GURPS - Space Opera?

[Mr_Sandman]

Originally Posted by Dammann

I can see where a GURPS SO line would have the usual book 1 focused on templates, but instead of book 2 being adventures, book 2 through 8 are all adventures-oriented. Book 2 deals wth bug hunts, book 3 with merchants and smuggling, book 4 with exploration, book 5 with freelance troubleshooters, book 6 with diplomacy and first contact, and so on ad infinitum.

As I read this it occurred to me that the books could be small and black, with a red stripe. ;)

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sandman

As I read this it occurred to me that the books could be small and black, with a red stripe. ;)

Not anymore. That contract has expired.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by (E)

The problem is as Kromm states that Space opera is to wide. So what are the sub genres of space opera? What defines each one?

Well, that's easy enough. Mining https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Space_Opera (warning: Tropes wiki), there's

• Planetary Romance (e.g. John Carter of Mars);
• hackneyed sci-fi (analagous to bad-western "horse opera" and bad-drama "soap opera");
• an epic set in space, where the technology is secondary to the plot;
• a swashbuckling epic set in space, where the technology is secondary to the plot; and
• action/adventure SF,

all usually being idealistic until recently, where cynicism started to intrude in the style.

[johndallman]

There is also subverted space opera, where the trapping of space opera are used to tell a more serious SF story. I'm thinking of things like Colin Greenland's Take Back Plenty, and some of Iain Banks' Culture stories. However, one can't really write a guide to doing this.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by johndallman

There is also subverted space opera, where the trapping of space opera are used to tell a more serious SF story. I'm thinking of things like Colin Greenland's Take Back Plenty, and some of Iain Banks' Culture stories. However, one can't really write a guide to doing this.

For one thing, they're all ungameable.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sandman

You didn't miss anything. Tales of the Solar Patrol is a retro, 1930-1950's pulpy sci-fi setting. The inspirations include Buck Rogers, Forbidden Planet, Lucky Starr, and Heinlein Juveniles.

It's definitely a form of space opera. Some of its inspiration seems to be close to the original, disparaging meaning of the term, which was a formulaic action story with sci-fi trappings, which could just have easily been a western (horse opera), pirate tale, or some other formulaic adventure story, if other trappings had been swapped in.

If you are looking for space opera that encompasses things like the Foundation Trilogy, the Vorkosigan Saga and Star Trek, Tales of the Solar Patrol probably isn't the setting you are looking for. I think you could plausibly get some of the feel of Star Wars with it though.

I really don't consider any of those last three to be space opera. Granted, they aren't hard science fiction (though I could make a case for Bujold's being an author of biological hard sf). But science fiction doesn't split into hard sf and space opera with nothing left over; there are other forms of sf. All three of these works are largely social science fiction; and if that's "soft sf" it's still closer to hard sf than it is to space opera.

For that matter, even though TSP cites Heinlein's juveniles as a source, they really aren't space opera at all. In fact Willy Ley wrote that they set the standard for scientifically rigorous sf, at a level too high for a lot of other authors to reach; and most of them have substantial social science fiction elements too. Their relevance to TSP is not in style of storytelling but in setting—the first six are all set in the solar system as it used to be envisioned before we had accurate planetological data. The same is true of the Lucky Starr novels, though they're neither as well written nor as sophisticated as social sf.

That's not to say you shouldn't try to do a campaign based on Star Trek or one of the Heinlein juveniles (they don't have a unified setting). It just wouldn't be "space opera" as I understand it: No larger than life heroes, no grand space battles with fleets of millions of starships, regular attention to legal and social issues that go beyond simple adventure plots. I think the closest Heinlein comes to space opera is the stereovision serial that Hazel Stone writes in The Rolling Stones, "The Scourge of the Spaceways"—and the whole Stone family poke fun at it.

[Dammann]

I think the term "Space Opera" might be a problem. It seems to mean such different things to different people. For a line of game supplements, would "Science Fiction Adventuring" or something similar work better? I mean, if we already have Tales of the Solar Patrol and people don't find their needs met, telling them, "but this is what you are asking for" seems like a disagreement about labels. Who cares what you call it?

[johndallman]

The problem with Tales of the Solar Patrol as The GURPS Book Of Space Opera is that while it is space opera, it's in a very specific style, and space opera as a whole is a much broader category.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Dammann

For a line of game supplements, would "Science Fiction Adventuring" or something similar work better?

I think the core ideas for the game have to come first, and the name rather later. "Science Fiction Adventuring" would be a reasonable placeholder until a better name shakes itself out from whatever the concept for the game happens to be.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

I've been working on my own space opera setting for a while.

Interesting setting. Bookmarked.

Your 'racker' concept is similar to the 'fighter tree' idea that I had for Five Earths, but has a better name (and is more fully developed).