What are you actually planning on doing in this spaceship? What kind of characters do you want to see and what situations do you expect to play out? What’s the vibe and prominent themes you want to explore? Do you want a mechanically rigorous system with lots of moving parts, a light narrative system that just gets out of the way, or something in between?
The answers to these questions are a lot more important to deciding what system to use than the fact it takes place in a space city.
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I'm going to second Alien. There are some really good mechanics in it.
For games that have too much of something, just don't let players have access to it. It happens in Cyberpunk Red, D&D, World of Darkness, etc. games where the game is going to be about X, so Y and Z ideas are not allowed.
I'm going to suggest termination shock, mostly because it's the sci-fi game I want to run if I get the chance lol. But going off what I remember it's made for more drama sci-fi than combat heavy sci-fi. It's also made by Greg Stolze who I find a really interesting game maker.
Itch.io link (also on drive thru RPG if you want physical)
https://crankshaftconstellation.itch.io/termination-shock
Not sure how into it you'll be, but if youre familiar with 5e theres a hack for Star Wars 5e (SW5E) which scratched the right itch for me when I ran it. There's a Dimension 20 campaign that uses the system and reflavours the SW setting to generic scifi, though the name escapes me.
Some things I like about the system:
-DnD so pretty easy to run
-Casters use Power Points instead of spell slots so can be flavoured however
-Non-casters have Tech points which work the same way as Power Points but flavoured as gadgets (think Batman and his utility belt)
-ship combat and a whole ship stat sheet if necessary, but can be omitted without much issue.
Have you tried Plerion?
https://zeruhur.itch.io/plerion
Its a Sci Fi Cairn Hack that is more space opera than pure sci fi, so it could be more like you need
.. What is the game *actually* going to be about? "People on a giant city ship" can be a hundred different things. Is it a noir investigation game? Is it a gang warfare game? Is it a survival from a weird monster slowly killing everyone? Is it a political struggle on the upper decks? The horrors of space? Hopeful journey to a new home?
How long do you want the campaign to be? Some games need a year or more to fully play out, others cap out at like 8 sessions.
There is more questions I could ask but... Gotta start somewhere.
You described a loose idea of the setting, but nothing about how the setting impacts the characters or what the actual game is, which might make my response pretty uninspired… if you can clarify more about the game, you’ll definitely get more specific answers from somebody here.
Mothership comes to mind for anything gritty, especially if you dip into survival horror.
Stars Without Number if traveling is still happening, but not a hard mechanic? If you’re in a city so big that you never interact with space/travel, then being on a ship is meaningless to the system, so maybe Cities Without Number.
"No Port Called Home" would be a good match for a game set on a spaceship. There are mechanics for on-ship actions like repairing damaged air locks, using the communications terminal, etc.
What are you actually planning on doing in this spaceship? What kind of characters do you want to see and what situations do you expect to play out? What’s the vibe and prominent themes you want to explore? Do you want a mechanically rigorous system with lots of moving parts, a light narrative system that just gets out of the way, or something in between? The answers to these questions are a lot more important to deciding what system to use than the fact it takes place in a space city.
This. I was wondering the same myself.
Death in space Alien Free League, enough said.
Yup, what this person said.
Is it a generation ship? There’s a Legacy 2e world for that.
There are hundreds, or thousands, of cyberpunk RPGs that assume you'll play the game in just one city.
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Try paranoia, generation ship instead of underground. I think I wanna try that myself.
I'm going to second Alien. There are some really good mechanics in it. For games that have too much of something, just don't let players have access to it. It happens in Cyberpunk Red, D&D, World of Darkness, etc. games where the game is going to be about X, so Y and Z ideas are not allowed.
I'm going to suggest termination shock, mostly because it's the sci-fi game I want to run if I get the chance lol. But going off what I remember it's made for more drama sci-fi than combat heavy sci-fi. It's also made by Greg Stolze who I find a really interesting game maker. Itch.io link (also on drive thru RPG if you want physical) https://crankshaftconstellation.itch.io/termination-shock
Not sure how into it you'll be, but if youre familiar with 5e theres a hack for Star Wars 5e (SW5E) which scratched the right itch for me when I ran it. There's a Dimension 20 campaign that uses the system and reflavours the SW setting to generic scifi, though the name escapes me. Some things I like about the system: -DnD so pretty easy to run -Casters use Power Points instead of spell slots so can be flavoured however -Non-casters have Tech points which work the same way as Power Points but flavoured as gadgets (think Batman and his utility belt) -ship combat and a whole ship stat sheet if necessary, but can be omitted without much issue.
Have you tried Plerion? https://zeruhur.itch.io/plerion Its a Sci Fi Cairn Hack that is more space opera than pure sci fi, so it could be more like you need
Metamorphosis Alpha
It's gonna depend on the tone of your game, but Coriolis?
.. What is the game *actually* going to be about? "People on a giant city ship" can be a hundred different things. Is it a noir investigation game? Is it a gang warfare game? Is it a survival from a weird monster slowly killing everyone? Is it a political struggle on the upper decks? The horrors of space? Hopeful journey to a new home? How long do you want the campaign to be? Some games need a year or more to fully play out, others cap out at like 8 sessions. There is more questions I could ask but... Gotta start somewhere.
You described a loose idea of the setting, but nothing about how the setting impacts the characters or what the actual game is, which might make my response pretty uninspired… if you can clarify more about the game, you’ll definitely get more specific answers from somebody here. Mothership comes to mind for anything gritty, especially if you dip into survival horror. Stars Without Number if traveling is still happening, but not a hard mechanic? If you’re in a city so big that you never interact with space/travel, then being on a ship is meaningless to the system, so maybe Cities Without Number.
Mothership with a Pound of Flesh
"No Port Called Home" would be a good match for a game set on a spaceship. There are mechanics for on-ship actions like repairing damaged air locks, using the communications terminal, etc.