Favorite Dark Future Games

[fmitchell]

Yet another "favorite game" poll, this time for the "Dark Future" half of this board.

[fmitchell]

Argh, I forgot about the following games/subgenres:

• Conspiracy X and other "ten minutes into the future" conspiracy games
  
• Post-apocalyptic games like Tribe 8 or Daemornia. (Any examples without demons?)
  
• Angels-and-demons games like Armageddon and In Nomine

"Other" might be a popular choice ...

[Olothfaern]

...Shadowrun all day. All the dark future games are pretty dystopian, but at least it was feasible to retire to the good life in Shadowrun.

[Mulsiphix]

I've gotta go with Cyberpunk. There is just something about cyberpunk storylines that make the future sexy in a gritty "Judge Dredd", "Snatcher (SegaCD anybody?), and Hell (3DO anybody?) kind of way.

[fmitchell]

I don't think I've ever played in a "Dark Future" campaign, per se. I own GURPS Cthulhupunk, GURPS Voodoo, and GURPS Cyberpunk, and used to own an old edition of Shadowrun, but never got to use any of them.

Stuff I'd like to try, though, include:

An occult future game. Shadowrun had elves, orcs, and other classic fantasy trappings: if you stripped out the Tolkien races and just went with spirits and urban monsters, I'd be more interested. Something more like GURPS Voodoo or a more Clive Barker-ish GURPS Cthulhupunk ... maybe mix in creatures from The Book of Unremitting Horror.

A post-apocalyptic world played straight: no zombies or demons, just people trying to survive after the catastrophic collapse of human civilization. Some are trying to found a new civilization, others see no future and pillage just to survive one more day. Something like The Postman (book, please), Mad Max, or A Canticle for Leibowitz.

A true dystopian future ... although maybe that would be too much like present day to actually be fun.

A secret war, set "ten minutes into the future", between some alien or supernatural threat and self-appointed human or superhuman guardians of mankind. Less of a grab-bag like X-Files or Men in Black, more the BBC miniseries Ultraviolet or, well, The World of Darkness.

[Mulsiphix]

Clive Barker-ish? I would kill to play something clive barker-ish. Or even Dean Koontz-ish reminiscent of Phantoms. Could you imagine a HellRaiser RPG? Friggin SWEEEET!

[MortonStromgal]

Ok I voted for SLA but other than initiative I hate the mechanics, but as a setting its my favorite.

[Drohem]

hehe..with my X-Mas cash I picked up copy of A/State by Contested Ground Studios; which is a RPG company out of Scotland.

I am pretty damn intrigued by the setting and the system.

The setting takes place within a sprawling metropolis. It's not quite clear exactly what happened to the city; either a nuclear holocaust or the city shifted planes of extistence. There is some kind of barrier that prevents the inhabitants from leaving the city; no one has left and come back alive. There is a race that is either ghostly or phase-shifters that live in the city as well; and there is an uneasy balance there.

The mechanics are skill-based percentile with point-buy for character creation.

I really would like to play this game someday.

They have a free A/State Lite version for download at their website. Check it out:

http://www.contestedground.co.uk/astlite.html

[Mulsiphix]

Drohem you buy more systems than I can recall which is ten kinds of awesome. When I grow up I want to be just like you

[Drohem]

Drohem you buy more systems than I can recall which is ten kinds of awesome. When I grow up I want to be just like you

Well, I came to terms with the fact that I am a RPG geek/nerd/dweeb/whatever a long time ago, and that this is my chosen hobby and creative outlet.

My philosophy is that everyone is a nerd/geek about their chosen hobby. If you talk to anyone who is really into needlepoint, it would sound just like a gamer talking about their hobby; they'd use terms you didn't understand, they'd be passionate about it, and you just won't get it like they do.

Also, I am bit complusive and used to collect everything. Over the years I have reduced my collecting to just table-top RPGs. I used to collect dice, minatures, books, weapons, pens, pencils, vinyl, cassettes, DVDs, etc. Now, I am married and have to two children. My wife has accepted my RPG collecting (it was part of the package deal ), but I just can't add anything else anymore.

[boulet]

I like WoD but I can hardly assimilate it to "dark future". It's an alternative dark "now" they describe in these books, not really a future.

[fmitchell]

I like WoD but I can hardly assimilate it to "dark future". It's an alternative dark "now" they describe in these books, not really a future.

As originally written, but I think someone on the boards said he used WoD to play a near-future campaign. It's not much of a stretch, especially if you're going only 10-20 years into the future: new toys, maybe ubiquitous computing or some other "next big thing". Or, as in Monte Cook's vision, the world might have gone backwards due to some catastrophic event.

[Drohem]

And certainly with NWoD you can play mortals now in the near dark future.

[Mulsiphix]

nWOD is your GURPS? You mean you create worlds for your nWOD characters to play in or?

[fmitchell]

The New World of Darkness system is close to being a generic system, on a par with Basic Roleplaying, Omni System, Unisystem, etc. It's not my cup of tea, but it's certainly serviceable.

The problems I see with using nWoD as a generic system revolve around finding material for other genres. GURPS has that in spades, the new Basic Roleplaying will supplement that lack (if you can't scare up Worlds of Wonder or another out-of-print Chaosium release in the relevant genre), and most of the others have worldbooks in multiple genres. To date, White Wolf has concentrated on modern horror/gothic, with the occasional excursion into the Middle Ages (or, recently, Rome).

Specific holes I can see:

• A catalog of futuristic gear.
• Spaceship and starship rules. (Are there even rules for modern/historical vehicles?)
• Rules for historic/modern military equipment, if you need that sort of thing.
• A traditional fantasy magic system, where wizards don't totally dominate mortals (that is, not Mage).
• Nonhuman creatures that aren't spirits, vampires, werewolves, Scions, Prometheans, or Changelings ... for example aliens and stock fantasy "races"/species.
• Superpowers (although I haven't read anything in the Scion series)

Yes, you can always borrow from GURPS and other games, but it does seem like more work for the GM than picking a system geared to a genre, or systems with support for multi-genre play.