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r/SWN•
linearcore

Questions for a first-time SWN GM: Getting my first game ready

This subreddit has a ton of great input and ideas and I'm hoping for a little help. I'm putting together my first campaign for Stars Without Number and I've come across a couple of sticky points that aren't necessarily rules questions, but more flavor related. I have GM'd a host of other games, but this is my first time with SWN, my first sandbox, and the first time my players have ever played not-D&D, so I'm struggling with seeing the consequences of a couple choices.

  1. I've got my sector created with the help of the book. Due to how the stars landed in the grid, I've decided there are two regional hegemonies vying for control over the economic future of the sector with a number of independent systems. One of the hegemonies, though, may start being more militaristic later. I haven't been able to decide if I should hand this map to the players (with names only) and let them know the lay of the land, or give them a blank-ish sector map with a couple stars filled in and let them discover the others through roleplay (the system has 26 stars, so pretty dense and well connected). I think the roleplay method might be neat, but it seems like a quick trip to a spaceport should give them the "full" map (which I could obviously just not let happen).

Has anyone tried the blank map with discovery way? If so, did it add anything fun or just seem like a nuisance to you or your players? I can see pros and cons to both ways, but I'd love to hear your input.

  1. I don't know my gaming group, unfortunately. It's a new configuration of people, so I don't know their playstyle and what helps engage them in the world. To make the transition a little easier I was considering giving each of my five players three tokens: a friend token, a rival token, and a place token. During play when they come to a new place (outside the starting star system), a player can choose to trade in their token during the adventure and will get to make narrative decisions. The idea being that when they hit the third system, for instance, a player could turn in the "friend" token and say something like, "Oh, my old friend Steve from the academy said he was coming here. I'm sure he'd help us..." and now Steve is there and will help for a session in a small way. On the flip side, if no one uses a token I can ask for a rival token, and they have to describe someone that hates them. The place token would let them make up some description, such as, "I've heard of this bar/tiny town/abandoned station, it's supposed to be..."

The question: does this sound needlessly complicated? And does this seem to nerf the Connected focus too much? I'm not too worried about players abusing this or "breaking" the game because I can corral them (and it's pretty hard to break a sandbox). Has anyone tried something similar to build investment? While the 5 rumors mechanic I've seen is great for a random group of strangers (the PCs), I'm having my players make a fully formed group that knows each other already, so the system wouldn't have the same impact.

  1. A simpler one: I've decided that in this frontier sector interstellar travel is somewhat common and that frigate-sized ships aren't the massive investment they normally are (bigger ships are though). As the players start on a world with Major Spaceyard, I've decided that in that system (and maybe the neighboring hegemonic capital) ships cost 1/4 normal. Would you apply that cost reduction to maintenance and repairs too? I can foresee a broke group nearing their 6-month overhaul far from home trying to race back to the spaceyard so they can afford it. It's a bit nit-picky, but I'd love input.

Posted Aug 23, 2019, 2:47 AM UTC · edited

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Jroman215•

Full disclosure I planned out a full campaign but never got to play. However I’ve gm’d a bunch of Other games and other systems.

  • I think I would give them at least an overview of the systems they can visit, something like the Gateway Travel Bureau pages in the original core book that allows them to plan what they want to do, the key to an open sandbox game in my opinion is to candidly ask my players “what do you guys plan to do short term and long term? So I can plan accordingly.” I’ve done this in several other games and it’s worked handily.

  • Give them a glimpse of what the system is like in broad strokes at least and then keep a few planets “secret” so that when they fail navigation rolls they can randomly get sent to one of these “secret systems” like the GM map of hydra sector vs the map for players.

  • I actually clipped out pages 177-179 from my pdf to give my players and was going to treat that as their sort of ”Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” to get them started.

I know you’re using a home brew Sector, but I think the book could provide at least a decent template for you to create a “player’s guide”.

Hope this helps.

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linearcoreOP•

candidly ask my players “what do you guys plan to do short term and long term? So I can plan accordingly.” I’ve done this in several other games and it’s worked handily.

This was my plan from the start. At the end of every session, if we've finished the current episode, to ask them what their plans are next, so I can set it up accordingly.

then keep a few planets “secret”

I do have a couple secret systems already, so they'll have this opportunity. Maybe that's enough to "keep hidden" at the beginning. I might try something like hand them the map of known systems, with names for their own hegemony and a couple major planets elsewhere, but let them find out names and things through roleplay, so they know there is something there, but their polity doesn't generally know enough a lot of specifics.

”Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” to get them started.

Oh I'm definitely going to give them something like this, at least in broad strokes.

Thanks for the input.

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Jroman215•

You’re welcome. An interesting thing I just thought of is like a rippling out knowledge of neighboring systems and such. So let’s say they start at system #1, then they can have accurate info about all of the #2 systems as their nearest neighbors, vague knowledge of the #3 systems, and no knowledge about the #4 systems. Then when they move onto system #2 they can learn accurate info about #3, and vague information about #4. It could even be like a sort of side quest in order to move onto a new system that they have to find out in each new system they visit. Maybe meta space maps are only recorded of local meta dimensional paths or something so they need a new one in each port to safely drill to the next system or else they have to go backwards or proceed as they would when drilling a new meta space pathway as described in the rules.

