One of my players was uncomfortable with me filling my sci-fi galaxy with AI until I explained it like this... "Think of the AIs like the gods and spirits of a fantasy setting. Simple little dedicated AIs are all around, but they're mostly quiet and just do their jobs behind the scenes. The big AIs are like pantheistic gods. Powerful yes, but don't interact directly with you much. And all the AIs in between... Well really, what's the difference between a droid and a golem?"
@bobhill-ol7wp . I'm not sure exactly. Something like if all these hyper-intelligent AI are running around, then what's the point of us lowly mortal meatbags? Maybe his idea of sci-fi is more old-fashioned than mine.
Think I understand now, sometimes it feels hard to justify adventure in a world that could be sterilized by automation fullfilling every need and hazard to the point any humans would just be some eyes floating in a tube watching space tiktok all day (atleast not without getting deep in space politics or something) @@lafortya
Another good reference might be Cowboy Bebop? Or how about Cyberpunk, with hackers and androids and megacorporations. References for that might be Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, and that one movie with Bruce Willis where everyone has a robot body, except some neo-Amish like people and suddenly people can kill people through the connection to the robot body. Other reference: Trigun! I feel like I'm showing my age here though...
In the book, Perilous Waif, there were fabricators that made everything, you just needed the raw materials. The best equipment was patent protected (they melted if you took them apart) and the big cost was buying the design. So you could limp along on open source designs, spend the time to make your own designs, or pay a mega corp for their designs. This would be a way to limit the players from having excessive, solve any problem, gear.
In my (very limited) experience, when it comes to running a science fiction game, one of the most important things to develop is how realistic you want your sci-fi to be. This, along with setting the technology "level," sets down the broad limitations of what the characters can and cannot solve with the tools at their disposal. This also helps determine how much you want the setting to run on existing theories and understood laws of reality versus how much is made up, which is VERY important when dealing with those pesky natural phenomena or engineering problems that the players will inevitably have to face. Personally, I aim for a sort of middle ground "mostly hard" sci-fi range. Most, if not all, real world laws and what we understand of them apply, while providing enough room for more theoretical possibilities (like FTL travel, stargates, laser weapons, etc.) that are in some way grounded to those real world laws; this hugely reduces and simplifies how much of my sci-fi I need to essentially make up. It also allows the players to do their own research as necessary to learn and understand what it is they're working with, and solve the problem logically, rather than rolling a dice and puking out some load of complete nonsense to describe it. It also (and this is probably more important) helps maintain setting CONSISTENCY. Nothing breaks immersion in a science fiction story worse than having your defined sci-fi elements change function on a whim, or having your science officer go on a lengthy explanation of what their wonderful tool does, and every actual scientific word they use is put in the completely wrong context.
I would personally define such things as Star Wars as Space Opera, because fantasy doesn't quite fit either. That being said I can see where your coming from.
yeah Star Wars has long been placed into the space opera setting. Story and character focused rather than explaining everything using real science or more typically pseudo science explained well enough to sound reasonable. Star Wars just says this is the world deal with it then tells you a story.
@@iPuzzlePirate Star wars is a perfect Space Opera. All the essentials are there, on top of Wagneriesque Williams soundtrack, Bass soloist Vader and never ending layers of symbolism.
I agree! Very funny. ...And the funny part is the earliest part of asshole replacement is already here. That is with online legal advice and online legal forms. And let us not forget online fine payment! Might as well dispense with the many pleasantries of jurisprudence by automating the whole thing. That include randomly assigning fines to random people for crimes they may have committed at sometime in someplace. Got to make up for tax shortfalls.
Man, mine is set in 2200. Humans use Gauss and Rail guns for most military operations. Though plasma-throwers, plasma-casters, and pulse lasers are also available, they are mostly for specialist roles, or aren't really powerful enough to replace Gauss rifles in the military. Yes, a pulse laser made by my settings Humans can flash-boil your blood and make your limbs explode, but they don't work if they don't actually hit your flesh/normal clothing. If you're wearing any form of 'modern' body armour, then they are almost useless against you. (At the very least, they would take two or three shots to get through the most basic of armours.) Plasma-throwers, however, work like flame-throwers, but don't waste non-renewable resources, and are even more effective at killing, though they have slightly more limited range. Plasma-casters are probably the most powerful thing that you can get as far as "hand-held" weaponry, but the damn things are the size of a DShK, 14.5mm HMG, and weigh a bit more. (82.3 lbs for the lightest Plasma-Caster design, and 74.96 lbs for a DShK.) www.google.com/search?q=DShK+14.5&num=100&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiVkPz48tfTAhVH64MKHZAVDyEQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=960#imgrc=j3F4f1ZXP5efzM:
I'm about to start a GURPS Firefly game, which might fall into your "grunge" sci-fi category, although it's usually described "space western". And the "tech solves everything" issue is handled in much the same way that it is in "old west" settings, where the tech does exist, but access to it on the frontier (the border and outer planets) is limited. Plots are easily borrowed from Westerns (movies, TV series, books, etc.), or from any of the minor side stories that appear in the series. Or at least, that's the theory. We'll see what happens in practice... ;)
BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ... discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV
I’ve always thought of magic in a sci fi setting to be a natural part of the space and universe around them, and the races of the galaxy use technology like incredibly advanced arcane focuses.
You missed out on a great opportunity to call out one of the most interesting things about Mechwarrior/BattleTech: Other humans that are so separated from the point of view of the protagonists that they seem like aliens, the Clans. :)
BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ... discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV
This is a cool video. However. As someone who loves both: if Star Trek is sci fi, Star Wars is sci fi; and if Star Wars is fantasy, Star Trek is fantasy. Significantly more fantasy, in fact, as ST literally has gods. Greek gods. Not enough? Okay, the Q. Literal miraculous religions focused around esoteric and poorly understood natural phenomena. Whatever spiritual whatever happened to Vger. “Weird radiation” that does non-scientific things. Prophets. Souls. Literal magic. And, yes, Star Wars has a religion that has physical influence. But actually, it has a physical scientific part of the universe that has religious elements grown up with it. (And also magic.) But that is my gripe. Otherwise, great job! Seven years ago, no less!
At 1:15 In a science fiction rpg game, Telepathy is NOT magic. It's psionic or even technological. Telepathy could only be magic if your setting is science fantasy (like Star Wars).
Thank you for this. I'm working on a space opera novel right now and I want to do as much research on world building as possible. This was really helpful.
