I JUST SAW "GRAVITY"; I DEMAND SOMEONE START A GURPS SPACE CAMPAIGN!!!

I don't usually resort to all caps, but the movie was simply fantastic; I felt it inappropriate to curb my enthusiasm in this case. Someone start a goddamn GURPS Space campaign already!

General advice, GMs don't takes well to this kind of rude demanding.

It's a good thing I'm not a general, and thus, have no need for your advice.

Even if I was planning on running one, judging by your last two posts, I'd have no interest in having you in a group, I imagine plenty of other DM's will feel the same way.

Well, that's for them to decide. This post isn't for people who aren't interested in running or joining a "GURPS: Space campaign"; which begs the question: why are you posting here? Your profile mentions absolutely nothing about GURPS, much less "GURPS: Space", which is a very hard-realism science fiction setting; it's what you would use to roleplay an actual NASA mission. There are LOTS of gamers that wouldn't appeal to; I see no reason to worry about YOU, who doesn't even list GURPS as a game he plays. :P

Gravity annoyed me to no end. Putting aside the fact that the whole thing was a variation on disaster porn that I'll call "Murphyyyy iiiiiin spaaaaaace!", Bullock's character was completely incompetent... although that might be expected, with only six months training -- but NASA would never let someone up with only six months! American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts train for two years (at least ). EAS candidates train for a minimum of 16 months. Japanese astronauts have 18 months of basic training and 18-24 months of advanced training. Chinese astronauts train for four years. If NASA were to send up someone after only six months, I'd expect them to be a ****ing prodigy. Not to mention that the Hubble orbits nearly 120 miles higher than the ISS (and the CSS which Bullock finally escapes from is planned to be at approximately the same altitude as the ISS). Or the deadly satellite debris, which in the movie flew in the opposite direction of nearly every satellite in orbit around Earth. The same debris which knocked out the communications satellites Houston was using to communicate with the team... the communication satellites which orbit almost 100 times the Hubble's altitude. Hey, at least the spy satellite the Russians shot down would have been at approximately the correct height to create the debris field in the first place... There was also no particular reason for the CSS to crash and burn (if it were hit by the Deadly Debris Field™, it would simply become more debris and maintain orbit), and there were a bunch of problems with the microgravity special effects.

On it! /em You find yourself wandering in space with no life support, oxygen, or fuel. /em Roll a 1d1000000000 to survive, TN = 1000000000-1 /em Game over I feel like his is a faithful, "Old School" and accurate interpretation of how Gravity SHOULD have played. :)

Excelsias said: On it! /em You find yourself wandering in space with no life support, oxygen, or fuel. /em Roll a 1d1000000000 to survive, TN = 1000000000-1 /em Game over I feel like his is a faithful, "Old School" and accurate interpretation of how Gravity SHOULD have played. :) Don't forget the player will have to describe what his character is doing while he is flipping through space without anything to grab and how he is going to act as his life support runs out or burns up on reentry. (I didn't see the movie and don't feel like it but I've seen some of the trailers). That would be a good one shot game as the players know their characters are going to die either flying off deep into space or burning up on reentry or their suit getting ripped open by debris or such. If you want to go cinematic then if their suit gets ripped, they can describe how their body explodes, they suffocate, their blood boils away, or even how they burn up going down into that atmosphere. GURPS is perfect for this. It is so realistic and deadly, it would be a perfect one shot.

This isn't a discussion of the flaws of the movie. I've got my own list of acute observations that I didn't need to farm from media sources like you. This is a discussion about running a "GURPS: Space" campaign. Either say you want to join one, say you want to run one, or kindly find someone who might actually care about your opinion on things this discussion is not about.

