“I've seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion… I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain”

This quotation from Ridley Scott's movie Blade Runner represents the essence of science fiction and of the suspension of disbelief that allows us to take emotionally part into a world other than ours: an essential condition to read a book or watch a movie that asks us to believe in a faraway reality, using the capacity of abstracting that is typical of the childhood and of its games, that we lose when we grow up. Everyday reality makes us tough, realist, and makes us forget the kid inside us, a kid who wants to explore the universe, to conquer the world, to drive space-ships. A kid who wants to play.
So sometimes we happen to close the everyday world outside the door, to get that sense of astonishment back, together with some friends, to shut our rational voice up when it tells us what is possible and what is not in the real world, and to begin playing.
Role Games (RG) or Board Games (BG): that’s not important.
The final destination is much more important than the way to get there.
This article opens like that to try to find some common elements in these different kinds of games.
We will try to examine some (obviously not all, just the best known) sci-fi settings used in RGs or BGs. Don’t be surprised by the absence of the two biggest sci-fi franchises: Star Trek and Star Wars; we will talk about them later in the In depth part in this magazine.
For every setting in this article, like in the following part, only BGs will be considered, with just a short look at the related RGs.

A L I E N
“In space, no one can hear you scream”. With these words one of the greatest masterpieces of talented Ridley Scott came out in 1979.
A signal from a deserted planet, alien life, unknown horror, fight for survival. These are the main elements of Alien, a breath-taking and visually impressive movie, thanks to the work of surrealist Swiss artist H.R. Giger.
The movie, originally thought as unique, then became a series, given to its success: ALIENS (1986), ALIEN^3 (1992), ALIEN: RESURRECTION (1997), and AVP: ALIEN VS PREDATOR (2004).
The first firm to use the logo on the market was Kenner, that in 1979 made an action figure of the alien, that was a failure, and a BG that was kind of a failure as well.
ALIEN– that’s the title of the game – is for 2-4 players.
It is fundamentally a path game like PACHISI/LUDO, where every player plays two astronauts and an alien. With the astronauts you try to get the object of the game – driving an astronaut on the Narcissus – and with the alien to avoid your opponents getting it, eliminating their astronauts.
The second of the five movies, ALIENS, thanks to James Cameron’s direction, a good plot with action and suspense and two Oscar awards, brought the movie series outside its media borders. Comics, books, gadgets and games began to be sold as merchandising.
Leading Edge Games (later closed in 1996) got the license to make a BG and a RG and some miniatures.
So in 1990 ALIENS ADVENTURE GAME was published, a military RPG – a RG focused on the fight – whose rules are based on a simplified version of another game by LEG: PHOENIX COMMAND (for both this games the authors were Barry Nakazano and David McKenzie). It is a very good game, even if not good for long-lasting campaigns and for players who don’t like to change their playing character.
As for BGs, LEG published ALIENS (“This Time, it’s War”) in 1989, also by Barry Nakazano and David McKenzie. It is a mainly solitary game, that can be played by up to 9 players cooperatively, faithfully reproducing the fights of the movie.
Players move the marines, while the aliens, casually appearing on the map, automatically move towards the closest human. There are many scenarios: the reactor room (strategically very interesting), the labs with the air conducts and Ripley versus the Queen, plus a couple of mini scenarios like the “funny” Burke versus the alien.
Even if the components are not very good, the game is aesthetically interesting, using some movie images. It is a dynamic game, never boring and very rich, due to the optional rules that can change the difficulty level, and easy to adapt to the time you have (due to the modular developing of the game).
Thanks to the interest that this game got, LEG published an expansion the following year, ALIENS - EXPANSION, with new rules and scenarios, like some what if scenarios reproducing situations that were not in the movie (like the marine trying to rescue his mates caught by the aliens during the fight in the reactor room). The last game in our list is Operation: Aliens, published in 1993 by Peter Pan Playthings.
It is the official BG of the homonymous cartoon movie, that has sold a lot of merchandising, even if it has never been broadcast (on the net you can find some screenshots).
The game is about a frequent theme in the movies of the series: the attempt to turn the self-destruction on and run away before the explosion. This is the object of the game for 2-4 players acting like Ripley, Hicks, Drake or Apone.

