TIPS Sought for Sustainable Sci-Fi (not Star Wars) Gaming

[coyote6]

Unlike fantasy genres, where the violent & often lawless nature of the world support the adventuring party, science fiction typically brings constraints (as well as opportunities!) that are unavailable in the fantasy genre.

Fantasy genres generally only have violence & lawlessness because they're set on frontiers, or in times of strife and war. Think of Westerns -- Deadwood & Tombstone in the 1870s might've been lawless regions, but New York, London, Paris, etc. all had plenty of law. So set your SF games in those lawless areas -- rim worlds (like Tatooine in Star Wars), borderlands between multiple interstellar powers (such that no one of them dominates, and no one local is much interested in law or order), and just plain old corrupt worlds -- or during wartime (e.g., Casablanca). Then there's Firefly -- the Serenity's crew are pretty much the definitive PC party, and they got up to no good all the time. Meanwhile, there was plenty of law and order -- elsewhere.

Chris Bunch's Last Legion books and Walter Jon Williams' Praxis novels are all set in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the gigantic interstellar government, and all the various greedy & power-mad types are scrambling to set up their own fiefdoms. That leaves plenty of room for PCs to adventure.

2. Troubleshooters.
PCs work for corporation or are freelancers for hire.
Pros: Supports “Adventuring Party” style play.
Cons: Characters are criminals/must work outside the law. Genre setting “conceits”, i.e. cyberpunk.

Nah, it doesn't have to be cyberpunk -- you don't need dystopia, a computer matrix, cybernetics, or most of the cyberpunk trappings to have corporate troubleshooters. Plenty of non-cyberpunk SF have powerful corporations, in settings that are transhuman or space operatic or otherwise not very c-punk.

The PCs don't have to be criminals, either -- posit a world where interstellar corps have vast legal rights (a la cyberpunk games), and let the PCs work for such a corporation. Or take Stross's Iron Sunrise -- the PCs can be troubleshooters for an extra-governmental organization, a la the Eschaton or the like.

Heck, see also modern day PMCs -- they operate a lot of places, with lots of military weapons, and aren't generally considered criminals (though some of 'em seem to get up to no good). So let the PCs be members (perhaps the whole outfit) of a licensed security/military/troubleshooting corporation, and they can get hired by whomever to do whatever. Legally.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

When it comes to sci-fi that includes a lot of space flight time (for example a typical Traveller game) a good source of ideas and inspiration is novels and stories of tall ships during the 14th through 19th centuries. And even a lot of modern day shipping too. It fits a certain type of Sci-fi, in which FTL isn't easy or instant. Each planet like a harbor with a unique culture and environment. When you're out in the black it's like a ship out to sea.

That is a good idea well expressed.

One clarifying question, though. What have you found works best as the hook/premise for the PCs? A lot of the examples given utilize a PCs-as-military as the reason for the mission/adventure/exploration, etc. (I find military-style sci-fi much more accessible for scratching my gamer side as well.) Is that really the best format, though? I think the chain-of-command & less free will to pursue player's interests contributes at least a little to hurting sci-fi campaign longevity.

What PC party dynamics/set-up have been most successful for you? (Even if it's strangers meet in a bar...)

Well, it depends.

Even with a full-military campaign, you can have wild adventures. Even soldiers take holidays, for instance. So the platoon gets a little shore leave and decide to pool their resources to go on a shrabhoon hunt on Proxima 4...only the robotship taking them down to the hunting grounds goes all goofy on them ("Hal"-goofy, "Holly"-goofy, "Terminator"-goofy or just simply non-functioning is all up to you) and they wind up far away from where they're supposed to be.

So, now they're on some alien planet, all kitted out for a shrabhoon hunt, and they're not even where they're supposed to be. Maybe not the right planet. Or Solar system. Their equipment may not even be useful for the area in which they've landed.

They may not even be aware that something is wrong for a while into their hunt.

"Hey guys?...Shrabhoon are nocturnal, right?"

"Yup."

"How do you get nightfall in a binary star system?"

"Uhhhhhhh..."

At least the ship's emergency transponder works...right? It does work, doesn't it?

On the flipside, even the most free-spirited PCs can wind up in a situation where undisciplined actions could get you killed.

Imagine vacationing on a pleasure planet when a Space Tyrant shows up to make it his base of operations. The natives, while sybaritic by nature, are still willing to fight for their freedom.

