Trying to get some idea of "tags" working since we don't have a software solution. In this case [com] for Commercial.
Anyways, today, we'll be talking a bit about my "Survey and Explore" supplement for Starport Scum (though it's easily adaptable to other scifi games).
link
Survey and Explore is basically a "hex crawl", intended to act as an additional activity you can undertake, a way to generate some plot hooks or just a solo game you can play on your own, when your Starport Scum crew has some downtime.
Where are we?
The first step is setting up some basic parameters for our world.
A quick roll of 4D10 gives us: a very small planet, the surface colour is mainly green, it has 3 moons and the temperature is warm.
It's odd to have so many moons but they may be temporary.
Rolling for a "universal condition", we get a "treacherous atmosphere".
This means that no characters will be able to recover from their injuries while on the planet.
That will require more frequent trips back to the orbiting ship, which in turn costs more credits (as shuttle fuel ain't free).
The landing site
You can map on anything you like, hex maps are the norm of course dating back to Traveller but you could use a square grid or even just kind of smudge some areas unto a sheet of paper.
Our initial landing area is a raised plateau and gives us both a Sight and an Encounter.
The sight is a bunch of strange rock formations.
The encounter is with a pack of 2 Krorg (big burly monsters from the core rulebook, you could substitute any other critter you like) attacking us immediately.
After we deal with them, we decide to head north to see what we find there.
North hex
To the North, we find a chasm, barring our progress.
Nothing of interest to note here, so we return and head South instead.
South hex
A depression in the surface (which given its next to a plateau probably means a pretty steep cliff side).
While traversing it, we encounter a fugitive on the run from something.
We can take them along for the ride, generating a random character to join us.
A glance at the random tables in the core rules gives us a generic Goon who happens to be a petty criminal.
We'll wait and see if anything suggests itself while we're here as far as a backstory, otherwise we'll bring him along and then ditch him when we return to civilization.
We'll opt to continue south-ward.
Further south hexes
Climbing out of the depression, the land expanding in front of us is arid and barren with nothing worthwhile.
Continuing south, the following hex contains the same dreary landscape but we find some pre-historic ruins of a long-gone civilization.
Glancing inside the ruins, we find them crawling with degenerate mutants that want to add us to their diet.
Readying our blasters and auto pistols, we prepare to do battle.
* * * * *
I hope that gives a sort of feel for what Survey And Explore does for you. Let me know if you have any questions.
