Great GM: How to run a Sci Fi setting in your roleplaying game - Game Master Tips

We look at the amazing opportunities that running a Sci-Fi campaign can bring to your roleplaying game. Whatever Science Fiction setting you use at your table here are some tips on creating a setting for your players that they can understand and know what to expect from it whether it's Star Wars, Star Trek or your own home-brew sci-fi using Dnd.

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Wednesday there is a new How To Be A Great GM.

I use questions and comments from my subscribers to create the campaign that will be played on this channel , so check it out.

To Stalk the Roleplaying group and myself go here:

[zerowing]

"Why bother having lawyers when we can simply build robots that are assholes?"

Oh, mighty GM. I love everything you do.

[lafortya]

One of my players was uncomfortable with me filling my sci-fi galaxy with AI until I explained it like this... "Think of the AIs like the gods and spirits of a fantasy setting. Simple little dedicated AIs are all around, but they're mostly quiet and just do their jobs behind the scenes. The big AIs are like pantheistic gods. Powerful yes, but don't interact directly with you much. And all the AIs in between... Well really, what's the difference between a droid and a golem?"

[hotGatorade-]

I’m formally requesting more Sci-Fi content, so I can more effectively run my Expanse campaign

[josephyoung]

In my (very limited) experience, when it comes to running a science fiction game, one of the most important things to develop is how realistic you want your sci-fi to be. This, along with setting the technology "level, " sets down the broad limitations of what the characters can and cannot solve with the tools at their disposal. This also helps determine how much you want the setting to run on existing theories and understood laws of reality versus how much is made up, which is VERY important when dealing with those pesky natural phenomena or engineering problems that the players will inevitably have to face.

Personally, I aim for a sort of middle ground "mostly hard" sci-fi range. Most, if not all, real world laws and what we understand of them apply, while providing enough room for more theoretical possibilities (like FTL travel, stargates, laser weapons, etc.) that are in some way grounded to those real world laws; this hugely reduces and simplifies how much of my sci-fi I need to essentially make up. It also allows the players to do their own research as necessary to learn and understand what it is they're working with, and solve the problem logically, rather than rolling a dice and puking out some load of complete nonsense to describe it. It also (and this is probably more important) helps maintain setting CONSISTENCY. Nothing breaks immersion in a science fiction story worse than having your defined sci-fi elements change function on a whim, or having your science officer go on a lengthy explanation of what their wonderful tool does, and every actual scientific word they use is put in the completely wrong context.

[Bob-jzyk]

In the book, Perilous Waif, there were fabricators that made everything, you just needed the raw materials. The best equipment was patent protected (they melted if you took them apart) and the big cost was buying the design. So you could limp along on open source designs, spend the time to make your own designs, or pay a mega corp for their designs. This would be a way to limit the players from having excessive, solve any problem, gear.

[remingtonwright]

Does anyone else take notes because this man gives good advice?

[denolaj]

Another good reference might be Cowboy Bebop? Or how about Cyberpunk, with hackers and androids and megacorporations. References for that might be Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, and that one movie with Bruce Willis where everyone has a robot body, except some neo-Amish like people and suddenly people can kill people through the connection to the robot body.
Other reference: Trigun!

I feel like I'm showing my age here though...

[danielpayne]

This is so awesome. I'm here because I'm working on creating my own Mass Effect TTRPG.
No, I don't have EA's permission, and no, I don't care.

[sidtodd]

Star Wars is Science Fantasy. The greatest merging of the two greatest things.

[SlashDotMatrix]

I know the channels ended, your channel will always be and continue to be a source of knowledge I will turn to.
If you do ever do a video, perhaps you could review certain table top rpgs? Such as - the Space Horror for Mothership - thoughts, feel of the game etc.

[firelight]

Thank you for this. I'm working on a space opera novel right now and I want to do as much research on world building as possible. This was really helpful.

[dredlord]

Man, mine is set in 2200. Humans use Gauss and Rail guns for most military operations. Though plasma-throwers, plasma-casters, and pulse lasers are also available, they are mostly for specialist roles, or aren't really powerful enough to replace Gauss rifles in the military. Yes, a pulse laser made by my settings Humans can flash-boil your blood and make your limbs explode, but they don't work if they don't actually hit your flesh/normal clothing. If you're wearing any form of 'modern' body armour, then they are almost useless against you. (At the very least, they would take two or three shots to get through the most basic of armours.)
Plasma-throwers, however, work like flame-throwers, but don't waste non-renewable resources, and are even more effective at killing, though they have slightly more limited range. Plasma-casters are probably the most powerful thing that you can get as far as "hand-held" weaponry, but the damn things are the size of a DShK, 14.5mm HMG, and weigh a bit more. (82.3 lbs for the lightest Plasma-Caster design, and 74.96 lbs for a DShK.)

[FiveTen]

I’ve always thought of magic in a sci fi setting to be a natural part of the space and universe around them, and the races of the galaxy use technology like incredibly advanced arcane focuses.

[Kevlar-]

@17:40. Nearly spit my coffee out. Lol.

[jacobweyek]

I would personally define such things as Star Wars as Space Opera, because fantasy doesn't quite fit either. That being said I can see where your coming from.

[DarinMcGrew]

I'm about to start a GURPS Firefly game, which might fall into your "grunge" sci-fi category, although it's usually described "space western". And the "tech solves everything" issue is handled in much the same way that it is in "old west" settings, where the tech does exist, but access to it on the frontier (the border and outer planets) is limited. Plots are easily borrowed from Westerns (movies, TV series, books, etc.), or from any of the minor side stories that appear in the series. Or at least, that's the theory. We'll see what happens in practice... ;)

[Nick-yzfd]

I don't comment enough. You do good work. I always walk away with something I can either use or that makes me a better GM. Thanks man.

[Atlas]

Settings-wise this is why I love Battletech/Mechwarrior. It's a very grounded sci fi setting since they basically wrote it as "The fall of Rome, but with walking tanks". Some planets have intense feudalism, others democracy, and others are so barren that there's no real government.
A person could ride a horse to work and carry a laser rifle to protect themselves. Sure the bread and butter of the wargame is the gianty stompy robots, but for an alien-free and AI intensely limited story, you can pull plot hooks from practically anything and find a way to settle it in.
Lost some ancient magic relic passed down through a family line? Ancient Star League technical doo-dad they never really figured out after great gran gran kicked the bucket. Stuff like that is flexible and fun.

[fromtheshadowsatabletoprpg]

I love how you dont miss a beat.... XD. Fantastic videos! Instant subscriber!

[joeldooley]

The lawyer comment had me rolling 😂. Im stealing that one for my games