I was interested in where the names of stars in Coriolis came from.
I checked a few of the obvious names in Wikipedia.
Errai is Gamme Chephei at 45 LY
Dziban is Psi Draconis at 75 LY
Rigel is Beta Orionis , about 863 LY
Algol is Beta Persei at 90 LY
Mira is Omicron Ceti, 200+ LY
Menkar is Alpha Persei 250 LY
I was thinking of making a 3D map using Astrosynthesis, but I’m not sure it would be worthwhile. The problem is not the distances, as the Portals connect star systems and the map is like a subway map, it shows the next stop, not how far it is.
Many of these stars are massive bright multiples (which is why they were easily visible from Earth) and are unsuitable for habitation. Rigel’s radius is about 70 times that of the Sun, it’s bright and then some, there are also 3 other stars with it. Any planets are going to be not worth visiting, as the star throws out a titanic amount of bright light. You’d have to be a long way away from the star to not get fried.
Algol system lists 4 worlds in system (page 303 of the core rule book), but the actual details are:
" The eclipsing binary pair is separated by only 0.062 AU from each other, whereas the third star in the system (Algol Ab) is at an average distance of 2.69 AU from the pair," (Wikipedia). This is like having another sun where the asteroid belt is, orbiting the main pair. The orbits of any planets would be massively disrupted by the star.
One option is to name the planet after the nearby bright star, so the planet is in another star system with a more hospitable environment, several light-years away. That way your characters don’t get instant and fatal suntans.
I know it’s a space-fantasy game, more like Star Wars than Star Trek, but any SF game has to have some basis in science, otherwise the game doesn’t feel convincing to the players. Is star mapping something that attracts you to the game, or is space just like the line on a subway map, something that separates one adventure location from another?