GURPS Spaceships Series

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Langy

Agree, even if I almost never play Traveller games. Not sure how it'd go after they put together a spaceship design system specifically for Traveller: ISW, though.

Well, the ISW design system is significantly different than the Spaceships system. If we're talking GURPS Spaceships 9: Traveller it should be built using the Spaceships rules, with modifications necessary to model the Traveller universe (specific rules for Jump Drives, Meson Guns, etc.).

OTOH, if the book were going to be GURPS Traveller: ISW Spaceships I'd expect you'd use the design system from that book to design the ships.

As I rather like the rules for GURPS Spaceships, I'd much rather see the former than the later.

Originally Posted by Langy

Oh: And finish Vehicle Design System and Weapon Design System first!

I believe Vehicle Design System is done, it's just stuck in editing hell.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Langy

Oh: And finish Vehicle Design System and Weapon Design System first!

Nah. Work on stuff that SJ Games will publish.

[Langy]

Nah. Work on stuff that SJ Games will publish.

But I want them to be published:(

[David L Pulver]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

I believe Vehicle Design System is done, it's just stuck in editing hell.

Primarily an editing issue, but since it's been quite some time since the draft was written, it is conceivable that several sections might benefit from judicious rewriting to ensure component or thematic compatibility with later or upcoming GURPS books (for example, making sure it agrees with LOW-TECH). Kromm has discussed other issues at various times. As I transition out of SPACESHIPS and other projects, I hope to be available to assist with anything that needs doing, but I may have a thing or two do first.

[David L Pulver]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

All good news, though that pretty much wraps up the current plans for the Spaceships series. Might I humbly suggest a GURPS Spaceships 9: Traveller? Covering both the Interstellar Wars and GURPS 3e Eras would be nice.

A formal, official SPACESHIPS book would be a tricky conversion, though: since every +2 SM is a 10 fold mass (and presumably volume) increase, it's hard to maintain some of the canonical relationships of ship classes. E.g., 400, 600, 800, and 1000 d-ton ships would blur together. This is an issue because the ships have 30+ years of familiarity and people are attached to them (and they're often depicted in extent deck plans) and many adventures and economic edifices have apparently been constructed around their precise sizes and exact costs. On a less formal level, I did do a JTAS article suggesting rule-of-thumb conversions, and others have also taken a stab at it.

It *would* be possible to get much closer using the same system but with a somewhat finer grain of hull sizes, but that would be incompatible with the existing series, though it might make a fine system for a dedicated Traveller revision.

[David L Pulver]

Originally Posted by Langy

But I want them to be published:(

Me too. actually...

[walkir]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

Me too. actually...

Me, too.
But if the options are a) getting the book as-is sometime in the next 3 years or b) getting it revised and taking into account books published after it getting into editing and it actually coming out sometime in the next 10 years, I'd pick b).
For me, its essential, but I want it to be as compatible to the *-tech books (and others, where necessary) as possible because of it being that essential.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Brett

Nah. Work on stuff that SJ Games will publish.

Originally Posted by Langy

But I want them to be published:(

Wanting SJGames to publish a supplement doesn't make much difference as to whether SJGames will publish that supplement, as any Car Wars or In Nomine fan can tell you (often at length)...

[Jeffr0]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Wanting SJGames to publish a supplement doesn't make much difference as to whether SJGames will publish that supplement, as any Car Wars or In Nomine fan can tell you (often at length)...

Hi,

I'd really like to see CAR WARS Compendium 2e up on e23. I'd also like to see a new edition of Ogre.

Thank you,

A Black Plastic Grognard

[Agemegos]

Here's a thought.

When the GURPS Spaceships series is done, I'd like a cumulative index. It shouldn't be to hard to do with a world processor: copy, paste, find, replace, and sort would do most of the work.

Then I could print out each of the different volumes of the series on a different coloured paper and bind them all together with the cumulative index, and I would have a handy GURPS Spaceships omnibus.