gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Sunburst)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2005-04-11 09:48 am

Finally, a direction.

The Lunion Subsector files have been mocking me. Sitting there, in their little manila folder, laughing at my inability to get anything really started. So I'm going to show them!

Last night, after hauling my new desk upstairs, I grabbed the excellent GURPS Traveller: Sword Worlds and was reading it while half-watching the Discovery Channel when it struck me.. here was the exact format I needed! The book already details a subsector, and does a great job of it, so why not steal without mercy or compassion borrow the format?

Instead of trying to do a form, I'll use a more conversational style. Each world will have a write up with the following subsections:

The System Basic rundown of the solar system. Main star name and type, other major bodies and their orbits.

History Planetary history from settlement (or before) to the current day. For some worlds, this will be a few paragraphs, for others, two pages.

The Planet Physical information about the world. Not the number-crunchy stuff, but rather descriptive text.

The Government How the planet runs itself. Includes information on the legal system. I might include information about the Imperial links here, or put that in the world's introductory paragraph.

Life on (insert name) Pretty simple. This is a Traveller equivalent of Richard Scarry's "What Do People Do All Day?". Where do they live, what language do they speak, what are their cities like? Any unusual customs, like the Caponese being "clothing optional" indoors?

(Minor rant: Grabbing the link for the Richard Scarry book, I see that it is for the abridged edition. Am I trapped in the Monty Python "bookshop" sketch? What bloody need was there for an abridged version of one of the greatest children's books ever? I owned "WDPDAD?" in the original, 90+ page version, as a toddler and loved that book to death. Hell, that book is the reason I'm such a curious sod today! Abridged, my ass. Harrumph.)

The People of (insert name) Social information, demographical information, and anything else that gives you a feel for the people of the world. This would be the place to detail the strict, almost Victorian, social code the Lunionese live with.

Some worlds will get additional subheads for special topics of interest, like the Lunion School of Economics or Wardn's Patterned Desert.

Building my timeline today, that and an outline.

Now I really need to scrape up the dinero for Fractal Mapper.

Lunion Subsector

[identity profile] jeffreyab.livejournal.com 2005-04-11 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Interesting place.

I always saw them as the dynamic duo of the Marches.

Sort of like Chip and Dale on steroids, always messing about trying to be one of the big boys like Glisten, Trin or Mora.

I always thought the TL 13 colonials in 5FW were from those two planets.

Then there is their early Sword World history.

Re: Lunion Subsector & the 5FW

[identity profile] 10binary-cats.livejournal.com 2005-04-13 11:07 am (UTC)(link)
And don't forget all the Special Forces 'stay behind' Units from this time...

ARooooooooo Warewolves of Lunion!

(use it...you know you have to!)

Re: Lunion Subsector & the 5FW

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2005-04-13 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Stay behind forces from the early 200s? Wow.

From reading Sword Worlds it doesn't look like the SWers actually attacked Lunion to heavily in the two most recent Frontier Wars. I'll write in raids and sabotage as a reason to keep anti-Sword World feelings high.

Another problem is that I'm writing with a default date of 001-1120. That's ten years after the end of the 5FW. By that time, only the biggest fanatics would be left. Makes for a fun "Hiroo Onoda of Joyeuse" scenario (you have to find a SW combat team and convince them the war is over.)

Re: Lunion Subsector & the 5FW

[identity profile] 10binary-cats.livejournal.com 2005-04-16 11:15 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps there's a Covert action team out there famous for sending an Xboat message simply reading "Send Lawyers, Guns and Money"?

There's an adventure right there...specially if someone has a little leagal skill.

But not a lot.

[identity profile] pauldrye.livejournal.com 2005-04-12 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
Steal! Steal! That was our intention.

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2005-04-12 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
Aw, you take all the fun out of it!

Legality?

[identity profile] hartt-tommel.livejournal.com 2005-04-12 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
Didn't the old Traveller game system also rate what types of weapons (if any) were legal on that particular planet? You might want to include that too.

-Tom

Re: Legality?

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2005-04-12 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
Since I'm using GURPS, that will be in the crunchy-numbers table under CR (Control Rating.) GURPS weapons table include a Legality Class, which matches up with the CR.

[identity profile] collie13.livejournal.com 2005-04-12 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
(Minor rant: Grabbing the link for the Richard Scarry book, I see that it is for the abridged edition. ... What bloody need was there for an abridged version of one of the greatest children's books ever?...)

From some reading I did a while ago, it was not so much the books were abridged... as they ran smack dab into political correctness. Sorry -- I loved them too. :(

[identity profile] isomeme.livejournal.com 2005-04-12 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
[livejournal.com profile] laurellady calls the new version What politically palatable, inoffensive, and comprehensible-to-American-children things do people do all day?