Looking to recreate the feel of Firefly, The Outer Worlds, The Expanse, or similar, in a ttrpg that is somewhat leaning to the hard sci fi side. Any thoughts?
I’ve been poking Traveller but it’s hard to tell what the definitive versions are. Also Stars Without Number looks interesting.
I’m particularly looking for ship based stuff – where the ship is statted and you can have ship to ship combat.
I’ve played a Fate game set in the Traveler universe with some of the GMs tweaks sprinkled in. It’s awesome.
Using extras for certain types of equipment (like power armor); weapon damage rating; scale… You can have a pretty realistic and complete system while still maintaining the narrative focus of Fate.
Of course the more options you add, the crunchier it gets, but you don’t need a lot and some things, like scale, only matter if you have a difference of scale at play (say a fighter vs a destroyer).