Hey there, future stargazer! I have another update on the ongoing progress of Stargazer, my upcoming solo character development game.
Let me start off by expressing my immense appreciation to the folks over at the TTRPG Collective server on Discord, especially the folks in the Project Accountability thread. The creative energy folks have shared there and the gentle accountability check-ins have been a huge impact in my actually getting Stargazer moving.
And if you decide to join the TTRPG Collective server (which I highly recommend), be sure to jump into the #introduce-yourself thread and tag me! I’ve seen some folks flowing in from a recent newsletter, and love getting the chance to meet you all.
Okay, enough gushing about the collective, and back to Stargazer.
The Atlas of Souls
The core mechanic of Stargazer is that you’ll be using a star chart and drawing standard US poker deck cards to navigate on that chart, landing on (or in-between) constellations to gain new insight on a character. As part of the fiction around this book (which I’ll dive more into in a future devlog), this chart is a tool of the entity known as the Stargazer called the Atlas of Souls.
Figuring out the shapes of the constellations and how the chart would be laid out was a blocker for me for a while, and I knew once I got that drawn out that I’d feel a lot more free to continue writing the book itself.
Luckily, I tackled that particular task last night and have an initial look at the Atlas of Souls which you’ll be using in your playthroughs of Stargazer:
These stars and the formations of constellations within them will be what Stargazer will use to drive character exploration. By using this Atlas of Souls, you can read the stars for any character you can imagine, coming out of the process with a wealth of new inspiration and creative understanding of that character (and often the world around them).
The Constellations
I won’t go into too much detail on these, but the constellations in the Atlas of Souls are a driving force within the flow of the game. Each constellation deals with a thematic area of your character’s existence and history, and by reading their stars you’ll be prompted to explore specific parts of these categories more thoroughly.
Below is the current list of constellations and their categorical meanings (with the disclaimer that some of the names below will likely change between now and Stargazer being published).
Northern Altar
Relating to the travels that your character has undergone throughout their life, things they might have learned while on those travels, their attitude towards the act of traveling itself, and how they feel about the travels they have experienced
Eastern Altar
Topics related to the details of your character’s family, whatever form that may take, exploration of how they were raised, by and whom they were raised, their relationships with those people today, and how those experiences have shaped who they have become
Southern Altar
Exploration of your character’s memories and experience of whatever the word ‘home’ means to them, how they feel about the location(s) they called home as a child, and what those places mean to them now
Western Altar
Rummaging around in your character’s love life (or possible lack thereof for any reason), their history with love and romance, how successful or unsuccessful they view those experiences to be, and the shape of their hopes and dreams for how they will be in the future
Blade
Relating to your character’s experience with conflict, how they have initiated or responded to conflict, their history around fighting and battle, and an exploration of their feelings towards aggression and attacking
Aegis
Stars focused on your character’s tendency and capability in defending themselves, their history of coming to the aid or standing up for others, and experiences that have caused them to need to defend and protect
Godbrush
Relating to your character’s appreciation (or lack thereof) for art and artistic endeavors, as well as any passions or skills they might possess within that realm
Monk’s Eye
Those topics that relate to introspection and questions about your character’s sense of self, including their relationship with their own psyche and physical form
Merophestos
Relating to the Exploration of your character’s skills and talents that they currently hold, those they wish they were more adept with, or those that they may have lost somehow
Librus
The relationship with and feelings your character has towards the legends, folktales, and the supernatural of their world, as well as the direct connection that they may have to them (if any)
Hand of the Priest
The relationship that your character has with religion in their world, exploring their feelings towards the religions around them, their experiences with the very idea of these religions, and their experiences with any related institutions
Proteus
The experiences and feelings your character has and has had towards change and evolution throughout their life, both personal and external, as well as how that has helped to shape and change them into who they are today
Crown of Sidra
The feelings and experiences your character has and has had with and towards those in positions of leadership and power in the world around them, as well as their own experiences occupying these types of positions or with rejecting or being denied these positions and how this has impacted them
Lacuna’s Noose
Exploring your character’s relationship with, feelings toward, and beliefs surrounding the idea and reality of death, including their feelings towards and memories of those they have lost, as well as the shape and details of their current philosophies towards death
Generating Star Fields with Python
I spent a good amount of time thinking of how best to create the base star field in a way that felt realistic (in that it felt enough like our own night sky that it was convincing) and also would be flexible and in a SVG format (so I could use it more flexibly). This search took me through a ton of different tools and concepts, had me seeing if hand drawing it would work (it didn’t), and finally landing in the realm of algorithmic generation.
After testing a bunch of options, and venturing a bit to write my own in Python, I came across the starfield project by GitHub user jeffkempster.
This ended up working perfectly for my needs, with some tweaks to the underlying code, as it generated realistic groupings of stars at varying distances, plus exported the final artwork as both a PNG and SVG.
I really love the concept of creative code and algorithmic generation, so expect to see more instances of this in Graycastle Press’ work in the future!
NOTE: When I talk about algorithmic generation I do NOT mean generative AI. That’s a space that I tend to stay away from primarily due to it’s unethical basis on copywriter work of others and the shady practices by companies of selling people’s data to LLM trainers.
Overall Project Status
Stargazer is coming along so nicely, especially with some clarification of the fiction surrounding the game (I cannot wait to share more about the Etherforge and the Etherscouts, which will end up impacting a bunch of my other projects, including Journey).
I still don’t quite have an estimate on when Stargazer will be ready for publication, primarily because even once the initial draft is completed (which I’m at about 50% of the way there) I’ll be working on the design and artwork for the book, some additional play testing of the new and tweaked mechanics, and building out some free downloadable resources to accompany it.
I still think it will likely be this year, maybe late Q3 or in Q4, but I really want to get it out as quickly as possible.