The Perfect d20 Future Gazetteer?

[jeffers]

Sure you have worlds, but with so many different campaigns, just how generic can you get and still be useful?

Needed Details:
Physical data (Gravity, Semimajor Axis, Atmospheric content... yaddayaddayadda) but can such a thing be generic and interesting? How would you make a given world interesting to players of a (for example) d20 Star Trek game and a d20 Aliens/Predator Universe game?

Is saying Scoruplos Minor has many interesting ruins and ancient cities... good enough? I think not.

 

[trancejeremy]

FASA did something for one of their cities where they had a basic premise, and then 3 or 4 different options, and the GM could pick one that suited his campaign styles best.

Like you could describe the planet, that is inhabited by mysterious round furry aliens.

In a Star Trek option, these would be tribbles (or Shatner's hairpiece)

In an Aliens/Predator option, they could be something like out of Critters (the movie). (Or Donald Trump's hairpiece)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You made me really excited about an Aliens/Predator D20 sourcebook, until I realized that was just an example.

I don't think it's all that hard to be both generic and compelling. Most of the worlds that would be interesting in Star Trek that don't relate to one of the major forces in that universe (and thus are unique to that game line) would also be interesting in Star Wars or in Aliens/Predator or Traveller.

Honestly, coming up with truly interesting alien worlds is the hardest part. The portability follows relatively easily, IMO.

 

[Committed Hero]

Sure you have worlds, but with so many different campaigns, just how generic can you get and still be useful?

Needed Details:
Physical data (Gravity, Semimajor Axis, Atmospheric content... yaddayaddayadda)

Perhaps a different/amended list of needed details is more important.

I've always thought satelitte coverage was as important as any physical detail.

 

[CarlZog]

It depends on your approach.

Generic is easy if you assume the star systems you are discussing are operating in a vacuum (pardon the pun) -- with no existing contact with the culture of your game setting. However, if you're looking for a list of worlds you can plug-in to an existing storyline, it may be hard to impossible depending on how little you're willing to fudge it.

You can generate planets all day long, filling them in with creatures and cultures, but without details on the surrounding area of space, it may be useless.

To my mind a "generic" but useful gazetteer would still have to reflect each planet's relationship with its surrounding star system -- both physically and socially. In fact, a guide that treated star systems rather than planets as the defining unit makes more sense. Then each planet and its occupants have a means of fitting into the puzzle sensibly. But even then, meshing that system's backstory into your setting may be substantial legwork for the GM.

I'm more interested in systems and galaxies created in context. This is why I'm a huge fan of Alternity's Star Drive setting. It gets accused of being "generic" because it has no gimmick -- it's just people in the far future with a special focus on the area of space that is the frontier of their time. But the connections between the societies, their institutions, species, and histories are rich in detail and filled with adventure possibilities.

Carl

 

[jeffers]

Try this...

... it's a sample of the kinda thing I want to produce. It's very rough! There's even a grammatical error (Structure vs Structures) that I'm not bothering to fix right this second...

Metanoia

In my opinion, it's just above a two page phrasing of "Failed terraformied world in need of PCs to further ravage it"

But you be the judge....

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

You made me really excited about an Aliens/Predator D20 sourcebook, until I realized that was just an example.

Check this out: http://michael.tresca.net under freebies...