Star Wars is such an interesting "sci fi" setting, because aliens are just there most of the time, there's not a big sense of discovery, technology is just an after thought in fact, it seems like it's reached a complete stagnation for thousands of years. And you have to think of a lot of it as 70s future tech... not everyone has a pocket device, like a cell phone some have comlinks and datapads.
That's a great point to add yes. You're right - the universe is settled on a certain tech level, and a certain way about life and advancement isn't a focus. Good point.
My setting is a fantasy/diesel punk with science fantasy stuff like eldritch abominations and interdimensional travel. My main character Anargrin someway waaaay late in my series becomes for all intents and purposes: A Plainswalker. I dream of a day when my writing becomes so big he gets made into a Plainswalker card in Magic the Gathering lol
Having been a Sci-Fi nut all my life I have played a lot of Sci-Fi based game systems. It’s rare, very rare, to find one that doesn’t include something that eludes to “magic”. My own creation, Stellar Frontiers (soon to be published by Golden Games), is one of those few. Any “Magic” is technology driven.
By all means not to be confused with Star Frontiers. Stellar Frontiers (name pending approval by Golden Games) is built around a core designed for solo play. I remember Star Frontiers, was a great game, no Space Oprea or Traveller, but still good.
“Elric: We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers. We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner, holographic demons and invocation of equations. These are the tools we employ, and we know many things. John Sheridan: Such as? Elric: The true secrets, the important things. Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever. Seven words to make them go without pain. How to say good-bye to a friend who is dying. How to be poor. How to be rich. How to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them. That is why we are going away-to preserve that knowledge. Sheridan: From what? Elric: There is a storm coming, a black and terrible storm. We would not have our knowledge lost or used to ill purpose. From this place we will launch ourselves into the stars. With luck, you will never see our kind again in your lifetime. I know you have your orders, Captain. Detain us if you wish. But I cannot tell you where we are going. I can only ask you to trust us.” ― J Michael Straczynski
Settings-wise this is why I love Battletech/Mechwarrior. It's a very grounded sci fi setting since they basically wrote it as "The fall of Rome, but with walking tanks". Some planets have intense feudalism, others democracy, and others are so barren that there's no real government. A person could ride a horse to work and carry a laser rifle to protect themselves. Sure the bread and butter of the wargame is the gianty stompy robots, but for an alien-free and AI intensely limited story, you can pull plot hooks from practically anything and find a way to settle it in. Lost some ancient magic relic passed down through a family line? Ancient Star League technical doo-dad they never really figured out after great gran gran kicked the bucket. Stuff like that is flexible and fun.
18:35 That also sounds like most D&D groups ive ever experienced! Personally, id rather be worst at everything than best at anything, much more fun to be had :D Rincewind>Gandalf!
My own sci-fi game is hard sci-fi. No artificial gravity. No space magic. I do delve into some quantum mechanics, but definitely harder than 99% of what's out there. I have found myself reading more about the real possibilities of FTL travel, whether it's a wormhole or some other method of folding space. The old Albedo system had the best spaceship designs in terms of reality, that I have come across. I'd rather run, and play, a sci-fi game than any other genre. As for aliens, I just introduced them two sessions ago. I borrowed the Phraint from David Harfrave's Arduin, because most of my players are really old school players. I've dabbled in AI in this game, but most of it is not really senient, and I call it more a "virtual intelligence" than an artificial intelligence. I do use handheld lasers, but they are rare and expensive. Most people still use slug throwers, and ships mostly use missiles and point-defense weapons systems. For plots, look tp sources like Traveller. Commerce is a great motivator. Commerce and political intrigue, with brushfire wars as needed to keep the players interested. Thanks for the video. More sci-fi RPG content please.
I don't see why they have to be different, sci fi and fantasy, Star wars, along with the world I'm building myself, is a blend of both and I personally think that's better than either individualy. Science Fantasy? EDIT: I just realized that my comment could be taken a little wrong. What I mean is that I think Star Wars is BOTH sci fi AND fantasy, or at least could be either/or. I just don't like when people say "it's not sci fi".
Star Wars isn't fantasy. It's scifi. Why? Because if I'm browsing a series of books in a category. Or games. And I'm looking for something like Baldur's Gate, I'm going to be extremely pissed off to see Jedi Survivor. It's science fiction because it is not set in a medieval, nor a contemporary setting, but in the far flung future. With glitzy space ships. Psychic powers have always been tied to scifi. Now, you could argue "But wait, it's faaaantasy because of the definition of fa-" I get it. But if the word "fantasy" appears by itself (you're welcome to run any form of poll you'd like with your huge subscriber amount), it's understood to stand for "medieval fantasy".
If you assume people won't think of Star Wars and 40k when you say Sci-Fi and only think of "hard" Sci-Fi you have let your Star Trek fanboyism go to your brain. I'm sorry, but SW is what the vast majority think of, it's simply more popular.
I'm dreadfully late to the show, but I have to say that in my eyes, Traveller is a great system for ANY sort of adventure or tech level. And they have dogs in space - the Vargr! You can play Imperial scientists or suspicious villagers in a backwater colony exploring alien ruins, try your hand at piracy or smuggling, have military or espionage or trading campaigns of all kinds, deep space exploration gone wrong, political intrigue or just be a crew with a ship, taking jobs to survive and saving up to replace that janky port compression coil...
thinking of doing a space game set After a great space war with Space Elves vs humanity that used a RTS like red alert but in space and use Giant star gate to travel from star system to star system. it set far into the future with Energy guns Drone technology AI/Robots space dwarves to friend play as them so added them a race of former insectoids that are now a AI hive mind that want to trade like the Ferangi vampire Marauders that used to have dwarves and Orcs as slaves to feed on orc as enforcers Elves a xenophobic race that uses laser weapon and Stealth tech to hide there capital ship/home world Imperialistic feudal gov and mix of miner races and small governments humanity is governed by the Global United Nation or GUN for short with advanced ballistic ships drone tech and ION cannons and rail guns democratic with a hint at militaristic humanity and elves are peaceful now and are trying to expand into unexplored space and out research each others
Thanks for your scholarly advice here. I particularly enjoyed your thoughts on Intellectual Puzzles at the core of a good encounter/adventure, as most player parties have enough skill distribution to attempt to overcome most skill-based challenges, with relative ease. Particularly in more hand-wavey, roleplay focused, story driven games. TBH, I'd love to hear see an episode where you detail your approach to generating sci-fi friendly intellectual challenges. I've been running Stars Without Number for the last year or so. It's a 2d6+modifiers OSR style game. A brilliant sandbox-enabling system, and a very compelling setting too. Of course, the rules can be applied to any homebrew setting. That's the beauty of SWN! I'm clearly an amateur GM in contrast to the likes of thee, but a thirsty passion & desire for storytelling burns in the nucleus of my soul. If you have the spare time & inclination, feel free to have a peek at some of our Actual Play recordings: th-cam.com/play/PLN39ml7LyLcKtqC-D5tiT0jUYx0CKz3Y9.html
That's a great question and I'll add it to the list! I love your set-up, though I wish the faces were a little bigger :) And I admire anyone who runs live games. Our internet here in South Africa doesn't currently support that option.
