Re: Science-fiction world-building

Peter Knutsen <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Zeborah wrote:

Patricia's world-building questions are great for fantasy, but is
there a set of similar questions anywhere for science-fiction? (One
can try to adapt the fantasy ones for science-fiction, but it's
suboptimal.)

If not, what would you include in such a set? Assume
near-future/far-future, Earth/Space/colonies, with/without aliens...

(Antti-Juhani just asked on #rasfc if I knew of anything like this
for "in-the-future space-oriented sf" -- in his case without aliens.
My googling finds precious little even touching any kind of sf, and
it seemed like a good topic to bring back to rasfc.)

The various editions of RPG book "GURPS Space", have been very good
at this. Instead of defining a setting, the book, at least 2nd, 3rd
and the recent 4th edition, functions as world building aid, guiding
the GM through the more general questions that he must answer in
order to create a futuristic setting.

It is, however, rather space-biased.

Aren't there other GURPS categories that could fill the remaining stuff?

(It is called GUROS Space, after all. :) I've only seen one other,
something with mutants, which could provide some ideas for tech or
modifications. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a GURPS setting
similar to Shadowrun, which could provide other ideas still.)

Roleplaying worldbuilding books sound like a good thing for inspiration,
anyway. (Saying that without having looked at many and remembering
nothing.)

Among the basic questions are whether FTL travel and FTL
communication ("radio") is possible, and how much time travel takes.
I particularly like the distinction between FTL travel and radio,
because while it is often assumed that if you can travel faster than
light, then you can also talk faster than light,

Somehow, talk faster than light brings out the thought "Eddie Murphy on
speed". :)

a more interesting setting might emerge if all communication has to be
carried by courier ship, as in the Traveller RPG setting.

Are there any online resources, or is none of it free? (RPG settings in
general, no idea what Traveller is.)

One also needs to ask about how difficult FTL travel is. Does it
require fuel of some type. Can one travel from anywhere to anywhere
else. What sizes of ships can do FTL, and how fast it is? Are special
abilities, such as psionics, required? Are biological pilots and/or
navigators absolutely required, or can machines do FTL travel on
their own?

GURPS Space also talks about alien races, and points out the
potentially interesting possibility of a humans-only universe,
something which may seem obvious to an amateur science fiction
author, but which isn't always obvious to an RPG GM.

Hm. Isn't obvious to me either. :)

(But I'm a bit surprised how many of the questions coming up here so far
have answered themselves in my Space thing, as part of the idea
forming.)

I'd like to add a question to the others:

If you don't have FTL, what does your solar system look like?

Does everyone huddle on Earth? Is every rock from Mercury to Pluto and
beyond occupied? Something in between? (Think of what might have been
terraformed, and what might only be habitable with tech.)

What are the consequences of not being able to leave (quickly or at all)
on the general human mood? (Or moods, if you've got a thousand different
cultures spread out through the system.)

And have they given in, or have they gotten stubborn, almost obsessed
with the idea to develope tech that allows travel to other stars? (And
so on... Think on the consequences of being 'locked' in this system. And
why are they? Perhaps it's not tech, perhaps there are aliens out there
- the humans not necessarily aware of that - that keep humans in, making
even STL like generationships or stasis futile.)

--
Tina
WIP: [Untitled]: 1692 words
WISuspension: Seasons & Elements trilogy | Magic Earth series
Posted to Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.composition.

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