I've been working on revisions for Star HERO lately, and my editor, the brilliant Steve Long, asked me to contribute lists of my favorite SF films, short stories, and novels for the bibliography. As I made up my lists it struck me that a lot of stories take place in settings which aren't very good for roleplaying adventures, or even to live in. At one point I thought of picking stories based on how suitable they'd be as game settings, but I gave that up.
Still, it got me thinking. Here is the first of two lists of science fictional settings -- this one is places I'd like to adventure in, the second is those I'd like to live in. I've left out the adventure settings which already have game sourcebooks.
Adventure Settings:
"Hothouse"/The Long Afternoon of Earth, by Brian Aldiss. Lethal, weird, but definitely unlike any other setting.
The Polesotechnic League universe, from a bunch of stories by Poul Anderson. The original and best space-merchants universe.
The world of The Company, from the stories by Kage Baker. A really intriguing time-travel setting.
The Culture, by Iain M. Banks. Adventurers would have to find their entertainment on the periphery of the Culture itself, though one could have plenty of fun just playing tourist.
Cities in Flight, by James Blish. A space-opera setting in which the focus isn't on spaceships but on entire Terrestrial cities, cruising among the stars.
Citizen of the Galaxy, by Robert Heinlein. I don't think this one fits into the "Future History" used in his other books, but I could be wrong.
The "Leshy Circuit" setting from Larry Niven's stories. One of the few interstellar settings which doesn't rely on faster-than-light travel.
The Empire of Man, from Jerry Pournelle's stories (plus The Mote In God's Eye, by Niven and Pournelle). A great old-school Galactic Empire.
The Revelation Space universe by Alistair Reynolds. Another good slower-than-light setting, and definitely not on the list of places to live.
The Berserkers universe by Fred Saberhagen. Humans at war with implacable robots from space!
All of these would make good roleplaying game settings -- and if any rights-holders want to contact me about writing them up, I'd be thrilled.
Readers, any suggestions of your own? Remember, science fiction and not already used for a game.
Next time: Universes to Live In.
Citizen of the Galaxy was the first Heinlein novel I ever read...I was babysitting for an Army dentist when I lived in Germany...he lived so far out in the Economy that he didn't get the Armed Forces Network, so he lent it to me....I'll have to check out some of the others....
Posted by: Katano42 | 05/03/2011 at 05:03 PM
It depends: is William's Cyberspace world the setting for R Talsorian's original Cyberpunk game or not? Technically not, but I've seen Gibson say in interviews that he was in talks with a gaming company to make a Cyberspace game, but they fell through. I suspect he was referring to Cyberpunk. Apparently the problem was that Gibson couldn't give them enough background information to make a game; he hadn't developed the world past what he immediately needed for the novels. Which is what gives the trilogy their brilliance, the visceral tangibility of the world, the way it was so close to our own, the feltedness of it. It was completely unabstract, totally concrete. That's why I've loved it.
Posted by: Dwtwiddy | 05/03/2011 at 06:32 PM
I made the assumption that the sheer number of generic "Cyberpunk" setting sourcebooks would cover Gibson, Blade Runner, et al.
Posted by: JLC | 05/03/2011 at 11:41 PM