New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

[Maz]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

We've previously established that the dayside is mostly very hot, but within Earth ranges. The nightside is mostly very cold, but within Earth ranges.


I expect that much of the dayside is hot, sun-baked desert. Most of the nightside is desert, too, but freezing cold.


Deserts can show a lot of variety in terrain and in lifeforms.

Thats also how I imagined it. This leads to another question. Oceans?
Right now my vision is filled with dry rocky climate, with little to no oceans. Anyone have some interesting take on this?

Oceans are nice to have for when you play in the setting. For a change of pace, long journeys and so on. Also the idea of ursine ice-pirates just seem cool to me.


I know we have already established that the weather is extremely harsh and navigation very difficult. But still, those factors aren't as interesting if there isn't an oceans where they can cause problems :)

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Maz

Thats also how I imagined it. This leads to another question. Oceans?
Right now my vision is filled with dry rocky climate, with little to no oceans. Anyone have some interesting take on this?

Oceans are nice to have for when you play in the setting. For a change of pace, long journeys and so on. Also the idea of ursine ice-pirates just seem cool to me.


I know we have already established that the weather is extremely harsh and navigation very difficult. But still, those factors aren't as interesting if there isn't an oceans where they can cause problems :)

I imagine that much of the surface water that isn't frozen is in the twlilight zone, perhaps meltwater from glaciers at the edge of Night.
I think there must be lakes and rivers in at least some regions. I don't think there are any large oceans. There may be large undergound bodies of water.

If you do want an ocean, I'd place it on the Night side, perhaps with one shore in the Twlight Zone. Don't wrap it clean around the world, of course.

[Maz]

Hmm, would it be a good or a bad idea for someone to make a rough sketch of the planet?

I mean, it would be nice with a rough map. will be easier to put in special locations that sort of stuff. Determine the width of the twillight zone, any major rivers or other bodies of water, mountain ranges and so on.

On the other hand. A map, however rough, might be too restricting.

[Faolyn]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

I expect that much of the dayside is hot, sun-baked desert. Most of the nightside is desert, too, but freezing cold.

Deserts can show a lot of variety in terrain and in lifeforms.

Other people mentioned oceans, giving me the image of thick, steamy tropical jungles, at least in a places. The areas closer to the twilight zone should be more like tropical grasslands. The...sun-facing pole? could, and probably should, be desert.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Faolyn

Although, just to play devil's advocate, there could be a standardized time of some sorts based just on the say-so of the leaders or a religion*--when the bells of the temple ring, then businesses are supposed to close, for instance.

Because there probably will be some need for consistent times--a "night" time when it's normal, or at least common, for people to be sleeping. Or some way to avoid social problems of one person trying to sleep while others are hoping to conduct business/have lunch/etc. with him or her.

This is still in keeping with what I had in mind: time of day is arbitrarily imposed by the local power structure but won't be truly regular or consistent, and it will vary from town to town unless they set up some kind of semaphore. And even the number of days in a month will change from kingdom to kingdom.

[Faolyn]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

And even the number of days in a month will change from kingdom to kingdom.

Well, there is a moon, right? So it won't be too inconsistent.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Maz

Thats also how I imagined it. This leads to another question. Oceans?
Right now my vision is filled with dry rocky climate, with little to no oceans. Anyone have some interesting take on this?

Oceans are nice to have for when you play in the setting. For a change of pace, long journeys and so on. Also the idea of ursine ice-pirates just seem cool to me.


I know we have already established that the weather is extremely harsh and navigation very difficult. But still, those factors aren't as interesting if there isn't an oceans where they can cause problems :)

It's an old planet but a young world: the spin-stopping cataclysm wiped out the old crust to be remade with renewed tectonic activity so there are lots of young, steep mountains like the Himalaya, so that even with much of the water locked up in glaciers you can have some narrow but deep seas fed from the bottom of the ice sheets and channeled toward the terminator.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

It's an old planet but a young world: the spin-stopping cataclysm wiped out the old crust to be remade with renewed tectonic activity so there are lots of young, steep mountains like the Himalaya, so that even with much of the water locked up in glaciers you can have some narrow but deep seas fed from the bottom of the ice sheets and channeled toward the terminator.

Sounds good to me.

[Faolyn]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

It's an old planet but a young world: the spin-stopping cataclysm wiped out the old crust to be remade with renewed tectonic activity so there are lots of young, steep mountains like the Himalaya, so that even with much of the water locked up in glaciers you can have some narrow but deep seas fed from the bottom of the ice sheets and channeled toward the terminator.

I'm seeing some beautiful, impressive waterfalls and rainbows here. Also terrace farming.

[Maz]

So... the world is starting to take shape, like gods we are creating it and populating it with creatures. This is fun. But now to something more practical and annoying... the players. ;)



What do you imagine would be the default type of game to play in this world? Of course any creative GM could make such a world work with just about every type of gaming style as they please. But in my experience it works better when there is a sort of default play-style associated with a setting. This way you can build the world up to support this play style.

Right now, to me, it sounds like a world perfect for exploration and knowledge finding. But who would the players typically be? Would they only be humans? It doesn't sound like the other races lend themselves very well to being PC-race s(except maybe rouge-shapechangers).
But who would they be? Why would they want to go exploring? Do the humans of the world generally want to find out where they come from and more about the world, or are they just trying to survive?

The world also, currently seem pretty static. The war is over. The day and year do not change. Technology isn't advancing and so on.
We need some form of conflict to make gaming in the world more interesting.