SDW-Stars of the Dark Well

From: ogden@kern.com (David Ogden)

Date: Thu, 09 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000

Stars of the Dark Well is a space opera PBM. SDW began play-testing in
1984 and became a full game in 1985. Since that time the game universe has
changed in many ways. When players started, there were only a few star
systems known. There were no "Sector" maps at the time. (one hex in a
sector map represents 5 light years with each sector map measuring approx.
22 hexes x 15 hexes in size). Over the course of SDW, space has "grown"
because the GMs do not put a limit on the size of space.

Space is now measured using the same basic 5 light year hex, but there are
now ArcSectors (which contain 9 sectors) and now MegaSectors (which
contain 9 ArcSectors). There are three known MegaSectors which contain
approximately 80,190 hexes (thats over 400,000 light years in area). All
of this space contains approximately 4,500 to 5,000 different star
systems, which in turn contain up to 15 planets, moons, asteroid belts,
and/or alien artifacts.

This all works out to be approximately 67,500 planetary bodies to map and
explore. And what's best is that it is always changing. Explorers are
continuing to push the envelope and explore further out into the unknown.

Of course there is much more to SDW other than exploration.
Combat/Trade/Politics/Research/Exploration are all aspects of SDW.
Whatever suits your interest, there is something to do.

I have been plaing SDW since 1985 and have been through all of the
differnt aspects of the game. If you like space opera themes and PBMs then
you should give SDW a try.

There are several websites that describe in more detail what SDW is like.
The main web site for Mindgate (the company running Stars of the Dark
Well) is:

http://bbs.macnexus.org/~david_peterson/darkwell/darkwell.html

My web site that I run for a corporation in SDW is:

http://www.kern.com/~ogden/sdw_nexus_hq.html

If you want more information about SDW my email address is:

ogden@kern.com