For this section we’ll dive into Sector Creation: the wheelhouse of all Sine Nomine products.
Where there are starships, there are sectors and star systems.
Most campaigns are going to involve substantial world-hopping, however, and the Game Master (GM 📖) needs to be ready to deal with this. This chapter will give you the tools you need to fashion a sector of the void that will be worth the reckless daring of a band of heroic Player Characters (PCs 📖).
Within the first page of sector creation is the following advice/admonishment:
You are advised to carefully read the following pages and take heed of the advice on how much content you should create for each world. A GM would not be a GM if they did not take pleasure in creating wondrous new worlds to explore, but the most enthusiastic demiurge still has a limited amount of creative energy, time, and focus to spend on a campaign.
Stars without Number: Revised Edition 📖 provides a procedure for populating an 8×10 hex map. You’ll place 20 + 1d10 systems on random spots on this 8×10 map (roll a d8 and a d10 to determine location).
Each system will have a primary world. And you’ll roll up 2 random tags to give it shape (from the d100 table, each result providing a list of possible Enemies, Friends, Complications, Things, and Places).
Below is an example:
Pilgrimage Site
The world is noted for an important spiritual or his- torical location, and might be the sector headquarters for a widespread religion or political movement. The site attracts wealthy pilgrims from throughout nearby space, and those with the money necessary to manage interstellar travel can be quite generous to the site and its keepers. The locals tend to be fiercely protective of the place and its reputation, and some places may forbid the entrance of those not suitably pious or devout.
Enemies: Saboteur devoted to a rival belief, Bitter reformer who resents the current leadership, Swindler conning the pilgrims
Friends: Protector of the holy site, Naive offworlder pilgrim, Outsider wanting to learn the sanctum’s inner secrets
Complications: The site is actually a fake, The site is run by corrupt and venal keepers, A natural disaster threatens the site
Things: Ancient relic guarded at the site, Proof of the site’s inauthenticity, Precious offering from a pilgrim
Places: Incense-scented sanctum, Teeming crowd of pilgrims, Imposing holy structure
Its on you to connect the systems via known trade routes, polities, factions, and relations.
Once that is done, you’ll roll up each star system’s Atmosphere, Temperature, Biosphere, Population, and Tech Level.
From there, it’s on you to decide if there are additional points of interest: other worlds or other things. Stars without Number: Revised Edition provides random tables for each of these options.
Conclusion
This chapter is the heart and soul of Sine Nomine products; Random campaign creation tools.
There are several online generators for sectors:
- The SWN Sector Generator
- Command Line Integration (CLI) GM tools for Stars Without Number
- Sectors without Number
Personally, I enjoyed rolling up these sectors, as I see the star systems that emerge. Instead of having a massive