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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gambler1650" data-source="post: 9718782" data-attributes="member: 11033">So I've recently been perusing some Traveller/2300AD rules, and watching Stars Without Number playthroughs with the eye towards eventually setting up a SciFi campaign involving characters with/assigned to a starship of some kind (merchant/military/exploratory).  I don't know why, but SciFi seems so much harder to set up an 'open campaign setting' for me compared to Fantasy.  At a superficial level, Traveller sectors appear to give you everything for a Hexcrawl which is something I can easily grok in a fantasy setting.  But in a Hexcrawl, each hex is pretty simple, even the ones with stuff in them to explore.  In a SciFi setting, each system feels daunting to characterize 'on the fly'.So, there are a few campaigns I can think of to get around some of my issues (which I feel like I haven't explained well).1) Follow orders campaign - The ship isn't owned by the characters.  They are employees of some sort on it (whether military, rescue, exploration, news, etc).  Their employers give them mission orders.  They attempt to complete the mission.  These are simple.  You know what to prepare because you can come up with the order/event.  The problem then becomes how to give the characters more agency.  There are some obvious ways to make an adventure less railroady - almost always some unexpected event that requires the players to have to do more than just the mission (while still trying to - in most cases - complete the mission).  But overall, the characters won't have much control over where they go and what they're asked to do.  A subtle distinction here is that the PLAYERS can still tell the GM what kind of missions they would like to have, therefore at least giving the players more agency than their characters have.  The exploration possibility however could be more open ended if it's some sort of # year mission into an unexplored region.2)  Sandbox - The characters have a ship that's pretty much under their control.  This could be sort of a Firefly style campaign, something where the characters are merchants (or pirates), mercenaries, or even an independent news group.  The last one is a thought that Coriolis put into my head since journalists are a career option there.  I think for that to work it's really not as hard as my fears say.  Once you understand the kind of group your characters are, preferably in a Session 0, you can end the session with some possible hooks/rumors.  And ask what they want to follow up on.  And then you do that at the end of each session.  So, for instance, if they decide to travel to Beowulf at the end of an adventure you ask them if they have something they want to do at Beowulf.  If they just plan to resupply/refuel and look for a new job you immediately give them the 'bulletin board' and ask them to decide on something.  That becomes what you prepare.  If they want to explore something in the city they heard about offhand previously, then you prepare that.  This requires some time management on the GM's part when coming near the end point of an adventure so there's time to do this.</blockquote>

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