S T A R S H I P
T R O O P E R S
Robert A. Heinlein is undoubtedly one of the most famous and controversial sci-fi authors, who is also famous for the social themes dealt with in his books. One of his most famous works is Starship Troopers (1959), that inspired a movie by Paul Verhoeven in 1997.
The “hot” aspects of the book, that was initially rejected by some publishers, are related with the exaltation of an ultra-conservative military vision, with subtle racism and a sort of apology of Nazism. Nevertheless, the utopian society described by Heinlein is multiethnic and the main character is Philippine.
Starship Troopers too – like the other settings in this article – has had a multimedia success as for comics, videogames, computer-made series (Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles), and two movies (the already mentioned one and another one for the home-video market, named Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, 2004).
Only one RG has been inspired by this book: STARSHIP TROOPERS RPG, published by Mongoose Publishing in 2005 (still produced, but with just a few additions). It is a military RPG – like the above mentioned ALIENS ADVENTURE GAME– inspired by the animation series, both for the look, the settings and the rules.
There are two BGs inspired by Heinlein’s book.
The first one is ROBERT HEINLEINS'S STARSHIP TROOPERS, published in 1976 by Avalon Hill.
Randall C. Reed is the game designer of this wargame for 2 players, where you can use three armies, depending on the scenario: the Terrans (Humans), the Arachnids and the Humanoids. The game is a classical wargame on an hexagonal map, with quite complex rules, that can be slowly learnt during the seven scenarios of the game, as each one adds new rules.
ROBERT HEINLEINS'S STARSHIP TROOPERS perfectly recreates the atmosphere and the setting of the book, through some rules, like the one that doesn’t allow the Terrans to leave their wounded mates on the field. Or like the one – extremely peculiar of the game – that gives the Arachnids some underground galleries at their disposal, drawn by the player who drives them at the beginning of the game on special papers reproducing the map.
This allows the Arachnids to create ambushes for their opponents, coming out of the ground at their back or in the middle of their armies. This element, even if it allows a great playability, together with the high number of Terrans’ equipments and of counters can make the game a bit too difficult to play for inexpert players or beginners.
Avalon Hill is the editor of another game based on Starship Troopers. The title is STARSHIP TROOPERS: PREPARE FOR BATTLE!, by Ben Knight. Published in 1997, it has to be considered the official game of the movie, because of the box and the components, with many pictures from the movie, but also because it is very far from Heinlein’s book.
There are no Skinnies and no esoskeletons for the humans. There is no excess of units, as the game has a tactical level and the number of pawns on the map is always very low.
Also in this case the rules (much easier) are explained step by step, during the evolving of the scenarios (there are 12). The two players are either humans or Arachnids, in this case too with a great variety of units, to be moved with almost the same strategy.
It is a good game for an occasional player, also considering its aesthetic appeal, much better than the older game.

D U N E
Dune is one of the greatest classics in sci-fi literature. It was published in 1965, and it was the first chapter of a series that has re-built this literary genre. After Dune Frank Herbert wrote: Dune Messiah (1969), Children of Dune (1977), God Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984), Chapterhouse: Dune (1985).
Dune is a book with many levels of reading: the occasional reader can appreciate the saga for its epic plot, made of non-stereotyped characters who live complex events and who are very realist; but the historical and religious reference or the ecologist vision of the book can also be appreciated with a critical approach.
Dune is much more than this, if you think that George Lucas said: “Without Dune, there would have been no Star Wars”.
A movie by David Linch (1984) and a TV series (2000) have been produced, both named Dune, but also many videogames and literary sequels.
The latter are sort of prequels, as they have been written by Brian Herbert (Frank’s son) and Kevin J. Anderson, using the notes of the author, who died in 1986.
Summarizing the plot of Dune in a nutshell is impossible, we can say that the events take place in a far-away future time and describe the fight between the noble houses of Atreides, Harkonnen and Corinno, who try to conquer the empire and the primary power source of the universe, the Melange, a spice that can only be found on planet Arrakis, also known as Dune.
