M-space .. tech levels / era's ?

[g33k]

Quick question:  how much support (gear, tech-levels, etc) is there for near-future sci-fi?  No FTL -- Just this solar system, permanent colonies on the moon and earth-orbit, research outposts elsewhere?  Maybe a few unmanned probes, even cryo-probes, to the nearest star, but no colonies...  As if most/all of the stuff that current physics can forecast, but we cannot yet build, becomes reality?

 

[clarence]

Well, the tech in M-SPACE is well beyond near future - but it is shaped from a classic sci-fi standpoint, ie. before computers, smartphones and networks became ubiquitous. So, the short answer is no, it doesn't really cover near future high tech. But it's quite simple to update the gear list to work for that. Otherwise, River of Heaven is closer to the tech seen in for example "The Expanse".

[RosenMcStern]

The two Cthulhu monographs by John Ossoway cover this subject very well. River of Heaven is more advanced and implies FTL travel.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Cthulhu Rising has all that Aliens / Blade Runner stuff. Ace.

[Questbird]

Cthulhu Rising and End Time each dealt with near(er) future non-FTL solar system sci-fi, which is a particular favourite subgenre of mine. End Time was mostly set on one decaying colony (Mars), which had mostly lost contact with the rest of the solar system. Cthulhu Rising had FTL drives I think (maybe a little like Traveller 2300?) but I just ignored that part. It also had a good set of psionics rules. As Rosen McStern said  there was also another John Ossoway supplement called Jovian Nightmares which had quite good setting information for  a future Jupiter campaign setting. Once again you could ignore the Cthulhu stuff if you want and just use it as a gritty medium future setting like Aliens or the Expanse. Jupiter is a great solar system location for a campaign because it has many many wacky and different moons and is between the outer and inner system. You could run multiple campaigns without even leaving the (large) Jovian gravity well, and it's easy to imagine how a diverse economy could operate there. 

River of Heaven (also by John Ossoway) is more far future, kinda similar to M-SPACE with star drives, blasters etc. I recommend both Cthulhu Rising and Jovian Nightmares (End Time also has some interesting ideas). However M-SPACE and River of Heaven have the advantage of being in print and available.

Also an honourable mention to Swords of Cydoria which is a far future sword and planet setting in a single solar system (which might well be ours), even though it's probably not what you were thinking of.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Questbird