As my long term readers will be aware, we run a small home company that deals with roleplaying games and accessories. Yesterday, we released our new 105-page long title "One Hundred Planets". The pitch is below. I'm running an advent here as the profits from this enterprise directly fund the purchase of my copies of the Horus Heresy and provide you guys with the reviews and many of the other things associated with Warpstone Flux … which means my wife is a whole lot happier with me spending money on hobby goodness!
Descriptions of planets in a some resources can be limited. Perhaps a planet is randomly rolled on some chart or other and found to be an ice world. Sure, but that's usually not nearly enough to base a roleplaying session around without some serious work on behalf of the person running the game.
So, maybe its an iceworld, but its melting? Again, very nice, but why is it melting? What's causing it to melt? How about: its a melting ice world that a villainous commercial enterprise is trying to exploit for mineral wealth contained under the ice. This is now getting much better. Heck, there are almost plot hooks here.
One Hundred Planets takes the idea of having a much more detailed description of planets and combines them with plots hooks, physical data, and much more.
For each of our 100 planets, we give succinct details about the parent star of the system (based on real astronomical data), and physical data of the planet in question (its mass, orbital parameters, how long one day is on the planet, its surface gravitation, indigenous life, the number of humans on the planet).
This is followed by a thorough physical description of the planet. Most of the planets are rocky terrestrials in nature, but there is a huge variety contained therein. Whether they experience quakes, the ecosystems and the atmospheres of these worlds are all discussed within.
Under `Planetary History', a detailed sketch is made of the human side of the planet. Was it settled by colonists from the Empire?; does a Guild own it?; are there robots there? These and more are discussed and many include elements of science fiction, although where possible most have been strongly bedded in real world physics.
The political status of each world is briefly touched on: who rules it and what is currently happening are frequently noted.
Finally, for each and every planet, plot hooks are given. The median number of plot hooks for each world is two, but many planets have three distinct plot hooks to take advantage of. These, combined with the real world (nay: real Universe) data, are what makes this volume very distinct. They are ready made hooks for player characters to jump in on and have a purpose to directly associate with the planet in question. With little work, the person running the game in question should be readily able to adapt these to their own play styles and group dynamics to make for entertaining and interesting gaming sessions.
Finally, it is worth noting and highlighting that all of the descriptions contained within have been written without any particular game system in mind. This ``system agnostic'' presentation drive means that the contents of this volume can readily be exported to any given game system that the players desire.
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