As previously mentioned, a story's
setting is one of the key elements of its plot. A setting can be defined as "the time and place of the action of a literary, dramatic, or cinematic work". Since adventures are stories, this definition of setting applies here as well. Basically all that setting means is when and where a story takes place.
In SFRPG, most adventures will likely take place in the years following Arth's return to the stars (approximately the year 4615, according to the timeline in
Chapter 12.1, though there's nothing really that says an adventure can't take place earlier than that. Even from 4615 onward, there are a lot of possible ramifications of the year in which an adventure takes place. Adventures in 4620 will have to content with the events of SF1. The interregnum between SF1 and SF2 (4640) will see campaigns without a clear source of fuel for starships. Shyneum comes into play in 4640, and after that the field is wide open. Starflight's broad timeline is only one example of how important the "when" aspect of setting is; smaller time scales can be just as crucial. Starflight I is a great example of the importance of small time scales; every four days, all the stars along another x-parallel outward flare, eventually reaching the Arth system on 4621-01-01. Four days can be a pretty short span to have to try and determine whether there's life on a planet or whether it's all been cooked off.
As important as "when" is the question of "where". Adventures in the Starflight universe can happen in a plethora of different places. An adventure could take place at such diverse places as a Humna Humna trading post, the mountains of New Scotland, or even in orbit about the planet Nirvana. Moreover, given the use of vehicles and starships, the locations involved within an adventure can change rapidly, even within a single adventure.
The following subsections talk about the elements of different location types of adventures. Essentially, all adventures can be broken down into one of four subtypes: site adventures (adventures in a single place), planet-side adventures (adventures on a planet or moon, outside of urbanized areas), urban adventures (adventures in a city or space station), or space adventures (non-planetbound adventures, usually involving a starship or space vehicle). The guidelines presented can be useful in helping to put any adventure together, including a "conglomerated" adventure (one that uses elements from multiple location setting types) together.
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