References for crafting your space fleet (inspiration)

Here's a few resources I've found over time (including a recently) that have been helpful in working up some believable spaceships. (If you're into that sorta thing). In no particular order....

1. NAME YOUR SHIP
Here's a page explaining how US naval craft are named, with each specific class of ship having its own nomenclature. For instance, subs are named for marine creatures, unless they're nuclear or ballistic missile platforms, in which case they can get presidential monikers.

The range of categories is surprising, with the usual states, cities, generals, presidents, and battles, to things like "stars", "calming words" and "comedians". The list covers both WWII and modern-era naming systems.

I like the idea of having a naming process behind the space fleet. I sort of had one going for the Omega Patrol Ship write-up I did for X-plorers, but it was more based on numbers within the series than different styles of ships.

Sometimes scale-creep can really ruin an encounter!

2. SIZE MATTERS

Making a believable ship depends heavily on scale. As with the chart from my previous post that's making its way around the interwebs comparing the Enterprise alongside several real-life spacecraft designs, it's good to have a general idea with real-world examples (if possible) on size. Well here's the ultimate sci-fi size-comparison site which allows you to view vessels from many different franchises side-by-side, plus some NASA ships and a few other examples. There's one recent omission, the Prometheus from the film's namesake. I'm still trying to figure out the scale on that baby.

Split detail image of the shuttle orbiter nose or a cutaway of a captured flying saucer? 

3. SCHEMATICS & DIAGRAMS
Looking for some quick, spaceship schematics? Done. Looking to make something original and random? Got it. Looking for the mother-of-all spaceship model sites? Uff da. There's also this awesome site by Winchell Chung that's got all sorts of calculations for building atomic-powered spacecraft.

That first link doesn't have Star Wars ships though, so try this one. It's an older site with some weird design going on, but it's got a ton of vessels.

Oh, and Gizmodo did an article a while back featuring some NICE high-res NASA schematics, like the one pictured above. These, of course, are just a few of the myriad links and sites out there. BTW, here's a previous post on the Prometheus' deck plans with a link back to a write-up I did for her.

Finally, here's a starship Pintrest board I created wherein I've pinned/repinned all manner of space craft art for your enjoyment or inspiration.

4. PAYLOAD & CARGO
Let's get one thing straight--I'm not a math guy. So stuff like this Wikipedia article on explaining payloads for air and space vehicles is helpful. Most helpful to me are the examples for actual craft (mainly because it's easier to just skip the charts and get to the real-world stuff). If nothing else it's a jumping off point because really, the words "spacecraft payload" are a rabbit hole in Google for which it seems there are an endless amount of results.

5. ASTROGATION 
Okay, so you're ship is built and you're ready to blast off from Earth some distant star, say Proxima Centauri. WOOOSH, you're there. Except now your Galactic Alert System has gone off and you need to rush off to Epsilon Eridani. How far is that? No, not from Earth, from Proxima Centauri. HERE. Try this calculator.

Stars in our neighborhood, click to enlarge

You can choose from the examples in the list or look up some star coordinates and plug them in. It should give you the distance between those two stars. Just remember, you need three numbers to do these calculations:

• RA (right ascension) 
• Dec (declination) 
• Distance in ly (light years from Earth) 

Most star charts will have these numbers. The first two, RA and Dec are called Equatorial Coordinates. Some charts also list Galactic Coordinates, but you won't need them for the calculator listed above. Our pal Mr. Chung comes to the rescue once again with some 3D star charts resources of his own compiling.

Sometimes knowing the distance between destinations is helpful for designing spacecraft--either in capabilities or limitations--such as making craft that have limited range that the PCs will need to supe-up to make the journey, etc.

So there ya go, some real-world help (take what works for ya) for embellishing your totally-not-real space gaming!

