Archive through September 14, 2002
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Prime Directive RPG: NEW EMPIRE BOOKS:
Empire Sourcebook Format:
Archive through September 14, 2002
obsolete
Repost of Previous, part 2
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By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) Sunday, December 23, 2001 - 8:19 pm
The list is a good base. I;d also like to see sections oin using the race in a game: as bit players, as primary atntagonist, and doing a a campaign focusing on that race.
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By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) Monday, December 24, 2001 - 12:59 am
TECHNOLOGY:
Race specific weapons, both historical and current. Giving race X a Neuroriffle is much more fun than the military issue phasetr riffle that everybody in the Federation is toting.
Race specific equipent.
The Varrugah have eight arms and where the only race known in the universe to invent underarm deoderant before the wheel.
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By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) Monday, December 24, 2001 - 9:28 am
Perhaps add a map of the race's territory, with major planets named and noted (perhaps similar to how Battletech did their House books, with the pullout map at the back).
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By Jayson Howell (Jayson) Monday, December 24, 2001 - 10:59 am
In many GURPS sourcebooks, whenever a new race is introduced, a sample member of that race is also included.
Don't know what that's worth to you, but if you opt to go that route, it's the sort of thing GURPS people are used to seeing.
Usually such sample characters are designed to be interesting PC's in their own right, or to serve as a catalyst for other events, touched on in the description of the character.
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Monday, December 24, 2001 - 1:54 pm
I have no problemo with including an assortment of example characters. In theory, such a set would allow a group that wanted to "try out being Klingons" to run a single-session adventure with the stock characters without spending the time to roll up new ones.
MJC: I'm not sure what a riffle is but we could include rifles, two-handed swords, nunchucks, burritos, and whatever other deadly weapons a race should have.
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By Gary Plana (Garyplana) Monday, December 24, 2001 - 2:21 pm
Pre-generated NPCs would definitely be included, for the types the players might encounter. Customs inspectors, Internal Security agents, wealthy merchants, lowlife barfly, muggers and thugs and con men, oh my...
Unique weapons, ditto. 57 varieties of Klingon swords and daggers comes immediately to mind.
Detailed maps, already mentioned.
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By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) Monday, December 24, 2001 - 8:42 pm
The point being that Gary's short list missed TECHNOLOGY.
Something that becomes inportant when you deal with NPC races as some will have SUPERSCIENCE and others will be at varrying levels of primative development.
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By Kenneth Peters (Tzeentch) Tuesday, December 25, 2001 - 2:52 am
I dont think a list of vessels is important at all. A few examples - MAYBE how many of each classification (Cruisers, War Destroyers, etc) - is cool but F+E should be the source for anything else. Plus it can be pretty boring reading list after list of hull numbers and names.
hmm. Well I dunno about example characters for every race - that's not TOO common in GURPS last I checked. But templates specific to each race (Academy packages, a civilian template or two, etc) would be awesome.
At least the home planet described in some detail (prefer in the standard Space/3e map format) with important outlying planets described in terse detail if there is room (if no room don't worry about it). Unless you plan on creating a quick reference format like Traveller you might not have room to do a "Sector Survey" a la the Traveller line.
Not going overboard with new weapons and gear. You'll note that the Traveller sourcebooks don't tend to introduce boatloads of stuff - and I like that. Personal pet peeve ;)~
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By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) Tuesday, December 25, 2001 - 3:55 am
Well the NEW STUFF is dependant on players and Refs.
I have some soarse books I've never gotten for games, because the book has some weapon X with pentupple damage that ruins the game as soon as it's introduced.
But inspiring new idea are cool and good to get ones hands on.
E.g. If a group of natives have eight arms, they may not use BOW AND ARROW even though they are technologically advanced enough to do this, because they can use four SPEAR AND WOOMERA to much more deadly effect.
Some Refs will see this from the outset and some will say, "hey that's cool, I would have taken decades to see that".
One thing that would be handy, is a uniform weapon design formula, where one plugs in all the stats of the weapon and gets out all the prices and tech levels, so that GMs can keep new designs within the proper limits.
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By Gary Plana (Garyplana) Tuesday, December 25, 2001 - 1:24 pm
MJC, re technology: the reason it isn't in the list above is that we cover it in the main GPD rulebook. Cover it in such a way that as the racial sourcebooks come out, there is an existing framework to plug everything into.
