Here is the campaign in brief:
Theme: Mysterious power invades the world.
History: Mankind has taken to the stars, and they are doing a great job colinizing the immidiatly surrounding star systems. At first, the central earth government was in control of all colonies, but now their power is waning and control is defaulting to local powers. There are literally billions of people all over and the political system is a mess.
General Plot: The PCs stumble upon a secret government plot to take over the colonies in a brutal dictatorship. In the past 50 years they have secreted away the best scientists from around the colonies, and have managed to develop technology that far surpasses current standard tech avilable to the general population.
Game Statistics:
Technology level: Mostly PL6, but with artificial gravity and a jump gate network. The secret government project (Simply refered to as The Initiative) has acces to some PL7 Technology, and at the begining of the campaign, they are developing a Jump Drive.
Nanotechnology is rare (And outlawed in most places) as is Genetic Engineering.
Now, I have tried to create a campaign before without fleshing out all worlds very well, and it was a hassle. PCs would request to jump to places off of the established map, and I would have to make them up off the top of my head, which led to me forgetting names and contridicting myself.
So, how do I come up with new planets and cities and all that?
But there are other possible schemes, of course. The planets in Star Wars are all dominated by one geographical formation: desert, forest, Arctic, city, etc. You could even go by something as simple as colours. The blue planet is mostly water. The green planet is mostly forest. The yellow planet is mostly sand. My point is, if you have a pattern, then you can fill in the boxes pretty easily and if the PCs do jump to a place you haven't really fleshed out yet, you'll at least have an idea of what they're jumping into.
So, I have some time on my hands, and I want to start designing a space opera campaign. I have d20 Future (and future tech) but I am having trouble with SCOPE. I want around twenty places to go to (planets/star systems/space stations) and I am having problems comming up with that number.
So, how do I come up with new planets and cities and all that?
I have a few docs that deal with generating Planetary conditions from AlternityRpg site which could be helpful... and I think also a star system generator which reminds me to redo the layout of them to be easier read and understood... give me a while to work on them and PM me if interested.
The now defunct Dr Who RPG used this method for creating planets/aliens/and civilizations, and it seems a good way to quickly create a number of possible locations, once the basics are in place something may well suggest itself to you.
The tables should have a linear scale and progress from extreme to the other, e.g. a Table for Average surface temperature would have Extreme low temperature at the bottom and extreme high temperature at the top, and area in the middle is suitable for normal surface colonization, while moderately high or low temperatures requires extra work on the part of colonists (underground habitation, temperature controls etc).
Planetary Table
Start at table 1 and then progress until table 9
for example
Table 1:
Number of Stars in system.
For each Star progress through these tables.
Table 2:
Number of Rocky planets (Gas giants being unsuitable for human habitation)
Table 3:
Position in system (Higher value is closer to the sun lower is further away)
Table 4:
Number of natural satellites/moons
Table 5:
Gravity (this will also allow you to get an idea about the planets size, higher gravity means either the planet is large or dense)
Table 6:
Landmass (Continents, islands etc, a low number may not mean a water world but maybe a world with simple or early plate tectonics)
Table 7:
Atmospheric composition and density (this will effect if you can breathe outside, a world may well have an atmosphere of average density however if the atmosphere is fluorine gas anybody attempting to breathe will find their lungs melting)
Table 8:
General Climate (this would apply per land mass, so you may have one frigid landmass, and one temperate one, the frigid landmass suggests it may be a continent in the polar regions).
Table 9:
Desirable resource (assuming you have no aliens, there will be a reason that this planet was selected for colonization, this desirable resource may be mineral ores, lush biosphere, rare materials, unique physical feature like lack of filtration of solar energy, or maybe even simply an Earth style environment.
You can probably use our solar system as a foundation upon which to base things, of the planets in this solar system only the Earth, Mars, maybe Venus, and some of the satellites of other planets may be capable of supporting life (although all of them except for earth would require extensive life support) and so maybe bear in mind that of the 8 planets in the solar system, only 3 would be capable of "easily" supporting life (easily implies glass domes and temperature control that is feasible)
Cultural Tables:
Progress through these once per inhabitable planet (I.E not to hot, not to cold, toxic/lack of atmosphere can be dealt with through technology)
Table 1:
Global Population (heavily populated through to sparsely populated)
Table 2:
Number of major civilizations (these might be different nations or perhaps cultures that have diverged slightly or different castes of the the same culture, even holdings of separate corporations).
Table 3:
Population ratio (this is simply to determine the sizes of the different societies relative to each other, if you have 3 major civilizations, maybe you could roll a D10 for each, a result of something like 9:4:2 would mean the first group is the most numerous, while the third group is the least.
Table 4:
Technological development (The PL of each culture or civilization, you may want to break up the PL's slightly,perhaps adding a letter after the PL number,
Maybe something like A,B,C, with A being the most advanced and C being least advanced, in this case PL6.A would be a progress level 6 culture that is perhaps close to becoming PL 7, and is slightly more advanced than PL6.C)
It is also worth noting that in this context PL might not refer to ACTUAL level of technology achieved by the culture, but the average level of technology that the average person could hope to see or use.
For example a lush green planet with 2 societies, one large PL 5.B and the other small but PL 6 might refer to a single culture with a class based society where the majority of people are farmers and have common experience of PL 6 technology, while the smaller group are the wealthier leader/administrators/white collar workers who have greater access to technology.
Table 5:
Dominant culture (this is simply to determine which society if any is dominant on the planet, the die roll should be based on how many societies you have generated for the planet, and a positive modifier should be given to societies of a higher PL (but not size).
Table 6:
Wealth (How robust the economy of the society is,it may not reflect the wealth of the average person, but reflect the overall commercial power and gross national product of the society as a whole a higher PL should provide a bonus to this)
Table 7:
Military (this might be how aggressive the culture is, or how formidable their standing army is, their dominance and wealth should provide a positive bonus to this)
Table 8:
Government (this is easy, its just what sort of government is in place, e.g.- Oligarchy, Autocracy, Republic, Meritocracy, Theocracy, Democracy.)
Table 9:
Attitudes (How xenophobic the group is, to what extent civil rights exist within the group etc)
I apologize for not giving more details on the tables, This method is the one I intend to use when creating sci-fi settings of my own, when i write up some table I will post them, but for now hopefully they will give you some ideas.
I do think that once you have gone through this process, the information you have should suggest more to you and fleshing out what you have should not be to difficult.
Also, I have a PDF that deals with Star System Generation; i.e. number of planets in the system which is from the AlternityRPG site... I've been using these for my D&D Modern/Future Campaign setting up different worlds and whatnot
And before anyone reports me about posting stuff not my own, these can all be found at the http://www.alternityrpg.net website somewhere under the Resources section.
Show
Enviromatrix:
What follows is a random-generation table for the simulation of alien planets. By rolling ten d12’s, the conditions of an alien world can be simulated; at least to the extent necessary for game purposes. Most evidence indicates that the universe is largely barren of conditions that could support life as we know it; and to that extent the following table is more lenient. Still, most worlds generated will be frigid wastelands or seething hell-holes of lava and poison. But there is a certainly the possibility of life. These rules are more guidelines than straight-jackets; tools to allow the GM a quick template; upon which your imagination must fill in the details.
1.) Gravity; a planet’s gravity correlates to the size of the planet, and the atmosphere.
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
G0 G0 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5
2.) Pressure; Atmospheric thickness. G0 worlds have no atmosphere. Lower the atmospheric pressure by 2 in G1 conditions. Raise the atmospheric pressure by 2 in G4 or G5 conditions. A5 maximum.
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 11 12
A0 A0 A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5
3.) Rotation; Too little rotation can cause extreme temperatures; but excessive rotation speeds create tornado winds that can tear apart living things.
Mr; Minimal. Rotation is slower than planet’s revolution around star.
