What do you look for in a science fiction rpg setting?

For me:

Capital ships and star fighters that use missiles, guns, and lasers. (FTL, of course)
Light sabers and chainswords.
A bug race (tyranids might be my favorite).
Yazirians (because they are cool).
Dralasites (because they are cool).
Sesheyans (also because they are cool).
A monolithic church (like the 40k Ecclesiarchy).
Multiple star empires, with at least one major war going on.
At least one frontier, ripe for exploration.
Powered armor marines (more like Starship Troopers than 40k).
Independent traders.
Cybernetics would be common.
Psionics would be around, but very rare.
Mercenary armies with hover tanks (Hammers Slammers).

'Spaceships with ashtrays' for me.

EDIT: What I want, nay need, are those big heavy metal doors with the little windows built in. Ideal for seeing someone in the next chamber get decompressed/burnt/attacked whilst in relative safety.

Quote from: danbuter;534574What do you look for in a science fiction rpg setting?

Internal consistancy more than anything.

One of the reasons Star Frontiers doesn't work for me is that the technology does not follow any logical progression, it is all just what seems cool - not what makes sense.

Lasers (Energy Weapons)
Some form of FTL or a Good Reason to Adventure without it.
Psionics (rare is fine.)
Aliens. I don't need a specific sort.


Interestingly enough it can be done right (Starcluster, Alternity, and more) with those elements. It can also hit the sweet spot with those elements (Trinity.)

I also like "twisting the yarn"--something that makes this moment of being in the universe, interesting.

Quote from: danbuter;534574What do you look for in a science fiction rpg setting?

A scale where individual people matter, at least in their little corner of things.

Verisimilitude and internal consistency.

"Magic" in the setting that feels like technology and not fantasy magic.

Space travel, preferably in ships that can be under the control of the PCs.

No meta-plot.

I'd really love a somewhat hard-sci fi space opera that has aliens and is interesting and gives the PCs the opportunity to do something that matters, without being overly full of tedious transhumanist stuff.

Quote from: Dog Quixote;534619I'd really love a somewhat hard-sci fi space opera that has aliens and is interesting and gives the PCs the opportunity to do something that matters, without being overly full of tedious transhumanist stuff.

I wanted exactly the same thing in a SF RPG, so I wrote one.

And nightwind1 was kind enough to review it recently on this very website, here:

http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=21975

I think it's interesting that everybody's pretty much interpreted "science fiction" to mean "somewhere between hard spacefaring and space opera".

Quote from: VectorSigma;534644I think it's interesting that everybody's pretty much interpreted "science fiction" to mean "somewhere between hard spacefaring and space opera".

Not necessarily....

I can buy psionics in a setting if they are used with some consistancy. The games and media settings for Babylon 5 and Star Wars do this to my satisfaction. I would call Babylon 5 more hard science fiction and Star Wars to be science fantasy while both are space opera.

Sure, but nobody's piped up with "post-apoc" or "time travel" or blah-blah-blah.  That's all I mean.  It's like space travel is expected?

Quote from: VectorSigma;534646Sure, but nobody's piped up with "post-apoc" or "time travel" or blah-blah-blah.  That's all I mean.  It's like space travel is expected?

Or just what is most desired.

I've already said this in the last week but: Fuzzys, Sunstones, Zarathustra Corp, people swearing by Nifflehiem, and Jack Holloway... in no particular order.

What I don't want in my Sci-Fi gaming is 'Hard Science' that seems to assume we already know pretty much everything, thus is really just 'modern day IN SPACE', with all its limits (chemical guns (only), rockets, no FTL, crappy space suits and space ships that look like erector sets actually ruin my suspension of disbelief over a long enough time frame. Humans improve things quickly and spend time overcoming both difficulties AND annoyances... and aesthetics. Given commercial space industries, a space ship X and a space ship Y, with identical performance characteristics but with X being a cheapo erector set and Y being a curvy, Selby Cobra looking thing, Y will sell a lot more than X, even if it costs more.)

Quote from: VectorSigma;534644I think it's interesting that everybody's pretty much interpreted "science fiction" to mean "somewhere between hard spacefaring and space opera".

Possibly because the question in the original post didn't specify any particular sub-genre of SF, and non-spacefaring SF usually falls under some sort of sub-genre: cyberpunk, steampunk, planetary romance, post-apoc, etc.

Not that this a bad thing, of course.

1. A compelling big idea
2. A plausible vision of the future
3. Science I can believe in

Quote from: Xavier Onassiss;534652Possibly because the question in the original post didn't specify any particular sub-genre of SF, and non-spacefaring SF usually falls under some sort of sub-genre: cyberpunk, steampunk, planetary romance, post-apoc, etc.

Not that this a bad thing, of course.

Granted, I just thought it was interesting.

I like my space sci-fi huge.  Dyson spheres, teleporters.  I don't like "just barely tomorrow" tech, in function or appearance.  But I suspect this is because I'm more of a fantasy guy, so these trappings make my sci-fi more like fantasy.

I also really dig time-travel and parallel-universe stuff.