Fluff Companies, Brand Names, General Merchandise, etc.

[3R3BU5]

So, my homebrew game is fairly roleplay-centric with lots of fluff and fairly frequent (read:rampant) pop-culture sci-fi references getting thrown around the table. One thing that lots of sci-fi settings are lacking in terms immersion, though, is minor brands.

Sure, there are usually a handful of big corporations and the occasional minor restaurant in the background, but what about a manufacturer for all that minor gear my players carry (aside from just AbadarCorp)? What company makes the most popular operating systems or programs run by their comm units or computers? What 24-hour crappy chain restaurant will they inevitably find themselves in after a night of bar fights and binge drinking? What soap operas will the emotional space-orc invest himself in this week?

The Starfinder team has been great thus far with providing fluff material (I have multiple pages of notes with every mention I could find of companies and brands in the CRB, Pact Worlds Guide, and Armory), but I find myself wanting more inconsequential things to really get my players invested in the setting. I have a few ideas I'll be peppering into my game already, but I'm always on the hunt for more.

Morley Cigarettes (the iconic tv/film prop cigarette brand)

Mokolo Plus (the drugged milk from Clockwork Orange)

Spacebucks Coffee (a shameless pun our envoy came up with)

Monocycle Playing Cards (Bicycle parody)

Spaceball's Meatball Emporium (again, thank the envoy)

Tyrell Mfg. (maker of android-esque pets, famous for their owls)

7^11 (a convenience store sometimes jokingly called "almost two billion")

[Several competing variations of "Tony's Pizza" on Absalom Station]

HAL Personal Assistant (a "mildly buggy" Alexa-like program for the "Artificial Personality" computer upgrade)

[Something along the lines of Weyland-Yutani that I can't think of a good name for]

Prime Detective (an android-run detective agency that prides itself on its ethical conduct and the occasional Holmes reference)

The Turing Agency: a synthetic-lifeform-advocacy group working mainly to register SROs as sentient Pact Worlds citizens instead of simply property, the agency is rumored to be a face group for the Android Abolitionist Front or even the Perceptionist movement, though no legal ties have been made thus far. The Agency's R&D division has made claims recently of having found a consistent means of creating sentient AI programs capable of attracting souls without a physical chassis. Most speculate that this is a marketing campaign for their next iteration of the Agency's HAL Personal Assistant program, which is currently in its 8000 series.

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Let's see how far down this rabbit hole we can go!

Edit: a link to the original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/starfinder_rpg/comments/98j645/outsourcing_ideas_f luff_companies_brand_names/

[Metaphysician]

I have a specific store my PCs shop at, Sole Survivor. Its a shiny neon gun and equipment store just on the right side of the Spike, run by a polite, charismatic drow. The whole operation is just *slightly* sketchy, and its unclear to the PCs whether the proprietor, Krencev Tarendrov, is actually a paranoid survivalist, or just chooses that as a theme.

( Also, on Drow Apostae, locals speaks with Russian accent. *cough* )

[The Drunken Dragon]

For my campaign, I tend to pepper my brands and business names using various references to sci-fi works, either to characters, actors, creators, whatever. They range from pun-based to theme-based to whatever the heck I feel like doing at the time. Some examples...

Peridot Cybernetics: A Vercite-based cybernetic company created to help colonies compensate for muscular degeneration due to early-life malnutrition or exposure to low-gravity environments. They come with many general basic enhancements to improve reach and flexibility. Despite being incredibly helpful and receiving the Company of the Year award on Vercite for their improvement of health outcomes on colony worlds, its rather controversial "don't be a clod" campaign was seen by many to be ableist and needlessly aggressive to try and encourage people to "realize their full potential."

That one was based on the Steven Universe character Peridot...and serves as an example for a direct reference.

Then I have the Hardy-Theron brand of motorcycles, which is typically used on Akiton (though they are considered a collector's item off-world). These are based off the the names of the stars of Mad Max: Fury Road, and because it makes it sound similar to the Harley-Davidson brand...

And then of course there's just the idiotic pun for any old sci-fi nerds in my group, like the Strugatsky's Outfitters, which primarily sells things like tents, thermoses, portable cooking implements, etc. In short, the sorts of things one need for...dare I say, a Roadside Picnic (as a snarky tongue-in-cheek reference to the novel of the same name by the Strugatsky brothers).

I'm pretty sure my players hate me for these, but they are a fun exercise to come up with.

[HNNNNNNG]

Some that I've been using:

Synthbrew - "Because We're the Cheapest!"
A 105% synthetically made beer. In fact, you're not sure anything even remotely similar to a hop was used in it. But at just 1 credit for a case of 24 it's the cheapest out there.

NudeNoodle- "Clothes are Optional, Flavor is Not"
Prepackaged noodles. Sometimes you have to add water, othertimes the entire packaging is self-contained! Sometimes there's noodle stalls to buy some fresh noodles from. They have a very long shelf life.

GeneX - "Our vision, Your Future"
A genetics research company.

Goo! Goo Tubes - "ITS NUTRITION"
They sell goo tubes. It's nutrient paste. There's new flavors all the time.

StellarLanes - "Stars Within Reach"
Commercial and private transportation - but in space!

Vandalu Spa Resorts - "The Essence of Moisture"
You haven't really experienced comfort and luxury until you've been pampered at a Vandalu Spa Resort. All staffed with highly trained professionals and their state-of-the-art SpaBots.

[gamer-printer]

T. H. Gulliver who wrote Dead in Space, a series of 4.5 one-shot space horror modules for Starfinder as 3PP, that I published is built around a setting where MegaCorps are the driving force "governments" in interstellar space. The five largest MegaCorps control most of the main region of space. One those five, is called Anomaly Investments, which if you look at the acronym for Anomaly Investments, the CEO, board of directors and all the owners of this MegaCorp are artificial intelligences.

[Steven "Troll" O'Neal]

Coffin Nail brand tobacco products, popular with the undead, not suggested for the living.

Long's Pork Jerky, preserved pork in multiple flavors. Headquartered on Eox.

[Silicon Archer]

I have a running customer war going on between two businesses at Absalom station 'Quantum life' runs a resurrection center across from 'REcycle' the Eoxian body center. Currently the Eoxian undead chorus is picketing outside singing 'All we are saying is give Death a chance'

[Simeon]

One of my SFS characters is an android envoy with several LED screens grafted onto himself, essentially making him a living billboard. As a broader concept, he represents corporations for a living, essentially leasing himself to them. As a result, I have to come up with quite a few names for corporations. Here's a few of my favorites:

Astro-Cola, 15 flavors in 1 convenient can!
Kryyzx, Shunyuan and Grrrot, the finest starship injury lawyers in the Pact Worlds.
Tikana Resort, where you can play all day and play harder all night!
Ughazna Scale Polish, for the discerning vesk.