Should there be Artificial Gravity in Space RPGs?

Does Zero-G spaceship travel add any value to a Sci-Fi setting?

If Warp Gate travel, like in Babylon 5, is the basis for long jumps in distance, does having "normal" physics add to or complicate gaming?

I'm considering a Rocketship style game loosely based on Starfire.
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Quote from: GreentongueShould there be Artificial Gravity in Space RPGs?

Does Zero-G spaceship travel add any value to a Sci-Fi setting?

If Warp Gate travel, like in Babylon 5, is the basis for long jumps in distance, does having "normal" physics add to or complicate gaming?

I'm considering a Rocketship style game loosely based on Starfire.
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There's at least one type of artificial gravity that should at least be considered - spin gravity definitely works. As to whether you want to use it in your game, that's a flavor issue for you to decide. Any other type of artificial gravity depends on the hardness you want. Having real physics helps if you - as game designer/GM - understand it well enough to abstract it enough for yourself and your players to use in-game. Otherwise, you'll probably get confused yourself, and it might be better to work on the basis of "it works like this in the movies" and/or "this seems reasonable."

-clash

Gravity makes ship deckplans a helluva lot easier to map on paper.

I find artificial gravity or at least centrifugal force to make running a sci-fi game a lot easier.  When I do away with it I often end up doing away with 'inertial dampners' and many other classic sci-fi trappings.  I end up with a hard science game, which is fun but often a difficult sell to a group.

Ships of Nebuleon use harnessed graviton generators and this is actually the source of the FTL propulsion as well as in-system drives. A lot of it is more about what feel do you want for your game. I am always in favor of taking one technology and applying it like mad. I have never understood why the Star Trek has artificial gravity but essentially uses fusion rockets to move their ships around STL.

So, if you want more of an old school, hard sci-fi feel to your game, go with centrifugal gravity or no gravity. As to the benefits, it is generally thought to be bad to spend too much time weightless.

Bill

that kind of defines a hard or soft science element to a game i think, moreso than ftl stuff.  

i remember the ships in star frontiers didn't have artificial gravity.  those were neat deckplans!

I am in the what give the game a better feel. For space opera type sci-fi where it is assumed, I don't give artificial gravity a thought but in near future games or one without FTL drive it seems to bother me as it seems to stand out in the face of the setting.

It's a convenience for me, so I use it, but it doesn't mean that zero-g wouldn't be a cool feature in a harder science game.

I like artifical gravity in sci-fi games. Without it you can't ruin the players' day by having it go out, and them suddenly finding themselves in zero G combat.

Logically, to me if you have artificial gravity you probably have intertialess drives and lots and lots of power to burn. Which means that tractor beams, inertial dampers and other things are probably lurking around somewhere as well. It's not my cup of tea really, but it really stands out to me when a  setting has artificial gravity and none of the trappings I've mentioned.

Quote from: beeberthat kind of defines a hard or soft science element to a game i think, moreso than ftl stuff.  

i remember the ships in star frontiers didn't have artificial gravity.  those were neat deckplans!

It is the Star Frontiers Revival that sparked this thought. I have a lot of stuff rattling around in my head. ( Many many years of reading Sci-Fi )  I was thinking of either a Star Frontier to Savage Worlds conversion or a setting from parts for all sorts of things.

Seemed that some basic assumptions needed to be nailed down, no matter what.
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If there isn't artificial gravity in the setting, I immediately fixate on how people survive long stretches in space. One can speculate that early long-range spaceships will have at least a section with centrifugal gravity where the crew can go on a regular basis to maintain health. That would actually be an interesting thing in and of itself. It could also be an indication of how old a ship is - PCs might get hold of a long-abandoned ship that doesn't have modern artificial gravity, but a centrifugal gym to keep the crew in shape. And maybe the crew would be confronted with the malfunctioning of the centrifugal-force section far from home.

I also like the idea of "inertial dampeners." David Weber makes use of them in his Honor Harrington novels, occasionally mentioning them when they fail and leave the crew as little more than a thin paste on the bulkheads. You could really throw the fear of God into a PC group as they realize the inertial dampener is giving out on their ship while they're being hotly pursued and can't stop.

Centrifugal "gravity" is one good possibility. Constant acceleration works in many cases. Warp gates reduce the overall travel time in 0-G.

Detailed ship designs become an issue as the need to provide false gravity is required.   Compartmentalization may address many of these concerns if the compartments are reorientable.  

"Drive fields" can be a Handwavium method to handle it or is that disruptive to the suspension of disbelief?
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Quote from: GreentongueConstant acceleration works in many cases.

Yeah, to an extent. If the ship is designed to stay on station for long stretches, such as a ship mining asteroids or a listening post or "light ship" (a sort of beacon/warning post) some type of simulated gravity would be necessary.

I've found that a lot of players who are not readers of science fiction, but instead are watchers of science fiction find it hard to get into a game without artificial gravity. The watchers are used to BSG, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Babylon 5 which normally have the main characters in artificial gravity settings (yes, B5, since the station spun and a lot of time was spent in ships with art-G). To get them to understand the no artificial gravity idea, you have to have them watch Apollo 13 or some NASA footage to get it.

The readers seem to just get the differences between an artificial gravity setting and one without gravity control because they have already seen it in their imaginations while reading.