The Background:

As many of you know, we developed an evolving series of ‘Verse maps to cope with Joss Whedon’s distaste for any hard data. Joss has famously said that ships move “at the speed of drama,” but some of us who play in the ‘Verse want a little more detail on where things are.

The most recent we came up with was a detailed map of the ‘Verse set in a trinary star system with revolving orbital calculations. While it was a fair amount of fun to play with, we started to shy away from it, as everything felt just a little “too close,” and there wasn’t enough ‘black’ to sail in, and not enough room for mysterious goings-on, or space mermaids, or whatever.

But then Quantum Mechanix expressed a desire to create a map as close to canon as they could get. As one of the folks who helped out with QMX’s fantastic, gloriously detailed, definitive map of the ‘Verse, I instantly saw the gameplay appeal and switched our campaign over to the QMX map.

But using the map came with its own set of problems — most notably, a reliable way to calculate distances. So, with permission from the company, we took their map and created a simple method of calculating distance.

How this map works:

1. Print this map out on 11×17 (tabloid) paper. If you print it smaller, you’ll find the ‘verse is a zippy place to travel in.
2. Measure distance between points using a ruler. Take the result, and multiply it by 10. That’s the travel time in days for a vessel with Speed Class 1.
3. Divide the result by your ship’s speed rating to get your travel time.

Example: The distance from Aphrodite to Londinium is 2.94 inches. That’s a lengthy 29.4 days if you’re in a vessel with Speed Class 1. However, a boat with Speed Class 6 can make the trip in a little less than 5 days.

FAQ 1: What about the revolving planets? Aren’t there times when they’d be on the far side of the core?
Answer 1: Yes — you’re right. I debated playing that game. It’s technically accurate, but a bear to mess with. So, for the purposes of fast gameplay, and to keep the ‘Verse true to not being mathematically dense, our planets stay in a nice fixed revolution.

Download Version 2.4 of the ‘Verse Planetary Distance Chart

And, while you’re here, don’t forget to buy the full map from Quantum Mechanix!

Download the file by clicking this image: