To learn a system, create some of your favorite characters using GURPS. Granted, this is not as easy being new to the system; there are a million skills to sort through, and just sorting through what books you will use is a considerable challenge.
Even if all you start with are the core books - that is fine!
GURPS is a system with a fractal level of depth; whenever you think you know all you need to know, there is another level to dive into and explore. And understanding that level will make you appreciate everything that came before even more.
Before we get started, here is my library definition as per GCA. I am calling this "Space Plus - TL 10," and there are a few significant changes to the lore assumed by this collection. Since GURPS has so many excellent books, it would be silly to ignore some of the possibilities for expanding the story and campaign.
The first is limiting campaign TL to 10. When you get to blasters at TL 11 in GURPS, a lot of the personal protective gear becomes worthless with that (5) armor divisor and burn damage, and the TL 11 armor becomes immune to many guns. TL 10 still has a good mix of lasers and projectile weapons, capturing that sort of early-1980s sci-fi feeling where projectile weapons are still viable, and high-tech weapons aren't one-shot deadly. TL 10 still has low armor divisors (2 and 3 mainly), and there is a good armor game here with gear.
The next major change is the addition of the Bio-Tech and Psionics books. I am assuming the Frontier is discovering massive 'relic ships' or some other precursor race's million-year-old space travel technology and these will become a focal point of the campaign. This also takes the pressure off Volturnus being the end-all of the campaign and opens up space mysteries to every part of the galaxy. With the discovery of these city ships and ruins, the citizens of the Frontier are finding substances that mutate them or parts of the population (Bio-Tech), and also these ships are unlocking powers of the mind (Psionics).
I envision parts of the population of some worlds changing into new forms, adopting psi-powers, skin color changes, and other mutations that create new variant species of the major races. A crashed ship in an ocean may have slowly mutated parts of the population slowly until everyone knew something was happening. There may be mutated animal races and others with an expanded selection of races and mutations.
This also allows limited super-science and TL 11+ items to enter the game, but I am limiting (for now) everything in the program to TL 10 or lower just to reduce choices during character creation. I can always modify my library later, but for more, TL 10 is the limit for character creation, and TL 11+ items (and starship equipment) are treasures and unique finds.
TL 11+ space treasures, especially personal equipment, and starship systems, are very cool. A starship captain may find a piece of higher-tech starship equipment and that would be a one-of-a-kind find they can install into their ship. This is the "treasure and magic item" game in traditional fantasy gaming in a sci-fi sense, and keeping the general TL lower increases the amount of cool stuff from TL 11-15 characters can find (and fight over).
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| AI Art by @nightcafestudio |
The character I created is your pilot/mechanic-style archetype. In Star Frontiers, they don't let you be a pilot from character creations (with Knight Hawks) since you need technician 6 and computer 2, along with computer 6 if you want astrogation. In the original game, starship skills are 'high-level play', and beginning characters have no hope of having their own ship or being able to fly it.
My guy is a primary 150-point character (-50 in disadvantages/perks) and uses the astronaut template out of GURPS Space. When converting, watch out for the generalist mindset other games put you in. You will want to make your character just as competent as they are in the rules-light game, and I found myself buying dozens of technical, piloting, and other skills to make him able to do the things he was able to in the old game.
For a starting 150-point character, your character will be 100% better if you design for a very narrow set of specialties - just the core things you need the character to do (not want). My guy needed to be able to fly a starfighter or other high-performance craft in standard space (not hyperspace), fly between planets, fix his starfighter (but not the reactor, computers, or other specialty systems), and shoot a laser pistol. His background hobbies were camping, driving his truck to his favorite para-glider spots, and doing extreme sports with his buddies.
That's it. he can't fix radios, computers, shields, sensors, reactors, fuel cells, robots, or anything else (without a related skill and penalty). He could in the original game, but he is a specialist here and that narrow range of skills helps better define him as a character. If he needs a person to repair (or program) computers he will need to learn a new skill or (better yet) hire someone else to do that. He could replace a star-fighter reactor or other system but not repair it.
