In a nutshell, Stars Without Numbers is old school D&D rules meets Traveller. It's nifty, if this is all you've ever wanted, but isn't really original enough to inspire gamers brought up on other games. It doesn't offer anything new.
Traveller is one of the oldest science fiction roleplaying games, and has a default setting that is even older. As such, there is a lot of cumulative depth that has been developed over the years. The current version of the rules (Mongoose Traveller 2nd edition) is very accessible, however, and allows new players to approach the game without a heavy load of baggage. Anybody who has seen an episode of Firefly, or any other typical space travelling fiction, will immediately understand the tropes. From the basis of its simple system, lots of interesting sci-fi ideas can be developed and there is a lot of material to use as inspiration.
Thanks to various reference materials over the years, and numerous updates, it is possible to run almost any science fiction setting you want, from 1970's space opera, to cyberpunk and transhuman games (thanks to settings like Mindjammer and the addition of cybernetics in recent editions).
Traveller was, arguably, the original 'tool box' game, utilizing tables, dicerolling and design judgment, to generate things such as aliens, planets, star systems, economies, weapons, vehicles, spacecraft and characters. Character generation is a unique experience of taking risks to develop a lifepath history through career development. A bad roll could lead to unfortunate events, injury, prison or even death, while good rolls can lead to boons in skills, resources, contacts and reputation. It's actually fun to generate characters before you even begin play.
It's 1970's sci-fi. So some unexpected modern motifs aren't well represented (transhumanism, wireless tech, internet, etc). There are, in modern editions of the game, plenty of examples of these, however.
Starship combat can be a bear in many games. The current incarnation of Traveller has reduced it to a simple, fast, and easy to use game within the game that makes for fun and realistic (enough) game play that doesn't take away from the experience. The vehicle combat system and other rules subsystems work equally well. None are perfect but they enhance the flow of a good game which is what most players want more than anything.
Thanks to various reference materials over the years, and numerous updates, it is possible to run almost any science fiction setting you want, from 1970's space opera, to cyberpunk and transhuman games (thanks to settings like Mindjammer and the addition of cybernetics in recent editions)
With the Science Fiction Companion, Interface Zero, The Last Parsec, Nova Praxis, and others, Science Fiction is a well supported genre for Savage Worlds.
Players coming from Traveler or D6 System might find the fast and loose "3 hits and your out" wounds system in Savage Worlds unusual, and potentially not to their liking.
Paranoia offers a different experience to a typical roleplaying game, and tends to lead to characters suffering multiple deaths (they have 6 clones = 'lives'). While it doesn't lend itself well to long campaigns, it has a tight scenario-design formula, which makes running games off the cuff quite easy for the referee. Players don't normally need much encouragement to get into the spirit of the game - making it ideal for a short notice, one shot game.
This game is unique without being unacceptable. The quickstart i played with a number of people and since the system is easy to grasp it was simple for players to jump in and get started using the premades. Looking into creating our own characters you still have a depth of complexity for how you can create your character while still being approachable if you just want to have a character made for you. To comment on two of the Cons i see people posting first "Mental Illness" not being treated well i don't see this issue in the game. Maybe they are talking about the system where you can get mental trauma for things and that it is a mechanical part, really that is pretty standard in alot of these styles of games and i have seen them be used for good and for ill. On the "Worldview" one....well i mean this is a Transhumanism and deeply cyberpunk influenced game so its going to have that "Corporations are evil and only care about money, and not about human rights" Ideology. That can be changed if you don't like it, but that is one of the standard pillars of any cyberpunk genre.
The setting, like everything about Eclipse Phase, is great.
It has depth and scope, offering a huge array of themes and prospects for adventure, though underlying it all is a noir, tragic feeling, both refined and raw. There´s no subterfuge or apologies. The world is violent, it´s deadly, it´s a tragic affair but one the beckons living. There´s a universe out there to discover but you have to look no further than your own habitat to find both light and darkness, and most of all shadow.
This game doesn't use the regular dice so common in most RPGs, but requires the use of a special set of dice that only Fantasy Flight sells. It's kinda pricey, and it takes some getting used to the weird symbols on the dice. There is a die roller app.
But it's worth mentioning that the dice comes with any of the Beginner Box Sets or Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force and Destiny. Also, there are downloadable sticker sheets if you want to save the money but spend time putting them onto the correct sided die.
A lot of redundant text in the there "corebooks". The rest of the subgames lines are similar structured with in depth class type rule books. Patterns of the lines are very similar: Core book, beginner box, class types expansions and adventures books. You can mix the variants. Rules are compatible.
Multiple, nearly redundant corebooks. Supplements are high on price and low on content. It even has custom dice. Fans should be able to apply for a second mortgage at the fantasy flight website.
This version of the game does not include Jedi or Sith as player characters. You'll need Star Wars: Force and Destiny for that - which is a separate (but compatible) game.
The die roll mechanic leads to more than just a simple success and failure. The result often requires positive and negative side effects; sometimes dramatic ones! Very rewarding with a GM who's good at making stuff up on the spot.
Who doesn't love Star Wars with its scoundrels and rebels and bounty hunters? This version of the game specifically aims at the seedier side of the Star Wars setting. Other products focus more on the Rebels versus The Empire, or on Jedi and Sith.
While Fantasy Flight has added a few digitally distributed (PDF) resources that are all free - such as character sheets, pre-generated characters and campaigns - there are no official digital versions available for any of their print materials.