For role players the only game to play in Herbert’s world is DUNE: CHRONICLES OF THE IMPERIUM, produced by Last Unicorn Games in 2000. In spite of all the positive aspects, the game had a very short life. The firm was absorbed by Wizards of the Coast, and the license was automatically lost, so the Wizards tried to look at different markets, ending the production of a game that had only 3000 copies published, but that could have been a great success.
As for BGs there are two titles.
The first one is DUNE, published in 1979 by Avalon Hill. The authors of this game are Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge and Peter Olotka (also named Future Pastimes), already known for COSMIC ENCOUNTERS, a game that inspired the rules of DUNE.
The game is for 2-6 players who play as Atreides, Harkonnen, Bene Gesserit, Fremen, or Spacing Guild (each with their abilities), and the object is to conquer some forts on Arrakis. Three or four, depending on the fact that the victory is solitary or cooperative, that gives the game an interesting diplomacy level.
It is fundamentally a strategy game (better for 5 or 6 players), where you have to bluff and use the peculiar abilities of your army.
In 1984, after the good but not very appreciated movie from the first book, Avalon Hill published two expansions: THE DUEL and SPICE HARVEST (both by the same creative team of the base game).
THE DUEL introduces duels between the leaders of the armies. This happens with a formal challenge (one versus one) or, sometimes, as a group challenge (everyone versus everyone).
SPICE HARVEST is a new game that substitutes the regular stage of setup in Dune. Now you can change the starting condition of every player, trying to obtain military superiority and better collocation on the board than your opponents’.
Also in 1984 the only other BG from Herbert’s book was published by Parker Brothers.
The title is DUNE (again!) and can be considered as the official game of the movie, because there are pictures of the actors on the pawns and character cards (where you can find the strength and intelligence of every character). The board represents planet Arrakis as a path made of two concentric circles: the outer one is the desert (where the Spice can be found), the inner one is the castle of the governors of Arrakis (where you can strengthen your characters). It is for 2-4 players, each one driving one army (Atreides, Harkonnen, Fremen and Impero) made of three characters. The object of the game is to eliminate all the opponents’ characters and to be the last player in game with at least one character.
Parker Brothers' DUNE strongly depends on luck and is easier than the other game, but it’s still a good product for heterogeneous players.

B U C K
R O G E R S
Even if now it is not as famous as some years ago, Buck Rogers can probably be considered the first sci-fi classic of the history. At first his name was Anthony Rogers, and it first appeared in two Philip Francis Nowlan’s tales published in 1928. Later there have been many media transpositions, the most important of which can be considered the comic strips, published from 1929 to 1967 (and then from 1979 to 1983), that granted its success with the name Buck that we all know nowadays. The radio show has been very important as well for 15 years, but there have also been many movies and two TV series. The most recent, preceded by a movie, is Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (broadcast by NBC from 1979 to 1981 and in Italy at the beginning of the 80s).
It is hard to tell a unique plot for Buck Rogers’ adventures, since there have been many variants in the different medias. Basically they are about a man of our age who has been hibernated for 500 years and who wakes up in the XXV century.
Naturally this character has inspired the game world since his origins. In 1934 the first BG inspired by the comics was born: BUCK ROGERS - GAME OF THE 25TH CENTURY AD. The publisher was Luts & Sheinkman and the box had three different games (COSMIC ROCKET WARS, SEARCH FOR THE SECRETS OF ATLANTIS and SIEGE OF GIGANTICA) each with its board and pawns, and each for 2-4 players.
The next game was only published fifty years later. It was "BUCK ROGERS" GAME - ADVENTURES IN THE 25TH CENTURY, published by Hasbro in 1979 and based on the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
It is a very simple product, better for kids than for boys, considered that for most of the game you just have to follow the instructions on two disks (one to determine the movements of the ships, and the other one for the actions to make when two ships are in the same point). The object of the game is to be the first player (there can be 2-4 of them) to board the Draconian ship with both his ships, that have to be moved from one side to the other of the board.
Some years later TSR got the license and in 1988 it published BUCK ROGERS - BATTLE FOR THE 25TH CENTURY GAME , a wargame for 2-6 players created by Jeff Grubb.
The object of the game is to be the player controlling the greatest number of territories at the end of the game (event pointed out by a complete revolution of the Earth around the Sun). The battlefield is made of Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Earth (each with many territories), plus Deimos, the Moon, and some satellites and asteroids.
