The Inside Scoop on Gaming

"GURPS Space Atlas", was one of the first suppliments for "GURPS Space"(1st Edition) and was originally intended to form a chapter of that book. It contains 29 planets in 27 star systems that could be used either as supplied as the "Old Frontiers Sector", a backwater region of space or split up and slotted into a GM's campaign.

The book begins with an short introduction, five background seeds (Anarchy, Corporate, Alliance, Federation & Imperial) which are derived from the government descriptions in "GURPS Space", maps of the entire sector and distance tables.

This introduction is followed by the planetary descriptions which consist of one page of text covering the planets history, surface features, any creatures/features of interest and one or more adventure seeds. This text page is followed by a Planetary Record sheet which features a map of the planet and basic information about what lies in the rest of the featured planetary system.

The sector has four alien species, Dringles (Near(?)-sentient humanoids), Crystal Computers(featured in "GURPS Aliens"), Deepies (Ocean dwelling humanoids) & an unnamed sentient dinosaur species. The first two species can be used for player characters if the GM so desires.

Sadly none of the species are sharing the sector with the humans or in a friendly relationship with humans, the Dringles have been enslaved by the colonists on their world, the Crystal Computers want to destroy all other beings on their world, the Deepies are also trying to drive the colonists off their world and the sentient dinosaurs have not yet been discovered (this has been left for the PC's).

However the sector background does provide a good roleplaying setting with a covert jihad being fought between the sectors two theocracies and a third planet, Survias (featured in GURPS Space Adventures), being ruled by a dictatorial hypocondriac who has outlawed illness and who may have ambitions on the sectors other worlds.

One odd touch is that three planets (Carcosa, Hali & Al-Azrad) are named after locations and characters from the Cthulhu Mythos.

It is my personal opinion that this book and the rest of the series (Corporate Worlds, Great Spiral, Phoenix & Saga) should have had two pages devoted to each planetary description before the Planetary Record sheet as in a lot of cases you are given a bare skeleton of information and are left wanting more.

However, despite that, I will recommend this book to GM's who are stuck for ideas. However they should take notice of the fact that this book was written for the first edition of "GURPS Space" and the spacecraft featured in this book are not compatible with the construction system in the current third edition of "GURPS Space".

GURPS Space Atlas
GURPS Space Atlas Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 22/02/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) An old item, but useful if you have run out of ideas for your SF campaign Product: GURPS Space Atlas Author: William A. Barton and Steve Jackson Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Line: GURPS Cost: Page count: 64 Year published: 1988 ISBN: 1-55634-108-3 SKU: 6500 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Graham Donald on 22/02/02 Genre tags: Science Fiction Far Future Space	"GURPS Space Atlas", was one of the first suppliments for "GURPS Space"(1st Edition) and was originally intended to form a chapter of that book. It contains 29 planets in 27 star systems that could be used either as supplied as the "Old Frontiers Sector", a backwater region of space or split up and slotted into a GM's campaign. The book begins with an short introduction, five background seeds (Anarchy, Corporate, Alliance, Federation & Imperial) which are derived from the government descriptions in "GURPS Space", maps of the entire sector and distance tables. This introduction is followed by the planetary descriptions which consist of one page of text covering the planets history, surface features, any creatures/features of interest and one or more adventure seeds. This text page is followed by a Planetary Record sheet which features a map of the planet and basic information about what lies in the rest of the featured planetary system. The sector has four alien species, Dringles (Near(?)-sentient humanoids), Crystal Computers(featured in "GURPS Aliens"), Deepies (Ocean dwelling humanoids) & an unnamed sentient dinosaur species. The first two species can be used for player characters if the GM so desires. Sadly none of the species are sharing the sector with the humans or in a friendly relationship with humans, the Dringles have been enslaved by the colonists on their world, the Crystal Computers want to destroy all other beings on their world, the Deepies are also trying to drive the colonists off their world and the sentient dinosaurs have not yet been discovered (this has been left for the PC's). However the sector background does provide a good roleplaying setting with a covert jihad being fought between the sectors two theocracies and a third planet, Survias (featured in GURPS Space Adventures), being ruled by a dictatorial hypocondriac who has outlawed illness and who may have ambitions on the sectors other worlds. One odd touch is that three planets (Carcosa, Hali & Al-Azrad) are named after locations and characters from the Cthulhu Mythos. It is my personal opinion that this book and the rest of the series (Corporate Worlds, Great Spiral, Phoenix & Saga) should have had two pages devoted to each planetary description before the Planetary Record sheet as in a lot of cases you are given a bare skeleton of information and are left wanting more. However, despite that, I will recommend this book to GM's who are stuck for ideas. However they should take notice of the fact that this book was written for the first edition of "GURPS Space" and the spacecraft featured in this book are not compatible with the construction system in the current third edition of "GURPS Space".