How much effort do you put into creating worlds - that is, geography, flora and fauna, climate, cities, cultures, etc. When I write adventures I spend at least three or four pages, because I find it does wonders for atmosphere and player believability. I think it's important to flesh out the worlds for an interstellar setting, as each world should be unique and inspire the party rather than just generic planet x, or desert/swamp world y.

I would say maybe a paragraph of information, a word like Jungle, forest, or plain, can make an overall impression and then maybe a unique plant or animal, building structures, etc but not too much unless it's going to be the setting for multiple sessions. I don't want to bore my players with detailed information about each world. Often, the more they explore a world, the more unique creatures they will encounter.

I like to go into a lot of detail with my planet creation for two reasons:

• Improvisation is a weak point for me. When I "wing it" with a few ideas cobbled together hastily, I invariably lean too much on combat-oriented themes, and the players in our group who enjoy more problem-solving get the short end of the stick. When I take the time to make a world with a rich background, many varied points of interest, and a well thought-out ecology, I can tailor it easily to whatever the players want to do there once they land. I agree with Rawrz: Too much "cataloging of details" will rock the party to sleep, but if I have a well crafted world I can pick through my notes and those few details that will set the tone I'm going for. I try to avoid the "planet as sound stage" trap that is common in science fiction ('This is the ice planet. This is the desert planet. This is the forest moon...). This way, the atmosphere I can create when the players enter the equatorial swamp settlement, (not just the landscape and fauna, but it's colonists way of life, economy, history/secrets, and political arrangements) is entirely different then the tone I can set up when they reach the warp-tainted ruins at the planet's magnetic north pole. True, it's not very efficient because some of the things I come up with may not get used, but I don't mind: If I really like them they can always be recycled into another world down the line. Bottom line is the more I put into it, the more comfortable I feel running an adventure there. While it takes a little longer to develop adventures, I always get more "mileage" out of the well-crafted worlds I make (if it's interesting enough, the players aren't in such a hurry to depart for Footfall when the "main" adventure wraps up!), so I guess it evens out.

• I love making worlds and the adventures that occur on them! It's my favorite part of GMing, like writing a science-fiction story without the constraints of narrative; a whole different style of presenting the genre, really. When one or a few of my players gets that "whoa, cool" expression, or when I can tell I gave them the creeps... man, that's when I know I made something special, and I find I get more of that the more time I put into my worlds.

I didn't mean to go on like this. Fact is, I'm getting started on creating a world tonight, so when I saw your thread I thought it'd be a good opportunity to sort of set out my goals and standards. Wish me luck!

Scipio Brahe said:

Good luck! And keep us updated.

You have made some very good points. I guess it evokes a sense of exploration by dropping hints about the planet (and it is far more thematically appropriate for the 40k setting) rather than the player characters knowing too much.

I'd consider using the random planet generator form a different system, Traveller for ideas. It can randomly roll up planet size, atmosphere, temperature, gravity, hydrographic coverage, and even civilization(s) (population, tech/law level, cultural oddities, starport quality, etc).

GalagaGalaxian said:

I'm curious; are all the elements random? For instance, the coriolis effect will result in different types of flora and fauna depending upon the hemispheres, and size of the oceans will effect weather patterns. Do basic planetary elements result in greater diversity of planet types?

I have a degree in Earth Sciences, I'm currently working on a planet for my PCs. I think I crossed the line into "too much thinking" when I started working out the movements of the tectonic plates to work out which areas of the planet would be rich in natural resources.

Wilfred Owen said:

In the Traveller rules, yes. Size influences atmosphere and hydrography, which influences temperature; those factors influence population, which determine government, law level, technology, etc. It's not absolute - there's a lot of variation - but different factors influence each other in a significant manner all through the system. You can create a decent description of a planet within 10-20 minutes.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Keep in mind that also that size and mass will dictate gravity (I'm not sure what the equation is to figure it out... Physics isn't my kick. Dude, I struggle with algebra!)

A larger planet then earth with the same composition (primarily of rock and metals), will have more mass, therefore more "pull". In addition to fatigue, strength, and movement modifiers for players, keep in mind that flora and fauna will evolve to cope with the increased gravity... lots of creative ideas there, you don't have to assume that they will be squat and bulky things necessarily: I'm reminded of flimsy jellyfish and the deep pressures they can withstand... I have no idea what effect increased gravity will have on things like weather patterns and geographical features, but I imagine you could have a lot of fun specutlating!

A planet that's larger then earth with the same gravity (1g) will have a lower mass, therefore a "softer" composition... at the extreme think "gas giant". In between think water world or, getting closer to earth comp, think some sort of sludge.

Does anyone else remember that Star Wars cartoon where the Millenium Falcon was stuck on that weird slime planet, and Boba Fett was riding around on some sort of indigenous serpent? I was a kid when I saw it, don't remember much else about it...

Edith The Hutt said:

That's pretty cool! If you don't mind going into it, how did you figure it would affect the distribution of resources?

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Only Mongoose Traveller (MGT) allows any variation of population for world type in basic Traveller world generation. (CT, MT aka MegaTraveller, TNE, T4, T20, don't, GT uses GURPS Space, and HT uses Star Hero).

So if you're looking at using Traveller for so doing, it's the ONLY edition to adjust pop for world habitability, and then only in optional rules!

BTW, the SRD includes world gen.

Scipio Brahe said:

Nobody said anything about the whole planet being one type of terrian, just generally where they players will end up doing most of their business. Again, the more the PC's play around on a certain planet the more varied life and landmasses they'll encounter/I'll reveal to them. While I can start with basic factions and creatures, it doesn't make sense to do 20 hours back story for the world if the PC's are just going to fly by it in less then an hour, or not even step foot on it and just destroy the ecosphere from orbit.. I have alot of nuetral factions, plants, animals, story arcs etc. that aren't neccesarrily to one planet. if the play group doesn't contact my worm monster on one planet, they'll probably encounter it on another when I remember I have it and it suits and then there on that planet is where it probably will always be.

Wilfred Owen said:

While I agree...I don't spend that much time fleshing out the environment. I tend to use the random generation charts from O-RT if need be and then try to match the miniature scenery to be appropriate.

However the little touches like different gravity, polluted air, lighting conditions, etc that are measurable in game mechanics terms do tend to make everything "better". But alas, spending all that time cultivating the culture, flora, fauna etc just for the players to decide to hop back in the SpaceShip and go somewhere else is like pouring urine on my Cheerios....so I don't do it. I do what I can for ambiance, but as I lack the time I did when I was young and single, I opt to spend it on NPC's and subplots.