From Trey Causey's Blog
Continuing my random old science fiction solar system generators here with one for the asteroid belt. The asteroids are much less specified than Mars or Venus in the fiction, but there are stories to draw on. The first thing to keep in mind is that asteroids in pulpish tales tend to be much closer together than in real life. Maybe not quite Empire Strikes Back asteroid field distance but close.
Basic Theme:
1 Gold in The Hills - The Belt is a rural backwater, but it draws prospectors and those who cater to them. Think boomtowns and eccentric mountain men spacers.
2 Islands in a Vast Sea - Strange societies, exotic ports of call. It's one part The Odyssey and one part South Pacific adventures of Voyage of the Scarlet Queen.
3 Lost Worlds - A more isolated version of the above. The Belt may even be mostly empty, but a few hidden worlds lurk there.
4 Place of Mystery - Mostly uninhabited now, but there are this wasn't always the case. There are tombs to rob, artifacts to loot.
Why is This Rock Different? (Note that the answer here will suggest things about other asteroids!)
1 It's inhabited
2 It's a piece of some structure
3 It's actually a dwarf planetoid
4 It has an atmosphere and life despite it's small size
Who Are the Inhabitants?
1-2 Strange and varied beings, unknown elsewhere
3-4 The adventures, nonconformists, and/or criminals of other worlds
5-6 Native primitive human(oid)s--how they spread from rock to rock is a mystery
What Do Outsiders Do There?
1 Exploit Mineral Wealth
2 Exploit the Natives
3 Hiding Out
4 Homesteaders
5 Archeology/Exploration
6 Crashed/Maroon/Exiled
Selected Asteroid Belt Sources:
"Marooned off Vesta" Isaac Asimov
"Master of the Asteroid" Clark Ashton Smith
"The World with A Thousand Moons" Edmond Hamilton
The Twilight Zone "The Lonely"
"Trail of the Astrogar" Henry Hasse