Re: [GZG] [FT] NAC campaign setup
From: Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@p...>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 22:31:17 -0400
Subject: Re: [GZG] [FT] NAC campaign setup
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.
_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@lists.csua.berkeley.edu
http://lists.csua.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l