wow that's a lot of stars
Return to Home

Introduction

Welcome to the Talos Sector
Visitor's Guide

Sector Codex

Events

Summer Camp 2023
Worldember 2023

Timelines

History of Space
Gal Pals
Night Knights

Site Navigation

Current Date
18 November 3228
Return to Top

Comments

Page Navigation

wow that's a lot of stars

Created by

Rin Garnett
Back to World Homepage

Scope

The motivation behind building wow that's a lot of stars

Stories are the most powerful form of magic in the world. They can be hope in dark times, a laugh when it's needed, and can send dreams across time and space in a way nothing else can.

Let's Tell a Story

I've spent most of my life imagining incredible tales of people and places that will never exist, but I didn't want to just tell them. I wanted to live them, to be someone else living somewhere else, feeling what I have a thousand times before but never quite like this. More than that, I wanted to bring my friends along with me. It turns out, it's easy to convince someone to tell stories with you when there are clacky math rocks involved.   wow that's a lot of stars is the product of collaborative storytelling through tabletop RPGs. The Talos Sector grows with every campaign, its facts forming a tapestry of memories made together.  
Why Stars Without Number
Not D&D
Sci-Fi
Single rulebook
Free PDF
Standard dice
Lots of freedom
The revised edition of Stars Without Number is written by Kevin Crawford and ©️ Sine Nomine Publishing, Inc. Everything posted here is original work, but may build off of concepts from the rulebook.
 
  Enabling collaborative storytelling requires a setting that is established enough for players to understand how they fit into the larger picture, but open enough that they can build their own corner in it. There are a million and one ways to do this, but the three main goals I've settled upon while building are:  
Use themes that are easy to describe, easy to remember, and easy to understand how to interact with. This helps convey big ideas and get everyone on the same page.
Ensure each major aspect of the setting is distinct in flavor and story purpose. This makes possible story routes clear while also supporting diversity in plot direction.
Define the broad strokes first and explore the details as they become relevant to plot and characters. This allows greater flexibility and customizability, especially mid-session.
 

The goal of the project

wow that's a lot of stars's Unique Selling point

The heart of this setting is the universal struggle of reconnecting with people after growing apart.

Welcome to the Talos Sector

Centuries ago, a cataclysm destroyed all means of interstellar travel and communication, isolating all human colonies across the stars. Now that a handful have managed to reconnect, they're seeing how far their cultures have diverged and feeling the weight of incompatible priorities.  
Genre
Grounded Sci-Fi
Despite the fictional technology, this setting feels plausible based on what we know of our current reality.
Soft Sci-Fi
The effects of technology on people and cultures take more focus than scientific explanations of that tech.
Tone
Talos deals in grey morality and difficult choices.   It's not always clear who is a villain or what the right answer is, but there are always those trying to make the world a better place.
Themes
  • There's always more to discover. No map is ever fully complete.
  • Everyone is hiding something. 'Why' can be just as important as 'what'.
  • Anyone can change history. Sometimes even for the better.
 
  Every planet covers different aspects of sci-fi sub-genres, allowing each campaign to have its own, more specific themes and adventures, from political intrigue to planet-hopping pulp, from post-scarcity and transhumanism to wilderness survival and ferocious monsters. The nature of the story is up to those telling it.  
Reader Experience
This is a future in motion. Someone is always up to something, and anything could change if the right person intervenes. Readers will see themselves as part of these worlds, and reflections of our current reality.
Player Agency
As a collaborative work, details and layers are added to support player ideas and enthusiasm. The decisions they make have long-lasting impact, for good or ill, and can ripple across the galaxy or fall into obscurity.
  Whether reader or player, you can start reading at (nearly) any article that piques your interest and be able to follow along with no additional context. If anything is confusing or hard to follow, please let me know in a comment so I can answer any questions and fix the article.  

Theme

Genre

Reader Experience

Reader Tone

Recurring Themes

Character Agency

Focus

Current Focus

This setting was made in 2019 and has been host to campaigns since. However, this site wasn't made until April 2023, and I'm still in the process of writing foundational articles and catching it up to what's already been established.  
Key Conflicts
  • The Protectorate Alliance that has kept politics peaceful is losing power, leading many to prepare for large-scale conflict.
  • Despite failing their invasion, the Emerald Legion still has spies in most organizations and maintains control over the planet Rada.
  • Virtual intelligences are going missing in the wake of news that they have a spy program embedded in their programming.
  • Black market and mercenary organizations are racing each other to hoard ancient and powerful technology lost to time.
For more information on setting foundations, check out the Welcome article and other Primers.   For more on future development of the setting, check out the Development Timeline and monthly updates on my author page.
 
 
Scene

Drama

This custom setting by Rin Garnett is based on and used with the Stars Without Number (Revised) TTRPG by Kevin Crawford (check out the free and full versions at Drive-Thru RPG). All page covers use art from the official art pack. Unless otherwise noted, all other art is by Rin using public domain assets.

Find your way!

Resources

WHO WE ARE

LEGAL

Get the news

Our Shop

Development

EVENTS

REACHING OUT

A BIG THANK YOU

To all our Our Patrons for their unwavering love and support.

For the amazing images. His Titanship Christopher Dravus of Ironrise Games, Our Revered Deity Basic Dragon / Rin & His Majesty Caeora