Big key in scifi is dont be afraid to say I dont know. Shot a monster with super auto kill rifle... doesnt die... why? I dont know. They don't. Player needs to find out.
I’m making a sci fi table top games. It takes a lot from D&D and SWETE( in terms of rules ) I just started. Hopefully it doesn’t take longer than a month to finish.
ST: Enterprise is best ST When pressed, I have to say DS9 is the most varied and interesting series; but I always push for others to start with Next Gen... AFTER they’ve seen Enterprise first. Next Gen is lovely banter and a relaxing romp into an idealistic future, while DS9 tackles the more “Babylon 5” perspective of daily life. Juxtaposed to that, Enterprise is a haphazard liftoff into an entirely opaque and misunderstood frontier from the perspective of a crew of Earthers who have only ever seen one or two aliens their entire lives. Your buddy from work who watches Scrubs most of the time will have an easier time connecting to Enterprise’s analogue approach to space and *BLESSED* intro theme. I’ve lost many attention spans introducing people to that bald English frog going to the holodeck to quote Shakespear and Thoreau, thereby teaching life lessons to a pale white toaster with critically severe autism while he stiffly pets a cat. Good stuff either way!
The biggest problem I have with Sci/Fi games is to come up with backgrounds. The players land on a planet. It OUGHT to be alien which is fine for the first two or three planets but by the time they've hit their seventh planet my imagination has stalled. Currently I have four alien planet types: Southern California, British Columbia, the Sahara desert and the classic, an English gravel pit. I'm just not that creative.
BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ... discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV
On animals in space, there was a great story (I think from nosleep) called FELINE. That's basically about genetically engeneered cats that were bred to hunt rats that infested starships and evolved to be vicious beasts while the people slept in criostasis on their travels. It has some holes, but it was super atmospheric. Really inspiring. 'Nature's temper' here on TH-cam has it narrated.
Can't remember what book series it was, but there was a book in which there existed somewhat genetically uplifted felines.. they were usually very rare and tended to "bond" to a human who would then be responsible for taking care of them.. There were two such creatures in this book series... one named "Skitty" .. a merging of "Ship's Kitty" and another was named "Scat".. itself a merging of "Ship's Cat"... they could talk in a sort of child-like accentuated voice..
BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ... discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV
Hi, love your work, can you recommend a video or article that will help me deal with the following problem which I encounter while running my 5e D&D campaign - I have a monk and barbarian in the party who are the type of people who really enjoy encounters, but at the same time while they are in encounter they always just swing with their axes and fists and because of that they get bored after the 3th or 4th encounter. I tried to have someone brake their weapons or blew them away, but that didn't really make it a lot better.
+Ivan Aleksandrov Can I start by saying - YOU ARE NOT ALONE! This is a question worth doing a video on I think. But... for now let me say that you have a few tricks you could try: 1- change the type of encounter from land based. Make it in the air riding eagles, or underwater so it's 3 dimensional. 2 - change the type of fights. What if the creature can only be damaged by laughter? Or by water? Or by something unusual? 3 - Ask the players to describe their attacks, and give bonus damage for more description and less damage for simple ones. I hope that helps!
+How to be a Great Game Master Thanks!, this is a good start for sure. I especially like the laughter idea and the air fight. Would be amazing if you could do a whole video on that! I was actually thinking something in line with your 2nd suggestion. My idea was to make an ooze fight in which they need to use water to dissolve it. The danger I see with this is that my party might not figure out that they need to use water to kill it (no matter how many hints I put there) and on top of that not come up with any other plausible way of dealing with the ooze. If that happens I think I will probably have to make it very obvious what is it that they need to do in order to kill the ooze. That will take away from their accomplishment and in general it will not feel right. Maybe I am just overthinking it, but in any case thanks again, really good suggestions, might end up using all of them throughout my campaign !
I cannot but help give your final list of reference sources a severe scowl. There are these rather good sources of inspiration called "books". Every single cool thing you mentioned was first done in a (minimum) half-dozen books before it ever hit the big or small screen. Obviously you can't skip off listing all the titles of books worth reading, or the video could be twice as long. I do think a strong general reminder might have been in order that the SF section of the library or bookstore is a most excellent storehouse of ideas. And if your gamers' knowledge of SF is stuck in video land, then the ideas stolen from books will be Unexpected and Awe-Inspiring.
+Murray Lindsay I m suitably chastised. Currently I'm reading Peter Hamilton sci-fi which is really cool. I guess my video references are a throw back to my years spent as a film and tv lecturer where getting students to watch a show was as difficult as getting them to read a book :)
+How to be a Great Game Master - Sorry to get all up in your grill. (my current issue of "Street Slang for Rustics Monthly" says that means "belligerent".)
+Murray Lindsay Street slang... Murray - you trying to be dope? Or hip. Or jiggy with it? My street slang is limited to... "I'll have a third biscuit at tea today..." lol.
+Justin Jakob Firefly! OMG The Browncoats are gonna execute me! How could I forget Firefly?! I'm so sad right now. I love Firefly. Grunge sci-fi at it's best!
Absolutely the very best of luck! Let us know how it goes. Have you decided on how you opening it? Are you starting in a cantina? Or perhaps a space battle?
the characters will be approached separately by a maverick space captain with delusions of grandeur who wants to whisk them from their meaningless existence on a sterile space station to work for his slightly insane rescue mission
Well the way their characters are set up it isn't likely since they all want off the space station theyre on to find long lost relatives etc. and this is their only chance However if they really don't want to, I'm not exactly sure ...
There already have been told about cyberpunk, but... I am GMing in Shadowrun setting, and, from what I experienced so far, it's really different from sci-fi or fantasy setting. Especially Shadowrun, which inludes, actually, three genres - cyberpunk, noir and fantasy. And it's especially difficult, when you have to mix those part into one. Well... I don't have an exact question, but I would love to see some kind of video about playing such systems, or, at least, cyberpunk systems. Or just to hear a few tips...
