PGC Records Vault – part 1

While I had planned on presenting this all at once, I’ve decided to make this a two-parter (or maybe more). Mainly because it turned out to be a bit bigger than I was anticipating.

I used this location in my on-line game. For the game, all of my notes consisted of these three maps, and five paragraphs of notes including a partial stat block for the security robots. Just writing up the room descriptions has ballooned to around 7 pages without the maps. And I still need to write up all the stats for the robots and NPCs. I always forget how much additional work is required to take something from your notes and transform it into something usable by others.

So this will take a bit longer than I had planned but in the end you’ll have a fun little location your characters can raid if desired. In may game this was set on Laco but you could have another of these records vaults anywhere you want in your campaign.

For this part, I’ll be presenting the maps and room descriptions. The other details will come in later posts.

Pan Galactic Records Vault on Laco

Nestled in the mountains to the northeast of Point Glass, the Pan Galactic Corporation has a records archive dug deep into the mountain to protect backups of all the data gathered by the company on Laco. The vault houses hundreds of thousands of data cubes containing copies of data collected over the past 80 years of the company’s presence on the planet. Content ranges from details on the Glass Pyramids, to data on local flora and fauna, to records from archaeology sites, and even detailed weather and climate data.

While parts of the data can be had at various locations around the planet, the only place where every bit is stored together is at the records vault and at PGC headquarters on Gran Quivera. Because of this, PGC does allow a limited number of researchers access to the unclassified data in the archives.

Exterior Compound

The main entrance to the vault is a structure built into a sheer cliff face in the side of the mountain. Surrounding this main building is a high (5m) wall topped by six guard towers. Entrance through the wall is by a large gatehouse structure. Inside the wall is the main building, a garage, and a power plant. A schematic of the external compound can be seen in the map below.

1 – Gatehouse, wall, and guard towers – The gatehouse is a large enclosed structure with doors on each end. It is easily large enough to accommodate an explorer or hover or ground transport. Inside the gate house are several security cameras as well as a computer-controlled laser rifle, sonic stunner, and grenade launcher filled with doze and tangler grenades (10 each). The weapons are connected to the complex’s power plant and have unlimited ammunition.

To enter, the outer doors open, the vehicle enters the gatehouse, and then the outer door closes. The driver is queried for passcodes for entrance via a terminal on a movable arm that adjusts for the height of the vehicle. Once supplied, the inner door opens allowing the vehicle to proceed.

If no proper codes are presented, security personnel in the main building are alerted. If no threat is detected, the outer doors will re-open allowing the vehicle to exit. If, on the other hand, the vehicle or occupants are deemed a threat, the outer doors do not re-open and the security personnel can use the weapons in the receiving area to disable the vehicle and incapacitate the occupants.

The outer wall of the compound is constructed of reinforced plastisteel and stands 5 meters tall and is a meter thick. It is built into the mountain and completely surrounds the vault complex.

The guard towers stand an additional 5 meters over the wall and have access ladders on the inside of the wall. Each tower contains a heavy laser operated by a level 4 security robot (see stats below). The heavy laser is powered by the compound’s power plant but also has a100 SEU powerpack as backup and can fire both inside and outside the compound.

The robots will respond to any threat against the compound and attempt to disable any vehicle deemed to be a threat that is attempting to leave the compound or escape from the gatehouse. The robots are nominally controlled by the compound’s main computer but all PGC staff can override the computer commands.

For combat purposes, the walls, doors, and towers are considered to have 300 structure points.

2 – Garage– The garage is a single large building with two double doors on each end. Any vehicle that can make it through the gatehouse can easily fit inside. In addition to parking space, there is also a small work area with tools for field repairs and a small desk.

Whenever a vehicle is admitted into the gatehouse, the compound’s technician and robotics expert comes out to the garage to greet the arrivals and get their vehicle situated into a parking area and hooked up to recharge its parabatteries.

There are typically at least 3 vehicles here at all time: two aircars and a ground car, all bearing the Pan Galactic Corporation’s corporate logo. In addition, there could be up to five other private vehicles if researchers are visiting the facility.