As an example, SFB covers everything from pre-warp civilizations to X1 technology. In GPD, we define the year each major race achieved TL9, TL10, etc up to TL13, which is X-tech.
When we do neutral worlds like Sherman's Planet in MODULE PRIME, we'll have that same info. (One standard feature in every issue of MP will be coverage of a minor planet, worldbook-style.)
Repost of Previous, part 3
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By Kenneth Peters (Tzeentch) Tuesday, December 25, 2001 - 9:00 pm
Michael: GURPS Vehicles covers most high-tech (and a few low-tech) weapons. GURPS Low-Tech has a simplified system for creating new hand weapons. You might want to check it out and see if that is what you are looking for.
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By Jonathan Lang (Dataweaver) Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 1:12 am
Gary: the racial sourcebooks should give details of what gets plugged into the framework provided by the core book. Using SFB technologies as an example, the Romulans sourcebook should talk about cloaking devices and any spin-off technologies that might exist; the Klingons sourcebook should make mention of non-"starship combat" uses of the Stasis Field (and should also make mention of Agonizer Booths), etc. IOW, each book should describe what's unique about that race's technology.
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By Richard Wells (Rwwells) Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 2:31 am
Plus how representative technologies differ from other cultures equivalent technologies with regard to size, reliability, special functions, or availability. For example, do Romulan medkits include suicide drugs? Do Klingon medkits include drugs for the subject races? Do Hydrans carry emergency medical supplies that can be used on those Oxygen breathing races?
These little issues also exemplify underlying points around the culture being written about.
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By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 11:15 am
You should have what effect a race's "standard" atmosphere has on other races.
Say I run an Orion Campaign, and my PCs have a LR (their Bad!) and they go to Hydrax.
1) What do they have to have to be in a methane atmosphere.
2) One of the crew is a Vudar, what does he have to have. (So does an atmosphere effect 1 race perticular?) I.E. To much O3 in the atmosphere and the Vudar passes out.
3) What does it take to board one of their vessels in combat. (I.E. full combat suits, vac suit, bikini) I want to board the Tholian Webtender and capture it, what is the environment going to do to my Marine Major.
You should have in Military a section for "Foreign Officers". I send my "Military Advisor" to stay with the Kzintis.
1) What do they do to him/think of him. Is he the after dinner mint after the battle with the Lyrans and the Kzinti win and they just say it was a combat loss?
2) How do they respect him?
3) Can he give orders?
What if I have a Human PC that is the 1st Flight Instructor in Gorn space, what is the difference in Gorn Territory.
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By David Kass (Dkass) Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 5:27 pm
I'd suggest a short section on the race's language. Not so much as rules but to let players/GM give flavor if they so desire. In particular naming conventions would be useful. Also words for race specific items, foods, curses (what not) would be useful. I'm thinking here of words one would leave untranslated in a story (ie go through the SFB fiction and see what words have been used untranslated to give cultural color).
Deck plans for at least one distinctive ship for the race should be included. This gives the GM at least one location where they could send their normal group to use the book (ie a prime team mission to go forment a mutiny or what not).
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 5:29 pm
We do plan to include deck plans for a frigate of each race. Larger ships might be done in other books later.
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By David Kass (Dkass) Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 5:32 pm
IMHO, at least a half dozen ships of each class should be listed (assuming there are that many ships of the class). This prevents the "we ran into the IKV Fire Sword last week and the week before..." syndrome.
If races use a naming convention for ships, including it would be good. This is info that the GM could ignore if they wanted but could include if they feel it will add to the atmosphere.
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 6:17 pm
Oh, we have zillions of ships names on file and a race book would include the complete list.
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By Kenneth Peters (Tzeentch) Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 12:10 am
Oof. I hope you will use tiny type and confine it to an Appendix in the back! [
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 10:17 am
Oh, it will take two or three entire pages in normal-sized type for the races with the most ships. Feds take 3 pages, Klingons take 2, Gorns and kzintis take 1 each.
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By Gary Plana (Garyplana) Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 12:17 pm
Lots of good suggestions above, all noted.
Scott should look at the Y88 timeline entry for the First Fed-Kzinti War that was printed in module Y1. Let's just say that some material created as a result of that will find its way into GURPS KLINGONS. (very big, very evil grin)
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By David Kass (Dkass) Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 2:33 pm
One idea I had was to do a "setting" or two. Basically an interesting location in space (either due to the galctography and/or the people there) that a GM could incorperate into adventures as they like (ie perhaps just a one off pass, or perhaps a recurring location). An example for the Orion book might be Mad Jack's Hole (from the Mad Jack scenario).