21 Alternate Outcomes: An Excercise

Just playing around on a Friday with some alternate history ideas. I tried to do this within a certain amount of constraint, owing to some self-imposed rules:

1.) Must be based in historical context (not further into our own future)
2.) Did my best to shy from stuff I've already seen/heard (just tried to avoid the obvious, i.e., "What if the Germans had The Bomb instead of the US?")
3.) Shouldn't be inherently fantastical (i.e., What if we'd discovered alien footprints on the moon in 1969?) but there is some leeway.

The intent of course is that these would seed some alternate-universe inspiration that would at least border on, if not embrace, a sci-fi outcome. Have a look and feel free to add yours in the comments or blog your own list:

1. What if NASA had decided robotics were not a reliable enought tool for exploration? Imagine a different method our outcome.
2. What if the Superconducting Super Collider in Waxahachie, Texas had been as well funded/supported as the Mahnattan Project and the US was leading the way in particle physics reasearch?
3. What if Dolly the sheep had ushered in an era of cloning tech that was fast, cheap, and accessible to the middle class by 2012?
4. What if the Manhattan Project split into two initiatives after 1945 to win the arms and space races simultaneously by the mid-1950s. Imagine where national defense and space exploration would have taken us by now.
5. What if Saudia Arabia had dumped the profits from oil wealth into space and undersea exploration?
6. What if China had become the world's largest democracy, instead of India?
7. What if Arabian advancements in science and engineering had never slowed during the Middle Ages, but ramped up to lead the world in technology?
8. What if both Venus and Earth had been hospitable--and home to--humans into the present. When would we have disovered, and how would we have influenced one another?
9. What if whales and dolphins were the end-stage of human evolution?
10. What if the human population on Earth hadn't been slowed by Black Plague--or any plague really?
11. What if the ruling Empire of the last 4 centuries was from Africa, and not Europe?
12. What if filmmaking had been around since the Renaissance?
13. What if World Wars I and II had been fought in Antarctica to avoid spoiling homelands?
14. What if Britain had owed a war debt to France and sold the Colonies (east of the Louisiana territory) to pay it off.
15. What if fossil fuels had run out 50 years ago?
16. What if spiritualism in the 19th Century had been confirmed as real and led to the biggest scientific breakthroughs of the 20th? (Technically runs afoul of rule #3, but whatevs.)
17. What if the Knights Templar were still around today as the world's most prestigious and capable humanitarian fighting force?
18. What if Native Americans had discovered and employed gunpowder long before it's ubiquitousness in Europe and Asia?
19. What if flight technology had been around since Ancient Egypt--and never been a lost?
20. What if all communicable diseases had been erradicated by 1950?
21. What if Tesla--not Edison--had become the technology guru of his time? What if they'd been amicable partners?

Kumumgah: Tatooine's Precursor Society

Apparently, in addition to Sandcrawlers, Jawas also have fortresses? Image: Wookiepedia

Seems like very epic fantasy or sci-fi franchise out there has some sort of post-apocalyptic society embedded in the backstory. According to Wookieepedia, Star Wars is no exception. The Kumumgah were a humanoid species that lived on the once lush Tatooine. After pissing off the (pre-Republic) ruling authorities, they saw their homeworld's orbit nudged.

Tatooine became a desert.

As a result the Kumumgah adapted and their descendants diverged along two separate evolutionary paths: Jawas and Sand People.

Traditional Tusken handshake

Now this is all "expanded universe" of course, and I'm partial to ignoring it as anything canon in Star Wars, but it does make for quite a nifty background in a greater sci-fi universe, dontcha' think?

Careful on those links, they're chocked full of spoilers and pics of Tuskens without their masks. I'm one to think that they should never be unmasked. Why take the mystery out of something so fun? Also, while the idea of Tatooine being a "once lush" world appeals to me now, there's a stubborn kid inside me who refuses to accept that notion. Part of me is equally perplexed at the frequent use of "rodent-like" in describing Jawas on Wookieepedia. I'd like to think that they're something different and unearthly and we don't need to fall back on terrestrial biology to explain everything. I'm partial to my own make believe anyway.

