The vast reaches of space! Just close your eyes for a few seconds and you can easily picture a scene in any genre among the stars. Spaceships engaged in laser-blasting battles, tense cat-and-mouse chases in the hallways of a moon base, literal star-crossed lovers escaping the robot police to elope. Likewise, the creators of these tabletop RPGs lent their talents to helping you live in science fiction or science fantasy.
Presented here, in no particular order, are some of the best TTRPGs that take place up in the great beyond. So whether you’re looking to fend off aliens, be an alien, pilot a starfighter, explore unknown worlds, use the Force, work together as a crew, or tear each other apart with suspicion as your ship self-destructs, you’ll find something here to suit your needs.
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away has inspired several games both official and fan made. I covered the big four in-depth in this piece. Essentially there’s an old-school d6 system, a saga-spanning d20 version, the current Fantasy Flight game that splits eras, and a DnD 5E clone made by fans. The side you pick comes down to two major factors: gameplay preference and if you need to find a group. Star Wars Fantasy Flight and Star Wars 5E have the largest player base so it’s easier to find groups. Yet if you’re a superfan, you might crave the lore-heavy Saga Edition.
Lancer
If your space dream is more of a Gundam-inspired romp, then look into Lancer. This game puts you into the cockpit of a customizable mech for tactical combat. Lancer is especially suited to those who love tinkering with gear in video games to create the perfect build. The narrative rules are lighter, leaning more towards drama and creating tough choices you’ll need to make during missions. The combat gets very tactical with dire consequences for failure.
Alien: The Roleplaying Game
Based on the iconic Alien movie series, Alien RPG is naturally centered on horror. You’re a plain old human who must escape prowling Xenomorphs. Yet with a genius set of social mechanics, the game also emphasizes how fellow humans can be the true enemy. Players are given roles and secret motivation cards at the start of a session, with goals often conflicting just like in the films. Will the scrappy pilot get back home to see their family? Will the curious scientist discover the chestbursters before they emerge? Or will everyone fall victim to the corporate agent’s sudden-but-inevitable betrayal? Play Alien to find out!
Scum And Villainy
For many looking at this list, the spaceship is probably the draw. Scum and Villainy is a great game that builds in downtime and XP specifically for upgrading your ship. Its gameplay is based on Blades in the Dark’s core, meaning that you’ll often be staging dramatic heists and dangerous missions. This also means you’ll be playing a lot of criminal crews or at the very least wanted rebels being hunted by the oppressive galactic empire. It’s an easy to learn game for both one-shots and short campaigns.
Starfinder
It’s fantasy, it’s sci-fi, it’s shipbuilding, it’s tactical combat, it’s familiar d20-based rules to those who know Dungeons & Dragons, and so much more: it’s Starfinder! The setting of Starfinder is technically the far future of Pathfinder, so they share core rules. As such, the fantasy RPG elements of magic and battling monsters collide with things like spaceship combat, technology, and psionics. The rules might take longer to learn than some others on this list, but as a result Starfinder readily supports long campaigns and high-level epic play.
Star Trek Adventures
You know what you’re getting with Star Trek: exploration, roleplay and lots of spaceship gameplay. Star Trek Adventures Second Edition provides all of that under a 2d20 system. These easy-to-understand rules provide a framework for the Game Master to react to your choices in the moment and with a variety of outcomes. This makes the system great for replicating the dramatic twists and turns of a mission, just like an episode of a Star Trek show.
Thirsty Sword Lesbians
As the name implies, this system is made for telling swashbuckling queer stories. Yet the cover art and description reference space-faring and futuristic outfits. Narrative is the focus here and players spend most of this game just talking and acting out scenes as their characters. When the dice do come out, Thirsty Sword Lesbians uses the 2d6 mechanics of Powered by the Apocalypse. Outcomes run a gauntlet through mixed success and mixed failure, with results that push the story forward in dramatic, exciting, and hilarious ways.
Lasers & Feelings
A tricky task in trying a new TTRPG is convincing friends to jump on board. Lasers & Feelings tackles the problem head-on by being an extremely simple single-page game. Players just have to pick a role on the ship and a number. As the game goes on, the Game Master will ask players to roll using lasers or feelings depending on the situation. They have to roll under their number for lasers and over for feelings. That’s it. Lasers & Feelings is a wonderful game for a casual one-shot night.
