Monday, May 04, 2009

Traveller Plans: Taking Advantage of the Summer Hiatus

Things I want to get done this summer for the Traveller game:
  • Map out the rest of the surrounding subsectors, in preparation for the inevitable misjumps, and so I'm ready if and when the campaign gets less focused on the Kordovia subsector.
  • Detail a bunch more planets. There's a number in Kordovia that I haven't sketched out yet, and I'd like to do at least the major planets in the neighboring subsectors as well.
  • Clean up the planetary notes I already have. Each one has somehow developed it's own unique format; I'd like to standardize their presentation a bit, move everything that's in my chronological notes pertaining to a particular world to its entry, and iron out each world's timeline.
  • Update my NPC list. I have a bunch of notecards, but they currently only cover about half my NPCs. At the very least, I need to get all of my NPCs written down and accounted for. I'd also like to get a hold of a card box and some manila dividers, so I can organize the cards by world, for easy use in play.
  • Update the campaign wiki. I have one, but I stopped using it after doing the session recaps became too much of a chore. I'm not sure I'm going to start doing recaps again, but it would be nice to get at least some kind of "Season 1: the Story So Far" general recap for the whole campaign done. If I'm really feeling ambitious, I'll wiki-fy all my planet notes and NPCs, but to do that I'd have to decide if I wanted it to be a player resource (and thus censored of secret details) or a way for me to keep track of my notes.
  • Make up a better calendar. At least get some holidays on there or something. Both Imperium-wide and planet specific; there are a few planets that I know would have some really entertaining festivals.
  • Get a little bit more of the setting fleshed out. This is really the least important item on the list, but it would be good to give some though to this at some point. I have a few sketchy ideas on this score already, but they mostly pertain to historical backstory. Details, for instance, on Imperial politics could be useful to establish.

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm... Calendar sounds like not a half bad idea for me to chew on for a bit.

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  2. My suggestion is to not go too crazy with the planet-detail. As I think Ray Wininger once said, "create only what you need, and not any more." Which is not to say that it can't be fun - obviously, it is - but you shouldn't overwhelm yourself with details and data that may well never come into play.

    And let's face it... 90% of the detail you make up will be ignored by your players, and you will have to make up 90% of the detail that they'll be asking for. It's the way of the universe.

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  3. trollsmyth: I actually got the idea from you -- an article a while back about coming up with calendars and things you can do with them. It's stuck in my brain until I started running a campaign that needed it.

    Knightsky: I'm not really built to over-detail my worlds, so I'm not too worried about that. I'll probably get maybe half of what I've got planned out done before I get bored and go work on something else. Frustrating sometimes, but it does keep me from getting a lot of work done that never sees play.

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