Quote from: JimBobOzI'd like to keep the thing as plausible and "day after tomorrow" as possible. I think that obscure physics issues about causality can be safely handwaved for most players, but less obscure things, like whether Venus has jungles or not, or Titan has true methane lakes or just muddy water, not so much. So I'd take the action out of the solar system, to new systems where I can happily give new planets whatever properties I like.

Well, the bigger issue with "new planets" is that the odds of finding not only a planet with life but a planet with life that's compatible with Earth life is a significant plausibility issue.  No life, no oxygen atmosphere (because life artificially creates that on Earth -- the rise of oxygen producing bacteria killed off much of the anaerobic bacteria that once dominated the Earth).  Life that's not compatible means not only things you can't eat but things which can poison you and leave toxins in the environment (e.g., incompatible proteins that act like prions in humans, cyanide and sulpher using bacteria, etc.).  That's only scratching the surface because you also need the right size, right composition, right orbit, right star type, not near any stars that have blown up or are due, not near a source of hard radiation, etc.  So in many ways, finding planets where people can just drop down, settle in, and feed their cow on the local grass is really only a small step up from jungles on Venus when it comes to plausibility.

There are some other fairly major issues (e.g., Earth's magnetic field, which neither Venus nor Mars has, our large Moon which stabilizes the planets rotation on its axis, etc) that make Earth life on other planets problematic (magnetic fields for Earth-sized planets might not be normal -- thank you Moon), but they might be obscure enough to ignore.  Getting into and out of a gravity well and on to a spinning planet is also a fairly major deal (in fact, in the model I discussed, it's possible that the space trucks are a one way trip -- they get flung into space by Earth's rotation and can't really come back).

The way around the life problem, if other planets are what you really want, is terraforming.  But not only does it take time to convert an entire planet's atmosphere (and a much bigger problem if the environment contains toxic elements in high quantities like arsenic, mercury, cyanide, heavy metals or is missing critical elements like magnesium or zinc) but isn't going to be something a mom-and-pop operation can do, unless you give them a lot of time and super-bacteria that can be cheaply dropped in and will convert a planet fairly quickly.  Even then, the people who seed the planets might not be the people who enjoy it and if there is some alien life in your setting, contact with the super-bacteria could be very nasty.  The other alternative is that the planets belong to the big corporations, who have been setting them up and terraforming for centuries, and your cheap space travellers are squatters.

Yeah, I've thought all this stuff through before.  The best scenario I could come up with to create the traditional science fiction cliche of finding virgin planets with Earth-like life was to have a terraforming pass where a Johnny Appleseed type or group goes around terraforming worlds and then hundreds of years later (maybe thousands), people show up and colonize.  Other than that, you'll need an ancient race of aliens that seeded the universe with compatible life or a lot of animated hand-waving.

So that's all part of why I was suggesting giving up on the whole blue or green planet idea if you want plausible, low tech, and near future.  You can hand-wave a lot of the problems I mentioned away if your players aren't too picky, but that doesn't mean you won't get blindsided by some hard-to-answer questions along the way.  Space stations and environmental domes are easier to visualize as something that people build fairly quickly and live in, though they create some different issues (e.g., economics).

But there were several other reasons why I suggested space stations in the solar system rather than planets across the galaxy.  

First, I think it fits contemporary blue collar working class life better than the frontier farmers of a previous era.  Working class people drive trucks, work in factories, build and maintain things, and work in the service industry.  I think that will not only resonate better with modern players (science fiction is, after all, a commentary on the present) and allow the use of modern cliches instead of colonial or Western cliches.

Second, I presume you don't want your game to be about settling down and that's exactly what farming and colonizing is all about.  Unless you have alien creatures to fight, hostile humans to compete with, or even intelligent aliens to act as stand-ins for the indigenous population that's such a big part of colonial drama, what's going to be interesting about your colonies?

Especially if the FTL lets them cover the galaxy and you give them a lot of habitable planets to find.  The universe is a big place.  Heck, a planet is a big place.  In a setting full of virgin empty planets, if you don't like someone, you move to the next empty continent, and so on.  Just finding people to have interesting adventures with and then figuring out why there is any conflict without recycling a few simple ideas is a chore.  Conflict comes from people living in proximity with each other and having to deal with each other.  So if you want to let people spread across the stars, you need to ask, "What are people going to fight over?"  In other words, where is the conflict in your setting?

If you want your theme to be exploration, then you have a good motive to provide worlds to explore.  But what are the characters going to find out there?  Bacteria-filled seas?  Dead worlds with toxic atmospheres?  Are you going to have aliens?  Ancient civilizations?  What are the players going to find out there?  And if the answer is, "Empty planets to farm on," what do you envision the players actually doing in the game?

If, on the other hand, you confine them to the solar system and force them to deal with built up settlements, you'll have conflict coming out of your ears.  

If you are really stuck on the frontier and planet idea, that's fine.  But I think the first question you have to answer (if you want useful suggestions) is, "What do you expect the characters to do in the setting?"  (And make sure your answer sounds like something your players would actually want to play.)

Quote from: JimBobOzI've seen most of the movies you mentioned, but not Space Truckers or Starhunter 2300.

Starhunter (the first season) was a very low budget science fiction show produced by companies in Canada, the UK, and Germany.  The first season starred Michael Pare, took place almost entirely on a single spaceship with only a few actors and guest stars, had a strong story-arc, and was fairly so-so.  It was successful enough that they created a second season (called Starhunter 2300 on DVD) with two returning characters (not Michael Pare), a loose link to the original (that you don't need to have watched -- I watched 2300 first), and better production values (it still cost quite a bit less than $1 million an episode to make).  The basic plot is that the characters are the crew of a ship who take odd jobs (transporting people and things, bounty hunting, etc.) while following a larger story arc.  It takes place entirely inside the solar system with the Earth having become an ecological disaster.  I enjoyed Starhunter 2300 quite bit (the first season was so-so) and I think that a big part of why it failed was because (A) it was following in the footsteps of the first season and (B) it never found a good market in the US (being put on at 2AM does that) and was cancelled in the US after only a few episodes were shown.  The official website is here, but it really doesn't do the second season justice, in my opinion.  Starhunter 2300 is a season of 22 "one hour" episodes (which run about 17-1/2 hours).   It does end on an annoying cliffhanger (they had expected to get picked up for another season) but I still think it's worth watching.

Added: I just wanted to add that one of the Reaver ships in Firefly is registered to "Trans-U", which is almost certainly an homage to the company "Trans-Utopian", the former owner of the ship Tulip (and a name that's often used to refer to it) in Starhunter 2300.

Space Truckers is pure camp (it stars Dennis Hopper).  Beyond the space stations and blue-collar perspective, the reason why I pointed it out is the space truck, itself.  Rather than a roomy space hotel like Serenity, it was sized more like a truck (or space capsule) but more high tech (hatches and zero-G restraints and so on).  Again, with crowding and conflict in mind, putting your characters in something more like a space capsule (or even the space shuttle, which isn't that big) rather than the Taj Mahal in space might be an interesting change of pace.

I'm not suggesting that you use either one "as is" but simply use them for ideas.

If you really do want to go with FTL and inhabited planets, like I said, I need more info.  I need to know what you expect the players to do with the setting.  You mentioned tourism, exploration, and colonization.  Where's the adventure in that?  How is that going to hold the interest of your players?  How do you imagine a session or campaign going?