Because the Star Wars RPG focuses more on story and role play and less on combat, maps and hard stats, it is easier to play online using Voice Software like Skype, Google Hangouts or Discord. There are also online platforms such as Roll20 that allow for digital dice rolls and resources.
The Star Wars RPG's point-buy system allows characters to easily gain skills outside their career while still making each build feel unique. Focused builds are rewarded, but, in the narrative system, min/maxed characters are no more overpowered than their (equally rewarded) all-around counterparts. Players can easily create a bounty hunter, ambassador, or mystic, or even all of them in one character. Rigid classes ("I am a cleric") are a thing of the past. Your character is no longer defined by such constraining borders—he is what you want him to be. The level-less system places literal millions of possibilities at your fingertips.
The Star Wars Universe is arguably one of the largest and most beloved in the world, and this RPG captures it's depth and diversity very well. Players can choose from hundred of class and specialization combinations for creating unique characters and stories set in classic Star Wars settings, or create entirely new worlds and stories.
Rather than focus on combat encounters and character stats, Fantasy Flight Games system allows the group to focus on telling a great Star Wars story. The players and the GM alike are major contributors due to FFG's unique system and dice mechanics.
Everybody knows Star Wars, and quite a lot of people really love it. However, the license has shifted hands several times over the years, and many people still prefer the classic ruleset which was largely flawless and meshed perfectly with the tone of the original movies. Even Fantasy Flight Games acknowledged this, by reissuing a 30th Anniversary slipcase of the original game.
It's just terribly reskinned 5E. The classes are literally just 5E classes with the serial numbers filed off and a scifi paintjob. The Engineer, for example, is just a cleric in disguise. There's no undead in space, so they turn robots instead. There's a space warlock, a space ranger, a space paladin, a space fighter, a space wizard etc.
The rules are familiar enough that they don’t get in the way like they do with some other sci-fi rules systems. Space combat seems to flow better than other systems. The setting presented seems much like the mass effect universe prior to reapers.
It's unfortunate, but characters are forced to optimize to be viable in combat. This was very evident at the conclusion of the Dead Suns Adventure Path, part 4, which has an adversary so difficult to hit, it was ridiculous. Combats take excessively long and a Vesk unarmed soldier with max Strength is very broken.
There is a universal roll of using a character's appropriate Stat, a Skill related to that stat and to the action needed, and an exploding d10 die (if you roll a 10, you will start to have adequate "critical hit" thrills by rolling some more, but if you roll a 1 that is a potentially dangerous Fumble on the Fumble Chart, 60% of the time).
With its system for creating character traits and backstory, CB2020 inspires players to build well-rounded characters with adventure seeds built directly into their histories. Skill-checks are based on a D10 roles plus attribute and skill values against difficulty levels, and combat tends to be quick and dirty, keeping the focus on the action and allowing for cinematic gameplay.
Character background, relationships, and motivations are a fun minigame that's part of character creation, like Traveller or SWN's lifepath system but simplified.
Netrunning can easily take the focus away from the party and onto the single netrunner during combat and other encouters for too long sometimes. This seems to also be a problem in other cyberpunk games, like Shadowrun, so Cyberpunk 2020 isn't unique in this regard.
Set in a time that is almost upon us, the 1980s vision of the dark future can seem anachronistic, and it may require serious suspension of disbelief for anyone who did not grow up with the genre. Imagine cassette tapes were still around, mobile phones were still the size of a brick, and wifi was rare and expensive.
The Universe of Warhammer 40K is very rich in Lore, and Dark Heresy has a very detailed Point-Buy system with expansions such as Ascension in order to allow characters to level-up past the concepts of the base game, into things like Sisters of Battle, Vindicare Assassins, or even Inquisitors themselves.
Character Creation can be very difficult for someone who is not used to RPGs, especially Percentile-based RPGs, to understand, and the setting as a whole tends to lend to unforgiving interpretations of the rules, which can be frustrating for some players.
Percentile dice are the most frustrating task resolution mechanic out there. Most systems that use them, and DH is no exception, give you incredibly low odds to succeed at basic tasks with a newly create character. The thing your character is supposedly good at will probably only have a 40-45% chance of succeeding, with AT MOST +20% for a very easy task. You can just not bother rolling for the things you're not so good at.
The FFRPGs are known for being subfaction specific, which is both good and bad. Sadly, FFRPG never really put out a series which allows players to do Xenos/nonhumans really well.
The lion's share of the work in GURPS is front-loaded: characters are built on points, pieced together with attributes, advantages, disadvantages, quirks, skills, powers, spells, cybernetics, and whatever else your game requires. Expect to spend easily an hour or more creating your character.
GURPS sourcebooks are famous for being comprehensive guides to the settings/genres they describe, to the degree that even people who don't play GURPS find them useful.
Percentile combat-system is based on a Base Skill % + 10%/Level of Skill. Skill levels are from 1-6. Combat occurs in six-second turns. Modifiers for melee, ranged, vehicle and aerial combat are added to the base %'s. Rolls of 01-05 are automatic successes, 01-02 in addition are "Knockouts". But rolls of 96-00 are Failures no matter how good you may become.
Mindjammer Press is constantly publishing new material, but as of the time of writing this, the source material out now is still quite limited. Especially compared to the more established systems.