Fr; Fractional. Planet rotates 2-3 times per revolution.
Er; Earthlike rotation
Rp; Rapid rotation; days several hours shorter than earth norms
Ex; Extreme. Eternal storms that rip flesh from bone.
*Planets with Extreme rotation become Gas-Giant planets. Disregard prior rolls for gravity and atmospheric pressure.*
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
Mr Mr Fr Er Rp Ex Ex
4.) Temperature; moderate climates are more suitable for carbon-based life-forms, which appears to be the most efficient molecule for life; but there may be other possibilities. *Worlds with no atmosphere are at H0 temperature*
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
H0 H0 H1 H2 H3 H4 H5
5.) Environmental Diversity: Is the planet dominated by only 1 terrain? Perhaps your world is frozen on one side and molten on the other? Roll to determine how diverse the environment on your planet is.
Un: Uniform, Bs; Bisected; usually a frozen half and a burning half, Er: Earthlike
Dv: Diverse environment Gs: Gas-Giant world. Pr: Protean environment in a chaotic state of constant change.
0-1 2 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12
Un Un Un Bs Bs Er Dv Gs Gs Pr
6.) Chemistry; The types of chemical reactions most common on the surface. Covalent chemistry supports carbon-based life; other reactions are hostile to life as we currently know it.
In: Inert, Cv: Covalent: Ic: Ionic Rd: Radioactive
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
In In In Cv Cv Ic Rd
*planets with no atmosphere are Inert.*
*Ionic atmospheres often contain chlorine and are A3 environments for humans*
7.) Fertility; What resources are available for life forms in general on this planet? The environment may still be hostile to some aliens, even if fertile conditions exist for others. These are the conditions extant for native organisms. The overwhelming majority of planets are desolate. This also represents potential for farming, and the possibility of pharmaceutical applications. Life can exist only on worlds that are barren or better.
In; Inert, Ba: Barren, Sp: Sparse, Er: Earthlike, Fr: Fertile, Pr: Paradise
*Chemically Inert worlds have no life.*
*Lower fertility by 1 for Mr, or Fr, rotation-worlds.
*Lower fertility by 1 on worlds with Uniform terrain.*
*Lower fertility by 1 for H0, or H5 worlds.
*Lower fertility by 2 on Gas-Giant worlds.*
+Raise fertility by 1 on worlds with Earthlike or Diverse Environmental Diversity.+
+Raise fertility by 1 on worlds with H2 temperature.+
0-1 2 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
In In In In Ba Sp Sp Er Fr Pr
8.) Tectonics; What’s happening inside the planet? Tectonic activity is needed to recycle the crust and retain valuable nutrients near the surface. The quakes and volcanism are dangerous, but worlds that are Inert on this scale must lower their fertility score by 1. Catastrophic worlds, CV, lower fertility by 2. Gas-Giant worlds have no tectonics.
CV: catastrophic volcanism and quakes
V: dangerous Volcanism and quakes
Er: Earthlike volcanism and quakes
Re: Rare volcanism and quakes
In: Inert crust and core.
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
In In Re Er V V CV
9.) Mineral resources? Perhaps the world has large amounts of minerals valuable to industry? Gas Giants might possess orbiting asteroids that contain mineral resources.
Us: Useless Pr: Mineral Poor Er; Earthlike Rh: Mineral rich
Ur: Ultra rich
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
Us Pr Pr Er Rh Ur
10.) Specials; Does your planet possess unique resources unknown in the universe? Life is not necessary for these wonders; even in the case of ruins, the planet might once have been inhabited, but its environment might have been drastically altered by a cataclysm.
Us: Useless Pr: Primitive ruins Tr: Technological ruins, (alien artifacts) Rm: Unique mineral resources Rb: Unique biological resources
0-1 2 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Us Us Us Us Us Us Pr Tr Rm Rb
Samples:
1.)The planet Xenon-6 is aptly named for the abundance of the inert noble-gas of the same name in its atmosphere. It has Earth-approximate gravity and size; but more than half of its diameter is composed of a thick, chokingly-heavy atmosphere. The planet’s fast rotation creates dangerously powerful winds which make permanent structures on the icy surface impractical; but with surface temperatures as cool as deep space, few would wish to.
But the planet’s desirability is improved by a unique, biologically-reactive substance within the raging cloud-layers. Xenon-6 has no native life, but it possesses a volatile substance known as Nephesh that can catalyze an awesome array of chemical reactions. It was discovered that by inhaling Nephesh, a human gains the temporary ability to subsequently breathe virtually any non-corrosive gaseous mixture. The material defies scientific explanation thus far, but it is of immense value to explorers and pharmaceutical concerns. Those wishing a quick profit can skim the purplish clouds of the frigid world and gather trace molecules of the mist. More serious contractors set up roving caravans along the surface, filling their tanks from the oceans of Nephesh roiling along the surface of the world.
2.) At first glance, the Planet Viscia is of virtually no value, few who observe the cold, sub-terranian, and airless world would believe the life-sign readings their scanners will present. In fact while Viscia has no atmosphere, the surface of the world is nearly covered with a variety of bio-molecules and minerals of nutritious value to carbon-based life. Viscia indeed does contain abundant life. The organisms exist in a tight state of delicately balanced symbiosis. Each ‘creature’ is in fact a collection of smaller and larger organisms bound together for mutual survival in miniature ecosystems. A large, mobile creature will be surrounded by a living, bio-polymer seal that contains hundreds of species of microbes and microscopic animals, each sustaining a link in a self-contained, ecological chain attached to a single, larger animal. Most Viscian organisms are burrowing quadrupeds or worm-like creatures.
The planet is highly volcanic, and hot nutrients from the core spew forth onto the land; the volcanoes are oases of heat and nutrition for the gel-covered Viscian animals and their smaller symbiotes. The planet’s tectonic activity is greater than that of Earth, and could pose an increased risk for permanent habitation. Though Viscia receives virtually no relevant heat from its distant sun, a strong magnetic field combined with an Earth-like rotation pattern has created a powerful dynamo within the planet that generates internal heat. Though airless, the surface has a wide variety of terrain-types, from canyons, lava-flows, obsidian deserts, polar ice-caps, soaring mountains, while the lower regions are filled with seas of volcanic ash. Viscia is mainly of interest to zoologists, as the minerals it does possess are inconvenient to extract and process, making It relatively mineral poor.
3.) The planet Sirius-3 is affectionately dubbed ‘Planet Rusty’ by miners and prospectors, for the reddish-brown, ferric-oxide desert sands that cover the harsh, Earth-sized world. While the temperature and pressure are moderate, what life exists here has only managed the most tentative foothold. On Rusty, it is easy to lose track of day and night, for Sirius-3 has virtually no rotation as it travels around its star. Days last for several years here, but the turbulent, chlorine-based atmosphere distributes heat relatively evenly between the light and dark sides, resulting in temperatures within the range of Earth.
But Sirius has only the barest traces of water, with frequent sand and electrical storms. The rich metal and salt deposits are considered its best qualities by outsiders. Prospectors that would extract these resources have more to contend with than merely the green, chlorine skies; aside from heavy volcanism, what little life has found purchase here may in fact be sentient and hostile. It is believed that secretive, desert-dwelling sentients' may be sabotaging the mining equipment. While small, chitinous animals with copper-based blood have been found, there is no conclusive evidence of intelligent races on the rust-colored, metal-rich planet.
Enviromatrix:
What follows is a random-generation table for the simulation of alien planets. By rolling ten d12’s, the conditions of an alien world can be simulated; at least to the extent necessary for game purposes. Most evidence indicates that the universe is largely barren of conditions that could support life as we know it; and to that extent the following table is more lenient. Still, most worlds generated will be frigid wastelands or seething hell-holes of lava and poison. But there is a certainly the possibility of life. These rules are more guidelines than straight-jackets; tools to allow the GM a quick template; upon which your imagination must fill in the details.
