Life & Resources

All of this will probably incite lots of flames, but oh well. Remember,
I was only a humanities major (sigh :-)

Re: Life Stat

Two nights ago, Wildstar proposed adding a life stat to the UWP in order
to account for the extent of a planet's ecosystem (presumably to be
modified by colonization whether destructive or beneficial). However,
he suggested rolling under the stat on 2d6 to determine whether or not
native sentience has evolved. Mark Watson argued that this is probably
too liberal, and being conservative on this issue (my reasoning can be
read in yesterday's TML), I'm offering the following table for criticisms.

0: Sterile
1: Amino Acids
2: Single-celled organisms
3: Multi-cellular bacteria
4: Simple vegetation
5: Complex vegetation
6: Microscopic insects & sea life
7: Macroscopic insects
8: Macroscopic sea life
9: Land/Air-based herbivores
A: Land/Air-based predators
B: Large/Complex predators
C: Tool use
D: Fire use
E: Agriculture
F: Symbology (full sentience, TL=0)

As you can see, my peculiar prejudice for cracking down hard on the
"minor" races has led me to confine even the most advanced of them
to TL=0. For my own campaign, this is perfect, but I imagine that for
most others, it won't do (just another example of how setting drives
planetary generation and vice-versa). For the more liberal-minded,
you may want to give C+ various higher degrees of technology than
what has been listed.

Re: Resources Stat

Wildstar also proposed a "resources" stat. Here is another table for
your consideration.

0: Barren
1-4: Poor
5-8: Moderate
9-C: Rich
D+ : Extreme

Poor: Basic chemical diversity necessary to support indigenous life.
   Otherwise, no claim to fame.
Moderate: One solid natural-resource industry. Roll on table 10a of
   the MT Ref's Manual. Re-roll 34-54 if life < 4 (see above). Re-roll
   65 if life < 5. Re-roll 55-56 if life < 8. Re-roll 61-64 if life < 9.
   Re-roll 66 if life < A.
Rich: Two natural-resources industries, one of which commands strong
   subsector-wide influence.
Extreme: Three natural-resource industries, one of which commands
   sector-wide influence.

Note: The GM should translate natural-resource industries into their
   manufacturing/processing (2nd stage) industries as seems appropriate.
   See MT Ref's Manual (pg52) for possibilities.

Another note: Under this system, the resource stat is rolled before
the life stat, and the life stat is rolled before the specific
industries are determined.

I admit, this is all very cut & dry, but it's easier to complicate
a simple system than to simplify a complex one.

           _   /|       Jim Vassilakos
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