Setting Design

[Tonic]

Does anybody know of any resources to help people develop custom settings? Like, a list of facets to consider about the economy, social norms, etc? I'm look for something science fiction related, specifically.

[Mike Holmes]

Seems to me the best thing to do is to emulate several of the exstant games. Take a little from this one, a little from that. What you take from each will depend on the design. What sort of Sci-Fi game do you envision?

Mike

[Tonic]

Typical cyberpunk as a basic skeleton with post apocolyptic elements.  Big corporations wield heavy influence over the governments of the world after a biologic tragedy. In terms of science, I'm going to put a heavy emphasis on the biologic (genetic manipulation), an area that I think sci-fi writers tend to neglect.
I've got the high concept laid out in my head, but I want to make sure I get it fully realized before I present it to my players.

[KeithBVaughn]

You may wish to visit the Science Fiction Writers of America site and peruse their articles about writing. They have a couple of articles about building a fantasy world that should translate easily to a game world.

www.sfwa.org

KBV

[RobMuadib]

Hey

It just so happens I have been looking at alot of that type of stuff, since collaborative world building is part of the focus of my game, The Million Worlds: Chronicles Of the Eternal Cycle, which you can find more out about by looking for TMW:COTEC threads here on the forge.

Here are some good URLS to check out

http://www.sfwa.org/writing/worldbuilding1.htm
http://www.hut.fi/~vesanto/world.build.html
http://sfwrg.org/
http://www.iprimus.ca/~pjduane/WorldBuilding.htm
http://www.nocturne.org/world/main/main.html

Some really good books to read on the subject for a hard SF perspective, from the science fiction writer's series are
World Building by Stephen L. Gillet (edited by Ben Bova)
Aliens & Alien Societies by Stanley Schmidt (Edited by Ben Bova.)

Between the two you will get a nice broad introduction to nitty gritty world design considerations such as how worlds form according to astronomy & astrophysics understanding, planetary geology considertions, orbital mechanics, biochemistry of life, Stars and Suns. The Aliens & Alien Socieites book picks up where the first one leaves off, covering more biochemistry, alien engineering, considering possible body and mental considerations, cultural considerations, touching on language, genetics, and other details. A very good overview and introduction to all of the hard science considerations of world & species building. Lots of cool stuff, plus lots of references to interesting hard science world building novels, some quite novel, as well as hard science references in the bibliography.

For cyberpunk stuff, I'd check out stuff on noetics, transhumanism, books by Greg Egan & Greg Bear deal with alot of these newer futurological science stuff. A book on Nanotech reccomended by the SFWS series books is Engines of Creation, Eric K Drexler, New York: Anchor/Doubleday Press 1986. Then you got your Gibson, your Stephenson, etc.

Check out this list of sites at the Orion's Arm website, http://www.orionsarm.com/books/futurism.html it deals with some of the info. As for references, it can't hurt to check out GURPS Cyberpunk, Bio-tech, Space, Transhuman Space, Ultra-Tech and related world-books. They are well researched, and have good bibliographies to scour for more sources, depending on how detailed you want to get.

best

[Zamiel]

Does anybody know of any resources to help people develop custom settings? Like, a list of facets to consider about the economy, social norms, etc? I'm look for something science fiction related, specifically.

In a rare moment of overestimating my audience (awaiting the wash of thrown stuff), I might suggest seeing if you can get your hands on a copy of Aria and Aria: Worlds.  I don't think I've ever seen a more detailed structure for multi-level setting and persona creation -- nor, thankfully, am I likely to again.  However, it is the go-to source when you have questions about society or culture design that hangs together sensibly.

[Tonic]

Rock out. This is exactly the kind of stuff I've been looking for. Thanks for the help, guys.