GURPS - 4th Edition - Space

The Future Is Yours!

Now updated for GURPS Fourth Edition, this
is the ultimate toolkit for any campaign between
the stars. Explore options for space travel and
technology, from the realistic to the miraculous.
Design alien races and monsters. Create cam-
paigns of every style, from science fantasy to
space opera to near-future realism. Build
worlds, from asteroids to Dyson spheres.

With this book, you can create anything from
a single alien beast to a whole galaxy of civiliza-
tions and star systems . . . quickly and random-
ly, or with a detailed step-by-step process that’s
true to biology and astrophysics as we under-
stand them today.

• Whether you’re creating a single alien or an

entire race, a single planet or a dozen systems,
GURPS Space gives you the information you
need!

• Based on modern astrophysical knowledge,

you can build a setting as “hard science” as you
want – or just choose details that work for your
story, and skip the rocket science.

• GURPS Space is written by two experienced

GURPS creators: Jon Zeigler (author of GURPS
Traveller: Interstellar Wars and GURPS
Traveller: First In), and James Cambias (author
of GURPS Mars and GURPS Planet of
Adventure).

GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games
Incorporated. Pyramid and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated
are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license.
GURPS Space is copyright © 1988, 1990, 1999, 2002, 2006 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Some
public-domain images used in this book were taken from NASA and the STScl Hubble image collection.

All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the
permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic

editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Stock #31-1002 Version 1.0 July 21, 2006



Written by JON F. ZEIGLER and JAMES L. CAMBIAS
Edited by WIL UPCHURCH

Cover Art by ALAN GUTIERREZ, CHRIS QUILLIAMS, and BOB STEVLIC
Illustrated by JESSE DEGRAFF, ALAN GUTIERREZ, CHRIS QUILLIAMS,

and BOB STEVLIC

ISBN 1-55634-245-4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

STEVE JACKSON GAMES

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Life Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Step 14: Bases and Installations . . . . . 96
PUBLICATION HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Weapons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 5. ADVANCED
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 WORLDBUILDING. . . . . . 99
Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
1. SPACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 GENERATING STAR SYSTEMS . . . . . . 100
SPACE AND SPACE FICTION . . . . . . . . . . 6 Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Laboratories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Stellar Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Why Space Travel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Step 15: Number of Stars. . . . . . . . . . 100
What’s Not in This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Small Craft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Step 16: Star Masses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Designing the Space Campaign. . . . . . . 7 Step 17: Star System Age . . . . . . . . . . 101
Hard and Soft Science Fiction . . . . . . . . 7 3. TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . . . 49 Step 18: Stellar Characteristics . . . . . 102
Scale and Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 ADDING MIRACLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Step 19: Companion Star Orbits . . . . 105
Ships and Outposts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 TECHNOLOGY AREAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Step 20: Locate Orbital Zones . . . . . . 106
Step 21: Placing First Planets . . . . . . 107
CAMPAIGN TYPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Biotechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Step 22: Place Planetary Orbits . . . . . 108
Suspended Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Step 23: Place Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Realism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Bioships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Step 24: Place Moons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Strange New Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Computers and Communications . . . . 55
The High Frontier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Transparent Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 GENERATING WORLD DETAILS . . . . . 113
Alien Archaeology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Nanotechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Military Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Transportation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Step 25: World Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Stop in the Name of the Law. . . . . . . . 16 Weapons and Defenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Step 26: Atmosphere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Media and Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Swashbuckler Option . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Step 27: Hydrographics . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Working Stiffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Step 28: Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Heroic Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 4. BASIC WORLDBUILDING . . 62 Step 29: World Sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Absurdist Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . 20 USING WORLDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Step 30: Dynamic Parameters . . . . . . 115
Who Needs Starships? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Step 31: Geologic Activity . . . . . . . . . 119
Dramatic Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Step 32: Resources and
ALIENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Depth of Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
SOCIETIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Habitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
INTERSTELLAR ORGANIZATIONS . . . . . 24 MAPPING THE GALAXY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Step 33: Settlement Type . . . . . . . . . . 121
PLANETS AND PLACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Step 34: Technology Level . . . . . . . . . 122
Astronomical Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Step 35: Population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
2. SPACE TRAVEL. . . . . . . . . 28 Distances and Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Step 36: Society Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
A TAXONOMY OF MIRACLES . . . . . . . . 29 The Frequency of Worlds. . . . . . . . . . . 70 Step 37: Control Rating . . . . . . . . . . . 123
SPACE FLIGHT AND STORY Choosing a Preferred Scale . . . . . . . . . . 72 Step 38: Economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Step 39: Bases and Installations . . . . 123
REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 WORLD DESIGN SEQUENCE . . . . . . . . 73
MANEUVER DRIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 SPECIAL CASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
Step 1: Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Reaction Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Step 2: World Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Gas Giant Moons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
The Rocket Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Why World Types? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Tide-Locked Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Sample Delta-V Requirements . . . . . . . 32 Step 3: Atmosphere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Massive Stars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Toxicity Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Red Dwarf Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Catapults and Tethers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Step 4: Hydrographic Coverage. . . . . . 81 Brown Dwarf Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Reactionless Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Step 5: Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Rogue Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Relativity Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Step 6: World Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Terraformed Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Generation Ships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Step 7: Resources and Habitability. . . 87
Habitability for Aliens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 OTHER OBJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
STAR DRIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
SOCIAL PARAMETERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Asteroids and Comets. . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Hyperdrive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Artificial Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Jump Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Step 8: Settlement Type . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Who Needs Planets, Anyway? . . . . . . . 132
Warp Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Step 9: Technology Level . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Megastructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Designing a Stardrive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Step 10: Population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Navigation Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Altering the Colony Population Table . . . 93 6. ALIEN LIFE AND
Step 11: Society Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 ALIEN MINDS . . . . . . . 134
SHIPBOARD SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Step 12: Control Rating . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Step 13: Economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 ALIENS IN THE CAMPAIGN . . . . . . . . . 135
Control Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Some Common Aliens . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

GURPS System Design ❚ STEVE JACKSON Production Artist ❚ ALEX FERNANDEZ Sales Manager ❚ ROSS JEPSON
GURPS Line Editor ❚ SEAN PUNCH Page Design ❚ PHILIP REED
Managing Editor ❚ CHRIS AYLOTT Errata Coordinator ❚ ANDY VETROMILE
Print Buyer ❚ MONIQUE CHAPMAN
Production Manager ❚ MONICA STEPHENS Marketing Director ❚ PAUL CHAPMAN GURPS FAQ Maintainer ❚ ❍❍❍❍❍
STÉPHANE THÉRIAULT

Lead Playtester: Jeff Wilson
Playtesters: Doug Berry, Frederick Brackin, Daniel Boese, Darcy Casselman, Paul Chapman, James Cloos, Douglas Cole, Peter Dell’Orto,
Paul Drye, Shawn Fisher, Chris Goodin, Martin Heidemann, Leonardo M. Holschuh, Anthony Jackson, Stefan Jones, Robert Kim, Susan Koziel,
Michael Lloyd, Paraj Mandrekar, Phil Masters, David Morgan-Mar, Fabio Milito Pagliara, Robert Prior, Sean Punch, Luis M. Rebollar,

Emily Smirle, Michael Smith, William H. Stoddard, Paul Tevis, George Valaitis, Bryan Weaver, and Roger Burton West

GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid and the names of all products
published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license.
GURPS Space is copyright © 1988, 1990, 1999, 2002, 2006 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Some public-domain images used in this book were
taken from NASA and the STScl Hubble image collection. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

2 CONTENTS

LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Metabolism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Corruptibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Alien Creation VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Life as We Know It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Reproduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 SOCIETY AND BIOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Clashing Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Lifespan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 SOCIETY AND TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . 177
Other Chemistries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Alien Creation VII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 ECONOMICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Non-Chemical Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Senses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Alien Creation I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Unobtainium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Artificial Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Alien Creation VIII. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Special Abilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 The Leisure Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
ECOLOGIES AND NICHES . . . . . . . . . . 141
ALIEN MINDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 LAW AND JUSTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Energy Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 MILITARY FORCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Alien Creation II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Brains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Autotrophs and Decomposers . . . . . . 143 Nature: The Influence of Biology . . . 167 Alternate Armies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Herbivores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Nurture: The Influence of Society. . . 167 How Much Military Rank? . . . . . . . . . 189
Carnivores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Alien Creation IX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Parasites and Symbionts . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Alien Creation X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 INTERSTELLAR GOVERNMENTS . . . . 190

ALIEN ANATOMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 7. FUTURE AND ALIEN Anarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
CIVILIZATIONS. . . . . . . 171 Alliance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 STORY CONCERNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Corporate State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Alien Creation III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Body Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Control and Intrusiveness . . . . . . . . . 173 Why People Support
Alien Creation IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Avenues to Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Alien Creation V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Rotten Empires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Skin, Hide, and Alternatives . . . . . . . 155 Alternate Empires. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Alien Governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
About GURPS Planetary Governments . . . . . . . . . . . 201
History and Government. . . . . . . . . . . 201
Steve Jackson Games is committed to full support of GURPS
players. Our address is SJ Games, Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760. Please ORGANIZATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) any time you write
us! We can also be reached by e-mail: [email protected]. Resources 8. ADVENTURES . . . . . . . . 207
include: THE HOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Pyramid (www.sjgames.com/pyramid/). Our online magazine The Default Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
includes new GURPS rules and articles. It also covers the d20 system, Metaplot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Ars Magica, BESM, Call of Cthulhu, and many more top games – and
other Steve Jackson Games releases like Illuminati, Car Wars, GOALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Transhuman Space, and more. Pyramid subscribers also get opportu- OBSTACLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
nities to playtest new GURPS books!
Puzzles and Mysteries . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
New supplements and adventures. GURPS continues to grow, and Alien Psychology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
we’ll be happy to let you know what’s new. For a current catalog, send Adversaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
us a legal-sized SASE, or just visit www.warehouse23.com. Adventure Seeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

e23. Our e-publishing division offers GURPS adventures, play aids, 9. CHARACTERS . . . . . . . . 214
and support not available anywhere else! Just head over to GROUP STRUCTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
www.sjgames.com/e23/. CHARACTER CONCEPTS . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but we do our best Astronauts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
to fix our errors. Up-to-date errata sheets for all GURPS releases, Space Knights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
including this book, are available on our website – see below. Niche Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Tramp Freighters and
Internet. Visit us on the World Wide Web at www.sjgames.com
for errata, updates, Q&A, free webforums, and much more. To Merchant Princes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
discuss GURPS with SJ Games staff and fellow gamers, come to our Modified Humans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
forums at forums.sjgames.com. The GURPS Space web page is Uplifted Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/space/. Psionic Mutants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Robots and AIs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Bibliographies. Many of our books have extensive bibliographies, and Aliens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
we’re putting them online – with links to let you buy the books that
interest you! Go to the book’s web page and look for the “Bibliography” ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES,
link. AND SKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

GURPSnet. This e-mail list hosts much of the online discussion of CHARACTER TEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . 226
GURPS. To join, point your web browser to www.sjgames.com/
mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l/. Astronaut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Bounty Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the GURPS Colonist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that begin with B refer to Con Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
that book, not this one. Detective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Doctor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Scientist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Secret Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Security Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Soldier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Space Knight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Space Worker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Technician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Thief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . 236

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

CONTENTS 3

INTRODUCTION

Why do we dream of voyages to adventures are achievable. Anyone revised their text for the third edition.
space? Why do we make up tales of can join in, no royal birth or ancient The current edition includes a great
distant worlds and other stars? Isn’t prophecy required. Those odd soci- deal of text from these earlier versions.
Earth enough? eties? They’re real, too – or can be. If
this book has a message, it’s: we can do This book also incorporates mate-
Well, no. Earth is a big planet with this. Humans are capable of great rial from several other GURPS books.
plenty of weird stuff on it, but it’s get- things. Sure, Earth is a great place, The concepts of tone, scale, and scope
ting too well-known. Human civiliza- but if we limit ourselves to a single used in Chapter 1 were pioneered by
tion is increasingly close-knit, so even planet, it’s an admission of defeat. Ken Hite in the third edition of
in the most exotic lands one sees GURPS Horror. The world design
familiar brand names and hears famil- PUBLICATION sequences in Chapters 4 and 5 are
iar pop music. HISTORY descended from the one designed by
Jon F. Zeigler for GURPS Traveller:
We want wonders. We want to This is the fourth edition of GURPS First In; a simpler version of the cur-
climb 26 miles to the top of Mons Space. Steve Jackson and William rent system also appears in GURPS
Olympus on Mars, see the rings of Barton collaborated on the first and Traveller: Interstellar Wars. The
Saturn filling half the sky, watch the second editions, and David Pulver alien design sequence in Chapter 6
double sunset on Alpha Centauri IV, was inspired by the one Stefan Jones
see stars being born in the Orion created for GURPS Uplift.
Nebula, and watch them spiral in to
die in the central black hole of the About the Authors
galaxy. Space exploration brings a
whole universe of wonders within James L. Cambias is a game designer and science fiction writer, cur-
reach. rently resident in western Massachusetts. He is putting the finishing
touches on his plan to gain a complete monopoly on science fiction role-
We want to play with ideas. What playing sourcebooks. Earlier stages in the project include GURPS
would life be like on a planet of a flare Planet Krishna, GURPS Mars, GURPS Planet of Adventure; Star
star? What are some other ways to run Hero and Terran Empire from Hero Games; and several science fiction
a society, or distribute wealth? How short stories. With the appearance of this book, total science fiction
does hyperspace travel affect interstel- domination is within his grasp!
lar military strategy? Space travel and
colonization lets us create new soci- Jon F. Zeigler has been a science fiction fan since the cradle
eties and examine different ways of (literally). He and his wife and two children live in Maryland, where
doing things. he works for the federal government as a network security analyst.
He has written several books for GURPS, especially for the GURPS
We also want someone to talk to. Traveller and Transhuman Space product lines.
An alien perspective would tell us
many things about the universe, and
about ourselves. Alien music and alien
art might revitalize our jaded tastes
and inbred styles. Civilizations older
than our own might know the answers
to some of our questions – and ask
some questions we haven’t even
thought of.

Finally, as gamers we want adven-
tures. We want to chase our foes
across the icy plains of Pluto, or hide
from them in the clouds of Neptune.
We want to make a killing doing busi-
ness with intelligent fungi from Altair,
or lead troops into battle against robot
hordes. Space is fun.

What makes space different is that
it’s real. The wonders are really out
there, along with others we haven’t
seen. There are real alien civilizations
out there somewhere, probably more
strange than we’ve imagined. Space

4 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

SPACE

I dodged the thing’s deadly beam-blasts and leaped over one of the
tumbled stone slabs to find cover. Captain Panatic was hunkered
down behind the same slab, his proton gun ready.

“I’m wondering why I’m here, Dr. Wallace. I could have
stayed back in the Patrol and fought pirates.” The slab
cracked as a beam-blast struck it. Panatic popped up
and fired off a couple of bursts at the giant glittering
menace slowly approaching us.

“Or I could have taken my brother’s offer and gone into “But I didn’t do those things. I heard you were looking for a
business as a merchant. I think I’d make a pretty good pilot, so I took the job. Do you know why, Dr. Wallace?”
merchant, don’t you?” Panatic took out a couple of spare power cells and began
prying at the casings. He got them open, used a strip of foil to
I ducked as a blast shattered the wall above me, showering connect them somehow, counted under his breath, and tossed
us both with fragments of blackened stone. them over the slab at the machine. A second later, there was a
tremendous explosion.
Captain Panatic took my rucksack and began rummaging
through it. “I might even have bought some land on a colony When the dust had cleared and we could stop coughing,
world, maybe raise dairy cattle and make cheese. Do you like Panatic and I peeked over the slab. The ancient alien machine
cheese, Dr. Wallace?” was toppled over and still.

I risked a look. The huge golden machine that I’d mistaken “I signed on with you because I figured an archaeology
for an alien idol was now only five meters away, shoving aside voyage would be nice and safe. What could possibly happen?”
slabs bigger than the one we were hiding behind.
I decided not to tell him about the psi-worms yet.

SPACE 5

SPACE AND SPACE FICTION

A LITTLE “superscience” methods of negating things up, SF writers began a long
LITERARY gravity to allow their heroes to visit tradition of coming up with ways to
HISTORY other worlds. cheat Einstein. E.E. “Doc” Smith’s
“Lensman” series used the “inertia-
Space travel has always been the At the start of the 20th century, pio- less” drive to let spaceships crack the
most important trope in science fic- neering scientists like Konstantin lightspeed barrier; others postulated
tion. To many people, it’s “all that Tsiolkovsky and Robert Goddard short cuts through hyperspace,
outer space stuff.” And certainly SF began to investigate the possibilities of instantaneous “jump” drives, space-
writers have been interested in the rockets as a practical means of space bending warp drives, and a long list
subject for a very long time. Johannes exploration, and space travel moved of methods ranging from barely
Kepler wrote about a voyage to the solidly into the realm of hard SF, possible to ridiculous.
Moon in 1634, and although his hero where it has remained ever since.
gets there by means of magic, Science-fiction writers (and fans) In modern science fiction, space
Kepler’s description of conditions on were soon bandying about technical voyages and interstellar faster-than-
the Moon was pure “hard” science concepts like specific impulse, delta-V, light travel are part of the “furniture”
fiction. ullage, and gyrostabilization. Some of of the genre. Authors no longer have
them, like Arthur C. Clarke, mixed SF to explain how the spaceships work or
Early accounts of space voyages writing with research and theoretical waste much time describing the thun-
were often fantasies, either explicitly work on space exploration. der of the mighty rocket engines,
like Kepler’s, or with a wink at the because those are all so familiar to the
reader, as when Francis Godwin used Unfortunately for science-fiction readers from movies and televised
migratory geese to carry his hero to writers, astronomers during the same space missions.
the Moon in The Man in the Moone or era were discovering some uncomfort-
Edgar Allan Poe used a balloon to able facts about the solar system. As WHY SPACE
carry Hans Pfaal there in “The early as the 1890s, it was known that TRAVEL?
Unparalleled Adventure of one Hans Mars was too cold and dry to support
Pfaal.” But by the middle of the 19th any advanced life, and in the 1960s Given that science fiction covers all
century, authors began speculating scientists learned that Venus was possible futures, alternate pasts, other
about ways by which people might equally inhospitable. A few writers realities, and transformations of the
really be able to leave the Earth. tried handwaving about asteroids with human body and mind, it may seem
Edward Everett Hale proposed a giant Earthlike conditions or speculation odd that so much energy in the field is
catapult powered by spinning fly- about the moons of the outer giant devoted to stories about voyages in
wheels to launch an artificial satellite planets, but the majority of SF writers outer space. Some see this as a contin-
in “The Brick Moon,” and Jules Verne began looking to the stars. uation of the American idea of the fron-
envisioned a titanic cannon in From tier, with space fiction as nothing more
the Earth to the Moon. Later authors Tales of space exploration than Westerns with ray guns. Others
like H.G. Wells and George Griffiths remained limited to the Solar system speculate archly about the sexual
realized the problems with those until about World War II, when writ- imagery of rockets. Certainly there is a
methods and concocted imaginary ers began working on a larger scale. lot of powerful symbolism involved in
Because of Albert Einstein’s theory of the idea of rising up away from Earth
relativity, the readers were also aware and mundane concerns to soar among
that journeys to other stars were like- the stars. In just about all mythologies
ly to take a very long time. To speed the sky is where the gods live.

What’s Not in This Book But there is more to space travel
than just the symbols. The simple fact
Though GURPS Space is intended as the chief sourcebook for sci- is that space travel (and interstellar
ence fiction roleplaying using the GURPS system, the main focus of travel) are the most plausible ways to
this book is adventures in space and on other worlds. There are whole have stories about humans in settings
subgenres of SF that aren’t covered here, because they’re important that are not Earthly locales and inter-
enough to get their own sourcebooks. Descriptions of specific game acting with beings who are not other
universes are covered in GURPS worldbooks. GURPS Infinite people like themselves. This is not
Worlds covers time travel, interdimensional travel, and alternate very different from descriptions of
histories – and presents a campaign framework that links all the fantasy settings – Narnia and Middle-
GURPS worldbooks. GURPS Powers describes psionics and other Earth are not Earthly locales and
super-powers. Forthcoming “tech books” will provide shopping lists have nonhuman inhabitants – but
of futuristic gadgets. there is an important difference. Alien
worlds in outer space are fairylands

6 SPACE

that could be real, and that don’t extraordinary voyages to Africa or the DESIGNING THE
require special magic to visit. Even ocean deeps let his readers visit those SPACE CAMPAIGN
the other worlds of the Solar system exotic places, space fiction lets
turn out to be strange and interesting Earthbound readers “play tourist” Much of the excitement of a star-
in ways unlike anything on Earth. among the wonders of the Universe. spanning campaign comes from hav-
Just as Jules Verne’s stories of ing a detailed, believable background,
and this section provides an overview
Hard and of how to create one. These rules are
Soft Science Fiction not tied to any single vision of the
future. This book is not intended to
In discussions of science fiction, “hard SF” refers to stories in which impose a background on the game;
the science is as accurate as possible, and usually the focus of the story rather, it gives creative GMs the tools
as well. “Soft SF” has shifted slightly in meaning over the years. to develop any type of outer-space
Originally it referred to stories focusing on the “soft sciences” – psychol- campaign.
ogy, sociology, history, etc. Those are the sciences concerned with
human behavior, and in time soft SF began to refer to stories that de- Designing a complete space cam-
emphasized the science in favor of closer attention to the characters and paign involves several decisions.
their emotions.
Type
What started simply as a matter of classification turned into a mine-
field when some fans and authors tried to insist that only hard SF was This is the big one: what kind of
“real” science fiction, and that any stories that subordinated the science campaign will it be? What will the PCs
to the characters were somehow inferior or pretentiously imitating do? Are they military officers, explor-
mainstream fiction. In an interesting boomerang effect, many critics ers, or traders? Would they rather
outside the field have taken much the same line, insisting that all SF is engage in combat or diplomacy?
“just about gadgets,” and any stories that portray human emotions and Game Masters may wish to poll their
relationships aren’t science fiction because they’re too good for the field. potential players to see what type of
campaign most of them like best.
In this book we’re going to avoid any judgments about what sort of
fiction is best. Hard SF refers to stories with a strong emphasis on sci- Scope and
entific accuracy, while soft SF here means stories or campaigns that do Interstellar Travel
not. Which is best depends on what the players and GM do.
How much space does the cam-
Science Fantasy paign universe cover? Will it be set
within a single star system, around a
One might expect the least realistic form of SF to be what’s often few dozen nearby stars, or in a whole
called “science fantasy,” in which scientific and magical elements are spiral arm of the galaxy? This deci-
blended. Examples include Heinlein’s story “Waldo” and Christopher sion is tied to the choice of faster-
Stasheff’s Warlock series. than-light drives available: the faster
the drive, the more territory that can
But in point of fact science fantasy can have its own varying degrees be covered. Are habitable worlds
of realism. If the magic is tightly defined and the interactions between rare, common, or innumerable? And
magic and science are carefully thought out, then it can be just as real- how close are they in terms of travel
istic as any moderately hard SF with one or two bits of imaginary sci- time? The more quickly the PCs can
ence. The magic just fills the niche of “rubber science.” A great example travel between worlds, the likelier
of highly realistic science fantasy is the GURPS Technomancer setting, they are to interact on a large scale –
which blends “technothriller” technology with rigorously explored sharing governments, trading, extra-
magic, and addresses all the social and political implications of indus- diting criminals, or fighting wars.
trial-scale magic in a scientific and rational society.
Interstellar Societies
By contrast, most superhero settings include both magic and super- and Organizations
science, and treat neither one with much realism at all. Wizards, sen-
tient machines, aliens, avatars of powerful gods, and mutants with Do the characters live in a mas-
strange powers all coexist, yet the society in which they operate shows sive empire or a loose-knit alliance?
no effect at all. Nothing is realistic, but it’s all a lot of fun and allows cool Is the government restrictive? Are
adventures in capes and spandex. the police and military effective? Are
there many societies, or just one
Game Masters can certainly combine fantasy and SF in a GURPS large super-civilization? Note that
Space campaign; treat the magic as just another area of “rubber sci- the number and size of societies in
ence” and set the realism level as needed for the desired style of cam- the campaign are tied to the scope.
paign. Obviously, a full discussion of fantasy is beyond the scope of What interstellar organizations are
this book, but GURPS Fantasy and other sourcebooks can supply the important? And what is the history of
missing ingredients. interstellar civilization?

