Space Viking Small Planetary Cluster

Here is the small planetary cluster I generated using my revised Space Viking planetary world generation checklist I posted.  I welcome comments.

Harpe is the stand in for a Sword World.  I did not roll for its UWP.  I created it to suite my needs.  For the rest I used the generator.

 

Harpe	0405	A675953-A	NG	In
Zeus	0206	E342898-4	G
Hera	0304	X254874-2	G
Althea	0305	X454773-4		Ag
Aeolus	0403	D844978-6	SG	In
Pontus	0407	D589444-3	SG	Ni
Boreas	0504	X776573-3	G	Ag Ni
Notus	0506	C656876-2
Dorus	0606	B777978-A	NG	In

I created the map using Alex Schroeder's subsector generator and map creator.  It includes a Classic Traveller map generator.  It's pretty cool.  It will create random subsectors or you can input data you generated.  It will also show multi-planet governments.

 

Space Viking Subsector Generation Thoughts 2

 After several false starts, bouts of gamer ADD and some revisions, I took a look at the thoughts and ideas I posted here three(!) years ago and simplified them.  I wanted to keep the generation rules as close to the original checklist as I could.

Keeping the tech level of most worlds low was one one of my concerns.  Controlling the starport type was a simple solution and also fits in with the fact that most of the settings worlds either don't have starports or only have primitive ones. 

I did discover when I was playing around that populations seemed too small so I changed the population roll to a straight 2D instead of 2D-2. I still cap it at A though.

I'll create a small cluster of worlds and post it soon. 

Piper World Generation rev. 1

• Determine world occurrence (1D for 4, 5, 6 is standard). 
• Check system contents table for details of world. 
• Find Starport type.  Used modified table below. 
• Check for Viking (scout) base.
• Check for gas giant. 
• Name world. 
• Generate universal planetary profile for the world. 
• Planetary size: 2D-2. 
• Planetary atmosphere: 2D-7 +size. Tainted designation indicates pollution in the atmosphere, however no filter mask required.  If planetary size is 0, the atmosphere must be 0. 
• Planetary hydrographics: 2D-7 +size. If planetary size is 0, then hydrographics must be 0; if atmosphere is 0, 1, or A+, then apply a DM of -4. 
• Population: 2D. No population if atmosphere 0-3, A+. Cap A.
• Government: Roll d6, 1-3 Balkanized. When the planet is detailed, roll D3+1 for # of major political units.  Governments can be rolled for or determined by GM. If not balkanized 2D-7+population.
• Law level : 2D-7+government. 
• Technological Level : 1D+DMs from tech level table. Hard cap TL 10.
• Check for naval base as appropriate. 
• Note trade classifications based on universal planetary profile. 
• Note statistics for reference.

 

Starport
2	A
3	B
4	C
5	D
6-8	E
9-12	X

 

Scale

Over a decade ago I wrote a post about using Heroic/Homeric/Bronze Age/Mycenaean Greece as a setting for Barbarians of Lemuria.  Well, I was thinking about Ancient Greece again this morning and I got to wondering how big a map hex map of equivalent size would be.  If you total up the area of the Peloponnese, Attica, Boeotia and Euboea it comes out to around 11,340 sq/m¹.  If you put that in terms of a 6 mile hex map, that is an 18x18 hex map!  That's not a large map compared to some hexcrawls and sandboxes.  Someone, I'm not quite sure who, also did a 6 mile hex map of Greece, the Aegean and Western Turkey.  The entire map is 99x81 hexes.  Smaller if you shave off some of the sea hexes on the western and southern edges of the map.

There is soooo much history and mythology crammed into this area that it boggles my mind.  It could be a giant playground for a game.  A GM could take just a portion of it, such as one of the four areas I mentioned above, because it's still crammed with potential.

In Classical times this area contained Athens and Sparta and the consequences of their rivalry and machinations.  There was also the important cities of Corinth and Thebes to round out the four biggies.  Olympia and its games were located there.  Many battles were fought in this area and much diplomacy was conducted.  If you go back to the Bronze Age/Mythological era you can add so much more.  Mycenae, Argos, Pylos and Megara.  Many of the mythical beasts roamed its wilds, too.

This changes my perspective on how big a map has to be to be effective.  I've always liked the idea of Chicagowiz's "Just Three Hexes" campaign starter and this, in a way, reinforces that.

¹ All numbers are approximate and for demonstration purposes only

White Box Cyclopedia

I finally had a chance to sit down and take a closer look at James Spahn's White Box Cyclopedia.  I haven't done a thorough read through yet but I did do a serious perusal.  And as I thought, what I saw made me excited.

The White Box Cyclopedia is the Swords & Wizardry White Box rules with all of the extra trimmings. 

The PDF comes in at around 290 pages.  And it has a lot!  It has the entirety of the White Box rules plus many extras and options to choose from. 

It covers the four usual races.  Here called heritages.  It also has 10 optional heritages, such as gnome, half-orc and shadow elf.  It also includes five heritage-as-class options.

