View Single Post
Old 09-28-2013, 06:35 AM   #25
Peter Knutsen
Banned
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
Default Re: Scope and format of world data sheets in SF

At a quick glance, it might be useful if you also include relative/comparative values, for those of us who haven't memorized a lot of astronomical stats.

For instance, under apparent size, you should include a second figure showing the apparent size relative to the sun. In the example, the star's apparent size is 0.64 degrees, so if the sun's apparent size (from Earth) is 0.71 degrees, then the relative apparent size would be 0.9, telling me at a glance that the sun appears smaller, and smaller by about 10 percent.

Distance you can skip. I presume almost every GM of a space campaign knows how much an AU is, and it's not exceedingly relevant for sense-of-place anyway. You could indicate relative eccentricity, where Earth's eccentricity is 1.00, and a higher value indicates a greater degree of eccentricity.

Same with axial tilt.

Relative local day might be excessive. Pretty much all of us in here knows that the baseline is 24 hours.

Where is oxygen partial pressure? And there, too, is a place where I think a relative/comparative value would be of use. Also maybe if there are important partial pressures of other gases, such as carbondioxide.

Seasonality and windiness. Again, relative values to Earth. Is Earth "mild" too? If I'm intimately familiar with this planetary description system then I'd know that, but what if I'm not?

Same with vulcanism and tectonics, if you can find a way to designate a relative/comparative value.

For that matter, "tides". I have little nautical experience, so I don't know where Earth's average tides stand relaive to the 1.7 meters of this planet.

I think it's excessive to give surface gravity both in gs and m/s. If I had sheet real estate problems, I wouldn't hesitate to skip the m/s part.

"Incerceration" can be a lot of things, at a wide variety of standards of living and degrees of (un)freedom. It would be neat to have a shorthand to define the general trend of conditions of incarceration on any given planet, perhaps using a scale similar to GURPS' Control Rating sclae, where CR1 is a very lax prison with many rights for prisoners, while CR6 is severely locked down, poor on rights, and involves massive surveillance.

If you do choose to include relative/comparative values, the baselines ought to be Earth, and Sol, and when necessary Jupiter, as per astronomical standards.
Peter Knutsen is offline   Reply With Quote