Editing FederalSpace:Main Page (section)

= Overview =

'''''Federal Space''''' is a decidedly non-canonical spin on the familiar ''Star Trek'' universe, refracted through a lens of harder science and more consistent worldbuilding. One-liner descriptions:

* ''Star Trek: Stand Alone Complex.''
* ''Star Trek'' run using GURPS, as a TL10 Conservative Hard SF setting, rather than a TL12 Superscience Safe-Tech setting. 
* ''Star Trek'' run using Traveller. "Iron Man" Traveller.
* Pacifist ''Star Fleet Battles.''
* ''Star Trek'' with hats.

Why bother? Because Trek is a wonderful set-up for sci-fi gaming, and the general setting elements are familiar to most of us, but the way the setting has evolved makes it difficult to run "straight." In a TV show, the protagonists don't abuse the technology or society because of genre convention, but if you approach things from the perspective of a gamer or an SF fan, you need more internal consistency. Essentially, this setting jettisons the old technobabble and back-history, as well as the older tropes like single-biome, single-culture planets, and then takes the old names and visual elements as inspiration for a new setting that ''resembles'' Trek strongly, but runs differently under the hood. 

It also gives me a chance to jettison some of the infuriating parochialism that has crept into Trek over the years, and re-open possibilities of social commentary that Trek-as-written had closed off. My taste in escapism is not to have a setting where social problems no longer exist, but to have a story where they ''do'' exist, but people can successfully fix them—whilst, and at the same time, playing around with spaceships that go whooosh. 

While this is a more serious take on the concepts, I've been careful to ''avoid'' making this GRIMDARK TREK (like the oft-seen meme of an authoritarian, Stalinist Federation, complete with Ministry of Truth putting out propaganda shows), and also to avoid losing the sense of playfulness. Damn it, I ''like'' the red shirts, and green-skinned alien babes, and all that silliness.

What kind of stories do I envision telling with this? My first thought is a combination of procedural investigations and social SF—explore the odd corners of the setting assumptions.