settings for gaming?

[former user]

No just some artists art. It's the best pic of one on the web though.

THX
the other alternative I would recommend and one of the best SF I have read in the last years is the Saga of the Skolian Empire by Catherine Asaro. It also has it all, but is extremely Hi-Tech, so the setting would contain a lot of rules that are basically magic in their expression. I don't know if You want to go there

[Etranger]

The problem with limiting yourself to a well known setting is that you're then having to decide what is, and what isn't canon in that universe. Given that for eg Star Wars most of the smaller 'factions' are only partially fleshed out, there's still going to be a lot that you have to invent anyway. But, if you don't get it right, there'll inevitably be someone who will tell you so (usually loudly and publically... )

That's why I've gone with a 'sandbox' approach for my own setting. There are 'tropes' (I prefer the term 'themes') from numerous sources, but they get mutated to fit into my milieu. It also allows me to use figures from a wide variety of sources without having to worry whether I'm plagarising or destroying the setting.

Other settings to consider:
Gordon Dickson's 'Dorsai' series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childe_Cycle with plenty of Human factions in conflict.
Blakes Seven: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake's_7

How about the Traveller universe? http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Main_Page RPG it may be but plenty of potential for conflict.


BTW there are at least three factions in Starship Troopers (the book), the skinnies, who start off allied to the 'bugs but change sides being one and there are a couple of Earth factions too (pro and anti-war, at least until the rocks start fallling).

[former user]

I would agree with the trope statement, however, from my own perspective - I need incentives and inspiration too. A good fictional background as orientation how things "work" is never wrong.
The tropes are useful for creating scenarios.

There are many fictional backgrounds that can be combined without any problem, and all without limiting oneself

[ShortscaleDave]

Having recently got back into gaming and minis after some 20 years away I am already mashing up my own settings.  My principle is simply this:  How do I mash up all my favourite stuff from a lifetime of geekery into the settings I want to game?  I've got a Lovecraftian thing happening, a sci fi, and soon some variation on a fantasy world in the works.

The Sci Fi is most progressed.  I effectively look at the 'tropes' or archetypes of various races etc and think of novel ways to integrate them.  I want the ability to either do 'elseworlds' version of beloved things or bring in the actual things so to this end I'm pinching an idea from the old RPG 'Rifts'.  Effectively I'm allowing a future earth, or world, where doorways to other worlds and dimensions are a part of the fabric of things.  Maybe the slightly corporate/fascist Human community tries to control this by visiously putting down an incurring beings.  I can slip in versions or direct copies of almost anything really. 

It's still in formative stages right now but I'm already working on my own 'Cylon empire' force.  not the ones from the existing series but just taking that archetype and weaving it into the world I'm creating.

[former user]

to be honest (and without any intention to hijack the thread), I am actually in search for a good SF setting of my own, but with a different flavour and without any rules relation like here. I therefore understand very well if someone looks for a well structured setting.

[FramFramson]

By the way Jack, I was thinking about your objection to Star Wars as a setting and it occurs to me that as long as one side has at least one fellow with a red laser sword and the other side has at least one fellow with a blue or green laser sword, then everyone will know EXACTLY what universe you're playing in, even if your game has nothing to do with the Empire era.

I mean, it's one of the clearest signals in all of sci-fi.

Of course if you just don't like Star Wars as a setting, period, that's a different can of slugs.

[Commander Vyper]

Picking up on the mention of District 9 you could look at maybe combining it with Elysium giving you several factions, NGO's, Prawns, armed criminals, corporate types, security droids, mercenary's (both loyal and rogue), and of course any governmental forces that might want to get involved.

Nothing to see here move along...  

[Sangennaru]

By the way Jack, I was thinking about your objection to Star Wars as a setting and it occurs to me that as long as one side has at least one fellow with a red laser sword and the other side has at least one fellow with a blue or green laser sword, then everyone will know EXACTLY what universe you're playing in, even if your game has nothing to do with the Empire era.

I mean, it's one of the clearest signals in all of sci-fi.

Of course if you just don't like Star Wars as a setting, period, that's a different can of slugs.

C'mon, nobody doesn't like starwars!
it's just that it's a bit... star wars! XD
But the concept of lightsabers is not bad at all...


about the tropes: What i'm looking is exactely the opposite: I want to recreate factions from a specific setting just in the same way another one can do with the napoleonic units, or with the specific commando teams during WWII. Of course, i don't have to do things EXACTELY like the original work, but i'd love to have a reference for that.
On the other hand, i'm not looking for rules limitations, the game and the miniatures are not necessarily so bound together.

