Setting the Setting

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

If you're going to be making this as a product for market, you really have to know what's there — not only to know the competition, but also so you know how others have done what you're trying to do, if they've succeeded, and so forth. You could be about to invest a lot of time into what we call a "heartbreaker" — a labor of love built on a foundation of ignorance of source material and games other than a limited personal selection.

This is a subject that Luke and I have independently put a whole lot of thought into. We've come up with solutions that are both different than the frankly pale selection we've had until recently as well as each others' games. They do different things in different ways.

So, of the books you mention that I've read, none of them take place after all the cool stuff has happened. They're all in the thick of it with the protagonists' decisions and mistakes bending the history of worlds and universes. What's happening *right now* that drives the characters?

Why do you want your futuristic setting in space? What does space allow you to do that nothing else does? (People keep asking this and it's not a rhetorical question.)

Also, if you make a game that claims to do both Solaris and Starship Troopers, you're either a rare genius or a future target of much eye-rolling.

[Adam Dray]

"...Star Trek, Star wars, Fire fly, Along with a lot of Spider Robinson's books, Dune (all of the series), Starship troopers, Solaris..."

I'd argue that none of those take place after the cool stuff has happened, either.

Sure, a certain amount of cool stuff needs to have happened to have a setting that makes possible things like warp drives and dilithium crystals; droids, Imperial star destroyers, and X-wing fighters; a pan-Asian Alliance planet, Earth-that-was, and the Reavers; telepaths and fully immersive dream parks; uh, brain bugs; and the discovery of strange ocean worlds.

I assume that you're not gonna try to do all of these in the same game. Rather, you're saying that you want to take bits and pieces that you like from these and make your own thing. Yet you cannot tell us what that thing is. If you can't sum it up in a few sentences for us, you're not ready to write it down in a game.

My main bit of advice for you is to imagine who the characters are and what they're doing in the games you will run. Get specific. Now figure out the minimum amount of setting they need to do those things. That's the core of your setting.

Can you tell us what you hoped to get out of this thread? I know you said you were looking for advice "setting the setting," but I think we've probably come to the end of our usefulness without you asking more questions.

[dindenver]

Ian,
  Well, I like to be more direct. What people are trying to get at is this:
  You stated that you want to make a good sci fi game. And that is an admirable goal. The real question we are getting at is what do you consider a good sci fi game? If you can answer the other questions honestly, then they should invoke the answer to this question for you.
  So, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly and Dune are all wildly different. What is the common thread that pulls them together to make them considered all good sci fi in your mind?

  To me, Sci fi has a few genre conventions that you need to embrace or reject as you see fit:
1) Somewhere to explore. Star Trek and Firegfly has a bit os this, Dune and Star Wars, not so much
2) Many problems are solved, but new problems take their place. Star Trek, Dune and Star wars do this pretty well, Firefly, not so much.
3) Humanity has evolved, Dune is the only one that really does this, star trek, star wars and firefly seem to be about regular people, just in the future.
4) Moralizing, this seems to be a universal truth to Sci fi. When a writer gets to write the future, the issues they care about become a turning point in the setting of the future. Lucas feels that politics enables mass genocide, Roddenberry feels that we could all get a long if it weren't for money, Herbert expresses his belief that drugs will destroy what is left of our future, etc. Maybe once you pick your issue, the setting will gel and you will be able to clearly state what the game is about, no?
5) Something new, Sci fi let's you invent setting whole cloth. Given that, it is imperative that you make something original. Otherwise, why bother?
6) Something familiar, Good sci fi rings true to the human experience. You have to find a way to relate aliens and foreign worlds to what people know. This doesn't mean you have to take the Star Trek route and make all aliens to be humans with funny looking foreheads. But, it does mean, you need to be able to contrast and compare alien species against humans effectively. In otherwords, if you describe an alien as a bundle of pure energy with a consciousness incomprehensible to man, then how are players supposed to play them and/or relate their characters to them?
  Well, that is a lot of info, maybe instead of responding to people via PM, you can post here and let everyone in on how your setting is developing?

[JadedDemiGod]

Wow, alright ill see if i can answer everything, lets see...
First im not trying to pull off all the shows and books i mentioned, i was asked what my favorite ones are, so i answered.

Secondly a good Sci-fi game to me is one that has action, a good storyline and gives the GM or Storyteller (Etc.) the tools to make the players go wow that's cool.

dindenver you mentioned certain science fiction conventions in your last post.

I'm hoping to include all of those elements, im not claiming im going to succeed but id like to .

And as for the setting im currently working on it slowly but surly and ill post more info as i get it done, and im surly going to ask more questions as the days go on.

And i have actually used info from the posts done, Luke just so you know i did move the timeline around a bit, whoever mentioned the soldiers without a cause, your right, hadn't given to much thought about that till i read your post; going to be doing something with that. As i get more info, ideas, and i do more research, the more it grows. Ill let you all know in a couple weeks how things are going with the game, until then thanks .