Fleshing it Out
Suggestions Here
Table 2 (TL 7-)
1 grazing animals occasionally wander onto the landing areas (in bad air or vaccuum, reroll)
2 cargo cults often gather outside the starport trying to make starships land by waving flags and talking into carved-wood walkie-talkies
3 cargo cults worship the starcraft, and can make a nuisance of themselves
4 Luddites (thanks, TJ) are a serious threat to station security (they must be visible to the players in some way, either picketing or sneaking around with hammers)
5 Station buildings are all made from logs (shellacked by the TL 12 SPA)
6 Carvings of your ship are made from wood or stone by local artisans while you wait.
7 station security ride horses or other riding beasts
8 starport fronts on seaport with tall ships or steamers
Table 4 (good air)
starport is in a forest (consider odd plants)
starport has open arched buildings, very few walls
Table 5 (class a-c)
Concourse has an open food court area surrounded with several food vendor booths. Bands of homeless juvenile runaways, who sleep where they can inside the starport, brazenly snatch food off tables when occupants aren't looking or don't take precautions. Sandwich vendors in the food court have started cutting sandwiches into thirds, and most regular diners at the food court leave one-third of a sandwich sitting near the edge of the table for the juveniles to take. Anyone who thwarts an attempt by the juveniles to take food is targeted for revenge/harassement. Anyone who befriends any of the juveniles has good, reliable access to information about what is going on in the starport and details on the layout of the entire facility.
1 system has some interesting locations; port is a center for in-system cruises
2 concourse contains system of rocky waterfalls and fountains
3 gangs rule parts of the starport and are allowed to do so because the starport is suffering a downturn in traffic
4 starport services (cargo handling, transport, redcaps) are performed by rival gangs. Conflict is frequent.
5 concourse contains glass-walled exhibit of some really dangerous animals
6 concourse contains massive aquarium
7 concourse contains exhibits of clockwork aliens: aslan, virushi, etc., doing classic tasks and activities of that species
8 concourse is under construction, and contains scaffolding up to the ceiling, big and dangerous pieces of machinery, forklifts and bulldozers.
Table 6 - class d or e
1 the port is only open on wednesday
2 the port is overgrown with native kudzu-like vegetation (for you Brits, visualize sticky ivy that cannot be killed without a flamethrower and grows really fast).
3 the port is only open monday, wednesday, friday
4 cargo handlers only work on monday
5 customs officials only work on tuesday and thursday, and cargo cannot be offloaded without a customs officer present
6 the landing beacon is slightly askew, and it has not been fixed (most people flying into this port know about it, so why bother?) Requires a pilot roll at DC 12 to veer back onto the proper vector without a bad effect (getting fined for entering the flight pattern for another port, running into a mountain, landing in the middle of headhunter territory, etc)
7 the port master requires that everyone salute the flag of his favorite grav-ball team (or a picture of his girlfriend, or of the emperor, etc)
8 the controller has been assigned to this small port due to his narcolepsy
9 the port master won't even let the cargo unload until he is bribed.
10 The landing area is often (now, in fact) used as an open air market for local fruit vendors. The market takes about eight hours to finish up and get off the landing pad.
11.- Control Tower is ramshackle native materials, and every third word from transmitter gets lost do to "cost saving measures".
12.-Port grounds are immaculatley kept and groomed--by a grazing herd of animals ( I saw goats or sheep-another maybe substituted) owned by family member of Control authority(ies), with the usual animal biproduct foot bio-hazards..
13.- Region around Starport was old warzone/ old military facility-unexp[loded ordinance signs are everywhere "off limits" beyond secured/ cleared grounds.
14.- Scenic lake lies nearby, but is private property and NOT to be used for refuelling. LYHD fuel is instead piped in from elsewhere-refining is your problem!
15.-All Port Employees take long siesta's due to climate so no work is done between the hours of X-Y during daylight. To include answering the radio/ etc..
16.-All Port employees have religious observances between hrs of X-Y, and No work is done during these hours.
17.- Due to short daylight hrs of planet's orbit, all unloading is done at night..
18.- Due to Customs of Local port authority local stevedores line up at dawn for labor purposes. No union or Guilds allowed. As it is, speed of cargo loading/ unloading varies with the daily crews.
19.-An Organized labor force exists for cargoe handling, and they are a separate charge for starship captains to deal/ haggle with.
20.- Well run, tightly maintained port of call, this is their sole lifeline to trade, and they TAKE even the minutest infractions seriously.
Table 7 Highports
1 maintains zero g
2 maintains high g
3 maintains low g
4 large areas transparent to space
5 ships do not mate with port; they "park" at beacons and shuttle to the port
6 highport is agglomeration of dead ships, sealed tanks, and better, constructed units
7 constant bad smell
8 vegetation everywhere to supplement life support
9 incredibly cramped and claustrophobic
10 rusted interiors, water dripping from ceilings
11 lights kept very low
12 lights kept painfully bright - sunglasses bright.
13 built from asteroid
14 crystal buildup on bulkheads
15 mold everywhere
not specified
Policing security is entirely 'free market' at the hint of the slightest troubles competing police/fire departments will rush to get you to sign expensive contracts for their assistance. Sometimes the competition leads to violence between competing groups.
Starport Festivities/social Life
Thinks like holidays, Planet Founder's Day, Festivals ("Guy's, you won't like it... they're celebrating the Clowns Festival Week out there..."), or other social gathering...
