All posts by Tom

Building a Star System – Fochrik

In a couple of my timeline posts at the end of last week, I mentioned an annual competition on Hum in the Fochrik system, the homeworld of the Humma race in Star Frontiers. The tweets were as follows:

This immediately got me thinking about how the Hum calendar interacts with the Galactic Standard calendar of the Frontier and if the Rim had a different standard calendar.

Since in my Clarion calendar system post, I mentioned that I would probably do more calendar systems for other planets and in my last State of the Frontier post I said I would write about creating a system map, I thought I’d roll all of these thoughts and ideas into a series of “how to” posts as I flesh out the Fochrik system.

I’m planning on dividing this into three parts. In this first article, I’ll be talking about generating the astrophysical description of the system. We’ll go over what we know from published material, adding a bit to that, refining the details, and trying to generate a stable star system.

In the next post, I’ll actually walk you through the process of creating a system map for Fochrik like I did for the Duergan’s Star system.

In the third post, I’ll generate a calendar for the Fochrick system. I don’t know yet if all three planets will have a unique calendar or if Larg and Forge will base their calendar off of Hum’s. We’ll see when we get there. I’m not planning to address a standard Rim calendar at this time as I need to look over the other Rim systems first. That may be a future post.

Anyway, let’s get started.

What We Know

Let’s start with what we know from published materials, both original with TSR and material from the fan magazines. There isn’t much, but let’s assemble what we have.

The Rim was introduced in TSR’s Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space, vol 1 as the area of space that the three new races introduced came from. It was specifically left vague in the supplement. Whether they intended to flesh it out more in later volumes that never were published we’ll never know. On page 50, in the “Planets of the Frontier” table we have the following entry for Fochrik:

For this series of posts, we’re interested in the stellar spectral type (F9), the number of known planets (three in this case) and their rotational period (the Day column which is given in hours). Also, the number of moons might be used in making the system map and we should probably consider them in making the calendars as well. The other information is not needed for this endeavor.

Beyond that, there is little said about the system in Zeb’s Guide. The worlds of the Frontier have little blurbs with interesting facts about each of them but there is nothing on any of the Rim worlds. We’re basically left with a blank slate.

In a Star Frontiersman article (issue 15), entitled Humma Hop Back, TheWebtroll talked about the race but gave no information on the star system. Tom Verrault did a little bit of work on the Humma in issue 13 of the Frontier Explorer were he fleshed out their racial description some more but again nothing was really mentioned about their star system. However in another article in that same issue, where he adds detail to the boon’sheh, a fan created race from the early Star Frontiersman issues, he places them with the humma in the Fochrik system with the humma forcibly relocating the boon’sheh to Larg from their mutual homeworld of Hum. But that’s all we have.

In the end, we just have the table entry for the system to work with. Which tells us we have three habitable planets, some moons, and their approximate rotation periods. We get to create everything else so let’s dive in.

Fochrik

We start with the star. It is given a spectral type of F9. That makes it a little more massive and brighter than the sun but not by much. I like to use the table on this page for my starting point of stellar masses and radii as it has broken the data down in to details for each spectral classification. Plus the author has gone through, and based on the spectral energy distribution, given you the RGB colors for the star. I’m a little leery of the radius data on that page but we won’t be using that in this analysis.

From that page we get a mass of the F9 star for 1.1 solar masses. Looking at the adjacent spectral types, F9 and G0, they have listed masses of 1.2 and 1.1 respectively so that gives us a range to work with and tells us that the F9 star is probably a bit heavier than 1.1 solar masses but within rounding errors. Plus there is scatter based on other factors as well so we have some room to wiggle about. Let’s do some quick calculations.

The mass of the sun is 1.989 × 1030 kg. so we have a range of 1.1 to 1.2 times that to work with or from 2.1879 × 1030 to 2.3868 × 1030 kg. Like I did for White Light, I want a few more decimal places so I’m going to roll some dice for the digits. I’ll keep the 2 before the decimal place, roll a d4 for the first digit, and then d10s for everything else. That will possibly let me go slightly outside the range but that’s fine. Here’s what we get:

I ended up rolling a d8 and dividing by 2 just so it was easier to see in the picture. I just rolled the dice and then went left to right as they fell on my desk to pick the order.

So we end up with a stellar mass of 2.21766549 × 1030 kg which probably has more decimal places than we need but that’s fine.

Size of the Habitable Zone

The next thing we need to know is the range of the habitable zone for an F9 star. We’ve got to squeeze three planets into that area. We don’t need to be exact, but we want some reference. For this Wikipedia has a good article on the habitable zone that you can read to determine the various factors that go into determining it. There is also a really great picture (reproduced here) that almost gives us what we need.

The only real problem with this image is that the x-axis is in relative flux on the planet rather than distance. But I can work with that to get values for Fochrik.

We start by getting the percentages for the edges of the habitable zones. This is done by drawing a line across at the temperature of Fochrik (6140 K) and then drawing lines down from those to the x axis like this (the blue lines)

This gives us a range of 178% to 34% for the optimistic habitable zone and a range of 115% to 36% for the conservative one. Now we just need to turn those into distances.

The amount of starlight on the planet is dependent on three things. The first is the temperature of the star (which we’re taking to be 6140K. We could figure it out exactly based on the mass but that is a close enough approximation). The second is the radius of the star. These two give us the total luminosity of the star, L, which is proportional to R2T4. The final bit, which we are trying to solve for, is the distance from the star. The amount of starlight received at a planet, F (flux), is proportional to the luminosity of the star divided by the distance squared, i.e. F~L/D2.

Combining those gives us that the amount of starlight at a planet, F, is proportional to R2T4 / D2. or D ~ sqrt(R2T4 / F). If we work in ratios to the solar temperature, solar radius, measure distances in AU (the distance from the earth to the sun), and enter fluxes as multiples of the flux at the earth (i.e. flux at earth =1, 200% = 2, 50% = 0.5, etc), everything works out.

For this exercise, we’re going to assume the radius of the star is the same as the sun. In reality, it’s probably a little bit larger but we’re not going to worry about that. So we can drop the R2 term. The ratio of the temperatures is just 6140/5780 = 1.062283737. That raised to the 4th power is 1.273392. Plugging in those number gives the following distances for the four flux percentages:

  • 178% = 0.8458 AU (inner edge of optimistic habitable zone)
  • 115% = 1.0523 AU (inner edge of conservative habitable zone)
  • 36% = 1.8807 AU (outer edge of conservative habitable zone)
  • 34% = 1.9353 AU (outer edge of optimistic habitable zone)

Those numbers seem about right. The star is brighter and hotter than the Sun so it makes sense that the habitable zone is a little further out than in the solar system.

Placing the Planets

Now that we know where the habitable zone is, we need to place the planets and add other details to the system. We start with the three known planets, Forge, Hum, and Larg.

The Habitable Worlds

Each of these planets is habitable, with fairly large populations. As such, they need to be at least somewhere within the habitable zone. Also, since they are relatively low gravity worlds, around 1g, they should probably be close to or in the conservative habitable zone as the optimistic one is more for “super earths” which these are not.

Forge is the innermost world of the three and the name itself implies that it’s a hot world. I’m going to place it just inside the conservative zone. It’s livable, but its a bit on the warm side. We’ll place it at 1.08 AU from Fochrik.

Hum is the humma homeworld. As such we’d expect it to have a relatively nice, comfortable climate. If we go back to the flux calculation from above and find the distance for 100% we get a distance of 1.13 AU. That’s a little too close to the 1.08 AU I picked for Forge so I’m going to move it out just a bit further than that and place it at 1.23 AU. It will be a bit cooler than Earth receiving only 84% the amount of starlight.

Finally, we have Larg. This has the smallest population, medium instead of heavy, so I’m taking that to mean that it probably has a less hospitable climate (in addition to the higher gravity). Plus, if we’re using the fan material from the Frontier Explorer, it’s where the humma deported the boon’sheh to. We’ll place this one out towards the outer edge of the conservative habitable zone at 1.61 AU.

Now that our habitable planets have been placed we need to fill the rest of the system. There are a number of ways you could do this. I have a really old program called StarGen that makes solar systems around F, G, & K type stars based on habitability ideas presented in a paper by the Rand corporation. It works pretty well but doesn’t take into account modern information as that paper is from the 60’s or 70’s if I remember correctly.

You could also use the star system creation system presented in the FrontierSpace Referee’s handbook. It’s a good system as well. However, for this system I’m just going to be arbitrary. I’ll roll some dice for distances but beyond that, I’m just going to pick what I want in the system.

The Inner Worlds

Let’s start close. What is inside the habitable planets? I’m going to place two small worlds in there. They are small, hot, and airless. They probably have mineable mineral resources but they are not very hospitable. We’ll place these worlds at .19 AU and 0.52 AU from Fochrick. To get those distances I simply rolled 4d10 and 9d10 respectively and divided the number by 100 to get the AU.

The Outer Worlds

Next let’s move out from the inner system and see what’s out in the outer reaches. We’re going to add in 6 more worlds outside the habitable zone. For now, I’m not planning on having an asteroid belt but that may change when we do some sanity checks below. We’re going to add the following planets to the system:

The truth is, it probably doesn’t matter how you generate the planets, their types and masses, and their distances. As long as you don’t repeat the same patterns over and over. The universe is vast and as modern exoplanet discoveries have shown, you can get all kinds of crazy systems. As a general rule, I allow anything to happen. Once. The more off the wall the idea is, the less likely I am to allow it to enter the setting twice but anything is possible once.

  • Jovian – 4.66 AU
  • Jovian – 10.59 AU
  • Ice dwarf – 16.58 AU
  • Ice giant – 18.13 AU
  • Ice dwarf – 20.53 AU
  • Ice giant – 26.01 AU

In each of these cases, to get the distance I created a number between 1 and 6.99 by rolling a d6 and two d10s. The d6 was the integer bit and the two d10s were the decimal bit. I then added that number on to the orbital distance of the previous planet. Like I said, this was going to be pretty arbitrary. Let’s keep going.

Orbital Periods

Now that the planets are all placed, we want to compute their orbital periods to know how long the length of their orbit is. While we don’t need this to create the map of the system. We want to do some sanity checks since the planetary placements were fairly arbitrary.

Orbital periods are given by Newton’s form of Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary motion, namely:

which I described in the Clarion Calendar post but P is the orbital period, a is the distance from the star, G is the gravitational constant, and M1 and M2 are the mass of the star and planet respectively. Since M1 >> M2, we’ll ignore M2 in our calculations.

You could do this by hand, or use a spreadsheet, or use an on-line calculator. I’m going to use this handy website that allows you to enter the values in a number of different units and does the math for you. I’m just going to leave the mass of the planet at 1 earth mass in the calculation. If I was going for full detail, I’d figure out the mass of each of the planets but this is really just an approximate sanity check. For example, if I set the mass of the first Jovian planet to 100 earth masses, it would lengthen the orbital period by only 10 hours, so it’s not something I’m going to worry about here.

Plugging in the values for the planetary orbital distance and the mass of the star we get the following data:

PlanetOrbital Distance (AU) Orbital Period (hours)
T10.19687.46
T20.523112.57
Forge1.139316.45
Hum1.2311323.3
Larg1.6116957.2
J14.6683501.4
J210.59286061
ID116.58560391
IG118.53662106
ID220.53772144
IG126.011101096

Planetary Names

I should really come up with names for the other planets but since this is the humma homeworld, the names should tie into their history and culture and I haven’t really thought too much about that yet. I’ll leave naming for a future post or as an exercise for the reader.

Mainly here I’m just looking to see that we don’t have any resonant periods with the two Jovian planets. With orbital periods in ratios such as 2:1, 3:2, & 3:1 we would have potential stability issues. My only concern is with the second jovian and the first ice dwarf. They are in a nearly 2:1 orbital resonance but that might actually be okay and why that planet is where it is. So I’m going to leave it alone. If I really wanted to check system stability, I’d generate the masses, starting positions and velocities, and then enter all of that into a simple n-body computer simulation and run it for a million years or so of simulated time to make sure nothing went crazy but I think this will be fine.

Planetary Sizes

Okay, while this isn’t strictly necessary to draw the system map, we might as well figure out how big each of the planets are (and their surface gravity. When I do the system map, I like to have both the distances to scale and the sizes of the planets to scale so if I want to do that, I need the sizes.

The equation we’ll be using for this is

where g is the acceleration due to gravity (m/s2), M is the mass of the planet (kg), r is the radius of the planet (m), and G is just the gravitational constant (6.67408 × 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2). Additionally we’ll want an equation relating the mass of the planet to its density which is just the volume of the sphere times the density or

where ρ is the density (kg/m3). While we could do this just with the mass, I like to make sure the physics work out for the type of planet so I like the densities to make sense and prefer to include it in the calculations. Combining those two equations gives us an equation that relates the gravity, the radius, and the density:

This is what we’ll be using to get the data we need.

Densities

As part of this we’ll need densities for the planets. We’ll just be picking those from reasonable ranges which are the following (in g/cm3):

  • Terrestrial (rocky) Planets – 3.5 – 5.7
  • Ice Dwarfs – 1.8 – 2.5
  • Ice Giants – 1.2 – 1.8
  • Jovians – 0.6 – 1.4+

To get it into the units we need (kg/m3 ) we just multiply by 1000. The Jovian planets may not have an upper density limit because once you get to be the size of Jupiter, adding more mass doesn’t change the radius much, it just increases the densities. Brown Dwarfs, which are 10-80 times Jupiter’s mass are still all about the same size.

We’ll use these density ranges to pick densities for the individual planets in the sections below.

The Habitable Planets

First up are the three habitable planets that we know the gravity on. In this case we need to rearrange the last equation to solve for r giving us:

A Note on Gravity

For Star Frontiers, I’ve adopted the conventions that 1g = 10 m/s2 rather than 9.8 m/s2 as on Earth.  It makes all the math in the end easier and there isn’t much difference.  I figure that if you have all the races coming from different worlds, it would make sense that they standardized on a round number instead of some arbitrary fraction.

All that’s left is to pick a density or each of the planets and start computing. Well, almost. I also want one more decimal place for the actual gravity of the planet. To get that I’ll roll d8-4 x 0.01 and add that to listed gravity to give me some variation that would round to the listed value.

The table below is what we ended up with. Interestingly, all the gravity adjustments I rolled were positive. I also selected the planets with the higher gravity to be a little more dense but modulated that somewhat due to the fact that planets that form closer to the star would have higher density as well. Thus the densities of these three planets are pretty close together.

NameGravity (g)Density (gm/cm3) Mass (Earth)Radius (km)
Forge0.815.320.60125,443.75
Hum0.915.430.81395,991.93
Larg1.125.551.46227,215.22

Hum turns out to be almost exactly the same size and mass as Venus, just a little further out in the system so it’s not as hot. Forge is smaller still by about 10% in radius and 75% in mass while Larg is about 13% larger in radius than the earth and almost 50% more massive.

Other Planets

Now lets due the rest of the planets in the system. In this case we have to pick two of the three values: radius, density (or mass), and surface gravity. I’m going to select the radius and density for each of these planets and then compute the mass and surface gravity. Surface gravity doesn’t exactly make sense for the giant planets (jovians and ice giants) but it is the gravity present if you were stopped at that radius at it’s upper atmosphere. Here’s the table:

Name Gravity (g)Density (gm/cm3)Mass (Earth)Radius (km)
T10.335.650.03492,064.55
T20.675.390.33734,468.50
J13.301.48525.8279,714.14
J21.550.92140.1460,108.51
ID10.142.220.01892,297.74
IG10.971.2119.90228,623.16
ID20.062.190.00181054.47
IG21.021.3518.47226,919.75

J1 is almost two times the mass of Jupiter while IG2 is a little smaller than Pluto. If you want to compare them exactly this Planetary Fact Sheet page gives the data for all the planets in the solar system.

Wrapping up for now

And that’s it for this entry. We have the number of planets in the system, mass data on the star, and orbital and size data on the planets. I’m fairly confident that we don’t have to worry about system stability issues (of course since I didn’t do a rigorous check, this will be the one time it doesn’t work 🙂 ).

In the next post, we’ll create a system map for Fochrik and walk through the process of doing so. If you have any questions or comments, let me know below.

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY59.395 to FY60.025

Here’s the next installment of the timeline. This section include the events that will be considered the first battles of the Second Sathar War, namely the Battles of Volkos and Zebulon between ground and spaces forces of the UPF and the sathar at Volturnus in the Zebulon system.

After posting the last installment, I was asked if it would be possible to provide references to the sources I’m using to create the entries. I realized that would be a good idea so I’ve started adding reference notes to all the entries that come from other sources other than me just making them up for the timeline. I also wrote a short introduction to the timeline that explains the references that I’ve reproduced below.

I’ve gone back an annotated all the previous entries in the downloadable timeline document and where a reference occurs in the blog post, I’ve included the key for those references at the end of the post.

Introduction

The following timeline represents the events of the Second Sathar War as I designed them to act as a backdrop to various campaigns I am running.  I have a different timeline that runs the PCs though all the game modules in an appropriate order to progress their skill level but that is not this one.  This is somewhat of a more fiction-oriented timeline rather than on specifically designed to run PCs through.

One major aspect of this time line is that I’m using the Knight Hawks rules for interstellar travel, namely that it effectively takes 9 day to make an interstellar jump between systems (ignoring astrogation calculation times).  I also make the assumption that if you’re not stopping in a system, you only have to spend as much time in that system as the astrogation calculations take as you stay near jump speed during your transit.  If you assume 1 day per light year per the original Alpha Dawn rules, it would change the timing of many of these events, possibly significantly.

If you’re familiar with the timeline in the Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space, you’ll quickly notice that I don’t follow that much at all.  I pull some of the names and ideas but the timing and actual events follow my own muse.  Additionally, regardless of the source of the events, the exact dates are all of my creation.

In the events that follow, I’ve tried to annotate the source for names, dates, and events if they come from any of the material originally published by TSR.  Although I’m not going to annotate the system, planet, and common megacorp names as I assume those are common knowledge.  I will also try to annotate any material coming from the Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer Fanzines.  If you notice that I missed anything, let me know so I can fix it. 

Annotations that appear at the end of an entry refer to the entire entry.  If it appears in the middle, it applies just to the name that the annotation follows.  Each time an annotation first appears, there will be a footnote describing it.  I’ve also added an Appendix listing all the annotation codes.  If no particular annotation is associated with an entry you may assume I made the entry up out of whole cloth or extrapolated it from other events specifically for this timeline.

Timeline

As always, the data presented in this blog post cover only the new dates but the downloadable document at the end is cumulative over all the timeline posts up to this point.

