Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - GURPS Space

Whill · 03-06-2013, 02:42 PM

I'm really liking this forum.

Even though I don't roll for the aspects most important to me, I try to keep my choices within the ranges possible from rolling. For a Standard Garden world, the minimum hydrographical coverage is 45% (min roll with optional variation of the result by 5%). Is this worldbuilding system indicating that desert planets like Arrakis or Tatoonie (with maybe single-digit hydro) are just not possible?

What if the planet had 45% at one time, leading to plant life, oxygen, animal life and conditions suitable for human colonization, but then the oceans, seas and lakes were somehow drained into massive underground reservoirs within the planet? Step 4 on p.81 mentions worlds possibly having extensive underground water supplies but that doesn't count towards its hydro rating. Could something like that make a 5% hydro desert planet with polar seas at all reasonable?

Before the loss of the oceans, if there were already large deserts on the planet with lifeforms adapted for that environment and the change happened slow enough, I'm thinking a desert planet with a smattering of plant and animal life of its own is possible. As unoriginal as it may be in sci-fi, I really want desert planet in the Astral System!

03-06-2013, 02:42 PM	#12
Whill Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Whills Universe, Whills Multiverse	Re: GURPS Space - "desert planet" I'm really liking this forum. Even though I don't roll for the aspects most important to me, I try to keep my choices within the ranges possible from rolling. For a Standard Garden world, the minimum hydrographical coverage is 45% (min roll with optional variation of the result by 5%). Is this worldbuilding system indicating that desert planets like Arrakis or Tatoonie (with maybe single-digit hydro) are just not possible? What if the planet had 45% at one time, leading to plant life, oxygen, animal life and conditions suitable for human colonization, but then the oceans, seas and lakes were somehow drained into massive underground reservoirs within the planet? Step 4 on p.81 mentions worlds possibly having extensive underground water supplies but that doesn't count towards its hydro rating. Could something like that make a 5% hydro desert planet with polar seas at all reasonable? Before the loss of the oceans, if there were already large deserts on the planet with lifeforms adapted for that environment and the change happened slow enough, I'm thinking a desert planet with a smattering of plant and animal life of its own is possible. As unoriginal as it may be in sci-fi, I really want desert planet in the Astral System!