Author: Sean Gomes

Carta Galaxia Development Update #21

Not much to report book-wise this week. I’ve got a lot of writing done, but I want to keep it as a surprise. I hope to have it ready to unveil next week. It’s a lot of fun.

Playtest Report

This past weekend I got to playtest the Campaign Design rules (that I posted last update) with some friends of mine to start up a campaign. I’m happy it worked so well, the scenario came together quite organically, with everyone at the table contributing to it. And it’s definitely a scenario that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own, so I’m super interested to see where it’s going.

Scenario:

It is an age of galactic peace, prosperity, and advancement. The race is on to be the first faction to develop trans-galactic travel.

Aesthetic:

Gold and chrome. Heavy ornamentation, artistic decorations, luxurious fabrics, tall spires, shining surfaces, synthetic chimes.

Factions:

– Arkology: populist, enthusiastic, crowd-funded engineering initiative.

– The Institute: government agency, regulates dangerous technology.

– Avrys Industries: bombastic megacorporation, owns entire worlds.

– Raven’s Guild: Crime syndicate, organised, loyal, plays all sides.

Characters:

– Information Broker (Advanced Augmented Psychic)

– Retired Engineer (Rustic Industrial Explorer)

– Drug Dealer (Crowded Academic Scoundrel)

I’m interested to see if things go more intrigue-based or more scientific-experiment (possibly branching into exploration?)

Community Question

If you folks have a bit of spare time, I’d love to know what combination of Scenario/Aesthetics you’d like to play in. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/r4q0tex0linqshr/Campaign%20Setting.docx?dl=0)

Carta Galaxia Development Update #20

Slowly recovering from illness. Back in the saddle, writing away.

Preview: Creating a Scenario

I’ve linked a first, rough pass of Chapter 1 of the book. It covers establishing the core scenario of a campaigns. It likely needs another pass because I probably rambled (I blame the medication), but I hope it at least makes sense and provides inspiration/guidance. You guys will tell me if I’m totally off-base, yes? I’m totally getting impostor syndrome from writing How To Do X guides. Bleh.

What’s Next

I’ve already started hammering at the Jump Point / Prompt chapter, which is one of the big ones. Fortunately I have a lot of Words already written, I’m now trying to order my thoughts and condense it into easily digestible sections…

A strong Prompt has:

– Context (why are they the ones answering)

– Guidance (what kind of information are we looking for)

– Impact (how will this define future events and decisions)

… and so forth.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r4q0tex0linqshr/Campaign%20Setting.docx?dl=0

Carta Galaxia Update #19

Hi folks. It’s been a while since the last update. I’ve been dealing with a pretty bad viral infection that has knocked me flat these past two weeks. Things are getting better.

So yeah. Very short update to say that I’m still alive and kicking. I have a few things that are almost done and ready to show, but they’ll have to wait until next week, unfortunately.

Carta Galaxia Development Update #18

Very short update for this one. Just wanted to share the structure of the book.

(Usual caveats apply, this is in no way final, it is subject to change as writing progresses, yadda yadda yadda)

———

Introduction

Campaign Design

• What is a campaign setting

• Aesthetic

• Abiding Truth

• Conflicting Truth

• Connect the Dots

• Variant Rules

Adding Characters

• Introducing Factions

• Creating Characters

• Base of Operations

Prompts and Jump Points

• Prompting

• Writing a Jump Point

• Example Jump Points

Running a Game

• Montages

• Exploring Worlds

• Exploring Relationships

• Running a Combat

• Starship Combat

• Wealth and Trade

Factions

• Debt System

• Faction Schemes

Example Campaign (Downloadable Package)

• Setting Overview

• Factions

• Jump Point

• Pre-Made Characters

————-

If there’s a topic that you’d like to see covered (“I have no idea how I’m supposed to handle x situation” or “I’d like more explanation about y”) please please please tell me. This is your chance.

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.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/806k73h0uzsco7q/Blank.pdf?dl=0

Carta Galaxia Development Update #16

In which our writer is on cold meds and feeling kinda loopy, so take this with a grain of salt/ignore this.

What am I even doing here?

I’ve been thinking hard about the structure and purpose of the Carta Galaxia books. Unlike UW and FBH, I’ve been writing/designing them without a solid final goal in mind. Maybe because I don’t usually use pre-written campaign/setting guides, so I have no idea what makes a good one or a bad one. Maybe because I’m starting to feel like this is something I’m obligated to write due to the Kickstarter, rather than something I want to write.

Or maybe after a couple of years I’m seeing all the cracks and half-baked ideas in UW and I so want to just work on a 2nd edition to fix all that.

Tried and true

So far, the stuff I have written is… tame? Pretty standard fare. Broad setting, 6 big factions, major districts to play in, special rules, Jump Points. Structurally it gets the job done but it could be more engrossing.

Feels like UW was a pretty big sandbox, and now I’m writing a more enclosed/pre-defined sandbox…

Maybe it’s the meds talking but it feels that I could do something really cool and interesting with the content and structure but it’s just out of reach.

