GURPS Space campaign setting

[Anaraxes]

K'Kree "genocide as self-defense" ("They started it!")

Don't forget the other favorite phrase of the K'Kree ambassador: "Look what you made us do!"

I always kind of liked the K'Kree, just for this aspect. Well, and that apparently innocuous name for their domain, which means something quite different in the original K'Kree.

[combatmedic]

I found an old site with GURPS 3E conversions for several Traveller species. Mr. Joseph L. Lockett put it together. Check it out here:

http://www.io.com/~jlockett/RPG/Traveller/embassy.html


I'm looking over the races on the site to see if any would fit into my setting.

[combatmedic]

The Major Races of Traveller are all cool, but most don't fit in the universe I am building.

Aslan: Thunder Cats, ho! I like them in Traveller, but not for this new universe.

Vargr: Uplifted wolves? Doesn't really fit in well.

Zhodani: No psionics in my campaign, so these guys are out.

Droyne: ditto

Vilani and other human subraces: The history of my setting doesn't support these guys, so they are pretty much all out.

Hivers: Maybe.

K'kree: Maybe.

[combatmedic]

Some thoughts on hyperspace navigation;

I'm reading a story by Frederick Pohl, entitled the Mapmakers. It's got an interesting wrinkle on Hyperspace navigation: you cannot use electrical power during jumps [ship will suffer power failure or blow up the generators!]. That means that new courses must be charted by humans- not computers. Not sure how well this would work out in game, but it some variation on this might be cool. Suddenly, having a very good navigator is a very big deal, especially when charting new courses through hyperspace.


When ships fight in hyperspace, I wonder what it would look like without electronics. Maybe ships have to be within visual range[ telescopes help out , obvisouly]. What sort of weapon systems could be used, without having electrical systems operating aboard the ships?

Ships would need a non-electrical backup system for lighting, communications, etc. Life support depends on how deadly hyperspace is compared to normal vacuum in realspace [i'm undecided on it's exact qualities, but I know it won't be the sort of place you'd want to jump out of an airlock without a vacc suit].

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Some thoughts on hyperspace navigation;

I'm reading a story by Frederick Pohl, entitled the Mapmakers. It's got an interesting wrinkle on Hyperspace navigation: you cannot use electrical power during jumps [ship will suffer power failure or blow up the generators!]. That means that new courses must be charted by humans- not computers. Not sure how well this would work out in game, but it some variation on this might be cool. Suddenly, having a very good navigator is a very big deal, especially when charting new courses through hyperspace.


When ships fight in hyperspace, I wonder what it would look like without electronics. Maybe ships have to be within visual range[ telescopes help out , obvisouly]. What sort of weapon systems could be used, without having electrical systems operating aboard the ships?

No electrical power doesn't mean no computers. You'd use advanced Babbage engines possibly built on a molecular scale.

The bigger problem would be what you were using for sensors or navigational instruments. Even if it's jsut something like a hyperspace compass, making one of those that recorded its' readings on a roll of paper would be easy.

As for combat, you're back to WWI with better propellants and explosives. Aim by eye, no proximity fuses. Torpedoes are unguided.

Fred Brackin

[combatmedic]

This would kill hyperspace radio, but that's okay. Maybe ships carry message drones that shoot out magnetically ''bottled'' plasma packets[ a modfied form of Fred's idea for FTL semaphore]. The drones are one shot devices, since their electrical systems burn out after activation. Relay stations would float in hyperspace [ ''anchored'' near nodes, orbiting gravity storms, or something like that]. The stations would carry a bunch of drones and rockets to launch them out into h-space. It's faster than ships, but the magnetic bottles [actually a sort of force field] decay after a certain distance, so the range is limited [thus necessitating relay stations]. Real space comms are either sub-light, or else maybe there is technology to transmit information to a receiving sattelite in real space[ would also rely on one shot drones. Probably low bandwith, maybe using tiny wormholes between realspace and hyperspace]. I dunno.

Of course, that may all be totally stupid. I'm just typing it out as fast as it comes to me. Criticism and commentary would be most welcome.

[combatmedic]

Molecular computers would be cool, but I think I want to avoid using much nanotech in this particular setting. Still, some sort of Babbage engine would be very cool. I don't think it would replace human mentats entirely, if it wasn't molecular[ size/speed/complexity issues].



I like the implications for combat. The scenario you describe really places a premium on human skill and judgement. Makes combat more interesting when you cannot rely on computers to do everything for you. :)

[DAT]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

The Major Races of Traveller are all cool, but most don't fit in the universe I am building.

...

Vargr: Uplifted wolves? Doesn't really fit in well.

...

Droyne: ditto

...

I would suggest keeping both the Vargr and Droyne, with a couple tweeks.

For the Vargr, I would suggest keeping the back story (sort of), just change the species (i.e., not a Terran Wolf). An alien hunter/chaser uplifted to sapiency by a now extinct/gone parent/master race. I would keep elements of the pack mentality and let their background be a campaign secret the players get a chance to uncover.

For the Droyne, drop the psionics and keep the rest, especially their physiological and mental differences between castes. I like making their bio-tech greater than campaign norm, but retarding some of their other tech.

[combatmedic]

DAT, if I use them at all, it will be with your suggested changes.


Come to think of it, this does bring up something important: the Precursors/Ancients. I like the idea, but I want to avoid copying Traveller[ so it won't be the Droyne].

Maybe the Precursors seeded organic life throughout many star systems [using comets, starships, I dunno what]? They could have also transplanted some species , possibly as part of an experimental program carried out over a very long period of time. This would have been long before humans evolved on Earth [ so no seperate Human races, unlike Traveller]. It could help explain why Earth type lifeforms are relatively common on widely seperated worlds [ note that I am talking in broad terms here- the actual organisms may be very alien, but they are often carbon based plants and animals]. They may have uplifted some species, as well. There may have been some terraforming involved, which would suggest the Precursors were native to an earthlike world.

[combatmedic]

More thoughts on aliens:

The Bwaps look like anthropomorphic newts. I'm obviously not dead set against using any anthropomorphic aliens. I do want to keep it limited, though. Otherwise this could start to look like TMNT in space. :) I'd rather base any 'beast' sophonts on animals that are already smart and tool using [or close to being so]. Raccoons, octopi, crows or magpies all fit. I wouldn't make the aliens too similiar, just use those animals as a starting point.

There is a Raccoonid species listed on the Traveller Wikia page. The creators put some serious thought into it. I like the concept, despite it being dangerously close to being a ''furry''[ not knocking furries, but they don't usually click with me]. With a few tweaks and some additional detail, it might fit in my universe as a sort of procyon-like sophont, one that evolved naturally on an earthlike world. The species has psi abilities as originally written, but I'd just swap that out for Danger Sense. That's basically what the psi was used for , anyway.

Maybe I like them because they remind me of a novel I enjoyed reading- Architect of Sleep.