Why no one plays sci-fi RPGs

[drnuncheon]

For instance, Star Trek doesn't really lend itself to "adventuring". And if it does, you can't really see that world in the show.

Five shows and no adventure to be found? Forgive me, but what is "to explore strange new worlds...to seek out new new life and new civilizations...to boldly go where no man has gone before?"

You must have watched a different Star Trek than I did...unless your definition of "adventuring" is pretty darn narrow.

J

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Five shows and no adventure to be found? Forgive me, but what is "to explore strange new worlds...to seek out new new life and new civilizations...to boldly go where no man has gone before?"

You must have watched a different Star Trek than I did...unless your definition of "adventuring" is pretty darn narrow.

J

It's not adventuring unless I get to kill a Space Orc and steal it's Space Pie.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I thought Sci-Fi stuff was fairly popular - There's quite a lot of D20 support for it - Star Wars, Stargate, Farscape, Lost Colony off the top of my head. Awful lot of non D20 games in my FLGS?

I agree with what a couple of people have said - some of the settings are difficult to run as players often aren't as familiar with them as the DnD - 'slightly medieval europe' default. But a lot of D20 fantasy games wander pretty far from that, IMO?

It's not a game killer for me - just takes a little more effort to get the setting off the ground.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the kind of games where the science is glossed over... simply because I find they date too quickly otherwise. Likewise, I don't like science to intrude into my fantasy games... but that's just me.

I would like to see something as cool as the old Alternity game. There was definitely something about that one.

 

[glass]

My group plays SWd20 as a non-sword-and-magic alternative to D&D.

Except that SW had both swords and magic!


glass.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I think the reason Sci-Fi hasn't caught on is the scope. Star Wars and Star Trek has taught everyone to think BIG in their Sci-Fi and that can be intimidating to GMs. In Fantasy you can contain your campaign to a small area around a village but most GMs think they have to flesh out an entire galaxy to prepare to run a Sci-Fi game. Fantasy games can always be run fairly linear, stick the PC's in a dungeon and you are set for two or three game sessions. Nobody thinks the "dungeon" is a good setting for Sci-Fi and I think that is kind of funny. When the marines in "Aliens" went in search of the colonists that was definitely a dungeon.

Here are in my opinion a couple keys to running a decent Sci-Fi game:

1) Start small! Create the spaceport or city that your PCs are going to start at. Don't worry about the rest until you get there. The GM is ultimately in charge of the PC's travel habits. You can keep them in place as long as you need. There may not be a ship going where they want to go or their own ship may need repairs. Don't be afraid to screw with the PCs that way if you need to.

2) Be ready to improvise. Use a premade chart or create your own with a random table to determine what another planet is like and then improvise. Once you have an idea of what a place is like you can jot down some notes on it for reference in the future. I think this is the area that most people have problems with. Sci-Fi almost DEMANDS that you improvise at times. In reality it is easier to improvise and come up with individual systems on your own rather than trying to memorize the systems in a prewritten setting.

3) People and plot driven. Don't dwell on the setting! Yeah, the floating continent on a gas giant idea might get a few oh's and ah's but the story is what will keep your players playing. I'll usually watch TV for basic plotlines and then adapt them to the game setting. As a hint, don't restrict yourself only to Sci-Fi shows when doing this. Law & Order, CSI and 24 all have great plot ideas that can be stolen and put into a Sci-Fi (or heck, even fantasy) game.

These are just a couple things I do. In answer to the primary question I blame it on GM & Player intimidation by the rules and setting.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

BattleLords of the 23rd Century ...

I love hard SF but find that adventures for a group tend to fall into two categories. Discover the mysterious alien race that left all the artefacts behind; or Investigate/stop the smugglers/pirates. The best actionish Sci-Fi RPG out the is BattleLords. The action is fast and the combat can be as thick or thin as players want. The tech is far enough in the background that it does not easily outdate, yet close enough that it is not "magic" either.

I LOVED THAT GAME!!!
Someone stole my book many moons ago and I have yet to pick up a new one. Reminded me of Rifts but without all the disclaimers or the MDC system. Big guys with big guns! Who wouldn't want to play a Ram Python with a BFG-Minigun?

 

[mmadsen]

I think the reason Sci-Fi hasn't caught on is the scope. Star Wars and Star Trek has taught everyone to think BIG in their Sci-Fi and that can be intimidating to GMs. In Fantasy you can contain your campaign to a small area around a village but most GMs think they have to flesh out an entire galaxy to prepare to run a Sci-Fi game.

Why would most GMs think they have to flesh out an entire galaxy to prepare to run a Sci-Fi game? Both Star Wars and Star Trek quite clearly make up new planets as needed: a desert planet, an ice planet, a swamp planet, an urban planet, etc. Star Trek was pitched as Wagon Train in space; its designed to be episodic.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Why would most GMs think they have to flesh out an entire galaxy to prepare to run a Sci-Fi game? Both Star Wars and Star Trek quite clearly make up new planets as needed: a desert planet, an ice planet, a swamp planet, an urban planet, etc. Star Trek was pitched as Wagon Train in space; its designed to be episodic.

Because most GM's are paranoid that their players may do something unexpected and would rather die than be caught unprepared. Nobody likes to be put on the spot. This is simply an opionion I've formed from what sci-fi gaming I've done in the past. I've had GM's spend an ungodly amount of time fleshing out a section of a star map complete with number of planets, composition and gravity of said planets, government structure of the habitable planets, etc. It is easy to see why GMs could think that was something they'd have to do if you've ever taken a look at GURPS: Space. Once again, my opion from my experience... not necessarily anyone elses.

 

[tzor]

The terms science fiction, sci-fi and science fantasy are not interchangeable, but many people apparently think that they are. This problem is not unique to any one group. I cannot recall a single “science fiction” TV series that didn’t degrade past sci-fi and straight into fantasy.

The best example I can think of is “Sea Quest” who started out season 1 with promotions where the actors were claiming that the show was real “science fiction” and not the non science of Star Trek’s transporters and warp drive. Within a season or two they were pushing as “science fiction” the paranormal and eventually the boat was captured by space aliens and put on an alien world. So much for science fiction.

The problem with true science fiction is that it becomes science fact really fast. Never the less there is still very fertile ground for pure science fiction for the good game designer. LaGrange worlds are still many decades away … if ever, and are all within the technology possibilities of science fiction.

Sci-Fi, on the other hand, can be as popular as ever. Traveller is still a very viable scenario. Jump/gate scenarios still have great potential without requiring the GM to literally create an entire universe of worlds. Dune is effectively a jump scenario since the navigator’s guild strictly limits inter-planetary travel.

Genres run through fads. You don’t see that in fantasy because the genre is so large that it can survive the periods when it is not a fad. Others are not so large and the d20 boon was mostly a boon to fantasy scenarios. One day that may change, and sci-fi will be the fad again.

 

[mmadsen]

Star Trek was pitched as Wagon Train in space; its designed to be episodic.

I managed to find a Star Trek pitch document on-line, and it looks like an excellent campaign kick-off document -- with more useful ideas than most campaign settings. Here's the quick concept summary:

Star Trek is a "Wagon Train" concept -- built around characters who travel to worlds "similar" to our own, and meet the action-adventure-drama which becomes our stories.