Familias reconstituidas

To create a planetar y system and some physical details about planets, roll up the values you need below. Or leave all blank, and only roll them when the players actually need them. Note that you may already have determined some details if you have created an alien species first.

Star Type: Roll 1d3, three times.

» Light Color: Blue, Yellow, Red » Star Size: Dwarf, Normal, Giant » Number of Stars: Single,

Binar y, Trinar y

Number of planets: 3d6-2, of which 20-50% will be gas giants. Remove one planet if you need an asteroid belt.

Planets in the habitable zone: 1d3 (+ 1d3 moons each)

Roll on the tables below for each planet in the habitable zone: Planet Size

Planet size is probably most important as a “psychological hook” for the players. Resources and areas to explore will be sufficient on even the smallest planets, though it gives some guidance to population size.

1d100 Planet Size Gravity 01-20 Extra Small 0.7 G 21-40 Small 0.85 G 41-60 Medium 1 G 61-80 Large 1.15 G 81-00 Extra Large 1.3 G Multiple Stars

Star systems with two (binar y) or three stars (trinar y) seem to be quite com- mon. Often one of the stars have plan- ets (if there are any), with the other star(s) orbiting at a distance. If the stars are too close, planets are more unlikely and one of the stars starts cannibalizing on the other.

Clusters of stars also seem to have planets, contrar y to what was believed earlier. Planets with perpetual daylight and half a dozen sunsets a day might be possible after all...

Starport Type (Optional)

1d100 Type Description 01-20 Full Build and repair all types of ships 21-49 Standard Repair and larger up- grades for common ship types 50-79 Local Simple repairs & mainte- nance 80-00 Emergency Landing area & emergency gear

148 WORLD BUILDING

Atmospheric Pressure

1d100 Atmospheric Pressure 01-19 Too thin (vacuum suit) 20-39 Thin (breathing mask) 40-59 Earth like

60-79 Dense (unpleasant)

80-00 Too dense (breathing mask) Life (if not already defined)

1d100 Life 01-19 Lifeless

20-39 Single-cell life 40-59 Plant life 60-79 Animal life

80-00 Intelligent life (Tech Level)

Planets with just one climate or bi- ome (ice planets or desert planets) are quite common in sci-fi. In reality sci- entists believe this to be ver y rare, or even non-existent: Even ver y cold or hot worlds are bound to have some cli- mate variation. Overall climate 1d100 Overall climate 01-11 Ver y hot 12-24 Tropical 25-37 Warm 38-50 Earth like 51-63 Cool 64-76 Chilly 77-89 Ver y cold 90-00 Frozen

Percentage of planet surface covered by water: 1d100. On a Ver y Cold or Frozen planet, a large percentage will be ice or snow. Atmospheric Breathability 1d100 Breathability 01-24 Vacuum suit 25-49 Breathing mask 50-74 Unpleasant 75-00 Earth like

Unbreathable atmospheres can for exam- ple have too high levels of methane, CO₂, hydrogen, nitrogen, ammonia, be corro- sive, and/or contain pollutants (ashes, pollen, sulfur).

149 WORLD BUILDING

Special World Features

Here is a list of unique features that will occur sometimes, with var ying frequency.

01-07 Double Planet. Probably a special case of a

ver y large moon, two small planets orbit each oth- er.

08-14 Ringed. Rocks and blocks of ice form a disc around the planet. Beautiful to see from space, spectacular from the planet’s surface.

15-21 Habitable Moon. A satellite with either an atmosphere or oceans. Not uncommon around gas giants, though temperatures tend to be a bit low if they are too far out in a system.

22-28 Tide-Locked. The planet is turning the same side to the sun all the time. The night-side is freez- ing cold and the day-side is extremely hot. The small areas of twilight are best suited for humans. 29-35 Canyon. A planet with a thin atmosphere can sometimes have pockets of breathable air in re- cesses like canyons and valleys. 

36-42 Gaia. All living beings have formed a joint

consciousness, sometimes taking on an individual will of it’s own to develop and protect the planet. Psionic powers of some kind are probably involved in this.

43-49 Heav y Bombardment. With a lot of material left unused when a planetar y system was formed, planets will have many more meteorite strikes than normal. This is a natural stage for young systems, decaying over time. Interesting compounds and or- ganic molecules can be brought to a planet this way.

50-56 Rogue World. The mighty forces involved

when star systems are formed will sometimes

plunge a planet away into deep space on its own. Hard to detect and almost certainly lifeless.

57-63 Seismologically over-active. Either by inter-

nal powers or because of gravitational forces, some planets have large numbers of active volcanoes and tectonic plates grating at each other to produce vio- lent recurring earthquakes.

64-70 Artificial. For ver y high tech societies, cre- ating a planet from the resources found in a star system is feasible. It’s a possibility to shape the perfect world for their species.

71-77 Unique resource. The planet houses a unique compound, plant or animal, highly sought after (or perhaps not even discovered before). Can be devas- tating, enriching or grant the discoverers/inhabit- ants great power, depending on how it is handled.

78-84 High radiation. From the planet itself, from

the star or from a near-by gas giant. 

85-91 Tidal Effects. Tidal effects from a moon or

an accompanying planet not only affects water but also land masses, heating the planet from inside and creating seismological activity. 

92-98 Flare Star. Relatively small stars can have

recurring huge solar bursts, making them double in size. For planets in close orbit this results in both a heat wave and higher levels of radiation, sometimes even in deadly doses. An atmosphere will reduce the effects. Life will be problematic and indigenous species are likely to  have a high degree of muta- tions. 

99-00 Rosette Configuration. An artificial con- struction where two objects are placed opposite to each other in orbit.

150 WORLD BUILDING