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[Nonanonymous]

Alright, so I've had a bit of a skeleton for a campaign setting sitting around for quite some time, but haven't really gotten anywhere with it.  And then someone gave me the idea of a campaign setting that, rather than taking an event in the present and building the world around that, would take a world and build up to a desired point.

And that brings us to this thread.  I hardly think this sort of undertaking would be entirely feasible alone, so I'd like some of you to help me.  To start off with the basics, the system I plan to use is GURPS (4th Ed), although I'm not sure if that will come up too often to prevent those who don't have the system  from participating here.  Next we need to get a concrete idea for a world.  I'm thinking of a few moons orbiting a gas giant, but would that be possible at a distance that could sustain earthlike climates?  And would the star(s) have to be blue in order to give off enough heat?  Once we have that down, we should move on to the maps.

[rickvoid]

I'm no astronomer, but it seems to me that in order for your moons to be conductive to life, the gas giant would have to be fairly close to the sun, and the moons would need to revolve around the gas giant fairly quickly, unless they are orbiting the gas giant at the poles instead of around the equator. Otherwise they'll get too cold.

Not sure about the age of the star. Obviously the younger it is, the warmer it'll be so the further out you can put the gas giant.

I know this is looking ahead quite a ways, but are you thinking writing a history up to a space-faring society, or will you just be sticking to one moon?

[wallish]

Why does it need to be astronomically viable?  Just throw in some sort of Ancient Alien Race that created the moons' current states using advanced machinery deep in the heart of each moon.  Each machine is connected to a central power source/station deep in the heart of the gas giant and you're set.

Throw in alien artifacts, a market for recovery of said artifacts by all the standard parties (archaeologists seeking knowledge, black-market traders seeking profit, and government/rebels looking for weapons) and you've got a reason for your people to leave their safe housing along with a preset moral/ethical path tree for the players to choose from.

I've never played a P&P RPG, and I'm not a very good fiction writer, but if you just need ideas for a campaign then I can help.

[Boksi]

How about this:

The gas giant, which we shall call Ĉolus, has six major moons and no rings. It's axis has a tilt of a whopping 46°, and it spins rapidly. It orbits a single F0 class star, which we shall call Apollo. The gas giant is somewhat close to the inner edge of the green zone, but the temperature is tolerable enough. The moons tend to be able to glean at least a little light and due to their rapid orbits, they never spend more than two months in Ĉolus' shadow(except for Salmoneus).

The first moon, let's call it Sisyphus, is the largest one. It has the largest orbit, and is further out than any other moon. It's habitable and geologically inert. Because it's tidal forces are caused by the other moons, they are highly convoluted, and there are periods called "smotherings" where they are almost, if not completely nonexistent. The weather during these periods tends towards humidity and little wind, but don't last long enough to be dangerous. Sisyphus has the biggest population base of all the moons, but also the least in the way of natural resources.

The next moon, which we'll call Athamas, is the second-smallest one. It's geologically active for a moon and is rather inhospitable towards life, with a high CO2 atmospheric content and thusly the highest temperatures and least breathable air of those moons that have atmospheres. Despite this, it's livable there and because of it's geological activity there are plenty of various mines and metallurgical businesses there.

The third moon is the third largest, and we shall call it Cretheus. Cretheus has no atmosphere due to it's rapid rotation and it's quite uninteresting. Although anyone with a sense of drama knows that there's bound to be something mysterious there.

Salmoneus. Let's call the fourth moon that. It's the smallest one, habitable and covered by a deep blue expanse of water. Deep in both meanings of the word. Because it's covered in an ocean with not a single shallow, it's rather difficult for air-breathers to live there, although the air there is considered the purest air in the world.

The fifth moon shall be called Deioneus and it's the second largest one. It's geologically active. So geologically active, in fact, that it's unlivable there. It's a magma-covered hellhole.

Finaly, the sixth moon is to be named Perieres and it's the third smallest. It's the innermost and it's an oddity. It has an extremely elliptical orbit, sometimes spending years in Ĉolus' shadow, and although it's atmosphere is breathable it always turns the same face towards the sun so it's either way too cold or way too hot most of the time.



This might not be astronomically feasible, but it looks good enough for most people and that's what matters, unless you plan to play with a cadre of young astronomical zealots.

[Pnx]

Hmmm I kind of like it. So what's the plans for the factions and species of the place?

You should have a whole bunch of robots in there left over from the ancient alien race...

WAIT!!!

The robots eventually developed their own civilization over time, and are now thinking creatures in their own right.

Oh and have a technologically backwards but immensely numerous bunch of guys in cryopods sitting on one moon and going around attacking other people. Those guys got there the REALLY long way.

