So my idea is that I want to run my game sort of proto-traveller style. U really enjoyed the discussion about keeping things simple, without the 3I. Winging it as I go, letting my imagination create the setting. That's how i've always pretty much done things. However, I got to thinking that I have a scout ship exploring the unknown from a system that just developed jump capability, so all of space is unknown to them.
Shortly after entering a new system, they detect an energy source. They know that there are no other scouts have been assigned to the area they are exploring. As the ref, I know that this is a first alien contact. Whether it is another ship or from an inhabited body does not matter at this moment. What I do know is that the aliens are already colonizing other systems, and this is not their home system. If it is a ship, they are somewhere relatively close to their frontier, and if it is an inhabited world, it is probably not very established as it is at the edge of their frontier.
What I am wondering is how to determine the size of their controlled space and just where it is located. I have been thinking of using their jump number and multiplying it by ten to determine the rough diameter of their controlled space, then rolling for each system within it. The homeworld may need a bit of adjusting to make it work for the alien race, which would be rolled at random with a bit of adjusting or re rolling to make it work also. The direction of the homeworld from the contact system would need to be determined also.
On the other hand, I really like the way T4 Pocket Empires allows the creation of detail as to how a system and its neighbors interact with each other, and how they develop over time. The referee can draw endless situations that are plausible in a reasonably small setting. One can ignore official canon completely and create a unique backstory in the process.
The question is how to keep things as simple and free flowing as possible regardless of which direction I choose to go with.
Shortly after entering a new system, they detect an energy source. They know that there are no other scouts have been assigned to the area they are exploring. As the ref, I know that this is a first alien contact. Whether it is another ship or from an inhabited body does not matter at this moment. What I do know is that the aliens are already colonizing other systems, and this is not their home system. If it is a ship, they are somewhere relatively close to their frontier, and if it is an inhabited world, it is probably not very established as it is at the edge of their frontier.
What I am wondering is how to determine the size of their controlled space and just where it is located. I have been thinking of using their jump number and multiplying it by ten to determine the rough diameter of their controlled space, then rolling for each system within it. The homeworld may need a bit of adjusting to make it work for the alien race, which would be rolled at random with a bit of adjusting or re rolling to make it work also. The direction of the homeworld from the contact system would need to be determined also.
On the other hand, I really like the way T4 Pocket Empires allows the creation of detail as to how a system and its neighbors interact with each other, and how they develop over time. The referee can draw endless situations that are plausible in a reasonably small setting. One can ignore official canon completely and create a unique backstory in the process.
The question is how to keep things as simple and free flowing as possible regardless of which direction I choose to go with.