Date (FY)Event
59.395 Subspace signal received at Laco from unknown location in Sathar space.  Images appear in the great pyramid showing a similar complex on a warm, swampy world with a large number of sathar and a bipedal insect race (Zuraqqor) working around the complex.
59.396 Despite efforts to keep the images contained, news and clips of the images race across the Frontier on the subspace network.  Scientists, politicians, and the general populous speculate as to the cause and meaning.
59.397 A new group, calling themselves the Anti-Satharian League (ZG), stage demonstrations on the major population centers of the Frontier and at the Council of Worlds, broadcasting excerpts from the Laco pyramid images and demanding increased military buildup for Spacefleet.
59.398 Completing its time in the Cassidine system, SF Nova departs Triad for the Dramune system to spend some time cooling rising tensions between Inner and Outer Reach.
59.399 A CDC scout ship, the Twilight Moon, returns from charting a jump route to the Rhianna system.  Due to preliminary geological findings, CDC decides to keep the route a secret and establish a mining outpost on the planet Alcazzar. (SF4)
59.400 Most businesses across the Frontier close a day early in anticipation of the big Founding Day celebrations tomorrow, allowing citizens and organizations some extra time to prepare.
60.001 – UPF Founding Day celebrations occur on most planets across the Frontier to celebrate 6 decades of peace.  However, there is a subtle undercurrent of concern due to the recent events on Laco.

– The first new sathar ship that will be committed to the coming conflict, a destroyer, emerges from Sathar Starship Construction Center (SSCC) #2, located in the as of yet unexplored (and unnamed) Liberty system.
60.002 – In wake of the Founding Day celebrations, the Frontier Peace Organization hold a rally outside the Council of Worlds headquarters demanding a reduction in Spacefleet and Landfleet operations.  Some small altercations occur with members of the Anti-Satharian League.

– Observance Day on Clarion (White Light) commemorates all who have fallen defending the system through history.  This year it also continues the UPF Founding Day celebration on the planet for an extra day.
60.003 UPF PG Virgo, together with the Pale militia (a frigate and 3 assault scouts), depart for the Zebulon system. Streel additionally sends a frigate, 4 corvettes, and 3 assault scouts to assist.
60.004 Council of Worlds reconvenes for its 60th session. Initial topics of debate include events on Laco and Zebulon and their implications for the future of the Frontier.
60.005 Fighting breaks out between Frontier Peace Organization and Anti-Satharian League supporters outside the Council of Worlds headquarters.  Local police have to resort to doze and tangler grenades and stun weapons to break up the fighting.  Over 4 dozen beings detained.
60.006 Sathar SSCC#4, near Fromeltar and Klaeok, completes construction of a light cruiser and 4 fighters.
60.007 SF Nova arrives in the Dramune System.  It will remain in system for 15 days as a show of force to help quell rising tensions between Inner and Outer Reach
60.008 Laco artifacts taken from the PGC chartered freighter, KSS Dawn’s Glow, anonymously arrive at the Triad Institute of Technology (TriTech) and are delivered to their originally intended recipients. (NCW)
60.009 The Sathar cleansing fleet arrives in the Zebulon system and begins decelerating towards Volturnus. (SF2)
60.010 The UPF fleet arrives in the Zebulon system and begins decelerating toward Volturnus and the sathar fleet. (SF2)
60.011 A small freighter, the KKSS Trader’s Gambit, misjumps travelling from K’aken-Kar to K’tsa-Kar and ends up in the Sundown system. Damaged engines force the crew to look for a planet to land on to effect repairs. (SF3)
60.012 – Battle of Volkos – Sathar ground troops advance on the ruins of the Eorna city of Volkos. A rag-tag army, composed of members of Volturnus’s native races and lead by members of the TSES Second Volturnus Expedition, manage to hold off the invaders. (SF2)

– Battle of Zebulon – UPF forces engage the Sathar fleet around Volturnus. Although the UPF forces are mostly smaller vessels, the sathar are driven off with only a frigate, 2 destroyers, and a heavy cruiser surviving.  UPF losses were 1 UPF LC and AS, 1 Streel Corvette, and 1 militia AS (SF2)
60.013 News of defeat at Zebulon reaches sathar space.  Clan infighting begins around debate of invasion and who should lead assault.  This will continue for several months.  At the same time all the clans begin building up their military.
60.014 – News of victory over sathar forces in the Zebulon system announced across the Frontier to mixed reaction.  Performance of the Assault Scout in its first major engagement with sathar forces is deemed a success.

– Pale militia and Spacefleet given priority at the Pale and Gran Quivera starship construction centers to replace vessels lost in the battle at Zebulon.
60.015 – The  KKSS Trader’s Gambit sets down on the planet Starmist in the Sundown system. (SF3)

– Having effected repairs from the battle with the sathar, the Pale militia and Streel ships depart Volturnus (Zebulon) to return to Pale (Truane’s Star) while the UPF forces remain on patrol.
60.016 – The Anti-Satharian League stages demonstrations on Pale, Gran Quivera, Triad, and Clarion demanding increased militarization and growth of Spacefleet

– The navigator and second master of the KKSS Trader’s Gambit, Maximillian Malligigg, makes contact with an intelligent race, the Heliopes, on the planet Starmist (Sundown). (SF3)
60.017 Leotia (SFKH0) Valentine Leotus, crown princess of Clarion (White Light), celebrates her 32nd birthday (18.5 earth years)
60.018 A listening station in the Kazak system in the Rim detect faint signals of sathar ships in the outer system.  Flight vessels are dispatched to investigate.
60.019 Repairs completed, the KKSS Trader’s Gambit leaves Starmist to attempt to return to charted Frontier space. (SF3)
60.020 The Flight vessels in Kazak arrive at the location of the sathar signals but find nothing more than a faint indication that ships had passed through the area days before.  Two ships are left on station while the rest return to base.
60.021 Winter begins in earnest on Alcazzar, delaying the start of CDC operations on the planet. The corporation hopes that this delay will throw off any competitor’s interest in the mineral rich system. (SF4)
60.022 SF Nova departs the Dramune system for the Fromeltar system
60.023 – The KKSS Trader’s Gambit successfully jumps back to the K’tsa-Kar system.

– The Pale militia arrives back home from the Zebulon system.
60.024 Scouting through the Zebulon system, a UPF frigate and assault scout find an ancient vessel in a distant solar orbit. Investigation reveals it to contain a cache of cryogenically stored Eorna eggs. If still viable, the eggs will secure the survival of that species. (SF3)
60.025 Delegates from the Pale militia are dispatched to testify at the Council of Worlds regarding events on Volturnus.
DetailedFrontierTimelineDownload

References

  • NCW – A New Can of Worms on-line game events
  • SF2 – Starspawn of Volturnus module
  • SF3 – Sundown on Starmist module
  • SF4 – Mission to Alcazzar module
  • SFKH0 – Warriors of White Light module
  • ZG – Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space, Vol 1

State of the Frontier – Jan 2019

I seem to have gotten into a pretty good rhythm of posting this month by getting a post out on every Tuesday. I’m going to try to keep to that schedule going forward. I’m not sure I will be able to add to that schedule (see the big announcement below) but hope to not fall below that.

Looking Back

I actually managed to meet all of my expected targets this month. The big one was getting the next section of the Ghost Ship Osiris adventure – Osiris Under Siege – finished. The full text went out to my Patreon supporters on the 18th with the post going up here on the 22nd.

Along the way we got the Laco Sand Dragon, which I mentioned in last month’s “state of the Frontier” post and finally got to use in my on-line game last Friday, the post on the Clarion calendar system, and one post on the starship construction system.

That calendar system post came completely out of the blue as I was working on the timeline project. The starship construction system post was originally going to go out the day the calendar system post dropped but I wanted to post the calendar system immediately. That will probably be a recurring theme for those construction system posts. I’m using them primarily as filler when I have a slow week. Although if I get a lot of requests, they might get a higher priority. Similarly for the calendar post. I had a lot of fun doing that one and think I might work out the calendars (and in some cases system details) for all of the systems in the Frontier. Let me know what you think.

Looking Forward

The next step for the Ghost Ship Osiris adventure is to design the alien craft that is embedded in the center of the Osiris asteroid. That may take a while as it’s a fairly big ship. I hope to have that design done, probably as the last post of the month.

I need to get back to finishing up the Murder at Rosegard adventure as well. You’ll probably see a post on the sathar inhabited cave system for that adventure which really is the last location map (I think) I need. Otherwise, there is a lot of writing to put together all the bits and pieces I’ve posted into a coherent package.

You’ll probably get another starship construction post at some point in the month together with the update on the Frontier Timeline. I have a few other ideas for posts included a requested post on how I make system maps, a discussion on starship construction in the Frontier, and some thoughts on Spacefleet crews. Those last three are just ideas with nothing really concrete written as of yet but if you’re interested in me fleshing them out, let me know and I’ll bump them up on the priority list.

But Wait …

I mentioned at the top of the post that I had a big announcement. Starting in February I am officially relaunching the Frontier Explorer fan magazine.

The first new issue will probably come out in April, exactly one year after it would have come out if WotC had not asked me to put it on hold. I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past year and given all that has happened and the information I’ve received from WotC, it’s time to get the magazine back up and running.

I might get started on this and have to stop, but as of now, I’ve told WotC of my intention to restart it and they haven’t told me that I can’t. So keep an eye out here and on the Frontier Explorer website for more details as I work out the plans going forward. I’m hoping to get some more community involvement in the production of the magazine and broaden its scope but we’ll have to see how that pans out.

And that’s it for now. Things are moving along nicely and I hope you are still enjoying the content being produced. Feel free to share suggestions, questions, or ideas in the comment section

A New Starship Construction System – part 3 – Life Support

My previous posts about my new starship construction system generated a bunch of interest and several people expressed a desire to see more. So I thought I’d post up bits and pieces of this over a series of posts. I’ll start by posting the things that are new relative to the starship construction system in the Star Frontiers Knight Hawks Campaign Book.

I already posted the introduction the the “A New Starship Construction System” post back in early November. Although it wasn’t labeled as such, the “Starship Engines” post that came shortly after the first one was part 2 as that was taken from the new system as well.

