Elsewhere in the forum has been some mention of the Stars Without Number system/setting by Kevin Crawford.
I figured I'd open a discussion thread specific for it.
My first exposure to SWN was the module called Hard Light which I found packed with memorable setting pieces and adventure opportunities.
Several years ago now I bought a couple of Bundle of Holding deals of Stars Without Number books to see what the rest of the system/setting was like.
@JohnnFour has noticed from a couple of games in SWN that the system is very Old School Rules (OSR) and "not memorable."
I think that is very intentional - SWN is built to tap the way RPGs used to be long ago.
The other part is that Johnn said the adventures were nothing special.
That's unfortunate, but I think that's part of the risk of taking on a system like SWN.
What do I mean?
Stars Without Number is not a hugely hand-holding system.
What Kevin Crawford excels at is "sandboxing" - he writes up a lot of great tools and parts which a GM can use to build a sci-fi sandbox game from.
So, SWN is packed with systems and opportunities ... but not so much "go here, there and then there"
Even the modules like Hard Light are more like miniature applied sandboxes rather than more traditional adventures.
I think that balancing act / combination of Old School Rules and sandbox toolkit may be a struggle for more modern GMs to run, leading to less than amazing gameplay for a number of sessions.
I am wondering how a long-running campaign would go once the GM got their feet under them?
So, for the benefit of others:
Stars Without Number is set in ~3200 AD in the recovering wreckage of the Terran Mandate - a star-spanning empire shattered by a single event the rendered the core of star travel unusable.
Centuries later pockets of the Mandate are recovering and reconnecting.
So this is the setting - designed to be an exploration sandbox where the GM can pick and choose what kinds of sci-fi they want to include or leave out.
The GM picks how "ruined" the area still is, and how "recovered" it can be, which pulls huge levers on how the setting is played in.
An example might be the "Suns of Gold" supplement describing how to build a Traveller-style trading campaign in the SWN system.
The table of contents alone can give you a feel for SWN:
The Jewels of Foreign Suns: Trade Among The Fallen Worlds
Slaves to the Credit: The Business of Far Trading
An Honest Day's Trade: Cargo Sales and Business Holdings
Treasures In The Sky: World Creation Tags and Trade Profiles
An Offer You Can't Refuse: Creating and Running Trade Adventures
Lords of the New Suns: Founding Colony Worlds
Tools of the Trades: Equipment and Fittings for the Far Trade
GM Resources: Tables and Record Sheets for Quick Use
Slaves to the Credit, for example, covers what could be traded that backs various currencies on the various recovering worlds.
It also talks about setting up and running a basic merchant campaign, rather than providing a preset campaign.
One table is "Common goods and creating new ones"
Then there are sandbox tables for each type of world to help generate types of trade and types of troubles encountered when trading with that world.
This is very much in the style of all SWN books - a seed of ideas and systems designed around creating your own content to stock the sandbox.
What you don't find is tons of already rolled worlds.
Instead of "Here's your sector and the info about the worlds in it" you get "Preparing Your Sector for Colonization" and "Creating the Colony Worlds"
At the end of the section is a one page example of colonizing the world Bastiat to illustrate the use of the system.
So, in the end - much like this site - Stars Without Number is more "GM toolbox" than anything else, and the resulting game is highly variable based on the quality of the GM's investment in it.
I expect that a GM whose interest is captured by the setting could run a few solo games and build up an adventuring area with the tools provided that could get very interesting.
But, it would take the investment in the books, the time, and the hands on ... which I find very much like Old School GMing where you started with giant blank sheet, and the GM rite of passage was building your campaign world, THEN starting to run adventures in it.
I'd be very interested to know what anyone else with exposure to SWN thinks ...
I figured I'd open a discussion thread specific for it.
My first exposure to SWN was the module called Hard Light which I found packed with memorable setting pieces and adventure opportunities.
Several years ago now I bought a couple of Bundle of Holding deals of Stars Without Number books to see what the rest of the system/setting was like.
@JohnnFour has noticed from a couple of games in SWN that the system is very Old School Rules (OSR) and "not memorable."
I think that is very intentional - SWN is built to tap the way RPGs used to be long ago.
The other part is that Johnn said the adventures were nothing special.
That's unfortunate, but I think that's part of the risk of taking on a system like SWN.
What do I mean?
Stars Without Number is not a hugely hand-holding system.
What Kevin Crawford excels at is "sandboxing" - he writes up a lot of great tools and parts which a GM can use to build a sci-fi sandbox game from.
So, SWN is packed with systems and opportunities ... but not so much "go here, there and then there"
Even the modules like Hard Light are more like miniature applied sandboxes rather than more traditional adventures.
I think that balancing act / combination of Old School Rules and sandbox toolkit may be a struggle for more modern GMs to run, leading to less than amazing gameplay for a number of sessions.
I am wondering how a long-running campaign would go once the GM got their feet under them?
So, for the benefit of others:
Stars Without Number is set in ~3200 AD in the recovering wreckage of the Terran Mandate - a star-spanning empire shattered by a single event the rendered the core of star travel unusable.
Centuries later pockets of the Mandate are recovering and reconnecting.
So this is the setting - designed to be an exploration sandbox where the GM can pick and choose what kinds of sci-fi they want to include or leave out.
The GM picks how "ruined" the area still is, and how "recovered" it can be, which pulls huge levers on how the setting is played in.
An example might be the "Suns of Gold" supplement describing how to build a Traveller-style trading campaign in the SWN system.
The table of contents alone can give you a feel for SWN:
The Jewels of Foreign Suns: Trade Among The Fallen Worlds
Slaves to the Credit: The Business of Far Trading
An Honest Day's Trade: Cargo Sales and Business Holdings
Treasures In The Sky: World Creation Tags and Trade Profiles
An Offer You Can't Refuse: Creating and Running Trade Adventures
Lords of the New Suns: Founding Colony Worlds
Tools of the Trades: Equipment and Fittings for the Far Trade
GM Resources: Tables and Record Sheets for Quick Use
Slaves to the Credit, for example, covers what could be traded that backs various currencies on the various recovering worlds.
It also talks about setting up and running a basic merchant campaign, rather than providing a preset campaign.
One table is "Common goods and creating new ones"
Then there are sandbox tables for each type of world to help generate types of trade and types of troubles encountered when trading with that world.
This is very much in the style of all SWN books - a seed of ideas and systems designed around creating your own content to stock the sandbox.
What you don't find is tons of already rolled worlds.
Instead of "Here's your sector and the info about the worlds in it" you get "Preparing Your Sector for Colonization" and "Creating the Colony Worlds"
At the end of the section is a one page example of colonizing the world Bastiat to illustrate the use of the system.
So, in the end - much like this site - Stars Without Number is more "GM toolbox" than anything else, and the resulting game is highly variable based on the quality of the GM's investment in it.
I expect that a GM whose interest is captured by the setting could run a few solo games and build up an adventuring area with the tools provided that could get very interesting.
But, it would take the investment in the books, the time, and the hands on ... which I find very much like Old School GMing where you started with giant blank sheet, and the GM rite of passage was building your campaign world, THEN starting to run adventures in it.
I'd be very interested to know what anyone else with exposure to SWN thinks ...
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