Simpler Living

Faced with a cluttered home, overwork, and financial insecurity, I have decide to simplify my life and drastically cut my expenses. This has a simple monetary component, namely cutting back on my cost of living to get out of debt and eventually reduce work. This also has a philosophical component, namely minimalism and reducing the effects of consumerism on my life. This will also affect my gaming expenditures and purchases, but fear not: Stellagama Publishing will only benefit from this.

I have already found 10 or so unused electronics in my (home) office, as well as over 50 books I have no interest in. I also discovered I have several sci-fi and fantasy literary gems I forgot I bought, and I intend to read them (I'll get to that in a moment). The excess electronics are being donated, as are the books I do not intend to read. I am now in the process of decluttering my wardrobe as well, getting rid of all stained clothes and clothes I do not really intend to wear. Anything stained goes to recycling, anything in good shape gets donated. Extra and unused kitchenware is next.

I have cut $400 (!!!) on monthly average in subscriptions, mostly unused and forgotten, including YouTube Premium (I have FreeTube for ad-free and algorithm-free YouTube), D&D Beyond, Roll20, and many more.

I am also cutting back consumption. Consumerism is a major issue most of us face. I intend to act as follows:

1. Before buying anything, I'll ask myself: do I really need it now (as in, within the next week or month)? If not, I won't buy it.
2. I'll plan my  meals ahead. I'll buy groceries exactly as I need for the next week. I will not fall for sales. My home is not a warehouse.
3. If possible, I won't buy clothes, shoes, electrical appliances, etc. until the old ones need replacement.
4. I won't fall for brands. I'll buy what I need, not what other people will be impressed by. For examle, my communication needs can be easily satisfied by a $200 phone. No need for a $1,000 one.
5. I will try not to buy online. Going to a physical store takes time and effort, and thus drastically reduces impulse purchases. Especially I intend to avoid buying from social media/search engine ads and promoted content!

In regard to video gaming - I noticed my video gaming declined from about 3 hours a day a decade ago to 1 hour every 3 or so days currently. I have enough indie and old games to play for severall lifetimes. Therefore, my next desktop computer will be a $400-$500 machine running Linux (which is much lighter than Windows in terms of system resource usage) and games with lower requirements. I no longer need a $2,000 desktop PC.

Regarding TTRPGs - I have several hundreds of PDFs and dozens of print books. I have no intention to buy further ones or back Kickstarters, other than books and Kickstarters by friends (such as Zozer Games). Once again, I have enough for several lifetimes!

The next part of my plan is cutting screen time. Especially on Shabbat and in evenings. Instead, I'll read books in bed and play solo TTRPGs - with pencil, paper, and physical books (I have enough of those), - at my dining table. Better on the eyes, and I have sadly neglected reading for several years.

As for Stellagama Publishing - I am working full speed ahead on it! I'm cutting back on custom art, and will mostly use stock art (Adobe Stock is about $30 a month and has great stuff) and public-domain art (which is even better). Expect lower prices on upcoming Stellagama books thanks to near-zero art costs!

Migrating the Dark Nebula to the Galaxiad

I am thinking about migrating my Dark Nebula variant-OTU setting to the Galaxiad milieu of the Official Traveller Universe. This would be a refreshing change, as well as a good setting with a wide-open future. Playing in the Far Far Future of the Galaxiad is liberating - I get a narrative license utilize any part of the vast OTU Canon while ignoring other parts. For example, I can easily tell players that the Dark Nebula boardgame map is the actual map and that the Dark Nebula subsector maps from Travellermap are inaccurate Antediluvian maps! (I can do this in any milieu, of course, but it's extra easy in the Galaxiad).

It is 1901 Old Imperial, known locally as 411 Postdiluvial. (PD 411).

You see, the local collective term for the various catastrophes surrounding "The Collapse" is the Deluge. 

The Deluge started on 1116 Old Imperial and ended with the passing of the Wave through Aslan space in 1489 Old Imperial.

So, three historical eras in Dark Nebula historiography and public discourse:

• Antediluvian Era, up to 1115 Old Imperial
• Deluge, 1116-1489 Old Imperial (Diluvial Years 1-273)
• Postdiluvian Era, 1489 Old Imperial and on (Postdiluvian Year 1 and on).

Solomani refugees came in the late Diluvial years, once the Wave passed the Dark Nebula and was still crossing Aslan space. They settled on abandoned, dead, or mostly-depopulated Aslan worlds. This gives us several human worlds in the region, who are now in conflict with the resurgent Aslan.

