Quote from: jeff37923;921256This has been my biggest recurring problem with SFRPGs. When faced with the huge possibility of choices that the Players could do, they just stare blankly like a deer in the headlights. You really do have to spoon feed many of the starting adventures until the players get the understanding that they can do "Anything at all".

Repeating a bit what I said in my response, the truth is that is really isn't "Anything at all" in most instances, is it?
For one thing if you are playing a sci-fi game you probably want to engage sci-fi themes or why bother?
If the GM suggested this game. He probably has some ideas or preferences. Should they not be considered?
Also the rules probably support some activities more than others.
And in any event you probably want all the players to interact. You don't want a game with dentist PC on Century-4 and a cello player back on Earth.

There are implied assumptions. GMs, please, spell these out. Players are not mind readers!

Quote from: Soylent Green;921462Repeating a bit what I said in my response, the truth is that is really isn't "Anything at all" in most instances, is it?
For one thing if you are playing a sci-fi game you probably want to engage sci-fi themes or why bother?
If the GM suggested this game. He probably has some ideas or preferences. Should they not be considered?
Also the rules probably support some activities more than others.
And in any event you probably want all the players to interact. You don't want a game with dentist PC on Century-4 and a cello player back on Earth.

There are implied assumptions. GMs, please, spell these out. Players are not mind readers!

Sci-fi is harder to get a handle on that fantasy since it's hard to know what kind of basic tech people take for granted and the basics of how the economy works which in fantasy it's pretty easy since magic happens mostly in the margins and not in daily life which tech would dominate the daily lives of even the poorest people in a sci-fi setting. There's often just a bigger gap between player knowledge and character knowledge that can be hard to bridge.

For getting campaigns off the grounds what often words is a"highway." Start everything off as a railroad with a nice clearly-marked plotline and then let them take an exit anytime they want. Basically set up a railroad with the intent to derail it by simply doing nothing if the players start to wander off the tracks. Gives players something to grab onto in the beginning and then the freedom to reject it when they see something they want better. But usually players have to SEE something they want better so giving them something to do until that point can be helpful.

Quote from: Daztur;921528For getting campaigns off the grounds what often words is a"highway." Start everything off as a railroad with a nice clearly-marked plotline and then let them take an exit anytime they want. Basically set up a railroad with the intent to derail it by simply doing nothing if the players start to wander off the tracks. Gives players something to grab onto in the beginning and then the freedom to reject it when they see something they want better. But usually players have to SEE something they want better so giving them something to do until that point can be helpful.

I think that's good advice, and resembles the "tentpole megadungeon" concept - provide a default activity, but don't constrain the players from doing whatever else they want to do.
I guess Traveller has being a 'free trader' as its default activity, and that is ok if the GM puts work into bringing worlds & NPCs to life; it can act as springboard for a sandbox. The alternative is the very very common "linear series of adventures" model where the GM tells the group what they're doing each week - can work ok for mission-based themes but I tend to find it unsatisfying if that's all that ever happens.