Need help getting a campaign off the ground.

[ngilop]

Hey guys. I am having a bit of an issue.

I am going to be running a Sci Fi campaign soon and I find myself at a loss to think up a good campaign, let alone a good jumping off point.

I have a bit of the history and the system we are going to be using is very free-formish

I think the issue I have is the scope of thing. with fantasy everybody starts off very locally and then it broadens into the whole multiverse

Sci Fi though it starts off universally and that is a bit big, I guess, for me to narrow it down. I admit, I might be thinking too much into it.

I do not want to run a western in spaaace (think firefly/serenity) Nor do I want to do a star wars/trek kinda tale, one where a religion is like totally the end all be all and the other where religion is the most worse thing ever.

I am hoping to get maybe a starting point idea or two from this.

Currently I have the human section of the setting mostly done. The entire setting takes place within the milkyway galaxy (note to find a decent top down view of the milkyway map)

Humanity used to control a more than they have now due to Star Gates being a thing created by a different species (that are still around) hyper drive is the form of FTL created but ships can only 'jump' 35 or so light years at a time. The human sphere of control is 300 light years (as opposed to 400) the which is a bit short of Polaris ( which I think is like 440 or 450 light years away)

Human hase twice created a 'servant' race to help them. The Grel (Genetically recombined experimental legionaires) and the Brood ( clones) the brood were first and broke away from the humans and now are tertiary clones (clones of clones of the original clones) are sterile, and their bodies are literally falling apart. The Grel are bio engineered creatures that are made for war and have a programmed in genetically limited fertility.They are just a smart, if not an individually thinking, as humans and several times more durable.


I have decided that the greys are a race already and one of their lost cities on mars was a huge turning point in human techno logical advancement.

I want maybe another 5 or so additional races but right now all I have in notes is 'reptile guys, and Anunnaki because ancient aliens yo! and buys with blue skin.

[LordEntrails]

It's not just a campaign you are wanting to run, but you are looking to create an entire setting.Are you also looking ot create a rule system as well? I say go for it, but it's going to take months to get a start and years to flesh it out to your satisfaction. Personally, I would find either a setting or campaign you want to run, then pick a rulesystem that works. imo, there are so many good rulesystems already, why waste your time creating another?

Now, as for a campaign, I personally have always loved the Volturnus campaign from the Star Frontiers ruleset/setting. It start out with a new group of "troubleshooter mercenaries" hired to followup on a missing new planetary survey crew. From their is drops in pirates, new species, and evil alien race bent on wiping out competing life forms. It starts with the party just trying to stay alive in an alien world without sufficient supplies and every decision is just about surviving the elements. Finally the party gets the means to overcome the environment and can start to strike back against their enemies. It eventually leads to a a large scale battle for the defense of a world and the party's key role in turning the tide at various points in the war. All of that while exploring a strange alien world with lots of creative alien "things". In the end it leaves the party with two adversaries, one an alien race, and the other the leader of a pirate band with political connections.

It's written with a pretty linear plot, but in a way that gives player's the illusion that it's not, since they can go in any direction and are free to make lots of decisions they often don't see what's coming next. And, if you want, it's easy to open up the plot and let it go in a thousand ways. And, all of it can be bought as pdf's from DriveThruRPG.

And, you can pretty easily drop that campaign into any setting or ruleset.

[Mordante]

Have a look at Babylon 5, (Best Scifi series ever made). What I love about the series is that there are no obvious good and bad guys. The Vorlons vs the Shadows is not good vs evil. It's lawful neutral vs lawful neutral, sort of.

Your party don't need to be galactic heroes. Your party can be a group that struggles to survive against aback ground of warring factions.

Also look at warhammer 40k. Your tech level will be lower but there is some great fluff in 40k. Stay away from the lightsaber Han Solo crap. Scifi is meant to be gritty and deadly. No matter how many hitpoints you have getting hit by a Gauss Cannon/Mass beam particle accelarator/lazer/Mass driver/Multi Melta etcetera will evaporate your character.