SPACE 7

General Technology Ships and Outposts

What are the campaign’s average A common and very useful situation in science fiction is to chronicle
and maximum tech levels? What sort the adventures of a daring spaceship crew as they voyage through the
of FTL communication, weaponry, galaxy. Undoubtedly Star Trek’s U.S.S. Enterprise is the most famous
medicine, and personal gear will be example, but there are scores of others. All of them can trace their
available? The technology in a cam- ancestry back to sea stories, from the Horatio Hornblower novels clear
paign affects what type of adventures back to the Odyssey or the story of Jason and the Argonauts.
are possible, so Game Masters must
be sure that the available tech fits the A tremendous strength of the ship-based dramatic framework is its
desired campaign type. flexibility. The characters are in a familiar setting, but that setting is
mobile, letting them interact with new antagonists and encounter new
Drawing the Map situations. This applies to roleplaying campaigns as well as fiction. The
ship itself becomes a natural “home base” for the characters. Players
Where are things in the campaign may get quite attached to their in-game starship, drawing up deck
relative to each other? What are plans, poring through the ship-design rules for upgrades to drool over,
important places and why? or designing insignia. But since the ship moves around, the GM can eas-
Traditionally science-fiction universes ily introduce the characters to new adventures. The relative cost of a
feature a “core” of advanced, heavily spacecraft is very important: if only governments can afford them, the
populated worlds and a frontier zone setting will have a very different feel than if a group of startup entrepre-
or “rim” where colonies are young and neurs can get a used ship and start trading.
the government’s power is weak. If
rival empires are cheek-by-jowl the Probably the most important bit of preparation for any ship-based
political situation will be very different campaign is to create the starship itself. If one or more of the players
than if they are separated by wide have a “gearhead” bent and are interested in delving into technical
expanses of unclaimed space. minutiae, it may be a good idea to let them do the design work, within
the limits of budgetary and technological restrictions imposed by the
Aliens and Other Game Master (and possibly the campaign setting). The ship they create
Nonhumans can be a great guide for the GM in creating adventures. Players who
stuff their ships with weapons obviously want to be able to point those
In the campaign are the “good weapons at something. Let them chase space pirates or fight off an alien
guys” all human? What exactly consti- invasion. If they pack the sensor suite with planetary-survey instru-
tutes “human” anyway if cyborgs, ments and give the ship enough onboard fuel purifiers and repair shops
mutants, and uplifted animals are part to keep it running for years away from civilization, they’re probably
of the setting? Are there allied species? going to want to explore the great beyond.
Are there “bad guy” civilizations?
What about vanished races? What is The Outpost
the role of artificial intelligences?
A variant campaign idea is that of the outpost or space station. Like
Local Societies a ship, an outpost framework provides a cozy “home base” for the char-
acters. Unlike ships, outposts are stationary; adventure has to come to
What are the specific worlds and them. Important outposts in SF include the titular space stations of the
places the characters will spend time Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9 television series, and the giant space hospi-
in like? How do they interact with tal of James White’s “Sector General” stories.
interstellar society? What are the local
laws and customs, what starship Outpost campaigns have many of the same concerns as those built
repair facilities are available, and around a starship. Typically a station is larger and more self-sufficient
what’s the best place to get a plate of than a ship, but this just means its enemies get to be more powerful.
Rigelian chili? Visitors to the outpost are the obvious adventure hooks, but occasional-
ly the crew does get to go off on missions within the station’s area of
SCALE responsibility. Because of the more static nature of an outpost cam-
AND SCOPE paign, adventures are likely to be less action-oriented and involve more
roleplaying and politicking.
The scope of the campaign is the
size of the environment in which the The crew of a small merchant starship level of complexity and size before
characters operate, and the scale is the that voyages among distant galaxies introducing the next. As the charac-
level at which they can affect that envi- has a colossal scope but a limited ters improve in personal abilities and
ronment. Characters who are the scale. gain wealth and power from their
commanders of a space station in a actions in the game, their scale
game confined to that station have The two are linked. A gradually naturally tends to increase as well.
limited scope but relatively high scale. increasing physical scope gives the An increase in scope can provide
players a chance to get used to each

8 SPACE

increasingly powerful characters with instance, even a trip to Mars takes a travel times. A game spanning the
appropriate challenges by bringing year, and voyages to the outer planets whole galaxy would feel compact if a
them into contact with new and can take decades. In that case, the personal spaceship can get from the
mightier opponents. So what if they scope feels large because of the long rim to the core in an afternoon.
are masters of a whole star system
when there is a whole vast galaxy out
there?

Ship-based campaigns necessarily
have a large physical scope. Colony
campaigns and post-apocalyptic set-
tings may be relatively limited, but
since a theme in both subgenres is
“pushing back the frontier,” the scope
will likely expand.

Physical scope is linked closely to
technology, especially transportation.
A large scope means little if rapid
transport makes everyplace effectively
“next door.” For a campaign to feel big,
there must be some effect of distance.
Some places must be “far away” and
take a long time to reach. In a hard-SF
game set in the real Solar system, for

Tone

The tone is the “feel” of a campaign – the mood the suitable in exploration (focusing on alien or cosmic
GM wants to invoke in the setting. There is a vast range menaces), law enforcement (concentrating on sadistic
of possible tones. To some extent, every author and every killers and social horrors), or military (exploring
story or film has a slightly different one. In classic sci- psychological horror).
ence fiction, however, several tones predominate.
Romance
Action-Adventure
For a long time science fiction avoided “mushy stuff”
Common in all types of SF, especially film and mili- like relationships between characters. That began to
tary SF, action-adventure science fiction emphasizes change in the 1960s, and recent decades have seen the
danger, motion, and physical conflict. Problems are rise of a whole romantic subgenre of science fiction,
solved with fisticuffs or blaster fire, usually while hang- written by authors like Catherine Asaro and Lois
ing off the edge of an orbital elevator capsule or speed- McMaster Bujold. In romantic SF the focus is on inter-
ing hovercraft. There is usually a sense that the heroes actions and relationships among the characters, though
will triumph despite all the danger and opposition. there is still plenty of room for exploding spaceships and
Campaigns especially suitable for action-adventure are alien menaces.
military, law-enforcement, criminal, and planetary
romance. However, just about any roleplaying campaign Space Opera
is likely to have at least some action-adventure moments.
Sometimes considered a subgenre of its own, space
Horror opera is SF with the dials all cranked to 11. The scale is
titanic; seldom are characters concerned with the fate of
Horror and SF are Siamese twin genres, born at anything less than a whole planet. The range is usually
about the same time from Gothic fiction and maturing vast. Psychological realism takes a back seat to battles of
together in the pulp magazines. Horror is all about fear: Ultimate Good against blackest Evil. Scientific realism is
what the characters fear, what the players fear, and what back there, too, cowering helplessly as physical laws
everyone fears. Fear works best when the opposition are broken with contemptuous ease. Spaceships are
seems unbeatable and implacably hostile. Science fic- huge and baroque, doing battle with brightly colored
tion can provide a scientific rationale for “conventional” beam weapons. Aliens are many and exotic. Settings
horror about monsters or psycho killers, but it also emphasize wonder (see below) and plots emphasize
lends itself well to “cosmic” horror, in which the true action (see above).
fear comes from realizing just how tiny and unimpor-
tant humans are in the face of a vast universe. Horror Continued on next page . . .
can creep into most SF campaigns, but is especially

SPACE 9

Tone (Continued)

Surreal Travelogue

Surreal SF questions our very notions of reality. If One of the oldest styles of SF story, the travelogue
computer-generated “virtual reality” can simulate the subordinates characters and action to descriptions of
real world, how do we know the world is real? If exotic settings. In Utopian societies it can degenerate
telepaths or brainwashing can alter our memories, into particularly boring “tours of the balloon factory,”
how do we know who we are? If alien shapechangers accompanied by lectures on the merits of the Social
or sophisticated androids can take the place of other Credits movement, but skilled writers from Jules Verne
people, how do we know who is who? Philip K. Dick to Jack Vance have made the fantastic voyage a mainstay
was probably SF’s greatest surrealist, and he explored of the genre. In a roleplaying campaign, explorers and
all these questions. A surreal SF game can be as light merchants are good frameworks for a travelogue, and a
as any silly universe, or as terrifying as any cosmic hor- planetary romance is nothing but a travelogue with
ror campaign. Any campaign can get weird, but it swordplay. Hitting this tone requires a GM who is very
works best with the paranoia of espionage or the good at creating new places and describing them in an
strange new worlds of exploration. entertaining fashion.

Thriller Wonder

Thrillers emphasize suspense. They sit somewhere The “sense of wonder” is one of the characteristic
between horror and action-adventure. In a thriller the emotions evoked by science fiction. When a reader
heroes are outclassed by the opposition, and the possi- cracks a book and is confronted with time travel, alien
bility of failure is very real and worrisome. Instead of beings, or future worlds, that feeling of wonder and
fear or pumping adrenaline the dominant emotion is excitement is what hooks them on SF. In a roleplaying
suspense. Much of cyberpunk SF adopts a thriller tone, campaign, evoking a sense of wonder calls for new and
and it goes with espionage or criminal games like different things. Because it is such a standard part of SF,
chrome on a blaster. A subset of thrillers is the quasi- wonder should turn up in just about every campaign. It
SF “technothrillers,” which are typically near-future is especially appropriate for games of exploration and
SF emphasizing loving descriptions of cool gadgets discovery, large-scale military games, and any setting
and detailed plans. with room for amazing things. This is where a game’s
“infinite budget” comes in handy, as the GM can make
up things as huge or impressive as needed.

Escalating Scale

It’s usually a good idea to start the campaign at a relatively small
scale and work up. This way the campaign scale reflects the growing
understanding and involvement of the players. Get them used to the way
things work in one sector of the galaxy, then let them operate on a suc-
cessively larger scale. The “Lensman” series by E.E. “Doc” Smith is a
good example of this process in fiction: the scale is initially confined to
the Solar System, but by the end the heroes are fighting a war whose
outcome will determine the fate of two galaxies.

Exactly what constitutes “small” and “large” scale depend on the
campaign itself and what the Game Master sees as the ultimate end of
things. If the campaign takes the leaders of the United Earth govern-
ment to their ultimate conquest over all intelligent life, then “small”
scale means they start out as merely the rulers of six billion people,
with a paltry few trillion dollars at their disposal. On the other hand,
if the GM imagines the players as rising from starport scum to the
ranks of successful merchant captains, then small means owning
nothing but some rags and a dead rat, and large means the dizzying
heights of middle-class small business ownership.

10 SPACE

CAMPAIGN TYPES

What will your campaign be Realism
about? Will the characters be planet-
bound or spacefaring? Good citizens “Realism” has two meanings in a GURPS Space game. The first is
or nefarious pirates? Are they after the level of physical realism – how “hard” the science is and how plau-
money, adventure, knowledge . . . or sible the technology. The second is the social or psychological realism –
something else? There are several how realistically people behave.
types that recur in science-fiction sto-
ries and games. Scientific realism, surprisingly, is not the ultimate goal of every sci-
ence-fiction campaign. Certainly SF literature has plenty of “rubber sci-
STRANGE ence,” and in SF films it’s a noteworthy event if they get the science
NEW WORLDS right. Internal consistency is more important than strict accuracy. Game
Masters are free to set the level of scientific realism at whatever level
The theme of the campaign is the supports the games they wish to run. Different realism levels have dif-
search for new worlds – with the thrill ferent advantages and disadvantages.
of discovery and the adventure that it
brings. Strict adherence to “hard science” gives the campaign the advantage
of plausibility. It makes the suspension of disbelief very easy. The obvi-
Character Roles: Characters can be ous disadvantage is that there are lots of things that are impossible in
private explorers or members of a gov- the real world but are nevertheless a big part of SF, such as faster-than-
ernment Scout Service making con- light travel. A step up from pure hard science is “mostly hard” SF, which
tact with strange worlds. Scout crews allows one or two bits of imaginary science (like faster-than-light drives)
include scientists and rangers (p. 16), but rigorously works out all the implications and effects on the world.
and diplomats or merchant represen-
tatives might be present if the world is More removed from realism is “handwaving” SF, best exemplified by
inhabited. Even pirates sometimes go television and film. We’re assured that this is all science (rather than
exploring. magic), but the exact mechanisms are never explained, and capabilities
are devised on the basis of plot demands rather than strict science.
Things to Do: Scouts are not only There is usually a reasonable amount of internal consistency, but it’s
expected to discover and survey very much fictional consistency. At the far end of the realism scale is
worlds from orbit, but to land on the purely “cinematic” reality. Spaceships look cool and make impressive
planet to discover any potential dan- whooshing noises in deep space. People carry hand weapons like “ener-
gers to the colonists who may follow. gy swords” or plasma-firing crossbows, and never mind how they work.
There are dozens of things to find on
an unfamiliar planet – strange, threat- By contrast with scientific realism, social realism determines how
ening animals or aliens, mysterious realistically the characters in the setting behave. It can also be called the
ruins, lost colonies, unsuspected “rigor” of the game world. In a realistic setting, all actions have conse-
pirate or rebel hideouts, and bizarre quences, villains are not motivated simply by villainy, and people think
natural phenomena. their actions through.

Campaign Advantages: PCs who Somewhat less realistic is the tone adopted by most films. For the
work for a government or private sur- sake of narrative convenience, the heroes don’t suffer consequences as
vey organization will have a powerful long as they win and their actions were done for a good cause. Shooting
Patron who supplies equipment and a up the mall is okay as long as no innocents got hurt and the bad guys
ship. But they will often be in remote needed shooting. Least realistic is what might be called “mythic” sci-
space – away from daily control by ence fiction, which adopts an almost fairy-tale attitude of absolute good
their superiors. The variety of new and evil. Consequences are not based on reason, but on karma or “cos-
worlds provides campaign diversity. mic justice.”
This campaign can be ideal for small
groups – a scout crew can be as small Think of social and scientific realism as the different axes on a graph.
as one person. Stories can be very realistic in one sense and completely unrealistic in
the other. Much early SF strove for solid hard science realism but then
Campaign Disadvantages: If the used characters and plots of fairy-tale simplicity. Much of the “New
PCs work for an interstellar survey Wave” of the 1960s and 1970s took the opposite approach, using psy-
service, space navy’s exploration chological realism and completely imaginary science. Set both realism
branch, or a private (probably mer- levels to support the kind of adventures the players and GM want: high
cantile) organization, they will likely science realism and moderate social realism for Indiana Jones-style
explore worlds by assignment. On exploits on a near-future Mars mission, low science and high social real-
the other hand, they might be explor- ism for gritty political drama in the Galactic Empire. Outer-space
ing on their own – in which case swashbuckling adventure gets a low setting for both, and so on.
their ability to keep a starship fueled
and supplied depends on finding

SPACE 11

profitable worlds. For the GM, a scout in the new environment – making are they “stranded,” arriving by gener-
campaign means constantly generat- them almost aliens to the rest of ation ship? Are they the first colonists
ing new systems (and new surprises). humanity. or the follow-up team? (If they are the
follow-up team, are the original
References: Rendezvous with Rama Character Roles: The PCs should all colonists still there when they arrive?)
by Arthur C. Clarke; Ringworld by be rugged survivors. Those with good Are there hidden surprises, such as a
Larry Niven; the Tschai books by Jack outdoorsman and low-tech craft skills bizarre ecosystem, unknown aliens,
Vance; the various Star Trek television will do best. However, colonists may Precursor relics, or a smuggler base?
series. also include political or religious Are the colonists unified or is there
refugees, criminals, and minorities – strife between factions? Is this a
Space Tourists and not all of these will be survival peaceful colony or an outpost in dis-
types. Some specialists may be needed puted territory? Are there menacing
A slightly different kind of explo- to operate equipment, exploration pirates, aliens, or hostile governments
ration is that done by individuals vehicles, or weapons. There might be back home?
using commercial transport to visit a government representative.
exotic places. Just as tourism has Campaign Advantages: Colonists
become a major industry in many Things to Do: The basic idea is to won’t need a starship. The GM needs
places here on Earth, SF writers have tame and settle a hostile environment. to design just one star system,
imagined feckless earthlings or Many twists can be added – do the although great detail will be required.
obnoxious aliens taking package colonists have access to FTL drive, or
tours of other planets. Douglas
Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Alien Archaeology
Galaxy is a classic of comic SF, and
many of L. Sprague De Camp’s Whole civilizations could be born, spread across the galaxy, and
“Viagens Interplanetarias” stories finally go extinct before humans ever venture off Earth. Alien archaeol-
involve tourists. Since few people ogy offers the scientific puzzle of figuring out an alien civilization from
spend their lives being tourists, this is potsherds and inscriptions, the Indiana Jones thrills of evading traps
best used for a mini-campaign or an and defenses in tombs and temples, and the classic RPG experience of
arc within a larger ongoing game. exploring vast underground complexes full of danger and treasure.

A tourist campaign provides a If the ancient aliens were more advanced than humans, then their
plausible way to throw together peo- ruins are potential treasure-troves of ultra-tech items – which is likely to
ple from radically different back- attract rival archaeologists, looters, and sinister government agents.
ground; it means the heroes don’t have Finding out just what made the aliens go extinct can add some urgency
access to much in the way of firepow- to the pure science, especially if it turns out to still be lurking around
er or super-technology; and they prob- somewhere. And there’s always the chance that some of the ancient
ably don’t have their own starship to aliens aren’t extinct . . . we just don’t see them right now. This can be
use as an instant getaway. Tourists are good or very bad indeed, depending on how powerful the aliens are and
probably best used for a light or semi- what they want.
comic scenario, although there are
interesting possibilities in throwing H. Beam Piper’s classic story “Omnilingual” involves space archaeol-
unprepared ordinary people into a ogy, as do more recent works like Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space.
deadly drama of spies and doomsday
weapons. Big Dumb Objects

THE HIGH One type of alien environment often seen in recent science fiction is
FRONTIER the gigantic artificial habitat. Inspired by the theoretical speculations of
scientists like Freeman Dyson and Gerard K. O’Neill, writers began
The idea of the frontier is a very imagining bigger and bigger artificial worlds. From Arthur C. Clarke’s
powerful one in science fiction. A giant starship Rama to Larry Niven’s Ringworld, they became progres-
frontier zone is where civilization sively vaster. Book reviewers and critics coined the term “Big Dumb
meets the unexplored wilderness. Object” to describe stories about exploring them. Usually the huge habi-
They are typically places of freedom, tat is abandoned, or its inhabitants have regressed to barbarism; other-
opportunity, and danger – all wise there is no mystery and the heroes are likely to be outclassed by
key ingredients for a roleplaying their technology. Sometimes (as with Rama), there are automatic sys-
campaign. tems still working. One interesting variant is the living, sentient space
habitat described by John Varley in his “Titan” series – it’s a Big Smart
Colony Alpha Object, and turns out to be a Big Crazy Object as well.

The characters are colonists set- Big Dumb Objects are a great source of the “sense of wonder” so
tling a newly discovered world. They important to science fiction, and their tremendous size allows for a
may be humans, a mix of races, or wide variety of environments, cultures, and adventures. A whole cam-
beings genetically engineered to exist paign could be set on a single Object as the heroes wander about seek-
ing clues to the origin and purpose of it, or look for a way home.

