What Space Atlases would you like to see?

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

G'day

I have suddenly discovered a need to ransom a small king, and so my thoughts turn to the e23 wish list. Of the desiderata listed, I am qualified to write only perhaps Space Atlas series titles. Before I start snowing the editors with proposals, I thought I had perhaps better sound the waters. What sorts of systems do the buying public want to buy?

For me I'd say first take a look at GURPS Space Atlas 4. That's my favorite Space Atlas and is one that I'd love to see done as a GURPS 4e supplement.

As for new stuff the elements I'd like to see are as follows:

• Space Opera style stting like Star Wars
• Transhuman Space style setting with FTL starships and Ultra-Tech gear

I am an inveterate fan of the SF of Jack Vance, and my stock in trade as an SF GM is worlds in the Vancean mold, ie. inhabited by very strange but utterly logical (or at least consistent) cultures, governments founded upon strange premises, and social adaptations to unprecedented conditions. Fear not! I shall not attempt to inflict a pastiche of Vance's writing on you, and the editors would protect you if I tried. The question remain, though: do people want to buy Space Atlases describing worlds with bizarre governments and societies? Societies with radically different family types? Societies with different values? Societies with radically unfamiliar social 'gender' roles? Or is this a hopelessly uneconomic niche?

I'm not that familiar with Jack Vance's work so I can't directly relate to what you are indicating your settings would model. While it sounds interesting, I like to be able to relate to the characters in a setting so if they are just too weird, I may not care for the setting. For example the setting for Fantasy II: The Mad Lands, held absolutely no interest for me. It was just too strange and the adventures available seemed a bit mundane in a rather fantastic setting.

[selenite]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

do people want to buy Space Atlases describing worlds with bizarre governments and societies? Societies with radically different family types? Societies with different values? Societies with radically unfamiliar social 'gender' roles?

I think any of the above would only be of interest to me* so far as they provide useful adventure hooks for the PCs I'm dropping into the system. The local culture can be fascinating, but if the free trader just fuels up, loads cargo, and leaves it's not going to impact the game.

What I'd love is something to lure PCs into shore leave or tourism adventures. Job offers and traps are good. And the astrography should have something unusual about it, otherwise it could just be a Locations piece instead of a Space Atlas.

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Or is this a hopelessly uneconomic niche?

Yes, but if that could stop you we wouldn't be here, would we?

---
*Okay, of interest to me as GM. If you have weird enough stuff I might buy the article as reading material rather than for gaming.

[Apache]

Considering that SJGames have done GURPS Planet of Adventure (Tschai novels), seeing if Vance would let SJGames do a Space Atlas on the Gaen Reach or the Alastor Cluster doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility.

Then again, they STILL haven't finished *&^&%$#ing GURPS Vorkosigan.....

[Shrale]

would it be possible to say deliver a world/planet/system in adequate detail then accompany that with gaming ideas ? (hopefully several)

I suppose the danger in that approach, is that the reader is somewhat confined unless you went out of your way not to make it formulaic; like providing 10 or 15 "seeds" and every other one doesn't involve pirates or bio-technology.

is that possible ? (or do you have something else in mind ?)

as to your Flat Black setting, I'm not familiar with it, but from the response so far, it seems it could work. perhaps pitch SJG an idea for a sector, first a sector writeup or setting writeup followed by 2 or 3 systems and see if it takes off ?

I don't know if the legal ramifications or i-property issues would quash your ability to provide "free" information for gamers separately. assume it doesn't take off, have you just shot yourself in the foot from that point on, because it's now SJG's property ? (and Flat Black is dead in the water).

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Being an avid Vance fan (I like him so much, I bought all the books), I'd love to see something with that level of cultural detail and strangeness. However, I suspect the number of people who share my tastes is vanishingly small.

[David Johnston]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

The wish list specifies that space atlases in future include three lenses that adapt the system as[list][*] a setting for a single-system campaign

That's what's got me stumped. I'd never design a space atlas without a few systems that are just whistlestops on the way from Megalopia to Paradiso 7 but I wouldn't want to do a entire campaign on Barstoolia Station.

[Shrale]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

I don't think that SJG are likely to publish it, because it doesn't complement Traveler very well. It is not the exact same subgenre (more 'rationalised planetary romance' and less 'space opera'), and the tech assumptions are line with rather more recent SF, but it's still close enough to have poor synergies.

??? what about GURPS Space ? That's one of the more popular GURPS books out there. Something that can fit inside that broader spectrum.

I suppose it might be nice if it dovetails with technologies inside Ultra Tech or Bio-Tech or any other existing SJG product. IMHO something useful would be some PDFs that allow a group to get a space campaign up and running without having to have a complete library (of GURPS titles) or having a background that requires being a PHD in Vance or Asimov (or Niven or Bear or Banks, etc, etc) meaning that they could conceivably be gaming within a week (yeah right) :)

I think one of the first posts I saw concerning Ultra Tech was about the vignettes for each chapter, which gives some pretty broad strokes for a UT campaign, showing a few orgs and things that are going on. I would think that something that gives that more substance would be desirable, at least to me.

However I suppose that's antithetical to what GURPS really is.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

I don't think that SJG are likely to publish it, because it doesn't complement Traveler very well. It is not the exact same subgenre (more 'rationalised planetary romance' and less 'space opera'), and the tech assumptions are line with rather more recent SF, but it's still close enough to have poor synergies.

I think one of the major stumbling blocks would be that Flat Black, like the OTU, often asks "if you have the authority and power to act, what do you do?", and the idea that the central characteristic of a character is honour.

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

I'll do that.

Was it also the best-selling?

Given that one of the sectors was written by David Pulver, I'm sure it sold well.

Here's a review of Space Atlas 4.

[David Johnston]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Wow! Forty-nine planets in a book. I was thinking of doing one.

And that seems to be what teh new 'Space Atlas' series is intended to do.

Ah. That explains it. I didn't read carefully enough.