[False God]

Sounds like Battlestar Galactica meets Stargate. I suggest stealing wantonly from both of those shows and their mythos.

[ngilop]

I already have the majority of the setting done and in place. The system is likewise finished. It is basically the PDQ system with a little more 'depth' to it. So its more than just skill checks upon skill checks.

I could easily get the other races finished I just thought I would include them to see if the forums would provide any cool ideas that I myself might not think of. After all, two heads are better than 1 for the sake of trying to think on something and not just have 2 heads.

I have no idea on anything about battlestar galactica. I think humanity created robots, one of the robots turned into a sexy robot babe who like seduced and assassinates everybody then I guess psych this is earth history. I might be completely wrong I am just pulling from memory about what a friend who was a fan explained to me.

The only tie in with stargate I see is the use of stargates. But that is nothing unique to the stargate universe. Again, I could be wrong.

I think my tech would be higher than Warhammer 40K as its in the setting's lore that humanity reached its peak in the 25TH century then slid backwards because *reasons* I think in terms of technology level scaling I would put the civilizations at Tier 1 or high Tier 2 (using the Halo Scale (https://www.halopedia.org/Technological_Achievement_Tiers)) I am nore keen on the story making sense than real life scientific facts showing up so my setting is somewhere between 2 and 3 in the soft to hard sci fi scale


but I digress.. it is not the setting, but a starting point for the player's characters to begin their adventure I am drawing a blank on, well drawing a blank nad saying to myself 'nope that is basically star wars/ starship troppers/other random sci fi start that is obvious.

[Glimbur]

Start in media res. They're all on a commercial transport ship that gets attcked by pirates, or they are all on a planet which is suddenly in a violent revolution.

Or back up a step and they are a team of troubleshooters employed by the Human Empire to prevent this type of thing, black ops style.

Give the players an immediate connection to each other and an immediate goal, then see where they draw attention next.

[Imbalance]

Since you asked, your blue aliens are a cross between Smurfs and the Na'vi, but with a dark side. Outwardly, they're all falala and super in touch with nature, and to humans they are tiny and primitive. Secretly, they are a race of powerful psychic manipulators who capture and enslave other races to command in bloody gladiatorial combat. With humans especially, they control them directly with their neural links from shoulder saddles, and pilot them like giant 'mechs in grisly death matches before throngs of giddy spectators.

[LordEntrails]

but I digress.. it is not the setting, but a starting point for the player's characters to begin their adventure I am drawing a blank on, well drawing a blank nad saying to myself 'nope that is basically star wars/ starship troppers/other random sci fi start that is obvious.

So you have your rule system and setting, you just need a campaign. I still like the Volturnus one I outlined before.

Other ideas,
- Dark Matter, the party wakes up out of stasis on a ship and no one has any memories. A great way to introduce a new setting since the characters know nothing and allows you to do politics, intrigue, and anything else.
- Guerrillas, the party is on a planet taken over by a enemy/cruel force that enslaves the populace. They can strive to over throw the new rulers, or just escape off planet.
- Grel or Brood revolt. Perhaps violent or perhaps a civil/humanitarian approach and challenges.
- Star Explorers, the party is hired to explore new planets either via star gates or space ships.
- Star Rangers, party are law enforcement team faces with smugglers, pirates, and maybe even political intrigue.

[ngilop]

AWESOME idea, the black ops thing. That is something I would not have ever thought up on my own.

The idea on the blue guys is good too. Though the them being secretly evil mind slavers is not something I want. The base idea is great. They will be blue with like.. antennas I guess sort of like a blue skinned Mantis (the marvel cinematic mantis that is) I will keep the psychically attuned ness of the idea as well as the whole they come across as super accommodating and courteous but are, when it gets to the nitty gritty (not of the dirt band variety) very deadly in a fight.

I'll take the whole puppet masters and turn that into a new race that thanfully is low in numbers.


I think imma plop in a plant race too, why? Cuz trees.