WBH extended profiles for Spinward Marches

[RogerN]

For an excellent way of building your own quickly. Almost all the things out of WBH right at your fingertips.

Thankyou for this work it is really appreciated. I use it all the time for own Alpha Crucis campaign. Its generated some awesome stuff so far that ive then expanded upon.

 

[ResslynHalvik]

C

Thread 'Utilitarian Star System Generator'

Sep 10, 2024

I wrote a straightforward no-frills application that implements most of the steps and procedures from the wonderful *World Builder's Handbook* up to Class III Survey status, with a bit of IV-P.

Download the star_gen.html file (right-click and Save As), then open the file in any browser and voila, you've got yourself a star system generator.

GitHub: https://github.com/coolAlias/star_gen

Hope you all find this useful and fun - feedback and corrections welcome!

Sample output:

• coolAlias
• Replies: 128
• Forum: Traveller

• 

For an excellent way of building your own quickly. Almost all the things out of WBH right at your fingertips.

This looks good. If I give it the core information like the UWP will it necessarily come up with the same other stats as the WBH? That is, if I want to stay canon, and I just chukc the UWP in here rather than trying to hunt the canon stats?

 

[Anstett]

Yes you input the UWP and it will create the rest of the system based on the WHB process.

Then add in the final Social chapters yourself after.

 

[GabrielGABFonseca]

I think I've got myself a bit confused here, probably because I only know [Classic] Traveller and Mongoose 2e, and everything else is a bit of alphabet soup for me! So, this table was generated using T5 - is there a particular T5 book I need to buy to decode the column headings?

SO

The TravellerMap is T5 compliant, which means it presents information in that system's Extended UWP Format. T5 in its current form is from circa ~2015, predating the WBH. When Geir made the WBH, he sought to incorporate as much of the T5 Extended UWP into the WBH's generation procedures, but in the process he decided to change a couple itty bitty things.

To make sense of the TravellerMap info you do not need to buy a new book, you can simply access the 'About Second Survey Data' page (top right, three lines button, then the question mark sub-menu), which explains what each entry and category means in detail.

Most of the differences between the T5 Extended UWP and WBH are actually in how certain values are generated, and perhaps most importantly, the Cultural Profile, which goes by different names under the WBH than it does in the Extended UWP format. The differences are all outlined on page 184 of the World Builder's Handbook, though I do recommend reading the whole section (Pages 181 through 185).

s'OK - I found this key https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Trade_Map_Key#Sector_Economic_Data

Although I think the "SPA Population" column must be broked. I can't be believe that Mora really needs 1,086,740 employees at the starport.

These data, however, were generated using GURPS Traveller rules, specifically those in Far Trader and Starports, both excellent products, and which Geir also made an effort to factor in when making the WBH, but which might have some teething issues with both T5's Extended UWP format and some of the WBH results.

For one, GURPS Traveller assumed as a baseline a much 'busier' universe than T5 and Mongoose Traveller both seem to do, based on how they estimate ship traffic, but this is a tangential asside akin to Youtube's "Stats for Nerds" menu. Feel free to use the Sector Economic Data entries on the wiki as guidelines, but do take them with a pinch of salt.

Naive question 127 in an ever growing series...

Do we have (canon) expanded system profiles (ie, using the World Builder's Handbook) for every system in the Spinward Marches?

Alas and alack, it exists not. The products released since the WBH have been unfortunately rather lackadaisical with incorporating its conventions, very unfortunately, in my view. The recent Borderlands (which is actually a great book, I feel the need to add) is an example.

I had intended to create a python script that could take in the raw T5 Extended UWP data from the Second Survey and spit out full systems automagically (originally so I could create my own Foreven sector, but extendable to other sectors as well) but unfortunately that particular project has been languishing burried somewhere in my never-ending pile of 'To-do eventually, someday' tasks.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Oh oh oh - they appear (in the text) in the system profiles in the wiki, AND on the summary pages. I am such a muppet.

Apologies all round, and especially to @MasterGwydion who actually showed me the page they are on a few weeks ago

I couldn't say anything. I didn't notice that my 6-year-old put an ice cube in my computer until, *poof* no more functioning computer. Took some time to get new parts from the mainland.

 

[MonsterX]

SO

Alas and alack, it exists not. The products released since the WBH have been unfortunately rather lackadaisical with incorporating its conventions, very unfortunately, in my view. The recent Borderlands (which is actually a great book, I feel the need to add) is an example.

IMHO, the WBH plus coolAlias' WBH star system autogenerator are the best Referee tools ever for Traveller. Now when players annoyingly decide to jump to an unexpected star system, you can have that whole star system generated at the press of a button. It takes little longer than that to really take it in and understand what's going on in the system, there's so much output, but there's always something there to present as a shiny thing to keep the PCs busy until the next week.

As far as planning adventures, you can instantly create a rich environment from which to take inspiration and start building interesting places. If the first try doesn't give you what you're looking for, just press the button again. If I were writing adventures for Mongoose, I'd definitely be taking full advantage of that.