Been thinking on a game that would take place, at least initially in a modern setting. And could possibly evolve into a game in a random alternate future. Question is does anyone have any good suggestions on a rules system? Preferably something lite on rules and easy for anyone to pick up.

If you are familiar with DnD, 3.5 especially, you could use D20 modern. It has a lot to offer for many modern campaign types. You wouldn't have to create much and its is easy to get.

I doubt D20 modern fits most definitions of rules lite, if you wanted to stick with a familiar D&D style there are several 5e versions that can do modern of future.

More tailored to the future style games are usually complex or uncommon enough that most people don't know them but a few that work well in an open style are Stars Without Number, The Expanse, Cypher, and Savage Worlds.

GURPS is as rules lite as you want it to be.

AGE system, particularly Modern, but Fantasy's nice for a Steampunk alternate future. Modern's got a fairly light core book, and Campaigns and Threefold offer valuable advice for future earths, alternate earths, horror, fantasy, cybernetics, lower end supers.

Thanks for all the input. A little about the group of players may have helped, aside from myself and one other old timer, we have four others. One is a total newbie having only recently started playing (D&D 5th Edition only). The other three have played 5e for a couple years and a small bit of a one shot using GURPS, which from what I have been told did not go well.

May do as some of you mentioned and look into the 5e modern stuff. Personally I would like to give a GURPS game a try, if I can just talk them into it. Savage Worlds I have played but never ran, as for the others I have no experience with them, which could be a good thing the whole group could learn the rule together. Guess I'll give them some options and see how things go.

Again thanks for all the suggestions.

My recommendation if you go this route, start with either GURPS Lite and one of the setting series* or Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game.  Add in other rules as you and your group master things.  And check out the GURPs community here and at sjgames.com, both are always willing to pitch in with advice and answer questions.


[EDIT] Somehow I forgot to note the *...

* After the End which is running games in the post-apoc; Monster Hunters which emulating Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Monster Hunters International and the Dresdenverse style modern wainscott fantasy; all of which are simple to jump into... then there is Dungeon Fantasy (with 20+ books so has a bit more of a "jumping into" cost); Reign of Steel which is an update to the 3e RoS, so there's a bit of a complication cost (it's set in the future after the robot uprising destroys most humanity); then there are the two sci-fi space settings Traveller and Trans-Human Space, which no lie, serious complexity involved with number of supplements and the 3e-4e conversions and heavy reliance on 3e supplements; then there are even more disturbing settings, things of which lay best undisturbed and unnamed such as The Madness Dossier (alternate reality weirdness horror that makes the Mythos look tame).
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This message was last edited by the user at 18:52, Sat 02 Nov 2019.

GURPS is a great suggestion - I agree with evileeyore in suggesting you begin with GURPS Lite. The rules look very intimidating at first glance, but it's a pretty modular system and most of the rules aren't necessary to run the game (most of it is "roll 3d6 under your skill rating to succeed") and the complexity is mostly front-loaded. Character creation will be the most time-consuming part, between point-buy and the staggering amount of options your players will have for advantages, disadvantages, skills, and so on. Once you've all finished character creation, the game runs easily and you can add on complexity as you like, in what areas you like, like adding seasoning to a meal.

Where GURPS has a bit more of a difficult time is the further into the future you want to go. The rules have (at least in 3rd edition) a reputation for breaking down a bit once you get into superpowers or ultra-tech, but again, I think it's manageable if you intend for your game to be mostly down-to-earth in terms of how much punishment your characters can take.

One of the things I most like about GURPS is that a character can be killed by getting hit in the head with a 2x4 plank of wood. I've used it successfully for years for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Lord of the Rings-style fantasy, and modern-day police and psychic adventures. Not to mention the wealth of worldbooks available in 3rd and 4th edition are some of the best resources in the industry.

The other thing you'd have to sell your players on - especially the newbie - is that GURPS only uses six-sided dice. Those polyhedrons will feel neglected...

Barbarians of Lemuria has a supplement called Barbarians of the Aftermath that converts the system (originally designed for sword and sorcery adventures) into a variety of different post-apocalyptic settings.  There's even a generator you can use to roll up your apocalypse and it covers all types of apocalypses including viral outbreaks that occurred a few years ago, a post-nuclear war world, living in the aftermath of an alien invasion, and even stuff like living in a world that was once ravaged by Lovecraftian elder gods thousands of years ago.

It also handles tech levels so you can have a world with plenty of future tech or even one so ravaged and far removed from the apocalypse that humanity has devolved into using Iron Age technology again.  If nothing else, I'd recommend checking out just for ideas.
This message was last edited by the user at 22:45, Fri 08 Nov 2019.

Cypher System is pretty rules-light and has options for excellent future play for character creation!

It might be rules-heavy, but you could use d20 Apocalypse I think the supplement was called.
That way you can still use d20 Modern or even D20 Past characters. It can be a little hairy but you can even shoe in D&D 3.5e characters with a little work.

Somehow, you would have to imprison D&D 3.5 characters on the Astral Plane in a Force effect.
That would First off render them safe from wandering monsters and Astral Storms. Secondly, since the Astral Plane is Timeless, they are immune to death from old age and starvation.

D20 Past getting the PCs to the Future, turn them into a popsicle

D20 Modern characters don't have as far in time to  go so there are other options Including having them survive in a shelter.

FATE, especially FAE (Fate Accelerated Edition) might do the trick. The entire aspects and how they are tied to the Fate Points is a bit tricky to get at first, but that’s mainly because it plays so different from traditional RPG’s. It’s not particularly easy, but it’s simple in system. The thing to keep in mind is that if you have an aspect it is always true, regardless of spending or getting Fate Points for it, but you can get rewarded for playing to those aspects with being able to spend them ar receiving them in reward. It does take a crew of people who are comfortable with improvising.

What Frili said.  That said, FATE and FAE tend to require more from a gaming party than most rule systems because of the open-ended nature of Aspects and other game features.

There are other systems that are "rules light":  you might look at Lasers & Feelings (and its various hacks), Roll for Shoes, and Traveller Plus.  Powered by the Apocalypse might also provide a good base.

With the resources available on the interwebs these days, there's so much you could look at.  The one's I've mentioned are the ones that spring to my tiny little mind.

Good hunting!  I hope you find the game that does it for you.
This message was last edited by the user at 02:22, Sat 07 Dec 2019.

I mean, if we’re mentioning roll4shoes we might as well mention RISUS as well :) It’s free, it’s only like what? Eight pages? Less if you don’t count the pictures?