12 SPACE

Many players enjoy the challenge of the “Lagrange points” where the grav- players to help with the task if their
organizing settlements and exploring itational attraction of the Earth and characters are part of the colony con-
the frontier. This campaign can work the Moon create stable positions. A struction team. The scale can be any-
at TL8 or even lower, especially if the major space advocacy organization, thing from a small space station to a
PCs arrived on a sublight “sleeper” the L-5 Society, took its name from Big Dumb Object (see p. 12).
ship. one of those colony sites.
Campaign Disadvantages: The
Campaign Disadvantages: If the A slower-than-light starship can be essentially stationary nature of a space
colony is isolated, there will be a limit a space habitat in its own right, and colony may put off players who want
on available equipment – and its use the inhabitants of a lost ship might to go roving, and even a big habitat
may be controlled by the colony’s forget their origins and regress to bar- may get to be “too small” for the
administrators. The GM also has the barism. There is a whole subgenre of heroes.
burden of keeping the campaign more SF stories about weird cultures
interesting than “build another hut, aboard generation ships. References: The Babylon 5 and
explore another valley.” Star Trek: Deep Space 9 television
Character Roles: Player characters series; the Mobile Suit Gundam anime
References: The Seedling Stars by can be asteroid miners, zero-g work- series; Colonies in Space by T.A.
James Blish; Hestia and Forty ers, colony administrators, military Heppenheimer.
Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh; personnel, or just citizens looking for
Harry Harrison’s “Deathworld” series; a new start. On a generation ship they Survivors and Refugees
Farmer in the Sky and The Rolling may be warriors, priests, thieves, or
Stones by Robert A. Heinlein; The techno-wizards. Sometimes instead of people going
World At The End Of Time by Frederik to the frontier, the frontier comes to
Pohl; the Alpha Centauri computer Things to Do: Help build the colony them. In a space campaign this usual-
game from Electronic Arts. itself, cope with disasters like meteor ly means that the Galactic Empire or
strikes, create a new society, defend other interstellar society has fallen
Space Colonies the station against enemies or crimi- apart, leaving individual colonies to
nals, enforce the law, or simply fend for themselves in a time of anar-
The colonists may not have a world make money. Colonists may have to chy. Sometimes the best course is to
at all – they may be on a giant space fight for independence, either from flee, and shiploads of refugees may
habitat in orbit. The physicist Gerard Earth or from a home-grown tyrant. wander through space looking for a
K. O’Neill realized that for an Generation ship barbarians can dis- safe haven from war or invasion.
advanced spacefaring society, planets cover the true nature of their world, Survivor campaigns are the dark flip
are an awful bother. The solution he and perhaps steer it to its destination. side of the dream of the frontier: anar-
proposed is to build large artificial chy, chaos, and domination of the
habitats in space. O’Neill even chose a Campaign Advantages: The Game weak by the strong.
likely location for space colonies, at Master really needs to design just the
space habitat or ship, and can even get

SPACE 13

Character Roles: Nearly anybody on

a colony world can get caught up in Mercenaries
the collapse of civilization, but the

burden will be heaviest on military A great many science-fiction military stories involve the exploits of
personnel (who might be part-time mercenaries – professional soldiers selling their services to various gov-
militia), lawmen, and administrators. ernments and corporations to fight wars on distant worlds.
Technicians become vitally important
in keeping civilization running. Mercenaries don’t earn any money when they aren’t fighting, so
Among refugees, anyone who can fly a there will be plenty of action. Often their employers can’t quite afford
ship or keep it running suddenly overwhelming force to throw against the foe, so the heroes face diffi-
becomes a key individual. cult challenges. They get to operate in a wide variety of settings and
environments.
Things to Do: Fending off raiders
and warlords seeking to take advan- Mercenary campaigns tend to be very episodic: the heroes get
tage of the chaos, trading for vital sup- hired, do the job, and go on to the next contract. It’s hard to build up
plies with other worlds, salvaging any kind of ongoing “metaplot” under those circumstances. If the
important installations or ships, and enemy are “more numerous than we thought” or “surprisingly well-
rebuilding civilization. Space refugees equipped” too often, the players will start to suspect the GM is stack-
may wind up explorers, looking for a ing the deck. Mercs may get suckered into illegal or covert operations
new home – or fighting to get a where betrayal is part of the mission.

foothold on an inhabited world. Some

characters may embrace the chaos,

deciding to turn raider themselves. MILITARY aircraft, mecha, etc.), or the crew of
Campaign Advantages: Characters CAMPAIGNS a warship or space station. They
may be employed by a government,
can be people of importance and have It’s probably no surprise that the or they may work for a mercenary
a lasting impact on the game universe. most popular SF movie franchise ever organization.
Regression limits the effect of power- was called Star Wars. Military-orient-
ful technology. Even nearby worlds ed science fiction makes up a large Character Roles: Characters should
suddenly are “unexplored territory.” chunk of the genre today and shows be part of the same organization – and
no sign of slowing. usually the same unit. They should
Campaign Disadvantages: Players have the skills within their group to
may not like the reduced level of tech- perform their unit’s duties. They
nology or the more limited scope. If

the PCs can’t cope with a situation, might be on the fighting end (in which

there’s nobody to turn to for help. Starship Troopers case they will probably be enlisted
References: Both Battlestar men and junior officers), or they
Characters in a military cam- might be in command (senior officers
Galactica television series; Isaac and staff officers, with commands of
Asimov’s Foundation books; The Long paign might be infantry, battlesuit their own).
Night by Poul Anderson.
troopers, mechanized troops (tanks,

Things to Do: In wartime, marines

will be “bug hunting” in their battle-

Planetary Romance suits, while spacers are repelling
boarding parties on their starships.
Planetary romance is a very durable subtype of science fiction that Fighter pilots will scramble when they
focuses on a single world, typically a large Earthlike planet (or a Big are given the signal, and officers will
Dumb Object, as on p. 12) with lots of exotic alien cultures on it. make life-or-death decisions. If the
Notable examples include Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Martian” novels, L. campaign is on the frontier, or if the
Sprague De Camp’s “Krishna” stories, Jack Vance’s “Tschai” novels, and interstellar government is weak, fight-
Leigh Brackett’s “Skaith” series. Planetary romance typically involves a ing can continue in peacetime – espe-
low-technology setting, to allow for swordplay, pirate ships, gladiatorial cially for mercenaries.
battles, and similar swashbuckling.
Campaign Advantages: Government
The emphasis is not on the biology or sociology of the alien planet, troops don’t have to buy their own
but rather on perils and adventures. The planet usually has human or equipment. Since the PCs must answer
nearly human inhabitants, to allow for beautiful maidens in need of to a higher command, the GM can
rescue. more easily direct the campaign.

Running a planetary romance campaign is relatively simple – just Campaign Disadvantages: Military
drop the heroes onto an exotic world and then throw bandits and PCs have a Duty to their organization
pirates and beautiful maidens and lost treasures at them while they and its officers. Military regulations
search for a way to get home again. It does require substantial prepara- might be enforced. Unless the PCs
tion, as the world has to be worked out in some detail before the heroes include the captain of a crucial ship or
arrive. starbase, or the elite squad that always
performs the crucial assault, their

14 SPACE

individual actions will seldom influ- The Marines
ence entire battles and wars. If the GM
isn’t careful, all the battles may start to Space navies can only control space. It still takes soldiers to conquer
seem the same. a planet: the space Marines.

References: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Marines are assault troops, the ground arm of the navy. Their most
“Miles Vorkosigan” books; the Faded dangerous jobs come in wartime – boarding enemy vessels (if technol-
Sun series by C.J. Cherryh; Hammer’s ogy permits) and securing beachheads on hostile worlds. Marine con-
Slammers by David Drake; The Forever tingents are assigned to all warships as security forces.
War by Joe Haldeman; Starship
Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein; Space During peacetime Marines conduct war games, guard naval bases,
Viking by H. Beam Piper; the Cobra train planetary militias, and perform “police actions” – commando raids
and Blackcollar books by Timothy against pirate and criminal bases – in cooperation with the space patrol.
Zahn. In repressive societies, they also crush unrest and rebellion.

Ace Pilots The toughest of the tough, Marines live up to their reputation in
combat and off duty. They get the dirty jobs, and that’s the way they like
The fighter jock is the closest mod- it. It isn’t smart to mess with Marines.
ern equivalent to the knight of fiction
and legend: an elite warrior who bat- Adventuring Possibilities: The most likely place to encounter Marines
tles others like him in almost ritual- outside of battle is in a starport town on leave. Former Marines make
ized combats. George Lucas brought well-prepared adventurers, and may know secrets from their military
the space ace to the big screen in Star days.
Wars, drawing parallels between hot
pilots of the future and samurai war- The Big Chair First, just because naval vessels in
riors of the past. Earth’s history had a single com-
The exploits of heroic starship manding officer doesn’t mean star-
Character Roles: Pilot campaigns captains have a respectable history ships a thousand years in the future
usually center on a single squadron, in science fiction, dating back well must do the same. Conversely, the
either stationed at a base or flying off before Star Trek’s Captain Kirk captain could be a non-player
a carrier. If fighter craft can cover became an icon for the whole genre. character, with each of the heroes a
interstellar distances on their own, the subordinate officer. This gives the
pilots could even be mercenaries or Character Roles: Military vessels Game Master the ability to “give
freelancers offering their services at have a strict chain of command, with orders” from the Captain, but
hot spots all over the galaxy. the captain exercising ultimate leaves the players with the task of
authority and responsibility. There finding ways to carry out those
Things to Do: Adventures for space are several ways to give the other instructions.
pilots naturally center on space com- players more to do, rather than
bat (though if they’re flying trans- focusing entirely on the captain.
formable mecha, the battles can just
as easily be on the ground). They can
also have “shore leave” adventures in
port, survive crash landings on dan-
gerous planets, uncover enemy spies,
break out of prison camps, do hostage
rescues, infiltrate pirate crews, and
other interesting things that don’t
require a fast fighter ship.

Campaign Advantages: PCs can
have super-hot fighting machines
without being multi-billionaires.
Pilots can see action in many different
environments. Individual pilots can
actually affect the outcome of a battle.

Campaign Disadvantages: Getting
the pilots out of their fighter craft may
be like pulling teeth. Characters may
be overshadowed by their high-tech
vehicles. Space battles may all start
sounding alike after a while.

References: The Star Wars films;
Battlestar Galactica; just about every
World War II air-battle movie ever
made.

SPACE 15

Things to Do: A campaign center- The Rangers
ing on a starship captain and officers
need not be limited to just military The Rangers (or Star Rangers) are a paramilitary force trained in
operations. In peacetime the ship can survival, rescue, and combat on hazardous or untamed planets. They
go exploring, assist colony projects, are practiced outdoorsmen and survival experts. Rangers may also act
and carry diplomats on first-contact as “marshals” on new colonies, keeping law and order until the society
voyages. During war they join in fleet becomes self-governing.
actions, conduct raids against com-
mercial or military outposts, and They are often called upon to guard (or rescue) scout expeditions,
intercept enemy ships doing the same and sometimes to join space patrol missions. There is grudging mutual
thing. respect between the tough, free-swinging rangers and the spit-and-pol-
ish patrolmen. In some settings the ranger service may be an arm of the
Campaign Advantages: A military patrol.
starship can be ordered into adven-
ture scenarios by the high command Adventuring Possibilities: On the frontier, rangers are the only law
(i.e. the GM). The characters have a enforcers. PCs might find themselves deputized by the local ranger in
fair degree of independence within the an emergency. Ranger PCs can be a lot of fun if the campaign sticks to
limits of their duty. the ranger’s assigned territory, and an all-ranger campaign is possible.

Campaign Disadvantages: It may be invasion to be blunted, a mystery to Campaign Disadvantages: Patrol
hard to come up with enemies who unlock, or a distress call to answer, the PCs have a Duty to their organization
can threaten a powerful starship. As patrol gets the call. In times of war, the and its officers – and, depending on
already noted, the captain character patrol and the rangers are called to the campaign, they might operate
may wind up hogging the spotlight. duty – whether on covert missions under tight supervision. The patrol
behind enemy lines, escorting con- represents interstellar law; it can’t go
References: The Star Trek films, voys, or serving as light combat forces. around shooting indiscriminately.
series, and novels; David Weber’s Patrolmen often have the privilege of
“Honor Harrington” novels; David Campaign Advantages: The patrol is dying in the line of duty.
Drake’s “Lieutenant Leary, RCN” a powerful Patron, providing equip-
series. ment and a ship. Patrolmen also have References: Archetypal patrols can
a great range of adventures. This be found in the “Lensman” series by
STOP IN makes a wonderful “space opera” E.E. Smith and in Andre Norton’s SF
THE NAME background. novels. A more recent example is the
OF THE LAW
The Rebellion
A law enforcement campaign has
many similarities to a military one, For a different sort of military campaign, the players can run char-
but offers more opportunities for acters who are fighting a war of rebellion against a (presumably) tyran-
small groups and players who prefer nical regime. The most famous rebels in SF are the Rebel Alliance of
investigation to broadsides. Star Wars, but there are many others, often based on the patriots of
American Revolution or the Resistance during World War II.
Space Patrol
Rebellion campaigns offer considerably more flexibility and
A space patrol campaign puts the independence of action than a conventional military campaign.
PCs in a small starship, patrolling the Rebels seldom have a very tight chain of command, and can’t be
spacelanes, enforcing interstellar law, sticklers for discipline and regulations.
and protecting civilians from human
and alien menaces alike. A rebellion campaign also has a nice progression in scale. As the
heroes score more victories, the rebel side grows in power and the bat-
Character Roles: Patrolmen (p. 25) tles can be for higher stakes. Heroes can start out fighting to survive,
or rangers, probably assigned to a ship then take down some small or isolated government outposts, graduate
or frontier space station. They should to major offensives, and finally carry the war to the tyrant’s stronghold
have the skills to perform their duties; itself!
one may be the leader. Alternatively,
the PCs could work for a peacekeeping The biggest problem faced by rebel characters is supplies. Unless
force or an interstellar diplomatic there is a friendly government beyond the border furnishing ships and
agency. ammunition, the rebels must steal what they need, and carefully hoard
what they have.
Things to Do: Aside from patrolling
interstellar borders and spacelanes, References: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein;
patrolmen are interstellar policemen, later seasons of Babylon 5; David Brin’s The Uplift War.
investigators, rescuers, and the all-
around do-gooders of the galaxy. If
there are pirates to be fought, smug-
glers to be tracked down, an alien

16 SPACE

Bounty Hunters characters in Neuromancer and other
works by William Gibson are crooks
of one kind or another.

No disintegrations! MEDIA AND

– Darth Vader, The Empire Strikes Back

If the players don’t enjoy the regimentation and rigidity of running POLITICS

space patrol characters but still want to chase galactic bad guys, they Humans are social animals. We
can be bounty hunters, freelance law enforcement agents tracking bad naturally form groups. Who gets to
guys for money. Mike Resnick chronicled the exploits of space bounty run those groups, how those groups
hunters in his novel Santiago, as well as the “Widowmaker” series. interact with each other, and how the
groups make decisions are always
For the GM, a bounty hunter campaign has much to recommend it. interesting subjects, as are the people
The heroes don’t have a vast organization to help them, but they are ulti- who report on them.
mately on the side of law and order. Bounty offers are perfect adventure
hooks, and fugitive crooks can lead their hunters into all sorts of exotic

worlds and bizarre situations. There’s a satisfying action level, but boun- Political SF
ty hunters who bring in smoldering piles of ash too often will suffer con-

sequences. Science fiction has always had a

political component. Many writers

have used alien or future civilizations

to comment on contemporary Earth.

rangers of Babylon 5. A “peacetime” and GMs alike may find distasteful. Others have explored different ideas

space navy may find itself performing After a really big score, the characters about political power and govern-

patrol-type functions, even if not may wish to retire and enjoy their ment. Some authors have focused on

specifically a law-enforcement body. spoils. those involved in the political process,

References: Science-fiction super- while others simply show their effect

Criminals crooks include Harry Harrison’s on the lives of ordinary people.
Slippery Jim DiGriz and the narrator Politics between large states is the
Instead of enforcing the law, the of Samuel R. DeLany’s “Time process of diplomacy, which can
player characters may be in the Considered as a Helix of Semi- shade into exploration and first-
business of breaking it. They may be Precious Stones.” Pretty much all the contact stories.
freelancers, or part of a criminal

organization. They may even be

“deniable assets” of a spy agency or

megacorporation. Space Pirates
Character Roles: Space opera

crooks were typically smugglers or In science fiction, space pirates are a venerable tradition dating back
space pirates, cyberpunk criminals are to the pulp era. Unless the players like to run characters who are greedy
typically data thieves or assassins-for- psychopaths, a space pirate campaign should probably make use of the
hire, and there have always been high- romantic “rogue with a heart of gold” image familiar from swashbuck-
tech thieves, clever con men, and sin- ling fiction. The pirates only rob ships belonging to bad guys – the
ister gangsters in science fiction. Galactic Tyrant, the Evil Corporation, or the nasty aliens.

Things to Do: Plan and execute Space piracy is usually restricted to highly cinematic space opera
elaborate heist capers, evade the campaigns. But if everyone can agree to suspend their disbelief, space
forces of the law, battle rival crooks, or pirate adventures can use all the brightly colored trappings of pirate fic-
maybe even try to do something tion: buried treasures, revenge, duels, rescues, walking the plank out the
decent once in a while. airlock, and lots of swinging around on ropes. To give it the real Errol
Flynn feel, make “energy swords” or “vibroblades” the weapon of choice
Campaign Advantages: Players with and limit the plasma cannons to point-blank range.
a lot of initiative can come up with
their own criminal schemes, reducing Where piracy, military campaigns, and trading meet is the privateer
the Game Master’s workload. There campaign, in which the adventurers are not part of a military force, but
can be plenty of action and opportuni- have been given a license (traditionally known as a “letter of marque”)
ties for roleplaying in a criminal caper. to attack enemy shipping. Essentially, they are allowed to act like pirates
as long as they confine their piracy to a specific enemy. They can use
Campaign Disadvantages: The friendly ports quite openly, and sometimes even get some help from reg-
characters face very formidable oppo- ular military forces. However, they have to be very careful about choos-
sition, not only from the police but ing legal targets, and their license only lasts as long as the war.
from rival crooks as well, and they Privateers are basically self-employed mercenaries, and so privateer
have nobody to rely on but them- adventures can be worked into an ongoing mercenary campaign.
selves. A life of crime involves a lot of
frankly ugly behavior, which players

SPACE 17

Character Roles: Characters The Pen Is Mightier present the truth. Travel writers
involved in politics can be profes- Than the Blaster combine journalism and exploration.
sional bureaucrats, aristocrats, elect-
ed legislators, or regular folks who With the computer revolution of Campaign Advantages: The charac-
are “mad as hell” about some issue. the 1980s and the birth of the “infor- ters are investigating and exploring –
They can also be members of an mation age,” the power of the media getting into adventures, in other
opposition group or even a secret and the importance of how informa- words. They don’t have official status
conspiracy. tion is presented became a major or heavy firepower, so getting out of
theme in science fiction. Cyberpunk those adventures requires cleverness
Things to Do: Bureaucrats can fiction is all about information and and courage. Breaking an important
engage in office empire building, or virtual reality, and even the most rivet- story can give the PCs real influence.
get sent out to act as troubleshooters studded hard SF now must at least
when crises loom. Elected officials acknowledge the importance of infor- Campaign Disadvantages: The GM
can run political campaigns, outma- mation networks. The Traveller role- has to dangle lots of adventure hooks
neuver opponents in debate, and cut playing game uses the “Traveller News for his PCs to follow, and they may go
deals. Diplomats may try to prevent Service” as a way to disseminate chasing after red herrings. Characters
wars or establish relations with alien adventure hooks, red herrings, and may not be well prepared for danger.
civilizations. Activists struggle to information about the setting.
expose corruption and fight oppres- References: John Barnes’ novel
sion. Aristocrats may wind up doing Character Roles: Freelance journal- Mother of Storms; Norman Spinrad’s
all those things in between lavish ists have the flexibility to chase Bug Jack Barron; William Gibson’s
court balls and assassination obscure leads, but reporters for a Pattern Recognition.
attempts. major news service have better
resources. The people behind the cam- Agents of Terra
Campaign Advantages: Players era – cameramen, producers, techni-
who enjoy lots of roleplaying will cians, fixers, and bodyguards – are The espionage campaign focuses
take to political games, but there’s almost as important as the reporters on intrigue, covert operations, and
still plenty of action opportunities in themselves. double-dealing among the stars.
the form of assassinations, “black
bag jobs” and election-day brawls. Things to Do: Journalism naturally Character Roles: The PCs must be
Characters can really affect the game lends itself to a game of investigation, deadly and capable. They may be
world with their decisions. The cam- so the Game Master can come up with
paign doesn’t move around much, so some sinister conspiracy or govern- suave and sophisticated, or they may
the GM can develop one setting in ment cover-up and then let the PCs look and act like interstellar scum – it
depth. uncover it. In oppressive societies, doesn’t matter as long as they can
reporters may risk their lives to work undercover and kill efficiently
Campaign Disadvantages: The when necessary. They might also be
Game Master has to keep track of a “specialists,” brought in when needed
lot of NPCs and factions. Political for specific assignments.
differences among the players may
surface in the game and cause end-
less arguments. Some players may be
frustrated by the need for restraint.
The very importance of the charac-
ters means that their mistakes can be
catastrophic.

References: Robert Heinlein wrote
several novels involving political
maneuverings, including The Moon
Is a Harsh Mistress, Double Star, and
Revolt in 2100. Norman Spinrad,
Kim Stanley Robinson, and Bruce
Sterling are also interested in politi-
cal themes. Alastair Reynolds’
Revelation Space and its sequels
combine space opera and political
maneuvering. George Orwell’s depic-
tion of a communist dictatorship in
Britain in 1984 is probably the most
famous SF dystopia. Utopias include
L. Neil Smith’s libertarian alternate
universe of The Probability Broach,
and Iain M. Banks’ “Culture” setting.

18 SPACE

Heroic Bureaucrats? Campaign Advantages: If a mer-
chant makes money, he may feel that
Not every hero packs a blaster or flies a starship. Campaigns can be the ends justify the means – players
built around characters in some fairly unlikely jobs. Low-level corporate who can’t do things “by the book” may
managers or government bureaucrats may get sent to a remote frontier enjoy this campaign. Free traders have
world to deal with a problem, only to find it’s a much bigger and dead- many options on where to go and
lier problem than they were led to expect. Officials within seemingly what to do, while company men may
mundane agencies like the Interstellar Trade Commission (p. 24) or the be allowed to break regulations if they
Postal Authority (p. 25) can get involved in scams, conspiracies, or plots turn a profit. Company men have a
by hostile powers. If the essence of drama is characters under stress, Patron in their employer.
then a very dramatic campaign can result when the characters aren’t
heroic warriors or skilled agents, but unprepared desk jockeys forced to Campaign Disadvantages: Free
rise to the occasion. Isn’t that what being a hero really means? traders are on their own when it
comes to equipment and a starship.
PCs don’t have to be traditional Laumer’s “Retief” stories; and Eric They will constantly have to keep an
“secret agents” – they might work for Frank Russell’s Wasp. Cyberpunk SF eye on their finances and will be in big
naval intelligence, the Patrol’s covert turned spies into corporate agents in trouble if they run out of money.
office, a corporation’s industrial intel- stories like William Gibson’s Count (Impoverished traders may try to skip
ligence bureau, or an obscure regula- Zero. out on their payments and go criminal
tory or law-enforcement agency. They . . . becoming pirates.) Company
might even work for the Other Side. WORKING STIFFS men may be restricted by regulations,
Or they may be private operatives. specified trade runs, and other forms
The future won’t be devoted of corporate control.
Things to Do: Spies work to pre- entirely to covert operations, gunplay,
serve their organization and to cripple and larceny. Just earning an honest References: Poul Anderson’s “Van
or destroy hostile spy networks. They living can be exciting enough if the Rijn/Falkayn” stories; A. Bertram
infiltrate criminal or enemy organiza- job takes you to new worlds. Chandler’s “Commodore Grimes”
tions while eliminating moles and Campaigns designed around ordi- series; C.J. Cherryh’s “Chanur” and
double agents in their own outfit. nary careers can provide ample “Merchanter” series; Robert A.
Important people and vital secrets opportunity for adventure. Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy; Andre
must often be rescued, kidnapped or Norton’s “Solar Queen” novels;
stolen. Most importantly, spies must Selling the Moon – Cascade Point by Timothy Zahn.
discover and stop the latest insidious Wholesale
plot to take over the universe – and the Prospecting
galactic Illuminati are everywhere. The characters are merchants –
free traders or employees of a mer- Independent-minded asteroid min-
Campaign Advantages: Spy agen- chant company. Profit is the name of ers began showing up in SF in the
cies are often Patrons, providing spe- the game. 1940s, and soon became a staple. The
cialized and expensive equipment. Belt is another potential “new fron-
Friendly law-enforcement organiza- Character Roles: PCs are merchant tier” where people can make a fresh
tions may be cooperative (or jealous, ship crew members. Some should start. SF prospectors tend to seek exot-
or traitorous). Except when on assign- have mercantile and shipboard skills; ic things: radioactives, magnetic
ment, PCs will usually be free to do a few ex-military types might be monopoles, alien artifacts, quantum
what they wish. Many agents are paid handy. black holes, helium III, or chunks of
well. This campaign works well for a antimatter.
small group. Things to Do: This campaign is
about getting cargo from origin to Character Roles: Other than
Campaign Disadvantages: Spies destination – despite the hazards of prospectors, likely characters for an
have a Duty to their Patron, and will travel, competitors, and alien men- asteroid-mining campaign include
often be sent on dangerous missions. aces. An added dimension comes if explorers (to locate resource-rich
Both the individual PC and his Patron the merchants must develop their rocks), pilots, technicians, scientists
will have Enemies. There is also a lot own markets: evaluating new worlds (especially when the prospectors are
of double-dealing – PCs might be sent for profit potential, making deals with digging up artifacts or black holes),
on suicide missions, fingered by alien civilizations, finding new cargo merchants (to sell the stuff), and pos-
informers, or targeted by opposing and ways to sell it. They can ride the sibly some well-armed guards to ward
assassins. coattails of survey vessels – or even off claim-jumpers.
explore on their own. Variety can
References: The “Flandry of Terra” come from special charter runs or Things to Do: Actually finding stuff
novels by Poul Anderson; Iain Banks’ unusual passengers. and digging it up isn’t especially inter-
“Culture” novels; the “Stainless Steel esting, even if the job is difficult and
Rat” series by Harry Harrison; Keith dangerous. Adventures come when
the prospectors find something
unusual, or face claim-jumpers, or
stumble across a hidden rebel base.

