Questions asked when investigating a new world.

[hive_angel]

I am asking this to help me better fluff out worlds in my campaign. I want to make descriptions for players, but lack things to describe besides the bare necessities players will need and use.

I am looking to build a common list of places, people, and things players will always tend to look for and or need. If this can be done and others don't mind chipping in their thoughts.

[jackson123]

Bars, places to buy stuff, where the rulers are cause my group always had a knack for pissing them off.

[PurpleDragon]

places to stay (apartment, Hotel, Barracks) and or park unit/'mech/tank/aerofighter...

'mech/tank trails exist?

other modes of transportation (Taxis, busses, rail, blimps)

restaraunts (other than bars and hotels). 

ComStar offices or facilities. 

Law enforcement facilities (police offices, prisons, courthouses)

Pet vendors and/or veterinarians.  zoos. 

tech repair places/shops

shopping malls or the lack thereof.

I used to have a generic "modern locations" book that was nothing but maps of buildings with descriptions.  I pulled a lot from it when I ran anything SciFi or Modern. 

Hospitals

Power plants and other "transformer" areas

Factories (does not have be for anything really important.  I mean Johnson & Johnson used to have a factory in Grand Prairie, TX that made rubber gloves). 

[PurpleDragon]

One thing you might try is to download a google earth map of a random town or city and the study/ID what you want each building that is not a generic residence to be. 

[Greyhind]

Seedy/Black market versions of all of the above?

To be honest you can probably get away with a overview that talks about how on this low gravity world the national sport is trampolining and on that ice world all the imported polar bears escaped from the zoo. When it comes to the actual day-to-day stuff just give the players two or three choices and be prepared to go with the flow if they have their own plans.

[idea weenie]

Assuming you mean uninhabited:
1) Temperature of the planet (i.e. boiling, liquid, or frozen water zone)
2) Atmospheric composition (breathable, tainted, toxic, or corrosive)
3) Cloud cover
4) Surface map to determine a landing site (and run the main computers to calculate weather patterns)
5) Sufficient internal air to maintain positive pressure (so local atmosphere cannot leak in)
6) Cleaning compounds to keep the Mechs relatively clean after coming inside (assume biohazard environment in terms of sterilization needed)
7) Determine local life forms (flora and fauna)
8) gene-typing of the locals (right-handed or left handed amino acids)
9) Intelligence testing the local critters (Simple Rule)
10) toxin analysis to see of the local life forms are edible

[PurpleDragon]

Mines and quarries.  I'm sure those would still be in wide use. 

[Greyhind]

Tell the players what the main industry of the capitol is. (Banking/Genetic Engineering pesticides/Fur Hunting/Jewelry/Industry with cleanrooms/ect.) If they ever travel elsewhere you can add to the world with commuter towns and farming hamlets and other industries as you wish.

[Ferrit]

Local laws and variations on behaviour. What weapons and armour are allowed and what will get you shot.

[PurpleDragon]

Local laws and variations on behaviour. What weapons and armour are allowed and what will get you shot.

For this I would suggest doing some research on various countries; laws and customs.   Panama, for example, if you run from the police, in a car or not, that gives them reason to shoot their m-16 or whatever flavor of rifle they are carrying at the time.  They shoot to kill.  Germany has a similar thing where they shoot for knee level to incapacitate. 

There are some places, I have been told, where something as harmless as eating with the wrong hand is an insult to the host. 

Now, I would not spring these kinds of things willy nilly on the players.   But I would try to give them something to think about researching the places they plan to go. 

[skiltao]

Most valuable sites for a raider to strike, most critical sites for a conqueror to strike (including communication satellites or towers or wires, railroads, bridges, etc); likely landing zones, how exposed they are and how far they are from potential target sites; who has authority over the garrison, and whether any corporations or nobles have their own forces onworld; any colonies or outposts elsewhere in the star system; how frequently do ships come in, and what kind of ships; what's the current tension-level of the indigs, are there any potential flashpoints; who's in charge of the world, of the garrison, of military supplies or necessary civilian supplies, are there any opposition leaders...

Which friendly civilian organizations (eg, Blue Star cult) are most likely to get in the way; major festivals, most popular form of recreation...

Big empty expanses that nobody onworld cares about; jungles, badlands, or nuclear/chemical wastelands which are hard to search; any old, dead cities I can pick through for useful tech...

What levers do I have to get local powers to do what I want, what levers do they have to get me to do what they want...