Stars Without Numbers
I find myself startled about how much I like this Old School Revival game. What’s annoying is that they seem to have deliberately brought in elements to help onboard players from That Game, but it’s mostly those elements which I find frustrating.
The second biggest thing I look for in a game is ideas, and SWN has them. Humans expanded into the universe in a mystery, created an unmanageable empire, found alien races and did terrible things to psychics before they found a way to keep them alive. Then it all went horribly wrong, interstellar travel became tricky, colonies were lost, overrun or just had to find ways to survive. And now there is a new spring as communication and travel begins again.
This diverse environment lends itself to a wide variety of classic scifi tales, parallel environments to many TV and movie universes* and pretty much anything you want. SWN gives what I think are pretty solid structures for sectors of space and the worlds therein. Like all the rules, I find it tends to give you what’s important without weighing you down with unnecessary details. And after reading other overwritten games recently, this one is a doozy for hitting the right balance - again, not too much detail but enough to entice you in.
* Probably not Star Wars though
Other things they bring in with this light-but-interesting touch are equipment, spaceships, psychics, robots, full AIs, aliens and even space magic. It’s very strange to have an equipment list with lots of detail but comparatively short. And I think it’s deliberate: it gives you the flavour and examples, but allows plenty of room for groups to create their own elements. I want to give a particular nod to the space combat rules which allow yourself to cancel damage by instead taking on a crisis.
So it’s time to talk about the core rules. It uses D&D attributes to give a small bonus to things, then you get to pick skills and a couple of abilities using backgrounds and classes to help you there. You roll 2d6 + attribute + skill most of the time, but 1d20 for saves. There are no bennies and no margins of success and it uses levels and hit points. At the beginning you can be killed with a single shot, but that increases with your level; I imagine there are 2-3 games in one here, since at low levels you will seek to avoid combat completely, mid-levels when needed and at high levels you can take most things. I certainly like the low-level vibe where you want to avoid combats more than anything else.
At least they clarify that hit points are generally not wounds, just the energy you take to avoid damage.
I find it very difficult to reconcile this storyguide’s dream and the limitations of the system. It’s not terrible, but it’s very black and white which doesn’t really fit with the narrative tone of the rest. But if you can live with the system, then get this game, it’s great.
I am using a character I actually created for a two-shot (an excuse to put SWN on this list). Actual semi-sentient robots are quite rare. Anyway, at some point about ten years ago our rogue captain liberated/stole Steve away from his cushy job as an accountant at the Registraton Of Malevolent Psychics. It hasn’t stopped complaining about it since, although it has also never left the crew despite many opportunities. As well as being the ship’s logistics “expert”, Steve has acquired data on hacking and basic ship’s maintenance. However the fact that they keep missing their six month routine service (due to lack of funds) keeps the potholes growing and Steve exasperated.
Based on random rolling and changing something to positive, Steve has small bonuses to Constitution and Intelligence. I chose Background “Administrator” which gives it the skill Administer and, more randomly, Talk and double Connect. It is clearly not a Warrior or Psychic so is an “Expert”. Experts get to reroll a lot outside of combat, and also get an extra Focus (special ability). Being a robot (or alien, or AI or etc) is just a matter of taking an appropriate Focus, which is a beautifully elegant and pretty balanced solution. So it takes that and Hacker.
Tidying up gives 5 hit points and standard saves. Equipment is available in packages for speed so Steve gets a modified hacker package.
Character creation is very quick. Even psychics don’t have to worry too much, the power lists are very short and grokkable.
Steve's character sheet
... and some extra equipment.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226996/Stars-Without-Number-Revised-Edition?manufacturers_id=3482