Max local TL in the Dark Nebula region is TL11. Anything higher is either an Antediluvian artifact or a rare import.

(Map by Gavin Dady, under my commission)

Working on Sorcerous Nomad

Art by Edna www.fotosearch.com

One of my main current projects is Sorcerous Nomad. This is a new fantasy TTRPG ruleset based on my Faster Than Light: Nomad sci-fi rules and fully compatible with them. It is slated for a mid-late 2026 release and should be available both in PDF format and A4 softcover print format.

What is it all about?

• Streamlined 2d6 core mechanic with "dice pool" components, just like FTL: Nomad. You roll a bunch of dice, and choose the lowest or highest two, then add them together and add the skill modifier. 8+ is a success.

• Fast but deeply customizable classless, level-less character generation. Distribute 5 points among 8 skills (3 points max in any single skill), choose an Archetype, choose a Talent and optionally a Species, and gain a starting equipment package based on your Archetype. That's it. But this means that an extremely wide range of combinations are possible!

• Streamlined combat, with only 4 "range bands"; a "FRENZY!" mechanic for multiple attacks if you "drop" an enemy; and a simple wound system for minimal book-keeping.

• Parrying rules for dynamic combat. Parry and riposte your enemies' attacks with a swingy dice roll! (look HERE for their predecessor).

• Optional Hero Points, to make your heroes more heroic and survivable - and your villains more villainous and recurring!

• All the sword & sorcery gear you need, from swords to longships!

• Long-term character advancement. Develop your character's Skills and Talents as they adventure - or (optionally) as they loot wondrous treasures!

• Intuitive but risky skill-based magic. Compared to The Sword of Cepheus, magic is safer and faster to cast in this system, though dangerous mishaps can still occur, and Dark Magic can corrupt its user as in folklore and classic sword & sorcery tales.

• Nautical exploration, travel, and combat rules! Shiver me timbers! Pirate-loving players: rejoice!

• Faction rules, inspired by the ones presented in the Faster Than Light Companion! The Referee can easily manage multiple factions and conspiracies in the campaign area - and the PCs can establish their own factions from thieves' guilds to fiefs!

• 100 fearsome monsters! From dragons and grand apes to things from the Outer Dark!

• Procedural fantasy monster generation rules, to create the next eldritch horror with a few die rolls. All included monsters could be created by these rules - and you can create legions of terrors yourself to surprise your players!

• Social and monster encounter generation rules, to easily vary the NPCs your players meet!

• At least 72 original magical artifacts. No more generic +1 Swords!

• 100% compatible with Faster Than Light: Nomad! Arm your barbarians with lasers and have your hapless spacers face sorcerous cults and arcane monstrosities!

• Reference document released under a Creative Commons license, available for download in an editable file for anyone who purchases Sorcerous Nomad! No OGL!

My Little Slice of the OTU

I think I found my new favorite Official Traveller Universe (OTU) "milieu": the Galaxiad. Situated in 1902 Imperial (the 7th millennium CE!) and related to Traveller5, it presents a "pastoral" era when most big empires of the Golden Age are gone, replaced by more independent worlds and pockets of civilization within the Wilds.

Practically, the Galaxiad permits me to use almost any part of the wonderful OTU canon while ignoring other bits as I desire - a canvas I can paint a painting of my own doing on while using existing and beloved colors.

The chosen region is the Solomani Rim - specifically the Sol and Dingir subsectors. These present a rich history and vast archives of older material, all while being "virgin ground" not yet officially described in the 1902 Imperial milieu.

In my head canon, the residents of the Solomani Rim name the entire period from the Rebellion up to the recovery from the Wave - the "Deluge". The Classic Era and preceding times are "Antediluvian". This works similarly to how the term "Medieval" works in our real world: most people refer to entire centuries-long historical eras by cliche and a very rough idea of what happened in these times. Only historians and history enthusiasts (EDU 10+ and/or a skill in history) would be able to clearly and accurately recount the history of the Rebellion, Virus, recovery, Wave, and second and third recoveries.

In my version of the Galaxiad-era Rim, the (new) Solomani Confederation, as presented in the Galaxiad booklet and as known in far-away Deneb, collapsed after Terra's ecosystem collapsed. It has two successor states in the Solomani Rim Sector and one in the Coreward part of Aldebaran, plus the upstart Solar Union (Terra's resurgence) and the Vegan Polity.

