I've done this for a couple of reasons, first and foremost being that grounded, 'blue collar' sci-fi is something I love.
As a child, Ridley Scott's masterful, seminal sci-fi horror Alien achieved a terrifying, mythical status in my mind. Long before I saw it on VHS I'd somehow seen the odd clip and pieced together snippets of plot, I already knew and feared the rusty, seeping corridors of the Nostromo and the drooling visage of the alien. It's powerful, visceral stuff.
As an adult and a writer, I'm amazed by the effectiveness of the opening act of that film. Writers Dan O'Bannon, Walter Hill and Ronald Sushett create grounded, recognisable people, grumbling about money, arguing and drinking coffee, oblivious to the fact that they approach an unimaginable horror in the name of a corporate agenda.
It makes what follows so much worse, don't you think? Or so much better.
The second reason is, as a games-master, I can imagine almost endless ways to make space scary.
Claustrophobia, asphyxiation, loneliness, madness, the bends and freezing vacuum to name but a few. And that's before we even explore the unknown.
So now, sitting not 12 miles from Ridley Scott's birthplace I'm fashioning a world that owes a great deal to one he fashioned in 1978 and the many that have followed in its footsteps.
Below are links to a bit of scene setting material for the players I hope to build a rich and terrifying world with. I've tried to keep my descriptions brief, loose and ripe for extrapolation. Read in order.
The Setting
The Job
The Employer
Habitable Planets
The first encounter in the Space setting is teased below:
Drill
