What traits would your Ultimate Space Opera setting have?

[fredramsey]

Great stuff, guys and gals!

Thanks for all the input, and for any still to come. Love this place, I really do.

 

[Mallus]

And I want it gritty. Let's have a setting where we can explore the struggle of class against class.

As others have pointed out, this isn't really traditional Space Opera... but it could be! As I was reading your post, a (plasma) bolt of inspiration hit me: Threepenny Space Opera!
Think Bertolt Bretch meets E.E. "Doc" Smith...

Maq the Vibroknife! (or maybe Mech the Knife, complete with built-in knives). And St. Joan of the Spacedocks...

There's no reason you couldn't have class struggle as the central conflict in a space opera; Marxist fighters nimbly dodging Capitalist Dreadnaughts (powered, of course, by incinerating live workers in their Antimatter Furnaces...) Or should that be Marxist Dreadnaughts... whatever.

Space Opera isn't defined by the conflicts, rather by how said conflicts are resovled. As long as things are settled by dashing men (and beautiful woman in transparent spacesuits) using energy swords and Blasto-Rays, everythings golden (age)...

 

[Kanegrundar]

I'm making my great Space Opera campaign right now (I should start posting some of it). It contains starships, lightsabers, blasters, more alien species than you can shake a stick at, Jedi, magic, psionics, robots, fantastical worlds, dangerous creatures, smugglers, demons, pirates, mutants, cyborgs, zombies, post-apocalyptic worlds, ancient legends, slavers, gangsters, wars, and so forth. It's very much a kitchen sink setting, but that's how I see a lot of sci-fantasy like Star Wars. To me, really good Sci-Fantasy doesn't disregard anything and still keeps everything relatively coherent.

Kane

 

[Morrow]

What traits would your Ultimate Space Opera setting have?

Actual opera. FTL drives powered by music. "We don't have an engineer, but we've got a great tenor."


"How far is it from Earth to Alpha Centari?"

"About one Carmen."




Morrow (Just making trouble)

 

[Kanegrundar]

Morrow, I have just one word of you: BRILLIANT!!!

Funny stuff.

Kane

 

[kyloss]

Morrow, I have just one word of you: BRILLIANT!!!

Funny stuff.

Kane

Seconded.

As for me mix lensman with robotech, bladerunner and garlic for a touch of flavor and youve got it.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Wing Commander (the games, not the movie) during the Vega campaign pretty much does it for me.

-The Gneech

God, that movie was horrible.

 

[delericho]

Actually, one other thing I need for a great space opera game (or, indeed, any flavour of sci-fi) is lots of pictures of cool ships. I can actually do everything else myself, if need be, but I have absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever.

 

[Allandaros]

I'm agreeing with most of the things here, but what I want to see in a space opera game is politicking. Multiple factions, with both human and nonhuman components.

Oh, and lotsa stellar empires.

 

[MarkAHart]

The Deathstalker books by Simon R. Green are great space opera and then some. These books take great joy in going over the top and staying there, raising the bar with each new book in the series.

Some great villains and nasty races in the story...the Grendel aliens, the AIs of Shub and their Furies and Ghost Warriors, Investigators, the Ashrai, an icky insect race, plenty of psionics, and lots of sword combat.