Re: [GZG] [FT] NAC campaign setup

[Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Zoe and Carmen Brain wrote:

> One thing that bugs me slightly - and this is a personal opinion, and 
what we have is probably far too good to change to correct it.
>
> The relative numbers of colonies for major vs minor powers.
>
> I think that the "Big 2", the ANC and ESU, should have 16, the 
"Second 2", the FSE and NSL 8, the other canonical minors 4 each, 
non-canonical minors 2, and break-aways and fledgling powers 1.
>
> Those are ratios, not actual numbers, and YMMV.
>
> For example, I think the OU is too big compared to the ESU, though 
probably about right compared to the other minors, the IC etc. Though 
given the large numbers of "M"s it has, maybe it should have an 
uncharacteristically small number of quality systems compared to others. 
3 vs the usual 4 perhaps (and an effective 5-6 when M class systems are 
taken into consideration)
>
> Anyway, just an opinion, and I certainly don't want the change the 
world - unless a cmplete re-draw is needed for other reasons.


    This is true, and is an unfortunate artifact of the
    "herding cats" nature of the GZG group.

    For deciding the size and location of non-canon empires.
    there was not official authority.   And I was not about
    to set myself up as one.

    So when somebody new pops up and wants some stars for
    their empire, I generally gave them what they asked for.
    I only tried to limit them to a "reasonable" number of
    stars (generally about four) since unclaimed stars was
    a finite resource.

    Now if you were both insane and had a burning desire to
    do things the right way, one could take on the monumental
    task of creating the canonical Full Thrust universe map
    by running a GDW style "Great Game".

    One would have to create or select a set of campaign
    rules, draft reliable and committed players to play the
    various empires (preferably the ones who create the
    back stories), shake me down for a state-of-the-art
    campaign map of local space, then run the game while
    taking copious notes.

    Ken Burnside did this to generate the background
    history for his Attack Vector: Tactical game, except
    they did not actually gameplay battles.  Instead it
    was more like role playing/collaborative storytelling,
    where they tried to select outcomes that would make
    for a compelling narrative.  Ken also had a player
    who was the four horsemen of the apocalypse, who
    would occasionally throw a monkey wrench into the
    work to stir the pot (plagues, famines, and other
    disasters)

    But again this is such an overwhelming undertaking
    that you'd have to be crazy to try it.

    The original Full Thrust canonical map I made had no
    real plan behind it.  I tried to have the ESU and the
    NAC arranged like hemispheres surrounding the core
    worlds, but I did not do a very good job.  The other
    empires were just randomly scattered around.
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