The Campaign Builder's Guild

This may not be the place for this question, but what're the requirements for making a page on the wiki anyhow?

Thank you for all of the input so far. Let me try and see if I can't explain myself more clearly now.

When I say "Gothic", I'm primarily referring to Gothic fiction and the sort of themes pioneered by the genre: death, decay, inescapable curses, madness, etc. That said, I plan to incorporate plenty of other sub-genres on a case-by-case basis, such as cyberpunk, biopunk, steampunk, and the like.

Humanity is the most common species in the galaxy, and by an enormous margin. Other alien races do exist, but they are few and far between and plenty of people have no idea that they are not alone in the universe. That said, what qualifies as "human" is somewhat of a loose term that here encompasses not only the many offshoots and adaptations but also the sorts of supernaturals that descend from them: vampires, werewolves, mages, changelings, prometheans, and sin-eaters, to name the most common. Speaking of which, the existences of such beings have since become common knowledge, at least as much as any knowledge is common in the galaxy.

All supernaturals are just that: supernatural. They may try to explain their origins scientifically or blend integrate their powers with technology, but at the end of the day, science still cannot explain them well enough for them to be classified as magic.

I certainly know what you mean by "grandest scale to work on". I'm already exhausted just thinking about writing all of this, but I promised myself I'd at least take a serious crack at this before I throw it on the back burner.

Quote from: Light DragonHow does it relate to Warhammer: Dark Heresy? You could look to that for some inspiration for how 'big to make something.

Huh? It doesn't really relate to Dark Heresy and I'm not trying to make it. To be perfectly frank I think Warhammer is heavy-handed at best and sophomoric at worst with it's "grim darkness". I'm aiming for a slightly more subtle sort of horror.

Quote from: Light DragonFrankly, I would treat space like DnD designers treat "the underdark" although it can have layers of twisty tunnels, it's really just another flat plane. That is, you describe areas in "chunks". For the place that you want the players to adventure in, do that "cube" of culture. For later expansion, leave some terra incognita, and then you can work on those "cubes" of galactic history and culture.

This actually sounds like the best way to go about it, write-ups of the more important or interesting systems and worlds. I'll just have to make sure to avoid the classic pitfalls of entire civilizations built around a single idea and planets with only one monoculture.

Quote from: Light DragonMake an overarching theme or story for the whole galaxy so you have a touchstone that you can keep relating back to, though. (Like Mass Effect's Protheans).

I'm actually trying to avoid the whole "ancient forerunners who created all important technology" trope, because it's getting rather tired and it undermines the theme of the whole galaxy being fractured and chaotic. Likewise, there isn't a galactic story; there isn't even a real history. It just always was, as far as anyone can tell.

Quote from: Light DragonAnd in case you missed it, there is another new member who seems to be working on an interplanetary setting:

I saw it, but I think we're going for two completely different sorts of sci-fi.

I'm working on a dark science-fiction setting that's unabashedly inspired by the World of Darkness, but there's a question that keeps puzzling me: how much detail should I put into it? One of the core themes of the setting is that the galaxy is an enormous place, no authority extends beyond more than a handful of systems, and there's no discernible history. Obviously, I have to explain the major "races" and how they live and the sort of technologies the galaxy operates on, but how much further do you think should I go than that?