Putting the Sci Fi in Star Wars

[Crothian]

I'm starting a Star Wars game a week after Easter. We have a good amount of players and characters, the usual Jedi, nobles, soildiers, etc. I'm sure we are going to be fine withe Star Wars feel. But I want a bit of Sci Fi in there as well. I'm thinking of using a dyson sphere or perhaps Ringworld for them to discover at some point. There are just so many good sci fi ideas, and I'm talking more of a technology based hard sci fi.

So, what are some cool sci fi things that you think can make a good addition to Star Wars?

 

[Turanil]

Adding Hard sci-fi to Star-Wars

I have in fact a major complaint concerning the Star-Wars universe:

1) All planets look like California (with same gravity, air, food, etc.).
2) Alien species are different from humans in appearance only. Aside from that they live and mix together much more easily than humans from different ethnic groups do in real life.
3) Starships no bigger than a car cross the galaxy (I mean: hundreds of light years of empty void) just as easily as you take your car to go from San Diego to L.A.

IMO: such abberation kill any sci-fi feel. I believe that science-fiction should be about the immensity and mystery of deep space, strange lifeforms, hostile yet fascinating planets, etc.

As such my suggestion is: aliens species should be portrayed eally as alien species (i.e;: strange and incomprehensible behaviors; starships you don't understand how to maneuver; etc.); going on a planet without a vacuum suit should provide many annoying problems; space should again become a vast and mysterious place, where only a handful of planets have the same life conditions as California.

I think that if one goes from California to deep Africa, he will find more differences than in the whole star-Wars universe. That's what I don't like in Star-Wars...

 

[d4]

1) All planets look like California (with same gravity, air, food, etc.).
2) Alien species are different from humans in appearance only. Aside from that they live and mix together much more easily than humans from different ethnic groups do in real life.
3) Starships no bigger than a car cross the galaxy (I mean: hundreds of light years of empty void) just as easily as you take your car to go from San Diego to L.A.

of course. but Star Wars, as presented in the movies and for the most part in the RPG, is not science fiction.

it's a fantasy story with sci-fi trappings.

 

[Aaron2]

3) Starships no bigger than a car cross the galaxy (I mean: hundreds of light years of empty void) just as easily as you take your car to go from San Diego to L.A.

I don't see this as a problem but one of the big advantages of the SW universe. Ships are so fast that you can pretty much go where ever you need to go in a day (minimal down time). There's are tons of little out of the way places everywhere. You don't have to travel far to find a world that's either never been or hasn't been visited in thousands of years. Said planet could be only minutes away but since it's not on a hyperspace lane, nobody goes there. Think of all the little towns you pass and hardly notice while driving from San Diego to LA. Each of those town could have exiting adventures waiting but everyone is too busy to stop and notice. You can place any planet you want anywhere on the map and it won't disrupt the balance of things.


Aaron

 

[Crothian]

Ya, there are some things in Star Wars that will make this tough or just not feel perfect, but that's okay.

I am planning on trying to make aliens more alien, starting with the many aliens the players are playing. I'm just going tone down some small changes here and there to add to them.

But I'm more looking for different types of technology. With a variety of different tech to show, I can stress differences between cultures nad what they invent.

 

[WayneLigon]

Some SF ideas that come to me, all based on stories I've read.

A waterworld that really IS a waterworld; it's just water, period - well, very acidic water that at the (pretty solid) core creates heat via chemical reactions, allowing life to exist.

A race that lives in deep space, their bodily processes maintained by electrochemical reactions powered by deep space radiation; they 'eat' trace elements and ammonia.

A double planet, where two planets rotate around each other. Wait, I think that's appeared in a SW novel as well.

A 'space junkyard' of dust and small planetesimals in the leading and trailing 'Trojan points' of a gas giant. Could prove to be a hazard to navigation, or a hiding place for pirates.

 

[MythicJustice]

of course. but Star Wars, as presented in the movies and for the most part in the RPG, is not science fiction.

it's a fantasy story with sci-fi trappings.

It's a pulp story with a sci-fi veneer. I don't even try to pretend it's science fiction anymore, you loose the whole flavor of Star Wars. However, using a dyson sphere or "ring world" location would be great as it fits the "technology must be massive" motif the setting has going.

 

[VirgilCaine]

1) All planets look like California (with same gravity, air, food, etc.).
2) Alien species are different from humans in appearance only. Aside from that they live and mix together much more easily than humans from different ethnic groups do in real life.
3) Starships no bigger than a car cross the galaxy (I mean: hundreds of light years of empty void) just as easily as you take your car to go from San Diego to L.A.

1) Hoth is the same as Tatooine? Coruscant is the same as Dagobah?

2) First of all, your posit about real life is false. The reason these diverse species mix together so well is because if you don't learn to be a little tolerant of a little weirdness, you might get killed--there's lots of weird looking aliens who are really strong--Wookies for example.

Another thing to understand is that the Old Republic lasted for thousands of years [~3000 I think]. Before that, there is several thousands years of history where technology is still well above our current level--before that, history is forgotten.
The bottom line: Alien species have been living together for thousands of years, if not more, and so differences are less meaningful.

As for the aliens being the same "in appearance only"--Star Wars isn't about the place, it's about what happens, so naturally illustrating the differences isn't necessary and so it isn't done.

3) First of all, the ships don't travel through the void. They travel through hyperspace.
Second, try going from San Diego to L.A. without leaving your car or opening the windows. Hypothetically possible, but extremely uncomfortable, right?
Thats why you don't usually see snubfighters as intersystem travel--too small, no showers, etc.

As for "hundreds of light years", I don't remember distances ever really being mentioned in anything I've ever read in the Star Wars universe.

 

[d4]

Another thing to understand is that the Old Republic lasted for thousands of years [~3000 I think].

i thought i read somewhere that the Old Republic had been around for 20,000 to 25,000 years...

As for "hundreds of light years", I don't remember distances ever really being mentioned in anything I've ever read in the Star Wars universe.

me neither, but if their galaxy is the same size as ours, we're talking thousands of light-years, or even tens of thousands of light-years. still, it's not the distance that's important, it's the travel time.

if the Falcon can get from Tatooine to Alderaan in a few hours, then it is functionally equivalent to going from LA to SD. interstellar travel in Star Wars just isn't that big of a deal, like it is in some other settings.

 

[JimAde]

Larry Niven (who wrote Ringworld) also wrote some books that took place in a "smokering." It was basically a big torus of atmosphere circling a sun. It had little bits of soil and rock floating around in it and these massive "trees" (with leaves on both ends) that were, I think, thousands of feet long. Anyway, the books were great and the smoke ring is a neat setting for PCs to fool around in. Especially if they're deprived of their ship or other means of flight. No gravity to speak of in most places.