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linearcoreOP•

This is similar to another idea I had. I'll give them the full space map with names, some local rumors of some other planets, and the "communication routes," but they can only buy certain rutters on certain planets. So they know what's out there, but they still have to go looking for rutters.

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Leafygoodnis•

Hey, glad to hear you're jumping in! I've been GMing SWN for a little while now and you made a great choice of system. Here are my thoughts:

  1. Whether your PCs start with a map or not is totally up to you! If the sector is super-connected setting-wise, it might be hard to keep the players from easily obtaining a map, but you could justify it a few ways. Easiest in my mind would be that each system has knowledge of its neighbours but not an entire map - so the players could shell out for some spike drill routes, but it's not going to reveal the entire map at once. In my campaign, my players have a reasonably complete map, but the setting is more about trying to make your way in an established universe instead of the exploration aspect. It's all about what kind of people you have at your table.

  2. I'd be wary of the token system. It's super cool on its own for sure! Buuuut long-term, I do think it will make foci like Connected less useful and interesting. The system is super flexible as-is, and I do feel like it might overcomplicate things as time goes on and you find your players pursuing plot hooks and such on their own.

It's difficult to try and integrate a new group on the fly, so I would say that you should organize a really solid Session 0 where you discuss everyone's playstyles. Make everyone's characters in person, and let them tailor them to their needs (the system is fantastic for this imo!) Get everyone to come up with two or three personal goals for their characters as well so they have some idea of what they can work towards in the sandbox. If you have that groundwork, I feel like you won't need to introduce the tokens.

  1. At level 1, PCs aren't going to have a ton of cash to pay for repairs, or even skills to engage in meaningful ship combat (the Comms Officer especially, who'll need a 1 in Program to even do anything basic). My recommendation would be to let the players be part of an NPCs crew, or even be using a ship on loan from one of the factions to bankroll costs! Both will give them some ability to hop systems/planets, without giving them the extra headache of managing credits and you the extra headache of having to constantly adjust repair/fitting costs. Let them explore one planet for awhile, then dip their toes into interstellar travel a bit later, and then maybe let them buy a ship at a discount when they have their footing and some savings at their disposal!

Hopefully this helps! If you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer.

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linearcoreOP•

but the setting is more about trying to make your way in an established universe instead of the exploration aspect.

That was my initial idea. The sector is "established," but is on the cusp of some major changes, if the players want to get involved (or maybe even if they don't). They definitely won't get world tags, or even things like temperature/atmosphere/biosphere unless they go asking. So maybe giving them a map of names isn't bad; there's still exploration, but with an obviously established sector.

Get everyone to come up with two or three personal goals for their characters as well so they have some idea of what they can work towards in the sandbox.

That's a good idea. It would probably be easier on me if they have something like that. I know certain members in my group have given other GMs pages-long character backstories before, and that's what I'm trying to avoid. I want them to build the character stories as they go. A couple sentences of why they are where they are at start and three goals for the future is a pretty solid start.

As for the tokens, my idea was they only get these once at character creation. So each player only has one friend out there, one rival, and gets to describe one place. They wouldn't refresh or anything like that. Just a little bump of investment so each player has something in the sector that's "theirs" in a way.

My recommendation would be to let the players be part of an NPCs crew...

I thought about this, but I've already decided to give them a ship debt-free (mostly). It is, however, busted up and they need to do some work for hire before it's fully repaired. That way certain aspects are introduced more slowly. Certain systems start damaged or disabled and they'll have to work around those issues until they can get the repair cash together.

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Leafygoodnis•

The token system is definitely better if its one-off! Talk with your players and see how they feel about it, if they're into it (which I'd imagine they are, it's an intruiging concept) then run with it!

As for the ship, that's fair! It'll be super cool to let them slowly build their hunk of junk into a super storied and personal ship. Just make sure they know that repairs and stuff add up quick, and ship combat (or even just combat of any kind since its so lethal) is a pretty good idea to avoid if possible at first. It's cool as hell, but my PCs ended up in one ship combat at level 3 and ended up somewhere north of 20,000 credits in the hole for repairs lol.

If you discount their repairs it'll give them some more leeway of course, so basically tweak it until your players feel like their efforts and costs are balanced 👍

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misiapa•
  1. I think this is up to you an your group - do you want the sector exploration to be a big part of your game? Also remember that information about system existing somewhere is not very useful without information how to get there (aka rutters). This can give additional game layer to the map - you know something you want is there, but you need to figure out how to get there.
  2. I always welcome content for the game that come from my players. I wouldn't limit this to any number of tokens, but I would call for a Connect skill check to see how much of what they just said will occur.
  3. Sure, why not. If the fiction explanation why ships are cheaper makes sense for the maintenance as well, then I would stick with the reduced cost. I wouldn't do this personally only because I like the default balance presented in the game.
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