I started an experiment on Facebook over the past few days where I solicit ideas, and let my friends and families have some fun with their imagination. In this session I asked:

I'm writing a speculative fiction/steam punk/nuclear rocket fantasy. I have lodged into me head "The wonderful world of Yisned." It's ostensibly the Solar System's Las Vegas and Disney World combined. But it's run by mafiosos and pirates. What would be some of the must see rides/shows? Ideas I have already are "The Green Woman Group" (Spoof of Orion slave girls/the Blue Man group). But I need oh so much more...

The feedback was ... amazing.

Katheryn W

I think aliens would be fascinated by our love of cosplay. So Renaissance ale houses, anime restaurants, etc

(Me)

I think they'll have "resorts" like the various Disney Parks/Vegas Casinos. One resort is built in massive artificial trees, where all the attendants are dwarfs in monkey suits. Another is a "wasteland" with the "surface (the top floor)" covered in sand an rubble. The "underneath" is all a worn out survival vault. The attendants dress like vault dwellers and nuclear zombies.

Adrian B

Extremely un funny android stand up comedy duo, most of the act is in binary

(Me)

The "funny" part is that people listen to them politely. As the "two straight men" gag is just something they accept as cultural meme. Like watching Kabuki theater. Except... without the sword play. Or the special effects. "Well these Dad jokes are handed down to us, from our Fathers. And our Father's fathers. Damn it, you are going to sit here and groan through them like I did at your age!"

(Me)

It started like the Vaudeville act where one guy is the straight man, one is the cutup. But people got so tired of doing the act they just put two robots reciting the jokes. And then the act itself just sort of turned into a hackneyed meme. Then a tradition. Now it's an institution.

Adrian B

yes!

Shane M. C.

Tours of Uranus

Shane M. C.

But the tours would actually be a cover for smuggling the black market nutrients that are found there. Which are then used to grow the fruit of the Stankobush that you can buy to throw at the bad droid comic.

(Me)

(taking notes...)

Katie A

I would probably have some suped up live action version of tetris with gambling. I like the idea that everyone would be in this outlandish place doing something so basic but literally everyone being consumed and just obsessed with it.

(Me)

Love it!

(Me)

Instead of cage matches, there are people trying to arrange blocks falling several stories. And, of course, they get heavier and heavier the farther they fall...

Pete A

You could have a ride based on a group of alien swashbucklers that stole a microwave radio transmitter and call it ‘Pirates of the Carrier-Beam’...

#hereallweek

(Me)

Now we know what Roy Batty was going on about with "C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate"

Shane M. C.

Alice, To the Moon! It would be a lunar based Alice in Wonderland experience.

(Me)
Actually... that sounds like the perfect theme for a Resort!
Brian D

Any circus is cool. Vegas had like a dozen circus shows.

(Me)

and have a mix of 1G, fractional-G, and micro-G acts. Inside a giant rotating arena. Where the "rings" are at different radii.

Brian D

You should look up old circus terms. I traveled with Ringling Bros for years and one thing that always amazes me was the same terms they used in the 1800 didn't change much years later.

Kris K

Longest ride: “It’s a Small Multiverse After All.”

(Me)

I was thinking it would be funny if they have a bit on "how could the world be different" with a bunch of speculative ideas that end up sounding an awful lot like our world

Robert B

You don't mention a planet so I assume it's a station somewhere. I would locate it along the edge of the asteroid belt. Outside of any inhabited planetary jurisdiction. While the belt is not nearly as dense and chaotic as commonly portrayed/believed, it would be handy for pirates and mobsters to dash into in order to avoid patrols and set up ambushes.

As for rides and shows along the themes given: The Pirates of Yisned Station as a ride, and Guys and Droids for a show seem obvious candidates. Less obvious but harkening back to Vegas' heyday would be some sort of scheduled dramatic explosions, off station of course, but almost recklessly close. People used to watch nuclear testing in the desert from their Vegas hotel rooms. It could be nuclear or something you make up. You could also make it an originally unintended attraction, like the Vegas nukes were. They could be part of asteroid mining ventures or, like the original, military testing of a new weapon. (Any station would have radiation shielding anyway, so standard nukes at any reasonable distance shouldn't be a cause for radiation concerns.)

A Tribble Pit. Like a ball pit filled with a tribble analog.

To speculate much more I'd want more details as to the tech level involved. The Guys and Droids show assumes droids are at least somewhat common. Tribble Pit assumes either a soft droid tech or advanced genetic engineering.

(Me)

The schtick is that while the world employs a D&D compatible magic system, most of the starship tech is hard science. The station anchored to the asteroid rotates for gravity. They have acres of agriculture to recycle the air and grow most of the staple crops. The station itself was built as a shipyard, but one of the major factions had to sell it off to fulfill a major peace treaty. Computers in this world are based on holographic processing. This makes them better AIs than calculators. A mass produced form of android (basically adapted from a glorified crash test dummy) exists, they are called "quinns". Computers like HAL 9000 are common enough, but people don't trust them after that unfortunate business on the Odyssey...

The inclusion of Magic is mainly a thumb in the eye to Star Trek.

Mankind is still stuck in the Solar System because time travel and faster than light travel, while technically possible, simply throw you into another universe with no hope of return to this one.

(I do allude to one alien race who visited the solar system in the past, left a few baffling sites, but left in a real hurry.)

Magical technology is called tegic. One common tegic is gecko-gear. Essentially the spider climb spell. It lets people (or people with sufficiently enchanted gear) to stick to the walls of a spacecraft.

Instead of sensors, ships have specially trained augers.

Etc.

(Me)

And yes, while a teleport spell is possible, beings traveling through the aether are limited to the speed of light. So a trip to from earth to the moon requires holding one's breath for 30 seconds. And, being magic, isn't exactly "reliable", nor cheap.

Chris W

I'm writing a space book with primate pirates too. Here is a visual aid that inspires me.

London L

You need some king of 'Galactic Rollercoaster" (Disney &Vegas)

(Me)

Or... the infamous LINE for the Galactic Rollarcoaster. That has turned into its own sort of event. It even runs while the Galactic Rollarcoaster is down for service.

Chip P

I want Wormholes on the coaster ride.

Paul R

An anti-escape room where you have a time limit before the airlock opens and the players are spaced

Paul R

Ideal for getting rid of stoolies

(Me)

If I thought I was 60 seconds from my last breath of air, I'd probably be getting rid of my stoolies....

(Me)

Bonus if you have an eye rolling Mafioso who is only in line because his kid wants to do the ride. "No, you see, airlocks are the WORST way to get rid of a body. Too many alarms. The body is RIGHT THERE. No, if you really want to get rid of someone, you throw them in the matter reclaimator."