1.) Gravity; a planet’s gravity correlates to the size of the planet, and the atmosphere.
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
G0 G0 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5
2.) Pressure; Atmospheric thickness. G0 worlds have no atmosphere. Lower the atmospheric pressure by 2 in G1 conditions. Raise the atmospheric pressure by 2 in G4 or G5 conditions. A5 maximum.
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 11 12
A0 A0 A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5
3.) Rotation; Too little rotation can cause extreme temperatures; but excessive rotation speeds create tornado winds that can tear apart living things.
Mr; Minimal. Rotation is slower than planet’s revolution around star.
Fr; Fractional. Planet rotates 2-3 times per revolution.
Er; Earthlike rotation
Rp; Rapid rotation; days several hours shorter than earth norms
Ex; Extreme. Eternal storms that rip flesh from bone.
*Planets with Extreme rotation become Gas-Giant planets. Disregard prior rolls for gravity and atmospheric pressure.*
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
Mr Mr Fr Er Rp Ex Ex
4.) Temperature; moderate climates are more suitable for carbon-based life-forms, which appears to be the most efficient molecule for life; but there may be other possibilities. *Worlds with no atmosphere are at H0 temperature*
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
H0 H0 H1 H2 H3 H4 H5
5.) Environmental Diversity: Is the planet dominated by only 1 terrain? Perhaps your world is frozen on one side and molten on the other? Roll to determine how diverse the environment on your planet is.
Un: Uniform, Bs; Bisected; usually a frozen half and a burning half, Er: Earthlike
Dv: Diverse environment Gs: Gas-Giant world. Pr: Protean environment in a chaotic state of constant change.
0-1 2 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12
Un Un Un Bs Bs Er Dv Gs Gs Pr
6.) Chemistry; The types of chemical reactions most common on the surface. Covalent chemistry supports carbon-based life; other reactions are hostile to life as we currently know it.
In: Inert, Cv: Covalent: Ic: Ionic Rd: Radioactive
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
In In In Cv Cv Ic Rd
*planets with no atmosphere are Inert.*
*Ionic atmospheres often contain chlorine and are A3 environments for humans*
7.) Fertility; What resources are available for life forms in general on this planet? The environment may still be hostile to some aliens, even if fertile conditions exist for others. These are the conditions extant for native organisms. The overwhelming majority of planets are desolate. This also represents potential for farming, and the possibility of pharmaceutical applications. Life can exist only on worlds that are barren or better.
In; Inert, Ba: Barren, Sp: Sparse, Er: Earthlike, Fr: Fertile, Pr: Paradise
*Chemically Inert worlds have no life.*
*Lower fertility by 1 for Mr, or Fr, rotation-worlds.
*Lower fertility by 1 on worlds with Uniform terrain.*
*Lower fertility by 1 for H0, or H5 worlds.
*Lower fertility by 2 on Gas-Giant worlds.*
+Raise fertility by 1 on worlds with Earthlike or Diverse Environmental Diversity.+
+Raise fertility by 1 on worlds with H2 temperature.+
0-1 2 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
In In In In Ba Sp Sp Er Fr Pr
8.) Tectonics; What’s happening inside the planet? Tectonic activity is needed to recycle the crust and retain valuable nutrients near the surface. The quakes and volcanism are dangerous, but worlds that are Inert on this scale must lower their fertility score by 1. Catastrophic worlds, CV, lower fertility by 2. Gas-Giant worlds have no tectonics.
CV: catastrophic volcanism and quakes
V: dangerous Volcanism and quakes
Er: Earthlike volcanism and quakes
Re: Rare volcanism and quakes
In: Inert crust and core.
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
In In Re Er V V CV
9.) Mineral resources? Perhaps the world has large amounts of minerals valuable to industry? Gas Giants might possess orbiting asteroids that contain mineral resources.
Us: Useless Pr: Mineral Poor Er; Earthlike Rh: Mineral rich
Ur: Ultra rich
0-1 2 4 6 8 10 12
Us Pr Pr Er Rh Ur
10.) Specials; Does your planet possess unique resources unknown in the universe? Life is not necessary for these wonders; even in the case of ruins, the planet might once have been inhabited, but its environment might have been drastically altered by a cataclysm.
Us: Useless Pr: Primitive ruins Tr: Technological ruins, (alien artifacts) Rm: Unique mineral resources Rb: Unique biological resources
0-1 2 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Us Us Us Us Us Us Pr Tr Rm Rb
Samples:
1.)The planet Xenon-6 is aptly named for the abundance of the inert noble-gas of the same name in its atmosphere. It has Earth-approximate gravity and size; but more than half of its diameter is composed of a thick, chokingly-heavy atmosphere. The planet’s fast rotation creates dangerously powerful winds which make permanent structures on the icy surface impractical; but with surface temperatures as cool as deep space, few would wish to.
But the planet’s desirability is improved by a unique, biologically-reactive substance within the raging cloud-layers. Xenon-6 has no native life, but it possesses a volatile substance known as Nephesh that can catalyze an awesome array of chemical reactions. It was discovered that by inhaling Nephesh, a human gains the temporary ability to subsequently breathe virtually any non-corrosive gaseous mixture. The material defies scientific explanation thus far, but it is of immense value to explorers and pharmaceutical concerns. Those wishing a quick profit can skim the purplish clouds of the frigid world and gather trace molecules of the mist. More serious contractors set up roving caravans along the surface, filling their tanks from the oceans of Nephesh roiling along the surface of the world.
2.) At first glance, the Planet Viscia is of virtually no value, few who observe the cold, sub-terranian, and airless world would believe the life-sign readings their scanners will present. In fact while Viscia has no atmosphere, the surface of the world is nearly covered with a variety of bio-molecules and minerals of nutritious value to carbon-based life. Viscia indeed does contain abundant life. The organisms exist in a tight state of delicately balanced symbiosis. Each ‘creature’ is in fact a collection of smaller and larger organisms bound together for mutual survival in miniature ecosystems. A large, mobile creature will be surrounded by a living, bio-polymer seal that contains hundreds of species of microbes and microscopic animals, each sustaining a link in a self-contained, ecological chain attached to a single, larger animal. Most Viscian organisms are burrowing quadrupeds or worm-like creatures.
The planet is highly volcanic, and hot nutrients from the core spew forth onto the land; the volcanoes are oases of heat and nutrition for the gel-covered Viscian animals and their smaller symbiotes. The planet’s tectonic activity is greater than that of Earth, and could pose an increased risk for permanent habitation. Though Viscia receives virtually no relevant heat from its distant sun, a strong magnetic field combined with an Earth-like rotation pattern has created a powerful dynamo within the planet that generates internal heat. Though airless, the surface has a wide variety of terrain-types, from canyons, lava-flows, obsidian deserts, polar ice-caps, soaring mountains, while the lower regions are filled with seas of volcanic ash. Viscia is mainly of interest to zoologists, as the minerals it does possess are inconvenient to extract and process, making It relatively mineral poor.
3.) The planet Sirius-3 is affectionately dubbed ‘Planet Rusty’ by miners and prospectors, for the reddish-brown, ferric-oxide desert sands that cover the harsh, Earth-sized world. While the temperature and pressure are moderate, what life exists here has only managed the most tentative foothold. On Rusty, it is easy to lose track of day and night, for Sirius-3 has virtually no rotation as it travels around its star. Days last for several years here, but the turbulent, chlorine-based atmosphere distributes heat relatively evenly between the light and dark sides, resulting in temperatures within the range of Earth.