3 – Power plant – This is the complex’s power source. It is a small generator situated over a natural geothermal vent. The location of this vent was a major factor in selecting this location for the vault. It is a Type III generator capable of supplying up to 2000 SEU/hour,more than enough to power the complex. In addition, there are solar arrays on the roof that supply an additional 250 SEU/hour during the daylight hours.

The doors closest to the gatehouse provide maintenance access to the generator itself. The other doors also provide maintenance access but are also the entrance to a small control room allowing the technician to monitor the status of the generator.

4 – Main vault building – This is the main vault complex. There are windows on the side of the building on either side of the door. The building is about 4 meters tall and built into the side of the mountain. It extends dozens of meters into the mountain and then descends hundreds of meters into the bedrock of the area. It is described in detail in the next section.

Main Level

This is the main level of the records vault where most of the staff and all visitors spend their time. Every room on this level, including the hallways, have at least one security camera and an intercom panel. Locations of the security cameras will be given in the room descriptions. Unless otherwise stated, the intercom panel is located right inside the door.

1 – Main Entrance – This is the main reception area for the vault. The room is well lit and relatively spacious. It is divided by a desk (1a)behind which sits one of the vaults two security guards. To the left and right are double doors that lead further back into the complex. These doors have level 3 security locks that key to the ID badges of the PGC staff. There is another door behind the security desk.

When visitors arrive, the security guard calls back to one of the archivists who then come out and take the visitors back to the Research Room (area 7).

1a – Security Desk – This is the work location for one of the two security guards on duty. The desk is a about 1.2m in height and the guard sits on a raised chair behind it and has a computer terminal to work on.

Access to this area is via a door into the breakroom (area 2). This door also has a level 3security lock. The only way to get directly between the main entrance and the area behind the desk is to climb over the desk, there are no openings.

2 – Breakroom/Kitchenette– This is the main communal area for the complex. It contains several tables and chairs as well as a refrigerator & freezer, oven and range, sink, microwaves, storage cupboards, and several vending machines. There is a security camera mounted in the lower right corner of the room (closest to area 8).

3 – Office –This office contains the desks for the two office staff and the computer &robotics technician. The half of the room farthest from the door is separated by a wall and door into a private office for the vault’s administrator. The other two desks are in the main area. The door to this room is a level 2 security lock and the door to the administrator’s office has a level 3 lock.

Each desk has a computer terminal with access to all the information in the systems main computer. The bypass security skill cannot be performed on these terminals.

There is a security camera mounted over the door to the storage room (area 3a) and an intercom panel right inside the entrance.

3a – Storage –This storage room contains a variety of office supplies and small electronics and computer parts.

4 – Office –This office contains four desks in an open plan. The desks are for the security officer not manning the front desk (area 1a), and three of the site’s research librarians and archivists.

Each desk contains a terminal that connects to the vault’s main computer. Like the terminals in the other office (area 3), these terminals have full access to the computer’s systems. In addition, the security officer’s desk has a second monitor that contains feeds from all the various security cameras around the complex.

4a – Storage –This storage room has a level 4 lock that keys only to the two security officers’ and the site administrators badges plus their fingerprint. Inside is a small weapons locker containing

6 doze grenades
6 tangler grenades
2 laser rifles
10 power clips
2 sonic stunners
2 electrostunners
2 power beltpacks

5 – Restrooms– This room contains three restroom stalls that cater to the anatomy of the various Frontier races. In the outer room are several sinks and paper towel dispensers. There is a camera in the outer area to the right just in side the door that can see the sinks but not into the restrooms proper.

6 – Robot Storage/Workroom – This area is the robotics storage and maintenance room. Along the wall are recharging and storage bays for eight robots. Typically, six of the bays are occupied by four maintenance robots and two data retrieval robots. Occasionally, the other two bays may be occupied by security robots. The center of the room is a workspace for repairing and maintaining the site’s robots. There is the equivalent of a robotcom kit scattered throughout the room.

The door to his room has a level 2 lock that is keyed to the badges of the site administrator, the security officers, and the technician. It will also open automatically for any of the site’s robots entering and exiting. The security camera in this room is mounted in the corner opposite the door above the robot recharging bays.

7 – Research Room – This room has six desks with computer terminals along the walls. Each terminal provides access to the computer limited by the passcode provided. This is where visitors to the vault spend their time working on their research. The entrance to this room from the hall is not locked. The security camera is located in the upper right corner of the room.

