Instaplanet Sci-Fi Generator

Instaplanet

Coming up with a planet on the fly can be hard… coming with a few locations on that planet on the fly can be even HARDER.  Instaplanet is so you can generate the interesting things in the surrounding area on the fly.  You can use this in conjunction with the Die Drop Planet Generator (pg XX).  Simply take a piece of paper and various dice (see below) and drop them on the paper.  Consult the chart below and mark down the locations (see pictures below in example).

 

As far as the number of the dice you drop, that is your call.  If you want the planet to be densely populated with Landmarks and Population Centers, then drop numerous d6’s and d8s.  If you only want one or two Interesting Features drop a d4 or a d10 (or both) and one Point of Conflict, just drop 1d10 (%).

If you feel a roll on any of these tables is unique, once it has been rolled simply cross it off and create a new one.

 

Once you have your map, you can quickly link them to what you have created with the Die Drop Planet Generator and just fill in some quick gaps.  The distance between each location is your call.  You can do something like each 1″ on apart is 10, 15, 30 miles, etc.  Or roll 2d6 and that’s the number of hours or days the locations are from one another.  Then just fill in the blanks with random encounters, etc.

I have an example below.

d4- Interesting Feature

1. Ancient Temple
2. Recently Unearthed Crashed Ship
3. Blighted Lands
4. Massive Sink Hole

 

d6- Landmark 1

1. Lake/River
2. Badlands
3. Swamp
4. Mud Flats
5. Forest
6. Canyon

 

d6- Landmark 2

1. Mountain
2. Forest
3. Hills
4. River
5. Rocky Outcropping
6. Desert

 

d8- Population Center

1. Industrial
2. Agricultural
3. Science
4. Education
5. Scrap
6. Settlement
7. Religious
8. Mixed (choose two)

 

d10 (%)- Point of Conflict

1. Two Groups are in Dispute Over Precious Material
2. Mining Facility Has Collapsed
3. Robots at Construction Facility Have Gone AWOL
4. Hover Bike Race
5. Smuggler Deal Going Down
6. Smuggler Deal Getting Busted by Authorities
7. Land Owners Being Bullied to Sell Their Land
8. Facility That Uses Slave Labor
9. Strike at Facility That has Erupted into Riots
10. Military Combat Exercise

 

d10- Interesting Feature 2

1. Formation of Large Crystals
2. Massive Power Source
3. Lone Arcology
4. Isolated Religious Temple
5. Isolated Research Facility
6. Large Cliff With Expertly Carved Faces into the Rock Wall
7. Hive of Recently Discovered Insects (or Animals)
8. Colony of Exiled Aliens
9. Abandoned Penal Colony
10. Abandoned Research Facility

 

PLANETARY EXAMPLE

First part was generated off of Die Drop Planet Generator

Name– Rockbalt

Tech level– high

Population Density– Sparse- There are a few colonies on the planet.  Roughly tens of thousands of inhabitants.

Events/Obstacles– An unrecognized configuration of starship has crashed on the planet

Events/Obstacles– Celebration turns into riots when a beloved public figure is assassinated during the ceremonies

Fascinating Structure– An ancient, large black obelisk that rests just outside of the city.

Structures– Prefabricated structures created from metal and fiber-plastic

Planet Type– Lush jungle planet.

Then I dropped some dice on a piece of paper and marked their location.

Then I traced over it all with pen so the picture didn’t look so crappy.

 

Then flushed out these locations with stuff I rolled from the Die Drop chart and what popped into my head.  I left out the assassination and obelisk stuff- figuring those would be good ideas for the jungle area- should the adventures every go there.

 

 

All-in-all the process between the two maps took me roughly 20 minutes and I have a baseline for a planet that my players may adventure on, or they may just stop off and kill shit before heading to the stars again.  In the end I have a planet that can be used later- or not- and it only took 30 minutes of my time.