Why are sci-fi scenarios so thin on the ground?

[Jd Smith1]

There are plenty of adventures and campaigns out there if you know where to look: Eclipse Phase, Ashen Stars, Stars Without Number et al. Then there's Mothership, which has some truly good content such as Dead Planet.

Not really. Eclipse Phase and SWN have very few items that are not setting based. I haven't checked out Ashen Stars. Mothership has one actual adventure published (Dead Planet), and it is just this side of junk.

Ashen Stars actually has several adventures. Thanks for the tip!

 

[amethal]

Stars Without Number has a lot of adventures. There are free versions of the rules as well:

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

Thanks for the link. However, it shows some of the issues I have with finding stuff on Drivethru.

It includes results for Other Dust (ok, technically a version of SWN), Silent Legions (same company as SWN, so maybe understandable) but then also Zweihander, Shadow of the Demon Lord, 7th Sea and Scion, which are completely different genres.

It can also be difficult to tell what are adventures and what aren't. It would be nice if there was an adventure category. on there. As it is, I have no idea how many of these 212 search results are actually adventures - although at least I know from your post that a lot are; if I'd done the search myself I wouldn't even know that much.

And for me, , the things publishers choose to start off their descriptions with can be less than helpful. To pick a random example (I've nothing against the company concerned; I own quite a few of their products, including this one, and I'm very happy with them)

The waters of the Deluge have receded. We have survived. Now, we must reclaim our birthright: the stars. The Lurian Trailing Cluster was once a remote frontier, settled by misfits, renegades, and anyone desperate enough for a second chance on a distant world. Now, six centuries after the cataclysmic Deluge wrought untold destruction on civilization, the worlds of the Cluster are …

I'm looking for an adventure for SWN. From the above I am not sure what this product is (I guess a sourcebook, rather than an adventure) or what system it is for (at least it appears to be sci-fi, but unless I am misremembering, SWN has the Scream, not the Deluge). I guess the intention is to write something cool which encourages me to click on the product. It doesn't work for me; since there are 212 results to that search I'm going to click on the ones that actually say "adventure" or "sourcebook" or whatever I'm looking for.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I'm looking for an adventure for SWN. From the above I am not sure what this product is (I guess a sourcebook, rather than an adventure) or what system it is for (at least it appears to be sci-fi, but unless I am misremembering, SWN has the Scream, not the Deluge). I guess the intention is to write something cool which encourages me to click on the product. It doesn't work for me; since there are 212 results to that search I'm going to click on the ones that actually say "adventure" or "sourcebook" or whatever I'm looking for.

Hard Light an adventure, the only SWN adventure I could find to date. A third of the book is a very detailed text of a space station (The maps are very, very basic). The rest is a fairly decent 'dungeon crawl' style adventure, albeit with so-so maps.

 

[amethal]

Hard Light an adventure, the only SWN adventure I could find to date. A third of the book is a very detailed text of a space station (The maps are very, very basic). The rest is a fairly decent 'dungeon crawl' style adventure, albeit with so-so maps.

I was in the same positon as you, but the link I quoted has some adventures on it. (I'm not familiar with any of them, just listing them.)

From the first 100 odd items:

Fear Factory V
Polychrome
Free Rain
Distress Call
Solo Adventures
Descent Revenge 1
Hard Light (as you mentioned)
Grandfather Rain (SWN compatible, but for Other Dust)
Lurian Cluster 3 (although you'd presumably need 1 and 2 for the setting)
Hivers I

 

[Jd Smith1]

I was in the same positon as you, but the link I quoted has some adventures on it. (I'm not familiar with any of them, just listing them.)

From the first 100 odd items:

Fear Factory V
Polychrome
Free Rain
Distress Call
Solo Adventures
Descent Revenge 1
Hard Light (as you mentioned)
Grandfather Rain (SWN compatible, but for Other Dust)
Lurian Cluster 3 (although you'd presumably need 1 and 2 for the setting)
Hivers I

What search parameter did you use?

Not all on the list are adventures, but there are some interesting items on it.

 

[amethal]

What search parameter did you use?

Not all on the list are adventures, but there are some interesting items on it.

It wasn't my search, it was Myrdin Potter's. Basically just a search for "Stars Without Number".

The results are distorted by the Solo Rules for various systems. Since each one of those links to all the others, including one for SWN, they all appear in a SWN search.

 

[Jd Smith1]

It wasn't my search, it was Myrdin Potter's. Basically just a search for "Stars Without Number".

The results are distorted by the Solo Rules for various systems. Since each one of those links to all the others, including one for SWN, they all appear in a SWN search.

Ah.

I have trouble with Drive Thru searches. I either get nothing, or endless piles of material that doesn't even come close to what I'm looking for.

 

[Fenris-77]

I also have issues with DriveThru searches, there's something odd going on there. I tend to rely on other sources for direction to new products, which I can then look up directly on DT. I read a lot of blog reviews of games for example, and at least browse a couple of forums other than this one.

 

[Umbran]

Ashen Stars actually has several adventures. Thanks for the tip!

Note that they are largely mysteries - PCs are hired to look into X, find out the truth, and deal with it.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Note that they are largely mysteries - PCs are hired to look into X, find out the truth, and deal with it.

Not original, but an acceptable premise.