I've been away from RPGs for a while. I played Traveller (T1, '77 era) from about '79 - '82. Recently, I found a group of folks playing Star Wars Saga edition. It's not bad, but the lack/imbalance of certain technologies gets a little annoying. But the game got my juices flowing, and I've got a campaign arc in mind. What other Sci-fi RPG can I run?
I happened upon GURPS Ultra-Tech 4th edition. I was really impressed with the clarity and conciseness of the writing. It provides very good guidelines for choosing a sci-fi background, and which of many technologies--and technology "paths"--to incorporate. Then I spot GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars. Here's the Table of Contents:
1. A Dangerous Galaxy...10 page intro to the current time period, the Terran Confederation and the Vilani Imperium.
2. The Epic Struggle...30 pages of in-depth timeline on the Terran-Vilani conflict, plus ten "biographies" of important people in the setting.
3. Terra...20 pages of: The Home Front, Terran Confederation, Navy, Ground Forces, Merchant Marine, etc.
4. The Imperium...24 pages of same for Vilani.
5. The Known Universe...37 pages of: one sector and 9 subsector maps and star system/planet descriptions, how to describe and generate your own planets, populations, starports, tech level, trade routes, etc.
6. Characters...24 pages of Point Totals, Advantages/Disadvantages, Skills, Ranks, Wealth, Racial & Occupational Templates, and Jobs. (You need info from the GURPS 4th Ed Basic set to generate your own characters.)
7. Technology...10 pages of Armour & etc, Communications, Computers & etc, Med Gear, Sensors & etc, Survival Gear, and Weapons. NOTE: As another reviewer noted, this book refers to Basic Set pp. 267-281 for Tech Level 9-11 weapons. Keep in mind that this Traveller time period is waaay earlier than the time periods of the older Traveller games, so slug, gauss and the rare laser weapons make sense here.
8. Starships...almost 20 pages of Component Systems (Drive, Bridge, Sensor, etc) Operations, Trade, Exploration.
9. Starship Design...30 pages of: 15 Steps of Ship Design, Common Ships, including 25 separate ships and 4 deck plans (nicely done.)
10. Starship Combat...10 pages of Sequences and Phases, Charts and Tables. Haven't tried this, so no comments, except that you can download a FREE pdf of starship counters from Jackson Game's e23 website.
11. Campaigns...10 pages of The Default Campaign, Alternative Campaigns, Campaign and Adventure Seeds.
Index...approx. 525 entries.
So, to run a GURPS (4th edition) Traveller campaign, at minimum you need the two GURPS Basic Set books, and Interstellar Wars (other GURPS titles, like Space and Ultra-Tech are not required, but nice to have).