Broadening someone's sci-fi horizons

[IanBruntlett]

A highly intelligent person then.

Definitely

Thank you for the information.

 

[mortal]

Blade Runner
The Martian

 

[Anstett]

I'd give her and the other new players a copy of the MgT2e Third Imperium book so she can familiarize herself with the setting, and then ask her what kind of adventures or dramas she'd like to play through in such a setting. Charted Space has great wealth and great poverty, stability and chaos, war but also peace, adventure and stability. It's important for her and your other players to understand they're more in a chaotic Dune-like setting with a deep history, in which their characters need to go out and earn their fortunes than any other kind of setting. Ask her questions about who she'd like to play in the setting, what kind of stories and challenges she like that person to face, and then perhaps use a little Ref fiat to help her design a character she's into rather than subjecting her to the cruel whims of the character generation rules as written.

There is also an audio book of the Third Imperium book is she likes that format @IanBruntlett

Traveller: The Third ImperiumStreaming .mp3

Audiobook The Third Imperium is the greatest interstellar empire in the history of Charted Space. Its Emperors have reigned for a thousand years, building a utopian society based upon the pillars of duty, honour, free trade and a powerful navy that protects its worlds and enforces its laws...

audiorpg.net

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Turtledove's Earthgrip.

Beautiful blue eyed (natural) blonde with a literature degree wants to be a professor of Middle English literature (20th century, SciFi specialty), but anyone looking at her subtracts her bust measurement from her IQ and refuses to hire her. She decides she needs an edge and gets a Free Trader that needs an apprentice Trader to keep their license to hire her as she will be able from experience to show how close/far the various authors were from the reality she got to live. She then proceeds to use that SciFi (and Sherlock Holmes) knowledge to solve problems for the ship. She is a full Trader when she gets her dream job. She has one more flight afterwards where she gets promoted to Master Trader and makes the courses she teaches REALLY popular.

I need to get another copy of that.

 

[summerdown]

If you want to play more slice of life (and why wouldn't you?), then The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers is really good.

Alternatively, All Systems Red by Martha Wells (the first of the Murderbot series) has a really engaging protagonist and is loads of fun.

Sorry, just noticed it was dvds you wanted, not books. I'll recommend Firefly, Dark Matter or Killjoys then!

 

[OriginalCaruso]

Films are an easier media to consume but often screenplays lack the depth of the originating novels. If the consumer is willing to invest a little more time and effort, IMHO books offer a broader and deeper immersive experience than film.

Always good to have options…

 

[FreeTrav]

Turtledove's Earthgrip.

Beautiful blue eyed (natural) blonde with a literature degree wants to be a professor of Middle English literature (20th century, SciFi specialty), but anyone looking at her subtracts her bust measurement from her IQ and refuses to hire her. She decides she needs an edge and gets a Free Trader that needs an apprentice Trader to keep their license to hire her as she will be able from experience to show how close/far the various authors were from the reality she got to live. She then proceeds to use that SciFi (and Sherlock Holmes) knowledge to solve problems for the ship. She is a full Trader when she gets her dream job. She has one more flight afterwards where she gets promoted to Master Trader and makes the courses she teaches REALLY popular.

I need to get another copy of that.

On the strength of this posting, I asked the bingleduck about it, and discovered I have a copy, because I have a copy of "3×T".

 

[rinku]

Oh, John Scalzi's stuff is good. A bit of humour, sometimes absurd, but always an easy read. He mixes up his tone a bit too - some are outright military science fiction, others are pure people based ones. Kaiju Preservation Society is more or less Jurassic Park with Godzilla.

Old Man's War as a series outlasted it's worth for me (first novel is still good), but he's an excellent one-off writer. Especially reccommended are Lock In and Head Off, which are solid police procedurals with the conceit that the FBI agent main character and a sizable chunk of humanity are paralyzed-in-a-tank-on-life-support after an epidemic, but can interface with the internet and operate remote mechanical bodies. Lock In is the first book, but I happened to read them out of order and it made no difference; the plots are self-contained cases.

 

[hopsnbaer]

Hi,

In my Traveller campaign I have a player whose exposure to Science-Fiction has been limited to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm looking for recommendations for DVDs to watch that might broaden those horizons. I'm thinking of Serenity or Firefly but I am open to other suggestions.

Thank you


Ian

The Schlock Mercenary Web Comic at https://www.schlockmercenary.com/ The art and first stories are a bit silly, but it gets deeper as it goes on with some great sci-fi.

 

[mavikfelna]

The Schlock Mercenary Web Comic at https://www.schlockmercenary.com/ The art and first stories are a bit silly, but it gets deeper as it goes on with some great sci-fi.

Been a fan of Howard's for long time. Lived close enough I've played some D&D with him, may years ago. But I highly recommend picking up his paperbacks, as the bonus stories add even more to the overall universe.

 

[Tom B]

Try the 'Mote in God's Eye'