Re: [Space] example system stats
 

Well there you go - now you won't need to write up that 15 page brief you were so unsatisfied with earlier.

Anyone want to start a betting pool on what dismissive name the PCs end up calling the natives? 10 Quatloos on "wogs."

Re: [Space] example system stats
 

"Marks "

Re: [Space] example system stats
 

I'd go old school and use "coney" in that case, but YMMV.

Re: [Space] example system stats
 

"Honored and Revered Hosts"

Re: [Space] example system stats
 

Are system stats like those in the OP useful or interesting to anyone?

Re: [Space] example system stats
 

Yes, though I'm more interested in individual planet/societal descriptions like the ones in posts 2 and 3.

Re: [Space] example system stats
 

The social and cultural descriptions generated in this sample are superb. They give just enough information for the GM to develop an interesting local culture. How much variety there is in the output from the spreadsheet when it comes to the social parameters? Can the GM tweak the inputs in order to generate particular types of societies? Also, does the spreadsheet generates any of the details of native lifeforms?

From the sample, it definitely looks like the spreadsheet handles multiple stars very well. Out of curiosity, how easy would it be to use the spreadsheet to input real astronomical data from the Hipparcos or Tycho-2 catalogs and use it to generate fictional details of the star systems in Earth's neighborhood?

Re: [Space] example system stats
 

Thank you. I'm sorry to disappoint, but those were produced by hand, not randomly generated.

Again I'm sorry to disappoint. It was because of the difficulty of handling tweaks-to-setting that I chose not to implement any society-generation. I made the social data in the third post by combining some of the data from the spreadsheet that generates my own setting, and using some parts of the 'Generating a [Planetary] Society' sequence out of an old SF game called ForeSight, and tweaking, rearranging, and amplifying the results by hand.

None.

That much is a very faithful instantiation of the sequence in GURPS Space. But as it happens that instance is not randomly generated, it consists of real data for the system CD -25°1169. However this was fed in as input to the workbook through its provisions for designing or partly-designing a world, not faked over the output afterwards.

In principle very easy, but with one huge snag. You would put your star-list in to an extra sheet in the workbook, and then use the system number as the index to LOOKUP statements in the input fields.

The huge snag is that catalogue data do not include the ages and masses of the stars, or at least not very many of them. And the GURPS Space starsystem generation sequence takes those figures as its starting-point. You can estimate mass from spectral class, though unfortunately the sequence doesn't treat masses corresponding to some spectral classes. Then you come across the point that led to my giving up on that project: when you try to estimate age from spectral class and luminosity you come across a great many stars that are either too bright or too dim for that to work. I don't know why. It could be the result of errors in measurement: stellar distances are not known with great precision, and neither are apparent magnitudes and colour indexes.

Then there is a lesser snag in that some of the tables in the GURPS Space starsystem generation sequence might need substantial tweaks to produce the kind of universe you have in mind for your campaign.

Re: [Space] example system stats
 

Definitely. Rolling up a world is fun, including the system around it evolves into work way to quick.

Re: [Space] example system stats
 

Pity. They are very nice and you deserve kudos for them. I think they strike a good balance between too little detail and too much.

Heh. I think that I've got a copy of ForeSight lying around somewhere, but I haven't looked at it in years. My own campaign borrows some ideas from the old FGU Space Opera game.

I can see that you follow the world generation sequence in GURPS Space faithfully even though I haven't checked the maths. Automating the advanced worldbuilding sequence is still an impressive feat. :)

Interesting. At least your spreadsheet supports this kind of customization. Very cool.

I've stumbled across the same issue when trying to design the nearby systems by hand. Fortunately, there are a number of astronomy websites that provide rough estimates for the mass and age of stars in our immediate neighborhood, but in many cases these are nothing more than informed guesswork. I ended up assembling a spreadsheet collating information on the stars in a 100 ly radius from various sources and then making my own judgment calls where necessary. The imprecision of measurements over astronomical distances can be sometimes be a good thing, providing a fudge factor that can be tweaked to generate a variety of outcomes.

True. But when using an automated tool, it's possible to modify the tables to ensure that you generate exactly what you want.