There are less than 24 hours to go on the campaign for Hopes and Dreams of the Orbital Bound so I want to talk a little about why I'm writing a slice of life sci-fi game and not a more typical action orientated game. But first, the obligatory #ZineQuest link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lunarshadow-designs/hopes-and-dreams-of-the-orbital-bound
At the heart of it I want the Dyson Eclipse to feel lived in as a setting. It would be all too easy to write another sci-fi game that introduced a cool conceit that then largely ignored the world in order to focus on the action. RPGs tend to gloss over background elements in a scene - we set the scene initially and focus on the PCs and what they're doing. The background stops actively existing until it becomes relevant and is brought into focus.
(this is partially why mysteries can be hard to run - clues literally do not exist until they are described at which point they come into blindingly sharp focus but that's a discussion for another thread)
Books get around this because we expect, and accept, large chunks of description where the protagonists are doing nothing but that is boring in an RPG. Visual media, such as movies, just have a constantly present and active background. It might not be the focus but its there.
That not only allows clues to be present and telegraphed but provide constant visual context for the audience that reinforce genre and help build the world. Film set in a busy city? You've got dozens of extras providing the expected background that keeps you in the genre.
So what's that got to do with a slice of life sci-fi RPG? Well I want the Dyson Eclipse (the larger setting) to be fleshed out and feel grounded but building that world in the background is hard. The simple solution? Make it the focus and bring it to the front. My hope is that long term the game will ground the setting. A group that decide to engage with it via the collection of games can use Orbital Bound to set a baseline tone and genre that they can keep coming back to between sessions of more action focused games.
For example I have vague ideas for an investigation focused game trying to uncover the mysteries of the arrays. Build a team, catalogue strange events, discover the truth. But what if one player is running late? Well that's a perfect time to cut to Orbital Bound.
You grab the character pool and for half an hour you cut back to the Habitat. Instead of trying to shut off a dangerous gravitational incursion the challenges you're facing are a shortage of O2 scrubbers and having to convince your sibling not to make a scene at a coming party.
Those are the small moment that will help bring the setting to life and help players be invested in the bigger mysteries. They'll know why they're out in the cold, investigating alien structures that shouldn't exist.