Gurps Space Pdf

[Francisco Raya]

GURPSSpace is a toolkit that enables gamemasters to create science fiction role-playing campaigns using the GURPS rules. Guidelines are provided for designing games using science fantasy, space opera, or hard science fiction genres, by creating worlds, planets and alien races.

The fourth edition of GURPS Space was released in 2006, and covered the creation of star systems, worlds and alien races, either completely randomly or with any amount of gamemaster intervention during the process. Advice is also provided on planning campaigns and other related material.

Coverage of spacecraft is aimed at setting level issues such as choosing the technology used by spacecraft in the game. This section does not worry about game mechanics issues, but rather helps players and gamemasters determine the broad capabilities of the vessel in question.

In the January 1989 edition of Games International (Issue 2), James Wallis was impressed by the breadth of coverage, noting that this book "covers everything from planetary system design [...] to lists of equipment." Wallis felt that the only significant item missing was robots. He concluded by giving this a perfect rating of 5 out of 5, saying, "GURPS Space is ideal for any referee who isn't satisfied with existing SF systems and wants to design their own or to convert a favourite book into a rolegaming environment [...] Every SF referee should have one."[4]

Goto [ Index ]GURPS Space is a science fiction RPG sourcebook from Steve Jackson Games that provides much of the information a game master needs to build and control a believable and consistent science fiction universe. Although it uses the GURPS name, GURPS Space is both reasonably system agnostic and completely setting independent GURPS Space can be used with a wide range of rule systems and milieus. Im reviewing the third edition of this long running (and popular) supplement, however as Im not familiar with the first two editions I cant give any commentary on what changes or improvements have been made. Also, just as fair warning, Im not a huge fan of the GURPS system and dont use it.

This is my first review, so Ill preface by saying what Im trying to do. One complaint Ive had with some reviews is that they dont actually tell you much about whats in the product theyre reviewing instead they dwell on personal likes and dislikes without conveying objective information that may still be useful. So Im purposefully describing the contents and length of each chapter so that, if nothing else, having read this review youll at least know whats in the supplement and hopefully whether it meets your needs.

GURPS Space is a softbound, 8.5 x 11 supplement with a liberal amount of black and white illustrations. I found the illustrations to be fairly average nothing particularly struck me as inspiring or dramatic and much of it was downright mediocre. One nice touch is the large black border containing page number and chapter title at the bottom of every page, which makes navigation quick and easy.

One odd aspect of the design is the inconsistent use of sidebars. Sidebars exist on every page of all chapters except chapters three through six, which have none. In addition, the sidebars tend to be a parallel thread of discussion to the main text as opposed to parenthetical observations or amplifications. For example, starship weapons are described on page 125, but a sidebar on missile warheads is on page 117 and feels very out of place when you stumble across it the first time. Another example is in Chapter 2, where teleportation is mysteriously placed in a sidebar when it could have just has easily (and logically) been placed in the main text. The discontinuity and inconsistencies between the sidebar and main text can be confusing at times when youre trying to cross reference information or just read up on a single topic. While annoying, its not a show stopper.

In addition to being system agnostic, GURPS Space is thematically neutral. The supplement is not oriented towards any specific breed of science fiction. Instead, it provides the tools to create a universe in military sci-fi, hard sci-fi, space opera, space fantasy or whatever other type of space based setting is desired. Those looking for a pure setting will have to look elsewhere, such as the GURPS Traveller books or HDIs Fading Suns.

While it has a rather ambitious chapter title, the first chapter is really an overview of what goes into creating the social aspects of a campaign. There are brief summaries of the common topics encountered when devising an interstellar campaign, such as societies, races, history, government types, and campaign styles. The bulk of the chapter covers the different types of governments that characters may encounter (alliances, federations, autocracies, etc.). Overall, a fairly uncomplicated and common sense guide to what goes into making a space based campaign.