Regardless, it's still kind of awesome to learn that some big bully didn't like the Kumumgah and splintered their existence by hurling them closer to the twin suns. Makes me think that Khan guy got off easy!

NASA Mission Logs Get a Facelift!

Here's a neat find while patrolling the spaceways this past week. If you're a NASA fan, space-head, or hell--just love history, you definitely need to check out spacelog.org for their re-formatting of original NASA space mission logs.

The logs are presented in a highly readable format mocked up to look almost like Facebook or Twitter tweets! The mission logs also include maps with checkpoints so you can see where in their journey the astronauts and mission control made their transmissions. Here's a screen grab of the infamous moment on Apollo 13:

Click to embiggen

Funny how movies can give you a slightly "off" impression of an event. Check out Jim Lovell's famous line--a minor tweak by the filmmakers, but still kinda interesting.

BONUS!
If you're working on a space adventure and need a reference for official space lingo, this glossary should be a big help!

Obi Wan Kenobi: Idiot!

Warning: following is a rant by an unabashed Star Wars fanboy.

Okay, so I'm working on a few projects with the tube on in the background--Star Wars Attack of the Clones is on Spike (Surprise!). The film is fine, it's not my favorite of the series, but it's passable while I'm working.

In truth I've seen it many times (we own both trilogies) but tonight I came to a realization--Obi Wan Kenobi is the galaxy's worst investigative jedi.

"I don't know why I'm still watching--the prequels don't even get interesting 'till half-way through the last one!"

He spends the better part of the film tracking Jango Fett--a mysterious and obvious miscreant-- from Coruscant, to Kamino, and finally to Geonosis. On Kamino (rainy planet) he learns that Fett is used as the template for an army of clones that the Republic will be footing the bill for. He witnesses them being trained by the thousands, firsthand. He even HAS A CONVERSATION WITH HIM and Fett tells asks him "Do you like your army?" You know--the same army that HE'LL BE FIGHTING LATER ON.

Shortly after their odd staring competition, they fight. Fett escapes, but Kenobi pursues him to the rocky planet Geonosis where the enemies of the Republic are building a droid army. Again, he sees firsthand, the enemy droids being assembled by the thousands. You'd think it might occur to him that, "Oh that's weird, we just left one army-building facility...look, here's another!" All without asking why the human template for the clones is working for the bad guys. Jedi are apparently oblivious when it comes to corporate conflict of interest on a galactic level.

"Yeah we've got matching pajamas/bath robes too, but full dental? I knew we were getting screwed!"

Let me repeat that: HE FOLLOWS THE SAME GUY FROM ONE TOP SECRET MILITARY FACILITY TO THE ENEMY'S TOP SECRET MILITARY FACILITY AND SEES NO PROBLEM WITH THAT.

It would be like following Dogg the Bounty Hunter from the marine base at Quantico and trailing him straight to an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan where he happens to stroll right in without incident--and the whole time never raising one iota of suspicion.

Later, Fett confirms he's working for the separatists when he STANDS NEXT TO DOOKU (Osama Bin Laden?) AS THEY FIGHT THE JEDI. This pretty much cements the connection between the two facilities. Hundreds of Jedi witness this, including members of the Jedi Council. Nobody in the Jedi Order seems to care because they collect on the pre-ordered clones (hello? Human trafficking!) and think nothing of it. Naturally, all are completely surprised when their troops turn out to be duds and start killing good guys in the sequel.

All the while--no one wonders if both sides might actually be working for the bad guys.

More proof that the Republic skimps on dental coverage.

So, a few questions:

1. Aren't jedis, like, the wisest, most perceptive people in the galaxy?
2. Wouldn't any of this raise a red flag with the Jedi Council--Obi wan keeps them up to date via holo-phone after all?
3. IS EVERYONE IN THE GALAXY STUPID?

It all starts with Obi Wan Kenobi, the densest, least perceptive person in the universe.

Again, I don't expect much from AotC, but seriously.

SERIOUSLY.

/end rant

Fueled up and back on track!

Seriously, again? WTF?!

After a (too long) involuntary hiatus spent repelling yet another attack from cyberspace invaders, I've been slowly ramping back up to full power. I actually had to leave it with the shop for a WEEK. It took another week of running updates and backing up files and now things seem to be running smoothly again.

So, what does this mean exactly? Well, we're back on track for the return of Far Out Finds next Sunday and a whole slew of other goodness that I've been writing in--let's call it--"analog mode" (see right).

In any case, I'm a big believer in making up for falling short of the goal line, so I offer up a few time(space) killing links that will surely suck up any free moments you had planned for something more productive. (Note to self: "Timespace Killers" sounds like a cool idea for some sort of dimensional hit squad!)....

Anyway, you get what I mean--you click on a link that seems inoccuous enough and the next thing you know 4 hours have gone by. Here's a few recent time holes I've lost time too:

• Curious about which astromech droids appeared in which Star Wars films? (seriously, this guy needs a spa day)
• NASA's got a new "super suit" to help fight bone-loss in space. 
• A link from Wookipedia (Star Wars) for a TIE model that looks like an insect--come to think of it, why don't they ALL look like insects? That's much cooler! 
• There's a new Battlestar Galactica exhibit at the Experience Music Project and Sci-Fi Hall of Fame (one of my favorite tourist traps) in Seattle. If one of you makes it out there take lots of pictures and post them!
• Wanna bone-up on your knowledge of Tron before the movie opens next month? (NEXT MONTH!!!)
• And finally, I've been on a Gamma World kick of late--here's a few resources from WotC for inspiration (consider it salvage for whatever system your using): Related articles on the main page and some additional player tools (including a random table or two!)

So those should keep you occupied while I get a few more posts in this week.

Expiscor Eternus!

I had a weird thought when I woke up this morning...

So if the old school Romulan's were driving one of these around:

...wouldn't you expect them to look a little more like this?

Just sayin'.

A few sci-fi links for inspiration (or diversion)

Here's a few fun little items I've stumbled upon in the past week.

This morning I learned that Triceratops doesn't exist--or better put--never did. While doing "research" I discovered this impressive shrine to Dino Riders! Seriously, what's not to love here? We should all be so lucky to have a therapod with thermo-beam eye sockets. But like all things in life, it just takes a little moola to make things happen.

Secondly, I've been enjoying this blog Beam Me Up which has some great posts about space news, science fiction, and more. They have a podcast channel now, but I've not had opportunity to listen.

Finally, a quick note about a book that I began paging through up on a whim last winter at a book store in Minneapolis called "Boilerplate History's Mechanical Marvel".

The book is written as a historical nonfiction account of our first robot citizen--who you of course all remember--that fought in the Spanish American War along side Teddy Roosevelt (and had many other adventures). It's a WONDERFUL idea, deftly executed and imbued with incredible"photos" and paintings. It's a true labor of love and a real gem for lovers of both robots and those Time-Life style of books that sadly seem to have gone the way of the triceratops.

My wife was so amused by the idea, and my drooling over the pages, that she bought it for me. Well, J.J. Abrams must have had a similar experience because he's now making a movie about the lovable automaton.

Though technically this wasn't Boilerplate's first affair with the silver screen. If I get the chance, I'll upload some images of my copy this weekend.

Until then, Expiscor Eternus!

Tangents, Dodges, and Sideways Sojourns for SciFi Settings (d6)

Here's a few adventure hooks--or curveballs, rather--that you can throw into your games for those times player character complacency and carelessness crests and the GM seizes the moment.

