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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Calico_Jack73" data-source="post: 1398257" data-attributes="member: 14403">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. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /></blockquote>

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