But Sirius has only the barest traces of water, with frequent sand and electrical storms. The rich metal and salt deposits are considered its best qualities by outsiders. Prospectors that would extract these resources have more to contend with than merely the green, chlorine skies; aside from heavy volcanism, what little life has found purchase here may in fact be sentient and hostile. It is believed that secretive, desert-dwelling sentients' may be sabotaging the mining equipment. While small, chitinous animals with copper-based blood have been found, there is no conclusive evidence of intelligent races on the rust-colored, metal-rich planet.
BTW, what do you think of my campaign concept?
Or were you looking for something less analytical? ;)
BTW, what do you think of my campaign concept?
It sounds a bit like Blakes 7!
(For those of you whose geekiness does not extend to classic British 70's sci-fi, it was a series centered around rebel and Freedom fighter Roj Blake and his anti-hero criminal minded crew who roamed the galaxy fighting against the Terran Federation, a ruthless fascist state that ruled with an iron grip).
I am not complaining though, Blakes 7 is one of my favourite programmes!:P
I will keep my eye on this thread and contibute where I can :D
I look forward to seeing where this project will go.
I think that it's fascinating how much colonialism continues to be a preoccupation of science fiction, especially in countries that were former and/or current colonial powers.
Or were you looking for something less analytical?
The part I find more worthy of analysis is why the dictatorship/colonial power is always the bad guy, in real world history this has not always been the case, and the idea of self-determinism seems to be a nationalistic and slightly xenophobic concept.
I put this anti-imperialist notion that underlies much of modern sci-fi (as well as the rehabilitation of previously "evil" races like Orcs,Drow,Vampires in modern fantasy, "because its not right that a race should be thought of as inherently evil") as a feature of the current moral zeitgeist of the western world.
Had Star Wars been made 100 years ago, it would have been the Empire that were the "goodies" and the Rebellion the "baddies".
But yeah, you're right that these things are very historically relative. The tradition of anti-colonialism in SF probably comes down to a general attitude in the United States against empire (revolution being the origin story of that once and former super-power). If you look at comparable work in Britain from the turn of the century and probably up into the 40s, it's probably very different.
Actually that reminds me, I read an interesting analysis of the original James Bond novels (1950s) that argued that he's a gentleman hero (read: upper-class) fighting for King and Empire, quite specifically.
I think it's fair to say that in their respective eras, empires expend their vast resources to, among other things, paint themselves as the "goodies." The Romans did it, the British did it... and then there's Hollywood... ahem... But that's a topic for another forum!
Indeed, but it would be naive to think that propaganda and "spin" are solely the province of dictatorships and imperialist powers.
Personally I find the idea of looking at moral values with regard to government and politics to be a pointless endeavor, since the existence of objective morality is impossible to prove, any moral value placed on one nations actions against another (or against itself) are purely subjective and it is pointless to debate a subjective concept.
But yeah, you're right that these things are very historically relative. The tradition of anti-colonialism in SF probably comes down to a general attitude in the United States against empire (revolution being the origin story of that once and former super-power). If you look at comparable work in Britain from the turn of the century and probably up into the 40s, it's probably very different.
It seems to be a widespread trope of American and Western European sci-fi and Fantasy.
Anti-colonialism/Imperialism is a rejection of unification, an acceptable face of nationalism, and very much a product of the post-modern age.
Some countries have taken this ideology more to heart than others (the UK retains a substantial nationalist streak that annoys me greatly, like the people who campaign against the metric system and support the monarchy)
Actually that reminds me, I read an interesting analysis of the original James Bond novels (1950s) that argued that he's a gentleman hero (read: upper-class) fighting for King and Empire, quite specifically
Well I don't doubt that!
But then again Ian Flemming did write some nonsense in those books (like the claim that homosexuals cannot whistle), James Bond (as portrayed in the films) is a bit of an anachronism anyway, but an amusing one.
However before this thread gets derailed completely and turns into discourse on post modern attitudes to morality and politics in the latter half of the 20th and early 21st centuries, lets get back to the task at hand.
Degausser: Have the colonies claimed (or fought for) independence from Earth? or is the timeline so advanced from the initial expeditions that some of the colonies have now grown to such a size and power that they could be considered rivals of earth (in terms of population and development)?
First of all, I assume that Earth is ruled by a single government, are there any other powerful bodies that co-exist with the Terran government, such as mega-corporations or even something like a religious group?
It would probably be safe to say that certain colonies will be more advanced in terms of how much the colonists have mastered the planet, and some worlds may even limit this mastery through their actual properties (like a toxic atmosphere), in which case its quite likely that alliances will form between colonies as weaker ones aid and assist larger ones in exchange for aid and protection.
Some colonies may be allied by virtue of shared colonial origins (the worlds colonized by a mega-corp will remain "assets" to the corporation), while some may share racial or cultural traits that make alliances likely.
However it might not always be that simple and some worlds maybe rife with civil war (which maybe neighbors make a profit on by selling arms) or perhaps some colonies are so self sufficient that they have decided to demand independence making them "rogue states" in the eyes of the original rulers.
Either way, humanity remains true to form, a hundred petty kingdoms pulling in a hundred different directions, and divided they will fall.
I really do recommend you google Blakes 7, or even try and watch a few episodes, it will give you loads of ideas.
Think about it this way: What would happen if some group within the English government wanted their empire back, and started attacking India, the U.S., Hong Kong, and Australlia with vastly superior weapons? We would view England as evil and out of their mind. Not because of the empire thing but because they would be attacking with no provocation. (Same thing with America, Italy, or any other country)
Think more along the lines of the movie Serenety. One ship finds out that the governement is up to no good, not because they are an empire, but because they are doing nasty, unethical things on the side. They are then hunted and prosocuted for their knowledge, resulting in two choices: stop them or die.
Now to answer the actual questions
Degausser: Have the colonies claimed (or fought for) independence from Earth? or is the timeline so advanced from the initial expeditions that some of the colonies have now grown to such a size and power that they could be considered rivals of earth (in terms of population and development)?
More along the lines that the Earth government overextended iteslf. They simply didn't have the ability to police all the colonies, and started relying more and more on local leadership, to the point where the local governements have almost complete control. Like Canada, they still pay homage to the queen, in theory, but they are their own, seperate country.
First of all, I assume that Earth is ruled by a single government, are there any other powerful bodies that co-exist with the Terran government, such as mega-corporations or even something like a religious group?
The governmet is ruled by, essentially, a formalized United Nations into one government. This government (The United Earth Government or UEG) is the main political force on earth. There are megacorperations, sure, along with religios groups, and they do lobby the UEG, but they do not control the government.
It would probably be safe to say that certain colonies will be more advanced in terms of how much the colonists have mastered the planet, and some worlds may even limit this mastery through their actual properties (like a toxic atmosphere), in which case its quite likely that alliances will form between colonies as weaker ones aid and assist larger ones in exchange for aid and protection.
This is, to some extent, true, but not as much as one might think. There are only 20ish 'places of population' (i.e. terraformed planets, space stations, mining colonies) so distributing tech is still fairly easy. However, some places will have more advanced tech in one area. I have an idea for a politically neutral planet that has not banned genetic engineering, thus their genetic engineering is the most advanced in the galaxy.
Some colonies may be allied by virtue of shared colonial origins (the worlds colonized by a mega-corp will remain "assets" to the corporation), while some may share racial or cultural traits that make alliances likely.
Yes, there are Mega-corps that control multiple planets (the mining colony mega-corps, for example), and they will have their own privite security force against raiders and pirates. Additionally, several 'places of poulation' are on good terms with each other, which will result in possible alliances.
However it might not always be that simple and some worlds maybe rife with civil war (which maybe neighbors make a profit on by selling arms) or perhaps some colonies are so self sufficient that they have decided to demand independence making them "rogue states" in the eyes of the original rulers.
Yeah, there are a few places that consider themselves truely indipendent, but this claim has generally not been challenged. The web of worlds is simply too large for the current government to extend their reach over all of them. But this shadow cabnet believes that with appropriate technology, this issue can be solved.
