Category: Uncharted Worlds

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