NevelioKrejall

A good DM is both of these. They want you to feel that the danger is real, because higher stakes means the narrative payoff feels earned. They want you to feel like the world is wonderous, so that it feels like a thing worth fighting for.

Are you suggesting my good Mr. Baggins of Bagshot Row, Hobbiton is not a god among burglars?

Is that not what the post office is for? Were pony express riders stopping at every individual farm and cabin?

In my scifi campaign based on Star Control II, all genetic engineering was illegal (one of the primary antagonist groups is a race of blade runner style artificial humans). So of course two of my players teamed up to be an outlaw geneticist and his awakened capuchin monkey. They played it 100% unironically and it resulted in some of the best role-playing it has been my privilege to DM for.

Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters has an excellent story and wordbuilding, and you can talk to all kinds of weird aliens. If you don’t like the ship combat, you can set up the game’s AI to fight for you.

If you liked this game, you might be interested to learn that Pistol Shrimp games, an independent game dev company started by Paul Rieche III and Fred Ford (the original creators of Star Control and Star Control 2), are making a sequel, with story written by Paul Rieche III.

The re-release on steam is partly to get the word out about it. Join our discord to learn more!

Disgusting things, children. Glad I never was one!

Don’t do that. Don’t give me hope.