Space Campaign, revisited

[combatmedic]

A while back, I did some work on a GURPS Space campaign setting. I set that aside to work on other projects, and am now ready to return to it.

I'm going to sart by laying out a basic set of guidelines. This is intended to have some retro elements.

Time? Not sure, but far enough in the future for there to be multiple colony worlds, some settled for at least a couple of centuries.

Technology: The dominant human civilization[s] = TL 10, leaning towards safetech. I don't want to emphasize transhumanist stuff, although bionic limbs and the like will exist. No nanofacs/replicators. No contragrav. No reactionless drives. FTL travel is via a web of interconnected jumplines, using a jump drive. No FTL radio, so courier ships are used instead. Only limited superscience, mainly in the form of FTL.

Aliens- Multiple species, several of which are not humanoid. Life on most planets shares certain fundamental similiarites to life on Earth- suggestive of a common origin. Some people explain this in scientific terms, others turn to religion for answers.

Magic, Psi, etc- Nope. Danger sense or luck is fine, telepathy and TK are right out. That doesn't mean there aren't people who believe in this stuff, of course.

[combatmedic]

Big Assumption # 1

Folks in the future will still be human beings as we understand them. Technology will solve some problems and create others. Basic human needs won't change. There is no 'singularity'.
This does not necessarily mean the setting is full of people with early 21st century European or American cultural and political values.

[combatmedic]

Other ideas-

One thing I've noticed is the negative spin a lot of SF puts on religion [yes, I am well aware there are exceptions to this]. I think I'll flip that around in my setting by having a prominent religious order operating across the starlanes whose members help out spacers and colonists alike. They might be like the Franciscan friars- heck, they might be Franciscans!

Gun, guns,guns! I like guns. Not so fond of blasters and such. While I won't ban beam weapons entirely, I think slugthrowers and needlers will be pretty common in this setting. Maybe lasers are military weapons, and off limits to civilians in many star systems? Maybe the power cells for beam weapons are bulky and heavy?

[combatmedic]

As in Traveller, communications are limited to the speed of the fastest ship. This means merchants, travelers, space bums, etc are also newsmen and letter carriers -even bards. Dirtsiders look forward to the arrival of a new ship because it brings news, rumors, 'new' movies,etc.

[Apache]

I think your biggest decision will be

A) How efficient are my spaceships reaction drives?

Are you going to track fuel usage religiously, or just handwave most of it?

Also, how fast does it take said spaceship to get to jump distance?

That will affect speed of communications, obviously, altho you might have 'Pony Express' stations ala the old Starfire game, where somebody would send a radio/lightspeed message to the Warp Point, and a station (manned or automated) orbitting said Warp Point would send a ship/courier drone thru the point and begin transmitting the message ASAP to another relay/dispatch station, if necessary.

[combatmedic]

Well, I'm thinking of using 'torch' drives, probably fusion powered. It might be a little rubbery, but my players won't care. These would be powerful and fuel efficient, but not really capable of approaching light speed [not planet busters].

-There will be other manuever drives, of course. Different TL societies and different alien species may have their own approaches to space travel.

[Shrale]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

No FTL radio, so courier ships are used instead. Only limited superscience, mainly in the form of FTL.

How big are drones/automation in the setting ? Will the equivalent of Warp Torpedoes be making regular comm runs or only sentient-piloted vessels ?

[talonthehand]

You might want to read the Vorkosigan Saga from Lois McMaster Bujold for a good take on jump point warfare.

[combatmedic]

To answer Shrale's question: I suppose there will be drones and bots, but I don't want to negate the role of human crews. Will have to think about this one.


Here's what I'm going for with FTL:
Starships fly between planets, but there are no reactionless drives and no relativistic potential planet busters.
Limited or no FTL commo, other than courier ships.
Trade routes exist.
Possibility of smuggling and piracy.
Living sentient pilots and crews are not obselete.
Limited superscience- mostly just the FTL drive.
No contragrav
No psionics


I'll check out the stutter warp. Thanks, Pomphis.

This is exactly what I was hoping for; lots of feedback on FTL and its effects on travel,trade,communication,etc.

[StevenH]

If you want to go so far as to make living, sentient pilots necessary (as in, no robot FTL pilots at all), you might want to read Modesitt's "Gravity Dreams" novel. The FTL was similar to jump lines, but had very abstracted, almost metaphysical imagery that the pilot had to interpret in order to navigate past hazards. While much of the ship was automated, the piloting itself seemed to require someone who could figure out that the "pulsating red spiky swirly thing on top of what seems to be a hill" was a supernova remnant that would be better off not being collided with.

I also must echo the Vorkosigan comment; lots of jump point tactics, and darn good reads regardless. :-)

Your universe sounds like it will be very interesting!