The end of the OSE campaign left us with a potential space-adventure cliffhanger. I proposed using Starfinder as the system of choice. This may or may not have been a wise choice....Starfinder's got some strengths, and I am not 100% sure those strengths are important for me right now so much as that I can get the framework of the game to support a more holistic approach to the style of play I seem to be favoring these days.
Still, at least I have ideas here, and I am excited to get a chance to use the Galaxy Exploration Manual, a book I consider so vital that it should have been the third release in the Starfinder lineup to begin with, but instead came out after I stopped running Starfinder.
These days, I realize my expecations for the game table are as follows:
Shorter campaigns
I am having a very hard time committing to long term campaigns. I am strongly favoring scenarios or mini-campaigns that will take between 4-10 sessions at the most. It doesn't mean we can't revisit those characters in the future, it just means that I am better now at proposing a discreet campaign with a plot structure of some sort, rather than an open-ended thing that goes forever. Some of my players love the lofty goal of level 20 as the campaign end goal; I just haven't got that sort of energy in me at the moment, any more. My age is at last catching up to me.
Fewer maps and minis
If the maps are convenient and available, sure, but otherwise I have not got the time or energy (or desire) to sit down and work out elaborate maps for everyone at the virtual table. I know some players need the maps for contextual reference; those players might find other games by different GMs better; I am strongly in favor these days of a single "Old School" diagram which has a series of areas on it, reflecting "far, near, engaged" on each side and letting the PCs move themselves to each location as a move action. Basically, Final Fantasy Combat Style. I recall this exact sort of grid (or close to it) existed as far back as Classic Traveller and its essentially just a modern restatement of what is used precisely in 13th Age for abstracted combat.
I really need to go run 13th Age again. It's been a while, but that was honestly a really fun game to play.
Anyway....the point is, I feel that the wargame element a map and minis bring to the tabletop is counter productive to the actual RPG elements I actually enjoy in tabletop. And yes, I know this means that it's more of a challenge to pull this off in a game like Starfinder where the foundation of the game rests on the laurels of maps and minis.
Weirder - weirder perhaps than is normal even for me
By this I mean....I want to run a game that is interesting once again, and not so procedural. If I am running Starfinder it is because there are interesting ideas, species, worlds and exotic elements to explore, and not because I can't wait for the next highly procedural map and minis firefight. It's not that a good battle doesn't matter.....but I am 100% done with needless random fights that contribute nothing to the overall story. Good random encounters (such as can be seen throughout various Mothership modules) are where it's at.
Okay....some thoughts. We'll see if I am at last able to structure a scenario process that will work with Starfinder. I have more confidence now than I have in the past thanks to the Galaxy Operations Manual, which is to Starfinder what the Universal World Profile generator is to Traveller.
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