SPACE 19

Campaign Advantages: Prospectors of it too seriously. Boring if
have a lot of autonomy, and the cam- drawn out, so best used as light relief
paign can have lots of gritty hard-SF between episodes of a serious
details. Dangerous work and rough campaign.
company can provide action, but it’s
likely to be small-scale conflict suit- References: Douglas Adams’ The
able for a group of PCs. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; Harry
Harrison’s Bill, The Galactic Hero;
Campaign Disadvantages: The Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, The
Game Master needs to work up a star Dark Side of the Sun, and Strata;
system in some detail if the characters almost anything by Robert Sheckley
are going to spend time searching for or Jack Vance; Lost in Space; Red
wealth. Characters without their own Dwarf; the campiest episodes of Star
ship will be at the mercy of whatever Trek and Dr Who.
mining company controls the best
rocks. Game Masters have to make Heroic Engineering
sure the characters can make a living,
by adjusting the chance of finding Science fiction is defined as stories about or involving science and
something of value and setting the technology, and so it’s natural that a very old subgenre concentrates on
market price accordingly. stories about people engaged in large technology projects. This was
once a central part of SF, but was gradually shoved aside by more
References: Larry Niven’s “Known adventure-oriented fiction. But it never died out completely. Stories of
Space” stories; Poul Anderson’s Tales heroic engineering include Arthur C. Clarke’s The Fountains of Paradise,
of the Flying Mountains. about the construction of a space elevator, and parts of Kim Stanley
Robinson’s “Green Mars” series about terraforming Mars. In heroic
THE ABSURDIST engineering stories, the actual process of doing the job and overcoming
CAMPAIGN the technical challenges are major themes rather than just background
for drama.
If life on Earth is incomprehensible
and sometimes blackly comic, how In a GURPS Space adventure, heroic engineering can be an inter-
much worse might a galactic empire esting alternative to blaster fights and space marketing. Tasks like
be? Absurdist SF is often satirical, but designing a new starship or completing a space colony can be quite
an absurdist space campaign is usual- fascinating, even if they don’t involve as much adrenaline.
ly an excuse for straightforward Engineering adventures do require players who are interested in com-
humor, from simple silliness to more ing up with their own equipment designs, using the rules for New
subtly bizarre. Inventions (p. B473) or Gadgeteering (p. B475).

Character Roles: Innocents abroad The Game Master can complicate matters with hidden flaws, indus-
– possibly highly capable on their own trial spies among the labor crew, sinister forces intent on stopping the
world, but in galactic society they are project, and unforeseen expenses. Those problems can generate blaster
but motes caught up in chaos, not fights and hovercraft chases to keep the non-engineer characters busy.
even able to go to the male mam- However, it may be necessary for the Game Master and some players to
malian biped’s room without a guide- do the actual design evaluation and skill rolls via e-mail rather than dur-
book. The being with an angle – some- ing game sessions, if other players are easily bored.
one who (thinks it) sees a profit to be
made from the situation. Characters Construction
from other campaign types, twisted to
suit. You don’t get much more blue-collar than construction work, even
if it’s a thousand miles up in orbit. All those orbital stations, star-
Things to Do: Get home; rebuild ships, space colonies, and whatnot don’t build themselves (unless it’s
home; buy a nice quiet planet; find out a game setting with advanced biotech and living spaceships, of
who’s behind it all; make a documen- course). The crews who do the work of building them can get into all
tary; become emperor; find a decent kinds of interesting trouble.
cup of coffee; try to avoid trouble.
As with prospecting, the work itself may be only a backdrop. The real
Campaign Advantages: Can go any- fun comes when the workers face labor racketeers or corporate thugs,
where and take inspiration from any- or when the colony they’re working on suddenly declares itself inde-
thing (following classic clichés to pendent and gets into a shooting war, or when it turns out someone on
absurd conclusions). The GM can the shift is part of a smuggling ring. If the project includes asteroid min-
rewrite galactic history and assign TLs ing for raw materials, then the work crews may spend part of their time
to suit himself. Characters rarely die, as prospectors, which adds all those adventure possibilities.
except absurdly.
SPACE
Campaign Disadvantages: Can go
anywhere. Needs players and GM
willing to improvise and not take any

20

Who Needs Starships?

While flying from world to world aboard a sleek star- doesn’t completely eliminate the need for brave pilots,
ship is the most common image in science fiction, some since many settings require somebody to go out and find
settings use other means of traveling from planet to places to put gates. (The Heinlein novel avoids this by
planet. Robert Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky shows explor- letting the gate projectors probe out for new locations,
ers venturing to other worlds through teleport gates. and Stargate assumes a pre-existing network.)
Dan Simmons’ Hyperion series makes it even easier –
people can have houses with rooms on different planets! Interstellar gates are quick and easy to use. How
The Stargate film and television series used a similar expensive they are depends on how much energy they
idea. consume and how hard they are to build. If the cost is
low, then every place in the galaxy is “next door” and civ-
Getting rid of spaceships makes the setting much ilization will function as a single giant city. A high cost
more convenient for heroes who aren’t rich enough to limits private trade and travel, but military forces can
afford their own ship, or to buy passage frequently. This still deploy instantly to meet threats.

Nothing affects the flavor of a sci- ALIENS Common
ence-fiction campaign as much as the
presence (or absence) of alien races. that the GM can develop each alien A race that is older, fast-breeding,
There can be one alien species in a species in some depth, and the players or aggressive in exploration may be
campaign, a handful, or a great many, won’t have any trouble remembering encountered often. Such races are also
and their roles can range from subju- which is which. Larry Niven’s “Known well-known in their localities, regard-
gated to overlords. Chapter 6 contains Space” series has only about ten alien less of dominance. The opposite is
detailed rules for creating alien species. rare; such races may be new to inter-
beings. stellar civilization, secretive, or slow-
ALIENS breeding. In James Blish’s Cities in
ALONE IN EVERYWHERE! Flight series, humans are common but
THE COSMOS don’t dominate other species.
There are many intelligent species
There is only one sentient species, in the universe. Unless one is domi- Exotic
and all characters must belong to it. nant or exotic, only those with Area
Widely variant forms are still possible, Knowledge of its region of space will Races may be well-known because
however. A human-only cosmos can recognize it on sight. The various they have odd customs, bizarre repu-
still be diverse and exciting – especial- aliens mingle, and there may be true tations, unusual biology, or control of
ly if bioengineering is common! Many interspecies civilizations. David Brin’s a particular technology. In Dr.Who the
stories of galactic sweep, such as “Uplift” series has many aliens, and Gallifreyan Time Lords are known
Herbert’s Dune books and Asimov’s the Star Wars universe suggests a great throughout the galaxy for their mas-
Foundation series, have included no variety of intelligent beings. Alien tery of time, even though they seldom
aliens. In Iain M. Banks’ “Culture” species in a multispecies setting can leave their citadel.
series, humanoids from different be categorized as:
worlds have merged into a single Advanced
“race” through bioengineering and Dominant
cultural assimilation. Some races might have a higher TL
One or more species may dominate than the rest of the campaign – possi-
THE GALACTIC others; their power may be military bly even so advanced as to seem like
CLUB (conquerors or peace keepers) or eco- gods compared to everyone else. They
nomic (manufacturers, traders, or may use their power to help “lesser”
There are only a handful of star- explorers). Dominant alien civiliza- civilizations, or to conquer and
traveling life forms. Almost anyone tions are well known near their oppress them! The opposite is primi-
will recognize each type of alien and regions of space. The opposite is sub- tive, a race that is technologically
know the important facts about it. ordinate species that are dominated by backward. In the Babylon 5 television
This arrangement has the advantage others. Humans are often a dominant series, the Vorlons are known to be
species in fiction, as in the Star Wars vastly more advanced than other
films. civilizations.

SPACE 21

Precursor caste system. Separate societies of Human Empire). The decadent
subspecies might also exist; perhaps Martians of Edgar Rice Burroughs’
Many SF novels have been written they separated millennia ago. In Jack books are an example.
around the mysterious “Precursor” or Vance’s “Tschai” series there are Blue
“Forerunner” races: once-great civi- Chasch, Green Chasch, and Old Unknown
lizations that have disappeared, leav- Chasch, all different branches of the
ing only puzzling ruins and artifacts same original species and all mutually The GM may create one or more
behind. In the Traveller universe, the hostile. alien species – potentially friendly or
mysterious “Ancients” even trans- hostile – that are unknown to interstel-
planted Earth life across a vast region Descendant lar society at the start of the cam-
of space, so that hundreds of planets paign. Usually unknown aliens live
have native humans. A popular theme in SF literature is beyond the edge of explored space, but
the “fallen race” descended from a in Niven and Pournelle’s The Mote in
Subrace once-mighty civilization. Or space God’s Eye the Motie home system is
might contain several subraces, all within the human empire, isolated by
A race may include several sub- descended from the original a quirk of interstellar geography.
species or offshoots. These may exist Precursors (or the splintered First
within a single society, perhaps with a

SOCIETIES

Having decided what kind of cam- worlds with no interstellar organiza- Citizens have no direct influence on
paign it is, the Game Master needs to tion at all. This mimics the situation in an alliance, but they can influence
pick a society that supports that kind the modern world, just on a vastly their world government, which is rep-
of adventure. SF literature describes larger scale. “Failed states” are the resented on the Alliance Council.
dozens of different kinds of interstel- result of a catastrophic collapse of the There may be a small allied navy or
lar societies. The most important interstellar government, leaving a space patrol.
things about an interstellar civiliza- power vacuum that attracts warlords,
tion are size and political type. bandits, and extremists. The third type H. Beam Piper’s Sword-Worlds
is “anarchist utopias” – stable anar- formed an alliance (the individual
Size is largely determined by the chies deliberately set up as states with- worlds had feudal governments). The
speed of FTL travel and communica- out a government. These can be quite human worlds of Larry Niven’s
tions, which will be discussed in detail large, even galactic in scale, but recog- “Known Space” series might be con-
in Chapter 2. In general, the faster the nize no sovereignty above the level of sidered a very loose alliance, at least in
ships can travel, the larger a coherent individual beings. Iain M. Banks’ wartime.
interstellar nation can be. Central con- “Culture” is an anarchist utopia.
trol is difficult when the borders are Effects on the Campaign
more than a month’s travel from the Effects on the Campaign
capital. Citizens of an alliance are free to
Anarchies allow the maximum of do almost anything – even exploration
The most common political types freedom for PCs – and for villains as is unregulated. Unless they violate one
are the alliance, federation, corporate well. In a patchwork situation, the of the few alliance laws, they have lit-
state, and empire, as outlined below characters may be merchants or trav- tle to fear from the patrol. Another
and explored in more detail in Chapter elers who have to cope with very dif- benefit of adventuring in an alliance is
7. These can vary greatly. Look at the ferent social conditions on each plan- its potential variety. Any sort of gov-
differences between the empire in et. In a failed state, they may be work- ernment or society can exist on a
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series and ing to restore order (or carve out their member world, as long as the world is
that in Star Wars, or the federations in own empires). Anarchist utopias are reasonably stable in its dealings with
Star Trek and Andre Norton’s “Solar often “good guy” societies that must other planets. However, this allows
Queen” books. be protected. more chances for PCs to run into
unexpected laws and taboos. And if
Designing your interstellar govern- THE ALLIANCE they get in trouble on a member
ment(s) is a great creative exercise, world, they can expect little help – the
and shapes your whole campaign. An alliance is a group of patrol has no jurisdiction (if it even
autonomous worlds. Its key feature is exists).
ANARCHY that its members are genuinely self-
governing. The alliance controls only Resourceful types who are wary
Anarchy is a state that isn’t a state interstellar policy – primarily defense around repressive societies and who
at all. There is no government, at least policy and foreign relations – and not aren’t averse to world hopping when
not in the sense we know it today. any member’s domestic affairs. it’s time to run may do quite well in an
Interstellar anarchies come in three alliance.
main types. “Patchwork states” are
simply a large number of independent

22 SPACE

THE FEDERATION Patrol office, unless the laws they and their noses to the grindstone –
broke meet Federation standards, in while watching their backs.
Federations and alliances share which case they may be turned over to
many features, but they differ in local authorities. THE EMPIRE
basic philosophy. In an alliance, the
individual member worlds dominate THE CORPORATE An autocracy is a state in which
the central government. In a federa- STATE one person is the final authority. Such
tion, the opposite is true – the central states usually clothe themselves in the
government takes precedence over its This is a society run by big business trappings of religion, feudalism, mili-
component worlds. Federations usu- – a huge corporation that controls tarism . . . or all three. Fifty years of
ally take the form of republican entire worlds, with a monopoly on science fiction have popularized the
democracies – that is, citizens elect commerce among them. Leadership is term “empire” for this sort of struc-
the Federation President and local vested in a Board of Directors and a ture, and we’ll follow suit (but see
representatives to a Federation Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Empire, p. 197).
Congress. The typical federation is
free but bureaucratic. Dictatorial corporate states are Theoretically, all power comes
depicted in F.M. Busby’s “Star Rebel” from the autocrat, or emperor – only
Federations are the ruling stories and (on one world) in Sten, by his grace does any lesser authority
bodies in the Star Trek universe and by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch. Poul exist within the domain. Empires are
Alan Dean Foster’s Humanx Anderson’s Polesotechnic League not necessarily evil, or even totalitari-
Commonwealth. is an alliance of (usually) fair and well- an. An empire may be ruled by wise,
managed corporate states. fair people.
Effects on the Campaign
Effects on the Campaign Empires are so common in science
Campaigns set in a federation offer fiction that they’re trite. Most (that of
less freedom for those who play fast Corporate societies can be danger- Star Wars, for instance) are dictatorial.
and loose with the law. Law-abiding ous; corporate security is watching all Jerry Pournelle’s CoDominium is
types may find it the safest place of all the time. The PCs might be security heartless and bureaucratic. But the
– if they are federation citizens. PCs staff . . . or “evil” unionists! Good Empire of Man in The Mote in God’s
who run afoul of extremist planetary employees will keep their eyes on Eye and the Imperium of Traveller are
societies might find aid at the nearest business, their shoulders to the wheel, basically benevolent.

SPACE 23

Effects on Adventures
the Campaign Beyond Society

If the empire is perceived as cor- Not all adventures require much of a social context. Characters who
rupt, players will enjoy getting away are completely isolated or who are far beyond the reach of civilization
with whatever they can. If the empire are effectively their own society. The astronauts in Alien or the crash
is firm but fair (it can certainly hap- survivors in Pitch Black have no contact with their home societies any-
pen!) there will be honor to be won in way. In settings like those, the GM can just sketch in the social back-
its service. ground very roughly (“you’re a thousand light years beyond the
Imperial border”). It is useful to know a little about the civilization the
ALIEN PCs are currently isolated from, if only to avoid players spending points
GOVERNMENTS on noble titles when the culture is egalitarian.

Alien civilizations may have gov- Effects on the Campaign out who’s in charge in order to start
ernments unlike any ever tried by negotiations. Humans living under the
humans. They could have a vast An alien government type often rule of aliens may find their laws
hive-mind, or be ruled by super- presents a mystery to explorers or nonsensical or just plain weird; aliens
computers. Government and power diplomats attempting to establish visiting human space may be equally
relations might be based on instinct, peaceful contact. A whole mini-cam- perplexed.
or on ruthlessly logical principles. paign could be built on simply figuring
Chapter 7 includes several ideas
for completely alien systems of
government.

INTERSTELLAR ORGANIZATIONS

Any society will contain a number Diplomats in fiction are often more and cooperate with the Patrol (p. 25)
of important interstellar organiza- dedicated to the “process” of diploma- against interstellar smuggling.
tions, which make good building cy than actual results, because goals
blocks for a campaign. Some organi- change with every shift in government Adventuring possibilities: Indepen-
zations will be restricted to a single but protocol is eternal. All govern- dent traders hate the ITC for its red-
nation; others may extend through all ments use diplomats as information- tape regulations and love it for the
of space. Organizations will include gatherers, and as agents of social and way it keeps big merchant outfits from
lots of NPCs – bosses, hirelings, foes, political influence. putting them out of business.
and spear-carriers. Most organizations Corporations simply hate it. Everyone
make appropriate Patrons (or at least Adventuring possibilities: Diplomatic will suffer the indignities of going
employers) for PCs, but membership missions provide cover for spies. through customs. A shipful of ITC
may also carry responsibilities – Duty, Diplomats may resolve an interstellar inspectors can poke their noses almost
Sense of Duty, or both. crisis peacefully – or be duped into anywhere, making for a free-swinging
ignoring enemy aggression until it’s campaign.
GOVERNMENT almost too late. PCs can be diplomats
ORGANIZATIONS stationed in an alien capital, or roving Mercenary
“firefighters” moving from one crisis Regulatory Agency
Interstellar governments have point to the next.
many branches. Their official names If mercenaries are a big part of
should suit the society; for instance, Interstellar Trade interstellar society, an organization
the patrol might be known as the Commission like this may exist to set policies and
Alliance Patrol, the Imperial Patrol, directives for mercenary companies.
the Interstellar Police, or something The ITC sets tariffs, duties, taxes, Those that comply will receive licens-
completely different like “the rules, and regulations for all merchant es. Those that refuse must disband or
Federation Bureau of Investigation.” ships, both corporate and independ- leave – or face the Marines.
ent. All traders must be licensed by the
Diplomatic Corps ITC in order to conduct commerce Regulatory agencies determine
within the nation. The commission which weapons mercenary armies can
Diplomats negotiate with other may be charged with preventing use – typically banning biological and
planets or interstellar governments. monopolies in trade, especially by larg- nuclear arms, at least on inhabited
They may also act as first-contact spe- er corporations, sometimes allying worlds. Unfair technological advan-
cialists, either in partnership with the with the Special Justice Group (p. 204) tages are sometimes outlawed as well
scouts (see p. 26) or as rivals to them. for this purpose. ITC agents operate – merc companies may have to use
the customs stations at all starports, weapons of the same TL as the world
on which battle occurs. Some latitude

24 SPACE

may be allowed; outnumbered forces Patrol communications. A misrouted mes-
may be allowed a technological edge, sage or parcel could be the trigger for
for instance. See Andre Norton’s The primary responsibility of the just about any adventure scenario.
“Star Guard” and Jerry Pournelle’s patrol is to police space. Peacetime
“CoDominium” stories. duties include rescue work, escort for Security and
colony ships, routine space patrols, Intelligence Agency
Adventuring possibilities: The MRA anti-piracy and anti-smuggling opera-
is a natural opponent for merc outfits, tions, starbase regulation and inspec- This shadowy, covert group is the
whether on the trail of lawbreaking tion, blockading restricted worlds, and national espionage and counterespi-
companies or acting as a nuisance for perhaps mundane police duties on onage arm. Agents are trained in intel-
law-abiding ones. In a non-merc cam- small colonies or space stations that ligence gathering, overt and covert, as
paign, adventurers may contact the lack their own local police force. well as the “tricks of the trade,” includ-
MRA to demand action after being ing infiltration, misinformation, code
harassed by mercs – or the MRA may Patrol forces operate under naval breaking, social manipulation, and
contact them if they tried to hire command during wartime. In a young assassination. Counterespionage
mercs for a questionable job. or loosely knit society, or one with no agents are responsible for identifying
known foreign enemies, there may be and neutralizing agents of foreign gov-
Navy no navy – in this case, the patrol per- ernments. There will usually be sever-
forms both military defense and law al different agencies, often with mis-
The space navy is the primary enforcement. leading names, who spend a great deal
interstellar military force, defending of their time spying on each other!
against (or attacking) rival nations. Adventuring possibilities: Everyone
During wartime, the navy’s job is to encounters the patrol, whether they Under a repressive society, intelli-
defend the borders and vital inner sys- run to it or from it when they’re in gence agencies will spy on citizens
tems while depriving the enemy of his trouble. Patrol PCs will never lack for while sending agents provocateurs to
ability to wage war. Between wars, the adventure. foment unrest in rival nations. Loosely
navy maintains readiness. The fleet knit societies may have no intelligence
may also pay “goodwill” visits to Postal Authority arm, but their member states might.
neighboring stellar states to stave off In some societies, this may merge
war by impressing potential foes. The Postal Authority is responsible with the survey service and be respon-
for interstellar communications, sible for covertly infiltrating alien or
Adventuring possibilities: In most which means its role varies depending foreign societies, either to learn more
non-military campaigns the navy is on available technology. If faster-than- about them or to alter their societies
the background threat – the interven- light radio is possible, the Postal to make them ripe for assimilation or
tion so awful no one risks it. Pirates Authority operates interstellar trans- conquest.
and criminals avoid fighting the navy. mitters. If only ships can travel
On the other hand, in a turbulent fron- between the stars, then the Authority Adventuring possibilities: Characters
tier region, the navy is often the only runs couriers or farms out mail con- might find themselves on an intelli-
authority for light years around. tracts to merchants. However they do gence mission – as unsuspecting
Playing the captain and command it, the Postal Authority’s people know dupes or working with agents. If they
officers of a major warship or starbase that communication is civilization. are part of an important organization,
assigned to an interesting sector of they may be infiltrated by agents of an
space can give great scope for players Adventuring possibilities: Characters enemy nation. An entire espionage
who want to make a difference. could be courier-ship pilots or private campaign is also possible (see p. 18).
traders with a mail contract. Con
Office of games and conspiracies might center
Colonial Affairs around interfering with interstellar

The Office of Colonial Affairs over-
sees colony ventures and regulates the
construction of colony ships. It may
control new colonies until they are
self-sustaining, appointing all admin-
istrators and governors. It may also
work with the Ministry of Prisons to
get involuntary colonists for harsh,
mineral-rich worlds.

