GURPS Space continues to be one of the best resources for a science fiction campaign in the industry today.
Originally Published March 18th, 2002
CONTENTS
The goal of GURPS Space is simple: To provide an authoritative resource and reference for any conceivable science fiction campaign set in the wide universe beyond Earth’s atmosphere. For a GM it is a toolbox for any campaign set in the broad genre of “space adventure”. For the GURPS product line it is a centralized resource for the same (both GURPS Traveller and Transhuman Space, for example, reference GURPS Space as a place to find more detailed information on a variety of subjects).
Creating a Universe: The first goal of GURPS Space is to help the GM build their own worlds of starfaring adventure. Indeed, the first chapter of the book is called Creating a Universe. Here we find a detailed survey of SF campaign types, alien races, and interstellar societies and organizations. Later in the book we are given an absolutely stunning (and scrupulously scientifically accurate) star and planet generation system.
This really sums up everything that GURPS Space does well: On the one hand, you receive a comprehensive survey of seventy years of science fiction world-building. On the other hand, you are given a centralized reference with a hard science backing.
Technology: In addition to everything you would expect in a sourcebook of this kind (personal gear, weapons, medicine, starships, etc.), GURPS Space also takes the time to provide guidance on how to choose the technology of your campaign setting. How is actual technological improvement likely to happen? How has science fiction predicted future history in the past? What are the effects of different technologies on a setting? All of this discussion obviously backed up by a tremendous amount of research.
Rules: There are two major rule systems to be found here – Space Combat and Starship Design. The latter is a stripped down version of the system found in GURPS Vehicles (with accompanying conversion notes); the former is flexible and fairly simple (by GURPS standards).
BAD STUFF
The perceived utility of GURPS Space has been degraded, I think, by the continued expansion of the GURPS product line. For a book which has long been perceived in the industry as the resource for science fiction campaigns, it is somewhat disheartening to note just how frequently GURPS Space refers you to other products in the GURPS line: GURPS High Tech, GURPS Ultra Tech, GURPS Ultra Tech 2, GURPS Bio-Tech, and GURPS Vehicles — among others – are constantly being referenced and recommended. In this third edition, some sections of GURPS Space no longer read like a sourcebook: They read like a teaser for a plethora of GURPS products. Perhaps it is inevitable that the chapters on technology look like a stripped down GURPS Ultra Tech and the chapters on starships look like a stripped down GURPS Vehicles — but one is forced to question the utility of a centralized sourcebook if the meat has been distributed elsewhere.
GURPS Space is also beginning to show its age. Despite the revision by the (justly) renowned David Pulver, the book seems scarcely touched by the science fiction of the past twenty years. Subjects such as terraforming and nanotechnology are relegated to nothing more than sidebars. The elegant design and adaptation of galactic civilizations such as those found in Brin’s Uplift novels and Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep are conspicuously absent. The list of favorite authors found on page four of GURPS Space really says it all: Not one new author of the past twenty years can be found on that list.
I also question the organization of GURPS Space: A lot of key information seems to get relegated to the sidebars, but – more importantly – information has not been drawn together into rational packages:
For example, Chapter 1: Creating a Universe gets things started – providing some basic information about alien races, interstellar societies, and sci-fi organizations. Things appear to be progressing logically with Chapter 2: Choosing Technology, which begins to discuss the wide range of technology which has been presented in science fiction over the years. But this discussion is then interrupted by Chapter 3: Characters – which includes more information about alien races and some discussion of character roles.
In Chapter 4: Gadgets, however, we return to the discussion of technology – computers, air marks, communication devices, and some other personal equipment is discussed. Chapter 5: Weapons and Chapter 6: Medicine proceed logically out of this, and then we move onto Chapter 7: Environments – which discusses game rules for gravity, atmosphere, radiation, and the like. But then, incomprehensibly, we’re back to technology again with Chapter 8: Starships. Chapter 9: Space Combat proceeds logically from that, but Chapter 10: Stars and Worlds and Chapter 11: Civilizations seem to take us all the way back to the material in Chapter 1.
And that’s just the chapter organization. Things are equally confused as you begin breaking things down inside those chapters, as well. This lack of organization results in a product which proves less useful as an active guide to the new GM (because there is no conceptual flow to the material), and more difficult to use a quick reference (because related information may – literally – be found at opposite ends of the book).
GOOD STUFF
That being said, GURPS Space is still well worth your cash. After nearly twenty years of on-the-market playtesting, the ruleset found here is about as solid as they come. Plus, as a result of the extreme realism, research, and fidelity which SJG demands of its GURPS product line, GURPS Space is an authoritative supplement to any science fiction campaign. What does exposure to vacuum actually mean? Look it up here. How long does space travel take? Look it up here. What types of stars are there? Look it up here. How do bussard ramjets work? Look it up here. And on and on and on.
On top of that, GURPS Space also provides a near-encyclopedic survey of science fiction universes (despite its failings when it comes to the most recent developments of the field). When it comes to the creation of an SF universe, this needs to be your first stop: Nothing else will lay out the plethora of options available to you with a greater eye towards giving you the tools and options you need to create the world you want.
CONCLUSION
It doesn’t matter whether your SF is hard, soft, space opera, military, or fantasy; it doesn’t matter whether you universe reaches from here to Luna or here to Andromeda; it doesn’t matter whether you’re playing GURPS or Spelljammer: GURPS Space should be on your shelf.
Style: 4
Substance: 4
Authors: Steve Jackson and William A. Barton (Third Edition Revised by David Pulver)
Company: Steve Jackson Games
Line: GURPS
Price: $22.95
ISBN: 1-55634-390-6
Production Code: 6005
Pages: 176
There was a time when my first impulse — and that of many gamers — when starting a new campaign was to reach for the most appropriate GURPS supplement. In recent years, this is a habit I’ve drifted away from. (Likely, in no small part, due to how easy the internet makes direct research.) Revisiting GURPS Space, though, I’m reminded of just how useful these supplements are, and I’ve pulled this back off the shelf to use as a resource for my Mothership open table.
GURPS 3rd Edition has, in the years since this review was first written, been replaced by GURPS 4th Edition, and this has brought with it a new edition of GURPS Space. I’ve never truly dived into the new edition, instead simply maintaining my existing library of 3rd Edition supplements, so I’m afraid I don’t have much to say about that. (Except that apparently even more material has been jettisoned, as the new edition requires a separate GURPS Spaceships.)
For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.
