Clothing in Spaaaaaaace!

Dammann · 05-04-2012, 08:51 PM

The visual vocabulary of most audiences takes artificial gravity for granted. I love science fiction, and a story where well thought out microgravity is the norm would be a bonus for me, but one needs to consider one's audience, I think.

If you are running a game for people who are pretty scientifically literate (specifically with regard to space travel), the absence of artificial gravity could be a pleasant little bonus. It offers opportunities for novel problem solving and grants some verisimilitude (which may get you off the hook with some other impossibility) (but probably not). For people whose relationship with space travel mostly comes by way of movies, freefall will probably be a distraction at best, and one that you need to keep reminding the players of at worst.

For a role playing game, you might be better advised to stick to "one unfamiliarity" rather than "one impossibility." It is probably up to the GM to weigh whether artificial gravity fits the bill better than freefall.

In an adventure I ran last fall, with pervasive artificial gravity, there was an incident that made me pretty happy. One of the PCs had broken both legs scrupulously adhering to his Disadvantages. When the party got to their ship and off world, it occurred to one of them that after getting his legs in casts, he'd have a better time getting around the ship if they turned off the a-grav. In a game where we had been dodging the issue entirely, I was pretty pleased that the players took that route. It was a nice little lampshading of a convention of the game.

05-04-2012, 08:51 PM	#11
Dammann Join Date: May 2011	Re: Clothing in Spaaaaaaace! The visual vocabulary of most audiences takes artificial gravity for granted. I love science fiction, and a story where well thought out microgravity is the norm would be a bonus for me, but one needs to consider one's audience, I think. If you are running a game for people who are pretty scientifically literate (specifically with regard to space travel), the absence of artificial gravity could be a pleasant little bonus. It offers opportunities for novel problem solving and grants some verisimilitude (which may get you off the hook with some other impossibility) (but probably not). For people whose relationship with space travel mostly comes by way of movies, freefall will probably be a distraction at best, and one that you need to keep reminding the players of at worst. For a role playing game, you might be better advised to stick to "one unfamiliarity" rather than "one impossibility." It is probably up to the GM to weigh whether artificial gravity fits the bill better than freefall. In an adventure I ran last fall, with pervasive artificial gravity, there was an incident that made me pretty happy. One of the PCs had broken both legs scrupulously adhering to his Disadvantages. When the party got to their ship and off world, it occurred to one of them that after getting his legs in casts, he'd have a better time getting around the ship if they turned off the a-grav. In a game where we had been dodging the issue entirely, I was pretty pleased that the players took that route. It was a nice little lampshading of a convention of the game.