[Spaceships] getting into orbit without superscience?

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

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Beanstalks or the use of orbital transfer stations also reduces the ability of PCs to have planetside adventures, which is a primary trope of the sci-fi genre.

If the PCs are the crew of a commercial spaceship, that is. But PCs in a sci-fi game no more need to be the crew of a tramp starship than PCs in a modern game need to be commercial aircrew. I’ve been running campaigns of planetside adventures, in a setting where starships unload their passengers and cargo to orbital ports and elevator facilities, for thirty-four years with no trouble. My trick has been to specify PCs who have a job to do on planets rather than a job to do in space, and not burden them with their own spacecraft.

Besides, superscience is another a primary trope of the sci-fi adventure genre. Few of us are ever going to run a sci-fi campaign of planetary adventure without interstellar travel, and once you’ve swallowed that camel, why balk at the gnat of ground-to-orbit lighters with fusion-powered steam rockets?