He has a military rank of one, and I assume he is one of the thousands of reserve fighter pilots in training for his planet's militia. He holds down a regular job and then reports for training every few weeks to train, study space battles, do shipboard drills and operations, clean and do maintenance chores, fly a starfighter older than he is, study repair manuals, and review training afterward. Otherwise, he is a mechanic who fixes ATVs and shuttles, owns a piece of junk ATV himself, and has an apartment in a nowhere town to slum in.
This is where you realize a fine-grained skill system that forces your character into specialty areas helps roleplaying. If he wants to be the captain of his own starship, he will need to find a crew to cover all these areas. He will need specialists to cover systems he can't repair. He needs a navigator, sensor person, computer specialist, doctor, science crew that can operate sensors, and other crewmembers. He will not be able to 'do it all' or 'cover any station' like sci-fi games based on 5E or Starfinder typically assume since 'they want to skip to the fun.'
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| AI Art by @nightcafestudio |
But let's think about the future. He wants to be a starship captain someday. He wants to own his own ship. Maybe he wants to complete his military service term and move on (the timing of the end of this should be roleplaying and decided between GM and player). He could transfer to the Scout Service and deal with diplomats, scientists, and explorers. He could stay in the militia and be given command of a fast patrol ship. He could stay in reserves and work towards becoming a private merchant or transfer to the merchant marine reserve forces and haul cargo for the military when loads come up.
Yes, you can do all that in a rules-light system, but you need a profound experience in sci-fi to even come up with it. With a deeper skill system that forces specialization, these questions come naturally as a part of character design and improvement.
But there are a billion ways to go. That feeling overwhelms some; they need a class and level system as rails. I love being thrust into the stars and asking, "What is next?"
How I answer that question and what the rules allow me to do reflects my choices and actions.
And he will need to improve his skills too. He will need better personal combat skills. He can defend himself now, but he has a lot of room to specialize and improve in the narrow combat areas he prefers to fight with. He needs hyper-space pilot skills, better gunnery, sensor skills, and some more tricky flying advantages. He will need leadership skills and some skills used to manage money. he needs contacts, and skills needed to deal with planetary governments and bureaucracies, which will involve contracts and negotiation.
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| AI Art by @nightcafestudio |
But those social spacer skills and dealing with business and 'red tape in space' are another part that rules-light games ignore. This is tremendous flavor and color, and having a specialist legal and customs crewmember will allow him to breeze through customs, docking, legal, and taxes with a breeze. Other captains will be caught up in red tape and able to get in, deliver cargo, load up the next haul, and get out, while other captains sit in a processing queue for weeks and wait for customs to get to them.
Today's rules-light sci-fi gives you a space goblin, puts a laser pistol in your hand, and tells you to 'kill it for some fun' and 'loot credits out of its pockets for a reward.'
Today's sci-fi games miss the point of sci-fi so hard the pain is unbearable. If I want to think, reflect on the human condition, discover the unknown, and feel that deep sense of wonder - I will play sci-fi. I will play fantasy if I want to stab things to death for a few pieces of gold.
My character specialization, dealing with red tape and everything he doesn't know, increases the sense of wonder and amazement when encountering the unknown. He needs to deal with other people if he wants to fly a starship and hire a team of experts. There are the mysteries of the body (Bio-Tech) and the mind (Psionics) to deal with and understand. The universe has mysteries (the ancients and TL 11+ gear) to unravel. And there are terrestrial concerns with races getting along, governments, space pirates, criminals, and other groups to deal with while trying to find your place in the stars.
Rolling 3d6 for six ability scores, picking a class, rolling hit points, writing down special abilities, getting a base attack bonus, and holding a 1d6 damage laser pistol gives me nothing to grab hold of and engage me for science fiction. Classes and preset progression paths hold me back and limit my imagination. Characters that can 'do everything' make me feel like I should be 'doing nothing.'
The more limits I must overcome, the sweeter the victory when I finally reach that goal.
And then there will be the next star to visit...
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