The World Builder's Handbook - It Is Here!

Just to let you know, an update is now available for this book - simply redownload it from our website or Drivethru to get the latest version!
So was that just a 'fix the graphics' fix, because I didn't think we had more updates... and there was one more thing, but it's not critical.
 
So was that just a 'fix the graphics' fix, because I didn't think we had more updates... and there was one more thing, but it's not critical.
Update for the things you were talking about before we did the update (if that makes sense :)).
 
Update for the things you were talking about before we did the update (if that makes sense :)).
Last one I specifically asked for was the black hole diameter and that was fixed in the previous update. I did notice that it went from 12 -> 18 MB, so I thought it might have been art.
 
Thanks for all the work on this. In case there's another update, any chance of getting the bookmarks fixed? Or is it just me (reading in Adobe Acrobat Pro)
 
Enjoying the book.
But maybe someone can help me with this. I could be wrong. In reading the World Builder's handbook the system's does not seem to allow orbits of moons to get close enough to planets. Jupiter's closet moon Metis is 128,000 Km from Saturn. I do not see anything in system that let's you approach that, the closet calculation you can do seem to still place you 1,000,000 Km from a planet. Maybe I missing something thanks.
 
Enjoying the book.
But maybe someone can help me with this. I could be wrong. In reading the World Builder's handbook the system's does not seem to allow orbits of moons to get close enough to planets. Jupiter's closet moon Metis is 128,000 Km from Saturn. I do not see anything in system that let's you approach that, the closet calculation you can do seem to still place you 1,000,000 Km from a planet. Maybe I missing something thanks.
The moon distances use planetary diameters and should allow anything from 2 diameter distance from the center (p. 75-77). I assume you mean Metis is a moon of Jupiter (yeah, Monday morning, I get it), which should be 1.5 diameters above. For inner moons, the 2D-2 x anything +2 will result in two diameters 1/36th of the time, regardless of the value of MOR.

To be fair, Metis is closer - a little less than 1 diameter, but it and the other four inner moons are small enough to count as minor (not significant) moons, which you can place wherever you want. For Saturn, Mimas is only 1.5 diameters, but it's also below 400, so not significant (barely), while Enceladus is right about at 2 PD.
 
The moon distances use planetary diameters and should allow anything from 2 diameter distance from the center (p. 75-77). I assume you mean Metis is a moon of Jupiter (yeah, Monday morning, I get it), which should be 1.5 diameters above. For inner moons, the 2D-2 x anything +2 will result in two diameters 1/36th of the time, regardless of the value of MOR.

To be fair, Metis is closer - a little less than 1 diameter, but it and the other four inner moons are small enough to count as minor (not significant) moons, which you can place wherever you want. For Saturn, Mimas is only 1.5 diameters, but it's also below 400, so not significant (barely), while Enceladus is right about at 2 PD.
Thanks this helps a lot!
 
@Geir quick question; I'm writing the Python script to automate system generation like I threatened said I would, and I've hit a minor stumble; In page 24, in the section 'Location of Stars in Existing Systems (Continuation Method)', the 'existing star locations (binaries)' points out that 'Stars of class Ia, Ib, II and III cannot have Close secondary stars'.
I can't help but notice that the following table, 'existing star locations (three or more stars)', does not have that same observation.
On one hand, I can see why the restriction from the previous table would also hold true for the second one.
On the other hand, I can also see how it might not hold, because a pre-existing system might have eight stars and if that rule were in effect, then there wouldn't be enough slots to place all the stars.

... and on the gripping hand, I can just ask you! :p
 
@Geir quick question; I'm writing the Python script to automate system generation like I threatened said I would, and I've hit a minor stumble; In page 24, in the section 'Location of Stars in Existing Systems (Continuation Method)', the 'existing star locations (binaries)' points out that 'Stars of class Ia, Ib, II and III cannot have Close secondary stars'.
I can't help but notice that the following table, 'existing star locations (three or more stars)', does not have that same observation.
On one hand, I can see why the restriction from the previous table would also hold true for the second one.
On the other hand, I can also see how it might not hold, because a pre-existing system might have eight stars and if that rule were in effect, then there wouldn't be enough slots to place all the stars.

... and on the gripping hand, I can just ask you! :p
(and I was just thinking about Watchmakers...) anyway, it's an oversight. Somebody pointed out that for giant stars, the close stars could be inside the star (also now thinking of Alderson points inside a red giant, but that's not this point) so that's why the prohibition of close stars around giants got added.

It should also be relevant for existing systems, unless you really had more than 5 or 6 stars, in which case you would need to make the close stars as un-close as possible. Yes, theoretically a white dwarf can 'survive' for a little while inside the thin burning vacuum of a red giant, but I think it would spiral in from even the tiny friction pretty quickly and then... boom (would it be a supernova? Of what 'type'? - I guess it would depend on whether it hit 1.44 solar masses of accumulated material before it impacted the denser core of the red giant... above my competency level, so... just boom.)
 
I'm planning on buying some books when Adventure Class Ships drops Friday and I'm considering picking this one up to help me flesh out worlds and systems my players visit as they explore Core Sector, but I'm wondering how math heavy this is. I'll be frank - there are some days where I have to take off my shoes to count to 18 (it used to be 20 but, well, diabetes sucks). Do I need to engage with some of the formulae I've seen in the previews, or are those optional for Referees who want to go down to a granular level of detail when designing a system?
 
I'm planning on buying some books when Adventure Class Ships drops Friday and I'm considering picking this one up to help me flesh out worlds and systems my players visit as they explore Core Sector, but I'm wondering how math heavy this is. I'll be frank - there are some days where I have to take off my shoes to count to 18 (it used to be 20 but, well, diabetes sucks). Do I need to engage with some of the formulae I've seen in the previews, or are those optional for Referees who want to go down to a granular level of detail when designing a system?
I like this book a lot--that said, I have to be straight with you, most of the first half of this book, that deals with physical characteristics, is formulae. You can certainly skip (most of) the ones that go into more detail than you want, but the main content of the book is those formulae that go into detail.

Now I haven't looked at the back half of the book, which deals with social characteristics, so much so far, but I think that it's more in the way of random tables and simple formulae, not square-roots-and-powers sort of formulae.
 
Mine on Monday. Out in transit somewhere Knoxville and Seattle are Rim Expeditions and Mysteries of the Ancients.
 
I'm from the North America region and have received the book. It is really well done and I am using it to create some binary star systems. Thanks to all who made it possible!
 
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