What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

I would buy all of the above.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

Me too. And a Gaean Reaches sourcebook would be very welcome too.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

I sure would. And I'm glad someone is going to be writing for the list.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

I'd probably buy such Space Atlases for any Flat Black worlds you can think of doing.

But I can't help thinking that you are hopelessly optimistic for thinking about ransoming kings, even small ones, and RPG writing in the same breath. I think the rewards for RPG writing are more suited for ransoming second-cousins of backcountry nobles than they are for any kings.

And with the dollar situation as it is, things are even worse for people abroad who have to rely on payment from the US.

You could maybe ransom the king's glove, if you write several books.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

When it comes to Space Atlases, there are basically three things that would get me to part with what little money I have available for gaming:

1. Writing that is so good it makes even a vanilla "yanks/brits in space" setting shine;
2. Well-developed, interesting alien life (intelligent or otherwise);
3. Well-developed, interesting societies.

Your description sounds like it definitely fits #3. Go for it!

John

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

In a word, hell yes. Solidly designed space settings are fantastic. There's very little I like more than a logical and consistent space setup. Aliens should be, well, alien, not just humans with some exaggerated trait. If you write it, I'll buy it.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

probably anything that isn't a "one-off" type of atlas, meaning when you go to planet X you can only do such and such.

the adventures don't necessarily have to be multi-topic but some of the setting revealed/detailed should provide ideas for things other than a single type of adventure.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

Ugh. Hate vanilla. ;)

That it is. But at the expense of writing what others want, not what you feel like writing, I guess.

All the same, if I had more free time, I'd probably do the same thing. Granted, I don't have any illusions about payment amounting to more than my RPG budget for the month, and that if I was lucky and diligent, but it would be fun to write "professionally" if one had time.

The wretched appellate committee decision I'm penning now does a poor job of satisfying my aesthetic sense, let alone exercise my creativity. I am, however, too much the slave to material comfort to consider exchanging US 50-80¢ (since it's billed by the hour, it depends on output speed) for US 4¢.

RPG authors receive royalties? Unprecedented luxury! ;)

I thought they signed away most of their rights, up to and including that for their eternal soul, for a joyous song-and-dance.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

And which did you choose?

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

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'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.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

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.

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.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

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.....

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

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).

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

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.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

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.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

??? 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.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

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.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

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.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

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

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

It's not impossible to have two habitable planets in a single star system. I randomly generated two such systems while playing with "Gurps Space".

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

I thought as much with how much you mused on unique cultures.
I just find every habitable system an implausible freak of one in all the universe.
Either way, looking forward to your ideas.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

"Habitable" can mean habitable after centuries of terraforming or just that it supports life in domes.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

You've just been in a pissy pedantic mood of late, haven't you?
Habitable as in comfy for the indigenous technological species.
Jeesh. Responding to you is like trying to formulate wishes for an evil Jinn.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

I've always been a pedant, but I don't know if my mood of late has been particularly poor or not.

I've certainly not slept enough today and yesterday, however. Curse all governments and their committees, for forcing us honest citizens to work weekends.

I don't think that's what Agemegos had in mind. The planets of the setting he made are populated by human settlers, who often terraformed the planets before they could be very comfortable there.

I'll take that as a compliment. ;)

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

In GURPS Space, "Garden" is used for any planet with enough oxygen in the atmosphere and water in the environment to support some kind of life that we would probably recognize as life. "Ocean" (or "Pre-Garden" in Traveller) worlds are those that might have life but do not have significant oxygen in the atmosphere.

"Habitable" means that human beings would be able to live on a world of this kind with minimal support. Some, but not all, Garden worlds. It does not mean "domes"--if you HAVE to live in a dome, you don't have a habitable world. It could mean a world that has been terraformed, though.

As for the original questions...

What really matters is the story. A solar system for a Space Atlas book probably should either be part of a larger fictional universe that is already dynamic in certain ways (e.g., a world for Traveller) or, if it is a stand alone world, maybe the first one in a new fictional universe, it must be at some turning point in its history. New settlements where people are struggling to tame the land and end up boss (think Deadwood--mining, trade, and intrigue of all sorts). Established nations facing some crisis or threat, either a long standing one or a sudden danger, war or civil war or cold war or proxy war, plague or supervolcano, invasion or slow erosion of power and prestige as society collapses from within or is slowly bled to death by some subtle enemy, etc. The story can begin before the major event takes place (so campaigns can either be built around trying to stop it and/or trying to take advantage of it...an example might be espionage and diplomacy in 1910) or shortly after the major event (Day of the Triffids, WWII after Pearl Harbor, Alaska a year after gold is first discovered there, etc.).

You have a huge range of options here. Feel free to steal from history. The critical issue, however, is that you want some kind of "big picture" for the campaign world, something where people can either build campaigns as part of the main plot or which uses it as context (a good example of both is the recent HBO series "Rome." I don't know how good the history was, but the stories were great.) People don't game solar systems. They game stories.

The three lenses approach is interesting, although there might be some confusion over the second one. An isolated system obviously means that only slow interstellar travel (e.g., antimatter-powered spacecraft moving at 0.01 c) are possible. And a space opera setting obviously means that FTL travel is both possible and practical. But does a "hard SF interstellar" setting mean "fast STL travel...50% c or better" or does it mean "hard sf, except we will permit one unexplained miracle...ftl travel" or something else?

Mark

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

Not necessarily. The isolated system could be somewhere in the galactic halo, 10 parsecs from the next star, in the Traveller universe.
Or it could be almost anywhere in a universe where FTL-drive is via connected wormholes, like in the Starfire universe.
"Isolation" is a function of travel speed and distance, and space is big enough to have both FTL-drives and "isolated" systems it takes years to reach.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

Or you could have a situation like in the Warhammer 40k universe. FTL is through another dimention (not an uncommon idea ,hyperspace anyone) and there are stuff there ,creatures and even storms. Part of the premise to that particular world is that sections of the galaxy (sometimes just solar systems) are cut off from the rest for years or even centuries and on monster of a storm cut off FTL travel for most of the galaxy for about 10000 years. Which was after humanity spread over most of the know galaxy.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

Isolated can also mean "we can get there, but why bother?" In Traveller a poor system reached through a chain of three uninhabited systems won't see many visitors. If your jump drive breaks down while you're there you may be staying a long, long time.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

and time elementsmight be nice as a Terra-formed world might look different in a hard-science lense vs a space-opera lense... of course you probably already know that :)

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

But Locations, on the other hand, might be the right place to apply to for a single planet write-up.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

Which is okay for a first attempt, right? Wouldn't want to waste too much time on a submission before you have any idea that it'll be accepted.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

Well, if SJ had such an enormous staff...
Not minding one bit. ;) Well, I do worry a bit about what financial distress you're having, but I figure you'll share if and when you want.
...eh, I'll not finish that sentence, thanks. ;)

Getting a few Pyramid articles published might be a good way to improve odds of e23 products being accepted.

Plus, it makes Pyramid more fun to read, which is a plus. ;)

If you ask me, I think you should be doing regular Pyramid articles and SJ Games products. But then, if anyone asked me, the next Forgotten Realms product released would be Forgotten Realms: Trade, Coin and Costers.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

Exactamundo. The last silly limerick I posted on these boards got a thread locked.

And it very carefully refrained from using any words at all that could lead to such a conclusion. Apparently, if a double entente is strong enough, it's no longer considered double anything.

I've read enough Pyramid articles that didn't say much of anything that I think anyone could write several.

Heck, I was even considering writing one and asking for your help, since it has a bit of an economics theme.

Re: What Space Atlases would you like to see?
 

You do it as practise, I guess. And to pass the arbitrary hurdle you find yourself faced with.

If you have to write A in order to be able to submit B, I think there's nothing wrong with doing a quick and easy A.

But that being said, I think you could write a lot of Pyramid articles that are worthwhile.

Ideas could be:

An alternative Wealth system for GURPS in modern, realistic settings. Wealth systems are somewhat inherently tied to setting assumptions and one that's designed for all possible settings will probably be suboptimal for modelling a specific one. You plainly dislike the one that is in place and if you could come up with a simple system that did a better job in its stead, that could help other people who do.

A Rogues' Gallery (or whatever they call their NPC articles) of people suitable for an SF campaign. It's astonishingly easy to file serial numbers of characters used in specific settings and Flat Black characters could easily fit into a wide range of SF settings, especially with a few lense notes attached.

Adventures. Any GM can write one and good GMs can write good ones. While the idiosyncracies of settings may influence adventures, it's possible to design adventures with notes so that it's possible to drop them into many kinds of worlds.

A GM's primer on how to write and run mystery adventures. Something tells me that running the same mystery so many times has taught you quite a bit about what works and what doesn't.

And that's just what came first to mind. Thumbing through the archives should give one many ideas.

I will, as soon as I decide to start it. Since I actually did a lot of work this weekend, I might have the next weekend off and who knows?