Science Fiction Fate Games

I declare the breakaway Galactic Fate Corps Republic!&nbsp; (for fans who like SF particularly) If you are specifically a SF fan, what Fate Core games do you like?&nbsp; The Fate Core System Reference Document tracks all existing products, at the bottom of this page: <a href="https://fate-srd.com/" rel="nofollow">https://fate-srd.com/</a> Some world booklets are Andromeda (human colony-ships get to the Andromeda Galaxy), Uranium Chef (a cooking competition in the far-future), and Ghost Planets (explorers find artefacts of a dead alien civilization in many places). But there are 3rd-party companies which have made some bigger SF games: -- Baroque Space Opera by Mark Kowaliszyn:&nbsp; a far-future but corrupt society similar to Dune, LEXX or The Metabarons. The Tyrant has ruled for 149,000 years and has elevated some humans to modified Pharisto forms to rule as gods in 13 Houses (each concerned with a particular aspect of trade and commerce). There is constant intrigue because the Tyrant forbids direct conflict. It is mostly setting, with a description of some Fate Core rules modifications. Faster-than-light travel, genetic and resurrection technology, nanomachines, psionics, automata, clans of super-soldiers out of favour with the regime, aliens, etc. -- Mindjammer (Modiphius Games): Another far-future game in a giant-sized book where the Commonality of Man consists of trans-humans who have discovered lesser civilizations and forgotten star colonies of ordinary humans, and pressures them to integrate, not without stress to the Commonality itself.&nbsp; This game has ample supplements too, and a book for use with Traveller (Mongoose 2nd-ed.) rules too. -- Bulldogs! (Galileo Games): Working stiffs down on their luck sign up with TransGalaxy Corporation for 5 years to join the crew of rust-bucket ships to haul the Class D cargo no one else wants, to places no one else wants to go. There are several stress-tracks in the rules to promote a more rock-'em, sock-'em action. Weapons and starships are scaled and the bigger ones can bypass the smaller damage stress-tracks. -- Diaspora (VSCA Inc.): Civilization has risen and fallen on star-systems so often that the most dangerous weapons might actually be developed by...archeologists. This game uses the older FATE 3rd-edition rules, and so there are more Skills and Aspects to keep track of on your sheet. It has mini-games with ample rules for Combat, Platoon Combat, Starship Combat and Social Combat. All of it is readable for free in a system reference document: <a href="http://www.vsca.ca/Diaspora/diaspora-srd.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.vsca.ca/Diaspora/diaspora-srd.html</a>

I love the concept of Diaspora, and own 3 copies of it. Unfortunately the 3rd edition rules are clunky. It's so clunky it feels 'rules heavy.' If I ever played/GMed it again, I'd use the Core or even Accelerated Rules. The only part I'd integrate in is the Cluster building from Diaspora.&nbsp;

Mindjammer all the way!

refiningfusion said: I love the concept of Diaspora, and own 3 copies of it. Unfortunately the 3rd edition rules are clunky. It's so clunky it feels 'rules heavy.' If I ever played/GMed it again, I'd use the Core or even Accelerated Rules. The only part I'd integrate in is the Cluster building from Diaspora.&nbsp; I have started quite a few unfinished game tables on Roll20 for certain games.&nbsp; DIASPORA is beautifully written but uses an older edition:&nbsp; FATE 3rd-edition.&nbsp; It may be more familiar to those who have played THE DRESDEN FILES.&nbsp; Major differences are: --Characters can have up to 10 Aspects , which do not necessarily confer both advantages and drawbacks at the same time. (Unlike Fate Core's limit of 5 Aspects which are positive and negative at the same time). --There are about 34 Skills and characters choose a pyramid of 15 (highest one is +5, the lowest five are +1 each). If you have not put the appropriate Skill for an action into your pyramid, you have to roll at an unskilled&nbsp;penalty of -1 (not 0). --As far as I know (AFAIK), you can swap Skill levels&nbsp;around but there doesn't seem to be a way to make a net increase in a Skill. --There are no Boosts, but there is Spin (+1 on a subsequent roll by you, or an ally, for every 3 points over the target roll you have succeeded by, i.e. every 3 Shifts). -- Stress tracks are Health, Composure and Wealth, and start with 2 boxes each, but certain skills may increase the number at the rate of one extra box for every 1 or 2 added levels of Skill (3 for Skill 1-2, 4 for Skill 3-4, 5 for Skill 5-6, etc.) But unlike Fate Core, Shifts of damage marks a Stress box and ALL Stress boxes below it. If a Stress box is occupied you must go to one higher. If there are no unoccupied Stress boxes left in the Health or Composure track, you are Taken Out! You may absorb some Stress shifts with 3 Consequences , but they are Mild (1), Moderate (2) and Severe (4), not 2-4-6 as in Fate Core. It is filling up all Stress, not all Consequences, that Takes You Out in Diaspora. So get some space-armour! -- Spaceships have 5 Aspects, and travel between star-systems in the same cluster takes several days to go to a suitable Slipstream point, above and below a star, at right angles to the orbital plane. A big concern with spaceships is points of "Heat" generated by the engines which must be dissipated into space. Jumping along the Slipstream, evasive maneuvers and using ship weapons can generate considerable Heat. A spaceship is not at its best after Jumping. --Persuasion and political maneuvering is handled in a visible way, with a Social Combat diagram . Social Combat involves expending effort to "move" to the location of an opposing character or faction and then "moving them across" to your point of view. Going past certain boundaries requires extra effort represented by a "pass value" (pass values are not used in Fate Core). You expend your Aspects and resources to persuade others, and can in turn be blocked by the resources of opposing factions. You might succeed with some but have no effect or even repel others. The public can view the Handouts area for my potential Diaspora game, but since the public&nbsp;can't zoom like players can, some things might seem too small.&nbsp; You can access the System Reference Document anyway. <a href="https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/journal/1472843" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/journal/1472843</a>

I ran a couple game that were a hybrid of FATE Core and Diaspora for using a skill set midway between Core and Diaspora. I was pretty happy with how well it worked. But even if you use fate core, I would suggest in the strongest terms that you lift space combat without too many alterations. For a very abstract system, it works very well.

The Space Combat rules from Diaspora can be downloaded separately.&nbsp; But they presume the slow travel to a Slipstream point that takes days, and then generation of waste "heat" during a Jump that has to be dissipated and managed when you arrive.&nbsp; Ships like to ambush you when you are "hottest", and that makes interstellar invasions difficult.&nbsp; Of course, that may not be a congenial concept for many Fate Core games. <a href="http://www.vsca.ca/Diaspora/Space%20combat%20demo" rel="nofollow">http://www.vsca.ca/Diaspora/Space%20combat%20demo</a>.... Also, when a ship is hit, all characters must suddenly lurch to the left, then to the right...&nbsp;&nbsp; :-)

Good news on the DIASPORA front.&nbsp; Brad Murray mentions he may issue an edition conforming to Fate Core:&nbsp; 5 Aspects and a cap of 4 for the Skill Pyramid.&nbsp; He mentioned they may drop Platoon scale rules (perhaps offering it as a supplemental option) and rewrite Social Combat.

Did anyone take Transhumanity's Fate for a spin? I'm really interested in the setting, but the concept of GMing it seems a bit daunting.