The Stars Our Destination

[AlexanderHowl]

Within the Milky Way Galaxy, there may be as many as 1 trillion stars (recent research suggests that the old figures vastly underestimate the actual number of stars) and there may be an average of ten planets per star (though that depends of the individual researcher). In addition, there are likely millions of lesser objects of interest per star system. So, how do you deal with that wealth of locations in your space campaigns?

[Anaraxes]

Ignore the boring ones, which they almost entirely are. You don't name, map, and stat every grain of sand on a beach, because they're beneath your notice. When your setting is such that you have galaxy-spanning tech, it's the same with every rock around every red dwarf in the galaxy.

Actually need a pointless boring rock for some reason during play? Okay, there's probably one just over there. Maybe call for a roll if the player is looking for something specific. How do you answer questions like "is there an oak tree nearby in this forest?" I'm guessing you don't randomly generate every tree to fill out a one-meter grid to have a forest map prepared to consult on demand as the party travels cross-country, but just improvise common features as the situation and story suggest.

[Astromancer]

Always remember that many a pointless boring rock turned out to be a shocker when actually looked at. But seemingly dull and empty spaces are great for secret bases of many types. Also remember, that space-faring civilizations might not prefer planets. Space habitats as cities/homebases and use drones and telepresence to mine the local uninhabitable star system. A star system with no habitable planets and no terraformable ones either could still hold a large human or alien population.

[Nemoricus]

Detail the worlds your campaign is actually take place on or around, and ignore the rest. That may mean that points of interest are thousands of light years apart, depending on the interstellar travel tech available, but there's no point in detailing places that barely warrant a catalogue number if your players aren't going to visit them.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

So, how do you deal with that wealth of locations in your space campaigns?

Conveniently ignore it and over-generalize any planet you don't.

It worked for classic sci-fi.

[Astromancer]

On my shelf is a book called A Guide to the Ancient World. Many's the time I let the book fall open to a random page and simply read the description. It generally gives some details that can be transposed into the setting with the right touch of imagination. All sorts of reference books can be used similarly.

[Phantasm]

My own space opera setting has orbital stations, lagrange point stations, and surface dome settlements all over the place, and that's just in the 15-20 ly radius from Earth. While I am not mapping out every planet or gods forbid dwarf planet in asteroid/Kuiper belts, instead paying attention to potentially habitable systems, it's not hard to just say "2d planets, 1d-2 asteroid belts with 1d-3 dwarf planets each, 3d dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt, 2d dwarf planets beyond the Kuiper belt, and 2dx4 lagrange point stations around the stars and planets with significant moons" for the plethora of red and brown dwarfs out there.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Within the Milky Way Galaxy, there may be as many as 1 trillion stars (recent research suggests that the old figures vastly underestimate the actual number of stars) and there may be an average of ten planets per star (though that depends of the individual researcher). In addition, there are likely millions of lesser objects of interest per star system. So, how do you deal with that wealth of locations in your space campaigns?

Just because they're there doesn't make them objects of interest. There's going to be a lot of garbage out there. It's why I start by generating the main world and then the system rather than vice versa and for most of the worlds in a system of interest the only thing I do is check for RVM to see whether it's worth colonizing.

[Flyndaran]

A quick search says there are 195 countries on Earth right now. No one would detail them all in a modern game even though you could technically travel to any one of them within the week or month at least.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

A quick search says there are 195 countries on Earth right now. No one would detail them all in a modern game even though you could technically travel to any one of them within the week or month at least.

And let's not forget that within those countries are various regions and settlements which may actually have differences from each other but when you ask someone not from those countries they might have no idea this is the case. And probably something like 99% of the rest of the world will never visit them.