Adventuring possibilities: For
colonist PCs, a friendly OCA may be
their greatest ally . . . and a corrupt
one will be their worst enemy. An OCA
inspection team will encounter inter-
esting situations.

SPACE 25

Special Justice Group voices heard. The League may even be may be a close-knit “brotherhood of
mostly human in membership. The spacers” or a bland professional
Formed as a watchdog agency over Alien Rights League can be an altruis- organization.
multistellar corporations, the SJG tic group dedicated to the rights of all
oversees corporate expansion and beings, or it can be the cover for violent Adventuring possibilities: The
diversification, regulates free trade extremists. Similar groups may exist to league is the home organization for
and stock sales, collects taxes and promote the rights of robots, uplifted most trader PCs. Other nonmilitary
other government fees, inspects exist- animals, or genetically modified PCs are likely to encounter independ-
ing corporate facilities, and approves humans; in an alien-dominated setting, ent traders, especially on the frontier –
all new facilities. Its mission is to pre- it may be humans who need the ARL’s passenger rates are low, voyages are
serve society from domination by protection! slow, and there’s always a chance of
powerful business groups, while adventure before journey’s end.
maintaining their financial health – Adventuring possibilities: Nonhuman
realizing that the economy of the state characters may need the ARL’s help Mercenary Companies
is tied to corporate success. when faced with prejudice.
Characters of any species might be A mercenary company is a military
Adventuring possibilities: Characters hired or persuaded to help with an outfit – usually ground troops, often
hired as corporate employees or securi- investigation aimed at exposing with supporting ground vehicles and
ty forces might meet SJG agents – for abuses. Colonists may find pesky aircraft – that works for hire.
good or bad. Obnoxious SJG officials ARL activists trying to stop them Regulations and discipline remain
make perfect opponents for ambitious from settling on an inhabited world. under the control of the unit com-
corporate executives. Another possibil- mander, not the employer. Companies
ity is a corporation-busting Special Corporations can be contracted for specific mis-
Justice campaign. sions or hired by the month.
A multistellar corporation is a vast “Honorable” merc outfits will fulfill
Survey Service conglomerate of companies in hun- their contracts so long as their
dreds of fields on dozens of worlds. employer deals honorably with them;
The survey service has two primary Some multistellars control entire other outfits may desert their employ-
duties: To explore and chart the fron- worlds and support vast armies of er for sufficient reward, sometimes
tier, and to maintain accurate records employees – corporate security forces even changing sides!
of all worlds. can outnumber the local planetary
defense forces (and may be better Adventuring possibilities: PCs who
The exploration division of the sur- trained). sign on with a merc outfit may see a
vey service, frequently known as the variety of adventures in far places.
Scout Service, works to fulfill the first In many businesses, profits out- Mercs also make good antagonists.
goal. There are often two branches: weigh ethics. Some corporations use
first-in scouts and survey scouts. After dummy companies and trusts to News Services
the first-in scouts discover a new dodge government supervision, con-
world, the survey scouts are sent in. A sidering such high-profit, high-risk Space is big enough to hold a lot of
survey team may be a single ship or a activities part of the corporate “game.” news, and dozens of interstellar news
full expedition. Survey scouts certify When not cooperating against the services compete to get that news,
worlds as suitable for colonization, Special Justice Group, the companies explain it in an interesting fashion,
and make recommendations about are spying on their competitors. and shoot it to the waiting tri-V watch-
relations with new alien societies. Sometimes industrial espionage is a ers. Of course, they can also be send-
gentlemanly game; often, it’s deadly. ing out government propaganda, sin-
Adventuring possibilities: Anyone ister mind-control, or military secrets
on the frontier is likely to encounter Adventuring possibilities: Working vital to defense.
scouts, especially traders or corporate for a corporation lets PCs be nasty
types interested in exploiting a newly without feeling responsible – they’re Adventuring possibilities: PCs can
discovered society or Precursor site. A only following “company orders.” be a reporting team. Characters bat-
dedicated scout campaign is also pos- Corporations also make good Patrons. tling an evil conspiracy may need a
sible (see p. 11). During wartime, They make excellent bad guys, too – way to get the truth out. A news serv-
scouts may get put under Navy com- exploiters of defenseless aliens, rav- ice can also provide a meddlesome
mand as intelligence gatherers, or as agers of priceless Precursor sites, slave “third force” interfering in any
patrol units in quiet sectors. lords on remote company planets, and adventure.
remorseless steamrollers in commerce
PRIVATE and industry. Independent traders The Organization
ORGANIZATIONS hate them.
The shadowy syndicate known as
Alien Rights League Free Trade League “the Organization” is the largest
criminal empire ever to exist. Its
In any human-dominated society, Independent traders may band influence stretches through nearly all
nonhumans are likely to need a together to form a lobbying group and interstellar nations. The Patrol is only
lobbying organization to make their mutual-assistance society. The league beginning to realize that a single
organization is behind centuries of

26 SPACE

crime. The “Big O” dominates inter- the normals and establish a rule by people. The political interplay within a
stellar drug trafficking, gunrunning, superminds. university (over promotion, favorite
prostitution, the black market, and theories, grant money, or just person-
murder for hire. Adventuring possibilities: An evil alities) can be fierce, and rivalry
Institute might take advantage of a PC between institutions can be bitter.
Adventuring possibilities: The PCs with developing talents; a good Outsiders, expecting peaceful cloisters
may be surprised to discover that the Institute can help a psionic PC against and ivory towers, are often numbed by
crime they just foiled was part of a persecution. Or PSI might be a red the size of scholastic budgets and the
Big O operation . . . and now the herring, staffed by crackpots – espe- fierceness of scholastic politics!
Organization is on their trail. Or the cially if psionics don’t work in this
PCs themselves could be interstellar campaign. And the GM doesn’t have to Adventuring possibilities: The PCs
criminals. tell the players whether psi powers are can be hired as part of a scholarly
real or not! expedition; depending on skills, they
Psionic Studies Institute may be guards, crew, or researchers.
Universities and Unusual planetary conditions, strange
On the surface, PSI is a research Scientific Foundations and dangerous life forms, and
foundation dedicated to psionics. In Precursor artifacts are all obvious tar-
reality, it is a secret psionic society Scholarly organizations can be gets of scientific curiosity. And no
that offers aid and training to psis. huge and influential; they can domi- pirate can match the disregard for
It could be training them to use their nate whole planets. Such groups can danger shown by a dedicated
powers for good – or to subjugate contain brilliant (and very peculiar) researcher!

PLANETS AND PLACES

In Chapters 4-5, this book gives facilities, long travel times between which means a strong military pres-
detailed rules for creating planets and worlds, and shortages of key items. ence along the border. Other empires
mapping the galaxy. But when starting Game Masters can use all those fac- may maintain a “neutral zone”
out, the Game Master should have tors to drive adventure plots. Mike between their territorial claims. The
some general ideas about places and Resnick’s Santiago and his sinister planet Zha’ha’dum on Babylon
where they are in relation to one “Widowmaker” series take place on 5 was hostile space.
another. What general type of place the frontier, as does the television
will the game take place in? series Firefly.

The Core The Unknown Home Base

Campaigns that take place in the Past the frontier lies unexplored This is where the heroes can find
heart of civilization usually center space. By definition it is unknown ter- sanctuary, help, and a chance to relax
around political maneuverings, espi- ritory, which means it is the perfect between adventures. It may be a
onage, and intrigue. Laws are venue for exploration. In the patrol base, an uncharted pirate hide-
enforced efficiently, advanced med- unknown, dangers are often hostile out, a space station, or the capital of
ical care is close at hand, and charac- local life forms or mysterious phe- the galaxy. In relatively stationary
ters can quickly summon up vast nomena that haven’t been charted. campaigns, the home base is one town
amounts of information over the local But the unknown can also be a refuge or city on the planet. Even completely
datanet. Game Masters can use core for rebels or fugitives, since the patrol mobile characters like explorers or
settings to show off the wealth and can’t follow them there. Star Trek: footloose merchants may want to have
super-technology of the setting. Earth Voyager takes place entirely in the some place they can think of as
is often the core of a human empire, unknown. “home.”
though in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation
series, Earth is a backwater and glit- Hostile Space
tering Trantor is the center of power
and civilization. Areas controlled by some enemy
power – aggressive aliens, a rival
The Frontier human state, or the empire the heroes
are trying to overthrow – all count as
Out on the frontier, things are hostile space. This is likely the scene
much rougher. Characters must rely for military or espionage missions.
on their own resources, but they also Characters seldom want to stay in hos-
have greater freedom. Combat is more tile space; the goal is to get in, do the
likely, and there may still be secrets job, and get home again. If empires
and mysteries to discover. Drawbacks are close together, vital core regions
include a lack of things like repair may be right next to hostile ones,

SPACE 27

CHAPTER TWO

SPACE TRAVEL

“Interesting ship you found for us, Doctor.” “This is not a privateering voyage, Captain. We’re looking
Captain Panatic was running his for a particular artifact, and the ship is nothing but the means
hands over the control to get us there.”
panel, almost stroking it.
“Oh, sure. Still, at our next stop, I’d like to see about
“Interesting? It was weapon prices.”
the cheapest one in the
yard and it still cost too “Are you expecting trouble?”
much. We should never “No, but if this artifact business doesn’t pan out . . . who
have abandoned the knows? Hoist the Jolly Roger and prepare to board!”
Golden Venture.”
When designing any science-fiction universe, one of the
“The whole time most important choices the GM must make has to do with
you were aboard the technology that will be available. This chapter discusses
the Venture, you technologies related to space travel, and the next describes
kept complaining advances in other fields.
about that noise
in the gravitics, There will not be much discussion of GURPS game
and why could mechanics here. The in-game rules for specific technolo-
we only use gies will be discussed in other GURPS sourcebooks.
two liters a Instead, this book will focus on the consequences of
day for wash- advanced technology for setting and adventure design –
ing, and how with particular attention to science-fiction settings that
come the drive involve space travel!
was taking so
long to recharge. I
thought you’d be glad
to leave her.”

Actually I had been, but this
new ship was definitely not an
improvement. “This one doesn’t even have a
shower.”

“No, but she’s a lot faster than she looks. There’s a whole
hidden set of thrust coils in the wings. She’ll pull four gees
easy.”

“That dealer must not have known what he had.” We’d
traded him salvage rights to the wreck of the Venture, plus all
that remained of my savings.

“Or he was trying to unload something he didn’t want to
have to explain to anyone. Did you notice the forward cargo
bay?”

“It was a cargo bay, in the front of the ship. Beyond that,
no.”

“Big conduits for coolant and power lines. A big port open-
ing forward. Direct data links to the bridge and the sensor
suite. If you wanted to, hypothetically, mount a laser there,
everything’s already set up.”

“Do you mean this is a warship?”
“Not exactly. Too small for that, and her lines are strictly
civilian. No, Doctor, what we’ve got here is a lovely little pirate
ship, just right for ambushing merchants, claim-jumping belt
miners, and outrunning the Patrol. All she needs is some
guns.” He looked so wolfish it was hard to believe he had ever
been a Patrol officer himself.

28 SPACE TRAVEL

A TAXONOMY OF MIRACLES

One way to classify SF worlds is to fairly common in American SF, Einstein could throw open the entire
consider what technological miracles notably in novels such as Ben Bova’s galaxy.
are inherent to the setting or story. In Privateers, or Michael Flynn’s Firestar
this context, we can think of a “mira- and its sequels. Alternate History
cle” as some area of technology that
has a significant effect on the environ- The Technothriller If the GM is assuming a single mir-
ment in which adventures take place. acle in space-flight technology, there’s
A technological miracle defines a sig- Another no-miracles approach is no reason that he has to place his story
nificant difference between the fiction- the technothriller. In fiction, the tech- in the future! Writers have been imag-
al setting and the real world familiar nothriller genre is normally set in the ining space travel since the
to the reader or player. present day or in the very near future. Renaissance – Cyrano de Bergerac
The technology in the story may be and Voltaire each wrote about travel
It’s useful to think about what mir- slightly in advance of real-world capa- between worlds. More recently, early
acles will be present in a new setting, bilities, but by definition it’s not a mir- genre-SF writers such as Jules Verne
because the GM doesn’t have to work acle. Technology’s world-changing and H. G. Wells set stories in space. To
nearly as hard on features of the set- potential is ignored or evaded – it recapture the flavor of these early sto-
ting that aren’t miraculous! Where exists purely to provide the heroes ries, assume that space travel might
there are no miracles, the GM and (and villains) with cool gear! have become possible at some point in
players can assume that things work the past, but leave most other aspects
in familiar ways. When the GM Technothriller stories are usually of the historical technology and socie-
decides to incorporate a miracle, he political thrillers, in which the plot is ty unchanged.
has to think about what effect it will driven by international competition or
have on the setting and on his adven- world-threatening crisis. The scenario Such an alternate history campaign
tures, and he may have to find or doesn’t have to be carefully detailed; shares many of the features of a pure-
develop new game rules to cover it. in fact, the more shallow and one- ly historical setting. Players who are
sided the villains are, the better. already well-versed in the chosen his-
NO MIRACLES Technothriller fiction often embodies torical period will find most aspects of
the social paranoias of the time. In the the world familiar. Sourcebooks cov-
It’s possible to have a space-ori- 1970s, the Soviet Union provided ering the politics, social customs, and
ented campaign with no miracles at most technothriller antagonists. equipment of the period will be useful.
all. Human beings have been visiting Today, the menu of villainous options The politics of the time can be extend-
space for about 40 years. With pres- is a bit wider: Chinese, militant ed into deep space, as existing Earth-
ent-day technology, human space Islamists, Western nationalists, organ- based nations explore and colonize
exploration and colonization are ized criminals . . . other worlds.
very difficult and expensive, but not
impossible. ONE MIRACLE: Strangely, most early SF ignored
SPACE FLIGHT the possibilities of interstellar flight;
First Steps to Space much of it was written before
At its most conservative, science astronomers discovered the nature of
One possible no-miracles cam- fiction invokes as few miracles as pos- the stars or the structure of the galaxy.
paign can focus on the early develop- sible. Stories that involve only one Instead, most authors concentrated
ment of space flight. The campaign technological miracle have the advan- on the worlds of our own solar system,
may be historical, focusing on the real tage that most of the setting will be assuming that they would be inhabit-
astronaut programs of the 1960s and familiar. Naturally, in a space-oriented ed by aliens – or by humanlike races,
1970s. Or it may be set in the near setting the first miracle is likely to be complete with savage native warriors
future, projecting a “second space in the area of space travel! and beautiful princesses!
age” in which frequent human explo-
ration resumes. In space travel, we can define a Many classic SF stories can today
“miracle” as a technology that makes be treated as the basis for an alternate
A variant on the “first steps” cam- space flight easy. There are two great history setting with space flight. These
paign is a setting in which state-run obstacles to humanity’s future in include Jules Verne’s From the Earth to
space programs have failed to estab- space. The first is Earth’s powerful the Moon, H. G. Wells’ The First Men in
lish a viable human presence in gravity well; the second is the speed- the Moon, and Edgar Rice Burroughs’
space. The slack is taken up by major of-light limit. Any miracle that makes “John Carter” and “Carson Napier”
corporations or individual entrepre- it easy and cheap to launch into novels. Among roleplaying games,
neurs. The plot involves heroes who Earth orbit will make the whole Solar GURPS Steampunk and GDW’s
must struggle against both the dan- System easily accessible. A second Space: 1889 are both good examples
gers of space travel and the interfer- miracle that somehow sidesteps of the genre.
ence of government. This theme is

SPACE TRAVEL 29

Emergent Superscience More Miracles?

Other one-miracle settings are There’s no reason why a space-oriented setting must apply miracu-
placed in the future. A miraculous lous technology only to the business of space flight. As more technolo-
breakthrough in physics or engineer- gies advance beyond what is currently possible, society (and the back-
ing might make space flight much eas- drop for adventure) will become increasingly unfamiliar. At its extreme,
ier, without affecting most other the addition of miracles gives rise to settings in which nothing is famil-
aspects of society. This lets the GM iar to the GM or players! Such settings can be interesting, but very dif-
construct a society that resembles our ficult to sustain for a lengthy campaign.
own, then explore the new break-
through’s implications. The next chapter discusses settings in which miracles appear in
areas other than space travel.
A common variation on this theme
involves a starfaring society in which automatic rifles, traveling to the John Varley’s Red Thunder. Jerry
advanced space drives exist, but other battlefield aboard a starship. Pournelle’s “Mercenary” stories are a
technology has not advanced much classic example of military SF using
beyond the early TL8 level. Some of In space SF, the best recent emer- emergent-superscience assumptions.
the best military SF has used this gent-superscience novel is probably
approach: ordinary infantrymen,
armed with simple body armor and

SPACE FLIGHT AND
STORY REQUIREMENTS

The Earth is the cradle of mankind, since adventurers will rarely venture In other settings, the adventurers
but mankind cannot stay in the cradle far from their ships. don’t have their own ship, or they
forever. frequently use different ships as need-
Military science fiction is especial- ed. Their home base is a world or an
– Konstantin Tsiolkovsky ly likely to focus on starship life, with immovable space station. Most adven-
space battles and tactics forming a tures come to the adventurers. When
Like other facets of a setting, the major part of the story. David Weber’s the cast of characters needs to travel, a
prevalent space flight technologies “Honor Harrington” novels are an ship may be available, but most of the
should be chosen to support the story example of this kind of story. time they don’t need to concern them-
(or the kind of story) that the GM selves with shipboard life or the details
wants to present. Another item the Ships as Major of space travel. Examples of this kind
GM should consider is how important Plot Elements of story include the Babylon 5 and Star
the details of space flight will be to his Trek: Deep Space Nine television series.
campaign. Despite being set in a In many (perhaps most) space set-
space-faring future, many stories may tings, space travel is an important Ships as Trivial
have no need to consider the details of activity and a common plot point, but Plot Elements
space travel. many adventures will take place off
the ship. Ship crewmen and passen- In some science fiction, spaceships
Ships as Settings gers are still the most common char- are little more than part of the back-
acter types, since such people are the drop. Adventurers simply arrive at the
Some settings are dominated by most likely to spend time around location of the adventure, with no
spaceships – indeed, the ship becomes ships, but some characters may be ori- time spent establishing how they get
the setting or a major portion of it. In ented entirely toward other activities. there. When it’s time for them to move
this case, the adventurers will almost on to another world, they do so with-
always be starship crewmen, passen- In some settings, the characters out needing to spend significant “on-
gers, or other people who spend most have a ship of their own, which serves camera” time on board a spaceship.
of their time between worlds rather as a mobile home base. The ship is a
than on them. Most character devel- familiar place where adventurers can Frank Herbert’s “Dune” novels use
opment is in the context of crew or (usually) relax, and where most char- this kind of structure (although the
passenger interactions. Many plots acter interaction takes place. Some assumptions of space travel in that
center on the technical details of run- adventures take place on board ship, universe are crucially important to the
ning or commanding a starship. while others take place on the worlds story). Dan Simmons’ Hyperion and its
that the ship visits. Examples of this sequels almost entirely ignore space-
In contrast, the worlds visited by kind of story include the Firefly televi- ships, and in fact vehicle-less instanta-
the ship are sketchily drawn. Most sion series, as well as Star Trek and neous teleportation from world to
worlds will apparently stop at the edge most of its spin-offs. world is an important plot element.
of the spaceport or the capital city,

30 SPACE TRAVEL

MANEUVER DRIVES

Nesterov hovered a few moments instruments, drive machinery, cargo, Since every rocket works by dis-
longer, then began a slow descent. the hull structure of the ship itself, and carding reaction mass, rocket drives
Mariesa held her breath. Every second so on. are limited by the amount of reaction
was a lifetime; but the ship slid smooth- mass that can be carried, and by the
ly down a pole of invisible fire. When The second portion is the reaction efficiency of the rocket engine.
the fire touched the ground, it became a mass, material that’s carried along Reaction mass that hasn’t been ejected
flaring pedestal that bloomed under- only to be thrown away! The rocket yet has to be accelerated along with
neath the ship like a cushioning pillow engine works by accelerating reaction the payload! As a result, it’s important
of light . . . mass and ejecting it into space, usual- to minimize the amount of reaction
ly as a fast-moving gas or plasma. The mass that’s needed to complete a given
Mariesa stared at the craft until the total momentum of the system mission.
ball of light beneath it winked out and remains constant, but since the reac-
the darkness of night returned. A man tion mass is being accelerated, the law For a fixed amount of reaction
had sneaked aboard that thing, that of conservation of momentum means mass, the best way to get a more effi-
untested, untried experimental craft; that the payload is also accelerated in cient rocket is to increase its exhaust
and bet his life against it. It might have the opposite direction. The velocity velocity. Of course, a rocket is also lim-
exploded; it might have smashed into that the reaction mass has when it is ited by the energy it needs to accelerate
rubble on the pavement. And Krasnarov ejected is called the exhaust velocity. reaction mass into space. The thrust
had lied his way aboard. The force that the rocket engine that the engine generates is propor-
applies to the payload is called thrust. tional to the exhaust velocity – but the
– Michael Flynn, Firestar

A maneuver drive is used to propel The Rocket Equation
a ship through “normal” space, chang-
ing its velocity in space as needed, The science of astronautics was pioneered by the Russian mathe-
more or less subject to the known laws matician (and science fiction writer!) Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Around
of force and motion. Such drives the beginning of the 20th century, Tsiolkovsky developed a great deal of
range from realistic propulsion sys- basic astronautical theory; he was one of the first visionaries to predict
tems like rockets, to superscience artificial satellites, space colonies, and asteroid mining.
drives that appear to break some phys-
ical laws but are still limited by the One of Tsiolkovsky’s basic contributions was the rocket equation that
speed of light. has since been named for him. The Tsiolkovsky equation is:

REACTION ∆V = E ¥ natural logarithm of (T/P)
DRIVES
Here, E is the effective exhaust velocity of the rocket engine (a quan-
A reaction drive is a drive that obeys tity also called the specific impulse), T is the total mass of the rocket-
(and takes advantage of) Newton’s driven spaceship (including both payload and its initial reaction mass)
third law of motion. This law implies and P is the mass of the payload alone.
that the momentum of a system is
always conserved, unless an external The quantity ∆V is called the delta-V. Delta-V is the amount of veloc-
force is applied to it. ity change the ship can carry out with its available reaction mass. Every
deep-space maneuver requires that the ship “spend” some of its delta-V
Some reaction drives work by tak- budget: escaping from orbit around a home world, changing course in
ing advantage of external forces that deep space, entering the orbit of a destination world, changing the
act on the spaceship, changing its parameters of an existing orbit, and so on. Maneuvers that are carried
momentum (see Sails, p. 33, or out against gravity (such as planetary launch or landing) can also be
Catapults and Tethers, p. 34). However, measured in terms of delta-V.
most reaction drives use the rocket
principle. Low-TL rocket drives are usually very limited in the amount of delta-
V that’s available to them. Mission planners spend a lot of time search-
Principles of Rocketry ing for trajectories that can get a ship to its destination with the use of
minimal delta-V. It’s sometimes possible for a ship to change course
In its simplest form, a spaceship without spending delta-V. For example, a ship can “fly by” a world,
using a rocket drive is composed of using its gravity to accelerate and change heading.
two portions.
By manipulating the Tsiolkovsky equation, it’s possible to derive a
The first portion is the payload. formula describing how much of a ship’s initial mass needs to be taken
This consists of all the parts that are up by reaction mass. To summarize, if the required delta-V is much
to be conveyed to the ship’s destina- smaller than the exhaust velocity, very little reaction mass will be need-
tion: crew, passengers, life support ed. Once the required delta-V rises above the exhaust velocity, reaction
equipment, computers and other mass soon dominates the ship’s size!

