Science Fiction

Take a trip to the stars or flip a switch on a time machine… to travel to worlds of Sci-Fi wonder!

Science fiction is… well… fiction with a bit of science thrown in. Use some big, made up, Latin-ish “sciency” words and you are a science fiction guru. Check out some of these cool ideas to get into the genre!

Concepts

  • rescue from aliens, contact with other life forms,
  • interplanetary journey to save humanity, find a new planet, scouting mission across the system,
  • strange new drug invented, new medicine with odd side effects, breakout of strange disease,
  • nuclear holocaust, world ending events, apocalypse, cataclysm,
  • survive earthquake, tornado, cyclone, tsunami, floods,
  • save a city from giant bugs, worms,
  • stabilize the Earth’s core,
  • mine minerals from Mars or Pluto or one of Jupiter’s moon,
  • stop an evil genius (or become an evil genius), save someone from the clutches of a mad scientist,
  • find more sturbolidium (made up word) to power your space craft, invent
  • destroy the ever-growing oozing blob taking over your small town,
  • investigate that strange gas cloud over your city (in space, on a new planet, released by miners, in the lab)
  • convene a meeting of great minds to solve the impending implosion of the planet,
  • coordinate a quarantine of the “infected,”
  • escape from imprisonment in an alien zoo, save a loved one from a strange species of brain suckers,
  • break free from a futuristic prison (because you were wrongly convicted of course)
  • bring back a cure,
  • deal with being trapped on a spaceship (or submarine) with an alien lifeform,
  • explore the bottom of the ocean, mine the sea floor, investigate the rift at the bottom of the harbour, find the source of the tsunami,
  • take full advantage of quantum tunneling,
  • invent a new chemical, clone your dying child, get sucked into (and get out of) virtual reality,
  • fight the mind control of your computer,
  • find the bottom of an abyss that formed following an earthquake (that swallowed one of your loved ones… for motivation),
  • combat the growth of a gelatinous blob,
  • embark on the lonely journey to a far off star system,
  • be the first to take the recently-discovered wormhole, solarleap, spacefold, timejump, lightjump,
  • protest or promote genetic mutations,
  • combat, fight, defend, protect, liberate,
  • prevent, save, cancel, rectify,
  • travel, explore, probe, discover, venture, traverse,
  • embark on psychic or psionic travel,
  • quest for new life, exploration of a microscopic world, nanoscopic world, sub-atomic world, shrunken world,
  • repair disabled spacecraft, deal with intergalactic galleon failure, disable a star-rending battleship,
  • stop the rise of eugenics, cybernetics, out of control disease, madness, dangerous cerebral growth,
  • bridge the gap to the dream world, giant world, the past, the future, alternate stream of consciousness, between life and death,
  • bend space, time, reality, consciousness, thought, energy, light, sound, perception,
  • fix the damage done by “research gone bad”, a botched secret mission, opening a rift to another universe, opening Pandora’s Box,
  • bring science into the worlds of metaphysics, psychics, magic, life force, the spirit world, the supernatural, divinity, afterlife, reincarnation, visions, ESP,
  • deal with nuclear meltdown, nuclear fallout, nuclear war,
  • create a new lifeform,
  • find the source of the strange noise coming through your phone,
  • stop the pending asteroid impact, world collision, sun implosion,
  • halt the rampant bacterial takeover, robot rise, computer self-awareness, android rebellion,
  • implant electronics in babies, kittens, mice, feral dogs, your mom (The Chocolate Chip Cookie Chip),
  • explore the tesseract, micro cosmos,
  • repair that malfunction before everything blows up, melts down, implodes, explodes, dissolves, disintegrates, dies, goes awry,
  • search for God through science, prove the existence of good vs. evil, create a two-way threshold between life and death,
  • prepare for Armageddon,
  • expand the limits of genetics, virtual reality, mind science, technology, virus warfare, molecular travel,
  • adapt humans with advanced mutations: exoskeletons, superpowers, accretion, regeneration, mental strength, extra limbs, feathers and flight, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis,
  • eat some strange spores, liquids, goo, toxin, poison, potion, secretion, meat,
  • go here for more great concepts to try out! (opens in new tab)