Give a map of the region (solar system, what not), an overview of the various parts and their game effects (maybe include SFB and the Space combat effects as well, if they exist). Not all things would need to be explicitly placed, especially anything that wouldn't be known by the characters (eg the asteroid containing the Orion secret base in Blackfoot pass). Add a few descriptions of the view from various locations/directions, maybe a few floor plans (if they fit). Include any major characters and a bio/behavior (ie flesh them out beyond just a list of numbers). A list/description of ships commonly seen in the area might also be good (eg the monthly Klingon patrol F5, a certain pirate Slaver...). A list of campaign hooks/missions in (or starting from) the locations would be an obvious part of the setting.
Being in an source book, I'd suggest leaving vague anything a PC group would not know (eg the location of the secret Orion base). This may be better done in the magazine...
This idea came from what I often found most useful in D&D modules--the towns or other permanent locales that could be used repeatedly (eg as the starting location for several adventures or as a home town). These were things where it didn't matter if the players had read the full description--they hadn't learned anything their character couldn't pick up in a couple of hours of listening at the local tavern...
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Repost of Previous, part 4
By Gary Plana (Garyplana) Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 4:40 pm
SVC and I have spoken about such things already, David. One major thing we agreed upon -- without reservation -- was that the use-once-only type of adventures published for PD1 were totally unsatisfactory. The way we plan to go would be adventure setting books that could be used as the basis for a campaign, not just one game session. The two such products we've had in mind are:
(1) "Jurassic World" A neutral, unaligned world where dinosaurs are still the predominant lifeforms, where the Prime Directive and other laws don't apply. People go there for a variety of reasons: Big Game Hunters go there trophy-hunting, Greenpeace-type liberals go there to prevent it, scientists want to study them, tourists want their picture taken with Barney, the Gorns want people to stay away because they may be related, and the tribal-level local population has NO idea what the heck is going on. Lots of room for conflict! This project, while very interesting, is kinda on the back burner as the obvious tie-in is to use the dinosaur specs from GURPS DINOSAURS, but that product is out of print and SJG isn't making any noises about reprinting it.
(2) "Litterbox-That-Glitters-Gold" is a solar system that belonged to the Kzinti prior to the Federation 4750 Declaration in Y102, and is now within Federation Space. Early Years setting circa Y105. No habitible worlds, but the system has three asteroid belts, a brown dwarf, and all kinds of prospecting and mining going on. Little military presence but just about every civilian base and ship ever printed in SFB. Several megacorps, at least one of which is the precursor of an Orion Cartel. Lots of things to do there, even without Jindarians showing up.
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By David Kass (Dkass) Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 5:29 pm
I was thinking of something smaller/less detailed than a whole world book (although those are good too). Say 3 to 5 pages plus a page of maps/building plans.
The idea being, it gives the GM something they can use quickly to introduce the new material. Either as a side location for an ongoing group (eg a Fed bridge crew party's next adventure involves purchasing that new Klingon fighter from Mad Jack), or as a quick starting place for the included pre-designed party.
A well designed use-once-only type adventure can be worthwile. Even if it isn't played, it serves as a basis for inspiration and often helps a GM realize what they could add to improve their games. I wouldn't want to see a whole book dedicated to one but a nice long chapter would work (especially if some of the characters can be used elsewhere). For example, I would appreciate one such in a world book.
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 6:58 pm
David: I think Module Prime can accomodate such a feature.
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By Randy Buttram (Peregrine) Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 9:27 pm
At least one unique martial art for each race.
GURPS Martial Arts has dozens for humans alone, plus some examples of nonhuman (fantasy and futuristic). Races with a strong warrior tradition (such as the Klingons, Andorians, etc.) would definitely keep hand-to-hand fighting styles alive.
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Friday, December 28, 2001 - 10:10 am
I like that idea.
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By Robert Herneson (Herneson) Sunday, December 30, 2001 - 6:53 pm
GURPS Martial Arts is VERY good at providing the fundamentals of how to develop unique martial arts styles and I reccomend it strongly for the development of the racial styles material.
