If you’re unfamiliar with SWN, it’s an old-school style tabletop RPG with a system that’s a marriage of Dungeons and Dragons and Traveller. Sandbox play is encouraged, with many tables and tools for randomly creating game elements on the spot, from whole worlds to quirky citizens to alien monsters. My favorite innovation is the tag system for planets, where each world is given two main descriptors, with many story ideas flowing from the crossover between those tags. I will be using the Core Rulebook, the Free version of which can be found here, as well as the Mandate Archive: Stellar Heroes, with rules for solo characters.
Step One: Sector Generation
While I’ve rolled up sectors from scratch before, I’ll forgo that here for the easy route. At http://swn.emichron.com it’s so easy to randomly generate a whole sector, with aliens, businesses, NPCs and all. Seed#1136787 comes up as Tartarus Lambda, a fittingly menacing name for our setting. A quick overview of the sector has some inspiration for future game elements.
In SWN there are five tech levels, meaning the standard level of technology a world can reliably produce. They range from Stone Age at TL0 to the superest of superscience at TL5.
- Highest tech level world: Atef, TL5, Zombies/Abandoned tags. The only TL5 level planet in Tartarus Lambda is Atef, named for the white crown of ancient Egyptian god Osiris. Coincidentally, Osiris would feel right at home on this zombie-ridden deadworld. The Abandoned tag shows that Atef hasn’t been inhabited by civilized folk for some time. I guess a zombie apocalypse is as valid a reason as any to move to another planet.
- Lowest tech level world: Papadakis, TL0, Colonized/Secret Masters tags. There’s something ominous about Papadakis, with its primitive technology and shadowy overlords. I’m not sure what it all means yet. Could these “colonists” have been left here by a mysterious organization, forced to utilize only the most basic tools for survival. Is it a grand experiment, or a prison colony of some kind? Like a Space-Australia? Perhaps we’ll find out!
- Regional Hegemons: The Regional Hegemon tags are a special thing in SWN. A Hegemon is suitably powerful enough to exert control over a certain region of space. I’ve always interpreted that as several surrounding planets in its own hex or those directly adjacent. As we start off, these are the known greater-powers in the sector, but we may discover more as we continue.
- Sagarduia, TL4, Reg.Heg/Psi Worship tags. “The Psi Guardians of Sagarduia”—I love it already! We’ll make it the Sagarduian Imperium for some extra Dune flavor.
- Aethylla, TL2, Reg.Heg/Warlords tags. They are only TL2, roughly 18th Century to Industrial Revolution tech, so I’m thinking these Warlords in charge are the ones with the spaceships, lording over a largely steampunk populace. In fact, the name evokes “ether”, so maybe the warlords have an airship aesthetic. Have they spread to other worlds? Let’s see if there are other low-tech and easily subjugate-able worlds nearby!
- Other notable worlds:
- Baraka’s primary population is alien, with the Desert World and Forbidden Tech tags. Whatever clandestine advancements those aliens wield, I hope we discover someday.
- Planet Asa is home to a psychic academy, but it’s nestled away on world with an invasive atmosphere in the middle of a hazardous system.
Going over the list of worlds, I can see a few other places that spark the imagination. There are other categories that will more fully define the sector, such as its aliens, religions, and corporations, but I think it’s time we get on to our characters...Next Time!
