Objects in space move constantly, and very quickly. The Earth, for example, orbits the sun at about 19 miles per second. The Sun spins through the Milky Way at about 155 miles per second, and the Milky Way moves within it's local group at about 186 miles per second. When nothing (nothing!) in space is standing still and any given planet will be hundreds, if not hundreds of thousands, of miles from where it was a few seconds ago, it is very hard to travel a course.
So we don't.
Space travel is instantaneous by use a a Jumpdrive. You get information from a computer, plot a likely path, the FTL drive spins up, and in a flash of light you are there. Usually.
Things can go wrong of course. Depending on how far you are trying to travel, things can go wrong very easily. Distance is a factor, but it is not the most important factor. There are all sorts of hellish things in space. Massive black holes, supernova, neutron stars, quasars, white holes, asteroids, dark matter asteroids, rogue stars, the list goes on. All those things have to be avoided. Since space is changing constantly...this is a random roll. For Savage Worlds, roll a d6, add that to 4 and you have the difficulty.
You make a Knowledge (Computer) check for the roll. If you beat the difficulty, super, you arrive at the destination a few (less than 5) minutes later. If you miss the difficulty, you have a mishap. See the table below.
There you are. Space travel. It is very fast, but there is a chance it will send you to Hell.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The simple solution
In all the spare time I have I've come up with how I want to deal with "mapping" space. Mainly I don't want to. I think I might work up something at some point but it will be little more than a series of circles with names and lines connecting them. Maybe putting a pretty picture behind it, but in all reality, it won't be used "in game".
The main reason is because using space maps in an RPG is two things.
1. not fun
2. waste of time.
Seriously, when will you use it? nobody should take the time to plot a course. It is boring and serves the game in no way. The trip takes as long as the GM says it takes. How long is that? who cares? It's as long as it needs to take. no more, no less.
What I really want to focus on is a planets catalog. Kinda like the planet collection book from old West End Games Star Wars, but in brief. Nothing more than a collection of names and some interesting facts about it. Giving the players a reason to go there more than a route.
The main reason is because using space maps in an RPG is two things.
1. not fun
2. waste of time.
Seriously, when will you use it? nobody should take the time to plot a course. It is boring and serves the game in no way. The trip takes as long as the GM says it takes. How long is that? who cares? It's as long as it needs to take. no more, no less.
What I really want to focus on is a planets catalog. Kinda like the planet collection book from old West End Games Star Wars, but in brief. Nothing more than a collection of names and some interesting facts about it. Giving the players a reason to go there more than a route.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
A sea of...well something besides stars
Waah!
So a few weeks after I started trying to sandbox the sci-fi setting I'm about ready to walk away from the whole damn thing. Space is f-ing huge and mapping it is just insane. Seriously, seriously, SERIOUSLY, insane.
Most space maps come in one of two flavors. The first is the hex map of dots. They are purely for utility and generally kinda ugly. The other flavor is more artistic, usually a pretty galactic background with worlds, trade routes, or faction borders imposed upon it.
The first is functional, but inaccurate, the second is just pretty.
I really have no patience or use for either. I tried to make a sector with FM8...it worked sorta and I could cobble something functional out of it, but for the game table it's not real useful. I'm not going to print every map or bring a lap top with FM8 loaded and say "Go crazy guys" to my players. For one, the work involved in doing that is right at ridiculous. for two, the players would be overwhelmed with even a shred of what that involves.
So I need a solution that does not involve a lifetime of work and does not completely overwhelm my players. How the hell did I handle space travel in d6 back before the age of computer mapping software?
Oh that's right...this table in the core WEG book
It's a simple, and somewhat silly, little thing. Just lists the most notable planets from the star wars universe and list how long it takes to get from one to the other. Simple and somewhat elegant really. Maybe too much for a more massive setting with a few hundred worlds. Still, it worked.
So how I can adapt this to a sandbox and keep things moving along without a chart that lists several hundred worlds? Not sure yet, but I think it might be a more viable option that an actual galactic map. Even if it comes to a massive chart of planets, it would be easier.
So a few weeks after I started trying to sandbox the sci-fi setting I'm about ready to walk away from the whole damn thing. Space is f-ing huge and mapping it is just insane. Seriously, seriously, SERIOUSLY, insane.
Most space maps come in one of two flavors. The first is the hex map of dots. They are purely for utility and generally kinda ugly. The other flavor is more artistic, usually a pretty galactic background with worlds, trade routes, or faction borders imposed upon it.
The first is functional, but inaccurate, the second is just pretty.
I really have no patience or use for either. I tried to make a sector with FM8...it worked sorta and I could cobble something functional out of it, but for the game table it's not real useful. I'm not going to print every map or bring a lap top with FM8 loaded and say "Go crazy guys" to my players. For one, the work involved in doing that is right at ridiculous. for two, the players would be overwhelmed with even a shred of what that involves.
So I need a solution that does not involve a lifetime of work and does not completely overwhelm my players. How the hell did I handle space travel in d6 back before the age of computer mapping software?
Oh that's right...this table in the core WEG book
It's a simple, and somewhat silly, little thing. Just lists the most notable planets from the star wars universe and list how long it takes to get from one to the other. Simple and somewhat elegant really. Maybe too much for a more massive setting with a few hundred worlds. Still, it worked.
So how I can adapt this to a sandbox and keep things moving along without a chart that lists several hundred worlds? Not sure yet, but I think it might be a more viable option that an actual galactic map. Even if it comes to a massive chart of planets, it would be easier.
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