[rickvoid]

Giant Wall of Awesome

So this is what your moons are like?
Aeolus: Gas Giant, Uninhabitable
Sisyphus: Largest Moon, Habitable, Geologically Inert, You require more Vespene Gas 
Athamas: Second Smallest Moon, Barely Habitable, Geologically Active, Bad Air, Resource Rich
Cretheus: Third Largest Moon, Uninhabitable, No Air, Artifacts
Salmoneus: Smallest Moon, Habitable, Water World, Great Air
Deioneus: Second Largest Moon, Geologically Active, Magma Covered Hellhole, Bad Air, Uninhabitable, Ridiculously Resource Rich
Perieres: Third Smallest Moon, Uninhabitable, Extemely Hot, Extremely Cold

That's actually a pretty interesting list of worlds there. Sisyphus makes a good starting world, since they're in need of resources.And any Alien Artifact could be located at the core of the Gas Giant, there used to hold this little part of the system together.

[Boksi]

You almost got it rick, except Perieres is barely habitable for part of the year, and completely uninhabitable for the rest, and Deioneus is extremely rich in resource because of the geological activity.

[Asheron]

Oh and have a technologically backwards but immensely numerous bunch of guys in cryopods sitting on one moon and going around attacking other people. Those guys got there the REALLY long way.

That seems a bit cliche. Orcs, anyone?

You should add in a mayor power in decline which desperately tries to regain it's old glory, or something else that could give political interesting conflicts.

[rickvoid]

You almost got it rick, except Perieres is barely habitable for part of the year, and completely uninhabitable for the rest, and Deioneus is extremely rich in resource because of the geological activity.

Actually, if you make it so that it doesn't have any spin to it, you can have one side constantly facing the sun and another side constantly facing the gas giant. That way you have one side a barren heat-scarred wasteland, and the other a barren icy hell. Between the two sides would run a very thin temperate band, barely capable of supporting life. Getting dropped on either side would make for a very interesting adventure.

[Boksi]

But the problem is that it spends months in Ĉolus' shadow. Most of the moons never spend more than two months, essentially causing a very cold winter during which only Ĉolus' radiation provides warmth and most animals hibernate, but Perieres spends many, many months.

[rickvoid]

Ah, I see. Very well, I will modify my list accordingly.

[Pnx]

You should add in a mayor power in decline which desperately tries to regain it's old glory, or something else that could give political interesting conflicts.

Hmmm ok, so this major power is on the decline it's falling apart and desperately trying to get it's act together, maybe some kind of monarchy, but a throne is a little cliche, so let's go with a regent.

So the Regency consists of a number of city states spread a across Salmoneus, possibly one or two colonies on other worlds as well, it does not have power of all of Salmoneus and there is a couple of regions which have claimed independence from the Regency.

Every city state has a council of a size dependent on the city and can be as small as 5 and as large as 48. New council members are elected by the remaining council members when they die, they always try to maintain their council size. There is no law distinguishing the common man from noblemen, however councils always keep themselves to the high classes, if you are not well established you stand no chance of being elected.

Every city also has a patrician and auditor, the patrician is effectively the only one who can pass laws in the city regarding land and tax, he/she also has the ability to overrule anything the council tries to do although he cannot pass laws without the councils approval.
The auditor is the commanding general of the city guard. The city guard is both military and police force.

Auditors are selected by the patrician, usually the patrician will select a new auditor upon arriving on their position, but it is not unheard of for them to select the same one. They are usually selected from the city guard but since the auditor effectively functions as the patricians right-hand man it's not unheard of for the patrician to opt for someone more trustworthy. While the auditor has complete control over the city guard, the patricians orders go above that of the auditor.

Patricians also take a place in the grand council, the grand council selects the next regent, they don't need to select the regent from the grand council itself but they usually do, they determine such things as state boundaries, council sizes and various disputes between cities.

The regent has the same power over the grand council as a patrician has over a council, with one difference, a patrician can pass any law without the grand council's approval.

Every time a supreme auditor dies another one is chosen from amongst the auditors by the auditors with little interference from the patricians and regent. Although patricians my pressure their auditors to vote one way or another, ultimately they have little influence over the vote. The supreme auditor has no control over the forces of the cities, instead he/she has control of the regent guard which is based in the capital and is twice the strength of any other guard. Again the regents orders go over the head of the supreme auditor.

How's this sound? I'll go into greater detail and work out the cities later, there should also be a number of rogue states on the fringes of the regency on Salmoneus.

[Rilder]

Just a question but a campaign setting for what?

[Boksi]

Sounds decent. Remember, land on Salmoneus is never more than a few klicks away...

[rickvoid]

Is all this taking place in underwater domes? Salmoneus is, of course, the Water World. If so your stuff still makes some sense, but I don't see Salmoneus being the original homeworld unless we're dealing with gilled lifeforms. Otherwise this could have begun life as a mining colony sent from Sisyphus that rebelled, founded it's own government (the Regency), and now trades with its homeworld, though relations between the two are quickly becoming strained. I guess it could have a colony or two on another moon, but I don't know how they launched a ship from the surface of a planet spanning ocean. Those colonies could be the reason why relations are breaking down between the worlds. And history could always repeat itself and those colonies could rebel as well.