|
|
|
|
GURPS worldbooks |
The 
GURPS system - GURPS (in case
you were wondering) is short for Generic Universal RolePlaying System -
has a reputation for being rather rule heavy, and hence many
roleplayers dislike it. However their worldbooks are wonderfully
detailed and very popular as sources of inspiration, even among gamers
who don't use their system. Basically these are encyclopaedic guides to
all sorts of alternative, fantasy, science fiction universes, as well
as to the real-life physical world (historical characters, low and high
technology ancient history, animals past and present). All are
presented in terms of a single structure or system of points. Here I
look at a few GURPS manuals and their applicability to the to Orion's
Arm universe, rated from most to least applicable.
"In the last decade of the 21st century, humanity
faced two of its greatest challenges. The first was the transformation
from a single evolved species to a multitude of artificial races. The
second was the settlement of the vast reaches of the solar system
beyond the orbit of Mars. Stretching from the asteroid belt to distant
Pluto, the "deep beyond" was both a source of valuable raw materials
and the solar system's final frontier. Its siren call attracted
entrepreneurs, pioneers, visionaries - and outlaws..."
The wonderfully creative David Pulver adapts transhumanist ideas to the
GURPS rpg template. This scenario is so
similar to the Interplanetary
age setting of the Orion's Arm timeline it is almost
scary.... (the only difference is that OA is somewhat less optimistic
regarding development of space, so Transhuman Space would
be closer to the year 2200 than 2100 in our setting)
An RPG adaptation of possible and
likely advances in biotech - includes biotronics, biomimetics, insect
agents, steroids, smart drugs, transplants, viral nano, eugenics,
parahumans, cryonics, cloning and more. Apart from the material on
"braintapes" (an idea that can be done much better with neural nano),
almost everything in this book is applicable to Orion's Arm.
On top of everything, the first chapter of this book includes
non-fiction material that can serve as a pretty good primer of current
biotechnology
The classic manual on Space
Operatic roleplaying; including information on spaceship design,
worldbooks, cultures, political systems, space combat and more. There
are a lot of great ideas here. I still have the venerable first
addition, and it is a constant reference and source of inspiration. The
new edition available here would be even better. Unfortunately, as in
much of GURPS in general, the tech levels (pop-space operatic concepts
like FTL, force fields, and antigravity) are completely inappropriate
to Orion's Arm. Actual tech levels would be based on
nano-, pico-, femto, and hypofemto- scales, and the distinction between
each of these would be quite different to the quantitative gradation of
advantages (e.g. that a nuclear reactor can be twice as cheap and only
take up half as much space at the next highest tech level) presented
here
A sourcebook for science-fiction technology from the 21st century to
the farthest reaches of the future. In keeping with the typically
violent and unbalanced nature of many RPG settings, most detail is
given to weapons, other coverage is more cursory. Chapters include Tech
Level. Equipment, Computers, Communications, Armory, Defense, Covert
Operations, Security, Medical, and Transportation. There is also a very
useful list of tables at the end of the book. GURPS
Ultra-Tech 2 is the sequel. As well as being too
conservative in the infotech department (the genius gun is a moron gun
next to even a basic OA type weapon) and not giving enough attention to
nanotech, these books have the same problems with tech incompatibility
with the OA universe as GURPS Space does. Thus it is best
to skip entirely those references to force fields, anti-gravity
harnesses, and what not.
Traveller is perhaps the greatest
space operatic role-playing system of all time. The GURPS adaptation is
only one of a number, and have issued quite a number of worldbooks
already, with more coming out all the time. The vastness and detail of
these settings are a great inspiration for the Orion's Arm
worldbuilder - just add nano/pico/femto-tech, AIs, and a few million
clades and races!