[Onebigriver]

Thanks for this Onebigriver, it'll be great for my Who roleplaying!

Glad I could help. Sange, have you considered looking at the fluff and figures for the Void and Urban War games?

[eilif]

about the tropes: What i'm looking is exactely the opposite: I want to recreate factions from a specific setting just in the same way another one can do with the napoleonic units, or with the specific commando teams during WWII. Of course, i don't have to do things EXACTELY like the original work, but i'd love to have a reference for that.
On the other hand, i'm not looking for rules limitations, the game and the miniatures are not necessarily so bound together.

I think you may be putting the cart before the horse here.  Jump back to tropes for a second. If you're dead set on an established setting and specific factions from that setting, first let us know what kind of figs/tropes you are most interested in painting and playing and we can then suggest a setting that has those elements in it.

Otherwise we're just throwing out random suggestions with no real idea what you're looking for.

Our club went the opposite way.  We play several different sci-fi games, but we have been trying to tie them into a unified setting of our own invention.  If you'd like to see it, you can check it out here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/p/galactic-frontier-homebrew-sci-fi.html
This setting works particularly well for our club where the various members have different interests and different pet sci-fi factions, so we mostly build the universe around them rather than the other way around.

[Sangennaru]

I think you may be putting the cart before the horse here.  Jump back to tropes for a second. If you're dead set on an established setting and specific factions from that setting, first let us know what kind of figs/tropes you are most interested in painting and playing and we can then suggest a setting that has those elements in it.

Otherwise we're just throwing out random suggestions with no real idea what you're looking for.

Good point.

I'm looking for

• War, or at least tensions that can explode in small skirmishes.
• various technologies, not necessarily alien civilizations, but why not
• an infantry based warfare, possibly with a few vehicles
• infantry mainly with uniforms... unfortunately that's what you find around in miniatures.

Which is, afterall, not much.

BUT i need also that

• A setting that is kinda shareable and famous. A famous videogame, movie or comicbook series.
• References and visual appeal in order to inspire the factions and the scenery. Comicbooks should be the best, i suppose!
• it must be relatively quick to assimilate. a series of 12 books or 3000 seasons of star trek might be a bit too much.
• A setting that is not too strict on the factions. Playing on battlestar galactica without centurions is ...inconsistent.

For now the settings that are in this requirements that i've seen (thanks to your suggestions, mostly!) are:

• Star Trek: using less known factions might work.
• Star Wars: as above, plus lightsabers.
• Metabarons: i've also found a RPG rulebook that gives more "solidity" to the factions. However, the story is not much about war, and most of the factions are barely nominated.
• the Culture cycle: super-cool, but no visual reference at all! Shellworld is part of it!
• Dune: not much visual references (please forget the Sting movie! ), and a huuuuuge (but cool, i heard) book to read.
• Stargate: a bit too specific in the design
• Starship Troopers: not enough factions?
• Judge Dredd: mostly scavengers, not many soldier-factions shown anywhere.
• Iron Empires: Super cool, i'm reading the comics right now! might be really good!
• Firefly: If i'm not mistaken, there's not much about different factions there, no? beside reavers of course.
• Gundam: Mostly mecha, requires a lot to watch enough to have knowledge.
• Mass effect: should i play the game? are there lots of comics too right?

thanks again,
jack

[YPU]

Still saying "Armored Trooper Votoms" has everything your asking for. 

[Sangennaru]

Still saying "Armored Trooper Votoms" has everything your asking for.  

does it have enough infantry combat? And most importantly, how's with playing with no mecha at all? =(

anyways, comicbooks are now the best option i think! Any suggestion is welcome!

[YPU]

does it have enough infantry combat? And most importantly, how's with playing with no mecha at all? =(

The entire first season, widely considered the worst but still, has one Mecha in action and only at the end of the season as its broken most of the season. The rest is mainly gang warfare.
I recall a lot of infantry uniforms being shown in the out of combat scenes, but don't think there is a huge amount of infantry combat displayed in the first few seasons, has been a while tough. I recal one of the ova's series main character actually being a Infantry man, the lone survivor of a unit who were issued anti mecha rifles, no training and sent to a mecha front rather then a infantry. Which implies there is in fact such a thing as infantry combat, just not shown all that much. Which might give you a lot of freedom or not a lot to work form, depending on how you see it.
Honestly I'm beginning to feel I need to re-watch it to be able to answer those questions correctly.

[Diakon]

• Mass effect: should i play the game? are there lots of comics too right?

I strongly recommend playing the Mass Effect series. It's really good. There's also a movie called Mass Effect: Paragon Lost, a novel called Revelation and a series of comics published by Dark Horse. Well worth a look.