Starport Saturday

A while back coliver988 over at Citizens of the Imperium posted an idea about using a mall map as a ship construction yard. In his post he suggests that the anchor stores serve as the construction bays while the smaller stores serve as offices and storage space. While that works I saw it a little differently. If it was more of a starport/docking/repair facility, there would be a much more of a reason for players to spend a lot of time there.

I don’t know about your games, but in mine, the players tend to take a lot of fire (and therefor need repairs) and spend time shopping! At the same time I was working on my most recent geomorph set I decided to draw and stock just such a facility. Well, I’ve drawn it.

It would probably look better if it was done with a graphics program, rather than by hand, but I’m better with paper than I am with graphics.

As an ongoing project I’m thinking about stocking it with shops and characters, making it something of a mini-campaign setting. However, I also want to open it up to you. This is your chance to be a guest blogger here at Tower of the Archmage! All you need to do is to pick one of the different stores, and write up a description of what type of store it is! Now, I’m picturing this as a fairly cross genre sort of place that could fit in the Star Wars, Star Trek (Original Series/Enterprise eras) Traveller, or even Tales from the Floating Vagabond!

How to get involved: Leave me a comment or an e-mail letting me know you want to join in, and pick a space. Write your post (or posts if you’re feeling ambitious). Send me your post via e-mail, and I’ll get it up, probably on a Saturday.

A couple of examples are below

---

A-119
Specialty Retail
Avari’s Antiquities

The first impression one gets upon entering this store is ‘cluttered’. There is barely enough space to move around the various boxes, crates, furniture, pictures, etc. Everything in the store is, or appears to be, old, and it’s all priced accordingly. A quiet rhythmic music plays in the back room, and can only just be heard when halfway into the store. The lighting is somewhat dim, and has a yellowish cast.

Avari is a tall older man with a bald head and bearded face. He is generally kindly and very knowledgeable about antiquities from a variety of planets and cultures. Anything he feels maybe dangerous he will attempt to convince the patron that the item has some small worth, but he might have a buyer, so hell offer 10% more than he usually would. Ok, maybe 15%.

D-22
Food
Tasty Comets

Coffee Flavored Comet with Dark Chocolate Core

This small shop has barely enough room for the equipment and supplies used to create it’s frozen confections. The store front is a garishly decorated counter surrounded by cartoon celestial bodies. Tasty Comets is staffed mainly by local teenagers who spend most of their time looking bored.

One young employee, Jayla, is perpetually perky and has taken the corporate spiel hook line and sinker. Her fellow employees resent her for making them look bad, and a one, Kat, is looking for a way to spectacularly sabotage and humiliate Jayla.

A sample of offerings include:
Comet - Slushy iceball with one of 301 flavors with a core made from a variety of cookies, brownies, frozen fruit, etc.
Hale-Bopp - Carbonated Comet
Sungrazer - Basic Comet with a hot topping
Meteor - 3 cores together with a thin icy layer on top
Shooting Star - Meteor with a hot topping
Asteroid - 7 cores with a thin icy layer