[soltakss]

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

I've read through most of the posts in this area, and I noticed they've slowed down. I hope it will be okay if I suggest something.

It's always OK to suiggest something, make comments or say whatever you want.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

A Fantasy world is harder to share, with no ground rules to follow. I think if you said "Dwarves are dwarves, elves are elves, don't go ridiculous, flesh it out" then it could be interesting. The Green, for example, is a great location.

Possibly, but there are a lot of opinions about what to include, what not to include.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Honestly, though, I think SciFi would be easier. I'd go so far as to say it might be easier for a group to come up with a SciFi game than an individual. LOL

It's certainly easier because there is a lot less work to do.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

FTL Travel? Stargates? Land gates? Jump engines? One solar system? One planet?

Psychics - yes or no? Common or uncommon?

AI or no?

blah blah

That sounds easy, doesn't it?

However, you have people who hate SciFantasy and only like hard SciFi, people who don't want aliens, people who want aliens as long as they are completely non-humanoid, people who want faster than light, people who only want current-physics-based science, people who like anything that sounds reasonable and so on.

It's very difficult to get people to agree on all of this.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Then all this gets glued together, and the basic premise is agreed upon. I have to be honest and say I'm a fan of the "Empire on decline/fallen" concept.

SciFantasy, then. So am I, but I also like Asimovish hardish SciFi and think the two could work well together.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Then - this is where the real "shared" part comes in - each contributor comes up with their own race! A bit of detail on the home world, physical description and abilities, philosophy, approach to life, etc... With each race coming from a different person, they should have a different (ie alien) feel.

I'd say Culture rather than just race (I hate using race, species is much better). You could have humans and other kinds of humans such as Asimov's Spacers, Dune's Fremen and Bene Gesserit and Farscape's Peacekeepers for example, all human and all completely different.

I like having alien species as well, perhaps with some different cultures.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Make it not our solar system, and say "Earth" is long lost. That way different people can have variations of humanity if they like.

If you have a Space Empire, or numbers of Space Empires, then you get away with having one planet being too important. Set it way into the future and you get other human planets becoming more important than Earth. What was the book where all the physically/mentally superior people went to space colonies, leaving the dregs left on Earth?

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

Now, how to avoid power mongers? A dozen unstopable warrior races? Super mental power unbalancing type races? They have to apply to be part of some kind of Inter Galactic Council - which means the other contributors are permitted to discuss and vote whether the race should be permitted to enter the game world.

Power Mongers are never ever a problem, in my opinion. Good powergamers will abuse any setting and any species/culture/tech level so you can't design a setting to stop powergamers.

In any case, so what if someone powergames? Let them have their fun.

Anywa, look at SciFi films and TV Series. Star Trek has Vulcans and Klingons who are physcially superior but have sever cultural problems that stop them from becoming dominant. Star Wars has humans as the dominant species even though there are many physcially or Psionically superior species.

Technology is far more important than species, in my opinion. Give PCs access to alien technology and they will keep the best bits and build up a hodgepodge of technology, becoming superior to all their foes.

I don't like the idea of a Galactic Council rukling on whether a species is allowed in. A powerful species will muscle its way in anyway and a weak species will be exploited by the others.

Originally Posted by HollyKnight55

I know judging other people's work might seem harsh, but I'm a firm believer that putting something in just because somebody put work into it would result in mediocrity.

Mediocity is good, as long as there's a lot of it.