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A campaign setting ideally for me will allow for a lot of different play styles. A Star Trek setting sounds cool, but I tend to think it's more about exploration and negotiation. A Battlestar Galactica universe would be cool, but it's really a military campaign and might not be able to incorporate other aspects. So I try to wrangle up a campaign universe that can incorporate of lot of these potential ideas for players to dabble in.
I am a fan of Traveller. I really dig the big concepts they have with their universe. I like the space 'age of sail' vibe it has. FTL technology exists but there are limits to traveling distance and time spent in jump space. There is no instant galactic communication. You need to relay information from system to system by ships and communication nodes.
What comes about from this is the idea that each system is really sort of independent. Political strife occurs and needs to be handled locally. The drive and motivation for people is money (and not some Utopian idea of self growth). This allows for lots of opportunities for players. If they want to run cargo and fight pirates, they can. If they want to help out a local governor quelling terrorists, they can. If they want to turn around and help those terrorists that are really freedom fighters trying to remove the yoke of Imperial rule, they can. It opens up a lot of adventure avenues.
Aliens are another thing to tackle. I want aliens in my game but still make it primarily a human universe. When you really start digging deep into playing aliens, you begin to realize just about everything about them will be... well... alien. I think it's easier for players to jump into something more familiar, so having humans as the primary race they encounter easier to work with rather than a new alien species for every planet. So aliens are around but certainly a minority.
Unexplored space is still out there and a need to discover and colonize new planets. Aside from that, I love the idea of the great mystery from Traveller. That for unknown reasons, some immensely advanced race decided to seed humans throughout the galaxy, and that some alien races were actually uplifted species from earth. That is cool. Very sci-fi and something I could get into if my players wanted a less mercenary/mercantile game.
Lastly, as my own twist, I wanted a big bad race (or two). I wanted a universal enemy. Some alien race that is truly terrifying and aggressive. So there are the Rezolians. This looming threat on the edge of the Imperium, and something for players to worry about.
So I set up my own universe that takes a lot from Traveller (most of which is cut and pasted). I latched onto the idea of a long war and a newly formed galactic political entity. This sets the stage for areas with alliances between two major powers and room for players to work for either side (or both). I also wanted to foster the idea that no side is either good or bad, instead the galaxy has a lot of gray. There are good and bad things about the Imperium and the Federation and the players have to navigate them using their own moral compass. It'll be fun to find out what adventures they get into in this universe.
