I’m continuing my thoughts on Sci Fi setting ‘dials’. Here is a brain dump of version technologies that you should probably consider for any Sci Fi setting. At the end I give my opinion on which technologies I typically use or avoid.

Technology Questions

Starships

• FTL Drives —Are there faster-than-light drives? How do they work? (My favorite is Classic Traveller-style Jump drives. Ships are rated with FTL drives Jump 1 to Jump 3. You have 8×10 hex subsector maps, each hex is a parsec wide, and each Jump rating lets you jump 1 hex. So a Jump 3 ship can go 3 hexes on the map. Jumps take about 2 weeks regardless of distance.)
• Slower-than-Light Drives — What do they call that? Impulse, fusion drive, planetary drive, etc.
• Cloaking Devices — Yeah or nay? I’d say avoid them.
• Tractor Beams — Yeah or nay?
• Artificial Gravity — All but the hardest Sci Fi has this; otherwise miniature combat is going to be really weird!
• Force Fields — They have them in Star Wars but they are rarely mentioned. In Star Trek they are a key trop in starship combat (‘Shields at 13%!’).

Transportation

• Teleportation — Any teleportation devices? If you use a Star Trek style ‘beam’ technology you’ll need specific rules or else bad guys will put an A-Bomb on your bridge.
• Levitation Technology — Is there something like repulsorlift technology like you have in Star Wars that lets vehicles hover over the ground?

Combat and Recovery

• Guns — Are slug throwers (like Battlestar Galactica) or energy weapons the norm?
• Healing — Bacta tanks, autodocs, etc.
• Combat Armor — Allowed? How powerful, is this Starship Troopers?
• Stasis Technology — Any way to freeze or put folks into stasis?

Computers

• AI’s — Cool but may make knowledge checks OP if the computer knows everything in the universe and can give you the best plan to attack your enemy.
• Computer Hacking — Is computer hacking and diving into cyberspace a thing?
• Internet — Is there a datanet / data grid like the internet? If so, how does it work? Planetary? Galactic?

Biotechnology

• Cloning and genetic engineering — What does the setting have if any? Is it legal?
• Cybernetics — Any implants allowed?
• Nanotechnology — Most settings don’t have it; need to think through impacts if you add this.
• Transhumanism — Any folks with hands for feet, extra limbs, and weird stuff?
• Aging — Is there a Niven-style boosterspice type drug to slow aging?

Communication

• Holography — Most settings have a bit of this.
• FTL Communications — Is communications age-of-sail style, where you can’t communicate faster than ship travel speed? Or is it like Star Trek and Star Wars where you can real-time video chat through ‘subspace’? The latter looks good in the movies but also let’s you call for help and I think is more troublesome than helpful for RPG games.

Culture

• PC Races — PCs as Humans-only, or other creatures? Can humans be robots?
• Languages — Is there some sort of universal translator if/when you have an alien first contact? What is the common language called?
• Royalty — Is there an aristocracy, with space barons and feudalism? If you want to save the space princess, you’ll want this.
• Psionics — Do folks have it? Is it rare? Illegal?

My Preferred ‘Setting Dials’

Most settings I like (in terms of RPG settings) have these dial setting:

• FTL — Jump drive technology like Classic Traveller.
• Communication — Communication is Age of Sail; no subspace faster than FTL jumps.
• No AI’s on Ships — Otherwise too easy for PCs.
• Internet is planetary — Otherwise too easy for PCs.
• No nanotechnology — Keep it lower tech.
• No transhumanism — Too weird for my tastes.
• No teleportation — Too weird or OP.
• No psionics for PCs — Only for NPCs.
• No cyberspace — You can hack computers Star Wars style, but you’re not doing a Tron style immersion into cyberspace.

Been talking to Mason about his upcoming Imperium campaign. One topic that has come up is Sci Fi tropes. Here’s a table I came up with at one point that is useful to think through. Might be worthwhile to ask players which tropes they like or don’t like 🙂

12 Sci-Fi Story Types

Review the list for ideas, or roll 2d6 and to see what story to create in your next adventure. Patrons can give missions for items 2-12.

1. Patron: Get a job from a patron such as obtaining a macguffin.

2. Exploration: Salvage of ancient ruins, abandoned ships, exploring dungeons.

3. Merchant: Trading cargo and working the stock market using trade tables.

4. Heists: Con jobs or other missions to get an object.

5. Military: Defend an outpost or fight warlords.

6. Aliens: Encounter exotic creatures, fight predators, or safari missions.

7. Cultures: 1st contact scenarios, modern cultural issues reskinned.

8. Court Intrigue: Interact with nobles/politicians or become one.

9. Distress Calls: Answer an S.O.S., but no telling what you really will encounter.

10. Space Battles: Vacc suit fights, bridge action, fleet combats.

11. Belters: Asteroid exploration, strikes, megacorp intrigue.

12. Survival: Survive a ship crash, prison, hostile terrain or sabotaged ships.

RPG Space Sci Fi Tropes

Other iconic genre elements I can think of that is great to work in at Con game especially (to make it feel like you placed a Space game):

• Melee combat with futuristic weapons,
• Ranged combat with futuristic weapons
• Fighting alien monsters
• EVA in a space suit
• Piloting a ship
• Solving a cosmic enigma
• Spaceship combat