There is a video by Black Lodge Games (https://youtu.be/umTGzLa-QyI?t=5170) where they talk to the creator of Mythras, Lawrence Whitaker, and the game M-Space was mentioned as being one of their breakout success stories of a game using the Mythras Gateway license.
The M-Space game is said to simulate anything from Star Wars-like science fantasy to "hard science fiction" settings. I don't know if I would include Traveller in "hard science fiction" anymore, since it has leaned into the pulp adventure side of the genre these days, but it still could be on the fringes.
M-Space was also described as "liminal," as in a state of transition between states, and even a liminal space. The entire look of the game is liminal, which is a perfect presentation for a science fiction game, to capture those moments in-between, the quiet snowfall on a city a million light-years from Earth, as people go about their business in the day-to-day.
What is here is here, and what is now is now.
It is almost "anti-corporate" science fiction in a way, the perfect "blank paper setting" that does not rely on Alien, Star Wars, Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy, Firefly, or any other of a million licensed IP properties sold to us like Twinkies, Pizza Hut, or Cheerios as "the future." Even science fiction roleplaying games do this, with Starfinder and its Muppet-like races cavorting about, Traveller with its Imperium, or other games with their "this is not Alien" sort of settings.
Everyone is either trying to "sell a vibe" or "copy someone else."
In a sense, it is a more challenging design goal to come up with a "blank sheet of paper setting" for science fiction than it is to copy someone else's look and feeling. M-Space does that perfectly with its liminal presentation, creating an actual "blank state" world where anything could happen.
This also has that "Tales from the Loop" feeling of the everyday mixed with the fantastic. That game also has these liminal qualities, where the everyday is blended with the strange in a seemingly normal world that is not all that normal after you spend a few moments taking it in. But to the people there, everything is normal, and nobody is walking around with their mouths open, saying, "Whoa!" every five minutes. This isn't a Hollywood movie, and we aren't stupid.
Things in liminal worlds "just are" to the people there. While they may seem fantastic to us as observers in this world, to the characters in that world, they are just a part of everyday life.
This is why liminal art and concepts make for such a strong science fiction presentation. They invite us to "cross over" too and experience the other world, where everything around us seems normal and everyday. This is not a comedy, space opera, puppet show, licensed IP experience, Star Knights, space federation, or pulp adventure reimagination.
While M-Space could be any of those, it "clears the lane" for you to fill all that in yourself. Even the structure of the universe is undefined; this could be anything from "near space" science fiction between the Earth and Mars with a handful of space stations and colonies, or "far flung" science fiction in a million inhabited worlds in a sea of stars of unimaginable size and population.
Like a 4X space game where you set the universe size to something far too huge for you to manage and end up with ten thousand worlds you need to micromanage, this game can give you that sense of overwhelming magnificence where you realize the universe is too expansive for you to wrap your mind around and consider the individual places.
But the game can also take place on Earth and a single Mars colony, a narrow simulation of a single place and moment in time in a giant universe, but a very narrowly focused area and situation.
M-Space is both definite and infinite at the same time.
This is that liminal quality.
So, why play this when you have GURPS Space? This is harder to answer. M-Space is Mythras, that 3d6 stats and d100 skill resolution, Runequest-style game that blends the familiar qualities of 3d6 D&D with the early-era TSR d100 games like Gangbusters, Star Frontiers, and Top Secret. The Runequest style "mixed 3d6 and d100" system is what D&D and the TSR games should have morphed into, using all the polyhedral dice, but ditching the d20 versus AC for to-hit rolls, and adopting a more simulation-oriented approach.
Mythras is the perfect blend of B/X D&D and the early-era TSR d100 games.
It eclipses and goes far beyond BRP and the Runequest-style d100 systems, becoming something of its own. This is where D&D should have gone instead of morphing into the video-game-like D&D 3.5E.
Once you know this, Mythras becomes something very familiar and very special.
GURPS is a 3d6 system like Champions, and does a fantastic job at being anything it wants to be. Where any given Mythras game needs to be rewritten to support a genre, GURPS does not, and it plops down on the couch and says, "Yup, I can do that" like a John Belushi-type character out of a Saturday Night Live skit. The humor lies in GURPS repeating that line for any profession someone in the skit suddenly needs, whether it's a plumber, electrician, beautician, hair stylist, psychologist, doctor, physicist, or any other profession. The punchline is that the character doesn't look like they are that, but they actually are, despite their outward appearance.
M-Space is the Mythras version of liminal science fiction. It is the physicist who wears the lab coat, tie, and pocket protector. It wears thick glasses and carries a clipboard. This was designed to "do that" and has that look we expect. We can play GURPS and "just have everything," but there is a comfort in the familiar that puts us in a particular frame of mind. We can expect "GURPS stuff" to happen in GURPS. In M-Space, we really have no clue.
GURPS also requires a knowledge of the "GURPS way," such as knowing all the special combat options and rules, which give you all the cool attacks and options. In M-Space, "combat specials" appear during fights, but can be communicated with a simple player handout. However, the entire game operates on a percentage-based system, allowing a new player to navigate with a character sheet and minimal rules knowledge.
What is your chance to "do science?" It is the percentage on the character sheet. In GURPS, it is N-minus, but you need to know modifiers and 3d6 probability, plus a lot of point-building experience for creating characters. With M-Space, it is simply "roll scores, write down secondaries, and assign a pool of points to skill," allowing you to start playing, which is trivial for new players.
GURPS will allow for a greater and more in-depth roleplay experience with its advantage and disadvantage system, and this is a strength of the system. M-Space and Mythras are B/X evolved, foregoing internal point modifications for internal factors, but this is ultimately replaced by a universal system for passions, which drive motivation. The passions system in Mythras and M-Space replaces the need for mental advantages and disadvantages in GURPS. It is not as tightly defined and specialized, but it is a more flexible and modifiable system that evolves with the character as play goes on.
GURPS is a box of generic Legos that you can assemble into anything you want.
M-Space is the box of Space Legos, and a blank sheet of paper on which any science fiction story can be told.
It is the familiar.
Yet different.
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