Tenacious Techhunter said: Well, that's for them to decide. This post isn't for people who aren't interested in running or joining a "GURPS: Space campaign"; which begs the question: why are you posting here? Your profile mentions absolutely nothing about GURPS, much less "GURPS: Space", which is a very hard-realism science fiction setting; it's what you would use to roleplay an actual NASA mission. There are LOTS of gamers that wouldn't appeal to; I see no reason to worry about YOU, who doesn't even list GURPS as a game he plays. :P ROFLMAO about 2 months ago in the 4E hang out forums you made a very similar snide comment about someone's post and they responded to you almost verbatim to what you just said and you harped on them for 2-3 days.

I make no apologies for warning the GM of that game who wished for a reliable group of players for a long-term campaign that the player that wanted to join had a track record of being a campaign destroying monster. I fully intended to join that game, up until I saw that it was at risk of being destroyed, and then I took the actions required as someone who maintains The Nentir Vale campaign. I make no apologies for anything I posted in it, as I was protecting that GM's interest in running a successful campaign. And don't pretend that a new avatar and a new screen name is going to hide who you are when you use the exact same motif. :P

I saw the movie yesterday and totally loved it despite a few inconsistencies. I'd love to play in a realistic, low-tech sci-fi campaign like that, but I'm not a huge fan of GURPS. Are you flexible on the system?

It's not that I'm not flexible on the system, but GURPS does hard realism better than any other system, and the Space sourcebook covers realistic spaceflight and its problems better than anything I know of. I want to do GURPS because I'm convinced it's the best way to treat the subject matter. If there's a better system for that, I'm all for it.

As a player I'd prefer (in order) Hero System, Traveller (any version except classic), Diaspora (modified FATE system) or maybe even an indie hard-sf rpg called Stellar Drift. If there were no other option than to sit the game out, I guess I could bring myself to play GURPS. If I were GM'ing I'd be using a home-brew system suitable for hard SF.

I would love to play a Hero System/Traveller fusion (there was one published a few years back but sadly I've never been able to get my hands on any of those books).

The Hero System has a source book called "Star Hero" which has heaps of info for playing Sci-fi all the way from Buck Rogers to hard SF like Gravity. There's also another Hero source book called Traveller Hero. I reckon that's the one you're thinking of. Very good book for doing Traveller in the hero system.

Yeah. I was referring to Traveller Hero. Star Hero isn't bad. It is just more of a general setting while Traveller Hero is a bit more specific. For Tenacious, Hero Games is very similar in concept to GURPS when you are dealing with 'normal people'. Point based system where characters purchase stats and skills and can take on complications to increase the total points they have. I like its combat system more and the area where it really excels is when you are doing abnormal things such as super powers. However its system for handling those abilities is also a bit more complex than GURPS.

My only real concern is whether those other systems cover the performance of real spacecraft as well as GURPS does. How the characters are modeled is important, but to a certain extent, that's all fudged with good storytelling. The Hard Sci Fi flavor I'm really asking about pretty much requires the spacecraft and its associated rules to be as close to a simulation as convenient game mechanics allow; GURPS tends to be the gold-standard in terms of realism, so that's what I asked for. If there's something that does it better, I'm all for it.

You should try to get your hands on a copy of Fire, Fusion, and Steel. It was written for Traveller (Megatraveller, I believe) but can be nicely adapted to GURPS or Hero. There was a later version written for the forth edition of Traveller that was not very well recieved, I believe, which I have not read, so I could not say whether it was good or not beyond what I've heard.

I have FF&S for Marc Miller's T4. It's crunch heaven (or hell depending on your tastes) with reams of formulas for pretty much everything. But for the most part, the tech level is *way* too high to be used for something like a Gravity campaign.

Actually, I take that back. Just reading it over, it does scale down to quite low tech levels. You would only be using about 10% of the book, but the stuff on "primitive" rocket engines and atmospheric entry would put a physics book to shame.

So just to clarify my position. GRAVITY --------> Yes! (or something similarly low tech and hard SF) GURPS ---------> Prefer not. (But if a GM shows up who is determined to use GURPS then I'll still play).

My demand has yet to be met! If no one GMs a game, they will receive no moon rocks! Not that they would receive some if they did, just saying... XD