Enterprise and Star Gate Atlantis started in the wrong season if you ask me. If both had started mid-way through their second season the shows would have been amazing. They spent too much time 'setting up' the 'set up'.
Is there already a preexisting Star Trek Tabletop RPG or is this one of those instances where there really is no choice but to heavily modify a preexisting system like pathfinder?
There are several actually. I remember the Decipher Star Trek RPG. It's long out of print, but if you can find a copy, it was pretty good. A quick google search reveals a new project in the making with an open beta going on right now: www.modiphius.com/star-trek.html
Last Unicorn Games had a Star Trek game, FASA had one.. I think someone's actually got a D20 version of a Star Trek game floating around somewhere on the net.. :) And if you've experience with Pathfinder, you really need to look into Starfinder.. which is Pathfinder's sci-fi core
It's too bad I didn't see this video before starting my Numenera game. I'm still figuring out the balance of elements for science fantasy, as opposed to straight sci-fi.
+Jerel Fontenot that is going to be really interesting if you can get it to work. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is Fantasy Sci-fi, more so than Star Wars.
How to be a Great Game Master I'm planning on running a He-man style game using Adventures on Dungeon Planet. And also a sci-fi game using Uncharted Worlds which is what brought me here. I'm glad you appreciate He-Man as much as I do.
I have an old, blank chessex hex map - quite large (apprx 21" x33") I really wanted to start drawing a map of a galaxy/system for scifi games. Any non-computer drawing ideas? Thanks so much.
as an example: in my sci-fi world constructs (robots/A.I.) are a playable race/species with rights. programable nanomachines, and excessive genetic and cybernetic improvements are banned. the galaxy is mostly at peace, with a powerful U.N. like body enforcing a set few rules. a few major multi-planet govs rule most planets, but some planets have their own independent govs. all the alien species are nothing like humans, and most, if not none can breath the same air we do. humans were the first to explore the stars, hence why we have not found aliens yet. this combined with humans war-ready nature has made them a fairly intimidating species, that few would dare war with.
I am tnkstill n gor a space faring campaign with star ships inspired by the Brain&Brawn Ships series by Anne McAffrey, where the main ship computer is a human brain that got cyberneticly implanted right after birth. But the difficulty everybody in my rpg club has, who tried to run a sci-fi space game, is how to prevent it from becoming a trading game...
Bit late but magic can be put into Sci-Fi quite easily and make sense, look at Biotics in Mass Effect they damage, levetate, shield, transform all things you would associate with magic in a 5e campaign yet they're done from manipulating dark energy, that's your way into using magic in Sci-Fi
I'm planning a campaign that's set in a failed/recovering dyson swarm. It's gonna feel like the Expanse, but in ancient space habitats. This has been, by far the best thing I've seen to help me understand where to start. I don't even know what game I'm going to use. I'm leaning to d20modern. Anyway, thanks!
qith ai its more complex the human brains long term memory alone is on par with a hardrive requiring the energy of a nucleasr power plant to even run. but this may also be why they turn on us not being able to program empathy and emotion into them personaly i like the symbiotic stance on ai
"Why bother having lawyers when we can simply build robots that are assholes?"
Oh, mighty GM. I love everything you do.
+Zero Wing I was going to be a lawyer before I chose my career so I can rip them off ;)
That's the line that made me "like" the video.
I totally Lolled on that as well.
One of my players was uncomfortable with me filling my sci-fi galaxy with AI until I explained it like this... "Think of the AIs like the gods and spirits of a fantasy setting. Simple little dedicated AIs are all around, but they're mostly quiet and just do their jobs behind the scenes. The big AIs are like pantheistic gods. Powerful yes, but don't interact directly with you much. And all the AIs in between... Well really, what's the difference between a droid and a golem?"
Why were they uncomfortable?
@bobhill-ol7wp . I'm not sure exactly. Something like if all these hyper-intelligent AI are running around, then what's the point of us lowly mortal meatbags? Maybe his idea of sci-fi is more old-fashioned than mine.
Think I understand now, sometimes it feels hard to justify adventure in a world that could be sterilized by automation fullfilling every need and hazard to the point any humans would just be some eyes floating in a tube watching space tiktok all day (atleast not without getting deep in space politics or something) @@lafortya
I’m formally requesting more Sci-Fi content, so I can more effectively run my Expanse campaign
Another good reference might be Cowboy Bebop? Or how about Cyberpunk, with hackers and androids and megacorporations. References for that might be Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, and that one movie with Bruce Willis where everyone has a robot body, except some neo-Amish like people and suddenly people can kill people through the connection to the robot body.
Other reference: Trigun!
I feel like I'm showing my age here though...
All good examples yes! That's what makes it such an interesting genre. There are so many different levels on can take it!
In the book, Perilous Waif, there were fabricators that made everything, you just needed the raw materials. The best equipment was patent protected (they melted if you took them apart) and the big cost was buying the design. So you could limp along on open source designs, spend the time to make your own designs, or pay a mega corp for their designs. This would be a way to limit the players from having excessive, solve any problem, gear.
In my (very limited) experience, when it comes to running a science fiction game, one of the most important things to develop is how realistic you want your sci-fi to be. This, along with setting the technology "level," sets down the broad limitations of what the characters can and cannot solve with the tools at their disposal. This also helps determine how much you want the setting to run on existing theories and understood laws of reality versus how much is made up, which is VERY important when dealing with those pesky natural phenomena or engineering problems that the players will inevitably have to face.
Personally, I aim for a sort of middle ground "mostly hard" sci-fi range. Most, if not all, real world laws and what we understand of them apply, while providing enough room for more theoretical possibilities (like FTL travel, stargates, laser weapons, etc.) that are in some way grounded to those real world laws; this hugely reduces and simplifies how much of my sci-fi I need to essentially make up. It also allows the players to do their own research as necessary to learn and understand what it is they're working with, and solve the problem logically, rather than rolling a dice and puking out some load of complete nonsense to describe it. It also (and this is probably more important) helps maintain setting CONSISTENCY. Nothing breaks immersion in a science fiction story worse than having your defined sci-fi elements change function on a whim, or having your science officer go on a lengthy explanation of what their wonderful tool does, and every actual scientific word they use is put in the completely wrong context.
I would personally define such things as Star Wars as Space Opera, because fantasy doesn't quite fit either. That being said I can see where your coming from.
yeah Star Wars has long been placed into the space opera setting. Story and character focused rather than explaining everything using real science or more typically pseudo science explained well enough to sound reasonable. Star Wars just says this is the world deal with it then tells you a story.
