Ah! My favourite setting! In truth you don't need really any more prepared stuff than you do for any other genre. The things I always want to know about are: 1: What is the FTL drive like and when can you or can't you do it? 2: Is ship to ship interaction possible while FTL? 2a: What are the standard ship-ship weapons? 3: How do you transfer between spaceships and planets? Standard questions for all campaigns: 1: What is the "common bond" for the party? 2: Proportion of "Action" scenes to "Story" scenes... (Makes a huge difference to what sort of character I design!) 3: Any unusual technologies? 3a: Are mental powers in play? 3b: Given that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, does one use technobable or arcanobable when talking about special effects? 3c: Which other parts of my science background knowledge do I have to switch off? 4: What is the status of religions? 4a: Regardless of what any given race believes, is the game universe monotheistic, polytheistic or atheistic? 4b: If deities exist how prone are they to intervene? 5: What are the norms for combat? 5a: What is the standard melee weapon? 5b: What is the standard ranged weapon? (5c: What is the life expectancy of any NPC wearing a red shirt? come to think of it, don't bother - we all know it is one scenario...) 6: Social level / government? (Just one or two words will do...) 6a: Crime level? 6b: Wealth level? 6c: Personal freedom? One can be Sci-fi and be: High Action - as in Star Wars Story - as in Star Trek Technology can be: Very different - as in Star Wars Well developed from our own - as in Star Trek Recently developed from our own - as in Blake's 7 Jules Verne was right... Alchemy was right... Wands and Spellbooks... Religion can be: Left out - as in Star Trek Vague - as in Star Wars The whole point - as in C. S. Lewis Mental powers are: common / rare / very rare / non-existant Cybernetics are: common / rare / very rare / non-existant Computers are: Minds (as in Ian M. Banks) / AI / much as now / as in (era) / mechanical / none Money can be important or, as in Star Trek, abolished. The "good guys" are... * the government - as in Star Trek * the resistance - as in Star Wars (IV to VI era) * whoever sponsors the party - usually a secret organisation * the party - as in Farscape & Dr. Who The "threat" is... * the government - as in Star Wars (IV to VI era) * various enemy races - as in Star Trek (TOS era) & Dr. Who * whoever opposes the sponsors - usually another secret organisation * someone who wants to kill the party for some or no good reason * the environment Of course the boundary between Sci-Fi and Fantasy gets blured. Consider "Saphire & Steel", "The Tomorrow People" and most of Gerry Anderson's C21 productions, and what of "Dune"? There is so much you can do! You don't need to define all that much in detail, but you do need to know what is possible, what is impossible, where the party start and what is their first big problem. Everything else can wait on what the party does. Rgds, Michael. ---------------------------------------------------------------- GAMERS Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gamers/
