A World a Week: Six of 'Em Dammit-1

With the conclusion of my War Star Spacers campaign, my dabbling has returned from the more epic-minded saga back into what I call "episodic space." Who knows, maybe I just can't help but make maps of space and come up with story lines even when I don't a play session or two lined up within the next couple of months for it, I am working on my "Big Space" rules for my Spaceship SF RPG. My excuse is that I have a randomized genre gaming event next week, so I need to have some notes ready.

Episodic space, is where I don't have much of a outline as to where the story is going to go when the PC spacers show up. Oh there is a purpose that must be worked through, like "ship repairs," "system survey," or "science projects." A narrative twist like "romance," or "rescue," or "robbers," or a few other things is going to pop up. The "Big Space" notes are my shortcuts to developing the minutia of the universe around the players.

With my charts I develop a "sector" with 2d3 alien species to encountered. I go with the aliens first because, you know, fantasy.  Rolling my ever-handy 2D (two six-sided dice) and translating them into "2d3" results (find a chaos theory doctorate students  to explain this approach), I've come up with four as my number. Using my carts I come with the looks, motivations, and tech levels of these species. I even randomized the names, because I get tired of hearing my own head.
"Zovindu", an interstellar race of orange-skinned shape-shifters (limited to environmental forms), that want to dominate the universe. They, the denizens of "Zov Space," are rather outgunned by the universe though.
"Ukawin," the species of little green men that dominate 3/4 of the sector with their "standard" (as advanced as the PCs) spacefaring technology. Their "United Ukawin Kingdoms" (the U.U.K) could be a serious evil empire, but they're short and cute, with a single antenna, and pink/brown spots.
Now the noble Nesm, the Nesm, species, known for their tall stature grey to pink skin, and three antennae, would rather be space explorers, but 2/3rds of their worlds have been incorporated into the U.U.K. because of their rudimentary knowledge of space travel and weaponry.
The Truzow Federation, is the strongest of all the non-UUK spacefaring species though still not as modern as they need to be. Their cooperative politics with both Zov Space and the Nesm's Free Worlds have strengthened all three nations.

In each sector there is six sections, which are divided into six more fields. I roll a "red D6" and a "yellow D6" and that helps me map out the 36 fields of the sector. The first tells me how cluttery a sector is with solar systems and planetary sub-systems, a "6" result tells me there is at least one nice Earth-similar planet. The second die tells me how populated, or how much traffic is moving through the area. A six means a major mining colony or a space-station is in the area. The result of a "2,1" following Ken St Andre T&T critical fail rules means a black hole in the area. Meanwhile I get more creative with the "1,2" result with stuff like pulsars, ion storms, and heavy-dust nebulae. The Characters whips will enter the sector at a starting point numbered 1-6 depending on a D6 rolled by its pilot.

It took me longer to write this blog than it took me to develop this game setting standby.