Tabletop help ... sorta

[binidj]

So I'm starting to plan this sci-fi tabletop game which features stable wormholes linking locations (think of a less-cheesy version of Stargate: Atlantis or an inferior version of The Algebraist) and I'm wondering if there's some kind of (easy to use and free) mapping programme that anyone knows of to show solar systems and their relationship to each other based on the wormholes?

Any help gratefully received.

Comments

[jfs.livejournal.com]

It depends on the level of detail you want, but any graphics package could allow you to do something like the Underground map - after all, part of Harry Beck's genius was in realising that when it came to the Underground, physical geography was less important than links - where you're connected to is far more important than where you are.

Other than that, I'd suggest trawling the Traveller RPG websites - there's an awful lot of software written by fans for that.

You might also want to look at the Fading Suns websites, because as far as I recall, they use a very similar system of stable jump gates linking solar systems.

[binidj.livejournal.com]

Yep, scouring for Traveller™ fansites did occur to me in my bed last night ... I should have thought of it at once really. Fading Suns might have some stuff on generating specific systems but probably not as useful as traveller™. Still no harm giving them a try.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[curlwomble.livejournal.com]

There's a boardgame called Starfire which uses wormholes for FTL. there might be some software folks have written for that.

This page:
http://www.starfiredesign.com/starfire/features/4thupdates.html

Has two star system generation utilitues which might do what you want.

http://www.cfar.umd.edu/~keverill/Games/Starfire/Computer.html

Has another system generator

Being wormhole based, though, the actual physical location of the systems is irrelevant (and possibly very dfficult to determine, depending on just how far the wormholes can throw you) unless you've another practical method of interstellar travel and you could most logically depict the links as lines across a circle, with each system being a point on that circle's circumference. Since it's a circle, any system can be linked to any or all other systems and it's easy to see the important ones cos they have lots of lines...

if you do have other methods of interstellar travel (like SG and the Algebraist do) then you're tied to drawing lines on a 'conventional starmap' (if it's Algebraist stylee), or just marking a special symbol on a 'holed system if you can jump from any wormhole to any other (a la SG).

There are, as jfs sez, plenty of resources in the Traveller continuum to help with drawing 2- and 3-D starmaps to superimpose a grid/pattern of wormholes upon.

[binidj.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that Womble.

The setting is rather more like The Algebraist or The Praxis (if you've read that) than SG. However whatever created the wormholes isn't around any more (I'm thinking extinction rather than ascension/excession) so there isn't a culture around that creates wormholes either by FTL or sub-light hauling. At some point in the future I might need to think about plotting actual positions if the players decide to spend years travelling somewhere, though why they would choose to do that is beyond me. Mind you, there is plenty of precedent for unexpected player actions eh?

[invisible-al.livejournal.com]

Nice thing about Wormholes is that you can actually plot the whole thing in 2D and not have to worry about 3D which is very difficult without a handy computer (and holotank). Do you want something similar to this map of Fading Suns Known Worlds?.

I would suggest you go and ask on forum.rpg,net, if such a program exists someone there will have heard of it.

[binidj.livejournal.com]

That's the sort of thing alright, although clearly I'd like to be able to design it myself ... I was after something pretty which I can't seem to find trawling through the Traveller™ sites. I was also looking for something that would generate realistic (ish) system maps that would, again, be pretty. These are for player handouts rather than my own use so they need to look suitably sci-fiesque.

[binidj.livejournal.com]

Rah! Many thanks folks, thanks to your suggestions I managed to come across It's Full of Stars (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/7472/ifosweb/) which looks a bit daunting but is pretty much exactly what I wanted.