The timing of these posts will be probably be fairly sporadic as I’m using them as filler between posts on other topics and when I’m working on things that I’m not ready to post about.

I’ve already posted about the engines. The next major change is the life support system which is the topic of this post. With each of these posts going forward, I’ll try to include some of the rationale and thinking behind the choices I made and the way I designed it. So let’s get going.

Design Considerations

One of the things that I found problematic with the life support system as described in the standard rules was that it always felt way too small. For example say you had a ship that could support 9 people. According the the standard rules, all of the life support equipment for the entire ship, including all the food, oxygen, and water for 200 days of operation would weigh only 9 kg (20 lbs)!

That 9 kg is split half and half between the equipment and the consumables so there is 4.5 kg (10 pounds) of equipment to get all that food, water, and air throughout the ship and then 4.5 kg of the food and water itself. Now I don’t know about you, but there is no way I can feed my family of 9 for a week, let alone 200 days on 10 lbs of food. Maybe if it was all just a nutrient pill that you took once a day that had all your calories, vitamins, and minerals. But I think even that is stretching it and definitely not very satisfying.

One could argue for transmutation/replicator technology ala Star Trek but that just doesn’t jive with the feel of Star Frontiers for me and I don’t want that in my game. Beside the rules state that the life support systems “include food storage and preparation, and water, atmosphere and wast processing and disposal.” (KHCB p 14) That sounds like it should include a bunch of machinery and storage space.

So looking at the life support systems I saw two things that needed to address. One was food storage and preparation, and the other was water, air, and waste circulation and processing. All of that was going to take up space. I needed to make sure the system had enough mass and volume associated with it to include all the various bits of machinery and storage and pipes and duct work needed to get the various bits around the ship as needed.

Another aspect was that I wanted it to be completely configurable by the ship designer. The default rules were for a 200 day supply in the system. Since I knew this new system was going to be bulkier, I wanted to give the option to go for a smaller system if you knew that was all your needed. For example, a shuttle, that just goes up and down from the ground to orbit probably doesn’t need a life support system that can go 200 days without recharging. It probably only needs a few days at most and so can have a much lighter system.

Related to that I wanted to have different types of system for shuttles, system ships, standard interstellar ships, and first class accommodations. Each of those have different requirements and therefore should have different costs, volumes, and masses.

Taking all of that into account results in the following system. The excerpt of the rules that follows assumes that you’ve determined the crew size and number of the various passenger cabins you will have on the ship before to select the life support system.

Life Support Equipment

Now that you know the number of crew and passengers, you can select the amount of life support equipment the ship needs. It is recommended that you have at least one backup life support system in case there are problems with (or damage to) the primary system.  The life support system includes a variety of systems such as air filtering and circulation, food preparation, sanitation facilities, and waste management.  Life support on starships are mostly a closed system, almost everything gets recycled.  However there are some consumables that do need to be replaced (mainly foodstuffs) every so often.

Your life support system needs to be at least large enough to support the crew and passengers.  Typically, ships are designed with a little extra capacity as a safety margin or for emergencies.  There are four basic levels of life support available for ships, depending on the ship’s needs:

Rudimentary – This is an air supply system only.  It doesn’t handle food or waste materials and just provides an air supply and air circulation system with filtering.  This is the life support system you find on launches, workpods, fighter craft, and other ships that are not designed to be occupied for a long time.

Basic – This level of life support adds basic food storage and preparation, sanitation facilities, and waste management to the air supply system of the rudimentary life support level.  Supplies are stored and consumed and waste material has to be removed regularly.  There is little to no recycling of materials except for air and water.  This level of life support is typical of shuttles and some short distance system ships that typically operate for only short periods of time between calling on bases where their life support can be resupplied and waste material removed.  It may also be found on some lifeboats.  While you could equip a starship with this type of life support system, making it large enough to support long missions uses up valuable space in the ship and tends to be more expensive in the long run.

Standard – This is the typical system for any starship.  It consists of complete air and water recycling, as well as recycling of waste material.  It typically includes some sort of hydroponics system for both growing fresh food and recycling carbon dioxide back into oxygen.  There are full food preparation facilities as well as complete sanitation facilities.  This level of life support is required for Journey class passenger accommodations.

Deluxe – This is a more advanced version of the Standard system.  It provides better recycling, larger food preparation facilities, more variety in the fresh foodstuffs, and better (nicer) sanitation and waste management facilities.  This level of life support is required for any First Class passenger accommodations.

A ship can have different life support levels for different parts of the ship.  This is quite common on passenger liners.  For example, if a passenger liner has 20 First Class cabins and 100 Journey class cabins.  It is not very likely that the owners will invest in Deluxe life support for the entire ship (although if they did, it would figure prominently in their advertising).  Rather they would invest in a Deluxe life support system to cover the First Class cabins and a standard system to cover the Journey Class cabins and the crew.

The volume listed for the life support system includes both the machinery and hardware for processing the air, water, food, and waste material as well as storage space for raw materials and duct work to move material around the ship.

Every life support system has two ratings.  The first is the maximum number of beings the system can support.  This determines the amount of mass and volume allocated for the life support machinery (pumps, filters, ducts, pipes, etc.).  The second is the maximum number of days that the system can support those beings without being refilled/recharged.  This determines the amount of volume committed to storage of life support supplies.

Base hardware costs and volumes per being supported

All values except base system volume are multiplied by the maximum number of beings the system can support at one time.

Type Cost Mass Base system volume Volume
Rudimentary 500 cr 0.2 tons 1 cu m 0.1 cu m *
Basic 1500 cr 2 tons 6 cu m 5 cu m
Standard 3000 cr 4 tons 15 cu. m 8 cu m
Deluxe 5,000 cr 6 tons 30 cu. m 10 cu m.

* This volume assumes you are equipping a small one or two room craft with this system like a fighter or launch.  If you try to put this into a larger ship the volume goes up by a factor of 10 for the ducting and pipes needed.

For example, our passenger liner has 20 First Class cabins and 100 Journey class cabins for crew and passengers.  It would need two life support systems.  The Deluxe system would support 20 beings.  It would cost 20 x 5000 = 100,000 cr, have a mass of 20 x 6 = 120 tons, and take up 30 (base volume) + 20 x 10 (volume per being) = 230 cubic meters.  The Standard system for the Journey class cabins would cost 100 x 3000 = 300,000 cr, have a mass of 100 x 4 = 400 tons and take up 15 + 100 x 8 = 815 cubic meters.  Thus the Standard system while being just a little more than 3x the size of the Deluxe system, supports 5x as many beings.

Supply cost per being per day

In addition to the base machinery costs, there is the cost of the food, air, and water needed for the beings on board.  Multiply each value times the maximum number of beings the system can support and then by the number of days you want to be able to support those beings without a reload/refill of the system.

Type Cost Mass Volume
Rudimentary 10 cr 0.05 tons .1 cu m
Basic 15 cr 0.15 tons .4 cu m
Standard 25 cr 0.1 tons .15 cu m
Deluxe 40 cr 0.15 tons .25 cu m

So if our passenger liner wanted to support its full complement of crew and passengers for 200 days without a resupply, the cost of the supplies and storage areas would be as follows:  For the Deluxe system the cost is 40cr x 20 beings x 200 days = 160,000 cr, the mass would be 0.15 tons x 20 x 200 = 600 tons, and the volume would be 0.25 cu m x 20 x 200 = 1000 cubic meters.  The standard system supplies would cost 25 cr x 100 beings x 200 days = 500,000 cr, the mass would be 0.1 tons x 100 x 200 = 2000 tons, and the volume would be 0.15 cu m x 100 x200 = 3000 cubic meters.

Thoughts and Comments

That’s the life support system rules in the the new system. Let me know what questions or thoughts you have in the comments below.

Osiris Under Siege

This is section 4 of the the Ghost Ship Osiris module. In this section of the module, the PCs dock at Outpost Osiris and have to liberate it from the alien robots that have taken control and are exterminating the outpost’s staff. I’ve posted the maps and room descriptions already, this post fills in the rest of this section of the adventure. At the end you can find a PDF of the full adventure section that you can download.

While this section is basically done, it is just a draft for the final module. If you find any issues, or have questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Arrival

Approaching the outpost, there is no response to any attempt to contact or communicate with the miners at the outpost.  Power appears to be on and there is nothing preventing the PCs from simply approaching and docking with the outpost.

As you approach the asteroid, you see that it is slowly rotating.  It is about 1.4 km long and 1 km wide, one of the smaller asteroids in the Outer Belt.  The stream of ejected tailings from the mining operation that you followed in ends several kilometers before reaching the base, as if the ore processing has stopped.  The docking bay doors are wide open with light spilling out into the darkness of space. You also see some lights through a few small windows about 50m from the docking bay.

The docking bay is more than large enough to accommodate the Mirage and is located right on the rotation axis of the asteroid.  Unless they try some strange maneuver, docking is straightforward.  There is no gravity in the docking bay at the moment but it can be turned on by a control panel next to the airlock if desired.  Gravity is present in the rest of the base.

As the PCs open the airlock’s inner door, they are greeted by a member of the mine staff, covered in blood, running down the corridor toward them.  Rounding the corner at the far end, is a Pursale combat robot exactly like the one encountered on the Dawn’s Luck. (see this post)  It takes aim at the mine staff member and fires, hitting her squarely in the back.  She collapses to the floor at the PCs’ feet, wounded but not dead. The robot shifts its attention to the PCs still standing.

The robot has orders to eliminate the alien lifeforms and will fight until it is destroyed or has killed all the PCs.

After defeating the robot, the PCs can stabilize the miner.  They learn that she is Kella Rezal, one of the scientists at the outpost.  A few hours after the scavengers left, a number of alien robots emerged from the deeper mine area and began attacking the staff.  She and another staff member had been holed up in the sensor and communications office and when they saw the PCs’ ship approaching, decided to try to reach them.  Unfortunately, they were detected by one of the robots roaming the halls. Her companion was killed as they tried to escape.

She can lead them back to the sensor and communications nexus where they can begin the process of clearing the outpost of the robots.

Clearing the Complex

Pursale Combat Coordinator Warbot

STR:    100        BP:    500
AGL:    60         INIT:    3
CRD:    70         Move:    13, Walking
PER:    65         Frame:    Huge
INT:    65         Docking: 15CU

Programming:  Warrior +0, Marksman +0, Commander +10 (Violent Plan)

Equipment: A/V, IR, motion, vocal, & lifeform scanners, communicator, military grade reflec & ballistic screens, heavy laser rifle, devastator, grenade rifle, comm jammer, 800 EU powerpack, military grade armor, computer link, 4 EMP grenades, 4 tangler grenades, 8 smoke grenades, & 8 frag grenades.

Styled similarly to the combat robot, the coordinator warbot is about the same size as a full grown Pursale.  It has a short squat body with six legs and two arms extending from the sides of the body near the front. Extending up from the front of the body are two long slender stalks, about 1.2 m in length that end in sensor clusters.

The arms end in manipulator hands that have three fingers and a thumb.  The left arm has a built in heavy laser while the right one is sporting a devastator and grenade rifle. The powerpack is built into the body as is the magazine that feeds the grenades to the grenade launcher.

These robots are designed for both front line combat and controlling and coordinating squads of combat robots in independent actions while communicating with a central command if necessary.

The Pursale robots have effectively taken control of the mine complex and are attempting to eliminate the mine staff.  There are a total of 16 combat robots all controlled by a single Combat Coordinator Warbot (see sidebar for stats). The arrival of the PCs and elimination of the combat robot at the airlock  has alerted the warbot to the PCs’ presence and it will begin marshalling its forces to oppose the PCs.

Complete maps of Outpost Osiris can be found in the room descriptions post.  The following sections describe the complex, the initial location of the robots and mining staff, and tactics that they will use to capture and eliminate the PCs.

The PCs should quickly realize that the robots they encounter are not just working at random but are being directed.  A successful skill check (Technician or Scientist) with a -20 modifier for working with alien technology should allow them to identify the communication channel being used by the robots to communicate and track it back to the warbot.  If the PCs attempt to jam the communications, see the section Jamming the Robots’ Communications near the end of this section for details on that process.

Initial Locations of Robots and Mine Staff

Mine Staff

When the PCs arrive, the surviving mine staff are scattered throughout the complex attempting to hide from the robots that are trying to eliminate them.  Of the original 16 staff members only 12 are still alive. Three were killed in the initial foray of the combat robots into the complex and the fourth was killed as she and Kella attempted to reach the Docking Bay and the PCs.  The staff members (both surviving and dead) are in the following locations.

  • Dr. Jamis Grandt (Hm) – Overwhelmed by the situation, Dr. Grandt has hidden himself in the hydroponics lab where he has so far been undetected.  If rescued, he will be able to provide lots of information about the staff and operations but will not have any suggestions as to solutions for the current situation.
  • Kella Rezal (Hf) – Kella is with the PCs and will either accompany them as they move through the complex or will stay on the Mirage.  She doesn’t want to stay anywhere else until she knows that the robots have been eliminated.
  • F’Vothee (Yf) – F’Vothee is hiding out inside the nuclear reactor on the power level figuring that would be one of the last places the robots would search for her.  Unbeknownst to her, in her haste to get into the reactor, she tore a very small hole in her radiation suit and is taking radiation damage (1D/hour – currently has 12 BP left).  If she is not found and treated within a couple of hours she will succumb to radiation poisoning.
  • Hiloo (Nm) – Hiloo is hiding  out in the Mineral Processing Plant (Docking Level).  He has backed himself up into one of the little side maintenance passages and wedged himself under some of the machinery.  The robots are a little too big to enter the maintenance passages directly but are starting to dismantle and destroy the machinery in an attempt to get to him.
  • Reid Esperon (Hm) – Reid had ventured down to the alien ship after Thrawl’s crew left to investigate and was caught by the robots leaving the vessel.  His body is about 2/3rds of the way from the mine airlock on the docking level to the alien ship. He was able to get a warning back to the staff allowing them to attempt to defend themselves or hide.
  • Clese Whayeson (Hm) & Vothi (E) – These two were killed in the Ore Loading Area (Docking Level) trying to defend the airlock connecting the mines to the outpost against the advancing robots.  They managed to destroy one of the robots whose body is in that area with them before they were overwhelmed by the other robots.
  • Petoph Baker (Hm) – Petoph is hiding in one of the robot storage room.  He’s working on trying to activate and reprogram the spare mining robot in that room to use it to attack the invading robots.  If he is not found, he will have the robot ready to go in 2d10+10 minutes after the PCs dock at the outpost.
  • Donio Welley (Hm) – Donio grabbed the blankets off of his bed and is hiding out in the Freezer.  He’s been there for a while though and is starting to succumb to the cold.
  • K’Yuuxan (Yf)- K’Yuuxan is hiding in the gym.  She has turned the lights out and set the area to zero gravity.  She has hidden himself in one of the upper corners of the room. She has a laser rifle and a 50 EU power pack and will fire on any robot that discovers her.
  • Melni (Nf), G’Vorta (Ym), & Taxu (E) – These three are attempting to hid out in the mine shafts.  They have managed to evade the robots searching the shafts for now but are slowly being herded toward capture.
  • Yo’Viltri (Yf) – Her body is in the stairwell between the Crew and Docking levels.  She and Kella were attempting to reach the PCs’ ship when they were caught by one of the combat robots (the one destroyed by the PCs) she was killed as they made their way through the stairwell buying Kella time to escape.
  • Chofa (Nf) – Chofa is hiding in the largest of the mineral storage bays.  She has squeezed herself into one of the shipping containers by removing some of the refined material that was originally in there which is spilled out on the floor.
  • Yuror (E)- Yuror is hiding out in one of the currently unused housing units.  They has barricaded themself into the bathroom with the lights out.

Robots

There are 16 robots currently active and moving throughout the outpost.  They are initially in the following locations but will start converging on the PC’s location as directed by the Combat Coordinator Warbot.  These are the positions of the robots when the PCs dock at the outpost.

  • Mine shafts – there are 6 robots here working in three pairs to search the shafts for the miners hiding there.
  • Stairwell – There are two robots in the stairwell.  One is sitting in the area between the crew and power level.  It is currently just on station watching for anyone to traverse this area.  The second is descending the stairwell between the docking deck and crew deck and is enroute to start searching the recreational areas of the crew deck.
  • Life Support and Hydroponics – A robot has just entered this area to start searching it.  
  • Central housing corridor – There is a robot in the central corridor between the housing units.  It is at the end of the corridor and will break down the door to and enter each room in turn working it’s way up the corridor.  It has already searched the units off the left corridor.
  • Raw Ore Intake – There is one robot in this area that has started to smash and dismantle its way down the maintenance access corridors searching for crew members.
  • Processing Control Center – There are two robots here attempting to dismantle and work their way into the maintenance passages looking for Hiloo whom they know is in the area somewhere.
  • Mineral Storage Corridor – There is a robot about to enter the leftmost Mineral storage area.  
  • Robot Repair Shop and Storage Rooms – A single robot is in this area looking for Petoph Baker.
  • Airlock to Mines – A single robot is stationed in this location to prevent any of the staff moving between the outpost and the mine shafts.
  • Alien ship access tunnel – About half way down this tunnel from the airlock to the ship is where the Combat Coordinator Warbot has stationed itself allowing it to communicate with all of its robots and the ship.

Robot Tactics & Timeline

Tactics

The destruction of the combat robot at the airlock has alerted the Combat Coordinator Warbot to the presence of a potential threat.  1d5 turns after the robot is destroyed, it will begin marshalling its other combat robots to identify and eliminate the threat.

The warbot does not have access to the outpost’s camera and security system so it only knows where the PCs are when they encounter one of the combat robots.  It will start by sending the combat robot from the Mineral Storage area to the airlock to investigate the destruction of the combat robot there.

If the PCs are still at the airlock when the combat robot arrives, or it sees them in the corridor, it will engage them immediately.  Otherwise it has a 60% chance per turn to pick up their trail and pursue them.

If a robot encounters the PCs and is destroyed, the warbot will retask the closest robot to that position to resume the pursuit.  If the PCs are making short work of the robots, feel free to direct two or more robots to their location.

It should become quickly obvious to the PCs that the actions of the robots are coordinated and being controls from somewhere.  If they can jam the communications, then the robots will just go about their last assigned task.

If the communications are jammed, the warbot will come out of the access tunnel to deal with the threat directly.  If needed the warbot can summon up to eight additional combat robots from the ship embedded in the heart of the asteroid (provided communications haven’t been jammed).  This gives the referee some flexibility to provide the necessary challenge for the PCs.

Timeline

The PCs can’t afford to take their time once they enter the outpost.  The robots are looking for them and for the mining staff. The longer the PCs take to eliminate the threat, the more of the mining staff will be killed by the robots.  The referee should convey this sense of urgency through the actions of the robots and any NPCs encountered.

The following timeline assumes the PCs do nothing to intervene or are ineffective.  Adjust events appropriately based on the PCs’ actions. All times are given in minutes after the initial encounter at the airlock with the combat robot.

Time (min)Event
3Chofa found in Mineral Storage Bay and killed.
5Petoph Baker found in robot repair shop.
8Yuror found in housing unit and killed.
13Dr. Jamis Grandt will be discovered in the Hydroponics lab and killed.
18Donio Welley will be found in the freezer by the robot that killed Dr. Grandt.
22K’Yuuxan will be discovered in the gym by the robot originally traversing the stairwell.  A short fight will ensue before he is killed.
26The robots will have smashed their way through enough of the mineral processing machinery to capture and kill Hiloo.
35Donio Welley will exit the freezer due to the cold if not previously discovered and start looking for survivors or a new place to hide.
60Melni, G’Vorta, & Taxu finally cornered and killed in the mines.
74F’Vothee  will succumb to radiation induced damage if not found and treated.

Jamming the Robots’ Communications

One option the PCs have for dealing with the coordinated assault of the combat robots is to jam the communications between them and the warbot.  To do this, a successful skill check with a -40 modifier would allow them to jam the communications. However, this check would have to be performed either using the equipment on the Mirage or in the Sensors and Communications room.  PCs with the relevant skills would know where they would have to be to jam the communications. Setting this up takes 1d10 minutes.

If the PCs jam the communications, the warbot no longer has input from the combat robots as to the PCs’ location and can no longer task robots to intercept and pursue the PCs allowing them to move around more freely.

The combat robots themselves will pursue their last assigned task, i.e. searching whatever set of rooms they were in, and then go idle and assume a defensive posture.  They will attack anyone that approaches them them will not actively patrol or seek out engagements.

Even with communications jammed, the warbot will still be broadcasting attempting to contact its combat robots and the PCs can still follow this signal to the warbot if they have thought to do so.

Destroying the Warbot

The warbot is actively controlling the combat robots as an extension of itself during this encounter.  If it is destroyed or deactivated, all robots without a specific target (e.g. the combat robots pursuing s3 and m3 or engaging the PCs) will immediately stop all action.  They will defend themselves if attacked but will not initiate an attack or pursue anyone. Those robots who are already pursuing someone or engaged in a fight will continue their current task and then stop when it is completed.

This deactivation only occurs if communications between the robots are not jammed.  If the warbot is destroyed or deactivated while the communications are being jammed, the robots will not stand down until the communications jamming stops.

Aftermath

Once the PCs have secured the outpost and defeated the warbot, the surviving mine staff can fill them in on the events that occured before they arrived.  The PCs can also send a message back to Nova Vista appraising them of the situation and outcome. If they have not already decided to do so, NVC will direct them to explore the ship embedded in the asteroid (Section 5) and secure it for future study.

Here’s a PDF of the full adventure section including the room descriptions:

GhostShipOsiris-section4Download

The Clarion Calendar

One of the things about sci-fi games that span multiple worlds is that each world has its own length of year and length of day that impact the way the planet operates. And while I’ve been pretty good about initially describing it for the worlds my on-line game has been set in, I’ve not been very good about keeping track of it during actual play.

I got to thinking about this some more as I was working on the Frontier Timeline. I needed an entry for a blank day and decided to make it the birthday of a notable person in the Frontier (Crown Princess Leotia Valentine Leotius of Clarion). And that got me to thinking about the time keeping on that planet.

Another thing that came out of this is the realization that so far, I’ve only really looked at this on planets that have really slow rotation periods. My online game has so far taken place on Pale in the Truane’s Star system which has a rotation period of about 55 hours and on Laco in the Dixon’s Star System which has a rotation period of about 60 hours. Clarion’s is 50 hours, 5 minutes. Which is funny to me since the length of a “Galactic Standard” day is only 20 hours. Maybe some day I’ll work on a system with a period close to that.

So this post is going to talk both about Clarion’s calendar and also about how I went about calculating it. We’ll start with what we know from published materials and work our way to a final calendar.

Stellar Data

From both the Expanded Game rules and the Warriors of White Light module, the star is described as a yellow-orange star. Zebulon’s Guide gives it a spectral type of F7 but that is a yellow-white star not a yellow-orange one. Yellow-orange would give it a spectral type of late G or early K so from notes I have in other places, I’ve assigned White Light the spectral type of K1.

This means that the star is about 72% the mass of our sun. The exact value I assigned is .72155 solar masses (actually I took it to a few more decimal places) or 1.43516×1030 kg.

Orbital Data

Orbital Distance

In the Warriors of White module there is this image of the White Light system:

Based on the scale on the image I estimated that the orbital distance of Clarion was about 93 million kilometers (for reference the Earth is about 150 million km from the sun). This makes sense for a K1 star that is less luminous than the Sun as a habitable planet would have to be closer. The exact value I gave for the semi-major axis of the orbit was 93,027,587 km. That was generated by simply rolling six d10s for the digits after 93. Had the first digit not been low, I might have rolled a d4-1 but I actually rolled a zero so I was happy.

Orbital Period

Now that we have the mass of the star and the orbital distance we can calculate the orbital period of the planet. This can be done simply by applying Newton’s form of Kepler’s Third Law of planetary motion:

Where we have the following:

  • P = the planet’s orbital period
  • a = the semi-major axis
  • G = the gravitational constant
  • M1 = the mass of the star
  • M2 = the mass of the planet (which we’ll ignore here as it is about half a million times smaller than M1)

I’m working in hours since I’ve decided that everyone in the Frontier uses that same unit of measure and it’s equal (for the convenience of us Earthlings playing the game) to an hour here on Earth. So an hour on Clarion is the same as an hour on Pale is the same as an hour on Gran Quivera (Prenglar system) is the same as an hour on Earth.

Plugging everything in in the correct units (left as an exercise for the reader) we get that the orbital period of Clarion around White Light is 5059.77 hours. This means that the “year” on Clarion is just under 253 Galactic Standard days; significantly shorter than the 400 Galactic Standard days in a Galactic Standard year (which is only ~91.3% of an Earth year). Compared to Earth, the year on Clarion is only 211 days long, about 58% of our year.

But we’re not quite done yet as we need to calculate that in terms of the local day.

Rotational Period

This one is easy. The Warriors of White Light module says that the rotation period of the planet is 50 hours and 5 minutes, with is just a little more precise than the 50 hours given in the Expanded Rules and Zebulon’s Guide so we’ll go with that number. I’m just going to leave it as is and not add any extra seconds on to it.

So if we take that value, it turns out that Clarion rotates 101.027 times every year. Or said another way, the year is 101.027 local days long. The fact that it was almost an integer number of days was a happy coincidence. I did not try to make that happen. I was pleasantly surprised when it did.

The Calendar

Okay, now we have everything we need to get the calendar set up. Well, almost everything. There is one more bit we need to do.

Clarion was settled by humans. Who we assume are somewhat like us Earthlings in that they work better on a 20-25 hour day than a 50 hour one. When the humans landed on Clarion, the decided to simply divide the long 50 hour diurnal period into two 25 hour days. They deal with the extra 5 minutes by adding in an hour the “night” period every 12 days and most people get a little extra rest that night.

Each of these 25 hour day periods are divided into a “day” period and a “night” period even though it may or may not be light or dark as one would expect by the name. Like the locals on Laco, they refer to the periods throughout a single diurnal cycle as “day-day” and “day-night” when the star is up and “night-day” and “night-night” when the star is down.

With this set up, there are 202.054 days in the year. They break it down as follows. (From here on out, unless specified, the term day refers to one of these 25 hour periods).

  • 1 week = 8 days (4 diurnal periods)
  • 1 month = 20 local days (10 diurnal periods)
  • 1 year contains 10 months with two special holidays occurring mid-year (between months 5 & 6) and on the last day of the year.
    • The mid-year day is Observance Day, set aside to remember and commemorate all those who have sacrificed for the survival and safety of the planet.
    • The end year holiday is Landing Day, commemorating the day the original settlers landed on the planet. In many ways it is also a celebration of the ruling Leotus family and is often the day for coronations of new monarchs or other events related to the ruling family.
  • Every 37 years, that 0.027 of a local day catches up with the calendar and they have a leap year. On that year, they add an extra day to both Observance Day and Landing day making each a 2 day holiday. The next such occurrence of the Clarion leap year occurs during FY 69.

Reckoning Age

One impact of the calendar is that people have a lot of birthdays. Because of the very short local year, and the fact that the rate that the settlers grow and mature is similar to us here on Earth, people on Clarion mature much slower than their “age” would indicate. A 16 year old Clarionite is only 9.25 Earth years old. You probably shouldn’t give them the keys to the hovercar.

Because of this, the early settlers established the age of 35 (in local years) as the age of majority on the planet. This roughly corresponds to someone that is 22.13 Galactic Standard years old (or 20.2 Earth years old). There has been a bit of a push in recent years to lower this to 30 local years but the movement has not gained much traction.

Crown Princess Leotia

Which brings me back to what started all of this in the first place – Crown Princess Leotia’s birthday. The Warriors of White Light module contains this little tidbit:

The current king, Leotus XIX, has ruled for 37 years and soon will no doubt abdicate in favor of his daughter, Leotia XX.

If you’re following along with my #SFTimeline posts on Twitter, and reading this on the day the post publishes (Jan 15, 2019), I’m going to spoil a timeline entry for next week:

FY60.017 – Leotia Valentine Leotus, crown princess of Clarion (White Light), celebrates her 32nd birthday (18.5 earth years) #SFTimeline

I’m taking the “soon” in the quote from the module to be within the next decade or so (GST) and have decided that it will probably occur during the 2-day Landing Day celebration in FY 69. I also want Leotia to be young but she will have had to reach her majority by then. So I decided that she is about to celebrate her 32nd birthday.

The abdication might have occurred sooner but by the time Leotia reaches her majority (which will occur on FY61.375, the Second Sathar War will be in full swing and Leotus XIX doesn’t feel that she’s quite up to that task at her young age and so decides to wait until the big celebration in FY69.

Final thoughts

I had a lot of fun working this out. I’ll probably be doing it for more of the Frontier worlds in the future, again probably tied to trying to tie a series of local events into my timeline project. Although I may go do Pale and Laco first as part of my game background.

Have you ever done this for any of your worlds? Do you think it adds to the verisimilitude of the game or is it just too much of a hassle? Is there anything I didn’t explain to your liking? Share your thoughts and ideas below.


Outpost Osiris Room Descriptions

I thought I’d have these done back in November but better late than never.

What follows are the basic descriptions for the rooms on the Outpost Osiris maps that I presented back in the Outpost Osiris post back in October (which I’m reposting here so you don’t have to jump back and forth). So without further ado…

Docking Level

  • Docking Bay – This is the docking bay for the base.  It is capable of holding up to a large size freighter.  The outer doors can be opened or closed from either inside the bay itself or from the Sensors and Communications room on the crew level.  There are separate large pressure doors going to the airlock, the various storage bays, and the refined ore extraction area to allow for direct loading and unloading of ships dock here without having to move everything through the airlock.
  • Airlock – This is the main airlock for the base connecting the docking bay to the rest of the complex. Primarily designed for personnel, it is also the route for getting large equipment (such as the mining robots) into the base.  Because of its size, it takes 30 seconds to cycle.
  • Mineral Storage Bays – These rooms are designed to hold the processed minerals extracted from the asteroid.  Their primary access is through the large pressure doors in the docking bay although they can be accessed via smaller doors from the main hallway.  Each of these rooms acts like an airlock and both doors cannot be opened at the same time.
  • Food Storage – This large room stores excess food stuffs for the life support system after it arrives until it is needed on the crew level.
  • Equipment Storage – This room contains a variety of equipment and machinery that can be used to repair and maintain the systems on the bases, especially the life support system and mineral processing center.
  • Tech Repair – This room is used for repair and maintenance of the equipment on Outpost Osiris.  It counts as an Engineering Facility (RHB p29) for equipment repairs.
  • Robot Repair – Similar to the tech repair room, the equipment in this area focuses on the upkeep of the outpost’s robot workforce.  There is always one or more robots in this facility for maintenance and repair. Like the tech repair room, this area also counts as an Engineering Facility for robot repair.
  • Robot Storage – These rooms house storage and charging facilities for the robots working the mines and maintenance at the Outpost.
  • Mineral Processing Center – This area is loud and full of machinery that processes the raw ore (taken in at area C) and refines it into the raw materials ready for shipment (deposited at area A).  There are various narrow walkways and passages through the machinery to allow for maintenance and repairs. Tailings of unusable ore are ejected out into space from the upper left corner through a series of airlocks built into the system.
  • Refined Ore Extraction – This is where the refined materials are deposited once the refining process is complete.  They are then moved from this area to the various mineral storage bays to await shipment.
  • Processing Control Center – This is the control center for the mineral processing center.  It allows the operators to oversee the refining process and monitor the state of both the material being processed and the machinery itself.
  • Raw Ore Intake – This is the area were the mining robots deposit the raw ore mined from the asteroid to be processed.  It contains a number of large bins and hoppers that move the raw material into the processing center. It is connected to the ore loading area (area H) via a series of airlock chambers.
  • Airlocks to Mines – This airlock provides access to the mine shafts.  The shafts are not pressurized so a vac suit is needed beyond this point.
  • Ore Loading Area – This is the unpressurized area where the mining robots bring raw ore to be fed into the mineral processing center.  
  • Stairwell – This is a stairwell that descends down to the crew and then power levels of outpost Osiris.  It is very rarely used as there are about 50 meters between the docking and crew deck and another 100 meters between the crew and power decks.  It is present primarily for evacuation in case the main elevator fails.
  • Elevator – This large main elevator connects the three inhabited levels of the outpost and allows for the movement of large machinery between the levels as needed.  It takes one minute to travel between the docking and crew levels and two minutes to travel between the crew and power levels.
  • Storage Room – This small storage room is used to hold various spare parts for the robots.

Crew Level

  • Sensors and Communications – This room contains several consoles that control the various internal and external communications and sensors.  There are also a number of windows allowing the occupants to see out into space. From this room all of the security cameras, radios, and other sensors can be accessed and monitored.
  • Offices – These offices are used to conduct the day to day administration of the outpost.  Each contains a desk, some chairs, and a computer terminal.
  • Life Support and Hydroponics – This area contains the life support machinery for the outpost and a large hydroponics lab that produces both fresh fruits and vegetables but also some of the oxygen used throughout the complex.  All of the water and air circulation pumps and filters are located in this area.
  • Dining – This the main dining hall filled with a number of tables and chairs and a large video screen along the left wall.
  • Galley – This is the kitchen where the outpost’s food is prepared.
  • Food Storage – This is a giant pantry containing the unprepared food.  There are a number of shelves and refrigerator units in this area.  When supplies here are low, they are replenished from the food storage bay on the docking level.
  • Freezer – A large walk-in freezer for holding perishable foods long term.
  • Main Computer – This room houses the main computer for the outpost and has, in addition to the computer itself, three terminals for accessessing the software on the computer.  The computer contains all of records on the mining and ore processing activities at the outpost as well as any information collected on the alien spacecraft. With access to the computer, an operator has access to all the security cameras and locks, the life support system, and can control the mineral processing center and robots.  The computer has a level ?? security system.
  • Housing – These apartment are approximately 100 sq meters (1000 sq ft) in size and each have the same floor plan (or mirrors of their neighbors).  The four units closest to the main hall are slightly larger (120 sq meters) and are designed for double occupancy.
  • Theater – This is a large theater and holovid room where the crew and staff can go to watch movies shows.  It is also used for teleconferences with Nova Vista headquarters and meetings of the entire outpost staff.
  • Pool – This room contains a large swimming pool that the staff uses to relax and stay in shape.
  • Sauna – This room contains a sauna that the crew can use on their off hours.
  • Changing Rooms – This area contains a number of changing rooms and showers as well as toilet facilities for use when using the pool, gym, sauna, and steam room.
  • Steam Room – For those that prefer a wet heat to a dry heat, this room provides a steam room for use by the staff.
  • Gym & Track – This large room contains a gym floor that can be used for any number of recreational activities.  The artificial gravity in this area can be adjusted to allow for a variety of different games and sports to be played if desired.  Unlike the rest of the complex, which has a 3m high ceiling, the gym has a 10m ceiling. Around the outside of the gym floor area, there is a running track that is not affected by the changing gravity.
  • Stairwell – This stairwell connects the three levels and can be used in case of emergency or failure of the elevator.
  • Elevator – This is the access to the large elevator that connects the three levels of the outpost.

Power Level

  • Stairwell – This is the stairwell access on the Power Level.
  • Elevator – This is the elevator access on the Power Level.
  • Control Room – This is the control room for the nuclear reactor that powers the outpost.  The room is secured by a level ? lock that only grants access to the technicians that operate the reactor.  It is usually empty as the system is fully automated and only requires checks once or twice a day.
  • Maintenance Access – This is an decontamination airlock that allows access to the reactor itself for any maintenance tasks.  The room contains several radiation suits that allow the technicians to work on the reactor without sustaining radiation damage.  Both doors cannot be opened at the same time and it takes 10 minutes to cycle the system once the inner door has been opened to clear out the irradiated air.  Both doors have a level ? security lock that only opens for the technicians that operate and service the reactor
  • Fuel Loading Access – This door is used to add new or remove spent fuel from the reactor.  It accepts only specially designed fuel canisters that are designed to hold the atomic fuel for the reactor and keep it contained and safe.  It is not large enough for any of the races to enter the reactor.
  • Nuclear Reactor – This is the nuclear reactor proper that powers the outpost and contains the fuel cells, turbines, piping, and heat exchangers that keep the reactor running and the energy flowing.

Coming Next

The next thing up for this adventure is the completion of the section involving the outpost. This includes bios of the staff, their location when the PCs arrive, and where the robots terrorizing the outpost are located and their tactics. I made some progress on that over the weekend and will continue working on it and get it posted as soon as I can. In the meantime, you can expect another post from my starship construction system if I don’t get it finished this week.

It’s also been requested that I do a post on how I actually created the Duergan’s Star system map so that might show up before I finish writing out the rest of this section of the Ghost Ship Osiris adventure.

As always, let me know if you have any questions or thoughts in the comment section below.

Laco Sand Dragon

It turns out this is 50th post on the site. I can’t believe I’ve already had that many posts since I started this back in May, just over eight months ago. I hope to be able to keep at least that rate of posting going into the future if not increase it. We’ll have to see how it goes. Regardless, I hope you continue to enjoy the material presented. Thank you for your support of this endeavor.

In this post you get a little critter I developed for my on-line game. Depending on when this drops, my players may not have actually encountered this little creature yet but they will soon. Depending on the size of the pack, the appearance of the sand dragon could be a small nuisance or a major threat to the party.

Laco Sand Dragon

  • Type: Small carnivore
  • Number: 2d5
  • Move: Fast (80m/turn)
  • IM/RS: 7/65
  • STA: 50
  • Attack: 60
  • Damage: 1d10 claws & bite
  • Special Attack: None
  • Special Defense: None
  • Native World: Laco – desert, mountains

Description

The Laco Sand Dragon is a small (60 cm long), four legged reptile that hunts in small packs throughout the desert and mountain regions on Laco.  They tend to be dull green, tan, or brown in color to blend in with their surroundings.

