World/Galaxy/Universe creation – post your tools and systems for use during a first session.
I like the Diaspora cluster creation system myself
World/Galaxy/Universe creation – post your tools and systems for use during a first session.
World/Galaxy/Universe creation – post your tools and systems for use during a first session.
What do you like about it?
Diaspora system creation is a good one.
I said it long ago, I say it again now: Vast & Starlit by Epidiah Ravachol. It is, in my opinion, very useful for the kind of collaborative gaming that Uncharted Worlds is all about. Somebody picks an environment or place everyone knows, everyone tweaks/enhances/inverts something prevalent about the base, and then someone reincorporates all of the new elements into the actual alien world.
Alfred Rudzki very cool. I will have to check it out.
Chalice In Chains Disapora gives each player a distinct cluster to create at world creation, using rolls for technology level, habitability, and resources to guide it.
Aaron Griffin cool. Diaspora is Fate Core based right?
Kinda. I mean it was Fate based but predates Fate Core. The chart rolls use Fate dice, but you could transform it to use like d6-d6 to keep the same distribution. And cluster creation tags each system with Aspects, but that’s pretty transferrable to any narrative based system.
Another system that is super useable for planet creation would be Kevin Crawford’s flowchart-based dungeon creation. It basically says that for PCs to go some place, it must have a Prize — a reason that makes going into the dungeon worth it. Then, you have to have an Obstacle, a reason that the Prize hasn’t been pilfered already. It also suggests using thinking up a Hazard, a reason the place has fallen out of use or is otherwise compromised. While this is meant for dungeons and space bases and what not, it could easily be applied writ large to planets.
DIASPORA RPG is 3rd-edition FATE, before Fate Core. It was written by a Canadian. It all really works, although now the rules are “old-school” FATE, and there is a System Reference Document to see all the rules for free.
You can certainly use their “cluster” system for generating star-systems. In each star-system, the principal planet has 3 basic stats but also free-form description in the form of a few Aspects. In this setting, it is much harder to jump between clusters than to star-systems within a cluster (6-12 stars). The setting also assumes “old” systems where civilization has risen and fallen several times, so that archeology can in fact be advanced science and weaponization.
http://www.vsca.ca/Diaspora/diaspora-srd.html#clusters
One unconventional planet-generation system was UNIVERSE (SPI, 1980). It was a company taken over by TSR, Inc. who promptly “sat on” their RPG products (the other one was DRAGONQUEST RPG).
UNIVERSE had a system where the gravity and environment of a planet affected a character’s abilities in other gravities and environments. Worlds were in different sizes and rectangles were mapped onto each world, each rectangle representing a fixed width of 4,000 miles. The star-types of all nearby stars to Earth were given to kick off the planetary generation process. The old rules can be downloaded for free here.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/universerpg/
If you’re not afraid of math and something a big more hard SF, you can’t go wrong with Tyge Sjöstrand’s Word Generation:
http://sol.trisen.com/downloads/wg.pdf
Another good thing to borrow from is the free edition of STARS WITHOUT NUMBER. Chapter 7 has a complete World Generation System. Generate atmosphere type, temperature, biosphere type, population level, tech level, and then some “tags” for descriptors or features of the planet. There are also tons of good tables to generate character names from different Earth cultures, etc.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/86467/Stars-Without-Number-Free-Edition
There’s also a Planet Generation system in the D6 Space Ships book (D6 is the generic version of the game system used in West End Games’ products like original Star Wars, Men in Black, etc.) The D6 stuff is also free, with extensive materials for D6 Fantasy, D6 Adventure (modern), and D6 Space.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/20449/D6-Space-Ships?term=d6+space+ships&it=1
That resource looks awesome John Reiher!
The world creation for Burning Empires is pretty good, I think. GURPS space is an awesome resource in general. Stars Without Number is great though, particularly planet tags and the way it weights the worlds towards habitable. I often use a combo of Traveller and SWN.