you. Alright-- the game. Here's what I'm thinking: Backstory... I became interested in Shadowrun when I bought a tablet and a friend of mine turned me to a XCOM variant called Shadowrun Returns. Loved the first installment, never bought the next one for some reason- but what I DID like, was the feel and the atmosphere of the genre. The Sin City sort of grit to it, you know? Pair that with spaceflight and different planets of Firefly and we might be looking at something dark and full of promise right? I don't like most systems I've seen out there for the type of combat I'd be looking for. But here's what I DO know. I think I want to try to homebrew pathfinder D20 into a modern sci-fi setting. Obviously we'd have to look at ranged combat and try to eat that nutshell down to it's core. A gritty, nobody's a hero, but everybody's got an angle, kind of game. Scoundrels and rogues rule the streets and the more honor you have the brighter the target on your back. Think Goblins with hand-grenades, and orcs with machetes, kids! Shadowrun meets pathfinder D20 in 2080 or so. Only a few planets, nothing BIG. All races other than humans are treated as alien species sort of thing. So they have home planets. But I'm open to suggestions before we kick this thing off. I will take rampant replies as enthusiasm, and I will be checking back on this throughout the day (it is currently 2:00 AM ish, Sunday). Feel free to discuss. Seriously, don't wait around for me to chime in. I want to see what we can come up with. Maybe we'll throw in some Star Wars D20 ranged stats in there? And the Magic system? sh*t, I don't know. I'm going to bed.

i say this a lot on the forums, but i really think you should think about one roll engine for this. the ORE system. other systems that could do waht you want very nicely, in order of my personal preference. RQ6 (runequest6) do not be fooled by it's commonplace appearance, like so many other things this lamp is more than what it seems. seriously though, it comes with a fantasy setting attached, but it's built as a universal rules engine specifically with this kind of gameplay in mind. the Serenity game system. it's actually not bad, and comes with the world of firefly fully stated for you. GURPS, it'll do pretty much anything, but it's very rules heavy. d6, there are a lot of variants, but i like Mini-six. the only downside is that combat can be really random. Fate. to me fate is just about as rules light as you can get and still have a system, i don't think this is what you are looking for, but it should b on the list anyway, because it's good. i would pick a system more robust, and able to handle modifications. d20 tends to fall apart rally fast.

It maybe a little crunch heavy but you might look at eclipse phase, more hard science then fantasy science but it does have a "psychic" powers thing in there. If I remember most if not all of the books are online for free. Great backstory and explores some interesting ideas about what it means to be human.

5E is an excellent, simplified, yet very powerful system to base your ground system off of. I think it was even designed so modules and homebrew rules could be added very, very easily, and doesn't have the million-or-so modifiers that Pathfinder has. Some stuff will have to be changed and added of course, but it'll be pretty straightforward. The DMG for 5E has rules on weapons and guns too, so that doesn't have to be directly homebrewed.

Well, here's the deal. I am familiar with pathfinder and 3.5 enough to where I feel comfortable moving and bending them to my whims. I feel like any other system I would need to play before I started creating something of my own. I do like GURPS as an idea, or a burning wheel variant. Or d6 in general as it gives more flexibility in rolling. But pathfinder and dnd 3.5 with guns just sounds so wrong it feels right!

I mean, think that I'm looking as a DM. As a DM, I need to KNOW what I can do and what my characters can do before we do things. You know? edit: I am looking at Savage Worlds from IO....... and I'm interested...