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How would you set up a Spinward Marches campaign?

Two basic choices area will determine much

Area 1: Why, A.k.a. economic & non economic imperatives, this is already inherent in your two choices. In one, they are entrepreneur and the plots will revolve around making ends' meet. Why is economic pressure. In the other case (financing by a patron ) as employee , they may be involved in adventure free of personal financial rewards beyond the usual bonuses. The Why might still be economic as saving one's job is, but the objective is not always to make money. Beside, in the first, you must steer them into your adventure, in the second, just issue a mission statement (easier, with a lot of choice)

Area 2: Where, think of it as the mobility issue, how much star travel, what type of ship is required if any? Will it be mostly-uniquely tied to a planet or will it be linked to interstellar travel (scout, courier, trader, quest).

As an example, I got an adventure going as "There is a ongoing trade war around the creation of a Tarsus High Starport. One of the "Cartel" have hired you as junior manager for a terminal..." As weeks proceed you flesh out the clients, the competition, the labor relation, the local politics, (without saddling the players with an accounting campaign as they are the trouble shooters dealing with epidemics, smugglers and pirates, while the senior manager count & kiss money rather than trade coup) a la Deep Space Nine; as oppose to create a world every week a la Earl Dumarest.

Note that in a "one planet campaign" the players are not shackled to the station or planet. They may be running anti pirate or anti highjack missions as well as special courier and dirt side action.

Once you got the Where and Why of the adventures as the players get their Who, its easy to figure out the Who, What and When of the weeks while the players figure the How to keep on going.

Selandia
 
Can you recall the title of the story / which collection(s) it's in, please?

Thx.

Allamagoosa

Baen Free Library, among other (print) locations:
http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/1439133476/1439133476___3.htm

On the O.T.:
District 268: I had a good Firefly-like campaign here once--crooked local government trying to rush colonization no matter the cost. Party often had to choose between humanitarianism and pragmatism. Created some great party dynamics. :)
Five Sisters: Reactivated military and a few warranted civilians brought together as a scratch special forces team. High powered action & adventure campaign. Went very well.
Imperial Survey: Group was given a partially stripped one-off variant of a type S with the charter to get it flying and run the survey well enough to satisfy the Imperials that demanded it (without fully funding it). Maintenance was a constant hassle, but they could get in places the Empire wasn't welcome as the ship wasn't recognised--they had an info gathering mission that rounded out what the Imperium wouldn't fund, plus some pet hunches of the patron to investigate, but it was mostly sandbox. Started in Glisten, IIRC, then generally went toward the Sword Worlds.

The last was going well but the game broke up midstream due to time conflicts, when we got back together the B5 aficionados got their game rather than the sandbox game restarting.

That pretty well covers my OTU experience, too. :)
 
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