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By Kenneth Peters (Tzeentch) Monday, December 31, 2001 - 5:32 am
It's also a book that hasn't really received the attention it deserves in mainline GURPS (IMO).
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By CJ Beiting (Paxton) Monday, December 31, 2001 - 11:02 am
With regard to races/languages, one thing I always liked in GURPS was the listing of names in the character generation section of any sourcebook. So, in addition to a little bit on each language, I would find more useful a list of typical male/female/other names. This make it useful for naming NPC's on the fly.
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Monday, December 31, 2001 - 11:23 am
CJB: sounds good.
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By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) Monday, December 31, 2001 - 5:18 pm
I wouldn't mind seeing a book of just pre-made characters. Not the hero-level that player-characters should be, but something the GM can grab when he needs a Red Shirt for a quick fill. It'd be cool if they'd have a couple non-combat skills as "color" ... this guy plays Country & Western music, that one is a big Mars Mission history buff, etc, etc.
Garth L. Getgen
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By Gary Plana (Garyplana) Monday, December 31, 2001 - 8:28 pm
Something like that could be possible. An insert into a Cardboard Heroes product, maybe?
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Tuesday, January 01, 2002 - 8:23 am
I suspect that the cardboard characters will be inserts in other products.
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By Robert Herneson (Herneson) Wednesday, January 02, 2002 - 11:40 pm
I'd expect to see them in a DeckPlans offering, or a 'sound stage / backlot layout that we've all seen 183 times' product. [] (can you say, 'Climb Gorn, climb!')
(Hey, my gang does TV type gaming, even to the point of all leaning one way during an HET roll!)
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Wednesday, January 02, 2002 - 11:54 pm
Ooohhh, a "rock world" module.... kewelll....
Repost of Previous, part 5
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By Robert Herneson (Herneson) Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 3:38 pm
Hey, did you see the SJG release, Floor Plan 2 - The Great Salt Flats, it's six sheets that are described as, "Huge, flat, and completely featureless . . . well, we could have just called this set "Blank Map Sheets." But this is more fun."
Now THAT is marketing!
Serious thought (restated), if you havn't looked at the Cardboad Dungeons as an example of a format to provide ship corridors and generic office space, and so on, please do, slip a sheet of Cardboard Extras in there and you got a product!
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 4:14 pm
I like it.
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By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) Thursday, January 03, 2002 - 7:43 pm
Combine it all!
SJGames Floor Plans and Deck Plans include a sheet or two of Cardboard Heroes. Do the same thing with PD deckplans, and include a little booklet with stats for the characters and some generic background info and stats on whatever the plans are for.
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By Gary Plana (Garyplana) Friday, January 04, 2002 - 4:19 am
You know, I could swear that the idea of cardboard dungeons, or whatever we called it six months or so ago, got shot down.
Something about the set-up cost of the cutters being high enough that there would never be a profit on expected sales numbers?
This was back when we were talking about 15mm and 25mm and 38mm scale for the deckplans...
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By Robson, Thomas E. (Darklorddread) Friday, January 04, 2002 - 2:48 pm
How bout a monster racial source book?
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By Steve Cole (Stevecole) Friday, January 04, 2002 - 3:05 pm
I don't see that as practical. Planetary monsters are specific to their planet (and space monsters irrelevant to the RPG) and should be in whatever book covers that planet.
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By Robert Herneson (Herneson) Friday, January 04, 2002 - 4:21 pm
Gary, I never quite followed that either, as the example I cited was rectangle cardstock, uncut, unperf'ed, spiral bound. Player does the cutting and the layout is generic.
As I said, I didn't really track at the time, but (as noted by someone else, somewhere else) gosh I like when Steve talks money, it gets me all warm and giddy! []
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By Jim Cummins (Jimcummins) Friday, January 04, 2002 - 4:39 pm
How about an Ancient Empires source book which would include
1) The Klingon Old Kings, what they left behind, and the legends of their rule from the Klingon, Orion etc point of view.
2) Some historical-legends of the race that dispersed the Gorns,
3) Some mythical historically accounts of how the Lyran-Kzinti-Carnivons dispersed.
4) Origins of the Jindarians as wanders
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By Gary Plana (Garyplana) Friday, January 04, 2002 - 7:27 pm
Jim: in general, we intend to put those items in the sourcebooks of the races in question; for example, the Klingon book will have info on the Old Kings and the Vergarians.
