Spitballing a Space Opera Boxed Set

awarnock · 09-16-2017, 02:37 PM

I've been browsing some of the threads that have been around about "what to do after DFRPG" or "what's next for GURPS." One of the common things I've seen is a space opera or a sci-fi boxed set. One of the arguments I've seen against that is that even space opera is a very broad genre and just having a generic space opera boxed set would be difficult because of the vastly different levels of power and tech and realism that we see in things that are classified as space opera.

I don't think the problem is as insurmountable as it seems.

If you were to ask random people on the street what the first thing they thought of when you say science fiction was, I'm willing to bet most answers would be Star Trek or Star Wars, and probably be heavily weighted on the Star Wars side of things, especially given the fact we're in the middle of a new trilogy and we have the anthologies coming out.

Now, I know that Mailanka's Psi-Wars is supposed to be heavily inspired by Star Wars, but I'm not sure if SJG would be willing to work with him on turning that into a boxed set. I have enjoyed reading through the series posts on it, and I'd buy a boxed set in a heartbeat, but I think that the fact it is online and freely available may cause some issues.

Which brings me to what would a space opera boxed set look like?

I think we need something that shows that GURPS can be used to play highly cinematic games. I would make the style of play match the general style that we see in Star Wars, over the top, bombastic, and energetic action with ray guns, laser swords, and plucky heroes defeating hordes of mooks. The setting doesn't need to be deep, but it does need to be broad with lots of variety and hints of something deeper if you dig, which should encourage those that have a creative bend to start thinking about what that something deeper is without overwhelming those that just want to play Han Solo and make witty quips and not worry too much about the history of some obscure sect of space knights.

There's a bunch of smart people on the boards here, I'm sure that between all of you we could bang out what should go into a GURPS Space Opera boxed set.

09-16-2017, 02:37 PM	#1
awarnock Join Date: Oct 2014	Spitballing a Space Opera Boxed Set I've been browsing some of the threads that have been around about "what to do after DFRPG" or "what's next for GURPS." One of the common things I've seen is a space opera or a sci-fi boxed set. One of the arguments I've seen against that is that even space opera is a very broad genre and just having a generic space opera boxed set would be difficult because of the vastly different levels of power and tech and realism that we see in things that are classified as space opera. I don't think the problem is as insurmountable as it seems. If you were to ask random people on the street what the first thing they thought of when you say science fiction was, I'm willing to bet most answers would be Star Trek or Star Wars, and probably be heavily weighted on the Star Wars side of things, especially given the fact we're in the middle of a new trilogy and we have the anthologies coming out. Now, I know that Mailanka's Psi-Wars is supposed to be heavily inspired by Star Wars, but I'm not sure if SJG would be willing to work with him on turning that into a boxed set. I have enjoyed reading through the series posts on it, and I'd buy a boxed set in a heartbeat, but I think that the fact it is online and freely available may cause some issues. Which brings me to what would a space opera boxed set look like? I think we need something that shows that GURPS can be used to play highly cinematic games. I would make the style of play match the general style that we see in Star Wars, over the top, bombastic, and energetic action with ray guns, laser swords, and plucky heroes defeating hordes of mooks. The setting doesn't need to be deep, but it does need to be broad with lots of variety and hints of something deeper if you dig, which should encourage those that have a creative bend to start thinking about what that something deeper is without overwhelming those that just want to play Han Solo and make witty quips and not worry too much about the history of some obscure sect of space knights. There's a bunch of smart people on the boards here, I'm sure that between all of you we could bang out what should go into a GURPS Space Opera boxed set.