SPACE TRAVEL 31

energy required to operate the exhaust velocity is high. Ion drives Speculative
engine is proportional to the square are therefore fuel-efficient, and can Rocket Types
of the exhaust velocity! In order to be used for long periods of constant
generate the same amount of thrust, acceleration. This makes them good Nuclear pulse drive: This drive
a rocket with lower exhaust velocity candidates for interplanetary travel, works by setting off nuclear explo-
needs more reaction mass. A rocket taking months rather than years sions behind the ship; the energy of
with higher exhaust velocity needs to cross interplanetary distances. An each nuclear explosion produces a
less reaction mass, but it may ion drive will need a continuous very fast exhaust of hot plasma. A
need much more energy in order to power supply, usually a bank of large-scale version (such as the “Orion
operate. solar cells or an on-board nuclear drive”) uses full-size nuclear bombs,
reactor. requiring a huge shock-absorbing
Known Rocket Types “pusher plate” behind the vessel. More
Fission rocket: A fission rocket uses sophisticated versions create micro-
The following rocket types are a built-in fission or radiothermal reac- explosions, triggering small fusion
currently feasible, using known engi- tor to heat reaction mass, and then fuel pellets with a ring of powerful
neering principles. expels the hot gases as a high-energy lasers or ion beams. Another approach
exhaust. Fission rockets are a compro- triggers fissionable pellets using
Chemical rocket: A chemical rocket mise between chemical rockets and antiproton beams; this version uses so
is the first reaction drive likely to be ion drives; they can provide more little antimatter that it could be pro-
used by any space-faring civilization. thrust than an ion drive, but have duced using present-day technology.
Chemical rockets get their energy lower exhaust velocity and so are less
by burning flammable reaction mass fuel-efficient. They are also useful A nuclear pulse drive can provide a
or “fuel,” expelling the resulting because they provide both onboard lot of thrust, and also has high exhaust
hot gases out the back of the rocket power and motive thrust. They may be velocity and fuel efficiency. It may be
chamber. suitable for interplanetary warships or the best candidate for a fast interplan-
courier craft. etary drive. Although building such a
Most chemical rockets will use drive is currently out of reach, the
liquid fuels, such as liquid hydrogen
or a slurry of powdered metals like Sample Delta-V
aluminum. Solid-fuel rockets are pos- Requirements
sible, but are hard to shut down or
control once ignited. A chemical rock- Every low-TL space mission is planned around its delta-V budget. A
et that will operate in space must also high delta-V requirement means that the spacecraft will need more
be provided with an oxidizer to reaction mass, possibly crowding out needed payload. Lower delta-V
support combustion. The most likely requirements make a mission cheaper and more feasible, or permit
oxidizer is liquid oxygen, which can be more payload mass to be delivered.
carried in onboard tanks and used as
part of the reaction mass. Here are some typical delta-V requirements for early space missions.
All of these figures assume high-thrust chemical rockets – low-thrust
Chemical rockets can deliver a lot engines such as ion drives will need more delta-V due to the drag of
of thrust very quickly, and are useful gravity (usually 2-3 times as much).
for launching from a planetary surface
or maneuvering in orbit. On the other Earth Launch: To reach low Earth orbit requires about 5.9 miles per
hand, they have relatively low exhaust second of delta-V. A low-thrust engine will not be able to perform this
velocity, and so they use tremendous mission at all!
quantities of fuel and oxidizer. An
interplanetary journey using chemical Earth Orbital Maneuvers: To move from a low Earth orbit to a geo-
rockets normally involves a short synchronous orbit requires two maneuvers, with a total delta-V require-
“burn” at the beginning of the trip, fol- ment of about 2.5 miles per second. To move from a low Earth orbit to
lowed by months or years of coasting, an escape trajectory actually requires less delta-V, about 2.0 miles per
with the delivery of only a small pay- second in all (assuming the escape burn is performed at perigee, the
load at the end. point on the orbit closest to Earth where the spacecraft is already mov-
ing fastest).
Ion Drive: An ion drive converts
reaction mass into ions (charged Interplanetary Travel: To move from a low Earth orbit to low orbit
atoms or molecules) and then uses around various other bodies takes varying amounts of delta-V. A jour-
electric power to accelerate the ions ney to low lunar orbit would take about 2.4 miles per second. Reaching
into a fast exhaust stream. The most some near-Earth asteroids (see p. 131) would require about the same
likely substances for reaction mass amount of delta-V as a lunar expedition. A journey to low Martian orbit
include the noble gases argon or would take about 3.5 miles per second. Reaching solar escape velocity
xenon, or the poisonous metal from low Earth orbit requires about 5.4 miles per second; this is an
cadmium. upper bound on the delta-V needed for most interplanetary journeys.

An ion drive provides very low
thrust, and is useless for taking off
from a planet. On the other hand, its

32 SPACE TRAVEL

main obstacle in its way is political exhaust velocity makes it extremely payload capsule by a network of light-
rather than technological. Many fuel-efficient. It is among the most weight cables. Close to a star, the sail
people object to a drive that involves realistic candidates for STL interstel- can provide slow but steady accelera-
setting off nuclear explosions! lar travel. tion due to the pressure of starlight.

Fusion rocket: As with a fission Total conversion drive: This theoret- On its own, a light sail is only effec-
rocket, the fusion rocket involves heat- ical drive converts reaction mass tive close to a star, such as between the
ing reaction mass with a controlled directly into energy, perhaps in the orbits of Mercury and Mars in our
nuclear reaction, then expelling it as form of photons or gravity waves. own solar system. More than a few AU
hot exhaust. A fusion rocket might There is no known way to produce from Sol, the light pressure drops
offer performance nearly as good as a this conversion, but the concept is below useful levels. This would seem
nuclear pulse drive, without the (barely) “hard” SF. It doesn’t violate to make the light sail useless for inter-
expense of specialized fuel pellets or the laws of conservation of energy or stellar travel.
the danger of carrying around hun- momentum, and it also requires the
dreds of A-bombs. ship to refuel once in a while. However, a powerful laser (or a
battery of lasers) could be used to
Antimatter thermal rocket: This SAILS impart steady thrust to a light sail.
drive uses a small quantity of antimat- Laser light doesn’t lose its force as
ter to heat up a much larger amount Given the limitations imposed by quickly with distance as non-direc-
of conventional reaction mass, creat- carrying reaction mass, any method of tional starlight, so it can provide
ing plasma to be ejected for thrust. It interplanetary or interstellar travel thrust for months or years, accelerat-
can provide high thrust, and is more that doesn’t involve rockets might have ing the sail to a significant fraction of
efficient than most fusion drives. It an advantage. There are several reac- lightspeed. This provides limited
requires the technology to produce, tion-drive concepts that don’t require maneuverability, but if the sail is given
distribute, and contain useful quanti- large quantities of reaction mass. an electric charge, interactions with
ties of antimatter. the galactic magnetic field can be used
Light Sails for deceleration or a slow turn.
Antimatter pion drive: This drive is
a “pure” antimatter rocket. It mixes One drive that has been proposed A laser-driven light sail seems
matter and antimatter in equal (very is the light sail. A light sail is a huge almost perfect for interstellar travel.
small) quantities, producing an sheet of very thin, light, reflective There is no fuel to worry about, and
exhaust composed of very fast sub- material, possibly hundreds of square the “engine” can be left at home. On
atomic particles. The rocket doesn’t miles in area. The sail is attached to a the other hand, the laser batteries
provide much thrust, but its high would need to be enormously power-
ful. Even a tiny probe massing a few
kilograms would need gigawatt-out-
put lasers. A sizable manned ship
would need lasers with lenses many
miles across, powered by solar collec-
tors thousands of miles wide, using
thousands of times as much power as
is currently generated all over Earth!
Ignoring the question of whether it
would be feasible to build lasers that
big, it’s likely that a society capable of
it would find other uses for the power-
generating capacity.

Meanwhile, the political questions
are significant. An interstellar journey
would still take decades, and the crew
would need to be able to trust its home
base to keep the lasers on for that
whole time. For that matter, the lasers
themselves could serve as a terribly
powerful weapon, which could itself
be the cause of conflict.

For a superb treatment of interstel-
lar light-sail travel, see the classic
novel The Mote in God’s Eye, by Larry
Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Robert
Forward’s novel Flight of the Dragonfly
also relies on light sails as a plot
device, and some printings include an
extensive technical appendix.

SPACE TRAVEL 33

Magnetic and would be very good at decelerating a way out to the “heliopause,” the
Plasma Sails ship moving at a large fraction of boundary where the solar wind fades
lightspeed; it might be the most likely into the interstellar medium. This
Another concept that might be use- method for stopping a hard-science makes it a good candidate for travel in
ful for interplanetary travel is the mag- interstellar spacecraft. the outer solar system, where light
netic sail. Stars like Sol don’t just emit sails and fixed-size magnetic sails lose
light; they also give off a powerful Of course, one disadvantage of the their effectiveness.
solar “wind” of charged particles. magnetic sail is the material of the sail
These fast protons and electrons fly itself – it may be difficult to produce CATAPULTS
through the inner solar system at hun- long loops of superconductive wire AND TETHERS
dreds of miles per second. If they enter that can stand up to the rigors of space
a magnetic field, they change direc- flight. Magnetic sails, like light sails, Space engineers have invented sev-
tion and speed, exerting a force on lose effectiveness with distance from eral other potential techniques for
whatever is generating the field. A the star. reaching space, or for maneuvering in
spaceship might use a large loop of space. These are not necessarily useful
superconductive wire as a sail, passing A related concept is the plasma sail, for very long-range travel, but they can
current through the wire to generate a in which the magnetic field is con- assist in maneuvering without need-
powerful magnetic field, interact with ducted within a thin, superheated ing reaction mass or expensive
the solar wind, and produce thrust. cloud of plasma rather than a loop of onboard systems.
wire. A plasma sail would require
Magnetic sails have several advan- “fuel,” since the thin cloud of plasma Catapults
tages over light sails. Calculations would tend to disperse and would
have shown that the magnetic sail can need to be replenished. Even so, early Low-TL space travel often involves
yield a higher thrust-to-mass ratio research indicates that the plasma sail a burst of acceleration at the begin-
than a light sail. A magnetic sail can system would be very fuel-efficient, ning of a journey, followed by a long
“tack” against the solar wind, and so is and would require relatively little period of “coasting” along a ballistic
more maneuverable than a light sail. A power. trajectory, with another burst of accel-
magnetic sail can also interact with eration at the destination. A rocket-
the magnetic fields of planets, provid- One advantage of the plasma sail is driven ship normally needs to supply
ing even more maneuverability in cer- that the sail expands automatically as reaction mass for both periods of
tain situations. Finally, a magnetic sail the density of the solar wind decreas- sharp acceleration. If another way can
es. The plasma sail should provide be found to provide the first burst of
nearly constant acceleration all the acceleration, this can cut reaction-
mass requirements by 50% or more.
Bussard Ramjets
One approach to this problem is
The Bussard ramjet was first proposed in the 1960s, and for a time the launch catapult. A launch catapult
was regarded as the definitive answer to the problems of STL interstel- is an electromagnetic system or “mass
lar travel. A Bussard ramjet starship carries almost no reaction mass. driver,” similar to some particle-accel-
Instead, it uses a big magnetic field, a “ramscoop,” to gather interstellar erator devices but built on a much
hydrogen. The hydrogen is funneled in, used as fuel for the ship’s fusion larger scale. Many powerful electro-
reactor, and expelled as reaction mass. Once a ramjet ship reaches magnets are arranged in a long line,
speeds high enough to gather plenty of hydrogen, it can theoretically wrapped around a hollow channel in
accelerate indefinitely, approaching lightspeed as closely as desired. which a payload can move freely. The
payload is either made with ferrous
In the 1970s, a great deal of science fiction was written in which metal components or wrapped in a
Bussard ramjet drives, combined with relativistic time dilation, conductive sheath. Once the payload
allowed humanity to explore and colonize the galaxy. Unfortunately, is placed at the start of the channel,
the concept appears to have insurmountable technical problems. The the electromagnets are activated in
interstellar medium turns out not to be as dense as was originally series, each magnet pulling the pay-
believed – especially in the vicinity of our solar system, which is in the load forward and accelerating it. A
middle of a parsecs-wide “bubble” of thinner gas. This means that the launch catapult may be many miles
necessary ramscoop sizes would be prohibitively large. Meanwhile, long, accelerating a payload to very
once a ramjet ship reaches very high speeds, much of the energy of the high velocities.
fusion reaction goes to accelerate the incoming reaction mass rather
than the ship. Finally, the proton-proton fusion reaction that would be A launch catapult built on the sur-
needed to drive the ship turns out to be difficult to achieve. face of a world can be used to acceler-
ate a payload to orbital velocity. In
A science fiction setting could still use the Bussard ramjet as its pri- space, a launch catapult can give a
mary stardrive, especially if it was set in a region of the galaxy where payload the initial acceleration needed
interstellar matter was denser. A ramscoop could also be used to supple- for an interplanetary journey. In either
ment a conventional fusion drive, gathering extra reaction mass while case, the payload needs no rocket
the ship coasts through interstellar space.

34 SPACE TRAVEL

engines – the power needed for the Cycler Stations
acceleration comes from a power
plant built into the catapult. One alternative to conventional spaceship transportation is the cycler
station. The station is a space habitat that follows a trajectory passing
It’s even possible for a launch cata- near two or more interesting places. Over a long period the cycler fol-
pult to operate in reverse. A payload or lows a loop, with passengers embarking and disembarking at each des-
ship that enters the “launch” end of tination. At each port of call the cycler uses a planet or star’s gravity (and
the catapult can be decelerated by the some minor assistance from a propulsion system) to change course for
electromagnets firing in series, bring- the next without stopping.
ing the payload to rest relative to the
catapult. If launch catapults are pres- On an interplanetary scale, cycler stations follow low-energy transfer
ent at both ends of an interplanetary orbits between worlds. On an interstellar scale a station could travel a
journey, a ship may make the trip with substantial fraction of the speed of light, changing course at each star
a very small onboard supply of reac- to follow a wide loop through interstellar space.
tion mass!
Cycler stations are designed primarily to provide a livable habitat for
The major drawback of a launch passengers during a long passage. An Earth-Mars cycler would need
catapult is that it may be unsafe for about three years to make one round trip. An interstellar cycler would
human passengers. In space a launch need decades. Since the delta-V requirements for a cycle are the same
catapult can be very long, providing (indeed because of the course change, slightly larger) than for the same
useful velocities while applying only trip without the cycler, there is no advantage in carrying space-worthy
moderate acceleration. On a planet or cargo this way.
large moon, building a launch cata-
pult more than a few miles long might The benefit of a cycler station is that equipment needed only on the
be a serious engineering challenge. voyage between worlds (life support, heavy radiation shielding, and so
Such a short launch catapult can still on) does not need to be repeatedly accelerated. Passengers boarding or
provide the needed velocities, but it leaving the cycler will still need to bring along the same delta-V that that
must apply very high acceleration over they would need to make the trip without it. On the other hand, they
a short time. Human “cargo” may won’t need to bring along their own (possibly very heavy and expensive)
need to use other means of reaching life support systems with capacity for the whole trip.
orbit . . .

Tethers station’s orbital velocity at the bottom momentum, and will tend to fall into a
of its swing. At this speed, it can inter- lower orbit. However, the tether itself
Another sophisticated maneuver cept payloads that have been launched can be used to restore the station’s
system involves tethers. A tether sys- into a suborbital trajectory, one that orbital velocity. An onboard power
tem can be used to assist payloads into requires much less reaction mass than plant can drive electrical current along
high planetary orbit, reducing the a true orbital path. The payload is the tether cable. Since the tether is
amount of reaction mass needed for a attached to the tether with a grapple. moving through a planet’s magnetic
rocket drive. When the tether swings upward, it can field, the current provides thrust,
throw the payload into a higher orbit. exactly like the operation of an electric
A tether station is placed in orbit motor. The station rises to its standard
around a planet with a strong magnet- Every time a payload is transferred orbit once again, and is ready to deal
ic field. It lowers a tether cable, and into high orbit with this system, the with the next payload to come along.
begins to rotate so that the tether is tether station is robbed of some
moving much more slowly than the

SPACE TRAVEL 35

Tether systems are useful only for scientists, and was almost certainly a A bias drive or gravity drive is a diamet-
orbital transfer, but since such situa- hoax. In fact, the Dean drive violates ric drive that alters the force of gravity
tions are extremely common they are several known laws of physics. “Dean ahead of and behind the ship. In effect,
likely to be find frequent application. drive” can be used as a generic term the ship exists inside a bubble of space-
Although they require a planetary for any reactionless drive that works time with its own arbitrary gravity. The
magnetic field to operate efficiently, by breaking the laws of motion as we ship is in free fall and doesn’t feel accel-
this isn’t a major limitation. Most currently understand them. eration, so it can safely pull hundreds of
Earthlike worlds will have sufficient Gs (the speed of light is still an absolute
magnetic fields. Gas giant worlds also Diametric Drives limit).
have powerful magnetic fields, so
operations in the close vicinity of a Another form of reactionless drive Diametric drives are completely
gas giant may also find tether systems is the diametric drive. Such a drive cre- speculative; at present, we have no
useful. ates an asymmetrical field of force idea how to create the kind of force
around itself. The side of the force fields they require. They are similar in
REACTIONLESS field that exerts more force on the ship function to warp drives (p. 40) and
DRIVES will “push” the ship forward without may be a spinoff of that technology if
any need for reaction mass. it exists in the setting. Meanwhile, bias
A reactionless drive is one that pro- drives depend on fine control of gravi-
duces acceleration without discarding Most diametric drive concepts ty; they may be associated with artifi-
reaction mass. A reactionless drive involve manipulating gravity, since that cial gravity (p. 44) or contragravity
requires power, and fuel for the power force operates equally on all matter and (p. 44) technologies.
plant, but is not limited by needing to can provide smooth acceleration.
carry around vast amounts of reaction
mass. A reactionless drive starship can Relativity Effects
be extremely efficient, carrying a large
payload. Unless the physical princi- Einstein’s laws of motion have several surprising effects, especially
ples behind the drive stop working at as an object (such as a starship) accelerates close to the speed of light.
high velocity, a reactionless drive ship As seen by an unaccelerated outside observer, the starship becomes
can easily approach lightspeed. shorter and more massive. From the starship’s viewpoint, images of the
outside universe become compressed toward the axis of motion. Light
All reactionless drives are super- from ahead becomes “blue-shifted” toward more energetic frequencies,
science, since they violate the known while light from behind becomes “red-shifted” down the spectrum.
laws of physics. If reactionless drives
are available in a setting, the GM One of the most important effects of relativistic velocity, especially
should define their performance. The from the point of view of the interstellar traveler, is time dilation.
most important factor to consider is Someone on board a ship will experience the passage of time different-
the thrust-to-mass ratio. If one ton of ly than someone in an unaccelerated frame of reference (say, on a plan-
reactionless drives can deliver only et). In effect, his clocks will run more slowly than those in the outside
one-tenth of a ton of thrust, then star- universe, so that the trip seems to take less time. STL starships can use
ships will only be able to manage time dilation to make manned interstellar travel more practical; crew-
acceleration up to about 0.1 G (with men and passengers won’t need to spend so much of their lifespan to
almost no payload). If one ton of make a journey.
drives can deliver two to five tons of
thrust, then accelerations of two to To compute the degree of time dilation, use the following formula:
five Gs can be obtained.
R = Square root of [1 - (V/C)2]
Dean Drives
Here, R is the time rate experienced on board ship, V is the ship’s
A Dean drive is a class of reaction- velocity, and C is lightspeed. Some representative values:
less drive that (somehow) converts
rotary movement into linear move- Time Dilation Table Time Rate
ment. The ship’s onboard engine 0.968
includes a big flywheel that is driven Velocity (¥ c) 0.866
by a power plant; the angular momen- 0.25 0.661
tum of the flywheel can be tapped to 0.50 0.436
accelerate the ship forward. 0.75 0.312
0.90 0.141
The Dean drive was “invented” in 0.95 0.045
the 1950s, and was taken seriously by 0.99 0.014
a few people in the SF community. 0.999
Unfortunately, it was never demon- 0.9999
strated for or duplicated by reputable

36 SPACE TRAVEL

GENERATION in “cold sleep,” a form of artificial very compactly, the ship carrying it
SHIPS hibernation. can be much smaller and cheaper
than one carrying the living people.
One “realistic” approach to inter- Some current science fiction sug- The ship might even provide a rich vir-
stellar travel is to accept that it will gests that human crew and passengers tual environment in which the passen-
take a long time, and plan for it. A gen- might travel in digital storage. gers can “live” while in storage. Of
eration ship is a starship that uses Nanotechnology and advanced com- course, if this kind of ghost-life is pos-
nothing but a maneuver drive to cross puters might make it possible to trans- sible in the first place, why would the
interstellar distances, requiring port a human’s body and mind as pure ship’s passengers have bothered to
decades or centuries to make the trip data. If the data describing a ship’s travel anywhere?
and providing a livable habitat for crew and passengers can be stored
crew and passengers along the way.

A generation ship isn’t so much a
ship as it is a mobile world, with its
own internal society. Adventures
aboard such a ship will be almost
entirely dominated by character
interaction, as crew and passengers
while away the years before reaching
their destination. In fact, children
are likely to be born, grow up, and
have children of their own during the
journey, yielding several generations
of passengers (hence the name for
this kind of ship).