Either way, humanity remains true to form, a hundred petty kingdoms pulling in a hundred different directions, and divided they will fall.
I really do recommend you google Blakes 7, or even try and watch a few episodes, it will give you loads of ideas.
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That, is acually basically the thinking of the shadow cabnet. The believe that humanity cannot survive as divided as it is, and that they must bring humanity under one rule (their rule, obviously) by any means nesissary. The easiest way? Kill anyone who disagrees.
I will take a look at blakes 7 thanks for the tip.
Think more along the lines of the movie Serenety.
Serenity was based on the series Firefly wasnt it.
Firefly has been called by many "the modern Blakes 7".
You really need to check it out! :D
Serenity was based on the series Firefly wasnt it.
Firefly has been called by many "the modern Blakes 7".
You really need to check it out! :D
Hey Guys? I get this strange feeling that Giradius is subtly trying to get me to . . . do . . . something. Maybe watch something? Some show maybe? I dunno, I lost it.
Hey Guys? I get this strange feeling that Giradius is subtly trying to get me to . . . do . . . something. Maybe watch something? Some show maybe? I dunno, I lost it.
What makes you Blakes 7 say that?
You seem to be you want to watch Blakes 7 Implying that I making attempts at subtle watch Blakes 7 Coercion!
I am merely trying to Blakes 7 is good help you in your project to a create Blakes 7 an interesting space opera!
Blakes 7!
OK I will stop it now!
This does sound like it could be very interesting.
the idea wasn't initially "Rebels against an evil empire." The idea was more about a shadow cabnet of the government that attempts to stage a coup d'etat and regain their former glory. Making this, not a rebellion story, but more of political thriller mixed with action.
Great!
Rebels vs evil empire has been to death, where as a political thriller and conspiracy story would be quite interesting.
Earth government overextended iteslf. They simply didn't have the ability to police all the colonies, and started relying more and more on local leadership, to the point where the local governments have almost complete control. Like Canada, they still pay homage to the queen, in theory, but they are their own, separate country.
This sounds entirely reasonable!
The majority of worlds are probably to a large extent self sufficient (or at least not dependant on Earth) because a sure way to retain control over a nation is to control its resources.
Many worlds then have probably become autonomous and self governing, making politics very local, there may even be a legal precedent for this with some worlds being considered "dominions" with the right to chose their own government, punish their own criminals, make their own laws (as long as they do not contravene any of Earths colonial laws (universal declaration of human rights type stuff).
These dominions may well pay lip service and maybe even have tax obligations to Earth but maybe for the most part are left to themselves.
The governmet is ruled by, essentially, a formalized United Nations into one government. This government (The United Earth Government or UEG) is the main political force on earth. There are megacorperations, sure, along with religios groups, and they do lobby the UEG, but they do not control the government.
OK then, if we look at the basics.
UEG is a united nations type body, probably run by a counsel or committee that regulates itself.
Is the UEG a democratic organization? are ministers, counselors etc chosen by free election (where the entire population gets a vote) or is it handled internally? (where new directors are appointed or voted in by existing ones).
Looking at earth itself....
Has Earth become a place where the wealthy elite of the galaxy live? or is the opposite (with the rich leaving for the colonies and the poor remaining on earth)?
What state is the planet in? has pollution or war destroyed much of the planet? or has science solved the problems of pollution?
Finally if the world is still divided into nations, what are these nations?
My opinion is that there should be about 5 or so super-nations.
The 5 super-powers of earth could be something along the lines of...
The American Democratic Republic (ADR) - North America, Canada, and parts of south America.
The European Federation (EF) - Western and parts of Eastern Europe.
The United Socialist Republics (USR) - China, Russia, parts of south America.
The Islamic World League (IWL) - The middle east, most of Africa and southern Asia, parts of the far east.
the United Nations (UN) - The UN had been taken over by big business and corporate interests that when the other nations became their respective superpowers and left, the UN became a way for these business interests to grant legitimacy to the nations that had become almost entirely run by corporations, Japan, parts of the Pacific rim, India, Australia, and a few others.
At some point in Earths history, the advance of technology enables the rise of superpowers again, several such superpowers existed and after a very tense period where the super powers feared each other (with relations between the ADR, USR and IWL become very strained at one point), they came to realize that a war between them would be mutually destructive, and so they sat down and talked and talked and talked and eventually founded the UEG (or an early version of it).
There are only 20ish 'places of population' (i.e. terraformed planets, space stations, mining colonies) so distributing tech is still fairly easy. However, some places will have more advanced tech in one area. I have an idea for a politically neutral planet that has not banned genetic engineering, thus their genetic engineering is the most advanced in the galaxy.
Cool, I like the genetic engineering planet :D
I am seeing possibilities then for several player races, of course evolution works to slowly to have a major impact on the species in this timeline, however certain exceptions might have occurred due to unusual circumstances.
For example, this Genetic engineering planet.
Not only was genetic science not banned but it was welcomed with open arms to a population eager to reap the benefits of such science, eventually the majority of people of this planet had submitted to some form of gene-therapy and genetic screening had become widespread in reproductive terms.
The result was a people who no longer suffered from hereditary or genetic diseases, had a longer lifespan as many of the illnesses and conditions which blight later life where eradicated, finally due to embryo screening and advanced computer predictions based on a subjects genetic profile, most of the people of this world where both good physical and mental specimens.
These people are not superhumans by any means, but imagine a world where you have to take an IQ test and physical examination to enter.
It is an odd thing that despite the populations happiness, their good physical and mental characteristics, these people are disliked on a vast number of worlds, and despite the obvious happiness and prosperity of their culture, they are constantly considered "morally" degenerate and despicable by other planets.
in game terms these humans might have a +2 to Str,Dex,Con and Int and maybe a bonus to fortitude saves and spot and listen checks, but perhaps suffer a penalty to all Charisma based checks when dealing with other races (given the suspicion,jealousy, and distaste of most other people), as well as penalties dealing with radiation and chemical agents (when they were genetically screened they lost some of their resistance to things which can cause negative genetic changes).
This race may have a level adjustment
Or another approach maybe is that any ability score below 10 receives a +2 bonus, while any ability score above 14 receives a +1, this reflects the eradication of weaknesses and strengthening of advantages.
Yes, there are Mega-corps that control multiple planets (the mining colony mega-corps, for example), and they will have their own private security force against raiders and pirates. Additionally, several 'places of poulation' are on good terms with each other, which will result in possible alliances.
I imagine the corporate controlled worlds are places where the emphasis is put on profit over people, and although they might be bound by colonial law to ensure basic safety of citizens, I imagine conditions on some worlds are fairly poor for most workers, additionally all manner of recreational vices are common place, with gambling, and drugs being not only common but corporate run.
I imagine these corporate planets being sleazy, but profitable places, where life is not particularly bad for the average person, but it is somewhat monotonous.
Yeah, there are a few places that consider themselves truely indipendent, but this claim has generally not been challenged. The web of worlds is simply too large for the current government to extend their reach over all of them. But this shadow cabnet believes that with appropriate technology, this issue can be solved.
Maybe these worlds have not made any major demands or where fairly insignificant and their loss is not a great blow to the earth administration.
However perhaps they try and encourage other worlds to break away, maybe equipping rebel "freedom fighters" with weapons on other worlds.
Quote: by me
Either way, humanity remains true to form, a hundred petty kingdoms pulling in a hundred different directions, and divided they will fall.
That, is acually basically the thinking of the shadow cabnet. The believe that humanity cannot survive as divided as it is, and that they must bring humanity under one rule (their rule, obviously) by any means nesissary. The easiest way? Kill anyone who disagrees.
I will take a look at Blakes 7 thanks for the tip.
This sounds reasonable, they probably think that the early success UEG on Earth can be replicated on a larger scale with the rest of the galaxy, that when all the colonies are brought to heel under the UEG and their resources and energies can be channel efficiently and productively.