No ship, no exploration

Part of the whole dystopian thing is not being able to escape your debts. But the whole In Here / Out There thing of debt and exploration is kinda not applicable in the current setting either.

I a planet-bound dystopian setting what I want as a flagship setting for a Primary Colors sci fi game? When I ask it like that; no.

Sunken cost

So maybe I’m trying to dance around a truth. Maybe I’ve done a lot of work on something that was not the correct thing to work on. I can keep plowing through it, and it will be A Product by the end, but I don’t know if it’ll be good. If I’m honest, it will likely be phoned in.

Or I can take a step back and approach a new, more fitting setting as a flagship for the game itself, and a setting that lends itself to an interesting structure.

Or I can take a big step back and re-define what Carta Galaxia is. An ur-setting? A setting-creator-toolbox? Something akin to Microscope but specifically for UW campaigns?

Or I can take a huge step back and acknowledge the core flaws in the base game design, put aside my previous obligation (and my guilt about said obligations), and start on Uncharted Worlds second edition.

Or I’m just beating myself up due to a lack of self confidence and guilt (and cold meds we’re here too weeeee!).

What’s Next

I’ll come back to this topic once I’m a bit more clear headed. But it felt nice to ramble. Thank you guys. You rock.

Carta Galaxia Development Update #15

Happy holidays all! Hope you’re taking the time to relax, spend time with folks you love (and tell them you love them, dagnabbit).

Small update today: This is a direct follow-up to last week’s prototype. The lines are smaller, the text cleaner and more prominent, and I’m experimenting with icons as well. So far I think it’s working pretty well, but I’d be interested to hear what you folk think. Obviously it’s not the full map (see Development Update #14 for that) but style-wise, readability, etc. Opinions/questions/suggestions are always welcome!

Anywho, hope to have more to show next week. As usual, thank you all for your support, your stories, everything you share. Keep it up!

-SG

Carta Galaxia Development Update #14

Interesting result from my first attempt at a “Region Map”. I’m kinda digging it. It’s not written yet, but imagine the opposite page has more detailed descriptions of the locations in question.

The idea is to provide a Tourist-y overview of the region, how the various important areas interconnect, and generally provide spaces for Exciting Stuff to happen.

(Thanks to Todd Zircher who mentioned subway maps, which directly inspired the look here)

I’m still on the fence about the faction symbols on the map. On the one hand, easy to see who is present/active where. On the other hand, it might add too much visual clutter.

So. Thoughts? Opinions? Does this seem like a cool path to follow? Is it too complicated/difficult to read?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bydtwml1hd04eue/TerritoryPrototype.docx?dl=0

Carta Galaxia Development Update #13

Small update today. Tooling around with different layouts and designs for the Districts section. Basically an area of the world and its sub-locations, playgrounds and points of interest the characters can visit.

A lot of location-based suppliments can be rather dry. I’m hoping to give a sandbox feel, inviting further exploration.

On that note: If anyone knows of really stellar sandbox-y settings that are city/district-scale, I’d appreciate a heads up.

While I don’t quite have a layout/formula I like yet, I thought I’d share a small mindmap for one of the districts.

Carta Galaxia Development Update #12

Whuff, that was a tough one, but I finally managed to power through that last creative block.

New Faction Page: Zinya Biotech

Last but certainly not least of the factions Zinya biotech probably has the biggest division between their best and worst sides.

The protagonist Zinya is all about feeding the poor and healing the sick. Lots of opportunities for medical drama, pandemics/outbreaks, scientific discoveries, etc.

Zinya-the-antagonist is pretty horrific; genetic purity, experiment on civilians, create monsters, unleashing plagues, and so forth.

The faction is available in the link below, I invite you to take a look, tell me what you think.

Faction Chapter complete

And with that, the Faction chapter is done. More or less. I have to write a forward/intro, but the bulk of the work is done. Pretty dense chapter, too. 6 factions at 4 pages apiece, plus a page or two for the intro. Hopefully it won’t feel too overwhelming when put together.

New Debt System update

I had previously posted about the new Debt system I wanted to introduce. I appreciate all the feedback I got, and made a few adjustments accordingly (for example, agencies can all go to -5 Favor, even individuals). I also added (tentative) new rules for assigning Debt and Favor as part of character creation. (On the first page). I’d really appreciate feedback about that one, this whole system is very… new. Touchy. I want to make sure I’m not breaking anything.

Link to the new Debt System: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhcyjlumc13lrni/Debt%20System.docx?dl=0

What’s Next

Next I’ll be doing a first pass on the Districts. These will be the locations the factions fight over, and provide the stage (and props) for the characters to be Big Damn Heroes.

I’m hoping to have a rough outline of a District posted very soon, so that I can use it as a template.

As always, thanks to this wonderful community for all your support, feedback, and participation.

-SG

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8iielkwf3bq10v5/Zinya.docx?dl=0