Carta Galaxia Development Update #17
I am no longer on cold meds, and thus can look at what I wrote about last week with a more sober eye. Beware: Long post ahead.
Loopy me was right
So yeah. I think that the past incarnation of Carta Galaxia was a mistake on multiple fronts. It hurts to say that, because I invested a lot of time and thought and effort into writing it. But there was no spark there.
So yeah. That whole dystopian campaign setting is being shelved, and I’m redefining the core of Carta Galaxia.
Creating and running Uncharted Worlds campaigns
The new Carta Galaxia will be a GM’s guide of sorts. It’ll cover how to design a UW-ready campaign setting, and tips and tricks on running a game.
Admittedly, some of the content will retread and expand upon concepts first introduced in the UW core book or in Far Beyond Humanity. But most of it will be a mix of GMing advice, random generation tables, and answering frequently asked questions (such as how to run a Combat).
Also, there will be a minimalist campaign setting at the back of the book, with faction details, jump points, and pre-made character sheets. Basically, the back of the book will be a resource for quick pick-up-and-play or convention games.
This is flaring up my impostor syndrome real hard
It’s always a struggle for me to give advice. I’ve got a lot of self-confidence issues in general, so writing a book about “how to run UW” and “how to design a campaign” feels super arrogant to me.
That said, in the past week I’ve been super inspired to write, something that hasn’t happened in a long while. So I’m just going to have to power through those negative thoughts, ’cause I think this new direction for the book has a lot of merit.
Pre-made Character Sheets
In other news, I’ve gone ahead and updated the official Uncharted Worlds pre-made characters, and I’ll be working to get them uploaded to the website soon. Until then, you can grab them here.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qr2eep6fkg3pzp2/AAAs-ZeyJ58QjyiZR_i0qCBQa?dl=0
The most important new thing is the form fillable updated character sheet (/airhorn.wav). You can fill it out! And print it! The marvels of technology.
What’s Next
Next week, I hope to have a rough content structure of the New Carta Galaxia ready to share.
Sounds awesome!
Glad to hear that you are past the existential dread of what-I-done and feeling inspired again! I look forward to the new incarnation with eager anticipation.
Great stuff, Sean. About the Imposter Syndrome, just accept that not everyone needs every piece of advice that you offer, but there are those who do. You’re not advising the former, you’re advising the latter.
I’ll be using that new fillable sheet, so thanks for that!
Richard Robertson, yep, definitely gotta remind myself of my audience. That said, I’ll be counting on the old hats to periodically check my work to make sure I’m not way off base. Peer review, sorta thing.
Considering the great advice you gave Heath Rezabek recently on prompts Im really looking forward to this myself.
Really, “How to run UW” is just a shorthand for “this is how I run UW, and my players seem to enjoy it; feel free to heed as much advice as you wish, including none at all” 🙂
About the character sheets: they’re awesome. But it would be cool to have an “XP” box to keep track of it. Or did I miss it?
I think you of all people would be qualified to tell people how to run a UW game / campaign! Or at least, what worked for you, which is a starting point for people to work out what works for them.
this sounds like an awesome resource. I like the change in direction very much