Obviously dissident anarchist elements in society must be purged for the good of the majority, and anyway the loss of a few rights is worth paying for social stability, the rule of law and the secure future of humanity aren't they.
The Shadow Cabinet could also incorporate the full original designs of the fleet at a sector of space that was discovered by an exploration team but the predecessor of one member destroyed all key records of its location keeping a copy for themselves and passing to a like minded individual...
This is the notes I made on one of the big movers and shakers of my setting, the Transhuman Imperative (a very large, technologically advanced empire, that occupies nearly a third of the galaxy and makes use extensive use of compulsory cybernetics and genetic engineering, without being concerned for "ethical" or moal considerations.
They are bit like the Borg (without the hivemind) with a little bit of the Brotherhood of Nod (without the religion), ruled by a bunch of amoral cybernetic scientists and supercomputers.
(please excuse any spelling,grammatical,structural problems, This is basically a cut and paste from my own notes and was not written to be overly clear to anyone but myself, but hopefully it will be OK)
The Transhuman Imperative had its origins on the planet Tesseract.
Tesseract was a joint venture between 3 moderate sized mega-corps, Transcendent Technologies (trans-tech) a computer and high electronics company, Croner Heavy Industries, who deal in starship manufacture,terraforming equipment and many other heavy duties ventures, and finally Nugenix inc a biosciences company at the forefront of medical research and genetics.
Tesseract was designed to be a think-tank, a planet devoted to R&D where the experts of all 3 corporations could work together for the advantage of their investors, a suitable planet was chosen (a lifeless rocky harsh planet with abundant minerals) and huge subterranean research complexes were built above towering cities that housed the menial workers who extracted mineral ores, and worked in the factories and hydroponic centres.
Given the high amount of industrial espionage, security on Tesseract was a top priority, the corporate investors hired a 3rd party military contractor to deal with security and the very latest high tech security systems were installed.
Things went well and Tesseract was the source of many profitable breakthroughs, but in time the research scientists became dissatisfied at how their work was being exploited for profit, while at the same time how much of the pure research they wanted to conduct was held back due to it not being "financially viable" or a "profitable in the foreseeable future" and resentment among the scientific elite of Tesseract began to grow.
Eventually a Scientist came to Tesseract, a rising star in the scientific community and was set to become a brilliant addition to the scientific elite of Tesseract, he was a strange man, very gifted, idealistic, but a little odd, some even said he was cold and unemotional, he believed that it was science that improved the lot of mankind and that in order to build a better society you need to build a better human, he also thought that if the spirit was willing but the flesh is weak, the flesh should be replaced with steel, and if the flesh is strong but the spirit unwilling, the spirit should be MADE willing, he was also a staunch believer that outdated morality should not be allowed to hold back progress.
He founded a group which he called the Transhuman imperative and it was not long before he won over the majority the scientists over, and before long the TI had become a powerful group on Tesseract boasting membership of almost 90% of the planets population. the crunch came when several breakthroughs in computer tech, cybernetics and neurosurgery were made and kept secret from the corporations, however spies and agents on tesseract revealed that discoveries were being held back and representatives were dispatched to demand explanations.
When the ships arrived (along with their security forces) the TI decided to act, after a short bloody battle (where the TI used the security system to their advantage) the reps were captured, interrogated (the spies were found and executed) and controlled through the use of cybernetic implants in the brain.
The reps returned and told the directors and CEOs that there was a mistake, a rival corp had bribed spies to give false information to sow dissent, and that after an industrial accident most of the security forces had been wiped out.
The reps then set about the tasks given by the TI, and resources and personnel were diverted to Tesseract and lines of control and communication extended to many corporate holdings through new computer technology, while ships containing "specialised equipment" were dispatched.
A short time later, the TI had sufficient resources that it began the compulsory upgrading of its citizens and shortly afterward it declared itself independent of its 3 corporate sponsors and took immediate control of over 70% of all their corporate holdings crippling the corporations, the new computer systems synchronized with the master computer on tesseract, personnel were sorted based on their abilities and skills, those with scientific or technical expertise were sent to tesseract and inducted into the scientific elite of the TI, while others were upgraded to make best use of their talents (many became drones, others became legionaries).
Within a few short years the TI had complete control over all the corporate resources of all 3 mega-corps, was in total control of every holding, and using its new resources and facilities began production of the needed equipment for expansion.
The TI, declared itself the superior human culture, and began its quest to save mankind from himself, and aid the evolution of the species, those who were willing were welcomed with open arms, those who were unwilling either became drones,or legionaries.
The TI remains the most technologically advanced faction, and its territory occupies nearly 50% of known space (20% being terrain ruled, and 30% independent colonies), their technology continues to advance, their might increasing year by year, their conquest of the galaxy seems inevitable.
(snip)
The Shadow Cabinet could also incorporate the full original designs of the fleet at a sector of space that was discovered by an exploration team but the predecessor of one member destroyed all key records of its location keeping a copy for themselves and passing to a like minded individual...
This was my thought exactly. My first session (while still being roughly planned out) is something like this.
Hook: The PCs all start play employed by a major Megacorp. (This particular megacorp is huge and probably will have VERY little impact on character creation, these guys have everything from 'tactical security' to 'PR guys' to mechanics and so on.) Their job is to go scan a field of space some distance from the major lines of traffic, as unusual readings have been picked up there.
Complication:
When the PCs enter the area, they find an asteroid field that isn't on any nav charts, along with some truely strange energy readings, compleatly bizzare. As they are scanning, an unknown hostile fighter locks on to their unarmed shuttle and starts firing.
Climax:
There are several ways for the PCs to loose their fighter, but they will end up finding a small outpost with an unregistered jump gate. Inside they find an abandoned military construction complex, and a military bomber. They can get the bomber up and running, and set the jump gate to get them to the nearest system when the Fighter comes back. Can they defeat the fighter in their new bomber and jump away safely?
Behind the scenes:
The asteroid field is left over from when the Shadow Cabnet tested out it's new Plasma Cannon on it's experimental capitol ship, while the strange energy readings are residual from when the ship tested out it's experimental Jump Drive. The Fighter was left behind to kill anyone who got nosy, in order to insure the projet's secrecy. The players will gradually start to uncover the truth in the sessons to come.
Maybe the Fighter and its pilot use part of the abandoned construction complex as a base, and when the PCs find it they discover signs that someone has been there recently (maybe a room with a bed roll and a half eaten meal).
The Fighter and its pilot are essentially on sentry duty, he probably patrols the area and returns to the construction base every few days to refuel the ship, refresh the oxygen supply and replenish the ships food supply.
This could possibly give the players an alternative way of dealing with this problem (if none of the characters generate a pilot-type character, a dog fight in the bomber is unlikely to succeed, if the bomber is more advanced and deadly than the fighter, then why isn't the Shadow cabinets pilot using it?).
A party versus one man may seem a little one sided but if you think about who this guy works for and the fact he has been trusted to his task alone he is probably a special forces elite (and as such probably much higher level than the party) and so with a direct confrontation being unlikely, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensures in the base.
I think your adventure sounds like a fantastic introduction to the story, I have an idea for a possible next bit.
Once the players escape and return to their mega-corps base they may tell their superior what happened and he will say something like "It could be pirates, I will make a full report to Corporate security and the UEG security forces, don't worry guys I will sort it out".
A few days later, the party are called to a briefing and meet their new supervisor "the old one was "promoted" and transferred to a remote base (records will show he was transferred but was killed in an accident on the way there), the briefing will inform them of their new mission (this can be anything you like but it is ultimately a suicide mission or a mission that takes them far away where they will meet with "accidents")
The shadow Cabinet is aware of their existence and has pulled strings within the mega-corp to deal with the party.