Like the first chapter, Chapter Two covers building a universe, but this time from the technological side. Theres a brief discussion on realistic vs. unrealistic (superscience) technology, and then it goes into detail about the different technology choices that a GM will have to make in areas such as power, space travel (maneuver and interstellar), sensors, communications, astrogation, computing, weapons and defenses, gravity manipulation and other technologies. Each section has a lucid discussion of both the realistic ability to achieve the technology, and the superscience alternatives that ignore the known rules of the universe.

This is a very concise, well-written chapter that packs a lot of information for a GM, who would otherwise have to either wing it or do a considerable amount of difficult research on a broad range of technological topics. Chapter 3: Characters, 15 pages

Chapter Three was probably my least favorite chapter, since it was fairly close to being fluff. It concentrates mostly on introducing and describing various character archetypes that anyone with an interest in science-fiction will already know. I dont need a supplement to tell me about the Pirate/Smuggler, Rogue, Scout or Prospector/Belter character types.

There are also several pages on advantages, disadvantages and skills, but most of them are, once again, rather obvious. The sections on economics, jobs, wealth, and races are well done, but also fairly obvious and I doubt as useful as the rest of the supplement. A table with sample prices for hotels, food and transportation seems rather silly. Even so, its a good chapter to get the brain juices flowing when you need an idea for NPC in a hurry.

GURPS Space separates equipment into the three categories of gadgets, weapons and spaceships. Chapter Four covers the former, consisting of areas such as environment control (air masks, vacc suits), computers, sensors, communication gear, etc. A nice tough is that the authors regularly mark certain superscience technologies as such, making the GMs job easier when trying to maintain a consistent universe.

This is pretty much what you would expect from a chapter on gear there are some examples of common gear in science fiction universes, along with some discussion of the relevant technology. It tends to bog down describing a few key pieces of gear (each paragraph describes a piece of gear along with its price and expected technology level), instead of broader classes of devices and technology, but overall its still a good overview. I would recommend something like GURPS Ultra-tech (or one of the other GURPS supplements that concentrate on equipment) as a better overall resource for this subject.

Ahhhh, weapons -- the meat of any good sci-fi campaign. Much like Chapter Four, this really is an overview more than a detailed catalog of weapons. As before, another supplement like GURPS Ultra-tech would probably be a better resource for those GMs looking for a Big List of Laser Guns.

The chapter starts off with a couple paragraphs discussing weapon legality and quality, but then quickly morphs into a large table of weapons with system specific stats. Even though it lists GURPS style stats, the table is easy enough to translate to any other system.

The chapter then goes on to a good, general overview of weapon technology, along with the expected sample weapons. I like this approach because it affords you the ability to understand what makes sci-fi weapons different from each other and modern day weapons, while at the same time gives some examples that provide a context for the various weapon types. Projectile weapons, electromagnetic weapons, energy weapons, melee weapons, force fields, accessories and armor are all discussed at some length. Chapter 6: Medicine, 9 pages

Chapter Six discusses the types of medicine and medical procedures that may exist in the future. Not to sound like a broken record, but again the reader is encouraged to look at GURPS Bio-tech (and GURPS Cyberpunk) for a more thorough discussion on future medicine and bionics. As with the equipment chapters, this one is pretty much a laundry list of technologies and tools that deal with medicine, along with very brief overviews of the relevant fields. I particularly enjoyed the discussion on social effects of some medicines, such as cloning and brain taping.

The technologies covered range from the mundane territories of aging, first aid and fighting disease, to the more esoteric and exotic domains of cloning, brain taping, brain transplants, bionics, suspended animation and wonder drugs. Once again, we see a lot of breadth but not as much depth.

Environments are a pivotal part of any science-fiction universe, and Chapter Seven covers a wide variety that players may encounter. The effects of gravity are explained first, and the authors go over in some depth the issues involved with changes in gravity. For example, they demonstrate the effects of gravity on encumbrance, gun fire, simple movement and even a characters health. There are a fair amount of GURPS-system specific details here, but they can be freely converted or ignored as necessary. Atmospheres composition and pressure are examined next, then radiation. The radiation rules are thorough enough (they cover exposure, protection and treatment in fairly fine detail) that simulating a strong radioactive environment should be a cinch.

3a8082e126