8 – Computer Room – This room houses the vaults main computer as well as a number of data cube ports allowing more data to be connected as needed. The computer itself is arrange around the outer walls of the room and there are a dozen pedestals in the center of the room that can have data cubes set into them. There are two terminals to allow direct access to the computer in this room.

The door to this room has a level 4 security lock that only opens for the site administrator and the computer technician. It will also open for either of the two data retrieval robots when they are bringing data cubes from the vault to be placed on the various pedestals in the room for the researchers to access. The room contains two security cameras: one in the corner near the door and the second in the opposite corner.

9 – Hallway –This is the main hallway of the vault that connects the various rooms. It has two security cameras located in the corners near the Robot Storage/Workroom (area 6) and the Computer Room (area 8)that can see everywhere in the hall.

10 – Security Lock – This room functions as an airlock to secure access to the vault. Both doors contain level 3security locks that key to any of the site’s staff. The doors will also open for any of the site’s robots. Only one door may be open at any time and must be closed to open the other door. This is a mechanical design and not electronic and cannot be bypassed. Each door takes two rounds to open.

11 – Hallway –This long hallway extends from the Security Lock to the elevator that descends to the data vault proper. It has a pair of armed security cameras as shown on the map. Each camera has a sonic stunner connected to the vault’s power grid and cannot run out of ammunition unless the power is shut off. Additionally, there is a security robot sitting in the center of the hallway that will attack any non PGC staff that enter this restricted area.

12 – Elevator – This large elevator connects the upper main level to the lower vault. It takes two minutes to traverse the 200 meters between the two levels.

13 – Stairwell– This is a long flight of stairs that runs parallel to the elevator shaft connecting the upper and lower levels allowing for access and escape from the vault level in the case of a power loss or malfunction of the elevator. It’s not so bad going down but coming up is a bit of a climb.

Deep Vault

This is where the records are actually stored. This level is located 200 meters below the main level and is dug into the mountain’s bedrock.

1 – Elevator– This is the elevator access on the lower vault level.

2 – Stairwell– This area is the bottom of the long stairwell from the upper level.

3 – Hallway –This large hallway connects all the offices and data vaults on this level with the elevator and stairwell. There are a number of security cameras armed with sonic stunners placed throughout this hallway to cover all the various locations. Like the ones in the hallway on the main level (area 11), they are connected to the vault’s power grid and controlled by the main computer.

In addition to the security camera turrets, there are three security robots that rove about the hallway patrolling the area. These robots will attack anyone who is not a member of the PGC staff immediately attempting to incapacitate them.

4 – Office –This office contains a desk with a computer terminal. In addition, there are four data cube port pedestals along the wall near the door. A security camera is mounted right above the door. These offices are used by the PGC researchers working with the data. They have direct access to the data in the vaults and do not have to wait for the robots to retrieve the data cubes. They are also used when working on sensitive PGC classified information so that the data does not leave the vault area. This office is currently being used by one of the vault staff.

5 – Office –This office is identical to area 4 although rotated 90 degrees. It is currently in use by one of the PGC staff.

6 – Office –This office is a mirror image of area 5 and is currently unoccupied.

7 – Restrooms– Similar to the restrooms on the main level, this area is for use by the researchers working down in the vault.

8 – Data Vault 1 – The data vault room, unlike the rest of the complex, has 4m high ceilings instead of the standard 3m height. Most of the room is taken up by a compact shelving unit to maximize the storage space. All the shelves in this room move on a series of tracks on the floor and access is only available to one set of shelves at a time. A control pad on the side of each shelf allows for access, causing all the shelves to move to open up a walkway where needed. It takes 30 seconds for the shelves to move once activated. They can also be moved by the main computer

On any given shelf there are rows of filing boxes that are coded and labeled. The labels contain both a barcode, an alphanumeric code, and a short description. In each box are the data cubes containing the data specified by the barcode. A box will typically have from one to five data cubes inside.

There are four security cameras in each room, one in each corner. They cannot see down into the open passageway between the shelves but can see everything in the area on either side of the shelves. The doors to this room are protected with a level 2 lock that keys to any of the site’s staff and will also open for any of the site’s robots as well.

This vault is used to store all data related to the flora and fauna of Laco.

9 – Data Vault 2 –This vault is identical in construction to Data Vault 1 and holds all data related to the geology and climate of Laco as well as any astronomical data related to the Dixon’s Star system.

10 – Data Vault 3 –This vault is identical in construction to Data Vault 1 and holds all the socio-political data about Laco, such as information on the culture and other corporations, and all PGC corporate data.

11 – Data Vault 4 – This vault is identical in construction to Data Vault 1. This data holds all the collected information on the Techrachs and related sites that have been collected on the planet. The data on the Glass Pyramid activation will be stored in this vault.

12 – Security Robot Storage – This room is a storage and recharging station for the security robots in use around the complex. There are ten charging stations here. There are six security robots in the charging stations that can be activated by the main computer if a threat is detected. The door to this room is locked with a level3 security lock that is accessible only by the site administrator, the security officers, and the roboticist. The door will open automatically for any of the security robots.

Closing Thoughts

If you’d like a PDF version of this location, you can download the file linked below. I’ll post updated versions of this as I add to it in later posts.

Pan Galactic Records Vault Download

As usual, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, let me know in the comments section.

Expanded Frontier Map

Happy Halloween! In my “State of the Frontier” post last week, I mentioned that I was working on updating an old map that I had created many years (i.e. decades) ago for use as my main campaign map of the Frontier region. Today, I’m posting the (near) final version of that map. Along with a bit of history and explanation.

Background

The original map was hand drawn in the late 80’s on six 8.5″x11″ pieces of quad-ruled graph paper and then taped together. I’ve kept it in a cardboard poster tube all these years when I haven’t actually been using it. Right now it’s rolled up inside out to try to get some of the decades of bend rolled out the other direction.

The map was drawn back before I acquired a personal copy of Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space, Vol 1. I didn’t get my first copy of that until 1992, many years after Star Frontiers went out of print. My copy was actually a gift from some fellow role-players.

I had, however, looked at a Zeb’s Guide and its beautiful map at some point before I drew mine. There are too many similarities between the area just around the Frontier in my map and the Zeb’s map to chalk up to mere coincidence. The two most noticeable are the star cluster to the upper left of the Frontier and the neutron star just below it. I would have had zero reason to put a cluster like that (I had four stars and the Zeb’s Guide map had 3) anywhere, let alone there, if I had not seen the published map at some point. And I had exactly the same use for the neutron star system at the location of Lynchpin as the published timeline had. I had a different route to it but the idea was there from a perusal of Zeb’s Guide in a bookstore.

I have now updated my map to better match the map in Zebulon’s Guide as well as included some additional fan created maps of the areas of space the Saurians and S’sessu come from. These changes mainly affect the area below the Frontier and to the right of Liberty system (from the Beyond the Frontier modules).

There are a few differences. Most importantly is the location of the new systems described in the published modules. I place the Rhianna (Mission to Alcazzar) and Starmist (Sundown on Starmist) systems in the locations specified in the modules, not where the Zeb’s Guide map places them. I always thought it was strange that they would move them from the published locations. In truth, only Rhianna was given a general location (inside the loop formed by Cassidine, Timeon, and White Light) but given the way Starmist was discovered (by emergency landing which I took to mean from a mis-jump), I don’t think the Zeb’s Guide location (outside the main Frontier) makes sense for that system and I like mine better (and the system I chose was left off the Zeb’s map completely!). My location for the Belnafaer system (Bugs in the System) only differs by one star from the Zeb’s map and both correspond to the module description. For now I’ve left it where I originally placed it but might move it for consistency. Finally, the location of the Tristkar system (Dark Side of the Moon) is exactly where Zeb’s Guide places it. From the description in the module, the location of the Solar Major system would make a little more sense but since I didn’t actually have this system on my map originally, using the Zeb’s Guide location works just fine.

Second, I don’t have the plague worlds from Zeb’s Guide (the system I choose for Rhianna is actually Zeb’s Delta plague world). On my map they are just unexplored systems.

Finally, while I don’t normally use the MegaCorp systems in my campaign I’ve included them for completeness. I’ve also redrawn the nebulae in the Frontier region to more match the ones drawn in the Zeb’s Guide map and added in the Rim planets.

On the side of fan produced materials, I’ve added in the locations of the Saurian and S’sessu worlds from maps published in issues 4 and 16 of the Frontier Explorer and adjusted my map accordingly.

The New Map

So with that introduction, here’s the updated map.

Expanded map of the Frontier Sector with the systems from Zeb's Guide, the modules and some fan creations added in. — Updated map of the Frontier. Click for the full-sized image.

The smaller blue box is the area covered by the original Frontier map and the large blue box is the area covered by the Zeb’s Guide map.

This is very much a “player-facing” map. It doesn’t contain secret jump routes (with the exception of the one between Truane’s Star to Cassidine that I forgot to remove 🙂 ) that are known to the UPF, MegaCorps, pirates, or the sathar. If I was using it for my game, there are even parts of this map that I would not use (i.e. the MegaCorp planets, and S’sessu and Saurian space) at least not to begin with as those are discovered in game. I’ve set the map up with all these bits and pieces on separate layers so that I can turn them on and off as needed.

The map extends more upward from the Frontier than down because the Vast Expanse, an area that I consider to be fairly devoid of stars, is “down” and exploration is easier (due to shorter jump distances) in the “up” direction. You can see the much lower density of stars in that direction. It gets even worse going further off the map.

While I still have some small tweaking to do on this map, mainly with labeling, it is completely usable.

Future Work

While this is a completely functional map, it’s not super pretty. One of the things I’d like to do is give it a color makeover so it looks more like the maps that my star sector generator program produces. Those maps look like this:

However, that might have to wait for a while. Although when I get to it, it will make a pretty awesome poster.

The actual next step is to work out the logistics of the Second Sathar War and the sathar assault on the Frontier. The sathar are out there on that Extended Frontier map although I didn’t show their systems and jump routes. Given that I know know all the jump routes, I can start figuring out how long it would take for them to maneuver and launch offensives and resupply their ships from their starship construction centers. Some exploration by the UPF and well placed raids could significantly influence the outcome of the conflict.

If you have any thoughts or comments on the map, let me know.

Update: Just saw today that the RPG Blog Carnival topic for November (hosted by Nuketown) is “All These Worlds …”. My post was a day early (and I didn’t know the topic or I might have waited) but it’s close enough that I think it applies. So this post is part of this month’s blog carnival and I might have some more related posts in the coming weeks.

Outpost Osiris

I had intended to have this post up on the first but I’ve been a been sick and under the weather. I’m mostly recovered and back to work. This is the follow on post to my Osiris Base – Rough Sketches post where I present the final maps.

In working on the Ghost Ship Osiris module, the next portion of the adventure deals with the PCs rescuing the mining and administrative crew at the outpost from several Pursale robots that the scavenger crew set loose. In order to write that part of the adventure, I needed a map of the base.

I presented the rough sketches I did in the previous post. This one presents the final versions based on those sketches, along with some short descriptions of changes made. Details of the individual rooms will be in the final module. So let’s take a look:

Asteroid Cross-section

First up we’ll start with the cross-section map showing where everything is placed relative to one another.

Click for full sized image

The asteroid is a fairly small one for the outer belt, measuring only 1.4 km long and 1 km wide. Nova Vista was interested in it because of the anomalous readings generated by the presence of the Pursale ship at its core, although they didn’t know the cause at the time.

The main docking and mining level is on the asteroid’s rotation axis to facilitate ships docking with the base. “Below” that are the crew’s living level and the power level.

The mines mostly run through the upper part of the asteroid (as displayed on the map) although a shaft has been started into the “lower” section.

Finally there is a shaft that runs straight into the heart of the asteroid to intersect with the cavity containing the Pursale ship.

Docking/Mining Level

This level contains the base’s docking bay as well as the mining facilities, storage, and technical facilities.

Docking bay on the — Click for full size image

This level ended up almost exactly as I sketched it out. The only real tweaks were to the exact sizes of some of the room.

I just realized that I need to tweak this map just a bit as it looks like the docking bay is inside the asteroid. In reality it sticks out a bit and the silhouette is part of the asteroid that sticks out below it.

Crew Level

This level holds the living and recreation areas for the crew as well as the base’s main computer, offices, and communications and sensor arrays.

This level ended up being a little “shorter” that I had sketched it out. When I started drawing in the rooms, I realized that the individual apartments in the housing area were a little large. As is, the smaller ones are about 1000 square feet and the four larger ones about 1,200 square feet. Plenty big enough for a single person.

I had also drawn the offices a little big as well, but even drawn smaller in this map they are very spacious.

The sensor and communications room is off by itself since it needs to be on the surface of the asteroid.

Power Level

This level is quite simple and just holds the base’s nuclear reactor.

The reactor is fairly self contained but does have a maintenance access airlock as well as a fuel loading/waste removal port.

Other Features

The mine shafts don’t have a map as they are twisty, turny, and loop back on themselves in three dimensions as the mining followed the ore veins through the rock.

The Pursale ship will be mapped separately in a future post once I figure out what the inside of it looks like. I’ll leave it for you to speculate which end is the front and which is the back.

What’s Next?

Next on the docket for the Ghost Ship Osiris adventure is to detail what is happening in the base when the PCs arrive and what they have to do to secure the base. I’ll be generating the base staff, along with their locations and conditions.

While I’m working on that, I have some more notes from the Death at Rosegard adventure to write up and post as well.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on the maps, feel free to let me know below.

Osiris Base – Rough Sketches

I’ve been working on roughing out the map for Osiris Base and thought I’d share the rough sketches with you. Especially since I won’t have much to post for a while as I work on the final versions of these maps.

Starting with this part of the project, I’ve started working out a new workflow. I recently purchased a new laptop, so instead of an really old (7+ years) netbook with an Atom processor, I’ve got a shiny new Lenovo Yoga 730. These images were drawn on the touch screen of that laptop in tablet mode using a Lenovo Active Pen 2 Stylus and using the Autodesk Sketchbook app.

Previously I used to do my sketches on my Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2″ tablet. Then I would transfer it to my desktop and work on the final images. The new laptop allows my to do the initial sketches and final work all on the same computer. The laptop is more powerful than both my tablet and my old desktop so it was been really nice to work on.

Enough about the setup, on to the sketches.

Overview and Main Level

Osiris base is carved out of an asteroid in the outer belt of the Duergan’s Star System that I detailed in the last post. This first sketch shows and overview of the asteroid and the relative positions of the various parts of the base, along with a detail of the docking and processing level. This level houses the ore processing plant, technical facilities, docking bay, and ore and supply storage areas. Access to the mines themselves is on this level

Click for full sized image.

Crew Level

This level houses the crew quarters along with the base’s computer system, life support system, offices, and recreation facilities.

Second level containing living quarters and recreation facilities. — Click for full sized image.

Power Station Level

This level simply houses the nuclear generator that powers the complex. It is buried deep within the asteroid away from the crew level.

Power level — Click for full sized image.

Suggestions/Comments

That’s it so far. The ship buried in the core of the asteroid (seen on the overview map) will be detailed in a different section of the adventure so I’ll work on that later. I also don’t plan on detail the mines as they twist and turn through three dimensions as they followed the richer ores.

If you have any suggestions or comments as to things that I forgot or should include in the map, feel free to let me know in the comments below. I’ll probably think of some as I start working on the details. When I first started, I forgot to add in the ore processing facility. I was posting sketchs on a Google Plus community when I realized I had overlooked that major detail. Luckily it was easy enough to add in.

As I mentioned at the beginning, there probably won’t be any major posts for a while while I work on these maps. I need to develop a process to match the style of maps that Bill has already produced for FrontierSpace so that things look consistent. I don’t know how long that will take. I’ll try to keep you posted as I go.

The Village of Rosegard

Originally, I had planned to have one more Mapping Rosegard video here that covered adding in the labels for the roads and making the black and white version of the map you’ll see below but for some reason, the audio didn’t record, only the video. Since I didn’t want (or really have the time) to do a voice over, and it’s not that important of a topic, I decided just to drop it. Also, it is something I can easily cover in a future series.

So instead, you’re getting the post that I had originally planned for the beginning of next week, the final maps along with the write-up on the town proper.

Rosegard

History

Rosegard is located about 400 km northwest of Point True. It was founded shortly after the Great Sathar War as part of the resettlement effort initiated by the Pale government. It originally consisted of six human families that set up homesteads in the valley using the agriculture subsidies the government provided to encourage development of farming to supply food for the population. Over time, the small village has grown to include 13 families, many of the additional families are children of the original settlers that went away to school and then returned.

While there is no shortage of technology in the village, it is still primarily an agricultural center. Most of the actual agriculture work is done by robots but supervised by the towns inhabitants. The technological specialists in town keep the robots, vehicles, and computer systems running to manage the farm production. Every week, trucks arrive to pick up crops to take into the larger population centers to sell.

About 18 years ago, one of the villagers was up exploring in the mountains and discovered a vein of gold that had been revealed by some recent erosion. Lacking the infrastructure to properly mine the valuable resource themselves, the village brokered a deal with Streel (formerly known as Streele Mining before the war) to lease the company the rights to the mine. The mine proved to be more lucrative than either party imagined and is still active to this day.

The village’s income from the mine amounts to several million credits every year. That money is held in trust and used to maintain the village infrastructure, pay for primary and secondary education for all of the village youth, and other expenses as needed.

There is a very good relationship between the workers at the mine and the city. In addition to providing additional revenue to the village, the mine employs the village’s technical workers (the technician, roboticist, and computer specialist) to help assist with work at the mine in addition to their own staff. The mine staff also takes advantage of the medical facilities provided in the village. Reciprocally, the village invites the mine staff down for any town activities and has integrated them as part of the community. The youth often go up to the mine to see operations there and the mine staff often come down to teach mini-lectures in the village school.

Inhabitants

Original Homesteading Families

These are the senior members of the community who originally founded it. Their houses are located around the circular loop at the north end of town. These families primarily work the agriculture portion of the village’s activities.

Genio & Kathy Washy – Genio is the town mayor. They have two older children living at home. They live in the home on the same plot as the General Store. Kathy is a horticulturist and is responsible for tending the rose hedges in the central part around the gazebo. It is these rose gardens that gave the village its name.
Martin & Jenne Lexand – They have two children living at home. They live in the home on the same plot as the Technician shop/Garage.
Steven & Janie Hite – They have three kids living at home.
Matthua & Julie Colly – They have three kids living at home.
Jon & Jessa Smeson – They have a single child living at home
Reme & Kayelyn Marte – The youngest of the original settlers, they still have four children living at home

Newer Families

These families are younger, many of them being the older kids of the earlier settlers. Their houses are built around the block on the west side of town.

Rickern & Mikaela Bennez – Mikaela is the second child of Jon & Jessa Smeson and the town’s roboticist having studied at Pale University. Rickern helps manage the Smeson farm. They have three children.
Mese & Braealyn Washy – Mese is the oldest child of Genio & Kathy Washy. They run the town’s General Store and have three kids, ages 17, 14, & 12 who also help out at the store when not in school.
Larroy & Camryn Tinnett – Camryn is the daughter of Steven & Janie Hite and is the town’s computer specialist having studied at the Triad Institute of Technology. Larroy is a veterinarian and works with the village doctor. They have a single daughter, Allyssa, age 12.
Rickey & Ilana Cooker – Rickey and Ilana met Camryn at school and she convinced them to move to Pale when she returned home. Ilana is the town doctor and also has some veterinarian skills. Rickey helps work the Hite farm with his in-laws. They have four kids.
Benjoe & Abbil Leray – Benjoe is a childhood friend of Rickern Bennez and became enamored of the quite life in Rosegard when visiting one year. Both he and Abbil are teachers and work at the village’s school. They have five children
Joshua & Miya Welley – Josh and Miya are the newest members of the village and the only ones that didn’t have an immediate connection when then arrived. As the village grew, the need for a city clerk arose and Miya was hired to handle the administrative affairs of the growing village. She works in the City Center handling a wide variety of tasks for the town. Joshua is a teacher and works with the Leray’s in the town’s school.
Mikkel & Danielle Lexand – Mikkel is the son of Martin and Jenne Lexand and is the town’s technician running the garage/tech shop in town. Danielle helps out on the Lexand farm. They have one child.

City Buildings

General Store

This building contains a wide variety of goods that are used regularly by the small village. While a lot of the supplies are foodstuffs and farming supplies, there are a number of small high tech wares as well. Larger items, such as robots, most weapons, and vehicles, have to be special ordered in from Point True but the store has access to the full Streel and PGC catalog and anything ordered will arrive in 2-4 days.