Every player has different ground and space units, and leaders (characters in Buck Rogers’ saga), killer satellites and factories (there is a production phase in this game), for a total number of more than 300 pieces. The most interesting element is the presence of a picture of the solar system (with only the planets named above), where some pawns – meant for the planets – are moved. This is important because the moment for an attack from a planet to another depends on their distance.
On the whole it is a good game, even if it is not strongly related with Buck Rogers.
More recently two RGs have been published, both by TSR. They are very different products. The first one is BUCK ROGERS XXVC - THE 25TH CENTURY, created in 1990 by Mike Cook, Michael Dobson, Jeff Grubb, Jim Ward, Warren Spector and Jeff Butler. It uses a system of rules very similar to the second edition of ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.
Actually this game ignores most of the settings of Buck Rogers, making everybody think that the editor only needed a famous name to sell the new XXVc series, a sci-fi AD&D. Ten novels and twelve supplements were published for the XXVc series, plus comics and videogames, before the ending of the publishing just two years later.
In 1993 TSR also published HIGH ADVENTURE CLIFFHANGERS: THE BUCK ROGERS ADVENTURE GAME, designed by Jeff Grubb and Steven E. Schend.
This game was a step backward, towards a future looking back to the past, much more similar to the one described in the first Buck Rogers comics. The setting too was much closer to the original, but this RG had even a shorter life than Buck Rogers XXVc.

J U D G E
D R E D D
Imagine a deserted post-war world, where men have left the inhabitable lands to live in huge cities with hundreds of millions of citizens. Imagine a violent world where killings and crimes happen everyday. Imagine a world where justice is in the hands of few men who work as policemen, judges and agents with a killing license.
If you can imagine all that, you are thinking of Mega City One and of his most important tutor: Judge Dredd.
Judge Dredd is a comic strip born in 1977 on the debuting English sci-fi magazine 2000AD.
John Wagner (creator of the character and writer of the stories) and Carlos Ezquerra (designer) created one of the most successful English comics.
Almost thirty years later his stories are weekly still published on 2000AD and since 1990 have also been published on Judge Dredd Megazine.
In 1995 the movie Judge Dredd with Sylvester Stallone, recreated the same atmospheres and characters.
The first BG about the judge of Mega City One is JUDGE DREDD, published in 1982 by Games Workshop and created by Ian Livingstone. The components of the game are a board representing the city and pointing out some locations and some cards.
At the beginning of the game six crime cards (with a value depending on the crime) are randomly put face up in six locations and a guilty card face down (with a value depending on the danger level).
The players drive the judges on the map, reaching these locations to try and catch the guilty. The crime value plus the guilty value and that of a dice is confronted with the judge value plus that of a dice. You can also play cards in order to increase your value or to reduce that of an opponent.
At each turn new crimes are drawn and the game ends when there is no guilty card left.
The player who has arrested more criminals is the winner.
The best element of the game is the graphic aspect of the components.
Games Workshop has always been great for graphic arts, but here the result is even better because of the help of Ian Gibson, the official designer of 2000AD.
Even if it’s not directly linked to Judge Dredd, we also have to talk about another BG by Games Workshop, set in the same universe.
It is BLOCK MANIA (1987), a game for 2 players by Richard Halliwell.
There is a war between rival blocks, that want to damage their opponents: killing people of the other block, damaging the structures (the areas can be fired and destroyed until they collapse).
When the judges arrive to stop the fight the game ends. In the box there are two boards (one for each block) and many counters, with a great variety of units and weapons.
In the same year the expansion BLOCK MANIA: MEGA MANIA (also playable with 3 or 4 players) was also published.
JUDGE DREDD: THE ROLE PLAYING GAME, created by Marc Gascoigne and Rick Priestley, was published by Games Workshop in 1989,
Initially published in a box, it hadn’t got a great success (only 4 expansions were published).
The last publication was a re-editing of a single volume of the RG in 1989.
The last product about the most famous judge of the comics world is THE JUDGE DREDD ROLE-PLAYING GAME, published in 2002 by Mongoose Publishing and created by Matthew Sprange. This game uses the D20 system. 12 expansions and a miniature game (for the players who want to drive the gangs) have later been published.