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Captain Future by Manoeuvre and Clerc
So, I know I could just go to google+ and ask there, or actually load up a forum or something, but I’m curious what game you would go to for a Rockets & Ruins styled OSR game. Something about exploring backwater planets and then trashing their ancient ruins for profit.
What’s my best bet?
Dyson's Dodecahedron 
Stars Without Number is where I would start.
X-plorers is very rules lite and, perhaps the best selling point, free. Has a nice multi-classing system built in based on extra XP per level.
Hulks & Horrors is geared towards just this sort of story: space explorers raiding ancient ruins for profit. And what’s not to love about a system that handles poor character generation rolls by having an (optional) Red Shirt class? (Plus ya gotta give props to an author whose IndieGoGo campaign failed to find, but still publishes their game a few months later, sans art.)
I’ll second that. H&H is exactly what you’re looking for. The ship design system and sector design have the perfect amount of crunch while leaving the door open for your own ideas and tweaks. I’m three sessions into a campaign myself.
going by your intro pick your spaceships have the feel of 1950 sci-fi comics such as those produced by EC which I just love. I once started a campaign using Basic D&D but in a post-apocalyptic setting so doing an OSR style wouldn’t be way out there.
Mutants & Mazes, the Labyrinth Lord/Mutant Future mash-up. As the game would be all about robbing ruins and interacting with the locals, any sort of space-travel considerations would be secondary, and a “Space Pilot” character on-world would be about as useful and fun to play as a tree-hugging druid in a dungeon.
I haven’t done much of the OSR stuff but there was a Dungeon/Polyhedron magazine with a pulpy sci fi mini game. I think it was 3.x based.
I’m a sucker for original traveler an I think you’ve made characters for my favorite sci fi game Space Opera by FGU. One of the most fun games I’ve GMed was a ripoff of “Tom Corbett Space Cadet”. – I used Traveller for it.
The one I’ve been tempted to buy recently is Stars Without Number.
Hulks and Horrors mixed with Bandits and Battlecruisers.
Ditto for SWN for me. Or Mutant Future using the SWN rules for spaceships/space combat.
Star Frontiers strikes me as an ideal option. Its pretty simple (mostly percentile based), free, has a good selection of races, characters are durable, and a lot of material is available. The game’s early 80’s TSR origins also means its encouraged to use a grid base for combat, just like your old dungeons.
http://www.starfrontiersman.com/downloads/remastered would be a good place to start looking.
I would mash up Stars without numbers and B/X – it works good. Then you have spacemen with SWN and primatives with B/X.
That or play ASE – but that’s always my answer.
Depending on the mood you’re going for I would choose either Bandits & Battlecruisers or Hulks & Horrors.
B&B goes for the super cheesy, pulp-era SF. We’re talking Barsoom and Flash Gordon type stuff. H&H is a more serious take on the same genre and has more horror elements. Both are good and both are OSR to the core. They’re also both about $10.
Hulks & Horrors would do it for sure.
If by exploring backwater planets and looting ancient ruins you basically mean Borderlands, there is this game discussed here http://m.gamefaqs.com/boards/638786-borderlands-2/65133058
But the mechanics are not OSR, only the shooting-and-looting part.
Yes, it’s my game and this is a shameless plug. I might actually do an OSR hack of it after I finish tinkering with the current edition.
I would look at the Terran Trade Authority books – specifically Spacewreck: Ghostships and Derelicts of Space for inspiration…
http://www.amazon.com/Spacewreck-Ghostships-Derelicts-Authority-Handbook/dp/0896730220/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367595353&sr=8-1&keywords=spacewreck
has some solid potential too…
http://www.amazon.com/Spacecraft-2000-2100-A-D-Authority-Handbook/dp/0890092117/ref=pd_sim_b_1
Star Frontiers- fast play and I just love it.