Starfinder Terrain: What should it be?

[The Black Bard]

I'm working on some ideas for physical Starfinder terrain (I was a vendor at PaizoCon2017, some of you might remember me), and once again figured a bit of polling the group would be wise! Obviously, this is all keeping in mind that we haven't seen that much of the Starfinder aesthetic as a whole, but we can still bounce some ideas around!

I'm considering a modular dungeon system of floors and walls for creating ship/station interiors. Between boarding actions and derelict hulks I can see a fair amount of use for such. Obviously, single person craft are more like horses, no terrain really needed there, but bigger ships, those are totally just mobile dungeons! What sort of elements should there be? Navigation screens, medical bays, defense turrets, help me brainstorm if you don't mind!

And what sort of dungeon dressing should there be? Crates and barrels are easily updated, but what else? The campfire might be out but should a vending machine be in? I'd love to hear ideas!

[Matthew Shelton]

I loved sneaking around in the Von Braun and the Rickenbacker.

[Stone Dog]

You could go a long way with just Space Hulk level of connecting corridors and rooms, but with 2-d counters to customize areas.

Like the obstacles in X-Wing miniatures. As much as 3-d terrain is really cool, transporting it can be a drag.

What company are you vending for?

[Bluenose]

I would Never buy floor plans for a starship. There are no floors, walls, ceilings or corridors on a ship. There are decks, bulkheads, overheads and passageways. I might buy deck plans.

Things every ship would have:
Engineering with power plants and drives, maintenance workshops with workbenches and storage, computer/avionic rooms, storage for supplies, crew quarters, kitchens and eating areas, offices, fuel tanks, bridge or flight deck.

Things some ships would have:
Laboratories, cargo space, vehicle hangers, passenger quarters, exercise area, restaurants, clubs, teaching facilities, briefing rooms, libraries, hydroponics bays, gardens, a morgue, communications rooms.

Things that act as dressing:
Vending machines, cleaning equipment, open bulkhead/deck/overhead panels with maintenance equipment, drinking fountains, piles of luggage, perhaps explosion scorches or piles of bodies on ships where there'd been fighting, broken equipment, the quartermaster's underwear at the top of a flagpole, 47 pairs of left boots, the ship's goat wandering a corridor, several carpets, a puddle where water/oil/unidentifiable liquid has leaked.

[The Black Bard]

Stone Dog - Black Bard Studios would be the business name. I'm basically just another licensed Hirst Arts distributor, but I figured I'd give Starfinder terrain a shot as well as the medieval fantasy sort.

I'm fully aware of the issues with 3d terrain and transport; I deal with dental plaster, which is prety much the heaviest material used in gaming terrain. I suppose I'm catering to those with home games or otherwise dedicated spaces so travel isn't an issue. But I do want to say thanks for your comment, it prompted some searches and gave me a few ideas!

I'm certain there are plans for Starfinder themed map-packs and flip-mats, so while I am looking at a modular dungeon system like Dwarven Forge, I'm also looking at internal terrain, like what Bluenose mentioned. I love the vending machine idea, thanks for that!

[Matthew Shelton]

Do they take credits or UPBs?

[Torbyne]

consoles, terminals, large tanks, pipes, railings, impact couches, full immersion command chairs, meditation pits, brig cells, medical tables, messing rooms, sanitation/refreshers, holo-chess table with circular couch, weapon turrets, machining equipment, nano-forges, Armory walls, safes, suspended animation chambers.... so much ship dressing i'd want to collect.

[The Daring Dragoon]

Stone Dog wrote:

You could go a long way with just Space Hulk level of connecting corridors and rooms, but with 2-d counters to customize areas.

Like the obstacles in X-Wing miniatures. As much as 3-d terrain is really cool, transporting it can be a drag.

What company are you vending for?

Agreed! Modular, 2-D tiles (like the dungeon tiles they put out for D&D near the end of 3.5) are prefect. I have hundreds of $$$ Dwarven Forge sets sitting in my closet which I never use as they are a huge pain in the butt to bring out and set up let alone take anywhere (and I even game at home). So yeah never ever gonna buy those kinds again. Those D&D tiles, on the other hand, were great. I invested in at least two of each set and I still use those all the time.

Besides that most of the stuff that Bluenose lists should be represented:

Bluenose wrote:

Things every ship would have:

Engineering with power plants and drives, maintenance workshops with workbenches and storage, computer/avionic rooms, storage for supplies, crew quarters, kitchens and eating areas, offices, fuel tanks, bridge or flight deck.

Things some ships would have:
Laboratories, cargo space, vehicle hangers, passenger quarters, exercise area, restaurants, clubs, teaching facilities, briefing rooms, libraries, hydroponics bays, gardens, a morgue, communications rooms.

Things that act as dressing:
Vending machines, cleaning equipment, open bulkhead/deck/overhead panels with maintenance equipment, drinking fountains, piles of luggage, perhaps explosion scorches or piles of bodies on ships where there'd been fighting, broken equipment, the quartermaster's underwear at the top of a flagpole, 47 pairs of left boots, the ship's goat wandering a corridor, several carpets, a puddle where water/oil/unidentifiable liquid has leaked.

[Thorr666]

Potted plants

[Fardragon]

The sad thing is the Traveller deckplans I have are all for 15mm minis rather than 25mm.

Gnome starships.

[Bluenose]

If you've got access to a good photocopier then you can enlarge them. Or if they're on PDF you can print them you can increase the size they're printed at. Either way can get you sizes large enough for 28mm minis - though you're stuck if it's the AHL deck plans.

[Scarvexx]

A starship isn’t exactly a dungeon. A space station is a better fit. With no need for an aeroshell or a regular shape, the outer parts of a space station’s corridors can be just space. It can even be modular; most space stations must be built piecemeal anyway so why not have contrasting corridors?

Dungeons can still be a thing. Even in space, for example-

The traditional dungeon familiar to every pathfinder player. But with an alien biome, living light sources, strange magic, exotic elements. These a several alien worlds and they all have just as much history as Golarion and as much reason to have dungeons.

The rotting body of a space beast. The difference between parasites and predators is sometimes a question of scale. It’s not easy to make a rotting body look good but you get to use a lot of colour at least. Valves make for good doors, acidic blisters make fine traps, and the sheer amount of difficult terrain is staggering.

An asteroid based mine makes a great traditional design with new aesthetic. It’s exactly like any other mine but with more exotic materials on hand and less safety. No collapses however, because faux gravity is pointless if you’re not going to live on it.

[Torbyne]

Scarvexx,

A small surface to orbit personnel transport shuttle is not fitting for a dungeon but a derelict exploration vessel from an unknown species, with its crew accomodation, specimen labs, geo-science spaces, multiple cargo rooms, small craft storage and maintenance facilities, engineering, onboard hydroponics farm, command suite, repair lockers etc. that is a decent dungeon crawl right there. to say nothing of a New Worlds class Mass Commerce Ship with commerce bays larger than many ships by themeselves, 6 different classes of passenger accomodations, each of which has its own support facilities to better serve the species and payment requirements of its passengers, a full bazaar with space for visting craft to visit and restock, the ship's own crew accomodations... and then you get into generational ships, colonization vessels, ships made from hollowed out asteroids, General Service Vessels... ships can be up to the size of a decent town on their own and that is enough to run a full campaign in.