A variant on the generation-ship
idea is the “sleeper ship,” the slow
starship that carries its crew and pas-
sengers in some form of suspended
animation. Science fiction from the
1960s and 1970s often assumed that
interstellar journeys would be taken
with most of the crew and passengers

STAR DRIVES

In my time there were four ways objects with mass must travel at lower justification in cutting-edge physics.
known to cheat Einstein, and two ways speeds, unable to accelerate to light- Most science-fiction universes only
to flat-out fool him. On our journey speed no matter how much energy permit one form of FTL, although a
Pelenor used all of them. Our route they apply. This means that starships few use multiple forms, each with its
was circuitous, from wormhole to will always take years to travel even own advantages and problems. Some
quantumpoint to collapsar. By the time between neighboring stars. of the most common forms are as
we arrived, I wondered how the deep- follows.
probe had ever gotten so far, let alone Ever since it became obvious that
back, with its news. there are no other habitable worlds (or HYPERDRIVE
alien civilizations) within our own
– David Brin, “The Crystal Spheres” solar system, science fiction writers Einstein’s model applies to the
have turned to other stars as settings physical universe that we live in. But
Interplanetary travel is not only for adventure. This almost demands what if there’s another universe where
possible, but practical, given technolo- that the heroes of the story to have different laws apply, a universe that
gy that we already know how to build. some method for traveling faster than can be reached from ours? A starship
Interstellar travel is a very different light! Thus, many writers who are oth- could drop into that “hyperspace,”
matter. erwise quite rigorous with their scien- travel there according to its own laws,
tific content have invented some form and then shift back into our own uni-
The fundamental problem faced by of “FTL” travel. verse at a new location – reaching its
anyone planning interstellar travel is destination much faster than Einstein
Einstein’s theory of relativity. Scientific speculation and science would normally allow.
Einstein’s model of the physical uni- fiction have considered a bewildering
verse – one of the most successful sci- variety of FTL drives. All of them When thinking about a hyperdrive
entific theories of all time – assumes should be considered superscience, for a space setting, some of the things
that the speed of light is an absolute although a few might have some to consider are:
limit (see Relativity Effects, p. 36). All

SPACE TRAVEL 37

How fast is the drive? Does a star- everything, including each other and particularly critical if ships can fight
ship take weeks or months to travel the normal universe. A trip through battles in hyperspace . . .
through hyperspace between two hyperspace would be a good time to
stars? Or does the trip take a fraction do shipboard maintenance, and have Hypersails
of a second? The GM will want to con- locked-room adventures in which
sider how quickly a ship can cross none of the characters can get away What if hyperspace is like an
known space. from each other. Perhaps ships in ocean, with energy currents (and
hyperspace can communicate with reefs, and storms) on which a starship
How quickly can the drive be used? each other or with planetary facilities. can ride? Such a starship might need
This is important for dramatic reasons Or perhaps hyperspace is a real place, hypersails – more likely to be energy
– if a hyperdrive can be used quickly with its own geography and even its fields rather than physical sails – to
and easily, a starship can always own natives – ships can explore it take advantage of the ether’s flow.
escape from trouble. Perhaps the drive using special sensors, hover or change David Weber’s “Honor Harrington”
requires a great deal of energy to make directions in hyperspace, or even fight novels use this model for hyperspace,
the shift into hyperspace, requiring battles there! deliberately mimicking the flavor of
long periods of charging the ship’s sea-adventure fiction set in the
engines from its power plant. Perhaps Can a ship in hyperspace be detect- Napoleonic era.
planning a trip through hyperspace ed? If a ship can’t interact with the
requires a lot of computer power and normal universe, then nothing in nor- Tachyon Drive
time. Or perhaps hyperspace needs to mal space can detect them until they
“relax” after the stress of being crossed, emerge. That means that battle “lines” Physics predicts the existence of
ensuring that a new hyperspace transi- won’t exist in a universe with hyper- tachyons, fundamental particles that
tion can’t be made too quickly after space – invasion fleets won’t be detect- can’t travel at less than the speed of
emerging into normal space. ed until they emerge, already close to light. A tachyon drive turns the star-
their targets. On the other hand, if spe- ship into a beam of tachyons that then
How finely can the drive be con- cial sensors can reach into hyper- hurtles across space. A ship that is
trolled? Unless a hyperdrive ship can space, invaders will be detected in converted into tachyons might require
choose any point of emergence it advance, and can possibly be met in a receiving station to restore it to its
wants, it will still need a maneuver hyperspace itself. original condition.
drive to reach nearby planets or
engage in space battles. Maybe hyper- What happens if the hyperdrive JUMP DRIVE
drives can’t be used within a certain fails? If a ship in hyperspace is dam-
distance of a large mass, requiring a aged, does it return to its starting It’s not possible for a physical
starship to travel out to “flat space” point? Does it drop back into normal object to accelerate to speeds faster
before entering hyperspace. space at an unpredictable point? Or is than that of light. But what if it’s pos-
it stranded in hyperspace until the sible for a ship to move from point A
What is hyperspace like? Perhaps drives can be repaired? This can be
ships in hyperspace are cut off from

38 SPACE TRAVEL

to point B in space, without accelerat- special computer programs, psionic dangerous. If the wormhole collapses
ing and without crossing the space in powers, or other rare items? Those while the ship is in transit, the result is
between? A jump drive permits a star- who control the ability to trigger a likely to be catastrophic destruction!
ship to teleport from one location to jump will control interstellar travel!
another, usually in no more than a tiny Some serious suggestions have
fraction of a second. The ship never What happens if a jump fails? A been made for manufacturing and
leaves the normal universe or enters jump ship may be stranded if it using wormholes, falling into the
any form of hyperspace. appears in a place without jump realm of fairly rigorous SF. One pro-
points, or if some jumplines are only posal requires each end to be held
Some of the things to consider one-way. Perhaps planning a jump open by a ring of superdense matter,
when choosing a jump drive include: requires a great deal of computation, massing about as much as the solar
and bad aim can send a ship system, and spinning at nearly the
Where can the drive be used? Many anywhere. speed of light. These requirements
jump drives can only be used at “jump would seem to be beyond any but the
points,” specific locations in space. Do jump points only cross space, or most powerful and advanced civiliza-
Jump points may occur naturally, they do they permit time travel? Some jump- tions – but perhaps as-yet-unknown
may be relics of a prior civilization, or drive schemes permit travel through science will find shortcuts that make
it may be necessary to build them in time as well as space. Starships can the idea feasible.
order to use FTL travel. If jump points visit the distant past or the distant
are necessary, they may be located far future of the universe. A ship that Probability Drive
away from planets or other interesting curves back through time can end up
places, requiring long trips through changing its own past, or dropping This variant on the jump drive
normal space to reach them. A jump into an alternate universe where relies on the inherent uncertainty of
drive that can be used anywhere can events turned out differently. Jump quantum mechanics. Even an object
be a plot-breaking convenience, mak- navigation errors can be even more as massive as a starship can be treated
ing travel or escape too easy for dangerous in such a setting . . . as a quantum-level entity, its location
drama. and velocity uncertain. When the
Wormhole or probability drive is engaged, the ship
If there are jump points, how are Keyhole Drive is no longer likely to be at its origin
they arranged? Perhaps a starship can point, and instead becomes very likely
jump to any number of different Wormhole-based drives are effec- to be located at the destination . . .
places, so long as it starts at a jump tively jump drives, in which the “jump
point. If a starship jumps to a region points” are artificial. Wormholes are The drive may be controlled by
of space with no jump points, it may predicted by modern physics; they are psionic talents, using the “observer
be stranded! Or possibly jump points “tunnels” through space that connect effect” of quantum physics to trigger
are always connected in pairs, so that distant points. Some quantum- the drive. Probability drives in fiction
when a ship triggers its drive at one mechanical models of space claim tend to be very dangerous, especially
end, it always moves to the other end. that tiny wormholes are constantly since they can’t always be controlled.
Paired jump points can create a net- appearing and disappearing at the A ship suffering a drive mishap may
work of “jumplines” in known space, smallest scales. With a great deal of end up anywhere, nowhere, or every-
in which the real distances between power, it might be possible to catch a where at once . . .
stars are less important than the con- wormhole that would connect to a
venience of their jump-point links. desired destination, and then force it Interstellar
Stars without jump points are inacces- to open widely enough to accommo- Teleport Gates
sible, while jumplines without stars at date a starship.
each end are not useful. Stars with If teleportation is available (see
several jump points become impor- Current theory suggests that Teleporters, p. 46) and has interplane-
tant crossroads, even if they don’t have wormholes are likely to collapse cata- tary or interstellar range, then it can
habitable or useful planets. strophically when an object tries to be used to move people and cargo
enter them. It might take a great deal through space.
How are jump points created? If of power to hold one open. Perhaps a
jump points are a natural phenome- stargate installation is needed at one The details of the teleportation sys-
non, or were built by a prior civiliza- or both ends, both to create and to tem have a profound effect on the fla-
tion, then starships will need to search hold open a wormhole. In this case, a vor of the setting. If teleportation
for them – and the first trip through starship doesn’t need any special requires massive facilities, and can’t
one will be a major voyage of discov- drives at all – it can use a maneuver be used near a star or world, then it
ery! If a jump point must be created drive to reach and then pass through becomes a stargate system and space-
with special equipment, then that the wormhole. ships are still necessary. Cheaper and
equipment might be located on a sta- more flexible teleportation makes
tionary facility, a stargate that can send Alternatively, a starship may have spaceships less likely. At its extreme,
starships to their destination without the equipment and power needed to teleportation “portals” can be part of
itself moving. find, expand, and hold open a worm- everyday life – a single house can have
hole as needed. Such a “keyhole drive” rooms on different planets!
How is the jump drive triggered? is likely to be very expensive and
Does it simply take the application of
energy? Or does it require the use of

SPACE TRAVEL 39

WARP DRIVE When choosing a warp drive for a except in uncrowded space. A warp
space setting, some of the things to drive ship that can’t use its drive close
Another way to get around consider are: to a planet or star will need a maneu-
Einstein is to warp the geometry of ver drive as well.
normal space, so that two points that How fast is the drive? As with a
are usually vast distances apart are (at hyperdrive, the GM should consider How well can a warp drive ship
least temporarily) much closer togeth- how long it will take a warp drive ship interact with normal space? Some vari-
er. A ship can then move from origin to make a typical journey between ations on the warp drive permit full
to destination through normal space, stars. interaction: sensors can scan nearby
and still reach the destination without space, ships can maneuver at will, and
ever approaching the speed of light. In Where can the drive be used? battles can be fought in warp. Other
practice, this means that the starship Perhaps a warp drive can only reach variations (including at least one pro-
surrounds itself with some kind of FTL speeds in deep space; close to a posed in real-world physics) call for
energy field that lets it move at FTL world or other large mass, the warp the ship in warp to be almost com-
speeds with respect to unwarped drive drops to STL speeds or stops pletely cut off from the rest of the uni-
space. If the drive malfunctions, the working altogether. Perhaps the ship verse. Such a warp drive means that
ship loses its FTL speed, but it keeps must accelerate to close to lightspeed the ship can’t see out of its warp bub-
the normal-space velocity it had using normal-space drives before ble, can’t steer, and may not even be
before the warp drive was activated. engaging the warp engines. Or possi- able to turn off the drive without aid!
bly the warp drive is dangerous to use A warp drive like this may be much
like a hyperdrive that permits sensors
in normal space to detect the moving
ship, but in which the ship is other-
wise out of contact until it leaves the
warp state.

Inertialess Drive

This variation on the warp drive
was first invented by E. E. “Doc”
Smith. A device negates the inertia of
the ship’s matter, thereby abolishing
Newton’s laws of motion. The ship’s
speed is now limited only by the
strength of its maneuver drive and the
friction of the medium it’s flying
through. Ships are highly streamlined
in order to reduce friction. In a plan-
et’s atmosphere, the ship is extremely
fast. In the high vacuum of interstellar
space, speeds many times that of light
are possible (assuming, of course, that
an inertialess ship isn’t subject to
Einstein’s laws either).

The ship can instantly stop or
change direction, “turning on a dime”
in the manner some UFOs reportedly
can. Inertialess ships are also immune
to collision or explosion damage; a
collision stops the ship dead at the
point of impact, and an explosion sim-
ply bats the ship aside like a piece of
thistledown.

In reality, there’s no reason to
believe that an inertialess object could
break Einstein’s laws. An inertialess
object may be equivalent to a massless
object, required to move at exactly the
speed of light like other objects with
no rest mass.

40 SPACE TRAVEL

Blink-Warp Drive Drive Reliability The scale of the campaign setting is
determined by the assumptions the
This variation on the hyperdrive or Decide how much attention the GM wishes to make about his cam-
jump drive permits a starship to make drives need. They may be so reliable paign map. See Mapping the Galaxy (p.
instantaneous leaps, but only over rel- that a yacht owner only needs to order 67) for some suggestions.
atively short distances. To cross inter- a checkup every few years. Or they
stellar space, the ship makes a lot of may be so finicky that a specialist has Comparative Speed
jumps very quickly. The effect is like a to roll against Engineer (Starships) at
warp drive, in that the ship remains in -4 after every use just to get them Starships may have different
normal space, may be detectable at a working again! Decide what skills are speeds, especially when using hyper-
distance, and may be able to interact needed to maintain the FTL drive in drives or warp drives. Alternatively, a
with other normal-space objects. good condition, how often the skill ship always moves at the same speed,
rolls are needed, and how difficult the and the drive simply either is or is not
If blink-warping is possible, a ship’s task of maintenance normally is. powerful enough to boost the ship’s
ability to interact with other ships mass into an FTL state. With jump
may depend on its ability to synchro- FTL Astrogation drives, the instantaneous jump is like-
nize its “blinking.” A ship wanting to ly to be the same for every ship,
attack another may have to struggle to Decide how difficult it is to control although some ships may have better
coordinate jumps – if the two ships the FTL drive. It may be as simple maneuver drives than others.
aren’t in phase, a normal-space as “point the ship and turn on
weapon fired by one will always miss the engines.” Or astrogators may Maximum Range
the other by microseconds in either need high levels of Navigation
direction! This may be a situation in (Hyperspace) skill and lots of comput- How far can a ship go at a time?
which human intuition and guess- er power. Astrogators might also need Ships that have to refuel often, or that
work are as powerful as computer pre- unusual advantages – psionic powers, need lengthy calculations before
diction, giving human pilots a chance special mental abilities, or access to a entering FTL travel, may have limits
to be effective. rare and addictive drug. Decide what on the distance they can go before
skills are needed, what modifiers needing more fuel or new computa-
Space Highways might apply to skill in different cir- tions. Decide what limits may exist on
cumstances, and any special abilities a ship’s range. If ships can travel long
Some real-world science suggests astrogators will need. distances in FTL, then interstellar bor-
that warp drives may actually be pos- ders become harder to defend – espe-
sible, although the power require- Drive Speed cially if ships are undetectable while
ments would be extremely high. One in hyperspace or in some other FTL
proposal suggests that specific paths Decide how fast the drive will go. state! If ships can travel only short dis-
through space could be treated to This will depend on how large a region tances without a stop, or if jump
permit FTL travel. While staying on the campaign covers, and how fast points are required and are easy to
this “space highway,” a ship can you want the ships to get where defend, then interstellar borders
move at FTL speeds in the normal they’re going. become possible.
universe; the drawback is that it can’t
reverse course or leave the highway Hyperdrives and warp drives can Fuel Consumption
until it reaches its destination. A be given a speed in parsecs per day (or
space-highway system is rather like a hour, or second, or some other con- If an FTL drive makes use of some
jumpline system, in which the ships venient unit). For hyperdrives, there consumable material, then ships will
take measurable time to complete may also be a limit to the time or dis- need to stop and restock from time to
each jump. tance a ship can travel in hyperspace time. Even a ship whose FTL drives
without emerging into normal space. run on internal power may need fuel
Ships on a highway may or may Each separate trip is called a “skip,” to run the power plant. Or the drive
not be able to detect one another and the ship must wait a GM-set time may need some unusual material to
or to interact. If a highway is very between skips. For instance, if the work: a rare crystal, expensive
narrow, then the probability of maximum skip is one parsec, and the transuranic elements, or antimatter.
collision may be high enough to skip is almost instantaneous, but the In general, if fuel is expensive or rare,
worry about . . . ship must wait a day before making then exploration and travel will focus
another skip, then the effective speed on fuel sources. Ships that refuel often
DESIGNING A is one parsec per day. will need to stop frequently, and may
STARDRIVE be dependent on civilized ports to
For jump drives, “speed” depends travel far. Ships that are fuel-efficient,
Once the GM has chosen a general entirely on how far a ship usually or can scavenge fuel as they travel, will
type for his FTL drive, he can cus- needs to travel to reach a chosen jump be able to travel longer distances with-
tomize it with a variety of options. point. The important factors are the out stopping. The availability of fuel
These decisions are important; they endurance of the drive (how often a will help control how cheap and com-
provide much of the campaign’s flavor. ship can jump, with respect to refuel- monplace interstellar travel will be.
ing or maintenance) and normal-
space time from one jump exit to the
destination world or the next jump
entrance.

SPACE TRAVEL 41

Side Effects Navigation Errors

Any FTL drive may have undesir- What happens when a starship goes off-course? STL starships, and
able side effects. These can be an those using a warp drive, are unlikely to get lost since they can always
interesting balancing factor in a set- see where they are going. Jump drive and hyperdrive ships can go wild-
ting with multiple FTL drives; the ly off course, especially if a power plant or stardrive malfunctions in
faster drive may be more unpleasant mid-journey.
or more risky. These effects may vary
from one civilization to the next – In general, an astrogator should roll against the appropriate
some races may make excellent Navigation specialty, modified as the GM sees fit to reflect the difficul-
space navigators, or use certain ty of interstellar astrogation. A hurriedly set course, relative to the
drives that no one else can use. time usually required, gives a penalty to the roll (according to Time
Spent, p. B346). A successful roll means that there was no error. The
Mechanical effects: The use of an consequences of a failure depend on its magnitude.
FTL drive may affect mechanical
devices, plaguing engineers. Perhaps The GM should custom-build his own failure table, appropriate for
the activation of the star drive is the drive he has designed. Players should not be allowed to see this
equivalent to violent maneuvers in table, although they may know what the general results of a minor
normal space, forcing equipment error will be. If the penalties for miscalculating are low, then starships
and people to be secured to avoid escaping from danger will always use quick-and-dirty computations.
damage. More subtly, FTL travel As consequences become more severe, “snap astrogation” becomes
may cause certain devices (electron- more of an emergency measure.
ics, computers, even astrogational
equipment) to fail or to function Some possibilities include:
unreliably. Nothing happens: Literally. If your calculations are wrong, you use
up a lot of energy – and go nowhere. This is especially appropriate for
Physical effects: FTL may do harm jump drives.
to living creatures on board a star- Off-position: This is more appropriate for hyperdrives than for jump
ship! Perhaps everyone must roll vs. drives. Deviation from the intended destination depends on the amount
HT when the ship enters FTL (or at by which the skill roll was missed, and may be minor (AUs) or major
intervals while it is in FTL) to avoid (parsecs). A ship might go in the correct direction but the wrong dis-
nausea and spacesickness. Crew and tance, or it could go the correct distance in the wrong direction.
passengers may suffer pain or disori- Lost: The ship is sent to a wholly unexpected location – the worse the
entation, taking a penalty to DX or roll, the more lost it is. The actual destination may be a reasonable num-
IQ. Or they may suffer illness or ber of parsecs from the departure or destination point, or it might be
death in FTL, requiring that they random on a galactic or intergalactic scale. Astronomy or Navigation
take drugs or go into suspended rolls will be required just to figure out where the ship is.
animation! Time-Lost: Along with one of the previous results, the ship also
moves a random distance forward or backward in time. Small time-
Mental effects: Crew and passen- movements are an interesting nuisance. Big ones can be catastrophic,
gers may suffer psychic distress, and may be appropriate only if the GM is ready to start a new cam-
delusions or manic impulses that paign. If ships can become “time-lost” predictably, the GM may find
require medication or suspended himself running a time-travel campaign.
animation to avoid. If psionics exist, Damage: The ship (or the drive) takes a certain amount of damage.
FTL travel may interfere with their For example, the drive may burn out, or the ship may lose a percentage
use (or may boost psionic talents). of total hit points.
Or possibly FTL travel is psychically Total Disaster: The ship is destroyed, or thrown into another universe
pleasurable, inviting an Addiction with no possibility of return. Not a good result for play balance,
among frequent passengers or navi- although as a final consequence for very stupid escape plans it may have
gators! If drugs are required to navi- some merit.
gate FTL space or to avoid physical
harm, this may represent addiction
to those drugs instead.

42 SPACE TRAVEL

SHIPBOARD SYSTEMS

Cargill took a deep breath, then One variation on the central bridge Supporting the biological needs of
started over. “The ship can fight,” he might be a virtual control center, used any passengers – breathable air,
said in what amounted to baby talk, on spaceships where computers and potable water, and edible food –
“until somebody makes a hole in her. communications gear are ubiquitous. requires more elaborate technology.
Then she has to be fixed. Now suppose If crewmen can confer with each other The GM should consider the level
I had to repair this,” he said, laying a at will, and control ship’s systems of life support technology that is
hand on something Rod was almost from anywhere on board, then there’s available.
sure was an air absorber-converter. little need for centralized controls.
“The . . . thing looks half-melted now. Perhaps they work from their quarters Limited Life Support
How would I know what was dam- much of the time, conferring with
aged? Or if it were damaged at all?” each other over ship’s communica- Limited life support provides air,
tions (or even meeting in a VR space). food, and water so long as onboard
– Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, supplies last. It has no recycling
The Mote in God’s Eye Computers capability, so once the supplies run
out, crew and passengers are in trou-
Aside from the drives, every space- Every spaceship is likely to have ble. Limited life support is of little
ship has other systems intended to at least one onboard computer; in value for space travel since it’s diffi-
keep its crewmen alive and support settings where computing is common- cult to carry enough supplies to sup-
their work. These secondary technolo- place there may be hundreds net- port crewmen for more than a few
gies can have a profound effect on the worked together. days. Space shuttles or other ground-
flavor of a space setting. to-orbit craft may use limited life
The GM should consider how support.
CONTROL adventurers will interact with a ship’s
SYSTEMS computer systems. In order to solve a Full Life Support
new problem, does the crew have to
A spaceship will have a variety of reprogram the computers in an arcane Full life support can recycle air and
component systems. Most of the time, machine language? Or can an officer water, vastly extending the endurance of
crewmen will interact with their ship describe the problem in vague terms the life support system. The system still
by way of its control systems. and expect the computers to come up can’t provide food, or recycle most bio-
with independent answers? Does the logical wastes. A ship with full life sup-
Cockpits and Bridges computer show initiative, volunteer- port will need to carry provisions, stop-
ing information and solutions on its ping at port occasionally to resupply.
Almost every fictional spaceship own? Does it have a personality? In
has a centralized control room. A particular, can the computer run the Total Life Support
very small ship, like a TL7 space ship by itself – and if it can, who needs
probe or a fighter craft, may have a human crewmen? Total life support can provide all of
cockpit, a cramped space just large the passengers’ needs, recycling bio-
enough for the crew to sit and work. The GM may be tempted to use a logical wastes and producing edible
A larger spaceship will probably ship’s computer systems as an “ora- food indefinitely. A ship with total life
have a bridge, with extra space cle,” presenting information as needed support can travel for very long peri-
permitting the crew to get up and to drive the plot. However, if a com- ods without stopping at a port.
move around. puter is that widely useful, it may start
to replace human adventurers . . . GRAVITY
In either case, the control center
is the place where the ship’s com- LIFE SUPPORT Gravity is one of the fundamental
manding officers meet, work, man- forces of the universe – and it has also
age the ship’s systems, and plan for Spaceships can be robotic, carry- turned out to be the hardest force to
upcoming adventures. The “look and ing nonliving cargo or scientific manipulate. Today, the only known
feel” of the control center can be instruments. A ship that carries crew way to produce gravity is to pile up
important. Is it cramped or roomy? or passengers will need to provide lots of mass. There is no known way to
Are the controls composed of toggle life support, keeping everyone alive screen against it, reducing an object’s
switches and dials, brightly colored even in a hostile environment. weight or making it weightless. Still
buttons, or sophisticated virtual- less is there any known way to reverse
reality interfaces? Which crewmen Any ship capable of space travel gravity. Gravity control (“gravitics” or
are likely to be found in the control can be assumed to be sealed against “gravitonics”) is still a dream, and
center, and which ones visit only temperature extremes, vacuum, should be considered a superscience
rarely? Does the bridge crew observe meteoroid impacts, and so on. In technology.
careful military protocol, or are they particular, every long-range space-
relaxed and informal? craft will need shielding against radi-
ation, which is ubiquitous in space
(see Radiation Hazards, p. B435).