Star Wars is Science Fantasy. The greatest merging of the two greatest things.
Also known as Space Opera.
@@iPuzzlePirate Star wars is a perfect Space Opera. All the essentials are there, on top of Wagneriesque Williams soundtrack, Bass soloist Vader and never ending layers of symbolism.
SW is fairy tale with SF settings.
Traveller
@17:40. Nearly spit my coffee out. Lol.
+Kevin :)
I agree! Very funny. ...And the funny part is the earliest part of asshole replacement is already here. That is with online legal advice and online legal forms. And let us not forget online fine payment! Might as well dispense with the many pleasantries of jurisprudence by automating the whole thing. That include randomly assigning fines to random people for crimes they may have committed at sometime in someplace. Got to make up for tax shortfalls.
Really good delivery. Just sliped it in without even cracking a smile.
Man, mine is set in 2200. Humans use Gauss and Rail guns for most military operations. Though plasma-throwers, plasma-casters, and pulse lasers are also available, they are mostly for specialist roles, or aren't really powerful enough to replace Gauss rifles in the military. Yes, a pulse laser made by my settings Humans can flash-boil your blood and make your limbs explode, but they don't work if they don't actually hit your flesh/normal clothing. If you're wearing any form of 'modern' body armour, then they are almost useless against you. (At the very least, they would take two or three shots to get through the most basic of armours.)
Plasma-throwers, however, work like flame-throwers, but don't waste non-renewable resources, and are even more effective at killing, though they have slightly more limited range. Plasma-casters are probably the most powerful thing that you can get as far as "hand-held" weaponry, but the damn things are the size of a DShK, 14.5mm HMG, and weigh a bit more. (82.3 lbs for the lightest Plasma-Caster design, and 74.96 lbs for a DShK.)
www.google.com/search?q=DShK+14.5&num=100&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiVkPz48tfTAhVH64MKHZAVDyEQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=960#imgrc=j3F4f1ZXP5efzM:
Another reference: Babylon 5 as another setting?
I'm about to start a GURPS Firefly game, which might fall into your "grunge" sci-fi category, although it's usually described "space western". And the "tech solves everything" issue is handled in much the same way that it is in "old west" settings, where the tech does exist, but access to it on the frontier (the border and outer planets) is limited. Plots are easily borrowed from Westerns (movies, TV series, books, etc.), or from any of the minor side stories that appear in the series. Or at least, that's the theory. We'll see what happens in practice... ;)
BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ...
discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV
I’ve always thought of magic in a sci fi setting to be a natural part of the space and universe around them, and the races of the galaxy use technology like incredibly advanced arcane focuses.
I do not allow time travel
You missed out on a great opportunity to call out one of the most interesting things about Mechwarrior/BattleTech: Other humans that are so separated from the point of view of the protagonists that they seem like aliens, the Clans. :)
Does anyone else take notes because this man gives good advice?
I love sci-fi, but my players always refuse to even try it (unless it's star wars, but I find it way too restrictive)
BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ...
discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV
Sounds great
No love for "Babylon 5"?
This is a cool video.
However.
As someone who loves both: if Star Trek is sci fi, Star Wars is sci fi; and if Star Wars is fantasy, Star Trek is fantasy. Significantly more fantasy, in fact, as ST literally has gods. Greek gods. Not enough? Okay, the Q. Literal miraculous religions focused around esoteric and poorly understood natural phenomena. Whatever spiritual whatever happened to Vger. “Weird radiation” that does non-scientific things. Prophets. Souls. Literal magic.
And, yes, Star Wars has a religion that has physical influence. But actually, it has a physical scientific part of the universe that has religious elements grown up with it. (And also magic.)
But that is my gripe. Otherwise, great job! Seven years ago, no less!
9:20 Dogs barking = Terminators.
Just sayin'. :)
A Boy and His Dog
At 1:15
In a science fiction rpg game, Telepathy is NOT magic. It's psionic or even technological.
Telepathy could only be magic if your setting is science fantasy (like Star Wars).
You look like Shad from Shadiversty.
Slightly, but not really
Remington Wright indeed you are right
I will bookmark this for a later time, still trying to figure out keeping my fantasy world together
+Anime Chewns Awesome!
I like your views on AI, they are very correct. We have the potential to create God with it.
where is the video on tone?
Thank you for this. I'm working on a space opera novel right now and I want to do as much research on world building as possible. This was really helpful.
I’m currently working on a campaign called Starscape. It’s not in earths universe but a totally alien place where humans don’t even exist.
Unfortunately they will be stranded kind of like The Martian.
Star Wars is such an interesting "sci fi" setting, because aliens are just there most of the time, there's not a big sense of discovery, technology is just an after thought in fact, it seems like it's reached a complete stagnation for thousands of years. And you have to think of a lot of it as 70s future tech... not everyone has a pocket device, like a cell phone some have comlinks and datapads.
That's a great point to add yes. You're right - the universe is settled on a certain tech level, and a certain way about life and advancement isn't a focus. Good point.
My setting is a fantasy/diesel punk with science fantasy stuff like eldritch abominations and interdimensional travel. My main character Anargrin someway waaaay late in my series becomes for all intents and purposes: A Plainswalker. I dream of a day when my writing becomes so big he gets made into a Plainswalker card in Magic the Gathering lol
Having been a Sci-Fi nut all my life I have played a lot of Sci-Fi based game systems. It’s rare, very rare, to find one that doesn’t include something that eludes to “magic”. My own creation, Stellar Frontiers (soon to be published by Golden Games), is one of those few. Any “Magic” is technology driven.
That sounds exciting! And yes I agree there is always some element of mystic nonsense that creeps in sadly.
Stellar Frontiers. Not to be confused of course with Star Frontiers.
By all means not to be confused with Star Frontiers. Stellar Frontiers (name pending approval by Golden Games) is built around a core designed for solo play. I remember Star Frontiers, was a great game, no Space Oprea or Traveller, but still good.
Sounds really cool. I'll keep the name Stellar Frontiers in mind.
“Elric: We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers. We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner, holographic demons and invocation of equations. These are the tools we employ, and we know many things.
John Sheridan: Such as?
Elric: The true secrets, the important things. Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever. Seven words to make them go without pain. How to say good-bye to a friend who is dying. How to be poor. How to be rich. How to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them. That is why we are going away-to preserve that knowledge.
Sheridan: From what?