Technician/Garage

This is where Mikkel keeps all the village’s vehicles and equipment running. It has room inside to work on three vehicles at any one time. It is a fully equipped and modern repair shop and any Technician skill checks performed using this area gain a +10% bonus.

City Community Center

This large building consists of two stories, unlike all the other buildings in town. The lower level is a large gathering hall used for town activities and celebrations. The upper level contains the city offices where Miya works as well as the village’s central computer system. There are also half a dozen guest rooms that function as the village’s inn when they have overnight visitors. While most of the rooms can be used by any race, one of them is specifically appointed with furniture designed for the Vrusk anatomy. Across the street to the north, and directly east of the building are large grass fields used for outdoor activities as well.

School

The village’s school is where the younger kids spend their day getting their primary education. It is divided into several small classrooms where specialized classes can be presented dependent on age and ability level. Because of the small number of children in the village, there are not really “traditional” classes and each child has a workstation where they receive individual and tailored instruction based on their needs and interests. The school is very high tech and state-of-the-art. A lot of the village’s mine revenue has gone into its education facilities. As such the children in the village are often smarter and sharper than would be expected for their age.

Computer/Robotics Shop

Mikaela and Camryn share this building to work on the villages computers and robots. While the building is mostly given over to tech space to work on the various agriculture robots used by the village, there is also some space given over to computer repair as well. This building also houses a backup computer system for the village. If PC’s are looking for computer or robotic parts, they are more likely to find them here than at the General Store. The facilities here are top notch and any computer or robotics repair or upgrade attempts receive a +10% skill bonus.

Doctor’s Office

This small office has a small operating room, and three patient rooms in addition to the foyer and waiting area. Dr. Cooker has a small office here as well. The building is designed for patients of the core four races and while they do handle veterinary duties, those occur on location outside the office. Like the other areas in the town, the facilities here are of an higher than average grade and all medical checks made in the facility gain a +10% skill bonus.

Alternate maps

In addition to the main map above, I created one with no labels and another one in black and white. These two maps are presented below.

No Labels

Final full color map with labels removed — Final map with the labels removed. Click for full sized image (~6MB)

Black & White

Black and white version of full map with labels — Final Rosegard map in black and white (with labels) – Click for full sized image (~2MB)

And that’s it for Rosegard for now. Next up I’ll be shifting gears back to the Ghost Ship Osiris module and you’ll be getting some information on the star system the adventure takes place in.

Mapping Rosegard – Part 4

In this segment we finish up the map by adding in some small details such as driveways, a fence around the school yard, a scale, and then add in the labels on the public buildings. The earlier videos can be found here: part 1, part 2, part 3.

With the map finished we export the final finished version.

I will be doing one more video related to this map and then will post the final map for everyone to use if they wish.

Mapping Rosegard – Part 3

In this segment, I show how I add in the textures for the lawns, asphalt for the road, farm fields and some gravel paths and borders around the grass to keep the lawns and the farm fields separate. I also add in a couple trees (more will get added later.

You can check out part 1 and part 2 if you haven’t watched them yet.

I’ll finish up the landscaping before recording part 4 where I’ll add in the labels and any finishing touches to the map.

Mapping Rosegard – Part 2

This is part 2 of the video series outlining the creation of the final Rosegard map. If you haven’t watched it yet, here is part 1.

In this segment, I create a custom pattern to use for the roof tiles of the buildings and then create a few of the buildings in the town to show how it will be done, including one of the buildings around the loop at the top of the map that is not aligned NS-EW like the others.

Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions below.

Mapping Rosegard – Part 1

This is going to be a multipart video series showing how I use Inkscape to turn my hand-drawn sketch of the Rosegard village map (the map shown in the Outline of the Death at Rosegard Adventure Project) into a final polished map.

It will probably be full of fumblings, mistakes, and other ramblings as I get back up to speed with using Inkscape as well as get used to narrating out loud what I’m doing, as I’m doing it. This is my first foray into this type of presentation so be patient.

In any case, here’s the first video:

I’ve created an Expanding Frontier playlist as part of my YouTube channel. Feel free to bookmark it or just watch for new posts as I make them here.

Please let me know what comments or suggestions you have in the comment section below.