(But I'm not making any promises, especially regarding the Jindarian origin story. THAT may never get written.)
First, we need to get all the primary races done, that will probably take until 2004, and that doesn't include Omega or Triangulum!
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By Robson, Thomas E. (Darklorddread) Friday, January 04, 2002 - 10:30 pm
How bout (a way back burner idea) a sourse book for the "Proto" Gorn race?
BTW, D&D, AD&D, 2ndAD&D, and 3rdD&D dragons have a wide range of inteligence, from below average human to god like inteligence. The dragons "ecosystems" range from sloful loners to a dragon empire. Compared to the D&D what are the SFB dragons like?
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By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) Friday, January 04, 2002 - 11:18 pm
Planetary monsters are specific to their planet (and space monsters irrelevant to the RPG) and should be in whatever book covers that planet.
Has anyone seen a movie called INNER SPACE ( you gotta love those speilberg flicks )?
I think space monsters for PD would be a little like that.
Well I'm just saying that there would be one or two adventures for PD characters to do something with a space borne monster.
So mayhaps we should say Planetary monsters are specific to their planet (and space monsters are mostly irrelevant to the RPG) and should be in whatever book covers that planet.
I just brought it up because as soon as a read it it, I thought, hey; there is an adventure there.
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By Jonathan Lang (Dataweaver) Saturday, January 05, 2002 - 1:15 am
A thought that I had while reading the Feline Empires thread: you might want to include some brief "Stellar Shadows" boxes or the like in each of these books - Feline Empires could, for instance, include a "Stellar Shadows: Cats and Dogs" box, giving some ideas about alternate outcomes of the Early Years feline/Carnivon wars. This should ease up on any pressure that the GM might feel to use the SFB setting exactly as is, while clearly marking "what if" material as such.
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Anyone: do any of you know where we can find a copy of the GURPS Planetary Record form in a Mac-compatible format?
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Anyone: do any of you know where we can find a copy of the GURPS Planetary Record form in a Mac-compatible format?
I think SJG originally did it in a Mac format. I'm not sure which one they did it in. They do most of their design work on macs.
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Comments requested on next message.
RACIAL SOURCEBOOK FORMAT: GURPS PRIME DIRECTIVE
REVISED 13 SEPTEMBER 2002
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BIOLOGICAL & GEOGRAPHICAL
Short fiction story about the race
Description of beings,
Sexes, reproduction, life cycles
Map of the territory and internal government divisions
Survey of planets (see gurps planetary record format)
Effect of standard atmosphere on other races
Every race should have a great mystery that is never solved but they’d like to solve (e.g., origin of the gorn race)
Language(s), sample words (perhaps the same standard list of 50 words in each book?)
Monsters, beasts of burden, pets, and other life forms on their planet(s).
POLITICAL:
Type of government, ruling political bodies, noble houses/factions
Stability of government, methods by which government changes.
Status of races: imperial, member, associate, subject, slave.
Status of people (subjects, citizens) and how the military fits in.
Bureaucracy, what kind of office will handle routine things such as visas.
Major NPCS within the empire: Emperor/President, ministers, etc
Wars, relations with neighboring races, causes for animosity/friendship
Diplomats and their diplomatic ships
Non-governmental power structures
SOCIAL:
Background/history of culture with timeline
Races within the empire and their treatment/restrictions
All segments of population and how they interact
Other races to be treated as part of the sourcebook
Religion/philosophies, tolerance of outsiders
Treatment of citizens outside national space
Reaction Roll modifiers lists
System of laws
Education systems
Naming conventions (for individual people)
ECONOMIC:
Worlds/colonies in the empire, their populations and races
Production details: what they import/consume, export/supply
Who owns the "means of production" within the nation?
Does import-export go through private companies or government offices?
Outside trading partners & neutral worlds
Merchant guilds and/or major non-military factions
Merchant Marine & tolerance of independent/foreign merchants
Merchant ships in use, rare/common/obsolete/outlawed
Background detailing tech choices made and their affect
MILITARY:
Military command structure, fleet organization (and why)
Military branches (fleet, marines, local defense, army) and their inter-relations.
Bases, shipyards,
military academies, training, and military education, etc.
Ranking personnel and NPCs
Uniforms
Ranks and insignia, promotion/demotion criteria
Military decorations, awards, skill badges, etc.