Elric: There is a storm coming, a black and terrible storm. We would not have our knowledge lost or used to ill purpose. From this place we will launch ourselves into the stars. With luck, you will never see our kind again in your lifetime. I know you have your orders, Captain. Detain us if you wish. But I cannot tell you where we are going. I can only ask you to trust us.”
― J Michael Straczynski
I love how you dont miss a beat.... XD. Fantastic videos! Instant subscriber!
I'm currently working on making a BattleTech campaign and found this helpful.
Settings-wise this is why I love Battletech/Mechwarrior. It's a very grounded sci fi setting since they basically wrote it as "The fall of Rome, but with walking tanks". Some planets have intense feudalism, others democracy, and others are so barren that there's no real government.
A person could ride a horse to work and carry a laser rifle to protect themselves. Sure the bread and butter of the wargame is the gianty stompy robots, but for an alien-free and AI intensely limited story, you can pull plot hooks from practically anything and find a way to settle it in.
Lost some ancient magic relic passed down through a family line? Ancient Star League technical doo-dad they never really figured out after great gran gran kicked the bucket. Stuff like that is flexible and fun.
18:35 That also sounds like most D&D groups ive ever experienced!
Personally, id rather be worst at everything than best at anything, much more fun to be had :D
Rincewind>Gandalf!
Or you just buy a Traveller rulebook and start a campaign in the ImpIII setting ;)
My own sci-fi game is hard sci-fi. No artificial gravity. No space magic. I do delve into some quantum mechanics, but definitely harder than 99% of what's out there.
I have found myself reading more about the real possibilities of FTL travel, whether it's a wormhole or some other method of folding space.
The old Albedo system had the best spaceship designs in terms of reality, that I have come across.
I'd rather run, and play, a sci-fi game than any other genre.
As for aliens, I just introduced them two sessions ago. I borrowed the Phraint from David Harfrave's Arduin, because most of my players are really old school players.
I've dabbled in AI in this game, but most of it is not really senient, and I call it more a "virtual intelligence" than an artificial intelligence.
I do use handheld lasers, but they are rare and expensive. Most people still use slug throwers, and ships mostly use missiles and point-defense weapons systems.
For plots, look tp sources like Traveller. Commerce is a great motivator. Commerce and political intrigue, with brushfire wars as needed to keep the players interested.
Thanks for the video.
More sci-fi RPG content please.
TRAVELLER!
DagerSaber1 Yep, Traveller covers all the bases described in this vid! Ya roles yer dice and ya takes yer chances.
I don't see why they have to be different, sci fi and fantasy, Star wars, along with the world I'm building myself, is a blend of both and I personally think that's better than either individualy. Science Fantasy?
EDIT: I just realized that my comment could be taken a little wrong. What I mean is that I think Star Wars is BOTH sci fi AND fantasy, or at least could be either/or. I just don't like when people say "it's not sci fi".
Star Wars isn't fantasy. It's scifi. Why? Because if I'm browsing a series of books in a category. Or games. And I'm looking for something like Baldur's Gate, I'm going to be extremely pissed off to see Jedi Survivor. It's science fiction because it is not set in a medieval, nor a contemporary setting, but in the far flung future. With glitzy space ships. Psychic powers have always been tied to scifi.
Now, you could argue "But wait, it's faaaantasy because of the definition of fa-" I get it. But if the word "fantasy" appears by itself (you're welcome to run any form of poll you'd like with your huge subscriber amount), it's understood to stand for "medieval fantasy".
This is so awesome. I'm here because I'm working on creating my own Mass Effect TTRPG.
No, I don't have EA's permission, and no, I don't care.
If you assume people won't think of Star Wars and 40k when you say Sci-Fi and only think of "hard" Sci-Fi you have let your Star Trek fanboyism go to your brain. I'm sorry, but SW is what the vast majority think of, it's simply more popular.
I'm dreadfully late to the show, but I have to say that in my eyes, Traveller is a great system for ANY sort of adventure or tech level. And they have dogs in space - the Vargr!
You can play Imperial scientists or suspicious villagers in a backwater colony exploring alien ruins, try your hand at piracy or smuggling, have military or espionage or trading campaigns of all kinds, deep space exploration gone wrong, political intrigue or just be a crew with a ship, taking jobs to survive and saving up to replace that janky port compression coil...
This gentleman looks like the father of another fantasy/tabletop rpg focused youtuber by the name of Shadiversity, I highly recommend him.
I don't comment enough. You do good work. I always walk away with something I can either use or that makes me a better GM. Thanks man.
thinking of doing a space game set After a great space war with Space Elves vs humanity that used a RTS like red alert but in space and use Giant star gate to travel from star system to star system.
it set far into the future with Energy guns Drone technology AI/Robots space dwarves to friend play as them so added them
a race of former insectoids that are now a AI hive mind that want to trade like the Ferangi
vampire Marauders that used to have dwarves and Orcs as slaves to feed on orc as enforcers
Elves a xenophobic race that uses laser weapon and Stealth tech to hide there capital ship/home world Imperialistic feudal gov
and mix of miner races and small governments
humanity is governed by the Global United Nation or GUN for short with advanced ballistic ships drone tech and ION cannons and rail guns democratic with a hint at militaristic
humanity and elves are peaceful now and are trying to expand into unexplored space and out research each others
Thanks for your scholarly advice here. I particularly enjoyed your thoughts on Intellectual Puzzles at the core of a good encounter/adventure, as most player parties have enough skill distribution to attempt to overcome most skill-based challenges, with relative ease. Particularly in more hand-wavey, roleplay focused, story driven games. TBH, I'd love to hear see an episode where you detail your approach to generating sci-fi friendly intellectual challenges.
I've been running Stars Without Number for the last year or so. It's a 2d6+modifiers OSR style game. A brilliant sandbox-enabling system, and a very compelling setting too. Of course, the rules can be applied to any homebrew setting. That's the beauty of SWN! I'm clearly an amateur GM in contrast to the likes of thee, but a thirsty passion & desire for storytelling burns in the nucleus of my soul. If you have the spare time & inclination, feel free to have a peek at some of our Actual Play recordings: th-cam.com/play/PLN39ml7LyLcKtqC-D5tiT0jUYx0CKz3Y9.html
That's a great question and I'll add it to the list! I love your set-up, though I wish the faces were a little bigger :) And I admire anyone who runs live games. Our internet here in South Africa doesn't currently support that option.
Anytime I hear the words “Mass Effect” my heart leaps in my chest. 😂 By far me favorite sci-fi.
High level technology when shown to lower tech peoples can be indistinguishable from " magic".