The sand dragons are cunning and fast and will use subtly and deceptive tactics to aid them in their hunts. The pack hunts as a group and will focus their attacks on a single creature or maybe two in an attempt to bring them down quickly.  They prefer to hunt solitary targets but will go after groups if necessary.  When going after a group they will single out a target that the majority of the pack will attempt to bring down while the others engage the rest of the group to separate and distract them from the primary target.

Detailed Frontier Timeline – FY59.368 – FY59.394

Here is the next set of events from the detailed Frontier timeline. This covers the events that will eventually be considered the start of the Second Sathar War, namely the activation of the Glass Pyramid on Laco broadcasting a signal into sathar space as well as the activation of the sathar artifact on Volturnus calling the eventual sathar fleet to the Zebulon system.

The data presented in this blog post cover only the new dates but the downloadable document at the end is cumulative over all the timeline posts up to this point.

Date (FY)Event
59.368 An enclave of sathar, ostensibly survivors from the Great Sathar War, found and eliminated on Pale. Based on intelligence gathered, it is believed that there may still be other enclaves on the planet. Citizens are warned to be alert.
59.369 Initial investigation of the “Kraatar Incident” completed. Those responsible for the severe Vist’Lat actions shown to be under some sort of cybernetic control by Legrange. Vist’Lat cleared and restored to Commercial Council.
59.370 The Streel interstellar shuttle, SCSS Laco Purveyor, shot down while landing on Pale. Origin of blast unknown. A skirmish over the downed shuttle results in over a dozen mercenaries dead but no loss of Streel forces or the injured shuttle crew.
59.371 News from investigations on Pale indicate that the new breed of Quickdeath was bred by local, long-time exotic creature supplier and bounty hunter, Trey Mulden, for unknown reasons. Mulden’s location is currently unknown. If seen, call Star Law immediately.
59.372 Several research institutions and zoos across the Frontier, expecting quickdeath shipments from Mulden, received multiple examples of the new variety. Forewarned of potential issues, most were contained but word had not yet reached Clarion and one handler was severely injured trying to contain the unexpected extra creatures.
59.373 Despite efforts of the Family of One (FoO), data on the newly discovered brown dwarf is now available. The FoO reaction to the news fuels speculation that the K4 star is Yazira, the “lost” yazirian home system.
59.374 The Cassidine Development Corporation’s new prototype paramilitary freighter, the CDCSS Nightwind, goes missing on its maiden voyage.
59.375 A small freighter, operating under a Streel charter, is attacked and destroyed in the Dixon’s Star System.  Crew escapes in lifeboats and are rescued.  Streel claims attack was by PGC vessels.
59.376 StarPlay releases the newest holovid movie in the Hawc, Star Law Ranger franchise.
59.377 UPFS Admiral Clinton completes its refit. As the remaining ships in SF Nova come out of refit over the next two days, the strike force prepares for another tour of the Frontier.
59.378 The governments of Kawdl-Kit (K’tsa-Kar) and Ken’zah-Kit (K’aken-Kar) sign a mutual trade and defense agreement.  It is expected that the Zik-Kit (Kizk’-Kar) government with join the trade alliance in the near future.
59.379 The General Overall Development Corporation unveils the Yazira Dome on Hentz. This massive, 100 square kilometer habitat is claimed to enclose a biome identical to that on the lost Yazirian homeworld.
59.380 Strike Force Nova, after completing a long refit in Prenglar, departs for a tour of the vrusk loop of the Frontier.  First stop, Cassidine.
59.381 Spacefleet dispatches several ships (1 AC, 8 F, 2 LC, 2 DD, & 2 AS), designated Patrol Group Virgo, from Prenglar to Dixon’s Star to help put a dampener on rising Streel-PGC hostilities.
59.382 A Vrusk-owned shopping complex on Kidikit (Madderly’s Star) is destroyed by the explosion of several bombs.  Many beings injured but no fatalities. The Kraatar Liberation Corps claims responsibility.  There is concern over rekindling the Free World Rebellion tensions.
59.383 Despite budget delays and squabbling over the need for upgraded defenses, Fortress Kidikit (Madderly’s Star) reaches the 75% complete milestone.
59.384 Tensions in Dramune on the rise as Outer Reach industries continue to ignore and violate Inner Reach trademarks and patents.
59.385 Astronomers on Hargut (Gruna Goru) claim to have detected artificial signals from a system several light years beyond the Frontier. They begin organizing a petition to request that the UPF send and exploration mission.
59.386 Galactic Task Force mercenaries, working under PGC direction, attack three Streel archeology sites on Laco. Two are captured while the third is successfully defended by Streel personnel. Streel personnel at the captured sites are not harmed but evicted from the sites.
59.387 Glass Pyramid on Laco begins glowing with an unidentifiable energy source. After 20 minutes of increasing brightness, it releases a beam of energy nearly vertically. Beam consists of both electromagnetic energy across the full spectrum and subspace signals.
59.388 Unmarked Streel ships attack the KSS Dawn’s Glow hijacking cargo. Crew is left on immobilized ship to effect repairs and await rescue.
59.389 Subspace signal from Great Pyramid received in sathar space.

SF Nova arrives in Cassidine.  It will be in system for 9 days exercising with Task Force Cassidine.

A raid on a PGC dig site by unknown forces results in one dead and one PGC scientist captured. The PGC scientist, a former Streel employee, is later released and identifies the assailants as Streel employees.
59.390 A message, transmitted by an artifact left on Volturnus (Zebulon) is received at a sathar listening post alerting then to the space-faring activity in the Zebulon system and the detection and penetration of the artifact by technologically advanced races.

A subspace message is received on Pale from the presumed lost Second Volturnus Expedition explaining the sathar and pirate presence in the Zebulon system and warning of imminent attack from sathar forces. Immediate assistance is requested.

PG Virgo arrives at Laco and takes up patrol duties around the system.

A raid on a PGC records vault on Laco results in the loss of all backup data related to the Glass Pyramid activation. Suspected corporate espionage by Streel but no concrete proof exists.
59.391 Streel sub-orbital shuttle shot down on Laco. Assault scouts from PG Virgo are sent to investigate. Injured crew taken to Tyrell’s Landing.
59.392 Fighting breaks out between PGC, Streel, and CDC forces near the site of the downed shuttle over a newly discovered Tetrarch ruins site on Laco exposed by a recent landslide.

After several days of discussion, the sathar decide to send a “cleansing” fleet to Volturnus.
59.393 After deliberations between the Pale Government and the Council of Worlds about the message from the Zebulon system, UPF Patrol Group Virgo cuts its time in Dixon’s Star short and departs Laco for the Truane’s Star System on its way to Zebulon.
59.394 Sathar attack fleet (1 AC, 8 F, 2 HC, 2 LC, 6 DD, & 2 FF) depart sathar SCC#5 for Volturnus

Here’s the compiled file:

DetailedFrontierTimelineDownload

Let me know if you have any thoughts, questions, or comments on any of the events in the timeline.

State of the Frontier – Dec 2018

Happy New Year’s Eve! I thought about doing an “end of the year” recap but decided that I’ll save those types of retrospectives for the anniversaries of the site going live, so you’ll see that post in late April/early May. For this post I’m just going to look at December.

Looking Back

If you look back at my State of the Frontier post from November, you’ll notice immediately that I only finished half of what I had hoped to do, namely the PGC Records Vault adventure location. I actually got exactly zero work done on the Ghost Ship Osiris adventure.

There were a couple of reasons for that. First, the records vault project ended up taking a lot more time than I had anticipated. As I’ve said before, it always surprises me how much work it takes to turn my notes and ideas in to a finished form that I feel is usable by others. Maybe I’m putting to much detail into things. You’ll have to let me know.

Another issue was the holiday season. All the extra activities that go on this time of the year definitely cut into the time I have to spend on these projects. I need to remember that fact for future years and either build up a backlog of posts, plan lots of small things, or just accept the fact that I’m not going to get much done in December.

The final struggle I have with getting the Ghost Ship Osiris project done is that on a fundamental level it doesn’t call to me as strongly as some of the other projects. While I’m a fan of FrontierSpace, it just doesn’t hold the same place in my heart as Star Frontiers. So it’s often easy for me to put that project on hold when a Star Frontiers related one pops up. And it just goes to show that I’m not really doing this for the money since of all the projects I’m working on that one is a commercial project that will generate some revenue.

I have managed to keep the Star Frontiers timeline going as posts from @StarFrontiers on Twitter. That project will continue foward for several more years regardless of what happens otherwise. I’ve been having fun with that. Some of the posts this last month were activities from the online game I’ve been running. Unfortunately, the December sessions of that game fell victim to holiday activity conflicts and the timeline has caught up and passed the players so unless they manage to get in a some serious time jumps, their activities won’t be showing up any more.

Looking Forward

So what is coming up in January? We’ll start the year off with an update of the timeline, posting all the events of the last month which include the first of the events occurring in sathar space.

Then I’m going to buckle down and work on Ghost Ship Osiris. I’m all caught up on my Star Frontiers projects, or at least they are at a good stopping point so I can focus on this. At the very least, I want to finish the room descriptions and describe what happens when the PCs arrive at the outpost for the first time. I don’t think I’ll get much past that in January as I start teaching a class at the local university that will take up some of my free time.

While I’m working on the Outpost Osiris description, I won’t have much to post until its finished. In the intervening time I have a little critter I cooked up for my on-line game that I’ll be sharing. Additionally, several people have expressed interest in seeing more of my starship construction system so I’ll be posting bits of that for people to comment on as well.

I’m sure something else will come up to distract me but I’ll try to keep to this plan and only add more stuff rather than swap things out. I might actually get my play by post game started this month but we’ll have to see. If you have any thoughts or ideas as to things you’d like me to work on and post here, let me know in the comments below.