Special military organizations (Orders of knighthood, etc)
Ship classes, list of names/hull numbers
Intelligence organizations (external), both military and non-military
Is the military conscript, volunteer, or some combination?
Status of local defense forces, militia, national guards, paramilitary
Military law and justice. Are criminals, corrupt officials, incompetents, or traitors executed, imprisoned, or re-educated?
One unique martial race for each race (at least)
INTERNAL SECURITY:
Internal security forces and their daily affect on the population
Police (anti-criminal, political, secret, other) organizations.
Are planetary police part of the planetary or national government?
Prison system, local jails, etc.
Interaction with the military, merchant marine, and subject races
Treatment/restrictions of subject races/foreigners within territory
Penal system, details, mutiny and anti-mutiny
Things that get you thrown in jail
Things that you can get away with, which you wouldn't expect to
Pirate operations within the empire, Citizens/subject races joining the pirates
Private ownership of weapons
CAMPAIGNS
Ways to use non-player characters of this race in your campaign as bit players
Ways to use non-player characters of this race in your campaign an enemies
Ways to use non-player characters of this race in your campaign as allies (e.g., military advisors)
A sample setting appropriate to the race (Hydran bazaar, Klingon training barracks, Romulan "house", etc.)
TECHNOLOGY:
Race specific weapons, both historical and current.
Race specific equipment and technology; differences from other technologies
Survey of starship types and classes, sample set of deck plans, complete list of ship names
Ground vehicle types (combat, non-combat)
Dates of achieving Tech levels and details thereof
SAMPLE CHARACTERS
Enough player-class characters that you could run a quick adventure to see if you like the race. These could also be a "competing" NPC team working against your team in some quest that the GM Sent you on.
Customs inspectors, Internal Security agents, wealthy merchants, lowlife barfly, muggers and thugs, con men, etc.
Academy packages, civilian packages, etc could be rolled into the NPC descriptions or vice versa.
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Looks nice and complete. Everything I can think of is in there.
I have a couple of comments:
In "Social" the system of laws seemed out of place and would better fit (IMHO) under Political. Then replace that line (in Social) with "Morality Structure". This would help defign the Races legal system.
Also, in social, add "Typical Family Structure" and short line (or few) about life growing up in this race.
One more for social: Unique Social Rituals. Could cover anything from the Vulcan PonFar to the unusual way Hydrans mate(Already established). Or the Klingon rite of Passage. Gorn might have a Community Child Rearing process. When a Kzinti gets his stripes (in his fur) what sort of celebration is there? Is there a Lyran or Kzinti hunting ritual? Vulcans kiss with two fingers. There is one episode of ST:TOS that sugests that Romulans do to.(Though, it would seem wise not to go into mating rituals too much. Got to keep this thing "G" rated ) How does each race deal with their dead?
Also, something to consider is bits and pieces here and there on "alternate" takes of racial backgrounds, as jump off points for GMs who wish to mess with things for thei own personal campaign. These can just be a paragraph here on there on outling the broad strokes of a what-if situation.
For example, what if the Hydran Kingdom and the Old Colonies were actually reversed, with the true seat of Hydran power laying far to the west and the Kingdom being an outlying state (which, being the one actually bordering on and in conflict with other races, actually has the shipyard and major military presence).
What-ifs might make for an interesting article in the GPD periodical.
Ummm...should description of being also include Height and Weight of average male and female members of the speices!?!
"Biological&Geographical: Description of beings."
That was probably ment to cover such things as Physical Characteristics.
Height and weight is pretty much covered in the core book, but we can expand on it a little.
Whacky what if changes (what if the Klingons were where the Hydrans are) are so vast and wierd that I cannot see doing one if you don't do 300, and I cannot see doing 300. We could perhaps devote a page of MP to suggestions for anything wierd and whacky by GMs, but I don't think that building an infinite number of improbable alternative timelines and geographies into the race books is productive.
Two suggestions for the Economic section:
*public monetary system (what are typical workers paid, either in standard units or in racial units with a conversion factor/purchasing power entry).
*black market/underground economy: where to go to get that illegal id--how much, who, how risky. Also could cover things like bribes.
The Language table might be better moved into the Social section with the Naming conventions. While some of the words in the language tables should be the same for all races, some should be race specific (for example, I doubt the Hydrans need the name for a "small rodent like lizard" that is a Kzinti delicasie and would be appropriate for their list).