The WBC offers the original three classes:  cleric, fighter and magic-user as well as 18 optional classes.  Some of the optional heritages and classes were developed by Mr. Spahn years ago.  It's nice to have them consolidated in one place though.

Much of the rest of the book is taken up with the usual.  Combat rules, equipment, travel, magic, treasure, etc.  It does include seafaring and naval combat as well. This is all to be expected.  What I really like, in addition to the extra heritages and classes, is all of the other additions.

For example, there is a section on reputation, knighthood and chivalry.  According to these rules, any character can become a knight.  Of course, some have a greater chance than others but everyone has some chance.  If you are brave and heroic, you might be able to do it.  There are guidelines on how to achieve knighthood, reputation, being knighted, maintaining your standing.  And it's all an add-on system you can layer on if you want.

The combat section contains options, some that I have seen elsewhere as house rules, to add variety to combat.  Including one of my favorites, Splintered Shields.  You can add none, some or all to tune combat to your taste.

There is a section that discusses setting up campaigns. It also briefly describes four different campaign settings and how to tune the rules and options to make WBC work optimally for the settings. This includes which classes and heritages would work best, how to tune magic for the setting and other modifications and options that might help.  The settings are called City of Thieves, Fairy Land, Gothic Horror and a sword & sorcery setting, Riddle of Steel.

I think the campaign section sums up best what I like about WBC.  WBC has the basic game but it is also a toolbox.  A toolbox that allows you to take the solid foundation of S&W WB and turn it into exactly the game you want it to be.  I know many good GMs can do this themselves but there are others, like me, who can use help when doing so.  With this toolbox, I am much more confident I can tune basic White Box to run any of the settings I have running around in my mind.

 

My Incomplete Appendix N

I've occasionally talked about books and movies that have influenced my gaming but I have never listed my personal Appendix N.  

My list includes fantasy, science fiction and some historical fiction.  It also include a few non-fiction titles, particularly from my youth.  It includes things that I read or viewed through my life, from childhood until now.  Most probably look familiar but there may be a few surprises.

• Agent of Byzantium by Harry Turtledove

• Barbarian Lord (Graphic Novel) by Matt Smith

• Beowulf: Dragonslayer by Rosemary Sutcliffe

• The Conan Stories and Novel by Robert E. Howard

• The Dark Knight Returns (Graphic Novel) by Frank Miller

• Firefly

• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

• Goat Song and The Walled Orchard by Tom Holt

• The Greek Armies by Peter Connolly

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

• I, Claudius by Robert Graves

• Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw 

• Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp

• The Mote in God's Eye by Jerry Pournelle and David Niven

• Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss

• Revolt on Alpha C by Robert Silverberg

• "The Road Not Taken" by Harry Turtledove

• The Roman Army by Peter Connolly

• The Sand-Reckoner by Gillian Bradshaw 

• Space Viking by H. Beam Piper

• Star Trek (TOS)

• Star Wars (the original trilogy)

• Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

• Thundarr the Barbarian

• Watchmen (Graphic Novel) by Alan Moore

Doratas & Philosophia

 Another thing I did during my quiet time was create a game...kinda.

I've always wanted to write/create a roleplaying game.  I've never had the discipline nor the imagination to do so.  I've had thoughts on how to heavily house rule something like White Box to fit a certain vision but I haven't got around to it for the reasons above.  So I cheated.  I hacked Lasers & Feelings.

Lasers & Feelings is an ultra-lite game that has been hacked in nearly every way you can think.  It is very easy to modify and change to whatever genre you want.  Heck, there's actually a template where you can just fill in the blanks to make your version of the game.  So I did it.  See, cheating.  But at least I did something.  And it might help spur me on to other things.

Thus, I present a draft of Doratas & Philosophia (Spears & Philosophy).  It is a mashup of Mythical and Archaic Greece for the players and GM to use as their playground.

Click Here

I used several inspirations and resources.  Lasers & Feelings, of course.  I used used Template Hack for L&F and {{Blanks}} & [[Spaces]] to help me organize the document and make sure I didn't miss anything. I also looked to the L&F hack Glory & Gold and good old Mazes & Minotaurs to spark my imagination (i.e. plunder shamelessly.)

Outdoor Survival, Tolkien Style

 John Salway mentioned in a post that it would be interesting to see the Outdoor Survival map done in the style of a Middle Earth Tolkien map.  I did some poking around and it turns out that Ray Otus has created one.  Ray Otus is the author of one of my favorite RPG related blog posts, 1937 Hobbit as a Setting, and the nifty little game that resulted, There and Back Again.  His post and game inspired me to start muddling around with my Hobbit inspired setting.

Anyway, Gary Gygax suggested using the game board/map from Outdoor Survival be used in conjunction with the original version of D&D.  So it has a long connection with RPGs.  Ray posted the map and wrote about how he created it here.  And this is what he came up with: