Quote:
Originally Posted by FF_Ninja
(SNIP)
Does anyone have any ideas on how to work this in? What might cause Earth to go, "Huh, maybe our survival in this cold, dark universe depends on making friends, sharing ideas, and signing papers?"
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A lot of this depends on the type of campaign you and your players want, right? Figure that out, and then build the setting to suit.
Military sci-fi with lots of violence? Usable,
uninhabited planets are rare, but alien species with FTL are not. Everybody fights for colony worlds, and you get a setting that eventually resembles,
Old Man's War.
Dark Forest predators? Again, alien races are reasonably numerous, but a few are much more dangerous than most. Those dangerous aliens have little interest in the hassle of invasion and conquest, and most just consider other species pests, vermin, food or interesting sporting challenges. The crew needs to find out more information about -- and possibly allies against -- these killers, and they earn their pay if they can find the hidden home-world(s) of the assailants.
Berserkers. They're big, powerful self-replicating murder-machines created as doomsday weapons in ages past. Nobody can stand against them, alone. Read Saberhagen for more details.
Resistance. The Empire is big, powerful and willing to colonize any planet that hasn't yet developed FTL. However, those that
do develop the technology, autonomously, threaten a status quo that has existed for millennia. Fortunately, the Empire hasn't heard about the upstarts from Sol. Yet.
The thing to remember is that RPGs require drama, and drama thrives on
conflict. A fight against a blight can be okay for one (short) story arc, but real drama requires active, challenging antagonists.