[Star Wars] Planet Creation System

[d4]

i was a bit disappointed with the planet creation system in the Galactic Campaign Guide. it's good as far as it goes, but i was really hoping for something that generated a profile similar to what we see in Coruscant and the Core Worlds.

well, i decided to stop whining and make one up myself.

Planet Type

01-88 = Terrestrial
89-90 = Gas Giant
91 = Asteroid Belt
92-93 = Toxic Rock
94 = Artificial
95 = Toxic Oceanic
96-00 = Oceanic

Climate

01-08 = Arctic
09-83 = Temperate
84-92 = Tropical
93-00 = Arid (re-roll if Toxic Oceanic or Oceanic)

Terrain

Roll 1d3 times on the pertinent table below.

For Toxic Oceanic and Oceanic worlds, the first terrain is always Ocean. For Artificial worlds, the terrain is always Artificial. For Gas Giants, the terrain is always Clouds. For Toxic Rock worlds, roll on the Arid column regardless of actual climate.

Arctic
01-07 = Urban
08-15 = Hills
16-22 = Forests
23-30 = Plains
31-38 = Mountains
39-46 = Rocky Desert
47-54 = Ocean
55-62 = Wasteland
63-70 = Islands
71-78 = Dry Plains
79-85 = Glaciers
86-93 = Ice Fields
94-00 = Tundra

Temperate
01-07 = Urban
08-22 = Hills
23-30 = Rivers/Lakes
31-46 = Forests
47-62 = Plains
63-70 = Mountains
71-78 = Ocean
79-85 = Meadows
86-93 = Islands
94-00 = Dry Plains

Tropical
01-07 = Urban
08-15 = Hills
16-22 = Rivers/Lakes
23-38 = Forests
39-46 = Plains
47-54 = Mountains
55-62 = Ocean
63-70 = Islands
71-78 = Swamps
79-85 = Volcanoes
86-93 = Salt Marshes
94-00 = Jungles

Arid
01-07 = Urban
08-15 = Hills
16-22 = Plains
23-30 = Mountains
31-46 = Rocky Desert
47-54 = Wasteland
55-70 = Sandy Desert
71-78 = Dry Plains
79-85 = Volcanoes
86-93 = Scrublands
94-00 = Canyons

Atmosphere

For Toxic Rock and Toxic Oceanic worlds, atmosphere is Toxic. For all others, atmosphere is Breathable.

Gravity

01-88 = Standard
89-94 = Light ([1d8 x 5] + 45% standard) (50% - 85%)
95-00 = Heavy ([1d8 x 5] + 110% standard) (115% - 150%)

Diameter

Base diameter is 2d6 + 4 thousand km. (6,000 - 16,000) For more variation, roll a d10 for the hundreds and tens places. For example, a 2d6 roll of 5 gives a base diameter of 9,000 km. If the d10 rolls were 2 and 8, the final diameter would be 9,280 km.

Length of Day

01-08 = 1d6 + 17 standard hours (18 - 23 hours)
09-94 = 1d4 + 23 standard hours (24 - 27 hours)
95-99 = 1d10 + 27 standard hours (28 - 37 hours)
00 = ([1d6 - 1] x 100) + 1d20 + 37 standard hours (38 - 557 hours)

Length of Year

([2d3 - 1] x 100) + 1d100 standard days (101 - 600 days)

Population

Roll 2d8 + modifiers, and check on the following table.

Modifiers
Oceanic world = -1
Gas Giant, Asteroid Belt, Toxic Rock, Artifical, or Toxic Oceanic world = -2
Arctic or Arid climate = -1
Urban terrain = +4
Light or Heavy gravity = -1

2 or less = less than 1 thousand people
3 = 1 thousand - 10 thousand
4 = 10 thousand - 100 thousand
5 = 100 thousand - 1 million
6 = 1 million - 5 million
7 = 5 million - 10 million
8 = 10 million - 50 million
9 = 50 million - 100 million
10 = 100 million - 1 billion
11 = 1 billion - 5 billion
12 = 5 billion - 10 billion
13 = 10 billion - 50 billion
14 = 50 billion - 100 billion
15 = 100 billion - 500 billion
16 and up = 500 billion - 1 trillion

Note that i'm using the American definitions of billion and trillion here.

Government

01-17 = Aristocracy
18-25 = Bureaucracy
26-27 = Caste
28-29 = City-States (rare on worlds with populations over 1 billion)
30-31 = Clan (rare on worlds with populations over 1 billion)
32-35 = Corporate
36-50 = Democracy
51-65 = Dictatorship
66-70 = Guild
71-78 = Representative Democracy
79-83 = Repressive Bureaucracy
84-00 = Republic

i'm still working on a system for determining major exports / imports, as well as determining the other bodies of the system.

it's no GURPS First In, but it should work for the level of detail that's needed in a Star Wars game.

 

[Desdichado]

I presume you've seen the system generators from the old Traveller game? Nothing there couldn't be used just as well for Star Wars. Although the Tech Level is just an estimate, and the hexadecimal numbers are really annoying.

You're system reminds me quite a bit of that, actually.

Although Star Wars does often do this, the "single environment" planets aren't really very likely for terrestrial like planets, though.

 

[d4]

I presume you've seen the system generators from the old Traveller game? Nothing there couldn't be used just as well for Star Wars. Although the Tech Level is just an estimate, and the hexadecimal numbers are really annoying.

yes, i must have at least five or six different planet generators with all the different games i have.

Although Star Wars does often do this, the "single environment" planets aren't really very likely for terrestrial like planets, though.

correct. since i'm trying to emulate the Star Wars genre rather than what would be more realistic, i decided not to use one of those more complicated systems.

i really like the GURPS Traveller: First In system, but it can take upwards of an hour or more to generate a planet. and for a Star Wars game, a lot of that information is just overkill -- albedo, density, tidal effect, etc.

i just whipped this up in a few hours after looking at the various planets in CatCW. it should generate profiles similar to what you see there.