Quote:
Originally Posted by thrash
- Create a map anyway. The map could be abstract (Traveller) or realistic (Universe), detailed (Universe, again) or selective (Space Opera). There seems to be a consensus that 20-40 destinations are about right, whether those are confined to a single 8x10 hex array or spread across a cube 200 light-years on a side.
- Provide a network diagram of destinations and their relationships. This is sometimes referred to as a "subway map," and often appears if the chosen mode of transportation (wormholes, jump lines, etc.) depends on defined linkages between nodes. Diaspora represents the low end of this spectrum, with just 2-5 worlds in each network; Thousand Suns recommends the same 20-40 as above. Other examples seem to fall between these extremes. There is also a hybrid case where a map is presented but the choices of destination are constrained to a network by the transportation physics (2300 AD).
- Provide a gazetteer, listing potentially interesting destinations. This frequently occurs where the number of accessible destinations is high, or proximity doesn't matter much (if at all). This is essentially the approach of GURPS Infinite Worlds. If the presented options are few, this shades away from a sandbox campaign into a choose-your-own-adventure plot. Too many options may be just as bad, if the players are unable to process all the information into a decision without GM input.
- Finally, there appears to be a handful of SF RPGs that haven't considered this question at all. I couldn't find a word in Other Suns about mapping its setting, for example. I infer that these either aren't intended for sandbox play (e.g., the GM is expected to present "the planet of the week") or implicitly fall into the gazetteer category (WEG's Star Wars).
Are there other options (or variations) that I've missed? What works? What doesn't? |
The "all bodies" cross-index table, as seen in WEG Star Wars, especially
Lords of the Expanse
Code:
X - - 3 1 8 4 7 2
| Y - 8 9 9 1 6 1
| | 1 🅖 🅕 🅔 🅓 🅒 🅑
3 4 🅐 4 5.4 7.1 3.2 4.5 3.2
2 1 🅑 7.1 8.1 10 2 7.1
7 6 🅒 4.5 6.7 3.2 5.8
4 1 🅓 7.1 8.5 8.9
8 9 🅔 5.1 7
1 9 🅕 2.2
3 8
The above is a small cluster as a 2d map.
In Star Wars, tho, the route itself can modify travel time... (Some star trek stories imply similar, and the non-canon SFU explicitly does similar)
so, here's a table of routing multipliers...
Code:
🅖 🅕 🅔 🅓 🅒 🅑
🅐 0.5 0.5 1 1 1 1
🅑 2 1 2 2 3
🅒 2 2 1 1
🅓 1 1 0.5
🅔 1 1
🅕 0.5
And the resulting standard durations...
Code:
1 🅖 🅕 🅔 🅓 🅒 🅑
🅐 2 2.7 7.1 3.2 4.5 3.2
🅑 14.2 8.1 20 4 21.3
🅒 9 13.4 3.2 5.8
🅓 7.1 8.5 4.5
🅔 5.1 7
🅕 1.1
If I were doing it with, say, Traveller world gen, I'd make the multiplier the inversion of the sum of the importances... (or the GT BTN - conceptually similar)
Provide the gazeteer with just the third, calculated, table, but if they ask, they can get the actual coords.
This works well enough for clusters up to about 20 worlds....
Here's the SS I used for calculating....
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing
I'll note that subway mapped wormhole settings (EG: Cole, Webber, & White's Starfire setting, Bujold's Vorkosiverse, Webber's Honorverse, Doohan & Stirling's Flight Engineer setting) are conceptually quite different than subway maps of open space a la 2300AD... as the latter leaves room for PC inventions to do something to go off the map, while wormholes don't, and tunnels with exits a la the Flight Engineer are somewhere in between...