Back in the sandbox

Before I get into this I wanted to highlight the success of Pathfinder. My thinking this is what happens when you try and tell your audience/consumers what they want in their game (Hasbro I'm talking of you - More to the point I'm talking to you MM). Ron Edwards whom I greatly admire as a rpg writer and critic would no doubt comment that this further proves "system is important" and I'd be in the first ranks of that rally-cry too.  Thanks to Cyclopeatron for this info.


Ok lets get more sand between the toes.

I'm using a number of rpg resources to compile my sci-fi sand-box.
Chief of these is the wonderful Stars Without Number - I'm using its guidelines for setting up the sandbox.
Other contributing works are
Starblazers Adventures
Diaspora
Traveller
2300AD 
Thousand Suns
Cthulhu Rising
Serenity/Firefly
BSG/Caprica

I'm also inspired by a few themes I want to explore and these will have an influence on the setting;
Freedom and what that means - I'll counterpoint this with what will essentially be slavery and even try to show the results of Anarchy.  
Centralized vs Decentralized power
Might vs Right
Belonging
What is Human/Humanity


Any way that all looks like fairly lofty stuff but its not meant to be they are just guild lines to me in setting things up within the Sandbox and hint at some of the core types of conflict I want occurring

I'm also quite inspired by the colonial expansion period of earth history, specifically the American war of independence and some of that will no doubt pollinate my setting too.    

I've already made up my mind on the number of systems which will be central the the game. There will no doubt be more but the setting will have a central thirteen systems of which Earth/Terra will be one.

I'm off now to find out how I make Hexographer work to give me  10x8 hexmaps I can use and post up here to show the systems.