I settled on my space setting not having thinking robots and computers because engineers never figured out how to not make them incredibly dumb.
I need a list of ALL the series and references he mentions here.. this is some good tastes!
Solid video! Any plans for modern/postapocalyptic settings?
+Gracjan Chudy Yes! It's gonna happen in this run of settings after Tone I think?
+How to be a Great Game Master Great! Can't wait
Big key in scifi is dont be afraid to say I dont know. Shot a monster with super auto kill rifle... doesnt die... why? I dont know. They don't. Player needs to find out.
Use science to balance your universe. With scientific solutions we also get scientific hindrances.
i want to build maps and worlds for a sci fi adventure .... any good tools for sci fi?
Making a transformers campaign, found this helpful
Farscape is exactly my stick. First season is a bit of a slow burner. But then the show really takes off.
I’m making a sci fi table top games. It takes a lot from D&D and SWETE( in terms of rules ) I just started. Hopefully it doesn’t take longer than a month to finish.
Hmmmm...I caught that Star Trek Enterprise insult, that was a great show
the lawyer joke really got me
Since that was one of my career paths back when I was but a wet GM I feel allowed :)
I prefer the method of space travel in halo. Slip space tech is f*cking awesome.
Woah woah woah! Enterprise was great...until the whole time travel crap.
"Captain's Log: Cheesy"
Alright, I'm in
Whine about Enterprise all you like it's better than than anything released in the last 15 years.
Nice talk, but goodness please position clip-on microphones away from velcro or other things that could rub against them.
Something tells me that he doesn’t care for the prequels including the force explanation within
Easy: switch from D&D to GURPS
Is it possible to use war hammer 40k lore in a more d&d type setting?
ST: Enterprise is best ST
When pressed, I have to say DS9 is the most varied and interesting series; but I always push for others to start with Next Gen... AFTER they’ve seen Enterprise first.
Next Gen is lovely banter and a relaxing romp into an idealistic future, while DS9 tackles the more “Babylon 5” perspective of daily life.
Juxtaposed to that, Enterprise is a haphazard liftoff into an entirely opaque and misunderstood frontier from the perspective of a crew of Earthers who have only ever seen one or two aliens their entire lives.
Your buddy from work who watches Scrubs most of the time will have an easier time connecting to Enterprise’s analogue approach to space and *BLESSED* intro theme.
I’ve lost many attention spans introducing people to that bald English frog going to the holodeck to quote Shakespear and Thoreau, thereby teaching life lessons to a pale white toaster with critically severe autism while he stiffly pets a cat.
Good stuff either way!
I feel like Enterprise COULD have been the best one, but it just never quite got there. Too much time travel stuff, not quite good enough stories.
"Why have lawyers if you can simply build robots that are assholes?"
😂
The biggest problem I have with Sci/Fi games is to come up with backgrounds. The players land on a planet. It OUGHT to be alien which is fine for the first two or three planets but by the time they've hit their seventh planet my imagination has stalled. Currently I have four alien planet types: Southern California, British Columbia, the Sahara desert and the classic, an English gravel pit. I'm just not that creative.
BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ...
discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV
You nailed all my fav franchises: Star Trek, MechWarrior, and The Expanse
I was wondering if there was a sci fi monster manual or if one is being made
by your logic startrek is fantasy because it has empaths
On animals in space, there was a great story (I think from nosleep) called FELINE. That's basically about genetically engeneered cats that were bred to hunt rats that infested starships and evolved to be vicious beasts while the people slept in criostasis on their travels. It has some holes, but it was super atmospheric. Really inspiring. 'Nature's temper' here on TH-cam has it narrated.
Can't remember what book series it was, but there was a book in which there existed somewhat genetically uplifted felines.. they were usually very rare and tended to "bond" to a human who would then be responsible for taking care of them.. There were two such creatures in this book series... one named "Skitty" .. a merging of "Ship's Kitty" and another was named "Scat".. itself a merging of "Ship's Cat"... they could talk in a sort of child-like accentuated voice..
Hard Science Fiction RPG's are awesome.
Currently le I'm running a wolfenstein warhammer 40k star wars halo with some other things campaign
BTW I am starting up , on-line , my next campaign homebrew with Mongoose Traveller ... frontier Belters and colony-building ... playing via Discord ... new players welcome ...
discord.gg/FvbkhWg2hV
Do you think you can make a video on modern settings? I'm especially stuck on how to avoid the police catching my group and summarily executing them.
+Luke Bryant It is on the list of settings for me to explore with you guys, so keep watching it's coming! :)
Ya wanna great sci fi? Spelljammer!!
Hi, love your work, can you recommend a video or article that will help me deal with the following problem which I encounter while running my 5e D&D campaign - I have a monk and barbarian in the party who are the type of people who really enjoy encounters, but at the same time while they are in encounter they always just swing with their axes and fists and because of that they get bored after the 3th or 4th encounter. I tried to have someone brake their weapons or blew them away, but that didn't really make it a lot better.
+Ivan Aleksandrov Can I start by saying - YOU ARE NOT ALONE! This is a question worth doing a video on I think. But... for now let me say that you have a few tricks you could try: 1- change the type of encounter from land based. Make it in the air riding eagles, or underwater so it's 3 dimensional. 2 - change the type of fights. What if the creature can only be damaged by laughter? Or by water? Or by something unusual? 3 - Ask the players to describe their attacks, and give bonus damage for more description and less damage for simple ones. I hope that helps!
+How to be a Great Game Master Thanks!, this is a good start for sure. I especially like the laughter idea and the air fight. Would be amazing if you could do a whole video on that! I was actually thinking something in line with your 2nd suggestion. My idea was to make an ooze fight in which they need to use water to dissolve it. The danger I see with this is that my party might not figure out that they need to use water to kill it (no matter how many hints I put there) and on top of that not come up with any other plausible way of dealing with the ooze. If that happens I think I will probably have to make it very obvious what is it that they need to do in order to kill the ooze. That will take away from their accomplishment and in general it will not feel right. Maybe I am just overthinking it, but in any case thanks again, really good suggestions, might end up using all of them throughout my campaign !
Good luck! Let us know how how goes!
I cannot but help give your final list of reference sources a severe scowl. There are these rather good sources of inspiration called "books". Every single cool thing you mentioned was first done in a (minimum) half-dozen books before it ever hit the big or small screen. Obviously you can't skip off listing all the titles of books worth reading, or the video could be twice as long. I do think a strong general reminder might have been in order that the SF section of the library or bookstore is a most excellent storehouse of ideas. And if your gamers' knowledge of SF is stuck in video land, then the ideas stolen from books will be Unexpected and Awe-Inspiring.
