Undeveloped Systems 2300AD

[rgrove0172]

Only a small percentage of the systems on each arm are fleshed out, or even mentioned, in the colonial atlas (or the equivalent in the rulebooks)

Are we too assume these other stars have no planets of particular interest or are they left open for individual GM development? Would it upset the setting if the number of habitable worlds doubled? Tripled? Colonies increased by a like margin?

 

[McPerth]

The Colonial Atlas specifies only the systems where there is a human colony are described there. For others, even those with human outposts, in general there are no descriptions (some suplements/articles develop one of them, as Nyotekundu or Davout), and the same happens with those without even a human outpost.

As I see it, those systems are free for the referee to develop in his campaign (though in most cases a garden planet should be ruled out, as if it was there some settlement would be on it).

 

[Kaye]

Even when there is a description, it is usually not fleshed out enough to set a game or campaign in.
There is a lot of player developped material on the internet though. There is the Tirane sourcebook, a nice page about Joi and so on.
It is fun to fully flesh out a world, but quite hard work. Still: that is what RPG-ing is about, isn't it?

 

[rgrove0172]

Yes it is and its my favorite part. I just worry about over populating.

 

[Peter Schutze]

the back of the original rulebook specifies the national colonies and outpost

I would expect small private commercial operations eg a hydrogen station to support shipping and a perhaps few dozen prospectors in the systems between colonies

If you want to stick to the established background, I would be very cautious about putting any big populations anywhere within the explored area

 

[Kaye]

I think that when you keep in mind how real colonies developed in the past you can't go very wrong in 2300AD.

Late 18th and 19th century colonies had to be self sustaining. They had a strong agricultural character with any industries concentrated around the seaport.
This is how most colonies described in sourcebooks look in 2300AD. When you stick to that general outline you will keep the population in check automatically by maintaining a realistic spread of population offset against the starlift capacity that feeds heads into the colony and natural growth.

 

[BMonnery]

the back of the original rulebook specifies the national colonies and outpost

Having people "down the well" is a fair investment and whilst bases and facilities do exist beyond the colony list they don't have permanent populations. The same isn't true for the odd station (which could simply be a ship lying dogo). Also remember that most colonised worlds still have large area of wilderness.

Since you can't claim star systems then why keep a facility without a need? The major interest would be prospecting for rocks in systems with metallic rocks. We already have several systems with "belters" (Sol, Clarkes' Star, Catherine's Star, Ross 863 and Delta Pavonis).

 

[McPerth]

the back of the original rulebook specifies the national colonies and outpost

Also some non-national colonies appear (Kie-Yuma, by Trilion and Austin's World, by Life Fundation).

Even so, I guess the colonies are all listed, and so the ones that are non-national were for completeness, while the outposts may be they are not all listed, only national ones, leaving the possibility for small non-national outposts elsewhere (be they for ressource estraction or research).

 

[Peter Schutze]

>Also some non-national colonies appear (Kie-Yuma, by Trilion and Austin's World, by Life Fundation)

a definitional slip on my part. Those colonies and the one on Aurore are basically described as separate nations in their own right in canon sources.

My intention was to differentiate that canon colony list from small independent settlements of several thousand people not under direct national control but potentially not just another outpost either since they are intended to grow rather than serve a single limited purpose like an outpost.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Aurore one in its first decade, the groups that eventually became the Boer republics in the 1800s or what could have happened with the Mormons creating a "Deseret nation" when the US west was first being settled.

These would be either small fringe settlements on marginal shirtsleeves territory kind of like the 2320 canyon one although probably on a much smaller geographic scale, dome and cave colonies on Mars like rocks or even tiny out of the way pieces of existing colony worlds .... places for your adventurers to stumble across. If history follows the path it has on Earth, eventually some government is going to try and absorb them creating opportunities for mini-campaigns later in your game

 

[Kappa]

Well, there are other reasons why people found colonies. Historically there were efforts like the Jesuit Reductions in South America. These were theocratic nightmares where Catholicism was forces upon the locals in a North Korean like environment.

Then you had places like Walden; aptly named by its founder (Frederik van Eeden) after Thoreau's Walden, or life in the woods. It was an artists and libertines socialist colony built around self sustaining agriculture. A very nice place to be if you were asked to join.

Between these two extremes there are all sorts of reasons to start a colony. Starting with the cliché mining or logging settlement; plantations or ranches. None of these have to be state owned or operated. Quasi government colonies can be revivals of the classic chartered companies operating a colony. The latter are my favorite because they give much room for intrigue and tensions where stories thrive!