All you brought was some SPF 300 and a banana-hammock made of semi-translucent force-fields...and you're stuck in the middle of a coup attempt.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Imagine vacationing on a pleasure planet when a Space Tyrant shows up to make it his base of operations. The natives, while sybaritic by nature, are still willing to fight for their freedom.

All you brought was some SPF 300 and a banana-hammock made of semi-translucent force-fields...and you're stuck in the middle of a coup attempt.

LOL!! That's brilliant. At least one's banana has forcefield protection around it.

 

[Azgulor]

Wow, those are some great suggestions folks! Thank you (& keep 'em coming).

...can't believe I didn't think of the merc angle or that the vastness of space = lawlessness. My brain is apparently stuck in "Fantasy" gear...

Thanks again!

 

[Nellisir]

You can also look at the privateer angle - similar to mercenaries, but while mercenaries take assaignments and work for someone, privateers chose their own targets and have much greater discretion (and deniability). Similar to bounty hunters.

 

[ArghMark]

Don't knock 'space merchants' either.

In space there are few rules as to what weaponry can and can't be owned, and many of the traders need protection. There was a terrific story hour here about a traveller game, though I can't remember what it was called, so don't worry about that.

Space merchants have a good reason to travel to new places; to find lucrative trading routes. Between these trading routes are empty places where things can happen.

A warship is beaming its SOS call, but all of its members are dead. Deal with space recovery in a dangerous area.

Have the ship infested with all sorts of problems, such as space faring aliens.

Have another scavenger ship pop along and want the find for themselves. Space Combat is possible!

Hell, have the entire ship as a wreckers trap.

On land things can go interestingly as well.

Your semi-legal fence gets imprisoned. The only other one who wants to pay you is a crime boss who isn't interested in tolls.

The dock you land at has been attacked by rebel forces, and you need fuel to jump into the next system. (Possibly more a problem in the Traveler system.)

Money comes in, debts get paid off; things are going excellently. A new Space Tyrant enters the system and demands all ships are landlocked. Try working on-planet for a while so your debts don't grow too much!

Finding and making contacts who know about mercantile affairs. Finding and getting out of trouble because you need more money than the 'safe' trades can give you.

All of these can lead to fun .

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Re: Space Merchants

I agree- don't knock it!

After all, Marco Polo was a merchant, and his name is going to live on a few more centuries, right?

And there is more than one kind of merchant, as well.

Consider the Black Market Space Merchants, who deal with everything regular ones do...plus operating even further outside the boundaries of civilization. If you can't call the cops, you have to be able to protect yourself, after all.

Smugglers, arms merchants, drug dealers, brothel owners...each and every kind of "legitimate businessman" you can think of in a traditional FRPG will exist in the outskirts and underbellies of a Sci-Fi game.

In Ben Bova's Grand Tour books (as well as other near-future sci-fi books), one of the concerns for asteroid miners is claim jumpers. By their very nature, they're operating in an area that can't be well patrolled...very isolated and difficult "broken terrain." If something goes wrong, even if you CAN call the cops, they probably won't be able to get there in time.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

I also highly recommend Farscape here, if you haven't seen it yet. Huge number of mineable ideas in each episode. It's chock-a-block of game adventures.

Military campaign? Check.
Space Espionage? Check.
Just getting lost? Check.
Living spaceships? Check.

That's just the first half hour.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Space Archaeologists/Antiquarians/Salvage (the basis for the enjoyable and old fashioned Alex Benedict series by Jack McDevitt) Players are a company that investigates for ruins of previous civilizations, abandoned colonies, and outdated and discarded space stations. Some may be doing it for an organization, others may be nothing but treasure hunters. Can be combined with the Merchants campaign. Can devolve into space dungeons, so be careful.

Private Investigators - P.I.s fit into many genre's backgrounds, Science Fiction is no exception. Less restrictive than being a police force, and less criminal than being troubleshooters. Bounty hunting may or may not be a part of this.

The Auld Grump

 

[Saeviomagy]

The area of a civilization is finite.

The multiverse is infinite.

Therefore there is a boundary to civilization, where gradually lawfulness becomes lawlessness. If you want a freerunning, guns ablaze adventure, this is where it is.

This boundary may be geographical or social.

It's entirely possible to have an empire that spans all of accessible space, but have sections of it that the authorities simply don't care about. Maybe only citizens (or corporate members) have the protection of law (and citizenship is difficult or costly to gain, and easy to lose) and everyone else is left to duke it out (as long as they don't damage anything owned by a citizen).