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The Future Is Yours!Now updated for GURPS Fourth Edition, thisis the ultimate toolkit for any campaign betweenthe stars. Explore options for space travel andtechnology, from the realistic to the miraculous.Design alien races and monsters. Create campaigns of every style, from science fantasy tospace opera to near-future realism. Buildworlds, from asteroids to Dyson spheres.With this book, you can create anything froma single alien beast to a whole galaxy of civilizations and star systems . . . quickly and randomly, or with a detailed step-by-step process that’strue to biology and astrophysics as we understand them today. Whether you’re creating a single alien or anentire race, a single planet or a dozen systems,GURPS Space gives you the information youneed! Based on modern astrophysical knowledge,you can build a setting as “hard science” as youwant – or just choose details that work for yourstory, and skip the rocket science. GURPS Space is written by two experiencedGURPS creators: Jon Zeigler (author of GURPSTraveller: Interstellar Wars and GURPSTraveller: First In), and James Cambias (authorof GURPS Mars and GURPS Planet ofAdventure).GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson GamesIncorporated. Pyramid and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporatedare 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. Somepublic-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 thepermission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electroniceditions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.Stock #31-1002Version 1.0 July 21, 2006
Written by JON F. ZEIGLER and JAMES L. CAMBIASEdited by WIL UPCHURCHCover Art by ALAN GUTIERREZ, CHRIS QUILLIAMS, and BOB STEVLICIllustrated by JESSE DEGRAFF, ALAN GUTIERREZ, CHRIS QUILLIAMS,and BOB STEVLICISBN 1-55634-245-41 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10STEVE JACKSON GAMES
CONTENTSINTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . 4PUBLICATION HISTORY.4About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41. SPACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5SPACE AND SPACE FICTION.6Why Space Travel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6What’s Not in This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Designing the Space Campaign. . . . . . . 7Hard and Soft Science Fiction . . . . . . . . 7Scale and Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Ships and Outposts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8CAMPAIGN TYPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Realism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Strange New Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11The High Frontier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Alien Archaeology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Military Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Stop in the Name of the Law. . . . . . . . 16Media and Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Working Stiffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Heroic Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20The Absurdist Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . 20Who Needs Starships? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21ALIENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21SOCIETIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22INTERSTELLAR ORGANIZATIONS . . . . . 24PLANETS AND PLACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Life Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Weapons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Laboratories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Small Craft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483. TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . . . 49ADDING MIRACLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50TECHNOLOGY AREAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Biotechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Suspended Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Bioships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Computers and Communications . . . . 55The Transparent Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Nanotechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Transportation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Weapons and Defenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . 61The Swashbuckler Option . . . . . . . . . . . 614. BASIC WORLDBUILDING . . 62USING WORLDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Reaction Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31The Rocket Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Sample Delta-V Requirements . . . . . . . 32Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Catapults and Tethers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Reactionless Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Relativity Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Generation Ships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37STAR DRIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Hyperdrive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Jump Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Warp Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Designing a Stardrive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Navigation Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42SHIPBOARD SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Control Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Dramatic Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Depth of Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66MAPPING THE GALAXY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Astronomical Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Distances and Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68The Frequency of Worlds. . . . . . . . . . . 70Choosing a Preferred Scale . . . . . . . . . . 72WORLD DESIGN SEQUENCE . . . . . . . . 73Step 1: Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Step 2: World Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Why World Types? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Step 3: Atmosphere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Toxicity Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Step 4: Hydrographic Coverage. . . . . . 81Step 5: Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Step 6: World Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Step 7: Resources and Habitability. . . 87Habitability for Aliens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89SOCIAL PARAMETERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Step 8: Settlement Type . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Step 9: Technology Level . . . . . . . . . . . 90Step 10: Population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Altering the Colony Population Table . . . 93Step 11: Society Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Step 12: Control Rating . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Step 13: Economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95GURPS System Design STEVE JACKSONGURPS Line Editor SEAN PUNCHManaging Editor CHRIS AYLOTTProduction Manager MONICA STEPHENSProduction Artist ALEX FERNANDEZPage Design PHILIP REEDPrint Buyer MONIQUE CHAPMANMarketing Director PAUL CHAPMAN2. SPACE TRAVEL. . . . . . . . . 28A TAXONOMY OF MIRACLES . . . . . . . . 29SPACE FLIGHT AND STORYREQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30MANEUVER DRIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Step 14: Bases and Installations . . . . . 965. ADVANCEDWORLDBUILDING . . . . . . 99GENERATING STAR SYSTEMS. . . . . . 100Stellar Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Step 15: Number of Stars. . . . . . . . . . 100Step 16: Star Masses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Step 17: Star System Age . . . . . . . . . . 101Step 18: Stellar Characteristics . . . . . 102Step 19: Companion Star Orbits . . . . 105Step 20: Locate Orbital Zones . . . . . . 106Step 21: Placing First Planets . . . . . . 107Step 22: Place Planetary Orbits . . . . . 108Step 23: Place Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Step 24: Place Moons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111GENERATING WORLD DETAILS . . . . . 113Step 25: World Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Step 26: Atmosphere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Step 27: Hydrographics . . . . . . . . . . . 114Step 28: Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Step 29: World Sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Step 30: Dynamic Parameters . . . . . . 115Step 31: Geologic Activity . . . . . . . . . 119Step 32: Resources andHabitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Step 33: Settlement Type . . . . . . . . . . 121Step 34: Technology Level . . . . . . . . . 122Step 35: Population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Step 36: Society Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Step 37: Control Rating . . . . . . . . . . . 123Step 38: Economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Step 39: Bases and Installations . . . . 123SPECIAL CASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124Gas Giant Moons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Tide-Locked Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Massive Stars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Red Dwarf Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Brown Dwarf Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Rogue Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Terraformed Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129OTHER OBJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130Asteroids and Comets. . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Artificial Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Who Needs Planets, Anyway? . . . . . . . 132Megastructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1336. ALIEN LIFE ANDALIEN MINDS . . . . . . . 134ALIENS IN THE CAMPAIGN. . . . . . . . . 135Some Common Aliens . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Sales Manager ROSS JEPSONErrata Coordinator ANDY VETROMILEGURPS FAQ Maintainer STÉPHANE THÉRIAULTLead Playtester: Jeff WilsonPlaytesters: 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 WestGURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid and the names of all productspublished 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 weretaken 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.2CONTENTS
LIFE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Life as We Know It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Clashing Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Other Chemistries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Non-Chemical Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Alien Creation I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Artificial Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141ECOLOGIES AND NICHES . . . . . . . . . . 141Energy Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Alien Creation II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Autotrophs and Decomposers . . . . . . 143Herbivores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Carnivores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Parasites and Symbionts . . . . . . . . . . . 146ALIEN ANATOMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Alien Creation III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Body Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Alien Creation IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Alien Creation V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Skin, Hide, and Alternatives . . . . . . . 155Metabolism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Alien Creation VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Reproduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Lifespan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Alien Creation VII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Senses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Alien Creation VIII. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Special Abilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165ALIEN MINDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Brains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Nature: The Influence of Biology . . . 167Nurture: The Influence of Society. . . 167Alien Creation IX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Alien Creation X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1697. FUTURE AND ALIENCIVILIZATIONS. . . . . . . 171STORY CONCERNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Control and Intrusiveness . . . . . . . . . 173Avenues to Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174About GURPSSteve Jackson Games is committed to full support of GURPSplayers. Our address is SJ Games, Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760. Pleaseinclude a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) any time you writeus! We can also be reached by e-mail: info@sjgames.com. Resourcesinclude:Pyramid (www.sjgames.com/pyramid/). Our online magazineincludes new GURPS rul
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 .
