Star Charts in the RPG

[Cochrane]

Have you assigned new locations to the worlds and species you have created? Alpha Mensae appears to be in the Romulan Neutral Zone. I guess I could modify my information to make the Mensaeans nonalligned, I could call them Achadleans instead of Mensaeans and move them, or I could abandon them.

Any suggestions on where to pin down the Bwuutut? With the Mensaeans in the Neutral Zone, I guess I could move the Bwuutut to a location farther from the Romulans.

It's obvious that if I go by Star Charts, the Perseus Federation can't be in the Perseus Arm. It would be easy enough to just say they're in the direction of the Perseus constellation if I insist on keeping the name.

Star Charts doesn't seem to pose any real problem for the Aba or Zwickau. I did think of the Dominion as being a little closer to the Galactic Core, and thus I wanted my Gamma empires to be both close to the Dominion and the Core.

Is the listing of the Federation Members going to deter anyone from creating their own Federation species, or abandon or change the ones they've already created? Are you going to use the Star Charts in your game?

If you don't know what I'm talking about with the Bwuutut, Mensaeans, Aba, and Zwickau, you can find them in the Species Data Banks. You could find the Perseus Federation by doing a search.

[RaconteurX]

Originally posted by Cochrane
Alpha Mensae appears to be in the Romulan Neutral Zone.

Just because it appears to be in the Neutral Zone when looking down at it from so-called "galactic north" doesn't mean Alpha Mensae is anywhere near it when viewed from the galactic plane. Note that the eight sectors on pp. 18-9 stack on top of one another...

If I go by Star Charts, the Perseus Federation can't be in the Perseus Arm.

You will find, on pp. 36-7 and on the "Known Space" portion of the UFP II foldout at the back of the book, that when you get out past Pacifica, Mira and the Tholian Assembly, you are probably approaching the Perseus Arm. Compare to the outline of the UFP extents on pp. 12-3, and you'll see that another route presents itself out past Bellatrix and the Metron Consortium. Ceti Alpha and the Mutara Nebula are also likely near the Perseus Arm.

[Antonsb214]

All we really need is a CDROM version of Star Charts, they could make it look like Stellar Cartography from Generations. It would sure help to see this stuff in three dimensions...

[Dan Stack]

I'm somewhat amused that the Typhon Expanse is right around where I put the Fire Swamp in my games...

[Commander Ramey]

Ok not really buuuuut I have a question based on the new Star Charts book that came out. Does anyone know how the UFP got ahold of the batch of space with Veridian III in it? It's completly closed off from the rest of the UFP by the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingon Empires. I don't see how they went around it with the small fight that the Romulans have around their outside territory and such. Soooooooo any crazy ideas????

[Dan Stack]

3D I'd guess.

[Atlirith]

Where would the Thallonian Empire, from the New Frontier novels be placed -- or are they in the Star Charts already? (likely not, but without an index, there's no way to tell -- that's my only quibbly with this great product, no index).

Also, is the "Patriarchy" the Kzinti from the animated series, or did I miss an episode somewhere in the "true canon"?

thanks!

[Cochrane]

I noticed Alpha Carinae (Canopus) in the NF minipedia, does all of NF take place in the same region? Canopus is in the patch beyond the Klingons. And how do the Klingons, as allies, feel about Feds going through their territory? I guess it's a moot point because of 3D.

[Cochrane]

The following comments are adapted from messages I sent to Geoff Mandel.

I would say 200 pages would be a good size for a Decipher Star Chart book. Personally, I would prefer that the paper be white and the colors indicating empires be light colors, and the stars themselves and labels be dark colors. I would like overall maps along 2 or 3 planes, and cross section sort of maps showing only the stars within a certain thickness, maybe 3 of these. A greater proportion of actual interstellar charts would be on my list. An index would be good, partial if there isn't room for a full one. I would definately want a poster map, the larger the better, maybe four feet across. Maybe a poster map of the entire galaxy, one of explored space, and/ or one of the Federation.

I would like for more of the sectors to be labelled. I would like to see the location of every sector named onscreen/ listed in the encyclopedia. I would like maps showing boundaries/ known space at the time of The Cage, the TOS part of Generations, Encounter at Farpoint, and Endgame. If you can, I would like it if you can plot every location mentioned or visited onscreen. I would like it if you could print the coordinates of every location on the maps, whether X, Y, and Z, or just Z. I would like a less tendrilly and larger Federation than the one in Star Charts. I would place the Romulans possibly 100 light years farther away, and the Cardassians possibly 300 light years farther away.

If a Decipher edition has the Worlds & Civilizations lists, I'd like the entries to list what sector that world is in. I would like a Decipher book to have transparent pages one sector thick. I would like more information on the Magellanic Clouds, specifically what population their stars are, and thus whether there would be life there. Some of the type in the book is rather large, I would like it to be smaller so you could cram in more information.

Possibly some sort of intergalactic map would be good, showing the entire local group. Possibly you could make up some cartographic details of the Andromeda galaxy. Maybe some of the stuff in the released book should be split off into a book of its own. Such as Planetary Classification, with more examples of each class; the single star system maps; and World & Civilization in the same split- off. Such a book could list what sector each world is in. Maybe you could fill up some of the blank space in Star Charts with civilizations of your own creation.

I would like the star dots and labels to all be politically color coded, not just the Federation. I would like a few paragraphs of text accompanying each map, describing the third dimension of each region. In a Worlds & Civilizations section, I would like each planet to list that star system's nearest neighbor. Maybe have one list of all the nebulae and what sectors they're in in the book.

I think it would be cool to have a map of Earth's sky showing which civilizations are in which constellations. One showing what direction each rival power is in (and point out their homeworlds), and one just showing the direction of Federation worlds (except those on the other side of rival powers).

[Dan Stack]

While that sounds neat () I think you just upped the price of the book to around $75 ()

[Karg]

Originally posted by Atlirith
...
Also, is the "Patriarchy" the Kzinti from the animated series, or did I miss an episode somewhere in the "true canon"?

thanks!

It could be seeing as Geoff Mandall made the 1st star charts and he included the Kzin, and thier leader is called the Patriarch. Looks like a nice neat little way to include them without including them!

Karg

[AslanC]

$75 bucks?

That's nothing

I paid that for my Hardcover of the encyclopedia. Hell there are some RPGs out there that don't give hat much and cost almost $75.

If t was like they just described I think it would be worth every penny