SPACE TRAVEL 43

Spin Gravity Contragravity and fly. Of course, the contragravity
may be unreliable, and may fail at just
A space habitat can be rotated to Contragravity is a means of the wrong moment . . . but it can
provide artificial gravity through cen- “screening out” gravity – in effect, the become tiresome if the GM develops a
trifugal force. A spaceship can do the reverse of artificial gravity. The main habit of depriving the adventurers of
same, either by rotating as a unit, or effect of contragravity is to allow crucial technology.
by spinning a specific section. things to fly without regard for aero-
dynamics, and without noisy engines. WEAPONS
Spin gravity is available even at very Instead of being light and fragile like
low TLs, but it has a number of disad- helicopters or jet planes, vehicles can If space travel ever becomes com-
vantages. The rotation gives rise to a be quite heavy, like “grav tanks,” or mon, spaceships will sooner or later
Coriolis effect, which seems to push even flying houses or cities. If contra- begin shooting at each other. The
objects to the side as they fall; this can gravity generators can be made small choice of what shipboard weapons are
be difficult for travelers to adjust to. enough, they can allow personal flying most common will do a lot to deter-
Coriolis effects can cause severe disori- belts – or flying carpets! mine the flavor of a space setting.
entation if the radius of the spin is too
small, so the ship (or the rotating sec- Contragravity can be dramatic and Projectile Weapons
tion) needs to be fairly large. futuristic. On the other hand, if it
becomes too easy to fly, there’s not One of the oldest ways to damage
Meanwhile, there may be reasons much point to driving, sailing, or any vehicle is to throw physical pro-
why the whole ship can’t rotate – say, walking. The simpler and more jectiles at it. A missile that simply col-
in order to hold the aim of a shipboard portable flight technology is, the more lides with an enemy ship uses the
weapon. Unfortunately, conservation adventurers will use it. This can short- kinetic kill technique. A missile can
of angular momentum means that if circuit a lot of adventures – it’s hard to carry a warhead: high explosives, a
one section of the ship begins to get excited about a “man against nuclear device, bomb-pumped lasers,
rotate, the rest of the ship will normal- nature” adventure in which the heroes nanotechnological “goo” . . . any-
ly rotate in the opposite direction. must cross a thousand miles of bar- thing that can damage an enemy ship
This can be avoided, but it adds to the ren, monster-infested wilderness, if at a short distance.
complexity of the system. they can just strap on their flight-belts

Artificial Gravity

An artificial gravity generator is a
device that (somehow) produces a
gravitational field without lots of
mass. This violates physical laws as
they are currently understood, and
must be considered superscience.

If a setting has artificial gravity,
this has a number of effects on the
campaign. Spaceships and space sta-
tions will no longer need to be built
with rotating sections to generate spin
gravity. They can be given any shape
desired, and in particular will no
longer need to be shaped like rings or
cylinders. Settlement on asteroids,
comets, or other bits of space debris
will become easy. The presence of vari-
ant human races, adapted to micro-
gravity or to unusual gravity fields,
will be much less likely.

A variation on artificial gravity is
the gravitic or inertial compensator, a
device that renders the force of high
gravity (or high acceleration) harm-
less. Compensators can make space
travel much more comfortable, even
on spaceships with very powerful
maneuver drives. Manned ships, espe-
cially fighter craft, will be able to
make sharp turns at high velocity, let-
ting them “dogfight” as seen in many
SF films.

44 SPACE TRAVEL

One of the fundamental problems psionics to trigger an interstellar ships that approach the speed of light
with projectile weapons is how to aim jump, then it may be vulnerable to may use a very thick coat of cheap
them. This problem is particularly bad telepathic or telekinetic attack. armor to cover their forward sections.
for an unguided projectile, which can’t
alter its course to follow the enemy. Designing Weapons The main drawback of armor is
Unguided projectiles (such as those that it can be very heavy. Civilizations
fired by a cannon or railgun) will need Some of the things to consider that routinely use armored spacecraft
to be very fast or very short-range. when designing weapons systems are: will look for ways to make it as tough
Guided missiles will need to be faster as possible, or as reflective as possible
than the ships they target, and will Range: At what distance can the if beam weapons are a likely threat, so
need to be smart to outguess the weapon be relied on to do significant that its mass can be reduced.
enemy pilot. damage? Some projectile weapons
have effectively unlimited range. Force Fields
Beam Weapons Beam weapons tend to do less damage
with distance – even laser beams Many science-fiction universes
High-energy lasers, particle beams, spread. include some kind of force field, an
gravity beams, or bolts of energetic energy barrier that can protect a ship
plasma are all good candidates for Aiming: At what distance can the (or some other target) from incoming
beam weapons. weapon be reliably aimed to hit the projectiles or beams. Force fields can
target? Can ships evade effectively be a useful technology when establish-
Beam weapons can help with the even at short distances, or do they ing a setting’s flavor.
aiming problem in space combat. have to be thousands or millions of
Lasers, gravity pulses, and particle miles away? Are there ways to evade First, force fields can allow individ-
beams all move at lightspeed or just damage even if the attack can’t be seen uals or vehicles to look unprotected
under it. These speeds mean that the coming? but in fact be well shielded against
enemy ship won’t have time to evade enemy fire or hostile environments. A
while the beam crosses space, even if Gunnery: Who operates the tiny shield belt is so much more ele-
it can predict when the attack is com- weapons? Can human gunners aim gant than a bulky armored suit . . .
ing. On the other hand, if a beam has and fire with some chance of hitting
to be held on its target to do significant the target? Or does fire control have Second, force fields allow the GM
damage, this helps the defense. A ship to be left in the hands of computers, to control what weaponry is likely to
being targeted can simply rotate in with humans making general tactical be in use. For a “swords and starships”
place, or make small evasive maneu- decisions? campaign, the GM can rule that force
vers, spreading the beam’s attack fields block explosions and fast-mov-
point across the hull. Damage: What kind of damage ing projectiles, but are ineffective
does the weapon do? Does it simply against slow hand weapons. For a
Remember that a ship’s drives can tear up the hull and any systems it campaign in which nuclear weapons
sometimes be used as a weapon. Most hits? Does it heat the target to the are rare, rule that force screens pro-
reaction drives generate hot plasma or point of breakdown, or inflict radia- vide thousands of times their normal
other dangerous exhaust, which could tion damage? Does it deliver some resistance against nuclear explosions.
be directed at an enemy vessel. The exotic form of injury, harming drives To limit teleportation technology, rule
faster and more efficient the drive, the or other ship’s systems? that a teleporter can’t reach through a
more energetic the exhaust – all the force field.
way up to the output from antimatter DEFENSES
pion drives, which can be deadly at Stealth and Cloaking
distances of millions of miles. If spaceships go into battle, they
will be built with defensive systems to Camouflage is a long-standing part
Exotic Weapons avoid or minimize damage. of the art of warfare. In many hard-SF
settings, the ability to deceive enemy
Superscience technologies that Armor sensors and smart weapons may be a
drive a ship can also lead to super- much better defense than armor.
science methods for attacking (or One of the simplest defenses any
defending) it. Any bad effect that ship can mount is armor – plating on Of course, there is considerable
might occur as a side effect of a drive the hull, made of tough metal or more debate as to just how easy it will be to
might also be deliberately inflicted on exotic materials, designed to deflect or conceal a spaceship from sensors.
an enemy vessel. Perhaps a gravity absorb damage. Space is big, so spotting something as
drive can also be used to project small as a ship may be tricky. On the
gravitic fields at an enemy ship, burn- Almost all spaceships will carry other hand, space is also dark and
ing out enemy drives or damaging the some armor, if only to deflect mete- cold. The laws of thermodynamics
enemy ship’s hull. A different applica- oroid impacts and lend some protec- mean that the energy used to operate
tion of hyperdrive technology might tion against radiation. This kind of a ship has to go somewhere. This
make it impossible for enemy ships to armor can be quite simple; a layer of means that every ship will radiate
escape into hyperspace. If a ship uses rock, slag, or even ice can serve the heat, standing out nicely in infrared
purpose. Many primitive interplane- against the dark background.
tary craft and space stations will use
found materials for armor. Interstellar

SPACE TRAVEL 45

Meanwhile, the flare of a rocket drive basic passive sensors used in space COMMUNICATIONS
will act as a beacon to everyone with- will be telescopes. Telescopes don’t
in line of sight – and there’s rarely any- have to use visible light; radio, Spaceships always have communi-
thing to hide behind in space . . . infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, and even cations equipment. Radios, lasers, and
Still, advances in electronic counter- gamma rays can all be detected by var- similar devices send information by
measures (ECM) and stealth technolo- ious telescopes. Particle radiation modulating electromagnetic informa-
gy may mean that battles must be (alpha particles, beta particles, neutri- tion. Advanced societies may manipu-
fought at or near visual range. nos, and so on) can also be detected by late gravity waves or neutrino bursts
specialized instruments; this can be to communicate.
Cloaking technology goes beyond useful when trying to detect nuclear
obscuring a ship’s image or deceiving power plants or other high-energy However, all of those methods are
enemy sensors, rendering a ship phenomena. More exotic passive sen- limited to lightspeed. Adequate for
entirely invisible. “Invisibility fields” sors may sense mass, gravity, “proba- communication across interplanetary
are superscience, but they can give bility waves” given off by unusual real- distances, they become very slow and
space combat a unique flavor. ity-altering technology, the operation cumbersome at the interstellar level. If
Spaceships can be like submarines: of FTL drives, or even psionic effects. FTL travel exists, then FTL communi-
maneuvering for position, hunting for cation may exist – but the GM will
a fleeting contact, almost impossible Active sensors don’t wait to receive want to carefully consider how such
to detect until they give their position the emanations of other objects. communications work.
away by firing their weapons. Instead, they broadcast electromagnet-
ic radiation and interpret the reflec- No FTL Radio
Note that almost any superscience tions. The simplest active sensor is a
technology may have an effect on how searchlight, illuminating otherwise If no FTL communication is possi-
easy ships are to detect. Perhaps reac- dark objects. In space, high-powered ble, then the speed of communication
tionless drives produce a lot of waste lasers or bright rocket drives can be becomes that of the fastest starship.
heat. Perhaps an installed hyperdrive used as searchlights at very long range. Fast courier ships will maintain con-
will let a ship dump its heat and other Other active sensors include long-wave tact between worlds, carrying mail,
radiations into hyperspace, reducing or microwave radar, or exotic sensors news, and government dispatches.
its “signature.” Or perhaps a ship that using other forms of radiation. Slower ships, possibly independently
uses a psionic drive can be detected by owned, will contract for mail service
psionic powers at very long range . . . In a setting with FTL travel, the to less important worlds. Without FTL
GM may want to consider permitting communications, invading fleets,
SENSORS superscience sensors that themselves escaping criminals, and similar men-
work at FTL speeds. Ships that can aces may be able to outrun the warn-
Every spaceship needs equipment communicate or even fight in FTL will ing that they’re coming.
to gather and interpret data about its need sensors capable of guiding these
surroundings. interactions. A starship might be able Without FTL communication,
to detect other ships even at light-year interstellar trade is risky; a merchant
Passive sensors receive the natural distances, moving to intercept them or won’t be able to determine in advance
radiations given off by objects at a dis- simply preventing them from sneak- what the target market needs. A trader
tance, and use those to build an image ing by unnoticed. who guesses right can get rich, while
of the ship’s surroundings. The most one who guesses wrong will go broke.
If the interstellar state is large enough
Teleporters that it takes months or years to cross
by starship, then the capital will seem
If teleportation is possible, then a spaceship might have teleportation remote and people will tend to be
equipment on board for crew and passengers. This might simply pro- more loyal to their world or province
vide a quick way to get around the ship itself – or it can provide an easy than to the state as a whole. Military
way to move onto a nearby world and back! forces will need to be large and scat-
tered, so that there is always enough
Teleportation can sometimes be a plot convenience, permitting the force at any point of danger. Military
GM to easily put characters in the middle of an adventure. On the other commanders will have great leeway
hand, if teleportation is too easy, it can help the adventurers get back when they are far from superior
out of a difficult situation at any time. This can short-circuit many authority; bravado and strategic skill
plots, forcing the GM to make the system break down too often for will be very important.
credibility.
Slow FTL Radio
Limited teleportation systems may be a useful compromise. Perhaps
the system requires heavy equipment to be in place at both ends. In this Slow FTL communication – say,
case, a ship’s crew could use it to easily visit a civilized world, but would three or four times as fast as the
have to do without when exploring the frontier. Or perhaps inanimate fastest starship – helps tie an interstel-
cargo can be moved but the system is far too unsafe for passengers, lar state together. However, FTL
forcing adventurers to use more conventional methods to get around. “radio” may be expensive; perhaps it

46 SPACE TRAVEL

takes up too much space or requires Bandwidth
too much energy to be installed on a
starship. In this case, FTL communi- Another factor to consider when designing FTL communication
cation may take place only between methods is bandwidth. Bandwidth is a technical term, describing how
the most important worlds, much information can be sent through a channel in a given time. A
while ships and minor worlds still communication method can be extremely fast and almost impossible to
have to rely on couriers. Access to FTL jam – but if it takes many hours to transmit a message even a few words
communications will be a great long, it won’t be as useful!
advantage for merchants, or for
military commanders. A fast but low-bandwidth communications method can have inter-
esting effects on the campaign setting. It may be easy for a spaceship to
Fast FTL Radio maintain contact with its home base, but not to send detailed messages
or ask for extensive information. If the transmitter is too bulky for a
Fast, cheap FTL communication spaceship to carry, then it can receive orders or bulletins from home
makes it easy to hold an interstellar base without being able to respond. Interstellar communications will be
state together. Trade becomes relative- expensive, and may be metered by the word (or the byte) like old-style
ly safe, as merchants can easily check telegrams.
the market at their destinations before
they even load cargo. Military fleets Meanwhile, if spaceships routinely temporarily when it’s needed. Only a
can be smaller but still used efficient- have massive power plants with a ship that is likely to take on an
ly, since they can quickly be called great deal of output, it’s likely that exploratory role at any time will be
together in an emergency. On the space habitats and planet-based com- designed to carry scientific facilities
other hand, merchants and military munities will also have access to plen- all the time.
officers alike will find their freedom of tiful energy. A society that flies power-
action limited, with superior authority ful starships is probably very wealthy For example, the warships in David
always an FTL call away. Captains will at home! Weber’s “Honor Harrington” novels
rarely take action without referring to carry only minimal scientific facilities,
HQ for orders! LABORATORIES since they never take on an explorato-
ry role and rarely leave well-known
If FTL communication is this easy, It’s very common in SF for space- space. On the other hand, Federation
the GM may want to impose limits on ships to carry scientific equipment, starships in Star Trek are likely to
it to make sure that it can’t ruin a dra- and even whole laboratory facilities. receive exploration or survey duty at
matic situation. FTL “radio” may have This is often true even of ships that any time; even heavily armed cruisers
a limited range, forcing the state to set aren’t designed to serve as exploration carry extensive laboratory facilities
up “repeater” beacons and ensuring or scientific vessels. and crews trained to use them.
that a ship out on the frontiers can’t
call home. Communications may be In fact, the need for scientific One exception to this general rule
unreliable, with “static” or some other equipment and crewmen trained in is the presence of medical facilities.
blockage appearing at appropriate the sciences depends on how much Every spaceship will need to carry
moments. Or perhaps messages are time a spaceship will spend in medical equipment and the necessary
still delayed enough in transmission unknown space. A ship that never crew. A small ship may carry basic
that a call for help can’t be answered leaves well-known regions won’t need drugs and surgical tools, with one or
immediately! scientific gear – present-day cargo two crewmen cross-trained in medi-
ships and military vessels don’t carry cine. A larger ship, no matter what its
POWER extensive laboratory facilities! If a overall purpose, will carry a sickbay
warship or merchant vessel sometimes and trained physicians to protect the
Most practical maneuver drives visits unexplored worlds, then it may health of the crew. Such facilities may
either require a great deal of power, or take on equipment and trained crew be useful in biological investigations.
are direct modifications of power
plants. Star drives are also very likely “Well, Bones, do the new medical facilities meet
to require a great deal of power. Power with your approval?”
plant technology is therefore critical
to space travel. “They do not. It’s like working in a damn
computer center.”
Any spaceship power plant needs
to be able to operate without air; this – Kirk and McCoy,
rules out fossil fuels. Power plant
designers will look for fuel efficiency, Star Trek: The Motion Picture
safety, a high power-to-mass ratio, and
very long endurance. The GM should
consider what power plants will be
available to support the existing ship’s
systems.

SPACE TRAVEL 47

An interesting game can be on-board supplies: tools, replacement to avoid government interference.
designed around an exploratory or parts, clothing, linens . . . even enter- Perhaps a piece of cargo turns out not
survey vessel, although if the GM and tainment or luxury items for the to be what’s expected, posing a danger
players aren’t themselves familiar with passengers! to the ship or its crew. Or perhaps car-
the sciences it may be difficult to rying the cargo is easy enough, but
maintain interest in such a campaign. If a campaign focuses on ship- delivering it (and getting paid for it)
An alternative might be to throw a board activities, the GM may want to poses challenges at the destination.
spaceship that isn’t designed for explo- make sure that the ship’s stores are
ration into a situation where scientific well defined. A spaceship in flight is SMALL CRAFT
discovery is crucial! extremely isolated; if anything goes
wrong the crew will have nothing but Many spaceships in science fiction
INFRASTRUCTURE what’s in storage to use to fix the carry small craft, smaller vehicles that
problem. Requiring adventurers to are used for specialized purposes.
A number of miscellaneous “sys- improvise with inadequate equip- Depending on a setting’s technological
tems” don’t depend on advanced tech- ment is often a good way to ratchet assumptions, a small ship may have
nology, but might be useful for the GM up the tension . . . advantages over a large one in certain
to consider as he develops the flavor of circumstances. A small ship may be
a ship-based campaign. Cargo faster or stealthier – or it may simply
be able to go places (like planetary
Tools and Workshops Many spaceships will have some surfaces) that the typical starship
capacity to carry cargo. If permanent can’t.
Spaceships are complex machines, space habitats or colonies exist, they
and are likely to need a great deal of will be supported by spaceships carry- If small ships are the only ones that
maintenance. Low-TL spacecraft ing supplies and new equipment. can conveniently land on worlds, then
sometimes get around this limitation Eventually trade will spring up large ships will carry one or more
by being “one-shot” machines. They between worlds, and some spaceships “shuttlecraft” to ferry people and
are used for a single short mission, will specialize in cargo transport. cargo. Even ships that can easily land
and designed so that none of their on a world may carry a small cutter or
components can be expected to fail Ships that carry a lot of cargo will gig for jobs that require a few crew-
before the mission is over. The first also have crewmen who specialize in men to travel away from their home
“reusable” spacecraft often need handling it – loading it, unloading it, ship. Similar small craft may serve as
extensive maintenance and even and taking care of it in transit. If lifeboats to carry people and valuable
rebuilding between launches. spaceship crews can engage in trade equipment away from a wrecked ship
on their own behalf, some crewmen (see Man the Life Pods! below).
Once a spacecraft is likely to spend will be expert in finding worthwhile
months or years in flight, its crew will cargoes, buying them at a bargain Small craft that are much faster or
need to be able to perform mainte- price, and selling them for a profit. stealthier may have military uses.
nance and repairs. The spaceship will Space-opera universes sometimes
need to carry tool and replacement The minutiae of buying and selling have large “carriers” or “motherships,”
parts. For very large ships (or very cargo don’t usually make for com- carrying squadrons of small fighter
long missions) it might even be rea- pelling adventures. If a cargo-carrying craft that take on some or all of the
sonable to carry whole workshops, ship is the focus of a campaign, the space-combat tasks. Small craft can
complete with fabrication facilities so GM should consider other ways to use also be stealthy speedsters that carry
that new parts can be made out of raw the cargo to drive interesting stories. small teams of adventurers into and
materials. Perhaps the ship carries legitimate out of dangerous situations.
cargo, but also engages in smuggling

Consumables Man the Life Pods!
and Storage
When a starship runs into trouble, the crew may or may not have a
Every spaceship will need storage chance of surviving. Antimatter explosions and similar disasters are not
space to carry things that the crew and likely to leave survivors! If anyone from the crew can survive, they may
passengers will need. Fuel must be be stranded for hours, days, or even years before help can arrive. Many
stored for the power plant and space ships will be built with systems designed to help the crew escape, reach
drives. Food, water, air, and other con- sanctuary, and survive until help arrives.
sumables must be carried to stock the
life-support system. The crew may The typical survival system is a “lifeboat” or “life pod,” a small craft
need various pieces of equipment that capable at least of brief maneuvering to get away from a dangerous sit-
will be used when the ship reaches its uation. It will provide some life support, although it may rely on sus-
destination. pended-animation techniques to support stranded crewmen for long
periods. A lifeboat may or may not be able to land. If it can, it will prob-
Even a low-TL space “capsule” will ably be stocked with survival gear and other resources useful for crew-
be full of these items, stuffed into every men who must live in the wilderness for long periods of time.
available nook and cranny. A large,
high-TL spaceship may have extensive

48 SPACE TRAVEL