Once underway the players citizenship details are erased, they are declared legally dead, or a number of criminal charges have been added, and if they survive their suicide mission or assassination attempts they return to find corporate security hostile, and that they are wanted criminals.
The party must then go on the run and will most likely need to make contact with the criminal underground to survive, but just how far does the Shadow Cabinets influence extend?
My thought was that, because they are in a (sort of) stolen Military bomber, they will head to one of the black markets around to get some forged starship ID codes that will lead to a black market adventure, where they discover that the news network is declaring them terrorists. There are other plans that sprout from there.
The bomber has several disadvantages over the fighter. The Bomber was a last-generation prototype, and containes a stealth coating that would have worked on older sensors, but a technological breakthrough in in the field of sensors made the stealth coating obsolite. Also, it was designed to be operated by at least two people, so one pilot couldn't operate it very well. It's also larger and bulkier than a fighter, so it's not as good in that respect.
Here are the specs for it.
Prototype Military Stealth Bomber
PL 6
Gargantuan Class Ultralight (6d20HD, 120 HP)
Carbon-Weve Armor (Hardness 20, Reduce targeting sensor bonus by 50%)
Solor Cell Powerplant
Engines: Thrusters, Ion Engine (3,000 feet per round, 6 squares)
Cargo Capacity 1,400lbs (1000lbs after passengers)
Class III sensor Array
Targeting system (+2)
Improved Autopilot(+4), Damage Control System
Radio Transiever, Laser Transiever
1 Rail Cannon (39 damage)
1 Nuclear Missle Launcher (No Missles)
but if you dont do that you can at very least use this:
List of Planets from Star Wars
this is really lazy, but i would use the d20 starwars game mechanics and probably drop the jedi and story.
but if you dont do that you can at very least use this:
List of Planets from Star Wars
That is a point, but I decided not to do that because the Star Wars system literally has thousands of worlds. I was looking for a more managable number, like 20.
And as for Starwars planets, some of the planets can be used and the fluff rewritten.
Coruscant becomes Earth etc
You could use Star Wars and D20 future to make a Warhammer 40K game fairly easily
Before you asked, i burnt all my paperwork to save my sanity.
PS. same thing happened trying to figure out magic item creation in 3.5
You are also assured that the mechanics, classes and rules will have been playtested :p
I was personally thinking of transferring jedi (consulars and force adepts anyway) and force rules to fantasy setting, and replacing the lightsaber with a staff and seeing what happens.
That is what I love about D20 the amazing capacity for cross-fertalization, Future and Starwars are probably compatable, and the even some of the star wars fluff can be recycled.
I'm not sure how realistic you want to be, but I'm a hard sci-fi guy, so I like it to at least TRY to be believable. This is actually why I dislike Star Wars (Seriously, the inside of that worm would NOT have a pressurized atmosphere and internal, earth-strength gravity).
First off, you need to know how many star systems you want. Realistically speaking, most star systems are not habitable. Most stars are in some kind of binary system, which usually makes it hard for planets to form in the first place due to gravitational disturbance. Any that do form will most likely fry due to the intense radiation. Not exactly ideal real-estate for a colony. Those that are alone may be of the wrong type (See the d20 Future Star Systems section, or my own classification page further down). K, G, and F stars are the ones 99% of colonies will be around. Maybe throw in a few others for fun, ya know, but most will be around those stars.
So most (but not all, if you prefer) of your star systems will have a lonely, K, G, or F class star in the center. Next, you can just roll dice to figure out how many planets are in the system. That's what I did. The d20 SRD has a page on it here, and you can just roll those numbers. Though it does urk me that O stars have a die roll, but black holes don't. A star can theoretically collapse directly into a black hole state without some epic explosion, allowing many of its planets to remain intact and in orbit. O stars have such intense stellar wind (the plasma they shoot out constantly in all directions) that they actually have been observed ripping off the atmosphere of nearby stars. Planetary nebulas are NOT gonna survive long enough around something like that to form rocks. Anyways, I digress.
Next, assign classes to them. If you want to be simplistic, Terrestrial and Gas Giant could be enough, but that will probably make it hard to differentiate them in the long run. I came up with a list based on composition and such, which you can find at my campaign's wiki here. (Feel free to use anything you find on that wiki that you like, including pictures of planets and such.) That list is strongly influenced by Star Control and, to a much lesser extent, Star Trek.
Assigning classes gives you a basic idea of how that planet is. Atmospheric composition and such can be made up how you want, but it needs at least 20% O2 and negligible toxic gases to be a viable open-air colony. (Biodomes are fine, though.) I haven't used it yet, but a 70% Helium, 28% Oxygen atmosphere would be quite comical and completely non-harmful. :D
Just some basics ideas for assigning classes and coming up with the planets... Large planets usually do not form close to a star. The gravitational tides would usually disturb it too much. This isn't impossible, and has actually been observed, but it's best to keep the inner planets kinda small. Also, inner planets tend to be rocky, as rocky elements can cool and solidify much closer to a star than other elements. Gas giants tend to hang out in the back, where it's cold enough for their component gases to cool and stick together into clouds.
After this, I made a spreadsheet to function as a database. If you're going to have a relatively small number of visited planets, being detailed at this stage won't hurt and can actually be quite useful. My database has a column for Mass, Volume, Radius, and Gravity, all of which are given as multiples of earth (which makes it easy to think about. "This planet is twice as wide as earth.") Really, since Volume and Gravity are just functions of Mass and Radius, you can just put the appropriate formula in those boxes and just have the spreadsheet figure it out for ya, so you only have to make two numbers. For your convenience, here are the formulas I have. Just replace [MASS] and [RADIUS] with the appropriate cell, then fill down. :D (Note that these will be in earth-multiples if that's what you used).
Gravity = [MASS]/[RADIUS]^2
Volume = (4/3)*(3.14)*[RADIUS]^3
Now, for gravity, this gives you a multiple of earth's gravity. If you want to find out exactly how much something weighs on this particular planet, take its normal weight and multiply it by that number. You could do this instead of the rather simplistic "Carrying capacity doubles" thing, if you're into being realistic, though I usually only mention this when it might actually matter. You can also multiply earth's gravity, 9.81 m/s/s, to figure out how fast something falls on this planet.
I used .6 G as the upper limit for light gravity and 1.4 G as the lower limit for heavy gravity. Also, from my understanding, 3 G can cause unconsciousness and 4+ G is lethal, so if your colony ends up with something like that, you either need to adjust the numbers or come up with an ingenious and cost-effective anti-gravity.
There, now the planet's basic statistics are done.
To be a viable colony, a planet will almost certainly need to be in its star's habitable zone, which is the distance from the star at which water is liquid. Too close, water boils, too far, water freezes. A colony would be most cost-effective if it didn't have to constantly melt ice to get its water and heat all of its biodomes all the time. That said, an ideal planet would have the above-mentioned water. Most planets probably won't. If they don't, you'll need to have a way for them to get the water they need, which does not sound very cost-efficient and therefore would probably be dropped in favor of a more habitable planet.
Terraforming can only do so much, it can't magically heat a planet at the distance of Neptune up to Earth's temperature and change the raw elemental make-up of the atmosphere (unless you allow for matter to be created from nothing or have a very ingenious heating mechanism, which is something you may want to do to mix it up).
For moons, I just rolled dice. 1d4's, 1d6's, maybe a d8 if the planet's beefy. Gas giants got a 1d100 because, seriously, Jupiter has 63, Saturn has about 60, Uranus has 27, and Neptune has 13, so a d100 is a good approximation.
This is probably considered unnecessarily complicated by most of this forum's readers, but I like to be able to whip out that kind of information.
By now, you should have a nice database of planets. If you would like any more help, feel free to ask me personally, or steal from my wiki.
Here are some of the things I am doing:
Most of my 'places of habitation' are either space stations, or domed cities. There are currently a total of four habitable planets (other than earth) known to humans, and all of them have been teraformed. As I said, there are only 20ish known 'places of habitation' and most of them are mining colonies and/or space stations.
One thing that is nice, is that I am using the 'Jump gate Network' approach to interstellar travel, meaning that (in general) players cannot go where there isn't a jump gate.
I haven't flushed out all the systems, but I might as well list what I have so far. Keep in mind I also have a map of where all the Jump gates are.
Basics: There are two types of Jump gates: the slingshot and the stable gate.
Slingshot: Is a one-way Jumpgate that allows for FTL travel with only one gate. The coordinates are inaccurate, and travel takes approx. 5 hours per light year. Max. Range is approx 7 light years.
Stable Gate: Requires two gates, one on each end, which allows for faster (2hrs per light year) and far more accurate trouble. Max Range is theorized to be 10 light years, but no one has been able to test it.
Making Gates:
Construct a Slingshot gate, and have a construction ship shoot to a system. Then they construct a slingshot gate back, and you can slingshot back and forth while building a Stable gate.
System(place of population)Descriptin
Alpha Centari (Centari station) Trading post, space station.
Braxus (Braxus III)Terraformed planet, owned by one megacorp for agraculture.
Verderon(Verderon Colony) Domed city, standard colony
Belkari (Belkari stations) Space station in a huge asteroid field, Mining operation.
Sumpter (Station) UEG Military base
Avalon (Europa) Terraformed planet. Settled in a joint effort by the former European Union
D sector(Various) Another Mining colony
Waypoint: A small trading post in deep space. Originally a stopover between The Belkari mining area and the Derzan food colony, as the distance between the two systems is longer than 7 lightyears.
Derzan(Derzan Prime) Another terraformed world for food production, owned by a different megacorp.
Iela(Iela gamma) First terraformed world, government considers itself compleatly independant and neutral from other polotics.
Trysol (Trysol Gamma) A world with a few domed cities, in the process of being terraformed.
Crossroads
Several stations) An area in deep space that is a major trading hub, as it is almost equadistant from several other systems.Arryo(Haven) Domed city-colony. A place with strict laws but also willing to offer asylum to just about anyone.
Shin-Nippon(Shin-Nippon) Domed city-colony that was settled by the Japanese when they felt their culture was being threatened by the UEG.
Nezar (Nezar station) Space station inside a large nebula, in the farthest reaches of human exploration. Scientists study the bizzare nature of the Nebula.
1) Economy, Poorer colonies would be able afford orbital shuttles but probably not huge galaxy class ships, and so they can ferry goods to and from the orbital dock where it can be loaded onto hired or contracted vessels.
2) Safety, huge starships would have very powerful engines and most likely a very powerful fuel source or power supply (fusion generators, anti-matter etc) and in the event of a malfunction,accident, or sabotage, the fusion generators of a capital ship could probably wipe out half a planet.
3) Efficiency , Smaller orbital shuttles will require less fuel to break the planets gravitational field because they are less massive, and so it would be cheaper to send up multiple shuttles rather than a huge ship with heavy radiation shielding, structural reinforcement etc which an orbital shuttle wouldn't need.
4) Long term effects, The long term effects of having huge ships entering and leaving the atmosphere, as well as using engines so close to inhabited areas could be quite severe, atmospheric pollution or radiation from engines could be a serious problem if they are used too close to settlements.
These orbital docks, need not be huge space stations (though some no doubt are), but simply an Airport in space.
One thing that is nice, is that I am using the 'Jump gate Network' approach to interstellar travel, meaning that (in general) players cannot go where there isn't a jump gate.
I haven't flushed out all the systems, but I might as well list what I have so far. Keep in mind I also have a map of where all the Jump gates are.
Basics: There are two types of Jump gates: the slingshot and the stable gate.
Slingshot: Is a one-way Jumpgate that allows for FTL travel with only one gate. The coordinates are inaccurate, and travel takes approx. 5 hours per light year. Max. Range is approx 7 light years.
Stable Gate: Requires two gates, one on each end, which allows for faster (2hrs per light year) and far more accurate trouble. Max Range is theorized to be 10 light years, but no one has been able to test it.
Making Gates:
Construct a Slingshot gate, and have a construction ship shoot to a system. Then they construct a slingshot gate back, and you can slingshot back and forth while building a Stable gate.
For the sake of "realism" the principle used by these gates should work on a principle that bypass's "normal" space, rather than just speeding the ship up, firstly because a vessel traveling that fast would break up and probably experience all manner of odd time phenomenon, but also because a vessel traveling at that speed would be shredded if it hit an obstacle the size of a pea.
Space is not as empty it looks and a ship travelling through a dust cloud at such speeds would be shredded like paper.
The best way to get around these problems is to have jumpgates create tunnels of artificial compressed space, or bypass space entirely and have hyperspace or another dimension be the medium through which a vessel travels.
For the sake of "realism" the principle used by these gates should work on a principle that bypass's "normal" space, rather than just speeding the ship up
I agree. Not to mention the problems with time dilation and the infinite energy required to travel faster than light. The video game Mass Effect did something like this where the ships gained negative mass, thus allowing them to avoid the relativistic effects. Still would need a shield to block faster than light meteoroids.
You could make your jump gates wormholes. That works.
Also, I like the names of your systems and the varied themes they have. That'll make it interesting. For added fun, you could also have them have slightly different legal codes. Obviously, just keep most of it pretty typical, but throw in things like "on Iela, it is legal to severely injure another if it is in an agreed duel and there are at least 20 witnesses to confirm the situation's authenticity."
Obviously you'll want to come up with something different, but it would add variety to the different stations.
I agree. Not to mention the problems with time dilation and the infinite energy required to travel faster than light. The video game Mass Effect did something like this where the ships gained negative mass, thus allowing them to avoid the relativistic effects. Still would need a shield to block faster than light meteoroids.
You could make your jump gates wormholes. That works.
Also, I like the names of your systems and the varied themes they have. That'll make it interesting. For added fun, you could also have them have slightly different legal codes. Obviously, just keep most of it pretty typical, but throw in things like "on Iela, it is legal to severely injure another if it is in an agreed duel and there are at least 20 witnesses to confirm the situation's authenticity."
Obviously you'll want to come up with something different, but it would add variety to the different stations.
Actually, if you want to adress Time Dialation, you could (theoretically) Traverse a light year in an hour through normal acceleration . . . from your standpoint. See, as you travel approaching the speed of light time slows down for you, also, space would seem to 'compress' around you, so while it seemed like merely 2 hours for you it would be one year for the people back at earth due to the funky way time works. Of course, you would have to be so rediculusly close to the speed of light that it wouldn't be funny.
But I digress. Yes, these jumpgates are essentially artificial wormhole generators. Technically, those shouldn't work either, but that is an argument for another day.
I studied Physics in a university for 3 years.
I do plan to have certain legal codes in place that are different. Iela is a neutral planet in the system, and, as such, allows almost everything (kinda like Amsterdam). This is regulated by a very strict police force that is constantly watching everything.
Shin-Nippon is an attempt to recapture the Japanese culture, and thus several old ways of thinking were brought back. The system is a modified "Democratic Feudal" system that allows one large government to doll out responsibilities to lesser localized governments around the planet. It is VERY hard to become a citizen or even get landing permits without large amounts of paperwork and beurocrocy.
Europa is basically Europe if they didn't have to all fight over land. There are several large contantns, and each country has basically been given a chunk to govern as they see fit (under the guidance of the UEG, Europa is one of the few planets that still has close ties to the UEG
http://www.nbos.com/products/astro/astro.htm
Generated the entire universe, created maps for whatever planets I wanted more detail for and defined political borders.
This program will also generate HTML sector reports that you can use to pass on to players.
Hope that helps!