Running a Sci-fi campaign advice

>>54906101
>> I want to include something for the players to invest to draw them deeper into the world, similar to having a fortress/town to manage in a fantasy game, What would the sci-fi equivalent be?

Being an independent free trader/explorer running a tramp ship in wild, poorly secured space.

Alternatively, running a mercenary company on a ship.

>> How do I keep the combat tactically engaging and fun with guns instead of swords?

That's tougher. I use GURPS and the lethality of high-TL weapons is an issue. You want to emphasize a very different playstyle: finding cover, dodging, laying down suppressive fire, etc. I prefer tense standoffs and ambushes, but my players are also used to the game concept. For your players, you have to convince them that, no, really, you ARE willing to kill them off if they use bad tactics and charge into enemy fire. The problem is that by the time they realize you do mean it, they've lost their characters and they may give up the game before they give up their preconceptions.

In GURPS you can turn on several campaign options to reduce the lethality. I don't know what the deal is with Mongoose but I'm sure it's there. Also remember that good tactical planning in advance will help. And body armor, so that "dropped" != "killed".

Yes, you can also put them in gun control situations with melee and hand-to-hand and therefore reduced lethality, but that's a stopgap and sooner or later the guns will come out.

>> Humans only or alien races as well?

I'd stick with humans only until you're comfortable with the setting and system. Then introduce an NPC or two. Remember, you're learning, too.

>> What the standard adventure type is, D&D has the dungeon crawl, CoC has investigating a cult to find an eldritch horror and go insane, WFRP is a mix of the above two, what would the equivalent for traveller be?

Go watch Firefly. It's very loosely based on a Traveller game that Joss Whedon played in college.

See above. Shadowrun

> I want to include something for the players to invest to draw them deeper into the world, similar to having a fortress/town to manage in a fantasy game, What would the sci-fi equivalent be?
Usually a ship though if you want to go big a small station (maybe an abandoned mining station) would work just as well.
> How do I keep the combat tactically engaging and fun with guns instead of swords?
Lot's of lethality, danger, and the spontaneous explosiveness of firefights with high powered/high tech weaponry. Though psionics is always an option if you have that in your setting.
> Humans only or alien races as well?
I abide by a rule of either humans only or if there are aliens only 2-3 different races.
> What the standard adventure type is, D&D has the dungeon crawl, CoC has investigating a cult to find an eldritch horror and go insane, WFRP is a mix of the above two, what would the equivalent for traveller be?
Traveller is literally about doing odd jobs and freelancing. So it can run the gambit. Just think about what kind of campaign you want to run and take it from there. The Traveller PDFs have good helper tools to generate random details for jobs.

>>54906438
>>54906962
Thank you, another question I have is what are the biggest differences in general structure of an adventure between a fantasy game and a sci-fi game, what aspects of adventure design should I be aware of when it comes to running a sci-fi game that I might not have considered when running fantasy, and what should I know to avoid when it comes to running sci-fi that would have been applicable in fantasy?

>>54907597
I know I personally hate it when aliens are overly used in sci fi and when the actual science isn't focused on too more or just hand waved. Could you elaborate/give specific examples for your question though?

>>54908095
Fantasy seems easy to accommodate designing an adventure for, you can build it around a dungeon or an evil cult etc. What are standard building blocks of a sci-fi adventure and even where there is overlap, how do they differ from, those in fantasy?

>>54907597

Speaking very broadly and stereotypically, fantasy is about the hero's journey. Especially D&D. It's a journey through a world, but mostly a journey from level to level and an increase in personal might.

Traveller is a journey through space, an exploration. I'd emphasize their ties to the world via wealth and investments and connections to NPCs. Much more man vs environment conflicts rather than man vs monster. Remember that they will get more personally powerful, but their ship won't level up all that much even with upgrades. It's really about exploring and learning and seeing cool shit and solving problems.

Like I said, watch the Firefly episodes. They really capture the episodic and exploratory nature of sandbox space games.

>>54908262
>What are standard building blocks of a sci-fi adventure
Exploration and episodic adventures. Watch some Star Trek. Cowboy Bebop, or Firefly for examples. Sci-fi isn't about heroism, its about regular people doing regular things in an irregular universe that is *just* believable enough to be our future. Talking about issues we face in our everyday lives in a futuristic context. But again, it really depends on the type of campaign you want to run. Heist-based? Criminals? War? Mystery? The choices are limitless, depending on the universe you make of course.