Sci-fi planets and environments that make interesting settings.

File: PlutoSnakeskin_NHdetail.jpg (553KB, 1558x960px) Image search: [Google]

553KB, 1558x960px

So, what makes an environment "interesting"?

It's very rare, in a story-based game, to have an environment be the /major/ point of interest. Even exploring an environment can be boring as hell if all you're doing is listening to a GM describe things. Sure, some GMs can rattle off fifteen minutes or more of compelling detail, but they're rare.

So when you pick an environment, pick hooks.

-Hazards: something for the PCs to evade
-Rewards: something for the PCs to discover and benefit from
-Explanation: for a mystery the PCs have previously faced
-Mysteries: that tag onto things the PCs want to explore
-Horror: Like "hazards" but implied. Don't tell, hint.

>>50050837
I think your reading to much into a single word. I just wanted a thread primarily about science fiction locales, sue me.

File: 1278827312145.jpg (957KB, 2000x1037px) Image search: [Google]

957KB, 2000x1037px

>>50050837
It's always better to evoke than to describe.

You might have a perfect image of the environment you're describing, and you might feel like you need to get the players to see exactly what you're seeing. If you have the time, you could set up a tablet or a projector and show them pictures, but it can interrupt game flow and, in my opinion, neglects a very useful tool - your players brains.

So let's assume you've had your players do some background reading/watching. Maybe you've told them, "So this game is like Firefly, but biopunk - you know, like Cronenburg films, or that new video game. So yeah, watch *this* and *this* before we start."

Once you've primed your players' brains with some useful images, you can start evoking. Use no more than 2 or 3 sentences at a time. Tie your description to the senses.

Temperature, taste, colour, texture, pressure. The feel of the ground they walk on. The sound of their breath in their helmets. The scent of bromine and dust.

Mix in emotional descriptions. The spires of blue-white glass "menace, like claws". The air "shimmers with heat, or like it's afraid," the sands seem "ancient, beaten, and worn." The mountains "still have that newly-shattered look about them."

Given the correct priming, your players will build better worlds in their heads than you ever could describe.

File: EY4k9PP.jpg (1MB, 2500x1015px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 2500x1015px

>>50050949
Nah, I'm not trying to criticize, just give advice. Nothin' wrong with the thread - I just needed a starting point.

File: 1475472951987.png (988KB, 875x1022px) Image search: [Google]

988KB, 875x1022px

>>50050969
sorry, my bad

a planet called melody

I am a lone explorer and I fly a solo ship
Through interstellar darkness on this planet hunting trip.
Passing by a star with a spectrum that was strange
I found what Mother Nature had arranged.


>I'm here on a planet that I call Melody,
>Waiting for the chorus that comes singing at the dawn,
>For the voice of the wind through the music of the leaves
>Makes a song that will go on and on.

I stepped out of my ship, for the air was fit to breathe
And gazed upon a landscape that I just could not believe.
Of silicon and metal was the vegetation made.
With every breeze I heard the song they played.

>I'm here on a planet that I call Melody,
>Waiting for the chorus that comes singing at the dawn,
>For the voice of the wind through the music of the leaves
>Makes a song that will go on and on.

When the sun goes down, all the plants - their leaves then close,
And the song that they were singing goes where once-played music goes.
I've been here four days and I should be moving on,
But I think that I'll just wait for one more dawn.

>I'm here on a planet that I call Melody,
>Waiting for the chorus that comes singing at the dawn,
>For the voice of the wind through the music of the leaves
>Makes a song that will go on and on.