 April 2, 2011 - 7:16pm | Was brainstorming in the UPF campaign thread and was thinking of the a document that would have a series of tables that would let a referee roll up results to determine what is discovered as a UPF ship (frigate?) performed an exploration mission in various sectors surrounding the Frontier Sector. So imagine the region of space around the frontier represented as a square that is sub-divided into 3 rows and 3 columns giving you 9 squares within a square. The Frontier Sector would be dead center and called the Frontier Sector. The squares to ethier side would be called Sectors: Frontier East and Frontier West or other more imaginitive names. The squares or sectors on the bottum row would be within the Great Expanse and have names that deliniate their location in this region. The top row of squares, or at least the one directly north of the Frontier Sector would be called the Xagyg Sector. Each sector would have a table detailing the kinds of discoveries that would turn up in system there. For instance, since all of the Yazirian colonies are in the SW quadrant of the Frontier sector, a UPF ship exploring south or east of the Frontier Sector would have a higher likelihood of finding the Yazirian home world or a planet with wreckage of a yazirian exploration craft that was sent out before the yaz's discovered the Frontier. Or- exploring East of the Frontier Sector would have a higher likelihood of discovering sathar belonging to Clan Y etc. Or since the erona of volturnus are suppose to have sent out exploration ships that essentially alerted the sathar to their presence any ship exploring West or NW of the Frontier Sector could encounter an eorna exploration ship with crew still in their advanced cryogenic stasis So this thread is to brainstorm ideas for Sector names and to discuss the types of discoveries that carry higher likelihood in those sectors.
The above is proposed sector names Color code: Red= known sathar space Pink= suspected sathar space I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 3, 2011 - 5:42am | A system exploration document would have a series of "dirty" tables for quick system generation and a table or simply a list from which the referee could choose an interesting item from Frontier East sector: Clan Y sathar operate/have their home base so you could expect sathar outposts, listening post, bases, etc. The significance of saying its clan Y is (IIRC) that their naval philosophy is based on fighters so encountering clan Y sathar would be like encountering cylons and maybe you best bring carrier yourself. Outpost #1 is on the extreme east of the Frontier Pirates need to get off the grid sometimes and Dramune system has too great of a Space Fleet presence these days. There would be a chance of a pirate outpost in this direction but with the clan Y sathar it'd have to be small or it'd be one that maintains a low profile. Perhaps the pirate have developed good usable intel on the sathar but are obviously dis-inclined to share it. Vrusk Explorers- encounter a vrusk conglomerate flagged ship on an exploration mission. The issue with discovering other explorers is that if you both discover something significant than the first one back that files the astrogation data gets paid for the route and may get to corner the market or sell the info on the discovery to someone who can corner the market on the new discovery. No one wants to come in second and a little bit of sabotage that delays a competitor is not beyond the pale. Misjumped freighter out of Clarrion, Madderly's Star, Theseus or similarly located star systems. The ship out of Madderly's star could be full of Merco mercenaries while the ship out of Clarion could have a noble on board. StarMist Sector: High likelihood of encountering Clan X sathar and or their zurraquor allies anything from an outpost to a base to a fleet rally point. could encounter a mechanon ship on an enigmatic mission. Misjumped yazirian, or Rim originating ship with the complications of out of fuel, emergency on board (medical to engineering), crashed, damaged and drifting, attacked and left for dead etc. lost eorna exploration vessel from before the sathar visited their planet- likely this is a space hulk or on the planet- crew member(s) could have survived in the advanced cryogenic chambers that the eorna had. Again there is a lot of activity out this way and the UPF sends ships in this direction regularly to keep an eye on STarmist and Mechano so pirate bases would be small and secret if at all. Great Expanse South Fewer stars this way so astrogation will inevitable involve long jumps 10-15ly Lynchpin system was developed as a major (and secret) UPF base as part of a strategy for dealing with the sathar so.. there must be some sathar presence in the Great Expanse but I prefer to make them as being based in the Great Expanse East sector and only just recently pushing exploration vessels in this this direction looking for forward bases south of the Frontier so only a minor presence in this sector- outposts, and lone vessels. mostly found on the eastern side of this sector. Yazirian homeworld should be in this direction or Great Expanse South. Setting material I've been working on calls for Yaz home system to have suffered the visitation of a wandering brown dwarf to explain the yaz exodus and the penchant for terraforming among them- trying to preserve the lost world on new worlds. Still whatever you do with the yaz homeworld its probably in this direction. No doubt there are some lost yaz exploration vessels and they could be found this way too. Misjumped ships from the Frontier Black Hole the Great Expanse is a lonely place and pirates might just find it a good place for a secret base, possibly bringing in a starliner full of slaves to work for them- that sounds like an interesting premise PCs were passengers on a a starliner but now they are slaves on some pirate base. can they escape and get back to the frontier. Great Expanse East Sector: Fewer stars this way so astrogation will inevitable involve long jumps 10-15ly Clan Y sathar should at a minimum have a presense here to explain the neccessity of Lynchpin system. So bases & outpost of all sizes are possible. The Mhemne system is at the extreme Southeast of the Frontier sector so encountering a mhemne crewed ship would not be unusual. Perhaps a mhemne freighter has misjumped, experienced an engineering emergency, been attacked by sathar. or even run out of fuel. Rescuing civilians is a naval activity and interacting with distressed mhemne could be the set up or backdrop for a bigger adventure. lower likelihood of misjumped ships from the Frontier in this direction could be a good location for a sathar destroyed civilization in this direction with one of their listening obelisks like the one left on Volturnus. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 3, 2011 - 5:31am | Thinking to rename Frontier West as Starmist Sector ooops Mhemne home system is south east in the Frontier, my bad I'll go back and correct my posts I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 3, 2011 - 6:45am | Muld Sector: Possiblility of Clan X sathar and their zuraquor allies misjumped Rim vessels Humma pirates lost CFM explorers Clikks? Great Expanse West Sector: Long jumps from fewer stars higher likelihood of encountering lost yazirians or ancient yaz exploration vessels (first contact with yazirians who have never heard of the Frontier nor of the Family of One; ie they will be very clan-ish and apt to violence) black holes I dont expect pirates to be deep into this sector as they prey on commerce but they could have a base or outpost on the edge near the frontier Clikks? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 3, 2011 - 6:01am | The Xagyg Sector and the un-named sector to the northeast are wild cards The dust nebulae have been portrayed in the setting material as being difficult to navigate through so these sectors will be difficult to reach though a trip through the Rim to Klaeok system (Point Go) would be the launching point to enter Xagyg Sector. can always place sathar there but the geography of the Frontier would suggest very little chance of lost Frontier citizens turning up there. lost eorna exploration craft maybe. Possibility of lost CFM or Rim flagged vessel but by and large these sectors would be very blank slates for the referee. My personal prefference is to put dralasite origins to the northeast. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