1. A found device, weapon, or spaceship awakens to send a signal to mated piece with which it intends to combine. If successful, this process will dramatically alter the object's properties/abilities. Examples include: a spaceship that combines with other technology and takes on new functions; a ring that combines with its twin to give the wearer new-found superpowers--or terrible curse; or your last trip to the starship repair shop included a few "upgrades" only your mechanic knew about, like your ship is actually part of a giant super robot. Or, ya know, it could just be your everyday alien cube seeking its long lost key to unlock a dimensional gate to who-knows where/when in the spacetime pony show.

2. Speaking of inter-dimensional superdickery, the heroes begin inexplicably popping back and forth between locations (local, intergalactic, or otherwise) at inopportune moments by a dimensional portal, disguised as an everyday object. Involuntary teleportation runs unchecked until they figure out what the item is and how to deactivate it. Or worse, how to appease it--as it's actually a sentient lifeform and it's not happy!).

3. Speaking of self-aware, seemingly innocuous space objects--take a natural object in space and bring it to life! An asteroid that's perturbed by an infection of parasitic Earthmen trying to colonize it's backside; a tennis ball-sized, loudmouth of blackhole with an insatiable appetite for densely-packed matter and bad puns; a well-meaning quasar just dying to reveal the secrets of the universe to anyone who will listen, but unintentionally annihilates anything (Chris-Farley-style) in it's output path (Augh! So sorry! Did I blast you just then? I'm such an IDIOT!); or maybe it's fickle photon particles that guide heroes when they need light down a darkened tunnel or concentrate into a laser when they're too close to discovering the ancient crystal that powers them.

4. Mushrooms! Worked in D&D--they're the ultimate psychedelic/weird plot device. Why not make an entire planet of fungus that hates people? Make them glow in the dark and really smelly, per standard cliches. But perhaps space spores piloted by small blue aliens are invading all civilized planets and planting giant mushrooms that churn out billowing toxins to de-terraform your homeworld into something more habitable for themselves.

5. Check your looks in a mirror universe. The heroes find themselves in a world where an enormous, gentle Cthuloid overlord is caretaker to his fanatical human "children" who want to kill everybody who doesn't "love him" (that'd be you and your buddies). Perhaps Emperor Palpatine's efforts to establish the first Galactic Republic are in desperate need of your assistance when a band of imperialist Jedi swine make for a coup d'etat. Or the Atlanteans rise to share their enormous kelp crop only to find to surface dwellers are launching an invasion force and start by drilling into the seabed (don't scoff, it could happen!).  

6. And then there's the everyday, ho-hum, conventional weirdness: the frog plague is really raining hypnotoads; the latest mutagenic radiation/biologic agent is spread by computer virus or hilarious viral YouTube video (don't ask me how that works--it's sci-fi!); or the fabric of Vulcan society breaks down and they launch a massive, psychic, holy war on all inhabited worlds with greater efficiency and devastation than the Borg. Oh, and Yoda is their president. And when 900 years old Vulcans turn--they all look exactly like him. (Seriously, it makes a lot of sense doesn't it?).

There's some ideas. Now go and be fruitful and multiply your rolls by a factor of 4. I'm exhausted and going to bed!

Interstellar Inspiration: Odds and Ends

Usually it's just a few images, but I've thrown in some intresting links this time around. I'm trying to get back in the swing of things after an unintended hiatus that came about after a week of bad computer issues and a big ass project at work. I've updated Spellcard and Exonauts and I've got plenty more posts waiting in the wings for Threads of Adventure. Here's a few images of vehicles and spacecraft that I've found inspiring:

(click to enlarge)

Some useful links for brainstorming your sci-fi setting:

Stars and Planetary Systems in Fiction

List of weapons in Star Trek 

The Known Universe (A map of the 'verse starting with Earth and zooming out to infinity!)
The Known Universe video uses data from the Digital Universe Atlas, as maintained by the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.

Finally, a list of aliens, and another.

Carry on!