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Transhuman Space
Transhuman Space
In the coming decades, technologies like genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology will transform humanity. A strange new world is unfolding - nightmarish to some, utopian to others. Soon we'll have the power to reshape our children's genes, build machines that think, and upload our minds into computers.
And Earth no longer confines us. Space tourism, mining the Moon and asteroids, a settlement on Mars: all are dreams poised to take wing.
The universe of Transhuman Space is a synthesis of these two visions - a world in which ultra-technology and space travel fuse to forge a new destiny for mankind. Neither utopia nor dystopia, it is a place of hopes, fears, and new frontiers.
Welcome to the Future
And Earth no longer confines us. Space tourism, mining the Moon and asteroids, a settlement on Mars: all are dreams poised to take wing.
The universe of Transhuman Space is a synthesis of these two visions - a world in which ultra-technology and space travel fuse to forge a new destiny for mankind. Neither utopia nor dystopia, it is a place of hopes, fears, and new frontiers.
Welcome to the Future
240 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2002
2 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 13, 2008
Probably the best hard SF game setting available on the market, Transhuman Space (which uses the 3rd Edition GURPS rules) suffers only in that it presents an intimidating challenge for GMs: it's not an easy task to introduce new players into the complexities of this gameworld. The world of 2100 is an interesting and believable one, to the degree that I experienced a sort of technoshock as I read it. The adventure ideas may not begin to flow from every page until the GM really gets a grip on how the world of THS actually works, and that may take a few readings before it starts to sink in. Once that happens, however, the potential within this book exists for a wide variety of campaigns.
One of the joys of reading science fiction is becoming immersed in a different world. Roleplaying gamebooks present a newer way of doing this, presenting an omniscient overview of a world rather than a vicarious experience of it. Transhuman Space is a great example of this: it is as interesting a world to read about as it is to play in.
One of the joys of reading science fiction is becoming immersed in a different world. Roleplaying gamebooks present a newer way of doing this, presenting an omniscient overview of a world rather than a vicarious experience of it. Transhuman Space is a great example of this: it is as interesting a world to read about as it is to play in.
April 14, 2022
2100 and everything is going into hyper mode. Solar system is being colonised, Luna, Mars and beyond. Transhumans. Artificial Intelligence. Uplifts. Parahumans. Bioroids. Nanotechnology. Genetic engineering. Memetics. This book is basically an encyclopedia of Transhuman Space with Character Creation and Spaceship Design Thrown in.
January 28, 2015
Transhuman Space is one of the most phenomenal RPGs I've ever read. The internal consistency, plethora of story seeds, and reasonable extrapolations from current technology are unparalleled in almost any RPG genre, let alone science fiction. The combination of plausibility and possibility is stunning.
However, the game does present steep challenges to prospective GMs. You must understand the extensive implications of the setting technology, know what kind of story you want to run, and then integrate them. The core book doesn't outline clearly enough how technology will plays a role in different settings. Some examples the book doesn't address: how are firearms treated in space stations, where a few stray bullets can doom the entire crew? What is the continuum of government (and private) surveillance in an era of overbearingly pervasive surveillance technology? Answers for these sorts of questions are critical to a successful game, but this core book alone only sketches the issues in very broad strokes. Creative players will break your game if you haven't thought through the considerable tools at the disposal of most player characters. Fortunately there is a long line of very high quality sourcebooks to help flesh out these details, but without them you have a lot of brainstorming to do.
Another challenge lies in the presentation. Unless the players are deeply familiar with transhumanist tropes, you may need to spoon-feed the concepts to your players throughout play. There's a lot to absorb. Lingo is peppered everywhere, and the glossary can be formidable: "xoxing", "puppet implants", "bioroids", "cybershells", "gengineering", "slinkies", etc etc. This is a minor concern, overall, as long as the GM remains mindful of the potential information overload.
The book doesn't include the following advice, which I've learned the hard way. There are three very useful ways to approach this book, which can initially cause despair over how to ever run it. RPG forums are rife with complaints about the book in this regard.
(1): Approach the book with a firm genre already in mind, and skim over the technology section to see how societies 87 years from now might deal with such issues in pro-social, criminal, and amoral ways.
(2): Skim the pages until you find a really cool concept, walk away from the book for a while to develop stories incorporating it, and only return to mine more ideas once you've exhausted the interesting conclusions.
(3): Google "transhuman space campaign ideas", and mix the results with (1) and (2). Ta-da.
Lastly: don't let the system get in the way of enjoying the fantastic setting. I don't run or play GURPS, and possibly never will. For RPG enthusiasts like me, the simulationist rules interfere with the unique drama and deep, fascinating quandaries the setting presents. But completely ignoring the system mechanics, Transhuman Space still easily allows a GM to bring questions of ethics, philosophy, and political science to the gaming table in an entertaining, enriching manner.
However, the game does present steep challenges to prospective GMs. You must understand the extensive implications of the setting technology, know what kind of story you want to run, and then integrate them. The core book doesn't outline clearly enough how technology will plays a role in different settings. Some examples the book doesn't address: how are firearms treated in space stations, where a few stray bullets can doom the entire crew? What is the continuum of government (and private) surveillance in an era of overbearingly pervasive surveillance technology? Answers for these sorts of questions are critical to a successful game, but this core book alone only sketches the issues in very broad strokes. Creative players will break your game if you haven't thought through the considerable tools at the disposal of most player characters. Fortunately there is a long line of very high quality sourcebooks to help flesh out these details, but without them you have a lot of brainstorming to do.
Another challenge lies in the presentation. Unless the players are deeply familiar with transhumanist tropes, you may need to spoon-feed the concepts to your players throughout play. There's a lot to absorb. Lingo is peppered everywhere, and the glossary can be formidable: "xoxing", "puppet implants", "bioroids", "cybershells", "gengineering", "slinkies", etc etc. This is a minor concern, overall, as long as the GM remains mindful of the potential information overload.
The book doesn't include the following advice, which I've learned the hard way. There are three very useful ways to approach this book, which can initially cause despair over how to ever run it. RPG forums are rife with complaints about the book in this regard.
(1): Approach the book with a firm genre already in mind, and skim over the technology section to see how societies 87 years from now might deal with such issues in pro-social, criminal, and amoral ways.
(2): Skim the pages until you find a really cool concept, walk away from the book for a while to develop stories incorporating it, and only return to mine more ideas once you've exhausted the interesting conclusions.
(3): Google "transhuman space campaign ideas", and mix the results with (1) and (2). Ta-da.
Lastly: don't let the system get in the way of enjoying the fantastic setting. I don't run or play GURPS, and possibly never will. For RPG enthusiasts like me, the simulationist rules interfere with the unique drama and deep, fascinating quandaries the setting presents. But completely ignoring the system mechanics, Transhuman Space still easily allows a GM to bring questions of ethics, philosophy, and political science to the gaming table in an entertaining, enriching manner.
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August 23, 2007fiction,transhumanism,science fiction,role-playing game
March 26, 2013
Amazing book!!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews