So, sci-fi adventures seem to have a broad range of possibilities. What are the most fun of those possibilities?

If someone pitched you an adventure for your next sci-fi game, what elements would you be looking for? Which ones are exciting to you?



I want to put together a scenario for a con but I don't want to offer up a bog-standard adventure. I want to offer something interesting. It doesn't have to be new, just exciting and fun.

The setting is "space opera", human-centric with a few alien species available, FTL through gates or Lagrange points of the largest planet in a system, anti-gravity, fusion power, a human federation, an alien federation and the reptilian warlike race/empire in a cease-fire with both other empires. For the moment.

(cross posted to ENWorld for fun...)

At the moment, the sort of scifi that sounds most interesting to me is exploratory/scientific... a Star Trek model of going out and seeing what we find, trying to make sense of it. Not for profit or power but for self-knowledge and experience and a sense of adventure. That's how I've always felt watching the original ST series (well, the better bits of it).
Relatively low combat... favoring mysteries and dialogue/diplomacy. I'm not sure what RPG (or group) would handle that well... it would need a system to make translating an alien alphabet or setting up a treaty as exciting as gunplay...
but that's what I'm craving.

does this setting have lichs or a lich equivalent?

Exploration seems tops to me, especially for a one-off with people who probably would prefer to jump into playing rather than learning background.

Maybe something like Rendezvous with Rama, jazzed up however you like. A mysterious something awaits the first (so far as we know) of our kind to discover its secrets!

I'd go for a three-way investigation scenario; have some sort of peace conference between the three races, and then something goes wrong - the PC's go off to investigate, find clues that it's the warlike reptile people, and act on it.

Stuff happens, which reveals that it was actually the aliens, who were trying to provoke a full-scale human-reptile war and then mop up the remains. Give the PC's the choice of what to do about it - negotiate, ally with the reptiles, three-way firefight, aliens start a firefight... an alien extremist gets upset and tries to destroy the space station they're on (So everyone has to team up, else everyone dies)... whatever, there's plenty of opportunities there

It gives you a mix of combat and role-playing, and the story is simple enough that you should be able to fit it into a con slot.

Quote from: tuypo1;804959does this setting have lichs or a lich equivalent?

Not that I've read thus far, but it could? I'm intrigued...

Quote from: Ladybird;804970... {snip awesome sauce}

That there is some good stuff.

More! More!  :-D

I ran a year long Sci Fi Bounty Hunters game based round Strontium Dog using my own Homebrew system.

I had new players (new to RPGs not just me) and it was a perfect mix. The campaign worked in a segmented way with the PCs selecting missions of varying difficulties every few sessions. If a mission wasn't working I could adjust either way. There was exploration, combat, examination of various SciFi tropes everything you want really.
So we covered

i) Faux  "Spaghetti western" Sci fi out on the frontier
ii) Evil corporation Cyber punk
iii) Zombie-pocalyse on a space liner
iv) High tech City urban crime with chase sequences on hover vehicals through traffic
v) Inter dimensional travel to "Hell"
vi) Time travel
vii) Murder investigation
viii) Planet wide Future War with gentically bred super soldiers

Shit the party even has a combat drone they picked up and jacked with an Uber AI.

The sweet thing was the Strontium Dog background gave the party a reason to get involved in everything but also a reason to turn down everything I tried to hook them with. It became a running joke that the criminal they picked up would start talking about how they knew the location of a nano-replication death machine that they would share with the party if ... or how they would start spouting off about how the entire planet was being run by a corrupt alien overlord who had taken on a physical form but was going to commit mass genocide unless... and each time the party just shrugged, handed the guy in collected their bounty and left. They were perfect anti-heroes.

Not sure if it would count, but I am kitbashing together a science-inspired DnD 5e game.  PCs zoom around in erector-set spacecraft with NERVA drives exploring the frontier.  Be sure to bring along a ship's cleric, a Lesser Restoration every week or two is needed to keep the radiation poisoning under control.

The campaign background is cheesy and shallow cliches:  Space Patrol, the Alliance of Free Worlds, the Galactic Scouts Core, etc.  PCs have a hex map of an unexplored star field and have signed on with an operation that has the contract to explore it.  Starting at 1st level, they can just afford projectile weapons.  They are the red shirt ground team, sent into derilect space stations and lost worlds to acquire treasures and magics.  Maybe they live long enough to get laser guns, magical plasma rifles, and eventually their own ship.

Quote from: Old One Eye;805140Not sure if it would count, but I am kitbashing together a science-inspired DnD 5e game.  ...

Sounds fun. Why not use Stars Without Number? Similar old school feel plus all the hard stuff is taken care of converting D&D to space. Also, random tables and advice on running a sandbox. It would be the perfect fit to what you're doing.

Quote from: trechriron;804957So, sci-fi adventures seem to have a broad range of possibilities. What are the most fun of those possibilities?

If someone pitched you an adventure for your next sci-fi game, what elements would you be looking for? Which ones are exciting to you?



I want to put together a scenario for a con but I don't want to offer up a bog-standard adventure. I want to offer something interesting. It doesn't have to be new, just exciting and fun.

The setting is "space opera", human-centric with a few alien species available, FTL through gates or Lagrange points of the largest planet in a system, anti-gravity, fusion power, a human federation, an alien federation and the reptilian warlike race/empire in a cease-fire with both other empires. For the moment.

(cross posted to ENWorld for fun...)

A lot will depend on the audience you are aiming for. Are you going for new Players or appealing to the Grognards? Is the system one that is simple and easy-to-learn or is it more difficult? What would you enjoy running as a convention game?

I'm using HARP-Sci Fi. I'm guessing based on the Con, that I will get a mixture of new and experienced players, with MOST of them (likely all of them) new to this particular game.

There will be pre-generated characters including a "cheat sheet". The game itself is simple. You roll d% + skill over a TN in most instances. The bonus is modified by difficulty, opponents defense, or other factors. Combat is simply that one roll consulting a "generic" critical table based on the attack.

Based on suggestions above, I think I will go with an "exploration" style adventure, where a jump into an unexplored system leads the characters to crash land on a derelict space craft of unknown origin. I think this will give me some good options for mystery, discovery and possibly horror (or just good ol' fashioned combat).

So, what would be some fun things to do on a derelict alien spacecraft lost in space for who knows how long?  :-)

Right this very moment I want to play or run an Interstellar Traveling Circus, the Greatest Show in the Galaxy! Then everyone can be a mix of merchants and scoundrels and freaks. Yes, it will evolve (devolve?) into 5th Element future shock hijinks, but when doesn't it? If you throw enough crayons on the table for people to doodle their character portraits, it'll all work out.

Quote from: trechriron;805200Sounds fun. Why not use Stars Without Number? Similar old school feel plus all the hard stuff is taken care of converting D&D to space. Also, random tables and advice on running a sandbox. It would be the perfect fit to what you're doing.

Stars Without Number contibuted lots of goodness to the star system design thingee I am rigging up.  Nice game, but I am specifically interested in playing around with technological applications of DnD magic.  Like figuring all the different uses of a Decanter of Endless Water on a spacecraft or optimal spells for the ship's mage.

Stealing from everywhere really.  The Traveller SRD is a wealth of info, and I plan to base homebrew 5e backgrounds on the careers.  2300 ad has lots of great art.  Star Frontiers has some neat deckplans and possibly Buck Rogers XXV.  GURPS Space used straight gives nice cliche space organizations and plenty of tech to pilfer.

But the best resource I have found for homebrewing a space campaign is google images.  Images that show the world are more important to me in sci fi than fantasy.

Quote from: trechriron;805213So, what would be some fun things to do on a derelict alien spacecraft lost in space for who knows how long?  :-)

If it's still in functional condition it would be good to have a fun way for PCs to figure out the language and operations of the thing... could be done straight or more for comedy.
The old Gamma World chart for figuring out ancient technology springs to mind.
Mix of potentially good results 'The lights are on!'... mishaps 'the life support systems are back online and pumping out methane!'... possibly game altering 'the ship just launched us into hyperspace and now we're orbiting some alien planet!'
Maybe it's got some sort of AI on it they need to figure out how to communicate with.
There's also that bit in the remake of The Thing where they're wandering around the derelict base, finding weird corpses and trying to piece together what happened. Star Trek and others had similar setups.

Maybe it's not a spaceship after all.