+Murray Lindsay I m suitably chastised. Currently I'm reading Peter Hamilton sci-fi which is really cool. I guess my video references are a throw back to my years spent as a film and tv lecturer where getting students to watch a show was as difficult as getting them to read a book :)
+How to be a Great Game Master - Sorry to get all up in your grill. (my current issue of "Street Slang for Rustics Monthly" says that means "belligerent".)
+Murray Lindsay Street slang... Murray - you trying to be dope? Or hip. Or jiggy with it? My street slang is limited to... "I'll have a third biscuit at tea today..." lol.
Excellent video! I am looking forward to using the idea of why A.I. is limited in my Firefly campaign. Cheers.
+Justin Jakob Firefly! OMG The Browncoats are gonna execute me! How could I forget Firefly?! I'm so sad right now. I love Firefly. Grunge sci-fi at it's best!
+How to be a Great Game Master I think we'll grant you a stay of execution this time. Stay shiny.
Such grace! Of course! Safe flight in the Verse.
I'm starting a sci-fi campaign next week, wish me luck
Absolutely the very best of luck! Let us know how it goes. Have you decided on how you opening it? Are you starting in a cantina? Or perhaps a space battle?
the characters will be approached separately by a maverick space captain with delusions of grandeur who wants to whisk them from their meaningless existence on a sterile space station to work for his slightly insane rescue mission
Cool. What if they say no?
Well the way their characters are set up it isn't likely since they all want off the space station theyre on to find long lost relatives etc. and this is their only chance However if they really don't want to, I'm not exactly sure ...
If they say no, side quest, someone sabotages the station and everyone needs to evacuate... only ship left... ;)
so bs galactica is basically a space GoT?
what about combining Fantasy and Sci Fi where magic can rival and match technology?
Raging Raven like Shadowrun and Rifts?
There already have been told about cyberpunk, but... I am GMing in Shadowrun setting, and, from what I experienced so far, it's really different from sci-fi or fantasy setting. Especially Shadowrun, which inludes, actually, three genres - cyberpunk, noir and fantasy. And it's especially difficult, when you have to mix those part into one. Well... I don't have an exact question, but I would love to see some kind of video about playing such systems, or, at least, cyberpunk systems. Or just to hear a few tips...
I'll add it to the list! Cyberpunk is it's own special space!
How to be a Great Game Master Thank you)
Is the power cosmic considered magic?
Great video BUT... ENTERPRISE WAS JUST GETTING GOOD WHEN THEY KILLED IT. Lol so I don’t fault the cheese addicted dog
Enterprise and Star Gate Atlantis started in the wrong season if you ask me. If both had started mid-way through their second season the shows would have been amazing. They spent too much time 'setting up' the 'set up'.
How to be a Great Game Master agreed, although I loved stargate... Atlantis never caught my attention
Is there already a preexisting Star Trek Tabletop RPG or is this one of those instances where there really is no choice but to heavily modify a preexisting system like pathfinder?
There are several actually. I remember the Decipher Star Trek RPG. It's long out of print, but if you can find a copy, it was pretty good. A quick google search reveals a new project in the making with an open beta going on right now: www.modiphius.com/star-trek.html
Last Unicorn Games had a Star Trek game, FASA had one.. I think someone's actually got a D20 version of a Star Trek game floating around somewhere on the net.. :) And if you've experience with Pathfinder, you really need to look into Starfinder.. which is Pathfinder's sci-fi core
enterprise > BSG i will die on this hill
It's too bad I didn't see this video before starting my Numenera game. I'm still figuring out the balance of elements for science fantasy, as opposed to straight sci-fi.
+Jerel Fontenot that is going to be really interesting if you can get it to work. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is Fantasy Sci-fi, more so than Star Wars.
How to be a Great Game Master I'm planning on running a He-man style game using Adventures on Dungeon Planet.
And also a sci-fi game using Uncharted Worlds which is what brought me here.
I'm glad you appreciate He-Man as much as I do.
Why can't start wars be both sci fi and fantasy?
It is. Science fantasy is a subgenre of science fiction and people who make this annoying semantics argument are just frustrated with Star Wars.
It's _SPACE_ fantasy. The science and fantasy parts are mutually exclusive. That's why people argue. Because they think space means science.
I like the plot from Gundam
+the dr of peppers So many options right?
I have an old, blank chessex hex map - quite large (apprx 21" x33")
I really wanted to start drawing a map of a galaxy/system for scifi games. Any non-computer drawing ideas? Thanks so much.
I'm having trouble finding a good/fair system to run gunfights w/ dice. I'd like suggestions please
Pedro Moreira try cogent role-play
Savage Worlds. It can adapt for any setting and has the Sci-Fi companion book to implement into your adventure.
as an example: in my sci-fi world constructs (robots/A.I.) are a playable race/species with rights. programable nanomachines, and excessive genetic and cybernetic improvements are banned. the galaxy is mostly at peace, with a powerful U.N. like body enforcing a set few rules. a few major multi-planet govs rule most planets, but some planets have their own independent govs. all the alien species are nothing like humans, and most, if not none can breath the same air we do. humans were the first to explore the stars, hence why we have not found aliens yet. this combined with humans war-ready nature has made them a fairly intimidating species, that few would dare war with.
I am tnkstill n gor a space faring campaign with star ships inspired by the Brain&Brawn Ships series by Anne McAffrey, where the main ship computer is a human brain that got cyberneticly implanted right after birth. But the difficulty everybody in my rpg club has, who tried to run a sci-fi space game, is how to prevent it from becoming a trading game...
Bit late but magic can be put into Sci-Fi quite easily and make sense, look at Biotics in Mass Effect they damage, levetate, shield, transform all things you would associate with magic in a 5e campaign yet they're done from manipulating dark energy, that's your way into using magic in Sci-Fi
Dark Matter for 5E. All the sci-fi/sci-fantasy -pros, none of the shoehorned rules bloat -cons. It's pretty sleek
I'm planning a campaign that's set in a failed/recovering dyson swarm. It's gonna feel like the Expanse, but in ancient space habitats. This has been, by far the best thing I've seen to help me understand where to start. I don't even know what game I'm going to use. I'm leaning to d20modern. Anyway, thanks!
qith ai its more complex the human brains long term memory alone is on par with a hardrive requiring the energy of a nucleasr power plant to even run. but this may also be why they turn on us not being able to program empathy and emotion into them personaly i like the symbiotic stance on ai