Local Polities and "Strong Worlds"

Solar Union (SU) - Terra and other Sol System worlds unified under one government, which clawed its way back to the stars after eco-collapse. Hungry for relic tech to help reterraform Terra and finally terraform Mars. Aggressive and heavy handed in politics, but its citizens enjoy relative freedom (Terra is GOV C, LL 7). In a cold war with the ISC. Viewed by the ISC and SCEA as a bunch of desert bandit usurpers.

Imperial Solomani Confederation (ISC) - Dingir subsector. Neither imperial, nor Solomani, and definitely nor a confederation. A militarist bureaucracy with strong Vilani cultural elements which evolved from the old SC's navy on Dingir. In a cold war with the Solar Union and the Vegan Polity.

Vegan Polity - finally free from human domination. Decentralized as typical of Vegans. Is in a cold war with both the ISC and SCEA; the SU is trying to gain diplomatic inroads with it.

Solomani Confederation Emergency Administration (SCEA) - Concord subsector. Has a legitimate claim for continuity of government from the old SC. On paper, claims the entire space of the old (1800's Imperial) SC, in reality controls a bit over half a subsector. In a cold war with the Vegan Polity.

Surveyors from the Republic of Regina reached SCEA in the late 1800s Imperial, were shown 14-subsector star-maps, which were two centuries out of date, and heard complaints about rebels, piracy, and communication issues. They returned to Regina and reported a 14-subsector Solomani Confederation with various issues. In reality, such polity exists only on paper - for a century or so.

My house rules for world generation in the Pastoral Era/Galaxiad:

1. With the exception noted below, worlds retain their Golden Era physical characteristics.
2. For each garden world (Atmospheres 5, 6, and 8), roll 2D; on 9+, environmental damage occurred. In such case, roll 2D; on 2-8, the atmosphere is Tainted; on 9, it is Vacuum (i.e., the atmosphere was stripped by powerful weapons); on 10-11, it is Corrosive; on 12, it is Insidious (Corrosive and Insidious here usually mean intense radiation or bio-contamination from past bombardment by nuclear, bioweapon, or similar WMDs, which was so extreme that radiation or bio-contamination remains severe even after 700 years).
3. Roll population as normal for habitable worlds (Atmospheres 4-9); roll 1d6-1 for unhabitable worlds within polities, 1d6-2 outside of them. DM-1 in both cases if Corrosive or Insidious atmospheres are present.
4. If a world's TL is too low to support habitation, population is zero. The minimal TL for Tainted atmospheres is TL5; for Vacuum or Exotic atmospheres, TL7; for Corrosive or Insidious, TL10.
5. In the Solomani Rim, present TL is capped at 11. Antediluvian (i.e., pre-Virus) relics may reach TL16 or beyond, and are highly coveted.
6. With a weak interstellar economy, worlds must produce spacecraft parts on their own, which severely limits production capacities. Starport B can occur only on worlds with POP 7+, and Starport A only with POP 8+. If the Population is lower, downgrade any rolled A or B starport to C.

[Lore 25] Full Ishtar and Apep Sectors Map WIP #3

I made even further progress with my Lore25 challenge maps: a full Referee's map including Drill routes, and a Players' map with only the commonly-known stars and routes noted. On the Referee's map, the dashed lines are well-known Drill routes, while the dotted lines are forgotten and/or secret ones.

Referee's Map

Players' Map

[Lore 25] Full Ishtar and Apep Sectors Map WIP

I have progressed further in developing my Lore25 starmap for the Ishtar and Apep sectors. Now with all polities, borders, and world names marked. Note that worlds that already had Sobek(reptilian aliens) names were given the names of male Egyptian gods by Humans who did not wish to pronounce complex Sobek words. Most worlds which were unexplored by Sobek so far were given the names of Canaanite deities. The main exceptions are the nameless worlds of the Anomaly, as well as the new world names of the Liberated Worlds, Sde Prachim (formerly Laana - "Wormwood" or "Bitter Grass") and Tkuma (formerly Ba'al).

There is a good balance between polities (with their intrigue and conflicts) and independent (and sometime lost) worlds with their weirder features.

[Lore25] Ishtar and Apep Sector Maps WIP #1

I have been dedicating the first week of the Lore25 challenge to drafting the star maps of the adjacent Ishtar and Apep Sectors into a simple, easily printable, B&W map. As this is SWN and not Traveller, the map is much simpler, simply showing dots, names, borders, and Drill routes across space rather than all the world, base, and starport types shown on a typical Traveller map.

This is the first work-in-progress of the map, showing world locations, a few major world names, and the borders of the Anomaly.

Next would be naming all worlds and designing jump routes, and finally creating a player's map where worlds without official jump routes are not shown.