Burning slowly is my dungeon23 activity. The project code-named Backwater Sector is a star sector of nine star systems represented by their main worlds, where levels are made of notable anomalous locations on each. I know that the original idea was to make 12 levels by completing a level every month, but I doubt I'd stick to a schedule of "one-day-one-room" proposed originally (that's already not happening). So I'd be very happy if I finish with at least 9 detailed levels, and additional ones - if any - will come in as interplanetary objects.
Besides I wanna combine different tricks and techniques in the process, as well as some new games and even RP-systems (maybe). The aim is for a system-agnostic set of Traveller-like Sci-Fi RPG levels, that have a common thematic but can be still used independently. So agnostic that monster stats will be given as Whitehack Sci-Fi/Modern Tradition tiny blocks. No plans to overthink what can be overthinked later...
A detailed ramble on them inspirations will follow. Here I just give a whole cluster outline as an example.
The initial world seeds are made with Diaspora rules for cluster generation. There FATE dice (a roughly "bell-like" distribution from -4 to +4) decide three levels of the star system: Tech Level, Environment and Resources. I ended up with the following worlds seed:
| No | Tech level (4dF) | Environment (4dF) | Resources (4dF) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | -3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | +1 | -1 | -3 |
| 3 | -1 | 0 | +1 |
| 4 | -1 | +1 | -3 |
| 5 | 0 | +2 | +2 |
| 6 | -2 | -1 | -2 |
| 7 | +4 | -1 | 0 |
| 8 | +1 | +2 | -3 |
| 9 | -1 | -3 | -1 |
Judging by the eye, this gives a good variation among the worlds. To develop them further I concretize each world with full Universal World Profile.
In fact the authors of Diaspora simplified the original Traveller world creation. I in turn go backwards and reverse-edit the UWPs taking into account the levels listed above. Without going into details of this exciting mini-game, here are the resulting profiles as well as their interpretations:
| Name | UWP | Bases | Trade Codes | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rojst | D875535-2 | - | Ag Lt Ni | Swamp-covered world, low-tech native population. |
| Anadirosi | B45269A-B | M N | Ni Po | Arid world. Overused industrial center under stagnating impersonal rule. |
| Gethsemane | C566669-6 | - | Ag Ni Ri | Rich agricultural world, led to prosperity by its rulers. |
| Vestige | C653866-7 | - | Po | Poor although rather populated world, regime is very dependent on taxation of passing starfarers. |
| Osiris | B767844-9 | H | Ga Ri | Prosperous garden world with young and immigration-welcoming democracy. |
| Manufactorum | B4479DF-5 | H M N | Hi In Lt | Overpopulated industrial colony on an icy world. Strict rule of religious dictate. |
| Phantasm | AAC6677-F | H M N | Ht | Hi-tech dome-states on a giant planet covered in acid mists. Strong æonic influence. High technology essential for surviving. |
| Hemera | D674473-A | - | Ni | Research and prospecting colony on a dense jungle world. |
| Tranquility | E400220-8 | C | Lp Va | Uninhabitable backwater former mining post, now occupied with freebooters and corsairs. |
In order to link the worlds into one cluster I also use procedure from Diaspora that gives a connected graph. The edges represent wormholes in the Hard Sci-Fi setting, but can also be a 2-3 parsec jump distances for Traveller-like jump tech (I might outline the final hex-subsector layout in future).
In brief, depending on a 4dF roll result each system ends up
connected with 2, 3 or 4 others (with the first and the last in line
as corner-cases of maybe 1 connection), and there is a path that goes
through each and every of them just once.
Resulting cluster can be outlined like this (note the suggested world name selection: each starts with different letter):
This is in line with my idea of intergalactic "Silk Road" that was recently discovered by the Galactic Consortium - corporate federation of which the Player Characters originate - and connects two distant sleeves of inhabited parts of the galaxy. For centuries the worlds had been developing on their own before some massive technological and political uplifting interference that the Consortium started aggressively advertising to the local governments.
The PCs can fly through it all at once, dealing with only a few mysteries of the local Primal Anomalies - an inheritance from the previous and alien cultures. However if they are observant enough, they could notice that the worlds so different from each other have something in common. Maybe they could even resolve a massive catastrophe in this part of the galaxy... Who knows?
The planetary UWPs are primary inspirations for the anomalous locations on them. I have already an idea for the first one: something that resembles the Native American Temple complex from Earth, but is in fact an environmental processor built eons before the adventure begins.