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Minimum Standards for Setting Additions

Use this as a standard for setting additions of star systems/planets?

  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .
Wes

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In order to improve the setting in general, I propose the following minimum standards:
  1. For every star system article you add to the setting, you should have at least one planet planet article associated with it.
  2. Planets also need to have adequate information on their environment, like surface gravity, climate, and atmosphere, etc.
  3. For every planet, it should have at least two specific, unique RP locations, like a tavern or a starport. These can, but are not required, to have their own pages.
  4. For each of these locations: if they're inhabited, there should be at least two named NPCs that are there as regular locals. At least one of them should have some sort of plot hook (like a job offer or info that could lead to an RP adventure).
  5. Keep the history of star systems, planets, and locations up to date by adding a note about what happened whenever you RP there.
We would also be attempting to bring the existing Star Systems up to this standard. Basically, we have a lot of underutilized worlds that we could make more interesting.

Do you guys agree with the above?
 
Before voting with regards to the NPCs, are we talking fully develoed NPCs with a charcter sheet and bio. Also who controls said NPC to make sure they are handled properly.
 
I would expand #2 to specific exactly what constitutes the minimum acceptable level of detail. I also would clarify on #3 that either they are only required if the planet is inhabited, or that the locations can also be interesting landmarks or viable landing areas.
 
If this could become the new minimum for star systems and planets, then I can see this being more acceptable to most people. As it stands, the current standard for system articles is very daunting and actually makes people weary of even trying.
 
I voted no, mostly because I've developed the only star system with no planets (ASE-006) and it has a few RP things listed in the space stations located in the system. It's a Trade Waypoint. It's a military base. A star system doesn't need planets for RP opportunities. You just need to be creative in order to utilize it.

However, for those that do have planets, I would have to agree with information about gravity, climate, RP locations, etc.
 
As long as the no planet sysstem doesn't become over used to avoid doing the work for planets, I can accept that the occassional no planet system.

Perhaps limit to one per faction.
 
Maybe, then, the star system would have to have at least one interesting location, whether or not it's a planet. Unless I'm mistaken, as we understand it today only very young, hot, and enormous stars have no orbiting bodies of any kind.

Ideas other than planets can be asteroid belts, Oort clouds/Kuiper belts, comets, captured celestial bodies (which I suppose would count as planets anyway), space stations, megastructures like Dyson spheres or ringworlds, etc.
 
Also, I'm not sure I'm crazy about the NPC idea in practice (even though I like the sentiment), at least not on submission. I think it should be required that when a plot takes place in a new system and the GM introduces a local NPC, they should be added to the wiki, along with any details the GM gives them. Subsequent plots using the NPCs can add to them as they go.
 
Ahhh I hadn't thought of that, darn it wish I had. Yea, not all star systems have planets in them; they may very well have just debris or even just a rogue star. Thus I think we should allow the occasional no-planet star system, espically since those are possible (and have actually been discovered in our own universe)
 
I was thinking one-line NPCs would be acceptable (although ones with pages would be better). For example:
  • Mildra Brusson: Female Engineer. Mildra has blue hair and white eyes. She wears a gray jumpsuit and carries a tablet computer. Mildra suffers a traumatic fear of crowds.
I generated this NPC here.

As for no-planet systems, they wouldn't need to have planet pages.
 
In all honesty this goes back to the site needing some kind of standardized template and or layout for star systems, planets, and settlements (and links tying all three together). As far as NPCs go I think those shouldn't be a mandatory bit, a pile of setting information would provide a GM with more then enough to make one up for plot on the fly.
 
That is what this is setting a base template, and folks can expand beyond that.
 
I like the idea of blank stars existing that are then "charted" by adding an article of "what's actually there".

What's the policy for spaces beyond the map or spacial phenomena?
 
We don't really have a policy for phenomena (exist the restriction on artificial FTL deadzones). For spaces beyond the map, there's definitely more space out there, but we generally try to keep everything contained in the map because the map still has large unexplored sections and underutilized locations.
 
The chelti homeworld is located off the edge of the map. Mostly because the most populated side of the map (the east) is already crowded real estate with no room for the sprawling tiny colonies chelti have on their frontier. The East is also the only side of the map with factions worth dealing with in the small to medium range, which is what chelti are tailored towards providing content to.

The West is mostly desolate waste stars next to a massive Star Army of Yamatai star cluster fortress with unlimited neko production factories, and Nepleslia's own colonies. Not prime grounds for smaller factions to enjoy the jolly old spring fighting and cooling off with the onset of winter. South has a similar problem with only Nashoba's HSC and the now defunct Sesestrians squatting there.

Looking at the map closely, the large sections of it are increasingly undesirable due to the "zoning" by larger factions. Yamatai's string of fortress starts going from the Ketsurui Military Sector to the Samurai Military Sector and continuing across Veronica, HX-2, HX-5 and all the way to Asura basically gates off at least fifteen unclaimed stars in Yamtaian South East Frontier and cut off the sectors South from the West with an iron curtain, while the only way from South to East is through Lorath territory.

Yamatai isn't the only on guilty of this "Zoning" (who knows what the Matriarchy needs with E-8 through E-13, but eh), but it limits my ability to maraud and pillage and even hijack throughout known space. Also, I think it would be kind of cool for other factions to be out exploring space beyond the border as some sort of far east sector, bringing back exotic items and fantastic stories and probably a few STI's. Chelti aren't the only ones out there, after all.
 
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