Moving to Canopus

I've decided to change the campaign's setting to the Coreward-Trailing quadrant of the Canopus sector, set in the New Era in 1201 (Imperial date). The Collapse would provide the game with ample opportunities for adventure, exploration and commercial empire-building.

Here is a star-map of this quadrant in 1201:

Aslan Miniatures

I've finished painting a bunch of Aslan miniatures ("Bear Men" by Stan Johansen Miniatures). These would be used for this game. I've chosen a reddish fur color inspired by some illustrations of Larry Niven's Kzinti I've seen some time ago. So here's the result:

Possible Changes

I'm thinking about a change in direction.

I have some problems with the Trojan Reach setting, especially the fact that it feels too under-populated and under-developed for a decent commercial campaign.

I might want to move this campaign from the Outer Rim Void in 1105 to the Coreward-Trailing corner of Canopus in 1201, which is a background I've been developing for some time now. Not only is the TNE background more comfortable to me (with its lack of uber-powerful, omnipresent Imperium), but I find myself easier to "connect" to it than to the Trojan Reach.

I also tend to love the TNE background more than the Classic Era OTU one...

And, of course, an Aslan noble with a trading ship will find her paws full of work developing new trade routes in the collapsed, war-torn Canopus Sector.

Maybe this will allow me to overcome my writer's block...

What do you think?

A Writer's Block

I'm suffering from a writer's block/blackout regarding this campaign.

One side of the problem is that I don't know where to start or what, exactly, should I prepare. If I had a to-do list I would've be able to start working on it right away; but I don't know what to prepare for such a campaign. For a regular trader, exploration or even mercenary game I'd know exactly what needs to be prepared (mostly adventures and world-based adventure hooks), but this kind of high-level play is quite difficult to prep for, especially as its a roaming high-level campaign (so there isn't a permanent cast of NPCs as would be in, say, a palace).

Another side of the problem is that I'm not sure about the overall plot. Ideally this should probably be a political "sandbox", but on the other hand I don't seem to attach very well to the this setting's hooks.

And yet another side of the problem is the general GM burnout I appear to be suffering from in the last few months or so. So far it's mainly affecting our D&D game, but I fear that this burnout is causing problems with the preparation of this campaign.

Any advice for overcoming this burnout and this writer's block would be welcome.

Prep Considerations

A question which arises is "what should I prepare for such a campaign". A 'normal' trader campaign requires a starmap, UWPs, some plot hooks and passengers/patrons; but this one would be a political sandbox, so things would be different.

I was thinking about making one or two important NPCs per world, contacts if you will; each would have his or her motivations and his or her interests. Other than that, detailing the governments of each world using both Path of Tears and the MGT Factions/Cultural Quirks tables would probably also be useful.

Any additional suggestions about what I should prep would be welcome.

A Writer's Block

I've run up to a relatively big problem.

I'm trying to build up a good enough political background to allow my player (who is, by the way, my lovely spouse) to have interesting political adventures in a sandbox of sorts. However, I'm both a little scared of getting into such big politics in the game AND I'm not sure that the ORV can provide the right amount of opportunities for such a game, with its many low-pop backwater worlds and little actual politics (except for competition between the megacorps, that is).

I'm also unsure about my ability to provide enjoyable high-level political intrigue of the kind my spouse would like to have in play.

I'll warmly welcome any advice about setting up high-level politics that will allow the players to adventure more in the diplomatic way of things rather than in the exploration/stealth/frontier-work that I'm more comfortable in running...

I might be using the following stuff from the old JTAS magazine in my campaign:

Tree Karkens (JTAS #1) are cool critters - I think I'll place them on Gollere.

The Model 317 Pressurized Shelter (JTAS #6) seems to be quite useful in general as an outpost, though I might prefer more interesting shapes.

Springers (JTAS #9) are interesting and might fit the same planet I'll set Safari Ship on.

Bwaps (JTAS #11) are a bit far from their home in the ORV, but a few will be present, especially in the Imperial administration.

Miniphants (JTAS #16 are quite an interesting example of genetic engineering.

Luugiir (JTAS #18) are very cool critters; I think I'll place them on some of the Vilani-colonized worlds.

JTAS #20 has Aslan Phylosophies - perfect as background to this campaign!