d6 Space Setting Help

[Wik]

So, I bought d6 Space, and, um.... Probably not as good as Star Wars d6 from the days of old. In fact, the whole book is strangely arranged and seems more complex than SWD6 by a lot. But, whatever, I can deal with that.

Now that I have it, though, and people are talking about how fun it is to play in a space campaign... I realized, I have no frickin' ideas for what to PUT into a space game.

The last sci-fi games I've run included a Shadowrun game, a d20 HALO modification where I just adapted d20 Future to fit the Halo universe, and a dumb little post-apocalyptic game that we occasionally play.

The point of all this is, I don't really KNOW space opera... my only exposure to space opera was through the Star Wars game (and I'm not too big on SW).

I kind of want to run the game in a world similar to that of the Halo universe (ie, bullets instead of lasers, high technology that doesn't seem too "high" at times, and the like), but with more "friendly" aliens. I *don't*, however, want to run a game based around a military focus.

To be honest, I sort of want to run a game where the PCs are free to make their own decisions, but base a campaign around that. I was hoping you all could throw a few ideas my way, and maybe some d6 Space experiences, and I could cull a few and use 'em to form my own campaign setting...

 

[Crothian]

When I do sci fi I steal things from what I know. I borrow aliens from Star Wars, but alien empires from Babylon 5 and Star Trek. I like the gritty feel or Firefly and ship feel of Bulldogs (not a sci fi movie, but a sci fi d20 game).

I like the players being a group of people, maybe owning a battered shiup kind of like the Firefly set up. I define things they need to know, so if they want to play an alien race we discuss a bunch in general terms but I only develope specifics for the ones they want to play. The governments are cliches and big and powerful. They are just moving around trying to make a buck.

 

[trancejeremy]

When I've run a d6 space game, I either ran it in the Star Wars universe (besides the fact that I like it, it's simply big enough to do almost anything) or the Traveller universe (which is almost as big). For me anyway, it's not easy coming up with an entire galaxy (or future history).

But what Crothian mentioned was a good idea - being based around a ship. Besides the tramp freighter sort of ship (which dates back to Han Solo in Star Wars), it could be something like a space liner or space ambulance. Or they could work for some big company - I remember a novel about an insurance adjustor - he would go from place to place, solving crimes, trying to figure out who stole or damaged the insured property. (Usually done by weird aliens or technology).

 

[LostSoul]

Look to your players for help.

I saw a neat system for creating a setting collaboratively; here it is. (On Adam Dray's blog.) It's about half-way down.

This way you'll probably get more investment into the game.