Gamemaster Environments (IF)

Hard Science-Fiction Setting

Gravity Environments

Skills and adaptations for survival and maneuvering across the four most common environments of the Solar System. These are used both for training and as categories of genetic or mechanical modification.

Microgravity Environments of near-weightlessness, such as spacecraft in freefall. Focuses on orientation, translation, tool use, and stability. Days of exposure causes Degrav.

Low Gravity Environments between 0.15 g and 0.35 g, including many moons and small planets. Emphasizes balance, momentum control, and assisted locomotion. Distinct from Microgravity. Weeks of exposure risks Degrav.

Earth Standard Gravity Environments between 0.8 g and 1.2 g, considered healthy for long-term residence. Covers most Artificial Gravity habitats and the surface of Earth and Venus. Focus is endurance, load-bearing, and efficient movement.

Aquatic Submersion in water or other liquids. Includes maneuvering by swimming or with specialized equipment. Environments range from shallow lakes on habitats to high-pressure oceans. Not strictly a gravity category, but it shares enough with them to be listed here.

Terrain Terrains

Earth has a lot of terrains, none of which occur is space, except in quirky environmental habitats. All have Earth Standard Gravity, most are characterized by life; vegetation, fungus, and even animal life. This is like a fairytale to spacers, but dangerously unfamiliar.

Off-Earth Terrains

The variety of domains in the solar system is much less than on Earth, but each of them are deadly in its own way. Most terrains are in low gravity or even microgravity, only Earth and Venus is there something resembling Earth Standard Gravity. This list does not list the unique types of terrain found only in certain location, this si a list of terrains common in the entire sol system.

Regolith

The sand and dust of space is insidious. With no wind or water to grind the pebbles to be rounded like Earth sand, they are sharp and piecing and grate on flesh and machinery. It has electrostatic effects, making it stick to everything and disrupting electronics and radio. It gives poor purchase for tethers or boots. In microgravity it gives almost no purchase at all and creates dangerous semi-permanent clouds that turns into micrometeors to puncture ships and suits.

Ice

Ice is common all across the system, from the tiny grains of Saturn's rings to the kilometer-thick glaciers of Jovian Europa's surface. Ice melts if heated, which immediately evaporates in in vacuum. Even local warmth makes it slippery. It moves and churns following cruel cryotectonic laws, forming peaks and crevasses. It breaks into sharp shards that cut suits and safety lines. There are even rare exotic forms of ice with unpredictable properties that can deflect or be invisible to sensors.

Rock

The least treacherous terrain is solid rock or metal, capable of supporting tethers and giving traction. It is even more prone to peaks and crevasses, not because it forms them easily like ice does but rather because its permanence retains every crack and thrust that shaped it in past eons. On bodies that once had volcanism or free water it forms tunnels and meandering canyons, which are useful as shelter and for travel.

Vacuum

Everywhere away from a celestial body and even on the surface of many bodies there will be vacuum. In deep space there is hard vacuum. This gives you several problems. Lack of or toxic atmosphere requires an air supply to be survivable short term and a recycling system long term. Lack of pressure requires protection mainly for the orifices of the body, but also for the skin. This can be surprisingly light and thin and still work. You cannot maneuver like you are used to hovering in air, there is nothing to gain leverage against and conversation of momentum makes freefall techniques useless.

Outer Space

Spacers will tell you there is no such thing as empty space; there is always something, and often many things. You are always at risk from micrometeors, especially near regolith asteroids or old mining sites. When you can see the sun you are subject to radiation and in the inner system sun storms. In the shadow of a major body there is no light at all. There is no traction of any sort; while you can twist to change your orientation, you need a tether or reaction mass to control movement. Outer space is always in microgravity.

Orbital Space

Whenever you are in close orbit of a planet or moon your movement becomes unintuitive to humans. Rather than applying thrust in the direction you want to go, you have to consider how your orbit changes; accelerating along your current trajectory gives you a higher orbit, accelerating against your trajectory moves you into a lower orbit. When you are close to a point of reference such as a ship or habitat this is not a major factor, but as soon as you move towards distant objects it is.

Spin Habitats

Habitats present terrain unlike either gravity or microgravity. As long as you're standing on the inner surface (almost always Earth Standard Gravity) or floating near the center (microgravity) things are familiar. Kinetic weapons behave erratically, making firearms useless beyond a dozen meters, but otherwise things behave predictably. But with spin-induced gravity and confusing flight dynamics, two terrain types are unique to rotating space habitats:

The first is the volume of space between the central axis and the surface. But once you stop being anchored, you will no longer follow the habitats rotation; in your subjective view the floor of the hab will be rushing sideways beneath you. You can jump to nearly any point on the inner surface — if your aim and braking are good. Get it wrong, and you’ll either drift helplessly or slam into the wrong spot.

The second is the outer hull. Gravity here seems to pull away from the hull, but if you let go, you’re flung along a tangent — not straight out. As you approach the hull, it slides sideways beneath you, making it hard to grab hold. Hovering over a specific spot requires constant acceleration. This is why many Jovian personal vehicles are humanoid in form, equipped with magnetic or grappling feet to stay anchored on the outside of a habitat.