GURPS Space is a genre toolkit for creating Science Fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 campaigns using the GURPS

GURPS

The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting...

 role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

. It performs a similar purpose as GURPS Fantasy does for Fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 games. Rules and guidelines are provided for running games from science fantasy and space opera to hard science, creating worlds and planets and notes about aliens races. GURPS Space won the 1988 Origins Award

Origins Award

The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...

 for Best Roleplaying Supplement.

Fourth Edition

GURPS Space was released March of 2006. It covers the creation of star systems, worlds and alien races, either completely randomly or with any amount of GM intervention during the process. Advice is also provided on planning campaigns and other related material, as is common in other books for fourth edition GURPS.

Coverage of spacecraft is aimed at setting level issues such as choosing the technology used by spacecraft in the game. This section does not worry about game mechanics issues, but rather helps players and gamemasters determine the broad capabilities of the vessel in question.

In a controversial move, the book breaks with the format of earlier editions and does not contain rules for spaceship design or high tech guns. Those topics will be covered by the forthcoming books GURPS Vehicles (4e) and GURPS Ultra-Tech (4e) respectively. The rationale for this decision was explained in a series of official statements made on the sjgames forums by Managing Editor Chris Aylott and Line Editor Sean Punch. GURPS Spaceships, a 4e supplement of rules for spaceship design, is now available through Steve Jackson Games as a digital purchase.

Third Edition

The Third Edition of GURPS Space had several differences from the Fourth Edition book. The biggest difference was the inclusion of a small subset of the GURPS Vehicles rules and some high-tech weaponry. Unlike the above-mentioned GURPS Fantasy's Third Edition analog, it was also a genre toolkit.

External links

• GURPS Space page at SJGames website.
• RPG.net review