GM Prep: World, Maps, missions

As with STWT, the GM makes up the basics of the homeworld and makes maps of the "adventuring area."

WORLD

What’s the World Like?
Choose 1:

• An arid, rocky world with deep rivers and fierce winds
• A cold, glacial world with a large, shallow sea along the equator
• A hot, flat world covered with jungle and marshlands

By default, your world has these:

• A population of 100-150 million souls, spread across various sovereign cities and settlements (surplus 1-trade, want +balkanized).
• A fleet of about 40 warships, plus some smaller support craft (3-harm 1-armor {medium scale tbd})

Choose 3:

• Your world’s population is large, 200-300 million souls divided among many warring states (surplus +1 trade; want +rebellious).
• Your world’s population is small, 50–75 million souls (surplus -1 trade, want +anxious instead of +balkanized).
• Resources: extensive agriculture (surplus +1 trade; want +idle)
• Resources: extensive manufacturing (surplus +1 trade; want +idle)
• Resources: a widely-known trade center (surplus +1 trade; want +idle)
• Your fleet is +1 scale, whatever that means.
• You have a network of  orbital stations around the planet. Your fleet gets +2 armor when fighting to protect your world.

Choose 1:

• Your world owes protection tribute to an alien clan (surplus: -1barter; want: +reprisals).
• Your fleet is small instead of medium, fielding only 10-20 warships.
• Your fleet is outdated and underfunded. -1 harm
• Your cities are poorly protected. Your fleet gets -1 armor when defending your world.

Support
Project Vanguard is supported by a government agency. If your world has a small population, that agency may fall under a single planetary government. Otherwise it’s a cooperative venture between groups who don’t like each other that much.

Either way, getting the support you need can be complicated. Captain: every time you return to your world for repairs and to take on supplies, roll + favor(homeworld).

• On a 10+, your ship is fully resupplied and repaired.
• On a 7–9, your ship is resupplied and repaired, but the GM chooses a want.
• On a miss, or if your world is currently threatened or your mission performance under review, you must resupply and repair your ship out of pocket, and your world is in want.

MAPS

GM, make a map of explored space. You have a lot of flexibility in terms of size and scale, but go easy on the details. close by, a few settlements; further out, a couple regions claimed by alien clans; beyond that, the stuff of rumor, legend: riches, danger, etc.

Draw "routes" between charted worlds where travel is much faster and easier.

Make notes of what's valuable on the map. What does each new settlement provide? What could the alien clans provide? What dangers to they pose?

Missions

At the moment, I think missions can be easily served by the fronts process in AW. The only real difference is where the fronts are coming to bear.

This stuff all looks pretty cool. I like how you've "up scaled" the hard hold creation process to a world. Two thoughts:

First, was it a conscious decision to make all three choices for "what the world's like" pretty inhospitable? I can see that as a good source of conflict and adversity when you're back home, but if the focus of the game is going to be roughing it away from home, you could still have a complicated political system on a relatively earth-like or even more comfortable planet to keep up that side of the trouble with coming home. Nothing wrong with those choices, of course, I'm just curious what made you pick them :)

Secondly, with the 'pick three good things' list, I noticed the three resource choices, and that brought up a couple of questions. First, do you intend for them to be stackable (you take all three resources and get surplus: +3 trade/want: super duper idle)? And then I wondered if you just wanted different fictional effects for how the world gets its money (heh "just fictional effects" for an AW hack, I know) since they all give you the same mechanical effect. Maybe you could come up with some custom wants, like "strikes" for production or 'famine' for agriculture or 'trade deficit' for trade. I dunno.

The roll+favor(homeworld) move is awesome :)

First, was it a conscious decision to make all three choices for "what the world's like" pretty inhospitable?

Yeah, in my head it's part of the drive to get out there and settle new worlds.

Maybe you could come up with some custom wants, like "strikes" for production or 'famine' for agriculture or 'trade deficit' for trade. I dunno.

Yeah, agreed. The above is sort of a brain-dumpy first draft.