You all may remember my original post about my generic sci-fi game rules. It was a rough start, so I worked on it. (a lot, actually) So after several months here is Version 2.0:
Bear in mind, that more is coming, (units, weapons, equipment, etc...) these are just the main rules...

Looks like LotR in a 40K jacket. IMO the profiles are too simple, they can be more complicated. If you ever make a rulebook, I'd be happy to playtest it.

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You got me... I am most familier with LotR, so a lot of LotR got "copied" into the rules... If you have any advice to make it less LotR, then I will be happy to listen!

EDIT: I have been working on making it less LotR and more unique, but it could still use some work. I will post up the updated rules ASAP.

You know.. There are some other rules sets out there that already do what you are doing.

The original rules that 40K was based on, by Brian Ansell in the early-mid 1980s was called LaserBurn, and it is almost exactly what you have done.

My personal favorites are a game called Striker that was used for the mass combat system for Traveller RPG. It had a "cousin" that it replaced called Ashanti High-Lightning that is an excellent basis for a skirmish game.

Dirtside is also really great. It is the massed combat (Company to Battalion level) version of Stargrunt.

There is even work on a new Traveller product from Mongoose that will probably be pretty good. There are some efforts to produce a miniature line for it as well.

Incidentally, Zveda, a company known for producing inexpensive 1/72 scale plastics, has recently begun producing 28mm hard-plastic sci-fi and fantasy miniatures. So, if you are looking for some sci-fi miniatures not dripping with skulls and ribbons, trailing banners tens of feet long... Then you may want to have a look at them. I will see if I can locate the link sometime in the next few days. They are about 1/10 the cost of GW plastics as well.

Matthew

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There exists nothing that can be changed without changing the equation to begin with

Bump.

I have a set of rules designed to merge 40K into an LOTR play format. I finsihed making a Word document for it, but never a PDF. Since most sitrs only want PDF's with pictures, never bothered posting it and never bothered putting pictures in it. It works very well and takes into account a good balance between hand to hand and shooting models. You can't simply take 40K and drop it into LOTR. It doesn't work. Trust me, I've tried it many, many times. The points go all screwy for the models. We came up with something that works very well in the end though, a sort of hybrid between 40K, epic, and LOTR. It does not use any units what-so-ever as they are tactically stunted in a gameplay format. For larger games, we have experimented with using units to speed things up a bit (not that it really does).

The only thing we never finished was generating companies. Instead of units, or force org. charts, you build company cards like old school epic.

All of this was quickly abandoned for Warzone. It is by far the best sci-fi game I have ever played. There have been three additions of it printed. What we did was sit down and update all the editions into a cohesive 4th edition, or what we simply call Warzone. It utilizes a d20 (which is about the only limitation as here in the states they are a buck a die). Most of our work though has been in creating a good point's generator. We are almost done with that. Why the generator? Simple. So we can plug our 40K miniatures into the Warzone system and never have to buy another GW product again...other than the figures.

We are also still working out our company rules for that.

As a pet project, I've been working on a version of 40K I call 40K light. Basically, the theory behind it is in tabletop you do alot of number crunching to basically boil down to a 1-6 die throw. There's no point in having a stat over 6 or below 2 since you're generating it on a die. It would be a whole lot simpler to just have a straight die throw, period. This way you don't get bogged down with useless charts and cross referencing and all that BS. Sure you could use a d20, d10, but that can get really mathy, slow down a good game, and they are really hard to roll thirty-fourty at a time. One simple, clean die roll is all the system really needs. (I did have to keep one "stat" but its so easy a two year old can do it.). Of course, the trick was how to composite a skill down to a base number. I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet (so many people are gun-shy about a purely, house created system), but in my head, it's going to be an awesome game. It works off a similar design principle as Epic. Basically there is no roll to wound. Only a save against damage. Each hit equals one save. There are modifiers to those save chances based on weapon/attack strength that works in a semi-non-complex fashion. All skill checks are simply roll above an x number. It's a damn good idea...I just don't work on it that often since I don't make my own miniature line and there is no hope in selling it.

Games don't have to be complicated, system-wise, to be a good time. As a matter of a fact, simplicity in design makes it much easier to play and much easier to grasp. That's what's great about LOTR...it's simplicity. If you can win a game by doing math before hand, than really you're not playing a game. You're playing at your math.

God, I hate the Warhammers.