Settings

  • laboratory, science facility, research deck on a space craft,
  • any era arrived at through time travel, temporal shift, alternate universe, holographic experimentation,
  • spaceship, space craft, space cruiser, star fighter, solar vessel, star destroyer, intergalactic frigate, space junker, rocket ship, capsule, landing vessel, ejection unit,
  • habitat, life support system, colonial base,
  • reactor, generator, nuclear facility,
  • outpost, fortification, secret base, star base, landing pad, launch pad,
  • nebula, cluster, mass, black hole, asteroid belt, comet,
  • planets, desert planet, cloud planet, gas giant, sun, forest planet, rock moon, water planet, desolate moon, swamp planet, waterworld,
  • antimatter mass, negative space,
  • microscopic world,
  • alternate universe, parallel universe, different planes of existence, afterlife (scientifically explained), underworld,
  • post apocalyptic world,
  • mega city, moon city, floating city,
  • redneck planet… that’s right, a whole planet of rednecks!
  • space station, extraplanetary-metropolis, stratospheric-holiday-resort,
  • bottom of the ocean, core of the earth, deepest mine ever (and then go even deeper), underworld,
  • port city, trade network,
  • decks on a ship: landing deck, medical deck, science sector, the bridge, the helm, engineering sector, engine room, communications deck, garbage compactor,
  • vent system, crawl space,
  • hive network, home colony,
  • two-sun binary system, dwarf star, red giant, planetary nebula, red supergiant, supernova, neutron star, collapsed star, black hole (or the lesser known but much more crushing pitch-black hole),
  • strange cave system, archaeological dig, anthropological wonder of a city, ancient civilization,
  • bomb shelter (when you come out ten generations later), underground city,
  • cryogenics lab, genetic modifications lab, biotech facility, research facility,
  • alien lifeform morgue, dissection suite,
  • your basement laboratory, workshop,
  • that strange barn down the way, in the holler, round the bend, behind the trees,
  • that weird bridge that no one crosses at night, in the woods, on the old town road,
  • that fenced compound, barricaded manor, barb-wired facility, restricted area,
  • go here for more great settings to check out! (opens in new tab)

Characters

  • scientists (duh?), lab techs, technologists, analyst, biologist, physicist, chemist, astronomer, botanist, mathematician,
  • inventors, tinkerers, mechanics, engineers, designers, technicians, specialists, spacecraft engineer,
  • operator, conductor,
  • computer programmers, specialists, analysts, designers, nerds, geeks, geniuses,
  • space knight, star paladin, solar cavalier, moonsketeer (like a musketeer… but from the moon),
  • bounty hunter, hired gun, mercenary (merc), space thug, black marketeer,
  • interstellar smuggler, galactic highwayman (skywayman?), interplanetary mule, junket runner, space trucker,
  • diplomat, ambassador, envoy, representative, governor, senator, official,
  • king, emperor, lord, royal sovereign, galactic ruler, solar overlord,
  • CEO, president, entrepreneur, board member, board chair,
  • admiral, general, captain, navigator, helmsman, major, lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, private, ensign, pilot, fleet commander, commandant, brigadier general (more military personnel)
  • astronaut, mission specialist, flight engineer, docking module pilot, cosmonaut,
  • merchant, trader,
  • curious child, junior high nerds, pinball wizard, new kid, over-confident jock, emo, freak weirdo, loner, kid who reads all the time, science fair winner, cheerleader, popular kids, braggart, bully posse,
  • savant, genius, “gifted” child,
  • time jumper, planar traveler,
  • robots, androids, cyborgs, MORE CONSTRUCTS?
  • lab rats, mutated ratfolk, enlarged rats, naked mole rats, feral monkeys, super-intelligent apes, lab chickens, giant rabid moths, MORE ANIMALS?
  • aliens, giant bugs, moon troglodytes, The Space Kraken, sentient organic entity, higher lifeform, advanced biological being, hulking mass beast, dogbeasts, carnivorous moss, oozing blobs, MORE MONSTERS?
  • go here for more types of characters! (opens in new tab)

Stuff

  • laser rifle, ray gun, pulsegun, blaster, vibrodagger, arcblade, lightning staff, antimatter pulser, energy beam,
  • exoskeleton armour, mech-gear, space suit, protection shell, forcefield armour, gloves, goggles, visors, HUDs (heads-up displays), arm-mounted-interface, helmets,
  • lab equipment, beakers, tubes, burners,
  • optical equipment, microscope, electron microscope, telescopes,
  • scanning equipment, ultrasound, ultrasonic, x-ray, analyzers, probes, readers, scanners, readers, recorders, analytical arrays,
  • displays, monitors, output devices, panels, control ports, interfaces, keyboards,
  • microscope, telescope, oscilloscope,
  • cathode ray tube, liquid crystal display, light emitting diode, monitor, screen, head’s up display, virtual reality display, hologram, holograph,
  • keyboard, mouse,
  • things that go ding, bing, beep, buzz, hum, ring, drone, whir, whistle, gong, tick-tick-tick,
  • quarantine equipment, fences, barricades, protective fields, electric fences, wire, mesh, airlocks, cages, forcefield, energy field, reverse field, energy array, energy matrix,
  • communications array, com-link,
  • power capacitor, battery, engine, pulse drive, fuel cell,
  • rocket ship, space capsule, escape pod,
  • anti-gravity generator, lift capacitor,
  • time travelling capsule, warp ship,
  • analyzer, quantifier, synthesizer, rectifier,

Notes and Ideas about Science Fiction

  • In your science fiction narrative, commit to the relative reality of your world. If technology for anti-gravity cars has been invented, be sure to weave in some engineering experts, commercial advertising, protesters, CEOs, news reports, and so on just like we do in our own world with our contemporary contraptions.
  • Support your world with appropriate political, economic, and societal factors and impacts around the technologies and discoveries that you create.
  • You don’t have to get too fancy with the tech jargon. George Lucas had simple names for his devices: light saber (a sword made of light); sand people (people who live in the sand); the Force (the… well… force… that runs through everything). If you have a ray that shrinks people, you can call it a Shrink Ray. Then all you need is a scientist who knows how it works and, voila, it’s justified!